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posts tagged "politics"

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[TW: Torture, Racism] The Reuters report says that the city is under siege because it still harbors pockets of pro-Gaddafi elements. But as usual this is a distortion and ignores firstly the fact that the tribe of Bani Walid, the Werfalla, which is also Libya’s largest tribe, has always been united ideologically as they were and remain throughout this ongoing crisis. Their position has unwaveringly been to resist the NATO-rebel insurgency, and had it not been for the unity of the Werfalla, then the militias would never be able to enter Bani Walid without heavy bombardment.

Lizzie Phelan, Libyan City Under Siege by Militias via Black Agenda Report

The same militia that erased the Black town ofTawergha and has terrorized dark-skinned Libyans and African immigrants, is threatening to attack the city of Bani Walid, which has been under artillery siege and encirclement for over a week. The NATO-backed militias claim to be targeting “pro-Gaddafi” elements.

(via jayaprada)

There is so much I would like to say but I do not even know where to start. But I would simply say in a nutshell that the Arab Spring highlighted for me how extremely dangerous and devastating Arab imperialism was for Black Africans and for this reason, I will never again support any Arab movement of liberation! NEVER AGAIN - unless they openly and actively fight anti-blackness, otherwise, they will only strive off it. This is the reason why I do not support white movement of resistance like OWS, because they do not challenge the racism at their core, so if successful, will only lead to the creation of another racist society. 

It is extremely difficult to explain Arab anti-blackness with western-centric notions of race because a lot of it has to do with colorism and anti-blackness also manifest itself through the oppression of native, indigenous African peoples. One can be Arab and black. There is no such hard rule like the one drop rule in the US that defines blackness clearly in the Arab world. But unlike in the US, the Arab slave trade of black Africans has NEVER STOPPED, outlawed or not!!! It is still widely practiced all over the middle East and in some parts of North Africa. I am posting this, Ethiopia woman lived modern day slavery at hands of Dubai couple, which happened just few days ago and this, Saudi prince beat his black sex slave to death, as a reminder that we black people are still seen as less than human and slaves in the Arab world. 

The Egyptian revolution started off with reports of massacres of Somali migrants, the Lybian revolution culminated with the mass murder and genocide of 30,000 Tawergha people, wiped out with the support of the west and I frequently see casual anti-blackness on this website with pro-Palestine partisans who have no scruples exploiting the plight of black people in Israel, as simple rhetoric device to further their anti-Israel agenda. Yet none of them will ever address the lingering anti-blackness in Palestine or the rest of the Arab world. So, as a black African, simply by self-preservation, I can not get down with this kind of savagery. 

All of this just proves two things to me. First of all, the world do NOT give a flying fuck about the lives of Black African people, I already knew this. And when I say the world, I am not only talking about white people, I am talking about the whole fucking planet, POC included. This leads me to my second point, POC solidarity is the phoniest shit ever!! THERE IS NO SUCH A THING! And I see it as even dangerous because I know that many do not expose and address Arab imperialism because of it. Because Arab people are victims of white supremacy, they somehow get a pass for the supremacist system they have imposed on black and indigenous Africans. Being unchallenged, it can only strive!! THEY ARE STILL ENSLAVING US GODDAMNIT!! IN 2012!! I cannot denounce the barbaric anti-blackness of white supremacy and not address Arab imperialism. Especially since as a black person, I will always be a million times safer in the west than I will ever be in any Arab country!!

(via theamericanbear)

I find sad and tragic the way politics takes over resistance groups who are set to fight ‘the system’ in a first place but keep reproducing it. 

One of the most tragic consequences is the mobilisation of bias - some issues get prioritised over others which is many cases are push and shut down and this is done to the benefit of very few and the detriment of many especially those with less power in those circles. This is unfair and damageable because on issues of identity, people go at a pace they see fit for the, it is beyond simply a matter of right of wrong, i.e. the creation of a new kind of moral which inevitably leads to the shaming of what is deemed unacceptable. Shame is one of the most powerful tools of repression.

An illustration of this is how alienation is treated and discussed within spaces supposedly safe. It is still considered shameful, something that must be hidden and/or used as a pretext to lambaste/silence/police others which is crazy because first of all, NONE of us can totally escape a reality shaped by our oppressors, hence the alienation that comes with it and secondly, alienation is as important as, if not more important than the mechanisms and structure of oppression in the experience of the oppressed. Alienation is basically the internal side of oppression, what is beneath the iceberg. I personally live oppression as a form of institutionalised abuse, which is why I am convinced that the trauma it causes to people and the different coping mechanisms they develop are worth understanding, analysing in depth and neutralising. Sweeping them under the rug, can only cause damages, things would get repressed deeper and their influence morphs in a way more difficult to defuse. From my experience, there is no moving on from abuse as long as the trauma has not been dealt with; the settings and circumstances may change externally, but if they remain the same  in one’s mind, one is still captive. For instance, in most of Africa, the apparent decolonisation - which in fact was not one - didn’t prompt a decolonisation of minds, to the contrary. As oppressed people, we gleefully embraced the poisonous system of our oppressors ( administration, laws, languages, borders …) and called it independence. To the point where, nowadays, we, the most westernised, are oppressing those who have chosen to preserve their indigenous identity. 

Light is hidden in the darkest side. All the ugly, shameful  unbearable, hidden and repressed stuff must be confronted head on. Victims of abuse should never be shamed or silence for expressing or going through trauma; the same can be applied to the oppressed. And things such as politics or putting up front for our oppressors can only lead to such a thing happening, key issues sidelined and dismissed as ‘petty in-fighting’ when it is through this that is built solidarity. 

philosophy-of-praxis: asillylittlemoment: philosophy-of-praxis: Just incase you’d forgotten, the Tories are still using this opportunity to spout their racist nationalist bilge. Is this asshole for real? Apparently having a choreographed dancing music mashup thing which doesn’t focus purely on white people is “leftie multi-cultural crap” more so “than Beijing, the capital of a communist state” but it’s okay because he “was talking about the way it was handled in the show, not multiculturalism itself.” Aidan Burley - Conservative Member of Parliament for Cannock Chase, Champion of Hope, Absolute Dickhead. O_________O What is this?? The conservatives are morally and economically ruining this country which so so sad SMH!! The funny thing is that the Stones are the best example of the appropriation of African American music. Oh well! After all, the UK was built on looting. What a prick!!

philosophy-of-praxis:

asillylittlemoment:

philosophy-of-praxis:

Just incase you’d forgotten, the Tories are still using this opportunity to spout their racist nationalist bilge.

Is this asshole for real?

Apparently having a choreographed dancing music mashup thing which doesn’t focus purely on white people is “leftie multi-cultural crap” more so “than Beijing, the capital of a communist state” but it’s okay because he “was talking about the way it was handled in the show, not multiculturalism itself.”

Aidan Burley - Conservative Member of Parliament for Cannock Chase, Champion of Hope, Absolute Dickhead.

O_________O

What is this?? The conservatives are morally and economically ruining this country which so so sad SMH!!

The funny thing is that the Stones are the best example of the appropriation of African American music. Oh well! After all, the UK was built on looting. What a prick!!

So … I went there

terminalsigma:

cosmopolitan-fascist:

dreams-from-my-father:

Can the fact that most serial killers are white western men only be a coincidence??

I have been thinking and writing about this (not on this blog) for weeks and I had to stop several times because simply asking this question in these terms was giving me the repulsive feeling of being a Satoshi Kanazawa and slipping into that nauseating and racialist dehumanization of a group, just like us black people have been throughout history in the name of science. So I must make some things clear: First of all, I am perfectly aware that the white-construct system of race is totally bogus scientifically speaking. Secondly, as someone who stands against white supremacy, I not only reject the hierarchy at its heart, but also its racial system as the basis for an identity - which is why as an African, I have been distancing myself from the notion of blackness as reclaimable. 

My point is that, patriarchal capitalist white supremacy is based on the dehumanisation of certain groups to the benefit of others who are unempathetic to the oppression and suffering they cause and sustain and unable to recognize the humanity of those they oppress. At the top of this hierarchy are white men. White men’s violence is not only never pathologized and addressed as something linked to their whiteness and masculinity - unlike brown people who systematically get collectively blamed and demonised for the actions of only few - but also white men’s violence has ALWAYS been encouraged because it has been the engine of patriarchal capitalist white supremacy from slavery to wall street finance, where psychopaths are over-represented and most do not hesitate to drive the whole world economy to the brink of collapse and ruin the lives of hundreds of millions for their own personal gain. This kind of behaviour has always be positively rewarded. 

White supremacy makes those who benefit from it sociopaths, so it is in this regard that I ask: Is it really surprising that so many white men develop full-blown psychopathy?

For instance, just like rape which is not in essence linked to any gender, under rape culture, it gets linked to masculinity resulting in most rapists to be men while most victims are women. 

Just a thought!

No, you are completely right in what you are saying.

I know Camille Paglia is a reactionary but I always liked her quote ‘There can be no female Mozart until there is a female Jack the Ripper’. I don’t take from it what she meant but its a precise way to think about how white men are endowed with the full privileges and powers of experiencing a very dangerous worldview. The quote mentions women and not race but just as women are not full civil subjects, people of color are completely confined into certain realms of being and existing, and our ‘crimes’ are usually motivated by poor social conditions, economic factors, and a mental decay that can be attributed to systemic racism and other factors.

White violence is naturalized hence people rushing to defend this dude from being a ‘terrorist’ because we cannot see white people as having vested political interests or access to certain forms of violence, regardless of whether the dude in question ‘was just crazy’ or had a deeper statement to make based on what he was doing. I don’t know why he went and did that shit, I just know that most public crime shootings are committed by white men (yes some people of color too but relatively few) and no one takes a hot minute to try to deconstruct whiteness and masculinity in light of it. Only a few months after Trayvon, we saw a white guy kill 13 people and then get handcuffed without a scratch on him.

That says something about our society, white men are socialized as sociopaths in many many ways.

There’s a lot of truth to that last statement. So much of how masculinity and “toughness” are constructed in white American society is dependent on the ability to be cruel without feeling, or at the very least to ignore how one’s actions affect others. Kindness and sympathy are all too often denigrated as qualities for “losers,” and are typically regarded as signs of weakness, effeminacy and even (heaven forfend!) homosexuality.

Each generation inherits the world from the previous one. It is now under our responsibility but we have a legacy from our forefathers and we have to ensure better future prospects for the next generation. How do we juggle all of this?

I am wondering about this as I am thinking about the situation in my own country. My generation has inherited a corrupted dictatorship, borders, administration, language, educational system, political, economical, social and judicial structures from colons. How do we move on from that and ensure a a better future for the generations to come while maintaining peace and stability? 

Can we ever have agency with this system and within these borders drawn by our oppressors? On what basis should we build a communal identity?

Ramblings from a girl who has never voted and dream of democracy.

The Republican Party, Dead at 158

engagedelectorate:

One of the two principal political factions of the modern United States, the Republican Party died Monday afternoon. The cause was apparent suicide following a long decline in cognition, memory, and grasp of reality.

Born in 1854 among slavery abolitionists, the Republican Party became known for espousing self-reliance, efficient government, and emancipation. With an impressive ability to evolve, it overcame the Teapot Dome scandal, the Iran-contra hearings, and Senator Larry Craig’s visits to airport bathrooms. But the party had become increasingly unstable in recent years as a latent religio-nativist-moronism, apparently contracted in the Arizona desert decades ago, began to spread to vital organs.

The end came in a final spasm of self-loathing following a bout of super-PAC advertising before the Texas primary. There are no survivors. ~ A.J. Jacobs (Esquire)

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH XD

I wish this was true :-(

end-the-republican-mafia reblogged your link: The Happiness Trap

I really like this username :D

searchingforknowledge: dreams-from-my-father: queerhairyvag: randomberlinchick: Congratulations Félicitations to Christiane Taubira, France’s new Minister of Justice: In an unprecedented move in French politics, three black politicians, two of them women and all from France’s overseas departments in the Caribbean, joined President Francois Hollande’s cabinet as its held its first meeting Thursday. In the most senior appointment, Christiane Taubira, from French Guiana, has been named minister of justice in the new Socialist government, becoming the first black woman to made a full minister. Rama Yade, originally from Senegal, had risen to the level of junior minister in the previous Nicolas Sarkozy administration. Taubira, 60, considered to be on the left of the Socialist Party, is the author of the 2001 “Taubira Law” which officially recognises the slave trade and slavery as crimes against humanity. More here. I’d like to hear more about that space to the left of socialism that Ms. Taubira occupies ;-) ohhhhhh this cool but I wonder why France decided to choose not only FEMALE politicians but BLACK ones giving their sexist and racist stance on women and Muslim and Roma women in general (and lol pretty much any woman who isin’t white lololol) do these women have similar ideologies with the other peeps in the government or…? like… ohhhh Errrrrrr actually the anti-Roma politics was led by the last government, Nicolas Sarkozy’s.  Christiane Taubira is part of the government of the new French president, Francois Hollande, who promised diversity and gender equality in his government.  Also I know this is extremely controversial on Tumblr, but the anti-veil and anti-burka laws passed in France these past years were supported and backed by some of the most prominent women from muslim background in France, such as Fadela Amara, founder of the feminist movement, Ni putes,ni soumises (Neither Whores Nor Submissive). Uhhhh. Francis Hollande calls for the internment of Roma in camps in FEB 2012 So yes, we have ALLLLL the right to side eye. ANd its not that Tumblr doesn’t know that some Muslims backed the hijab hate in France. Many Tumblr Muslims took on THOSE Muslims too. And in fact that is a pretty damn stupid argument to make. You think some discriminatory policy is alright just because some members of the group targeted actually agree with it? Really? What about you back the fuck off and stop putting words in my mouth?? Did I deny anybody’s right to ‘side-eye’ anyone?? Hollande is NOT responsible for Sarkozy’s politics. I simply stated that, I made no assumptions about what Hollande’s politics is going to be like for the next 5 years. Actually, during the second round of the elections, Sarkozy tried to use the vivid racial tensions in France to present Hollande as the pro-immigration, pro-Islam candidate. And yes, I did read that article about Hollande but in your extremely simplistic analysis you seem unable to not conflate everything: racism is not a big homogeneous ball, not in France anyway. Anti-blackness, anti-arabness, islamophobia and anti-Tziganism are quite autonomous forms of oppression with very specific dynamics. Hence, the fact that black and Arab women are made members of the government, has more to do with sending strong messages against anti-blackness, islamophobia or anti-Arabness and very little do to with anti-Tziganism. We can debate about whether or not those messages are genuine or simply a ploy to get more votes from the growing black, Arab and or muslim communities. PoC are not a big homogenous group. Anti-tziganism is extremely pervasive in France and goes virtually unchallenged, which is why members of the Rroma community are far less represented in position of power than members of other racially-oppressed communities. Hence fighting against anti-blackness and/or islamophobia doesn’t necessarily translate into fighting against anti-Tziganism. Also, on the fact that Taubira may be used to condone racist politics, I don’t know Hollande’s intentions for sure. But something is certain, given Taubira’s track record and her work against anti-blackness, it is very unlikely she let something like that happen. “ANd its not that Tumblr doesn’t know that some Muslims backed the hijab hate in France. Many Tumblr Muslims took on THOSE Muslims too. ” You must be kidding me, right?? So wait because some random folks on Tumblr think it is their job and right to tell Muslims in France backing those laws, what is best for them in their own fucking country, I do not have the right to mention it?? No it is not stupid to make a point in order to highlight the complexity of an issue. What is stupid, is people, who are not directly affected by a problem, thinking it is normal and appropriate for them to try and attack anyone directly affected, on their opinion. As for my opinion on the matter, I am generally against those laws but my opinion does NOT matter, guess why?? Because, as a non-Muslim woman, I am NOT directly affected by those laws and will definitively not go around telling French Muslims what to think!!!

searchingforknowledge:

dreams-from-my-father:

queerhairyvag:

randomberlinchick:

Congratulations Félicitations to Christiane Taubira, France’s new Minister of Justice:

In an unprecedented move in French politics, three black politicians, two of them women and all from France’s overseas departments in the Caribbean, joined President Francois Hollande’s cabinet as its held its first meeting Thursday.

In the most senior appointment, Christiane Taubira, from French Guiana, has been named minister of justice in the new Socialist government, becoming the first black woman to made a full minister.

Rama Yade, originally from Senegal, had risen to the level of junior minister in the previous Nicolas Sarkozy administration.

Taubira, 60, considered to be on the left of the Socialist Party, is the author of the 2001 “Taubira Law” which officially recognises the slave trade and slavery as crimes against humanity.

More here.

I’d like to hear more about that space to the left of socialism that Ms. Taubira occupies ;-)

ohhhhhh this cool but I wonder why France decided to choose not only FEMALE politicians but BLACK ones giving their sexist and racist stance on women and Muslim and Roma women in general (and lol pretty much any woman who isin’t white lololol)

do these women have similar ideologies with the other peeps in the government or…? like… ohhhh

Errrrrrr actually the anti-Roma politics was led by the last government, Nicolas Sarkozy’s. 

Christiane Taubira is part of the government of the new French president, Francois Hollande, who promised diversity and gender equality in his government. 

Also I know this is extremely controversial on Tumblr, but the anti-veil and anti-burka laws passed in France these past years were supported and backed by some of the most prominent women from muslim background in France, such as Fadela Amara, founder of the feminist movement, Ni putes,ni soumises (Neither Whores Nor Submissive).

Uhhhh. Francis Hollande calls for the internment of Roma in camps in FEB 2012 So yes, we have ALLLLL the right to side eye. ANd its not that Tumblr doesn’t know that some Muslims backed the hijab hate in France. Many Tumblr Muslims took on THOSE Muslims too. And in fact that is a pretty damn stupid argument to make. You think some discriminatory policy is alright just because some members of the group targeted actually agree with it? Really?

What about you back the fuck off and stop putting words in my mouth??

Did I deny anybody’s right to ‘side-eye’ anyone?? Hollande is NOT responsible for Sarkozy’s politics. I simply stated that, I made no assumptions about what Hollande’s politics is going to be like for the next 5 years. Actually, during the second round of the elections, Sarkozy tried to use the vivid racial tensions in France to present Hollande as the pro-immigration, pro-Islam candidate. And yes, I did read that article about Hollande but in your extremely simplistic analysis you seem unable to not conflate everything: racism is not a big homogeneous ball, not in France anyway. Anti-blackness, anti-arabness, islamophobia and anti-Tziganism are quite autonomous forms of oppression with very specific dynamics. Hence, the fact that black and Arab women are made members of the government, has more to do with sending strong messages against anti-blackness, islamophobia or anti-Arabness and very little do to with anti-Tziganism. We can debate about whether or not those messages are genuine or simply a ploy to get more votes from the growing black, Arab and or muslim communities. PoC are not a big homogenous group. Anti-tziganism is extremely pervasive in France and goes virtually unchallenged, which is why members of the Rroma community are far less represented in position of power than members of other racially-oppressed communities. Hence fighting against anti-blackness and/or islamophobia doesn’t necessarily translate into fighting against anti-Tziganism. Also, on the fact that Taubira may be used to condone racist politics, I don’t know Hollande’s intentions for sure. But something is certain, given Taubira’s track record and her work against anti-blackness, it is very unlikely she let something like that happen.

“ANd its not that Tumblr doesn’t know that some Muslims backed the hijab hate in France. Many Tumblr Muslims took on THOSE Muslims too. ” You must be kidding me, right?? So wait because some random folks on Tumblr think it is their job and right to tell Muslims in France backing those laws, what is best for them in their own fucking country, I do not have the right to mention it?? No it is not stupid to make a point in order to highlight the complexity of an issue. What is stupid, is people, who are not directly affected by a problem, thinking it is normal and appropriate for them to try and attack anyone directly affected, on their opinion. As for my opinion on the matter, I am generally against those laws but my opinion does NOT matter, guess why?? Because, as a non-Muslim woman, I am NOT directly affected by those laws and will definitively not go around telling French Muslims what to think!!!

queerhairyvag: randomberlinchick: Congratulations Félicitations to Christiane Taubira, France’s new Minister of Justice: In an unprecedented move in French politics, three black politicians, two of them women and all from France’s overseas departments in the Caribbean, joined President Francois Hollande’s cabinet as its held its first meeting Thursday. In the most senior appointment, Christiane Taubira, from French Guiana, has been named minister of justice in the new Socialist government, becoming the first black woman to made a full minister. Rama Yade, originally from Senegal, had risen to the level of junior minister in the previous Nicolas Sarkozy administration. Taubira, 60, considered to be on the left of the Socialist Party, is the author of the 2001 “Taubira Law” which officially recognises the slave trade and slavery as crimes against humanity. More here. I’d like to hear more about that space to the left of socialism that Ms. Taubira occupies ;-) ohhhhhh this cool but I wonder why France decided to choose not only FEMALE politicians but BLACK ones giving their sexist and racist stance on women and Muslim and Roma women in general (and lol pretty much any woman who isin’t white lololol) do these women have similar ideologies with the other peeps in the government or…? like… ohhhh Errrrrrr actually the anti-Roma politics was led by the last government, Nicolas Sarkozy’s.  Christiane Taubira is part of the government of the new French president, Francois Hollande, who promised diversity and gender equality in his government.  Also I know this is extremely controversial on Tumblr, but the anti-veil and anti-burka laws passed in France these past years were supported and backed by some of the most prominent women from muslim background in France, such as Fadela Amara, founder of the feminist movement, Ni putes,ni soumises (Neither Whores Nor Submissive).

queerhairyvag:

randomberlinchick:

Congratulations Félicitations to Christiane Taubira, France’s new Minister of Justice:

In an unprecedented move in French politics, three black politicians, two of them women and all from France’s overseas departments in the Caribbean, joined President Francois Hollande’s cabinet as its held its first meeting Thursday.

In the most senior appointment, Christiane Taubira, from French Guiana, has been named minister of justice in the new Socialist government, becoming the first black woman to made a full minister.

Rama Yade, originally from Senegal, had risen to the level of junior minister in the previous Nicolas Sarkozy administration.

Taubira, 60, considered to be on the left of the Socialist Party, is the author of the 2001 “Taubira Law” which officially recognises the slave trade and slavery as crimes against humanity.

More here.

I’d like to hear more about that space to the left of socialism that Ms. Taubira occupies ;-)

ohhhhhh this cool but I wonder why France decided to choose not only FEMALE politicians but BLACK ones giving their sexist and racist stance on women and Muslim and Roma women in general (and lol pretty much any woman who isin’t white lololol)

do these women have similar ideologies with the other peeps in the government or…? like… ohhhh

Errrrrrr actually the anti-Roma politics was led by the last government, Nicolas Sarkozy’s. 

Christiane Taubira is part of the government of the new French president, Francois Hollande, who promised diversity and gender equality in his government. 

Also I know this is extremely controversial on Tumblr, but the anti-veil and anti-burka laws passed in France these past years were supported and backed by some of the most prominent women from muslim background in France, such as Fadela Amara, founder of the feminist movement, Ni putes,ni soumises (Neither Whores Nor Submissive).

mohandasgandhi: A cartoon included in Shireen Burki’s Joint Staff Forces College presentation on “Jihad: Defined and Operationalized” (.pdf) contains a number of ugly stereotypes. U.S. Military Taught Officers: Use ‘Hiroshima’ Tactics for ‘Total War’ on Islam The U.S. military taught its future leaders that a “total war” against the world’s 1.4 billion Muslims would be necessary to protect America from Islamic terrorists, according to documents obtained by Danger Room. Among the options considered for that conflict: using the lessons of “Hiroshima” to wipe out whole cities at once, targeting the “civilian population wherever necessary.” The course, first reported by Danger Room last month and held at the Defense Department’s Joint Forces Staff College, has since been canceled by the Pentagon brass. It’s only now, however, that the details of the class have come to light. Danger Room received hundreds of pages of course material and reference documents from a source familiar with the contents of the class. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff recently ordered the entire U.S. military to scour its training material to make sure it doesn’t contain similarly hateful material, a process that is still ongoing. But the officer who delivered the lectures, Army Lt. Col. Matthew A. Dooley, still maintains his position at the Norfolk, Virginia college, pending an investigation. The commanders, lieutenant colonels, captains and colonels who sat in Dooley’s classroom, listening to the inflammatory material week after week, have now moved into higher-level assignments throughout the U.S. military. […] In the same presentation, Dooley lays out a possible four-phase war plan to carry out a forced transformation of the Islam religion. Phase three includes possible outcomes like “Islam reduced to a cult status” and “Saudi Arabia threatened with starvation.” (It’s an especially ironic suggestion, in light of today’s news that Saudi intelligence broke up the most recent al-Qaida bombing plot.) International laws protecting civilians in wartime are “no longer relevant,” Dooley continues. And that opens the possibility of applying “the historical precedents of Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima, Nagasaki” to Islam’s holiest cities, and bringing about “Mecca and Medina[’s] destruction.” Dooley’s ideological allies have repeatedly stated that “mainstream” Muslims are dangerous, because they’re “violent” by nature. Yet only a few of al-Qaida’s most twisted fanatics were ever caught musing about wiping out entire cities. (Continue reading…) The last part is bolded for emphasis.

mohandasgandhi:

A cartoon included in Shireen Burki’s Joint Staff Forces College presentation on “Jihad: Defined and Operationalized” (.pdf) contains a number of ugly stereotypes.

U.S. Military Taught Officers: Use ‘Hiroshima’ Tactics for ‘Total War’ on Islam

The U.S. military taught its future leaders that a “total war” against the world’s 1.4 billion Muslims would be necessary to protect America from Islamic terrorists, according to documents obtained by Danger Room. Among the options considered for that conflict: using the lessons of “Hiroshima” to wipe out whole cities at once, targeting the “civilian population wherever necessary.”

The course, first reported by Danger Room last month and held at the Defense Department’s Joint Forces Staff College, has since been canceled by the Pentagon brass. It’s only now, however, that the details of the class have come to light. Danger Room received hundreds of pages of course material and reference documents from a source familiar with the contents of the class.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff recently ordered the entire U.S. military to scour its training material to make sure it doesn’t contain similarly hateful material, a process that is still ongoing. But the officer who delivered the lectures, Army Lt. Col. Matthew A. Dooley, still maintains his position at the Norfolk, Virginia college, pending an investigation. The commanders, lieutenant colonels, captains and colonels who sat in Dooley’s classroom, listening to the inflammatory material week after week, have now moved into higher-level assignments throughout the U.S. military.

[…]

In the same presentation, Dooley lays out a possible four-phase war plan to carry out a forced transformation of the Islam religion. Phase three includes possible outcomes like “Islam reduced to a cult status” and “Saudi Arabia threatened with starvation.” (It’s an especially ironic suggestion, in light of today’s news that Saudi intelligence broke up the most recent al-Qaida bombing plot.)

International laws protecting civilians in wartime are “no longer relevant,” Dooley continues. And that opens the possibility of applying “the historical precedents of Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima, Nagasaki” to Islam’s holiest cities, and bringing about “Mecca and Medina[’s] destruction.”

Dooley’s ideological allies have repeatedly stated that “mainstream” Muslims are dangerous, because they’re “violent” by nature. Yet only a few of al-Qaida’s most twisted fanatics were ever caught musing about wiping out entire cities.

(Continue reading…)

The last part is bolded for emphasis.

(via parkstepp)

“

Concentration of wealth yields concentration of political power. And concentration of political power gives rise to legislation that increases and accelerates the cycle. The legislation, essentially bipartisan, drives new fiscal policies and tax changes, as well as the rules of corporate governance and deregulation. Alongside this began a sharp rise in the costs of elections, which drove the political parties even deeper into the pockets of the corporate sector.

Noam Chomsky, Plutonomy and the Precariat: On the History of the US Economy in Decline  (via socialuprooting)

When money and power colludes, democracy dies to give rise to plutocracy. I wonder what Alexis de Tocqueville would say about the American democracy of today. He might be turning in his grave. 

(via socialuprooting)

Black firefighter tasered as he tried to help police

sinidentidades:

A black firefighter has said he was assaulted, shot with a stun gun and arrested as he tried to help police while he was off-duty, in the latest racism allegation against Scotland Yard.

Edric Kennedy-Macfoy, 28, made a formal complaint after the incident in the early hours of September 4, in which he says he approached police who were dealing with a disturbance to give them a description of a youth he had seen throw a rock at a police van.

The group of six officers, who were dispersing partygoers — some of whom had turned violent — in Harrow, north London, assaulted and insulted Kennedy-Macfoy, according to his account, before deploying the electric shock weapon and detaining him without good cause.

Kennedy-Macfoy was charged with obstructing police, but found not guilty at Brent Magistrates’ Court in February.

The Guardian, which is campaigning on the issue of police racism, quoted Inspector David Bergum as saying in court: “I couldn’t say he was anything to do with the party. The party was all black. He was black. He had driven through the cordon. I had to do a quick risk assessment.”

The Metropolitan Police said that its Directorate of Professional Standards and the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) were both investigating. Kennedy-Macfoy’s lawyer sent a further complaint letter to the force this week.

(via windupbirdchronicle)