#it's so not like we are destructing our democracy

[evilwickedme]

It's so clear to me that so many so called "anti Zionists" - especially the non Palestinian goyim - have no idea how the Israeli election system works, and how bibi remains in power, and why we had five elections in like, three years, despite elections supposedly being every four years - because he couldn't keep a government stable enough to stay in power. Bibi netanyahu is MASSIVELY unpopular, and his approval rate has tanked even more since the war started, even among likud voters, the people who vote for HIS party (although their approval rates ranked less than the rest of the population). He has an extreme right wing government because if he didn't cooperate with right wing extremists and haredim he straight up wouldn't have the majority he needs to be our prime minister in the first place. He's been on trial for corruption for years at this point, and tried to completely restructure the judicial system just to avoid prison - leading to nearly a full year of protests until Oct 7. Luckily it didn't end up passing.

If elections were held at any point in the last five months since this war started, not only would he not be PM, we'd straight up have a center-left government. My recent transformation into a Yair Golan stan account is a joke but also 100% real - according to polls from the last three months or so, if he does what he's campaigning to do, leading a combined avoda and meretz party, he'd get enough votes to have an actual influential left wing party in the government for the first time in decades. An unbelievable amount of Israelis are calling for bibi to resign, many of them not calling for it to happen after the war ends, but right now.

I am sourcing this information from polls conducted by channels 11 (kan), 12, and 13, as well as by the Israeli democracy foundation, all but one of our important news channels - channel 14, the last channel, is our equivalent of fox news, and despite their numbers often being extremely different due to what is in my opinion biased reporting and flawed methodology, even they at times have had to admit that gantz is currently leading in the polls.

(Disclaimer that I work for a company that provides subtitles for channel 13, but i do not directly work for channel 13. Channel 13 leans mostly center left, and employs several (self identified) Arab Israelis in front of the camera, including Lucy Aharish, who makes considerable effort to bring Palestinian and Bedouin perspectives to her show. It also employs at least one massive racist though.)

I write this post because I keep seeing an unsourced claim by goyim that there's a poll showing a high rate of approval - 88%! - of the destruction and/or deaths Israel and the IDF are causing in Gaza. I went down a rabbit hole and simply couldn't find a poll asking about approval of deaths or destruction, although maybe I was looking up the wrong keywords? As a result I have just... So many questions. Because with the information I have from trustworthy local news sources, from the news channels I mentioned above and papers such as yediot aharonot/ynet and Haaretz, it doesn't fit with current public opinion, including many recent protests for more efforts towards a ceasefire. So my questions are thus -

Who conducted this poll? Was it a think tank, a government agency, a paper, a news channel? If so, which one? Are they left leaning, right leaning? Was it conducted by an Israeli or foreign institution?

Who did they ask? Was it a sample of likud voters; all Israeli adults; did they include only Jewish Israelis or also Arab citizens (approx. 1.5 million out of our 8 million population), Bedouins, and other minorities?

When was the poll conducted? Was it in October, immediately after the Oct 7 massacre, before the death toll in Gaza grew? Was it conducted more recently?

What, exactly, did they ask? Did they ask about destruction in general, or about the death toll in particular? Did they ask about the attempts to rescue hostages with military means, or all military actions? Did they ask about the number of Hamas operatives dead, about their estimated ratio of Hamas to civilians, about the total deaths?

What was the size of the pool surveyed? Was it conducted on a few dozen, a few hundred, or a few thousand people?

Because without this information, that one, sole statistic is essentially useless. As Mark Twain said, there are lies, damned lies, and statistics. Always look at the source and ask: who asked the questions, who got asked, and what the questions were.

More specific statistics and sources under the cut.

I did find one survey by the Israel democracy foundation that asked if the IDF should take the Gazan suffering into account - an entirely different question, although it did still have a horrific 89% Jewish Israelis and 14% Arab Israelis and Palestinian citizens who said they shouldn't. That said, the pool they were drawing from was not very large - 500 of the interviews were conducted in Hebrew, 100 were conducted in Arabic. Also, of the people who supposedly said that they shouldn't, a little more than half of both populations said they should "somewhat" take it into account - that is, they didn't say they shouldn't take it into account at all, just not make it their first priority. This survey was conducted mid December.

In another survey by the same source with a slight larger sample size (a little over 600 Jewish Israelis and a little over 150 Arab Israelis), an insanely low 15% still wanted Bibi to be the PM, with the only candidate who received more than 6.5% being the center candidate Benny Gantz, who historically has tried to cooperate with center and left parties, with a whopping 23% of the votes. The survey included 10 candidates, as well as five other non candidate options. 4% voted "just not Bibi", and an actually insane 30.5% voted they were undecided. Only a quarter of those surveyed believed Bibi would manage to maintain a coalition after the war, a number that includes more extreme right wing voters, and only the ultra Orthodox haredi population had a majority of people (60%) who believed he can. This survey was conducted in January.

The channel 13 news survey from early March - barely over a week ago! - covered more specifically which parties would manage to get into the government and how many seats they would get, as under a certain amount of votes you simply do not get seats. Not all seats get into a coalition. According to their poll, the amount of seats the likud would get is halved, from 32 to 17, while gantz's the state camp would grow from 12 to 39. While currently meretz gets 4 seats and haavodah do not get enough votes to get a seat at the table so to speak, a combined haavodah and meretz under Yair Golan gets 9 mandates. In total, the right wing only get 47 mandates, well short of the amount of mandates necessary to create a government.

Channel 12's corresponding poll from January shows 35 mandates for gantz, and bibi had 18 mandates. Channel 11, in the same month, gave gantz 33 mandates and bibi 20.

I also sources an English Jerusalem post article which reports on channel 14's polls; jpost is a right wing biased paper, and yet even they report 36 mandates for gantz and 18 for bibi as of February.

Sources

The Israel democracy institute: 1 (English), 2 (Hebrew), 3 (Hebrew)

Haaretz: 1 (English) (paywalled)

Channel 13: 1 (Hebrew)

Ma'ariv: 1 (Hebrew) (reporting on channel 12)

Podcast which summarizes the above article: 1 (English) (includes transcript)

Kan 11: 1 (Hebrew)

Jpost: 1 (Hebrew)

#gail speaks #i/p #israel hamas war #jew tag #bibi netanyahu #benny gantz #yair golan posting #yair golan #jumblr

[contemplatingoutlander]

Apocalyptic rhetoric is just as dangerous as the violent kind

Paul Waldman is absolutely correct about how the Republican's "apocalyptic rhetoric" about the Democrats could ultimately lead to violence just as much as the violent rhetoric. The GOP frames Democrats now as deliberately wanting to "destroy" America. (Ironically, it is the GOP who have turned toward autocracy and seem determined on establishing one party rule at all costs. This suggests that once again, Republicans are projecting onto Democrats.)

“I cannot stand these people that are destroying our country,” said Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) to a crowd of Donald Trump’s supporters at the Iowa State Fair this past weekend while the former president looked on approvingly. Gaetz then added: “Only through force do we make any change in a corrupt town like Washington, D.C.” The second part of that statement made headlines, as it’s not every day that a member of Congress advocates “force” to achieve political goals. But the first part ought to be just as troubling, because the two parts operate together. The idea that our opponents are purposely attempting to lay waste to America is often the justification for all kinds of radical action — violence very much included. Barely a day goes by without prominent Republicans repeating that claim. Trump regularly says his political opponents will “destroy the country,” or have already nearly destroyed it. It’s a staple of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s rhetoric. “If woke ideology takes over, it will destroy this country,” DeSantis says. If President Biden is reelected, the governor insists, “the left is gonna absolutely destroy this country.” [...] Yes, liberals have made dire warnings about a second Trump presidency. But that’s unique to Trump, who actually tried to overturn a lawful election and retain power, and last year called for the “termination” of the Constitution. So the assertion that if he became president it could mean the end of democracy is at least not too far-fetched.* The talk of the United States ending its run some time in the next few years because Democrats passed some modest expansion of health coverage or kept pushing for a transition to green energy, on the other hand, is bonkers. Yet, unlike other kinds of rhetorical calls to extremism, we don’t police it at all. Journalists tend to be very attuned to hints of political violence. When a candidate says he wants to start “slitting throats” in the federal government, as DeSantis recently did, we condemn it and explore its troubling implications. We press Republican contenders to admit that Biden fairly won the 2020 election and to repudiate the violent insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021. In contrast, we treat partisan apocalyptic rhetoric as mere hyperbole. But it’s the premise that turns anger into action. If you actually believed your opponents were literally trying to destroy your country, what wouldn’t be justified? Threatening election officials? Storming the Capitol? Assassinations? You might protest that Republican politicians don’t really believe this talk. But clearly, many of their supporters do. Which is no surprise given how often they’re told that it’s true. [...] Any rational Republican knows the truth about the next election: If Biden wins, it will mean nothing more than four years of policies they don’t like. That will be deeply unpleasant for them. But it won’t mean the end of America, and they shouldn’t be allowed to say so without challenge. We ought to treat apocalyptic rhetoric just like we treat violent rhetoric: Take note of it, condemn it, challenge candidates to defend it, and explain the threat it poses. Why? Because many of the voters who are listening think the Republicans spinning out wild tales of America’s imminent destruction mean what they say. [emphasis added]

____________ *In my opinion it isn't just Trump, many on the left have legitimate concerns about extreme right-wing Republicans like DeSantis and white Christian nationalists who seem to want autocracy/ one-party rule because they have either said and/or shown that they do.

#republicans #apocalyptic rhetoric #gop lies about democrats can indirectly lead to violence #donald trump #paul waldman #the washington post

[qqueenofhades]

Okay, sort of on that note: I know we are all thoroughly enjoying the Bird App's destruction and drama and firing shots in the air to keep our property values low and complaining about Twitter users moving here and all the rest. But I'm gonna be real with you for a second and offer a Hot Take that might well get my Tumblr elder credentials revoked:

As long as they are willing to play ball with us and understand the rules of the road and etc (and lbr, we have plenty of absolutely idiotic Disk Horse of our own, that will never go away), we should a) actually be glad that they're coming here and b) recognize the far more sinister aspect of Twitter's slow motion Jenga collapse. Because it's all fun and games until the massive human rights violations and democracy destruction starts (or rather, continues). Why is that? Well:

As noted a few weeks ago when this insanity started, the second-biggest investor in the Twitter takeover, apart from Musk himself, was the Saudi government. Now, I have a friend whose PhD dissertation in sociology I have been copy-editing/proofreading for the last few years (he is originally from Saudi Arabia but doing his PhD in the UK). A huge part of his research is about how ordinary Saudis use Twitter HEAVILY, and as a replacement for the freedom of speech they aren't allowed in any other formal aspect of their country, despite many cosmetic reforms and plans for greater international investment and openness. The Saudi government, while tolerating this newfound criticism on the surface, has also routinely jailed these citizens for one critical tweet about them, including those made while the person in question was not in the country. In other words, they're not nearly as happy about this as they like to pretend, even if they're putting a good face on it, and especially during the Arab Spring and other attempted uprisings/calls for reform in the region, Twitter was a hugely effective way to circumvent government narratives and get out community information. After all, it is the biggest communication platform in the world, and anyone can instantly use it.

So, enter Musk: a petty alt-right billionaire who pals with dictators and can do anything he wants by burning ungodly amounts of money. He partners with the Saudis. Two weeks later, Twitter is going down in flames, its entire top legal team has quit, Musk is braying about bankruptcy, advertisers have fled, it's 50-50 whether it survives the year. And yes, this could be because Musk is a sociopathic idiot, since he is. But if you consider that this one evil prick can literally destroy half of the world's only medium of quasi-free speech and community organising just by throwing $44 billion at it... well... that's a lot more sinister than just him wanting to make "free speech" for all the absolute dregs of the Internet who adore him. In other words, it starts to look awfully deliberate, and Musk is anything but a fan of democracy, community organising, and all the rest.

Anyway: Tumblr doesn't function the same as Twitter, we don't want it to, and we are able to laugh at its burning corpse because many of us don't rely on it as our one and only place of meaningful speech and ability to criticize the government. But if Twitter DOES go down in flames, it will be a huge and irreparable loss in a real sense, and in that case, if you see a Twitter user poking their head in here, give them some rules of the road, advise them to change their icon, and otherwise let 'em stay.

#hilary for ts #politics for ts #yes twitter is garbage in many ways and i want it gone or at least massively revamped #but the function it plays for those outside the west is also real #and basically i am starting to agree that musk bought it just to destroy it for his fellow sociopathic billionaires #including him #who don't like anything mean said about them ever #if tumblr can somehow fill even a small part of the information-sharing ecosystem on social media #imho that would be nice

[murdererofthumbs]

Seeing reactions after this episode is actually slightly hysterical? It proves that this fandom can be so blind-sighted by characters relations, that they forget what show they are watching. Like, I have always been a self-proclaimed Roman-girl, because I find him compelling and extremely psychologically interesting, and like all of these characters, to a certain extent, I do empathise with him on the level of trauma that he went through. But why the fuck are people surprised that THIS is how he behaved in this episode is beyond me. Oh, suddenly Roman is dead to you because he behaved in the way that was very much consistent with who he is? That’s who all of these people are, like come on, what do we think we are watching here? You didn’t really think he will suddenly become a defender of democracy because it serves a greater good of the country? He was the one to fucking choose Mencken as a president, he cherry-picked him for Logan, because he knew that their views align, that Mencken will be a smart business decision. This whole thing is a transactional procedure - they needed to get someone who will be willing to serve their corrupt interests. Roman doesn’t see a problem in having fascist as a president, because he will never be touched by the consequences of having that kind of man in power. He is very much safe at the top of the mountain, and who the fuck cares what will happen to the peasants at the bottom of the chain? In this way, he imitates Logan the most, because in the end of the day, people are units to him, to all of them really, some of them are just more willing to admit this than others.

Also, like, “uuu, Roman was such a misogynist to Shiv this episode, he just didn’t listen to her at all”. Look, can we stop being delusional here for a second or is it some sort of selective memory situation? Roman is a misogynist. Kendall is a misogynist. Shiv, in fact, has a lot of internalised misogyny going on, and her being a woman never stopped her from pushing other women under the fucking bus, so let’s be real here for a second. And that is not to be said in defence of Roman, frankly nothing what I’m saying here is supposed to justify his behaviour in this or any other episode, but it’s more of like… reality check? I know that Roman’s self-destructive spiral and semi-decent behaviour at the beginning of this season might have clouded certain aspects of who he is, but please, go back to season 3 and count all the instances of him throwing misogynistic and, frequently incestuous jokes and innuendo, at Shiv? How many times he undermines her position on the basis of her being a woman? Or how Kendall, for that matter, uses similar arguments in 03x02? All the siblings use aspects of each other as weapons. Kendall is undermined because he is unstable, because he is a drug-addict, because he has a tendency of flying off on the cloud of mania, and crashing in the heap of depression. Shiv is crossed out because she is a woman, because she frankly has no real experience in the firm (which, although people might be super angry about that, because she is such a “girlboss” apparently, but this is a factual argument), because of her relationship to Tom and tendency to take several sides at the same time (with not much thought put into it). And Roman is frequently undermined because he is a freak and a pervert, because “there is something wrong with him”, because he is the weakest dog that is most easily manipulated, who crumples like a wet tissue if only to receive a bit of affection. They all weaponise their “weak” points against each other, because this dog-eats-dog mindset is focal to who they are as a family, to how they were brought up, to how Logan wanted them to be. So please, let’s not be surprised, when Roman suddenly uses misogyny as an argument against Shiv, because it’s not sudden at all, and it’s always been there.

I think what we have on our hands, is the same situation we had in 03x07 during Kendall’s birthday (and previous episode with Mencken), where some people are so outraged by Roman, and by his ability to shove the knife where it hurts, that they suddenly cross him out completely. Again, all these characters are bad people, there was never any doubt about that. They are compelling because of the complexities of their familial relationships, because of their childhood trauma and the consequences that this trauma has on them as adults. But they are still completely reprehensible as human beings, and I think some viewers forget about that and then get outraged when show about awful people features awful people. And I’m sure, either in next or final episode, something will happen and Roman will become sympathetic again, and he will regain his position as a “poor meow meow”, just as he did in the finale of season 3. Its always a fucking carousel with this character and people get sucked in and have their eye’s covered just to realise that nothing really changed, and nothing will change, because in this show people, at their core, remain the same.

#roman roy #this is a ridiculously long rant #but as soon as I finished this episode I just knew what takes I will see on tumblr #it is becoming painfully predictable to figure out what takes people will give #i dont know if i should find it funny or sad because its been 4 seasons and some people still don’t understand what they are watching #like wow #show about bad people have actual bad people? #doing bad things? #the shocker of a fucking century #call all the news channels #but will all of that stop me from liking Roman as a character? #No because there was never any doubt in my mind about the state of his moral compass #or lack thereof #you can’t like characters in this show for them doing good things because they rarely do #this show is interesting and these characters are interesting because of the psychological mechanisms that drive their behaviour #(and im saying this obviously as a psych major so nothing surprising here) #but yeah i had to get it out because it infuriates me when people lack a basic understanding of what they are watching #and are surprised by things that were there to begin with #in the end of the day nothing fucking changed #succession #succession hbo #kendall roy #shiv roy #succession spoilers #logan roy #connor roy #succession s4 #marta rumbles poetically #i will also probably write something about Roman later on when I can fully process this episode and I get my exam done #because there are some interesting psychological things at stake in here

[probablyasocialecologist]

In reading​ and annotating the writings of Améry, Levi and others I was trying somehow to mitigate the oppressive sense of wrongness I felt after being exposed to Israel’s bleak construal of the Shoah, and the certificates of high moral merit bestowed on the country by its Western allies. I was looking for reassurance from people who had known, in their own frail bodies, the monstrous terror visited on millions by a supposedly civilised European nation-state, and who had resolved to be on perpetual guard against the deformation of the Shoah’s meaning and the abuse of its memory. Despite its increasing reservations about Israel, a political and media class in the West has ceaselessly euphemised the stark facts of military occupation and unchecked annexation by ethnonational demagogues: Israel, the chorus goes, has the right, as the Middle East’s only democracy, to defend itself, especially from genocidal brutes. As a result, the victims of Israeli barbarity in Gaza today cannot even secure straightforward recognition of their ordeal from Western elites, let alone relief. In recent months, billions of people around the world have witnessed an extraordinary onslaught whose victims, as Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh, an Irish lawyer who is South Africa’s representative at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, put it, ‘are broadcasting their own destruction in real time in the desperate, so far vain, hope that the world might do something’. But the world, or more specifically the West, doesn’t do anything. Worse, the liquidation of Gaza, though outlined and broadcast by its perpetrators, is daily obfuscated, if not denied, by the instruments of the West’s military and cultural hegemony: from the US president claiming that Palestinians are liars and European politicians intoning that Israel has a right to defend itself to the prestigious news outlets deploying the passive voice while relating the massacres carried out in Gaza. We find ourselves in an unprecedented situation. Never before have so many witnessed an industrial-scale slaughter in real time. Yet the prevailing callousness, timidity and censorship disallows, even mocks, our shock and grief. Many of us who have seen some of the images and videos coming out of Gaza – those visions from hell of corpses twisted together and buried in mass graves, the smaller corpses held by grieving parents, or laid on the ground in neat rows – have been quietly going mad over the last few months. Every day is poisoned by the awareness that while we go about our lives hundreds of ordinary people like ourselves are being murdered, or being forced to witness the murder of their children.

#israel #palestine #gaza #holocaust #zionism

[potuzzz]

This is an excellent question!

This is going to be an incredibly long answer!

On the surface, yes, it would appear that way. After all, nothing can beat the original Nazis at fascism, right?

However, upon closer inspection, we can see that the United States is not only a fascist country, but the most successful iteration of fascism to exist in human history. The Nazis are more overtly fascistic, but the true genius of U.S. fascism is how it has doled out more death and destruction but can avoid the Obvious Bad Guy reputation the Nazis quickly accumulated.

- - -

So fascism as we all know is tricky because 100 people will give 100 different definitions of it. I myself started off loving Umberto Eco's "Ur-Fascism," and eventually added more excellent breakdowns by people like Lenin, Parenti, etc.

Personally, my favorite way to simply define fascism is "imperialism, turned inwards," with imperialism of course being "the highest stage of capitalism," or "capitalism in decay." I myself do not really see fascism or imperialism as separate from each other in the same way that a highly abusive person is not fundamentally operating differently when they are abusing themselves versus abusing others; both are symptoms of a highly damaged person, whether they internalize it or externalize it, because in truth the two go hand-in-hand and reinforce each other. I also see fascism/imperialism as the logical development of capitalism, capitalism is meant to either evolve into socialism or stagnate and fester into fascism, capitalism cannot truly stay still. This becomes more evident when one sees Western-style social democracy as the prettiest face of fascism--and once one understands the true nature of social democracy as this, it will become quickly clear why the U.S. is so wholly and dangerously fascist.

For starters, let's go back to the whole internal vs. external abuse example.

If we look at the internal, domestic policy of the United States, no country has so wholly abused their subjects such as us. This country immediately began with the incredible genocide of an entire continent of the Native people, then was built on the backs of the most extensive slaving operation in human history. Alone what we did and continue to do to the Natives and to Black Africans cannot be matched. We have abused the Black American to the point that they are firmly relegated to a terrible second-class citizenship that is largely invisible to the average person--even American progressives tend to fail to truly understand how fundamentally different and crueler the role of the Black American is. This is of course to say nothing of the long tradition of the poor whites, the yeomen relegated to the same squalor and suffering who are pitted against their Black brethren while often enduring the same spit and whips.

Sex and gender here are so distorted that we are stuck with a choice between dangerously inhuman violent Puritan prudishness that seeks to burn all sexuality out of human beings with a red hot fire poker, or the debilitatingly depraved, violently hyper pornographic commodified oversexualization of anything and everything. Here, people may fuck with desperation or abstain with desperation, but rarely do people experience genuine connection, love, sensuality or eroticism.

Our incredible rates of suicide and mass shootings are a feature, not a bug. The depths of mental illness affecting all Americans is truly unique, and the cultural differences between us and other countries while not always able to be easily articulated neither by USians nor non-USians, is stark. Nowhere else is advertising so omnipresent, aggressive, relentless. Nowhere else is fear and misanthropy so cleverly interwoven into every facet of society. Nowhere else has the very existence and concept of community be so thoroughly devastated and perverted. Nowhere else does every single political faction--from fascists to conservatives to liberals to "leftists" to the "apolitical"--think they are truly anti-status quo and yet, without fail, wholly and happily adhere and advocate for the Empire's will at every turn.

It is genius because it is so completely unremarkable; people do not even register how evil the commercials on the TV or on their phones are. People don't get exposed to enough people outside of their bubble to truly appreciate how unnatural and fucked up their every interaction and supposed relationship with others is. It is so unceasing, people barely have a moment with their heads above water to have something decent to compare it to.

This is to say absolutely nothing about the state of our healthcare and education, which regularly and reliably gets worse results than some of the poorest countries in the world and yet with 100x the cost. We have the greatest homeless population in the world by several magnitudes.

This is to say nothing about the absolutely despicable state of every artistic medium of entertainment that is produced here or influenced by here, from our music to our movies to our shows, games, books, and all else. Dishonesty is so deeply ingrained in our way of life that I hardly see someone smile and mean it.

This is to say nothing of this being THE highest concentration of corporate power in the world--one of the most essential hallmarks of fascism. This is THE homebase of capitalism. We have a completely, openly non-existent democracy and yet, with fascistic Newspeak, we dare to chant about how free and democratic we are and how we must violently spread our freedom and democracy to the entire world.

Ah, yes, the entire world.

Another powerful hallmark of a true fascist entity is how they react to their foil, to their mortal enemy, to the opposite end of the dichotomy: socialism.

Every single even remotely leftward movement, individual, or country in the last 100 years has, at the very least, endured an attempted murder (or hundreds of attempts) by the U.S. government. The entire continents worth of people in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia were all steadily becoming more and more progressive, many interested in outright socialism, in the 1900s. And time after time, we violently invaded, couped, bombed, assassinated, sieged, embargoed, and starved them. We have installed fascist dictators and fermented fascist movements in every nook and cranny of the world--even our lily white European counterparts we keep as pets in the garden were not safe from this. Our war doctrine has not just the precedence by the outright encouragement to target water treatement facilities, hospitals, schools, churches, playgrounds, factories, power plants, libraries. We kill children for sport and then post-humously label them "combatants." When people flee our flood of death, we will napalm entire ecosystems just to ensure that no man, woman, or child can live on this land if we can't own them and use them as slaves. Hundreds of millions of civilians ALONE have died by our hands, and that's just going off of what we openly admit to doing. Democracy, prosperity, and peace by foreign people in foreign lands is treated like a cancer by the U.S., to be eradicated with extreme impunity.

When we are not exporting raw death and destruction, we export racism, lies, anti-intellectualism, psychologically manipulative advertising, destability, insecurity, queerphobia...

We are literally destroying the world as the single greatest contributor to climate change, both by lifetime pollution and per-capita contributions. And this DOESN’T include the U.S. military, the true single greatest polluter on the planet, who gets a pass from being counted. Because, oh yeah, we have complete control of the Western institutions that define the rules for our world. We completely control the academia, the media, the sciences, and the rules for trade, diplomacy, war, and all else--none of which we follow--and those who dare to make their own rules, we seek their death.

Some of the worst empires in recent history were some of our greatest inspirations. When we inherited the British Empire, we didn't criticize them for their genocides of the Indians or the Irish, or carving up the world to plunder and sparking endless needless conflicts, we said, "Wow, cool. We can do that, but more subtly and effectively!" Our form of evangelical fascist Christianity is an evolution of the European conquistadors and missionaries that preceded us. America LOVED fascist Germany until our interests in domination eventually pitted us against each other; we ignored the Soviet stories of the Holocaust for as long as we could, we could not send American soldiers to undo this damage because they were too sympathetic to the Nazis over the Jews and Slavs and gays and Blacks and disabled, and after firebombing Dresden and Tokyo for fun, after nuking Japan twice despite their defeat and surrender being well-known to be immediately imminent, after all of this what did we do? We fought against the other Allied Powers, who had suffered actual invasion and destruction and death, to preserve the lives of as many Nazis as we could. Why? To integrate them. We brought powerful Nazis into the US as scientists, think tankers, sociologists, legislators, generals, and said, "Hey! We really liked what you were doing, but it was a little sloppy. We like your spunk, kid, you just need to buff the rougher edges. Let's build something together!"

Whether we are talking raw body count, destroyed cultures, destroyed countries, destroyed ecosystems, or more abstract things like the damage to people's psyches and sensibilities, there is no contest. The United States beats all other fascist empires put together. The British, Japanese, Germans, Romans, and Israelis combined don't do a dent compared to the stain United States of America has left on the human race.

- - -

Fascism to me is ultimately a spiritual addiction to fear that operates on the bleakest possibly understanding of reality, with everything else being a symptom of this core disease. And if there is one thing I see when I look on the face of an American? It's fear, and an unrealistically pessimistic understanding of how life is and how reality operates.

We are the singularly most brainwashed population in the world. Our values are so horrifically butchered and removed from normal human experience, our worldviews so radically corrupt, I daresay it would take the most extensive, intensive and resource-heavy re-education campaign in human history to undo the damage the system has inflicted upon, unfortunately, not just US citizens but on hundreds of minds across the world we have polluted through our influence.

- - -

I want to be clear that, obviously, other countries and peoples throughout history of all colors have done terrible things. Part of that is just the human experience. However, the internal logic of capitalism necessarily and invariably results in the highest echelons of power being occupied by deeply insecure misanthropic psychopaths who have the most potent and insatiable hunger of any human being, increasingly, slowly over time. A wide array of factors all played into the U.S. becoming the focal point of evil, and if just one variable had shifted it might have been somebody different. But it is us, and the world is a brighter place every day deeper we go into the 2020s and this bastard beast dies slowly by no hand other than its own.

- - -

This honestly could no joke be a 400 page book so I am heavily generalizing, glossing over entire insane tangents, reducing incredibly depraved events into vague gestures. This shit goes as deep as you like.

#political discourse #socialism #communism #capitalism #marxism leninism #politics #leftism #anarchism #fascism #social democracy #history #nazism #american fascism #fascist #racism #queerphobia #military industrial complex #imperialism #america bad #mkultra

[sourcreammachine]

i love how the self-titled Effective Altruists and cuntbags like musk believe that the “demographic crisis” of the 21st century is like a massive insane problem that we need to solve by farting out babies 24/7, as they said in that recent Kurzgesagt propaganda video they produced

it is capitalism that’s the problem, again. growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of a cancer cell. we ‘grow’ when we produce more, and our investments are based around potential growths rather than what is needed - so when alleged ‘potential’ can’t materialise, the economy collapses

we will be able to produce less when there will be less workers. future spacex neuralink hyperloop tech might soften the blow but won’t be able to change that fact

this is coming towards capitalism like a high-speed train. most executives are essentially wagies visàvis their positions as gods of the world, so systemically cannot respond to a problem more than twenty years ahead of time. but oligarchs like musk and formerly bankman-fried, with their oligarchic status seemingly made permanent (lol), become weird nutters who’ve given themselves messiah complexes about “solving” it. we must increase production always at all costs, so we must increase babies at all costs

growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of a cancer cell. the economy is going to shrink and we must not let this cause a world-eating depression under capitalism. we have to accept that we’re peaking, stop investing resources into growth and start investing resources into efficiency, systemic resilience, and services, and drop dead-weight unsustainable overproduction that’s killing the planet. stop even trying to grow the economy during a period of global decline - the global Very Long Boom and global Baby Boom gave a economic dividend that must be repaid

socialistic economics, redistribution, and economic democracy can let this pressure. we have to do managed decline, work towards working better with less workers and less labour, and support untold masses of pensioners. capitalism simply cannot do this. if under capitalism the economy was recessing massively, but don’t worry, in many years the ageing recession will cease and growth should resume with stability - investment simply will not go towards what is needed to improve life under the status quo and will be hedged until growth resumes, and so nothing good will ever come

that’s why the so-called “effective altruists” and muskists are so bothered about preventing what they see as demographic collapse - should it occur it’ll wreak a huge economic recession, be it slow or as a crash, and lead to a world of impoverished pensioners starving on the street. so their solution is babies at all costs, when instead we could have a world where a period of managed decline spurs reinvestment in what we have, a silver age of planet earth, a global new deal beyond measure. and when the massive wave of pensioners dies, we will have good services and sustainable economics, and enriched communities with fruitful childhoods and good educations, and yeah, we can use our growth potential to not just prevent environmental destruction (capitalism’ll’ve already triggered a lot) but do our level headed best to fix it, become the stewards of Earth that we’re abdicating ourselves as, and fuck it, have enough money to reshape the world into a happy and good place to live a life

but capitalism cannot do that. because capitalism cannot accept decline. because capitalism must have growth at any costs, and will continue to beat the dead horse until the skies darken with soot and until the baby boomers who built the longest boom are left to rot without care or food and their children are enslaved to keep the fires burning. and to bring back the boom times, it must be babies at any cost

footnote: this was mostly about economics but there’s one more angle that would’ve made a bit of a tangent. musk’s side of the coin has a massive, massive misogynistic basis. musk, the individual, is famously a total creep. people with breeding kinks can breathe a sigh of relief because he is not one of you - his is a breeding perversion. he has an obsession with creating as many of his own children as possible and subscribes to the belief that a Man’s worth can be measured with his spawn. and so many of his ilk believe the same. this is how he can have child after child despite obviously not caring for them and doing his duty as a parent - parenting ten children should basically be a full time job. it takes a village: this is a village. and i don’t mean to point fingers, but with his first wife he had a set of twins via ivf and then a set of triplets via ivf, and many more children later, including after the birth of the human person he calls “X Æ A-Xii”, he had a second child with Grimes via surrogacy. this worldview undoubtedly affects his everyday misogyny and transphobia - women’s utility is as utility, trans men do iRrEvErSiBlE dAmAgE to their mere utility, and trans women go against womanhood due to having no utility. he abandoned his own fucking daughter for being trans. creepy, disgusting, indefensible - and this man is one of the gods of our world, enacting his poisonous worldview without oversight

and ragging on cunts like musk isn’t letting the ““effective altruists”” off the hook. their circles, as organisations or just general society, has an oft-reported massive sexism problem. multiple EA members have been accused of creating a toxic atmosphere hostile to women, of sexual misconduct, and of grooming with intention to form poly relationships. an ideology of reducing humans to utility, of stressing population growth, and of getting ants in your pants about demographic crisis does not combine well with latent misogyny and the patriarchal, male near-exclusive echelons of capitalism

#196 #idk how to tag this #sorta went off on one again #socialism

[anjels001]

Secrets of Devildom: Envy Demons (Part 1)

Those who have read the theory of the 7 Og and the cycle of life (thank you @sparkbeast20 for the cooperation) know that there are many gaps in the annon, and many of the events that occurred in the annon are not explained, and/or left implicit without any context.

For those following these moments of theory, you may notice that I have been talking a lot about the demonic classes, their "history," and culture before, during, and after the fall of the brothers, focusing most of these moments on philosophical/mythological debates, pointing out plot points that few would see and understand.

Well, we have already talked about 5 of the seven sin classes, namely Greed, Lust, Sloth, Gluttony, and Wrath.

Today we will talk about the most common emotion, Common in all human relationships present at all times even if we do not realize its existence......

….(insert supernatural intro)…

...We will talk about Envy.

But before starting this theory moment, I ask you, dear reader, to keep an open mind for this moment, and if you want to point out any flaws, or if I am forgetting something, remember that this is just a theoretical post. I won't be upset if you want to add something to this conversation, I just ask that you reblog and tag me so that we can exchange theories on the subject.

Like all theories about demonic classes, I will begin with the famous question: what do we know about envy?

For Aristotle, envy is like a wound that arises when we see another person's good fortune, a feeling stimulated by "those who have what we desire." The English philosopher Bertrand Russell described it as a powerful cause of unhappiness, indicating that the unhappy person is not only affected by envy but also bothers or at least desires the life of others. Russell, however, saw envy as a driving force behind economies, as well as an element that helps maintain democracy.

In Psychology, envy is defined as a displacement of energy, where the individual's focus shifts to the satisfaction and pleasure of others, to the detriment of their potential. It is a psychological pain that arises when we compare ourselves to others and feel that our values, self-esteem, and respect are diminished. Envy is the painful perception of what we lack, aroused when someone possesses characteristics superior to ours.

Sigmund Freud, the renowned Austrian psychoanalyst, saw envy as a result of unconscious hatred, rooted in childhood and intimately linked to anger and depression.

In the spiritual context, envy is related to the emptiness of the soul, indicating a serious problem in how the individual deals with the world. It is a sign of an inability to grow, resulting in a desire to hold others back. Envy originates in covetousness and, when uncontrolled, can lead to destructive attitudes, such as attacking others' achievements instead of seeking one's development.

With that in mind, we can conclude that Leviathan, once a celestial general, saw his life turned upside down after experiencing incredibly traumatic events: war, revolt, loss of his sister, the fall followed by the event of Species Change, and exile from the place he considered his home. 

[A/n: Man, doesn't that open another can of worms? Just thinking about it makes you understand how screwed the brothers are.]

We can then analyze that these events triggered an identity crisis, leaving Leviathan feeling lost and purposeless. He saw himself as a useless opportunist in a world where he no longer had a defined role. His proximity to Lucifer and Lilith during the Great Celestial War reflects his loyalty and sense of justice and his family. However, upon becoming a demon, Leviathan found himself trapped in a cycle of jealousy and self-pity. Feeling inferior and unjustly treated, he withdrew from the outside world, opting for a life of seclusion and escapism through his passions: anime, manga, and video games.

Leviathan's behavior is a manifestation of the trauma he carries with him. His jealousy and self-deprecation are symptoms of his internal struggle to find his place in the world. He often lashes out in anger when he feels threatened or unjustly treated, and his ability to summon Lotan reflects his need to protect himself from his fears and insecurities.

However, it is in his interactions with other characters that we see a nuance in his personality. His relationship with MC is a turning point in his journey, as he finds in MC a true friend and confidant. Through MC, Leviathan learns to face his fears and accept himself, regardless of his flaws and imperfections.

His relationship with Lucifer, Mammon, and other demon brothers is marked by conflicts and rivalries, reflecting his internal struggle to find his place in the hierarchy of Devildom. However, it is in moments of vulnerability that we see a more human facet of Leviathan, where he seeks connection and acceptance.

Considering these aspects, when we compare the characteristics of Leviathan and his relationship with the other avatars, we can assume that the Third Circle of Hell, the Circle of Envy, is a competitive environment, full of envious people who constantly seek high status and boast about their superiority.

In this competitive environment, there is immense development in various sectors, with a strong focus on technology and entertainment.

We can infer that, compared to other circles of hell, the Third Circle is more dependent on the others, mainly on the First (Circle of Pride) and the Second (Circle of Greed), which significantly support it.

Based on that card with a futuristic background, we can imagine the Third Circle would be a mix of the equivalent of Japan, Tokyo, and Atlantis in the human world. I believe it's more like a blend of the Tron universe and Naboo from Star Wars, or even Kamino, with a futuristic and technological setting, perhaps even located at the bottom of the ocean.

Thus, considering that in the Circle of Wrath, the inhabitants are scholars with explosive temperaments, we can conjecture that the inhabitants of Leviathan's Circle would be nerds, geeks, and otakus with inferiority complexes and tendencies to let their imagination run wild, unchecked.

We can also think that, due to its dependence on neighboring Circles, many of the technologies and developments of the Third Circle are controlled or contained to prevent them from falling into the hands of the chaotic public of the other realms. I'm sure more than half of the paperwork Luci does is aimed at containing and controlling the technological flow developed in the Third Circle.

But what do you think of this theory? Do you think I described Levi well? Or did I psychograph him a lot? And about the kingdom of envy, can you imagine something like that? If so, comment and/or send us your perception of this theory, I would love to cover this subject.

For those who want to know more about this specific series in this theoretical series, just search my page #Secrets of Devildom or go to Obey-me masterlist

#anjels001 comment #anjels001 theory #hello there #Obey-me theory #anjels ask #omswd #obey me #obey me shall we date #swd obey me #obey me! #obey me theories #obey me theory #shall we date?: obey me! #omswd Levi #avatar of Envy #Secrets of Devildom #omswd leviathan #obey me leviathan #obey me nightbringer

[deadpresidents]

This may be a goofy question for someone who’s blog is dedicated to the Presidency, but do you think that the U.S. Presidency is ultimately a net good for the country and the world? Should the US try a system without such a powerful executive branch?

That's not a goofy question at all, especially in 2024!

I think the American system as originally envisioned by the Founders -- with three truly equal and balanced branches of the federal government with a definitive separation of powers -- was brilliant and effective. But that's not the country we live in anymore. The three branches not only don't respect the powers of each other, but they often don't respect the powers of their own branch, which means there is no balance of power. If there's no true balance of power amongst the separate branches, the entire design flat-out doesn't work.

The problem is that this is the system and has been since 1789, so you can't really put the toothpaste back in the tube. But there are certainly many aspects of the Westminster system or even a dual executive republic like the French government that would be a more efficient and genuinely democratic way of governing a modern democracy. There are drawbacks, too, but I don't think our system is ideal when it's challenged by the petty and destructive politics of the United States in the 21st Century, which is dominated by this awful determination to actively obstruct government. There are scores of American politicians who run for office on the idea of NOT doing things and literally keeping the government progress derailed.

#Government #Federal Government #U.S. Constitution #Balance of Power #Separation of Powers #U.S. Federal Government #Democracy #Politics #Westminster System #Parliamentary Government #Dual Executive Republic #Democratic Republic #Founding Fathers

[theculturedmarxist]

Our civilization is sick because all its systems ensure that human behavior is driven by profit, and health isn’t profitable. Nobody gets rich from everyone staying healthy all the time. The gears of capitalism will still keep turning if its populace is made shallow and dull by bad education and crappy art made for profit. Billionaires aren’t made by leaving forests and oceans unmolested, consuming less, mining less, drilling less, using less energy. The economy doesn’t soar when the world is at peace and nations are working together in harmony.

If you programmed an advanced AI to arrange human behavior solely around extracting the maximum amount of profit possible using existing technologies, its world wouldn’t look a whole lot different from the real one. We’re being guided by unthinking, unfeeling systems that don’t care about the good of our minds, our hearts, our health, or our biosphere, which will sacrifice all of the above to accomplish the one goal we’ve set them to accomplish.

It’s just a dogshit way to run a civilization. It doesn’t work. It’s left us with a dying world full of crazy morons hurtling toward nuclear armageddon on multiple fronts. Our systems have failed as spectacularly as anything can fail.

It’s simple really: we settled for capitalism as the status quo system because it’s an efficient way to churn out a lot of stuff and create a lot of wealth, but now we’re churning out too much stuff too quickly and society is enslaved by the wealthy. So now new systems are needed.

❖

So much of modern political life consists of the ruling class tricking the public into trading away things the ruling class values in exchange for things the ruling class does not value. Trading revolution for the feeling of being revolutionary. Trading actual freedom and democracy for the story of having freedom and democracy. Trading away the civil rights our rulers actually care about like unrestricted speech and freedom from surveillance in exchange for culture wars about racism and transphobia. Trading real labor for imaginary money. In every way possible we’re being duped into trading away real power for empty narrative fluff.

❖

One part of the problem is that in this mind-controlled dystopia people are prevented from knowing how deeply evil their government is, so the idea of their government surveilling them and regulating their speech and their access to information doesn’t scare them like it should.

This is why it annoys me when people say “Stop talking about the problems, we need to talk about solutions!” It’s like mate, we’re so far from ever being able to implement solutions — we haven’t even gotten to a point where a significant number of people know the problems exist. Step one is spreading awareness of the problems and their sources, because nobody’s going to turn and fight an enemy who they still believe is their friend. Systemic solutions are pretty far down the track from that point.

❖

It’s a pretty well-established fact by now that free will doesn’t exist nearly to the extent that most religions, philosophies and judicial systems pretend it does. Our minds are very hackable and propaganda is very effective. If you don’t get this, you don’t understand the problem.

Do a deep dive into cognitive biases and how they operate. Look into the research which shows our brains know what decisions we’re going to make several seconds before the conscious mind thinks we’re making them. You’re going to tell me these are organisms with free agency?

In order to understand what we’re up against you have to understand psychological manipulation, how effective it is, and why it works, because mass-scale psychological manipulation is the primary force preventing the public from turning against our rulers in our own interest.

❖

It seems like a lot of the inertia and self-defeating hopelessness that people have about fighting the machine comes from knowing the political awakenings of the sixties fizzled out, but I don’t think that would be the case if people understood just how much hard work the machine had to put into making them fizzle.

I mean, we all get that the death of activist movements didn’t just happen on its own, right? We all know about COINTELPRO? Known instances where one out of every six activists was actually a federal infiltrator? The roll-out of the most sophisticated propaganda machine that has ever existed?

The amount of energy the western empire has poured into killing all leftist and antiwar movement is staggering, but people just think the acid wore off and the hippies turned into yuppies and the Reagan administration happened on its own. It didn’t. They had to work hard at that.

The revolution didn’t organically fizzle out, it was actively strangled to death. And what’s left in its place is this defeatist attitude where people want a healthy society but believe it can’t be attained, so it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. We COINTELPRO ourselves now.

People think we can’t use the power of our numbers to force the emergence of a healthy society, and we don’t deserve one because we dropped the ball. But we didn’t knowingly drop the ball, we were manipulated out of it. And the manipulators had to work very, very hard to do so. Those movements died out because the machine understood very clearly that it needed to stomp them out with extreme aggression and knew exactly what it needed to do to accomplish this, while ordinary people did not. It’s not a fair fight if only one party knows it’s a fight.

The machine won one battle and everyone’s acting like they won the war. They didn’t. We can absolutely pick up the fight again, and we can overwhelm them with our numbers. If we had any idea how hard they had to work to win that one battle, this would be clear to everybody.

#revolution #leftism #socialism #communism #capitalism #caitlin johnstone #cointelpro

[louistonehill]

I don't know how to express to people on here (particularly US Americans) that stories are a beautiful expression of the human voice and that no matter what that is expressing, the act of expression itself should be protected with nail and tooth and hellfire

Book bans are never good

Burning books is never good

There is no reality where judging a piece of work amoral and therefore unnecessary is good.

Censorship is an act of destruction upon our democracy. No matter how cleanly it is performed it is an act of horrific violence upon our humanity

Literature is beautiful. Art is wonderful. No matter what is depicted

Treating it as if it is dangerous is privileged and ignorant, and I can only implore you to step out into the real world and see it for all the chaos and violence and horror that it contains. Not to repeat it, but to aid, like every writer and artist does, in informing others of that reality so that we can all grow a little kinder.

That is what those banned and burned books were for. That makes their very existence moral, their voices necessary

Learn how to be quiet and listen, or we shall all suffer the consequences of their silence

#more rambles #random stuff #art #literature #book burning #book bans #censorship #it's absolutely infuriating but I'm trying to word this in a way that doesn't alienate

[thezeinterviews]

L'Express: Olena Zelenska, First Lady of Ukraine: "Don't forget us!"

The wife of President Volodymyr Zelensky reminds us that the Russian-led war is still raging throughout her country.

Propos recueillis par Eric Chol et Charles Haquet

Publié le 08/11/2023 à 10:57

She doesn't dress in khaki like her husband, Volodymyr Zelensky, but she too is on the front line defending her country. On November 8 and 9, Olena Zelenska is in Paris to inaugurate a Ukrainian cultural institute and raise funds for her humanitarian foundation. While the world's attention is focused on the Israeli-Palestinian war, and the Middle East is on the brink of explosion, the First Lady sends this powerful message to L'Express: "Don't forget Ukraine!" And let's not turn away from the soldiers fighting in the trenches of Bakhmut and Robotyne. Because their freedom is our freedom too. And Vladimir Putin will not stop at the borders of the former Soviet Republic. "The nature of an empire is to expand," she stresses. "It only stops if you stop it."

As one war drives out another, the mistake would be to consider that we cannot hold two fronts at the same time. And to admit that opinions "only have room in their intelligence and emotion for one conflict", in the words of philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy, co-author of a remarkable film on the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.

In Washington, the most radical Republicans, unconvinced by the Ukrainian counter-offensive, want to dissociate the aid given to Israel and Kiev. All the better to torpedo the latter. As US President Joe Biden says, Hamas and the Kremlin share the same goal: "to annihilate a neighboring democracy". Who, then, to favor? In reality, our only option is not to choose.

L'Express: Almost two years of war in Ukraine, a frozen front, a Russian army stepping up its bombing: how are the Ukrainians doing?

Olena Zelenska: It's a very difficult life. You'd think we'd get used to this stress, this constant upheaval, but that's not possible! A month ago, we experienced a great tragedy with the bombing of Hroza, in the Kharkiv region, where a Russian missile killed almost a third of the village's inhabitants. Imagine a funeral in every house… To top it all off, these people were gathered to attend a funeral, so it's the deaths that lead to other deaths, individual deaths, collective deaths. On October 21, the whole of Ukraine was shaken by the destruction of a postal sorting center in Kharkiv. Six employees working in the depot were killed. Some people abroad, and even here at home, sometimes imagine that there is a part of Ukraine where there is no war, where life is in full swing, where everything is going well. But this is not true! Because no matter where you are in the country, you can never be sure of being safe, of waking up the next day, of being able to go to work… The forecast horizon for Ukrainians has become very short. But we must continue to live, to develop, to rebuild, to raise our children. We must learn to plan each day, to adopt strategies, even if they may not be implemented. To my mind, it's a way of life, with the hope of victory on one side, which will come quickly, and on the other the constant trials that bring us down, but from which we have to get up every time.

As a frequent traveler in Ukraine, what is the story that has struck you most in recent weeks?

To tell the truth, I'd like to travel more in my country to meet the people who have suffered the most, but unfortunately this isn't always possible. Every discussion with my compatriots leaves a new imprint on my emotions. Let me tell you what has always impressed me. As part of my foundation's work, I meet regularly with foster families who take in children, most of them orphans, and these families are often made up of internally displaced people. They have fled occupied, bombed-out regions to settle in other parts of Ukraine. Unfortunately, in most cases, this is not the first time these families have fled: back in 2014, they had to leave the Donetsk region. Today, they have to leave their homes once again. Imagine their emotions! We're dealing with families who are constantly forced to flee the war, but it keeps catching up with them. To tell you the truth, I can't imagine how anyone can survive in this situation, how anyone can live when they're being chased by war. Because it's not a tsunami or a forest fire that forces them to leave: those who target them are people who come to kill, and that's what's so frightening!

Since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, all eyes have been on the Middle East. Do you fear that the world is turning its attention away from Ukraine?

First of all, I'd like to say that, like everyone else, we feel very strongly about what's happening in Israel, and we share the suffering of the Israeli people. We watched this terrorist attack by Hamas with great horror, but without surprise. It proves once again what we have been saying since the beginning of the war: if aggression is not stopped, it will continue in different forms and in different parts of the world. But we are not protected by the arrival of another tragedy, and that doesn't mean that the one in Ukraine has gone away. In fact, this war in the Middle East is only making the current tragic situation worse.

It is precisely for this reason that we hope the world will see how reacting slowly to tragedy only reinforces the desire of other aggressors to act. Impunity gives carte blanche! Particularly to those who have forces lined up behind them, enough financial and military resources around the world, and who feel that the time has come to act as they please, because they can. Unfortunately, this is the truth, which is why it's important to react quickly to all these aggressions, and not to each one separately, because they're all linked.

What is your message on this subject to the West, and in particular to France, where you have just arrived?

As I just said, it's vital not to let the world's attention wander away from Ukraine. We are already seeing that military aid to our country is arriving too slowly to bring about positive change on the front line. It's too slow, too quiet. It seems that Europe remains placid, and doesn't seem too frightened by the prospect of Russia's borders closing in on it. Yet this prospect is very real! Let's think about what would happen if Ukraine hadn't held out. In our place would be Russia, and hundreds of kilometers closer to you, to your homes. I wouldn't want other people in Europe, other mothers in Europe, to be afraid, not just of the possibility of Russian attacks, but of the physical sensation of that danger. Today, we are the barrier against this Russian advance. As long as we hold out, there's a chance they won't advance. But the empire won't stop if we don't stop it. Its nature is such that it must constantly expand. Otherwise, it ceases to be an empire! It's always looking to expand, and today, it's on our account. That's why we keep repeating that Ukraine defends the interests of the whole of Europe. Let's not forget that, and let's do things together!

You speak of a Europe that is too calm. How can we make sure it doesn't forget Ukraine?

We mustn't let it fall asleep! We often see this scene in the movies, of a person who's too cold, starts to freeze and falls asleep. If you don't want that person to die, you have to prevent them from falling asleep. I think the current situation is comparable: this sleep is dangerous for Europe. We can't fall asleep, we can't let Europe close its eyes today. I very much hope that my visit to France will serve as a reminder that the danger is still there. It is hanging over us now, and if we do nothing, it will unfortunately fall on your heads. I hope we can stop it.

During a recent visit to Washington, you said that the Russians wanted to destroy Ukrainian culture. As we know, war is fought in the trenches, but also on the cultural front. What can be done to counter the Russian narrative?

For a long time, Ukrainian artists and our country's cultural values and wealth were considered Russian by the rest of the world. Belonging to the Russian empire automatically made an artist Russian, which is not true. Today, our aim is to restore the place of this cultural heritage and tell the world what it really represents. I imagine that most French people don't always understand the boundary between Russian and Ukrainian. Many Ukrainian works around the world are still considered Russian. Take, for example, the dancers by French painter Edgar Degas. For many years, a painting was titled Russian Dancers. It was only recently that the National Gallery in London, then the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the USA, renamed it Ukrainian Dancers. The girls depicted are indeed groups of dancers in Ukrainian dress.

It's an example of the cultural battle we have to wage, even though we clearly don't have the means to devote so much money or administrative effort to beating Russian propaganda. We just can't. But we have to start disseminating more information about Ukraine in order to push back Russian lies. That's why I'm taking part in the inauguration of the Ukrainian Institute in Paris on November 9. This institute, the second to be opened abroad after Berlin a few months ago, is taking up residence at the Gaîté Lyrique in the heart of Paris. Its mission will be to disseminate knowledge about Ukraine and promote our culture throughout the world. Obviously, this work cannot be carried out solely from Ukraine - that would be too difficult. This is why this Parisian institute will be able to host artists' residencies and provide them with support, with the aim of creating cultural encounters and cross-cultural events, and strengthening cooperation with French cultural and scientific institutions. This will strengthen our ties and ensure that Russian stories are transformed and become Ukrainian stories.

Destroying Ukrainian culture also means stealing its future, in other words, its children. Several thousand of them have been deported to Russia: how can we get them back?

More than 19,600 Ukrainian children have been taken to Russia, according to our social services. It's a tragedy. I'm thinking in particular of this father from Marioupol, imprisoned by the Russians, whose three children were kidnapped. When he was released, he looked for them everywhere, he was desperate. Until one day, his son called him. He was in Russia and told him he was going to be adopted.

The longer the children stay in Russia, the deeper the psychological impact. The 380 children we were able to bring back to Ukraine all tell of the same ordeal. When they arrive in Russia, they are subjected to a patriotic education. They must learn to love their new homeland. To do this, they must be convinced that they have been abandoned and that no one is looking for them. It's real mental torture.

Unfortunately, there is no official way of getting them back. The Russians don't want to hear about it, they won't answer our questions. Our only recourse is action by the international community. At the last UN General Assembly, I proposed the creation of a mechanism that would at least enable us to establish a dialogue with the Russians, via a third country for example. For us, it's a question of making sure that these children are all right and that they can return home. As soon as possible.

You're very committed to the subject of mental health. What is the psychological state of Ukrainians after more than six hundred days of war?

Ukrainians are suffering from two types of illness. Firstly, there are those who feel fear, uncertainty and the inability to plan ahead. They have loved ones at the front who could be killed every day and every night. It's a constant source of anxiety. Our all-Ukrainian mental health program is working on this, with an emphasis on education. People need to understand what they're suffering from and know that they can be treated. Then, we need to deploy services that enable them to quickly get in touch with specialists, close to their home or workplace, free of charge.

And then there are the victims of post-traumatic syndromes - both military and civilian. They all benefit from adapted programs, including children, who are not always able to ask for help. We need to raise awareness among parents, who are sometimes reluctant to alert the relevant services. For example, the manager of a new rehabilitation program for traumatized children told me that their parents refused to let them go to a therapeutic camp, because they didn't understand how it could help them. We need to break this taboo.

Speaking of children, how are yours coping with this situation? What words do you use to reassure them? And how do they see the future?

The worst thing for us is not being able to make plans. We live from day to day, hoping for tomorrow. I have two children. My eldest daughter is 19, so she can already be considered an adult. She's at university. Half the courses are online, but she goes there from time to time, which is very good for her socialization. It allows her to make plans for the week ahead, it gives her a rhythm to her life and forces her to move forward. My youngest son is 10, and can go to school because the school has an air-raid shelter. This means he can attend certain classes face-to-face, have friends and communicate with them. It's a real blessing.

But when my children ask me, "When will we go to the seaside on vacation?", I can only reply, "Not now, but let's think together about what we'll do after the victory." This way of putting off all pleasant things until later, of not being able to give a date, obviously limits children in their dreams, in their projects. And it's the same for all the country's children. Youth is a time of dreams, and dreams should know no boundaries. Unfortunately, our children's dreams have limits, and these cannot be exceeded.

In 2022, you set up a foundation dedicated to humanitarian aid, health and education. What are the first results?

A positive one. In Izium, we are restoring the hospital, half of which had been destroyed and looted by the Russians. We have started work on the most critical unit, the four operating rooms. We now need to continue its reconstruction. Another priority is helping large adoptive families. Many of them are displaced persons who no longer have a home, and it is very difficult to find them a new one. Our project will enable us to build 14 apartment blocks for these families. The first residences will be available in December, the others in the spring. After that, we hope to build more. The need is great: at least 80 large adoptive families have lost their homes because of the war.

Secondly, we are trying to support our education system in the regions near the front. Our children and teachers need resources such as tablets and laptops. It's difficult to get materials to them because of the security situation. Last month, a Russian missile hit a school in Nikopol, southwest of Dnipro. The buildings were destroyed. We thought the laptops, donated by the United Arab Emirates, were lost. But when we cleared away the rubble, we realized that they were intact. We were able to deliver the laptops to the students, so that they could prepare to enter university and continue their studies. In one year, the foundation handed out almost 50,000 devices to children and teachers. Access to education, even in wartime, is a key issue.

And then there's the problem of bombing. In Ukraine, one school in seven can no longer accommodate children because it has no air-raid shelter to protect them in the event of an air raid. We are therefore building shelters in six schools and one kindergarten in the Chernihiv, Poltava, Dnipro and Kirovograd regions, and we plan to implement similar projects in other parts of Ukraine.

Finally, there's humanitarian aid. We are helping those most affected, especially those living in the Kharkiv and Kherson regions. When the Russians targeted our energy system last year, we supplied these people with dozens of electric generators. People were living in half-destroyed houses, with no heating, no electricity. They were suffering. We helped them heat their homes and provided them with basic necessities. We're preparing to do the same thing this year, because unfortunately there's no hope of Russia abandoning its destructive plans against our energy system.

How has the war changed you and your husband?

I feel as if the year and a half we've just lived through counts as ten years… It's been an extremely emotionally draining time. I hope that this ordeal won't change us forever, and that it won't prevent us from looking to the future with optimism.

Afterwards, knowing how I've changed, how my husband has changed… I think we'll be able to answer that question in several years' time, when we'll be able to take a cold look at all this madness. For the moment, it's not possible.

Article

#olena zelenska #olena selenska #ze interview #olena interview #russia #ukraine #war #translated interview #interview 2023 #2023 #lexpress interview #lexpress #zelenska

[kp777]

By Brett Wilkins

Common Dreams

Oct. 10, 2023

The leftist former Greek finance minister urged Europeans to "wake up and redeem ourselves" by working for the "destruction of the state of apartheid" against Palestinians.

Former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis—who heads the leftist Democracy in Europe Movement 2025—on Tuesday blamed Europe for complicity in Israel's "crimes against humanity" in Palestine, while asserting that the only way to achieve peace is by ending Israeli apartheid against Palestinians.

"Those who try very hard to extract from people like me... a condemnation of the attack by the Hamas guerrillas will never get it," Varoufakis toldred in an interview explaining why he refuses to denounce the surprise weekend infiltration attack by Gaza-based militants that killed at least 900 Israelis.

Varoufakis continued:

And they will never get it for a very simple reason. Those who care about humans without any discrimination; those who care equally about a Jew and an Arab, must ask themselves a very simple question: What exactly is their idea of a cessation of hostilities? That the Palestinians are going to lay down their arms and go back into the largest open-air prison in the world, where they are constantly suffocated by the apartheid state?

"Any human being living under apartheid at some point will either die a terrible silent death or rebel and take some innocent people with them," Varoufakis said.

Addressing European complicity in Israeli apartheid, Varoufakis asserted that "the criminals here are not Hamas. Not even the Israeli settlers who are killing Palestinians. The criminals are Europeans. Us."

"We have participated in this crime against humanity over the decades by keeping our mouths shut," he added. "As long as people are dying outside the reach of cameras, as long as it's Palstinians who die and not the occupiers."

Varoufakis urged Europe to "wake up and redeem ourselves" by working for the "destruction of the state of apartheid."

While Palestinians and international figures including former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, United Nations officials, and South African anti-apartheid activists have for decades called Israel's policies and practices in Palestine apartheid, major Western human rights organizations—including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Israeli groups Yesh Din and B'Tselem—have only recently begun to do so, as have a growing number of U.S. congressional Democrats.

So have prominent Israelis including former Attorney General Michael Ben-Yair, former Deputy Attorney General Yehudit Karp, and former ambassadors to South Africa Alon Liel and Ilan Baruch, as well as journalists, artists, veterans, and others.

Underscoring Varoufakis' remarks, Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25) posted on social media that "only one thing can put a stop to the tragic cycle of violence suffered by innocent Palestians and Israelis: the end of the Europe-supported Israeli apartheid."

Varoufakis' commentary came as Israeli forces continued a massive retaliatory assault on Gaza by air, land, and sea, killing at least 830 Palestinians, including at least 140 children, while wounding more than 4,000 others. Israeli air and artillery strikes have hit civilian targets including apartment buildings, medical facilities and workers, schools, mosques, and the Jabalia refugee camp, Gaza's largest.

As was the case in previous Israeli attacks on Gaza, entire families have been killed. Speaking Tuesday, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Daniel Hagari declared that "the emphasis is on damage and not on accuracy."

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Monday announced a "complete siege" of Gaza, saying Israel would block food and fuel from entering the territory of 2.3 million people—half of them children—and cut off its water and electricity, actions experts say likely amount to war crimes.

Given the hundreds of Israelis killed, the high death tolls in previous IDF assaults on Gaza, and Israel's unofficial "hundred eyes for an eye" policy, many observers fear thousands of Palestinians could be killed in the coming days and weeks.

Far-right Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed that Israel will exact a "mighty vengeance" for the weekend attacks, while Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich declared that it is "time to be cruel" and parliamentarian Ariel Kallner has called for a "Nakba that will overshadow the Nakba of '48," a reference to the ethnic cleansing of over 750,000 Arabs from Palestine during the founding of the modern state of Israel in 1947-48.

"I witnessed the wars of 2008, 2014, and 2021, but this is something unique in terms of the intensity... entire families have been killed," Nidal Hamdouna, a humanitarian worker with Norwegian-Danish group Church Aid, toldThe Guardian on Tuesday. "The concern is to what extent civilians are protected, but also how to find a safe place, even though there is no safe place to go to."

#israel #palestine #gaza #hamas #israeli apartheid #yanis varoufakis #europe #Nakba of '48

[repurpose-yourself]

Santa's Objectified Helpers 2 (3/7)

"You're quite the anarchist, I must say," Chris remarked, "Burned buildings. Threatened lawmakers. General destruction by any means to thwart government work. The list goes on and on."

Wade struggled against restraints keeping him firmly in place against a wooden chair, "So what?! Just because I was born an American doesn't mean I identify with their oppressive regime!"

Chris stood up from his desk and walked around to the front of it, standing a few feet away from Wade, "We're all entitled to our opinions. And from what I can see, in the U.S., you're welcome to broadcast them to anyone."

"Why the hell am I here?! Are you the police?" Wade interrupted, still yanking at the tight festive restraints.

"I'm not the police. But in your case, I might as well be. It's impressive how you managed to avoid serious jail time. Your threats and actions are not light, nor something tolerated well," Chris said.

"When they stop forcing free people to live lives they never agreed to, then I will stop my work. Until then, people will burn," Wade confidently retorted.

"Sure," Chris responded, shrugging at the statement, "Defiant until the last breath, I suppose. Regardless, I think a change of pace is necessary to correct your attitude towards harming others. And I have the perfect solution."

Wade started yelling profanities at Santa before darkness set in...

***

"This is a monumental occasion and one the American people will take pride in," a man announced before a crowd of people, "Support from all sides brought us here today and I thank my colleagues for their contributions."

From a low angle, Wade suddenly saw people standing all around him. Many were in suits while others, like the press, were slightly dressed down. Many eyes were on him, or at least that's what he felt. Unable to move and communicate, a sense of terror set in, especially after assessing the situation.

'A fucking law signing?! These fuckers need to die!' Wade yelled internally, a fierce hatred brewing inside.

"This is common sense law and will hold criminals accountable, especially those who threaten our democracy and this great country," the man said to applause, "Please, let's not hesitate a second longer. My friends, we shall sign this into law."

Weathered fingers approached Wade and immediately grasped the vulnerable individual. More profanity rattled around inside Wade's mind as he was lifted up and manipulated with ease. The man's thumb reached towards the top of Wade's existence and pressed a button, which was followed by a click.

'Get your fingers off of me!' Wade screamed inside.

The man's hand approached the newly drafted law and forced Wade into the high quality paper. The former human was drug all over, with fingers articulating minute movements and drawing the lawmaker's signature. Wade didn't understand how it was possible but he had become a pen, the very tool needed to increase the plight of the American people, at least how he saw it.

'No!' the living pen wailed internally, 'I will not be part of this travesty!'

One after another, Wade was handed around and defiled by way of signing provisions into law. Everything the former human worked for didn't matter at this moment, as control was fleeting, as well as humanity.

Another round of applause confirmed Wade's ever growing nightmare. The living pen was dropped into a wooden box next to the newly signed law and promptly sealed away under a heavy lid. In darkness, Wade listened to lawmakers congratulate each other before taking questions from the press.

"There are ways to fight for your cause that doesn't require violence and harm," a voice suddenly said, "In this capacity, you can no longer hurt people. And it is only you who can be blamed for this situation."

'I'm sorry! I won't do it again! Just release me from this hell!' Wade pleaded internally, hoping the voice would listen.

But just as quickly as it started, Chris' voice disappeared...

#inanimate object #inanimate tf #inanimate transformation #revenge tf #unaware tf #nonconsensual tf #pen tf

[probablyasocialecologist]

I want to address a problem that seems to arise repeatedly in public discussions about green growth and degrowth. Some prominent commentators seem to assume that the debate here is primarily about the question of technology, with green growth promoting technological solutions to the ecological crisis while degrowth promotes only economic and social solutions (and in the most egregious misrepresentations is cast as “anti-technology”). This narrative is inaccurate, and even a cursory review of the literature is enough to make this clear. In fact, degrowth scholarship embraces technological change and efficiency improvements, to the extent (crucially) that these are empirically feasible, ecologically coherent, and socially just. But it also recognizes that this alone will not be enough: economic and social transformations are also necessary, including a transition out of capitalism. The debate is therefore not primarily about technology, but about science, justice, and the structure of the economic system.

[...]

Ecological economists point out that when we scale back our assumptions about technological change to levels that are, to quote the physicist and ecological economist Julia Steinberger, “non-insane,” and when we reject the idea that growth in rich countries should be maintained at the expense of the Global South, it becomes clear that relying on technological change is not enough, in and of itself, to solve the ecological crisis. Yes, we need fast renewable energy deployment, efficiency improvements, and dissemination of advanced technology (induction stoves, efficient appliances, heat pumps, electric trains, and so on). But we also need high-income countries dramatically to reduce aggregate energy and material use, at a speed faster than what efficiency improvements alone could possibly hope to deliver. To achieve this, high-income countries need to abandon growth as an objective and actively scale down less necessary forms of production, to reduce excess energy and material use directly.

[...]

Degrowth does not call for all forms of production to be reduced. Rather, it calls for reducing ecologically destructive and socially less necessary forms of production, like sport utility vehicles, private jets, mansions, fast fashion, arms, industrial beef, cruises, commercial air travel, etc., while cutting advertising, extending product lifespans (banning planned obsolescence and introducing mandatory long-term warranties and rights to repair), and dramatically reducing the purchasing power of the rich. In other words, it targets forms of production that are organized mostly around capital accumulation and elite consumption. In the middle of an ecological emergency, should we be producing sport utility vehicles and mansions? Should we be diverting energy to support the obscene consumption and accumulation of the ruling class? No. That is an irrationality that only capitalism can love. At the same time, degrowth scholarship insists on strong social policy to secure human needs and well-being, with universal public services, living wages, a public job guarantee, working time reduction, economic democracy, and radically reduced inequality. These measures abolish unemployment and economic insecurity and ensure the material conditions for a universal decent living—again, basic socialist principles. This scholarship calls for efficiency improvements, yes, but also a transition toward sufficiency, equity, and a democratic postcapitalist economy, where production is organized around well-being for all, as Peter Kropotkin famously put it, rather than around capital accumulation. The virtue of this approach should be immediately clear to socialists. Socialism insists on grounding its analysis in the material reality of the world economy. It insists on science and justice. Yes, socialism embraces technology—and credibly promises to manage technology better than capitalism—but socialist visions of technology should be empirically grounded, ecologically coherent, and socially just. They should emphatically not rely on speculation or magical thinking, much less the perpetuation of colonial inequalities. Green growth visions fall foul of these core socialist values.

#jason hickel #degrowth #green growth #technocracy #ecosocialism

[1americanconservative]

@persianjewess

Many of my aunts and uncles didn’t flee #Iran as quickly as my parents did. They were older. They had multiple children. And they had established lives with businesses and homes. In many ways, they were also hopeful. “Maybe it won’t be so bad,” they thought. They were wrong. Seemingly overnight, the #Jewish schools my cousins attended fell under a new administration. Jewish teachers were fired and replaced with radicals loyal to the Islamic Regime. Each day in class, my cousins - some as young as 5 - and all their Jewish classmates had to stand up and recite “Death to America!” “Death to Israel!” as part of their morning ritual. If a child didn’t scream these phrases loud enough to the satisfaction of their sadistic teachers, they were punished. Parents were interrogated. If their answers weren’t satisfactory, they were imprisoned as “Zionist spies.” So the Jewish children made sure to scream these calls for death as loud as they could, to save their parents the wrath of the goons of the IRGC. And then, right on the heels of the Islamic Revolution, came the Iran-Iraq War and with it, the indoctrination of child soldiers into martyrdom. The IRGC drafted young boys, some as young as 9 years old, for mine-sweeping and other suicide missions. The children were given plastic ‘keys to paradise’ and promised that they would go directly to heaven if they died as martyrs against the Iraqi enemy. 9 out of 10 Iranian child soldiers died. An estimated 95,000 child soldiers were sacrificed by the Iranian Regime. My oldest cousin was 14. My aunt and uncle, desperate to save their son, scraped together what money they had to hire smugglers to sneak him out of Iran. The journey would take 2 weeks, with zero communication, and fraught with danger. Thousands who sought to escape via the smugglers never made it to their destination: killed or captured along the way. Their bodies lost to the desert. But staying was certain death. And so they sent off my 14 year old cousin by himself, praying they would be one of the lucky ones who would receive a phone call from their son in two weeks time once he reached Pakistan. It would be years before my aunt and uncle would be reunited with my cousin again. Today, we see the same sickening disregard for human life being carried out by the Islamic Regime’s proxy: Hamas. Islam is distorted and perverted to indoctrinate children into martyrdom and terrorism. Islamic Jihad and murder for the sake of “Allah” is glorified. Democratic countries like the #USA and #Israel are vilified. Because Hamas doesn’t care for Palestinians. Hamas is no more than Iran’s puppet. And Iran’s end goal is not Palestinian statehood, but the spread of radical Islam via the destruction of democracy. Israel, the only bastion of democracy in the Middle East, is just the Islamic Regime’s first target. This was NEVER about land. This was ALWAYS about the destruction of western values. And the war is already on our shores, in our schools, and in every violent Pro-Hamas protest we see in the streets.

So WAKE UP AMERICA, It’s time to smell the Jihad. Before it’s too late.