Fortress Earth: Drumpf’s dystopian vision of “law & order”

Open carry at RNC (REUTERS:Adrees Latif) July 23 2016

Fortress Earth: the dystopian, rightwing vision of security or what Drumpf proposes for “law & order.”

These half-baked advocates of open carry are patrolling the streets of Cleveland, Ohio with assault weapons during the Republican convention. Meanwhile thousands of schoolchildren, mothers with prams, people bustling to work go about their business unarmed.

Even as gunmen take to shooting & running down people in malls, schools, nightclubs, & public streets, is this the answer? Or is it possible to consider militarism & machismo gun culture as scourges to be addressed?

The historic imperative remains: rebuild the international antiwar movement & make our world safe for our children to come of age in, to live & love in.

(Photo by Adrees Latif/Reuters)

Israel’s apartheid wall: closes Palestinians in but not Israeli settlers out

Apartheid wall in Israel (REUTERS:Amir Cohen) July 23 2016

This is a section of the Israeli apartheid wall closing in the West Bank. The people in the scene are part of Netanyahu’s security personnel & entourage after a media briefing.

Curious thing about that apartheid wall: it only closes Palestinians in but not Israeli settlers out of the West Bank.

A similar version of this monstrosity crawls along the US border with Mexico. Drumpf wants it higher & more impenetrable. There are versions of this wall all over the world made of cement, razor wire, steel & monitored with drones, high-tech surveillance equipment & border guards. It’s become a planet of barriers between human beings & against human rights & democracy.

How has the world come to this!? More importantly, how can we stand together to reverse this aesthetic assault, violation of human rights, expression of rancid xenophobia & complete lack of democracy?

Building BDS is one way to address the apartheid wall in Israel.

(Photo by Amir Cohen/Reuters)

Petition against Facebook censorship making news

After reading five articles on FB censoring posts in solidarity with Kashmir, I did an internet search & came up with a page of articles from around the world. The articles are a repetition but reach vast numbers of readers. It’s a way to break the news barrier.

After three days, the petition has under 1,000 signatures and a long way to go. But Facebook censoring is making the news around the world, including in the Guardian-UK, Dawn.com, The Express Tribune, Yahoo, The Bangkok Post, Nation.com, The News.com, Daily Star, Gulf Today, plus several blogs.

Thank you for signing in defense of freedom of speech and in solidarity with our Kashmiri brothers and sisters under siege. If you haven’t yet, please sign the petition & become part of the news. Become part of defending freedom of speech:

https://www.change.org/p/facebook-stop-censoring-kashmiri-activists-on-facebook-reinstate-huma-dar?recruiter=723858&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=share_for_starters_page&utm_term=des-lg-share_petition-no_msg&recuruit_context=fb_share_mention_variant&fb_ref=Default

 

Facebook censoring & petition against it make the news

AFP photo

https://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/32130176/facebook-accused-of-censoring-posts-on-indian-kashmir/#page1

Facebook censoring of posts about Kashmir & our petition against it was reported by AFP on Yahoo news today. The reporter said “Facebook did not immediately respond to requests for comment.”

The petition has going on 1,000 signatures. No one expects it to end the occupation of Kashmir. We are trying to be the voice of those silenced by the internet & cell phone lockdown who played such a vital role on social media in breaking the news blackout about their struggle. We are trying to defend freedom of speech on FB & social media.

It’s worth asking–& not in an accusatory way–why so many Palestinian supporters were willing to overlook Bernie Sanders’ wretched views on Israel & Palestinian self-determination to ardently support him. And not just support him, but run others around the block justifying his compromises on justice for Palestine.

Now with Sanders remaining a committed Democrat, like he always said he was, many will flock to the campaign of Jill Stein who supports BDS but also has compromised views on Israel & Palestine–not to mention on US militarism. She only wants to reduce the military budget rather than end US militarism. She says she will use military aid as a threat to Israeli excesses.

Worst of all, are Clinton supporters. There is no way one can talk around her determined, even if entirely self-serving support for Israel & for US military aggression. Israel & Palestine are key questions in US & in world politics because Israel serves as the linchpin holding back democracy in the Middle East.

How do progressives broker such cognitive dissonance in their politics? It’s understandable that many would vote lesser evil because they believe voting is a right they want to exercise. What is not understandable at all is the ardency of their support & the bending of principles, especially on war, colonialism, occupation.

Progressives, especially the ones who pompously call themselves Marxists, like to think of themselves as leading politically. But when they’re voting Stein or Clinton & the majority of American voters don’t even bother to register for the electoral charade, maybe they’re not so much leading as being a dead weight dragged around by their asses by lesser evil ideology.

Curfew in Kashmir & its dangers to public safety

Curfew ISource- Express Photo by Shuaib Masoodi) July 23 2016

Media isn’t reporting the details of the curfew in Kashmir but only that it has been in force since July 9th. India has imposed restriction of movement which entails restriction on access to vital services. What if you require emergency medical treatment during the curfew period? If you try to get to a hospital will the Indian army shoot you down?

Consider what it means that a government allocates to itself the power to lock in an entire population like they were recalcitrant children. But of course it’s only done to prevent public gatherings to protest the occupation. That’s how afraid the Indian government is of democracy.

Photo is streets of Srinagar under curfew.

(Photo by Shuaib Masoodi in the Indian Express)

Clinton is making hay on Drumpf’s hate-mongering by calling for love. We can call her the love bomb candidate. She’ll drop those bombs but she’ll be doing it with love. And that kind of rhetorical crap is the only difference between Democrats & Republicans.

Several years ago, a Black schoolteacher in the US set off a furor over Mark Twain’s 1885 book “Huckleberry Finn,” which was part of the core curriculum in elementary school. In teaching the book to Black children, he saw they were traumatized by the book & not just by its use of the n-word.

To most white readers, Huckleberry Finn is an inspiring, anti-racist book & the furor completely threw many of them for a loop. Once you understand it as one of the earliest examples of white savior literature–along with Rudyard Kipling’s 1888 novella “The Man Who Would Be King”–the book’s artistic problems are clarified (in particular its odious ending); Twain’s racism becomes evident; & the book develops a distinct malodor. It speaks to the cognitive disorders of white supremacy that white readers are not immediately repulsed, as the Black schoolchildren were, that a puckish white street kid would save an adult Black man from slavery.

This controversy has not abated cinematic outpourings of white savior films which usually involve leading white & Black actors. Accidental & reflecting the racism of Hollywood? Or intentional social control to inculcate racism & supremacy?

This comes to mind because one TV station just showed two films about the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa & in both a white savior is the leading character & Black anti-apartheid activists merely props to showcase white nobility.

The genre clearly appeals to whites. It must be deconstructed & undone.

That “nature red in tooth & claw” thing is hard to reconcile with. My big galoot girl has been barking all morning under the house. She had all of the dogs whipped up just now & when I checked found they had cornered a possum–not one of nature’s prettiest creatures but very wrenching when terrified.

After chasing the dogs off she could scale the fence & I saw that not only was she limping & bleeding but was in the process of birthing. Now I fear she may have other new-borns under the house.

The dogs are grounded till she figures out what to do.