Excoriating racism wherever/however it manifests, & even where it lurks, is imperative. Racism is one of the most malignant & divisive political weapons on the planet. But talking about white privilege, separate from how racism manifests, is nothing but guilt-baiting & leads to a political dead-end. It’s observable that those who most engage in it are Brahmins or their class equivalents. There are other inequalities like gender, but especially class, that have a controlling impact on our lives. So that a Brahmin has opportunities & privileges in life that a white working class kid cannot even dream of. There’s nothing to be gained from white-baiting & I don’t say this as some sort of puny-assed defense of caucasian ethnicity. It puts the political emphasis on the wrong damn thing & makes being white a problem when the problem is racism. You can’t do anything about being white. But you can act politically to end racism. And that’s the difference.
Daily Archives: April 18, 2019
FB just banned British far-right groups Britain First, the English Defence League, & the British National Party from posting.
Anyone who posts in support of these groups will also be banned.
FB officials said the decision was taken against users who “proclaim a violent or hateful mission or are engaged in acts of hate or violence.” Since FB censors decide what constitutes a “violent or hateful mission”, this signals an escalation of censorship & political repression. They are intentionally & publicly targeting the extreme rightwing to legitimize censorship while all along they have been massively censoring Palestinians & Kashmiris & those who post in support of their struggles.
It is elementary to the principles & fundamental concepts of freedom of speech that we oppose censorship. Not because we give a rat’s ass about freedom of hateful speech for Britain First but because we know they are coming for us like gangbusters after they get us to cheer the banning of rightwing groups. Those who stand for democracy oppose this abridgment of free speech on social media.
Trump regime orders concentration camps for refugees:
“Attorney General William Barr issued an order Tuesday that could keep thousands of asylum seekers locked up indefinitely. The order, a reversal of existing policy, would affect asylum seekers who enter into the country in between legal ports of entry, by barring immigration judges from granting bonds for their release. Asylum seekers who enter the U.S. at official ports of entry are already unable to be released on bond. The order is set to go into effect in 90 days. Omar Jadwat of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project said in a statement, “This is the Trump administration’s latest assault on people fleeing persecution and seeking refuge in the United States. Our Constitution does not allow the government to lock up asylum seekers without basic due process. We’ll see the administration in court.”
–Dan Dods
It’s unseemly to mock the destruction of Notre Dame as if it were of no consequence. It represents human achievement & the labor of thousands of workers, many of whom died in its construction. But it certainly should be kept in perspective since carpet bombing in so many countries has destroyed structures even older & just as impressive as Notre Dame. This article is about the Uyghur genocide in China which may have recently demolished a Uyghur mosque as old as Notre Dame.