#Fraser Committee

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

The 118 couples mass marriage was held in London in 1978. Lillian’s parents were among the couples. It was not part of any other mass marriage. Sun Myung Moon was on the run from a US Government supoena issued by the Fraser Committee. Moon did this mass marriage in a hurry so he had an excuse to leave the US. Just before the supoena could be served he flew by Concorde, under a false name, and arrived at Heathrow airport, London, without a visa. At the airport there were negotiations to allow him into the UK. At first he was allowed in for about three weeks, then permission was extended. After Moon’s long stay in the UK he flew to Korea. He did not return to the US until after Fraser published his report in the fall of 1978. See: Messiah Moon on the Run

United States Congressional investigation of Moon’s organization Contents 2. Michael Warder comment on Congressman Fraser
 3. Moonie “Dirty Tricks” against Donald Fraser, MinPost, 2012
 4. Congressman Fraser info from the Gifts of Deceit book 5. Robert W. Roland statement to the Fraser investigation, June 22, 1976
 6. Congressional Information Meeting on Cults 1979: Statement of Robert Boettcher
 7. The Mysterious Death of Robert Boettcher in 1984, New York Times 8. Bo Hi Pak and the KCFF scam – and Sun Myung Moon’s ROFA scam
 9. Minions and Master – a short extract from the Gifts of Deceit book
 10. Gifts of Deceit book review by Allen Tate Wood 11. Fraser Final Report on the Moon Organization. pages 312-392 12. Moon’s aggressive move into U.S. political affairs in early 1970s – Confessions of a former Unification Church member 13. Bo Hi Pak and the “Unification Church Pension Fund International” 14. Fraser Report: Summaries of Representative Documents including FBI Reports, State Department Memoranda, KCFF Minutes, etc.

Gifts of Deceit: Sun Myung Moon and Koreagate – Robert Boettcher

Politics and religion interwoven

In the Grip of the Unification Church: The Story of a Former Second-Generation Follower in Japan

________________________________

Falling Out podcast: S4 E6 A CinderHella Story: Lillian Holdhus, Part 2

[whatisonthemoon]

Panel Told Seoul Used Followers Of Sun Myung Moon for Protests (1978)

WASHINGTON, June 6 (AP) — House investigators today quoted United States intelligence reports as saying that the South Korean intelligence agency had used the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's followers for demonstrations in this country.

“On at least one occasion Moon received Korean Central Intelligence Agency funds for that purpose,” said a summary of the intelligence reports that was read at a House hearing.

Representative Donald M. Fraser, Democrat of Minnesota, said after the hearing that Mr. Moon left the United States for London shortly before the House international relations subcommit tee tried to subpoena him to testify.

Mr. Fraser, chairman of the subcommittee, said he could not be sure whether Ithe South Korean evangelist was evading the subpoena, which called on him to testify next Tuesday.

A former agent of the Korean intelligence agency testified at the hearing that another agent told him the agency had truckloads of Moon followers brought to Washington for a demonstration in September 1974, but then called it off.

Kim Sang Keun, who defected from the Korean agency, testified that he saw an order from Seoul to stage the demonstration. But he said he did not know if Moon followers had been recruited for it.

At that point Mr. Fraser read a portion of the summary quoting American intelligence reports as saying the chief South Korean intelligence agent in Washington had “arranged with Rev. Moon's group for demonstrations” on Sept. 14, 1974.

Mr. Fraser said the demonstrations were to be against Japan's alleged lack of cooperation in investigating the Korean‐Japanese assassin of the wife of South Korean President Park Chung Hee.

The demonstration was called off, Mr. Fraser said, after the State Department learned of the plans and told the Korean government to call off the protest.

Previously, “the K.C.I.A. had used Moon and members of his Unification Church to stage rallies in the United States in support of Korean government policies and aims,” the summary said. “And on at least one occasion Moon received K.C.I.A. funds for that purpose.”

At a news conference after the hearing, Mr. Fraser said Mr. Moon's lawyers knew before the evangelist left New York City on May 13 that the subcommittee had authorized a subpoena for his testimony. But Mr. Fraser said he cannot be certain that Mr. Moon himself knew, adding that the lawyers now refuse even to confirm State Department information that Mr. Moon is in London.

Later, a spokesman for Mr. Moon's Unification Church denied that the evangelist was trying to avoid an appearance before the subcommittee. The spokesman said Mr. Moon had flown to England as part of a tour of Europe.

Related links below

The MacNeil/Lehrer Report: Korean Intelligence and Lobbying Scandal (1977)

Neil Salonen - KCIA Agents Becoming UC Members is Not Aboveboard!

Neil Salonen should stand trial for committing perjury based on new evidence! Sun Myung Moon Was Building the Kingdom with M-16 Machine Guns

Who was Robert Amory Jr., the Moon Network Lawyer that was also the Deputy Director of the CIA?

On Moon’s Political Network and their Deep Connections to Global Terrorism

Thoughts on South Korea (R.O.K.) - United States (U.S.) Relations

The Unification Church and KCIA: Some Notes on Bud Han, Steve Kim, and Bo Hi Pak

On Young Oon Kim’s Relationship to Butterwick

Rev. Moon Aide Concedes KCIA Sent Him $3,000 (1978)

Programmed to Chill - Bonus Episode 07 - the Korean War, Biological Warfare, COMINT, and MKULTRA, feat. Jeff Kaye - podcast

[sgiandubh]

2023 or last week

That's not really matters', what is interesting is that Caitríona has a very high level of privacy in her movements or travels

She has a private life that is completely away from notice and attention, no press, no ordinary people, no fan who meets her by chance

Wow.. as if she had the invisibility power since 2019.

Dear Privacy Level Anon,

We're going to do things a bit differently, this time, with an audio answer. Nice to meet you, by the way:

For those who need a transcript, here goes:

'Your charade has very simple answers:

No Press? The Press would have to actually care or be sold a juicy tip/story, about that elusive B-lister who is such a compelling Claire Fraser (huh?) from Outlander ('wait a minute, that nice, secksay series around 2016, right?'). Press interest is, however, likely to immediately jump up, the minute she lands a better PR team and/or a part in a really relevant cinema project. Let's see what those two next movies bring, Anon.

No Ordinary People? Imagine you're Jane Doe (aka, an Ordinary Person), traveling from 🛫 London to 🛬Bangkok. Upon arrival at 🏯Suvarnabhumi Airport , while waiting in line for the notoriously looooong passport control (full profile pic included), you spot C (or S, or C and S, or C and S and Boos 1, 2, 3... 554). They vaguely remind you of someone. That someone could be anyone from a) your cousin Matilda's co-worker you have been briefly introduced to, three years ago; b) someone who looks like your homeland's host of 'Who Wants To Be a Millionaire' TV show (totally random example, here); c) someone who looks like that actress you once saw in that TV series which name you can't really remember. Ultimately, the fact that you are unable to put a name on that face really irritates you. Your feet hurt, you are sleepy, grumpy and you need to go to the bathroom ASAP (🚨🚨🚨🚨). Meanwhile, S and C kiss, Boo #456 is as unhappy as you and wants his blankie. Did I mention you need to use the 🚻 (somewhere far away from 🛃) ASAP? S and C 💋💋💋💋 some more. YOU NEED TO USE THAT TOILET AND YOU'RE STUCK IN THAT STUPID LINE. Boo #433 wants their mommy's attention NOW (🥹🍼🤦‍♀️), so you sympathize a bit ('what a cute 👶, just like his/her parents') but you are really focused on your 🧻problem. By the time you dragged your 🧳to the 🚕 area, in the thick, humid heat at Arrivals, you'd have forgotten everything about it, but remember every single second of your Passport Control Ordeal.

No Fan? Outside of these Tumblr/X/Instagram jihadist pockets, no casual 🪭 would probably ask for a pic, provided they remember the name of the series (it is really poor taste to go for it and candidly tell her/them something like ' oooh, I remember you from The Last Kingdom, such a wonderful series'). Out of those who still go for it, I bet the farm:

85% keep The Nice Pic tucked in their iPhones and just randomly share at the next school bake sale/corporate teambuilding/ Rotary Club meeting with random people saying random things like 'oooh, she's nice, wait a minute, wasn't she in The Last Kingdom'?

10% foolishly post on X or Instagram, to be immediately greeted by The Fandom Vigilantes, courtesy of alerts installed on their own iPhones: 'where was it/ when was it/was she alone/yes? why?/no? why and with whom/ what did she say/ did she say anything/ why didn't she say anything'. If, by a very probable misfortune, what you have to dish out does not click with the Greeting Committee's agenda, expect to be: a) treated like a 5 year old idiot or a tortured POW ('was she alone...? was she alone...? are you sure she wasn't alone...? ARE YOU SURE SHE WASN'T ALONE? ANSWER ME, WAS SHE ALONE?'); b) Caitsplained she is married to someone else and what you saw is an optical illusion; c) perhaps even forced to adjust your own narrative (maybe that 6′ 3" Viking was Tony McGill, after all? 😵). You immediately regret posting it on your public Social Media accounts, erase the pic and go private. By the time you do it (12 hours from posting), it would have been dutifully screencapped, in a middle of a full blown Fandom Skirmish.

5% know what Tumblr actually is (at a minimum) and/or are actively involved in its Fandom Subset. The minute they post is the start of just another Nagasaki episode. The DM inbox will explode with a rich array of pleas/insults/more Caitsplaining. Comments will range from the ecstatic to the revoltingly vulgar. And remember (LOL for weeks):

The Fandom will eventually never forgive you for sharing.'

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Transit workers in the Comox Valley and Campbell River — neighbouring regions on the northern half of B.C.'s Vancouver Island — walked off the job Friday, citing unfair wages and excessive overtime.  Unifor Local 114's bargaining committee had come to two negotiated agreements with the employer, Pacific Western (PW) Transit, but members overwhelmingly rejected both.  More than 70 employees — which includes bus and handyDART operators, mechanics, cleaners and support staff — say they want wage parity with transit workers in other B.C. communities like Victoria, Whistler, and the Fraser Valley.  They say better wages would also help with recruitment and retention, which would mean existing employees would have to work less overtime. 

Continue Reading

Tagging @politicsofcanada

[todaysdocument]

Discharge Petition for H.R. 7152, the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Record Group 233: Records of the U.S. House of RepresentativesSeries: General Records

This item, H.R. 7152, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, faced strong opposition in the House Rules Committee. Howard Smith, Chairman of the committee, refused to schedule hearings for the bill. Emanuel Celler, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, attempted to use this discharge petition to move the bill out of committee without holding hearings. The petition failed to gain the required majority of Congress (218 signatures), but forced Chairman Smith to schedule hearings.

88th CONGRESS. House of Representatives No. 5 Motion to Discharge a Committee from the Consideration of a RESOLUTION (State whether bill, joint resolution, or resolution) December 9, 1963 To the Clerk of the House of Representatives: Pursuant to Clause 4 of Rule XXVII (see rule on page 7), I EMANUEL CELLER (Name of Member), move to discharge to the Commitee on RULES (Committee) from the consideration of the RESOLUTION; H. Res. 574 entitled, a RESOLUTION PROVIDING FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF THE BILL (H. R. 7152) which was referred to said committee November 27, 1963 in support of which motion the undersigned Members of the House of Representatives affix their signatures, to wit: 1. Emanuel Celler 2. John J. Rooney 3. Seymour Halpern 4. James G Fulton 5. Thomas W Pelly 6. Robt N. C. Nix 7. Jeffery Cohelan 8. W A Barrett 9. William S. Mailiard 10. 11. Augustus F. Hawkins 12. Otis G. Pike 13. Benjamin S Rosenthal 14. Spark M Matsunaga 15. Frank M. Clark 16. William L Dawson 17. Melvin Price 18. John C. Kluczynski 19. Barratt O'Hara 20. George E. Shipley 21. Dan Rostenkowski 22. Ralph J. Rivers[page] 2 23. Everett G. Burkhalter 24. Robert L. Leggett 25. William L St Onge 26. Edward P. Boland 27. Winfield K. Denton 28. David J. Flood 29. 30. Lucian N. Nedzi 31. James Roosevelt 32. Henry C Reuss 33. Charles S. Joelson 34. Samuel N. Friedel 35. George M. Rhodes 36. William F. Ryan 37. Clarence D. Long 38. Charles C. Diggs Jr 39. Morris K. Udall 40. Wm J. Randall 41. 42. Donald M. Fraser 43. Joseph G. Minish 44. Edith Green 45. Neil Staebler 46. 47. Ralph R. Harding 48. Frank M. Karsten 49. 50. John H. Dent 51. John Brademas 52. John E. Moss 53. Jacob H. Gilbert 54. Leonor K. Sullivan 55. John F. Shelley 56. 57. Lionel Van Deerlin 58. Carlton R. Sickles 59. 60. Edward R. Finnegan 61. Julia Butler Hansen 62. Richard Bolling 63. Ken Heckler 64. Herman Toll 65. Ray J Madden 66. J Edward Roush 67. James A. Burke 68. Frank C. Osmers Jr 69. Adam Powell 70. 71. Fred Schwengel 72. Philip J. Philiben 73. Byron G. Rogers 74. John F. Baldwin 75. Joseph Karth 76. 77. Roland V. Libonati 78. John V. Lindsay 79. Stanley R. Tupper 80. Joseph M. McDade 81. Wm Broomfield 82. 83. 84. Robert J Corbett 85. 86. Craig Hosmer87. Robert N. Giaimo 88. Claude Pepper 89. William T Murphy 90. George H. Fallon 91. Hugh L. Carey 92. Robert T. Secrest 93. Harley O. Staggers 94. Thor C. Tollefson 95. Edward J. Patten 96. 97. Al Ullman 98. Bernard F. Grabowski 99. John A. Blatnik 100. 101. Florence P. Dwyer 102. Thomas L. ? 103. 104. Peter W. Rodino 105. Milton W. Glenn 106. Harlan Hagen 107. James A. Byrne 108. John M. Murphy 109. Henry B. Gonzalez 110. Arnold Olson 111. Harold D Donahue 112. Kenneth J. Gray 113. James C. Healey 114. Michael A Feighan 115. Thomas R. O'Neill 116. Alphonzo Bell 117. George M. Wallhauser 118. Richard S. Schweiker 119. 120. Albert Thomas 121. 122. Graham Purcell 123. Homer Thornberry 124. 125. Leo W. O'Brien 126. Thomas E. Morgan 127. Joseph M. Montoya 128. Leonard Farbstein 129. John S. Monagan 130. Brad Morse 131. Neil Smith 132. Harry R. Sheppard 133. Don Edwards 134. James G. O'Hara 135. 136. Fred B. Rooney 137. George E. Brown Jr. 138. 139. Edward R. Roybal 140. Harris. B McDowell jr. 141. Torbert H. McDonall 142. Edward A. Garmatz 143. Richard E. Lankford 144. Richard Fulton 145. Elizabeth Kee 146. James J. Delaney 147. Frank Thompson Jr 148. 149. Lester R. Johnson 150. Charles A. Buckley4 151. Richard T. Hanna 152. James Corman 153. Paul A Fino 154. Harold M. Ryan 155. Martha W. Griffiths 156. Adam E. Konski 157. Chas W. Wilson 158. Michael J. Kewan 160. Alex Brooks 161. Clark W. Thompson 162. John D. Gringell [?] 163. Thomas P. Gill 164. Edna F. Kelly 165. Eugene J. Keogh 166 John. B. Duncan 167. Elmer J. Dolland 168. Joe Caul 169. Arnold Olsen 170. Monte B. Fascell [?] 171. [not deciphered] 172. J. Dulek 173. Joe W. [undeciphered] 174. J. J. Pickle [Numbers 175 through 214 are blank]

[dailyanarchistposts]

I.8.1 Is the Spanish Revolution inapplicable as a model for modern societies?

Quite the reverse. More urban workers took part in the revolution than in the countryside. So while it is true that collectivisation was extensive in rural areas, the revolution also made its mark in urban areas and in industry.

In total, the “regions most affected” by collectivisation “were Catalonia and Aragón, where about 70 per cent of the workforce was involved. The total for the whole of Republican territory was nearly 800,000 on the land and a little more than a million in industry. In Barcelona workers’ committees took over all the services, the oil monopoly, the shipping companies, heavy engineering firms such as Volcano, the Ford motor company, chemical companies, the textile industry and a host of smaller enterprises … Services such as water, gas and electricity were working under new management within hours of the storming of the Atarazanas barracks … a conversion of appropriate factories to war production meant that metallurgical concerns had started to produce armed cars by 22 July … The industrial workers of Catalonia were the most skilled in Spain … One of the most impressive feats of those early days was the resurrection of the public transport system at a time when the streets were still littered and barricaded.” Five days after the fighting had stopped, 700 tramcars rather than the usual 600, all painted in the black-and-red colours of the CNT-FAI, were operating in Barcelona. [Antony Beevor, The Spanish Civil War, pp. 91–2]

About 75% of Spanish industry was concentrated in Catalonia, the stronghold of the anarchist labour movement, and widespread collectivisation of factories took place there. As Sam Dolgoff rightly observed, this “refutes decisively the allegation that anarchist organisational principles are not applicable to industrial areas, and if at all, only in primitive agrarian societies or in isolated experimental communities.” [The Anarchist Collectives, pp. 7–8] According to Augustin Souchy:

“It is no simple matter to collectivise and place on firm foundations an industry employing almost a quarter of a million textile workers in scores of factories scattered in numerous cities. But the Barcelona syndicalist textile union accomplished this feat in a short time. It was a tremendously significant experiment. The dictatorship of the bosses was toppled, and wages, working conditions and production were determined by the workers and their elected delegates. All functionaries had to carry out the instructions of the membership and report back directly to the men on the job and union meetings. The collectivisation of the textile industry shatters once and for all the legend that the workers are incapable of administrating a great and complex corporation.” [Op. Cit., p. 94]

Moreover, Spain in the 1930s was not a backward, peasant country, as is sometimes supposed. Between 1910 and 1930, the industrial working class more than doubled to over 2,500,000. This represented just over 26% of the working population (compared to 16% twenty years previously). In 1930, only 45% of the working population were engaged in agriculture. [Ronald Fraser, The Blood of Spain, p. 38] In Catalonia alone, 200,000 workers were employed in the textile industry and 70,000 in metal-working and machinery manufacturing. This was very different than the situation in Russia at the end of World War I, where the urban working class made up only 10% of the population.

Capitalist social relations had also penetrated the rural economy by the 1930s with agriculture oriented to the world market and approximately 90% of farm land in the hands of the bourgeoisie. [Fraser, Op. Cit., p. 37] So by 1936 agriculture was predominately capitalist, with Spanish agribusiness employing large numbers of labourers who either did not own enough land to support themselves or where landless. The labour movement in the Spanish countryside in the 1930s was precisely based on this large population of rural wage-earners (the socialist UGT land workers union had 451,000 members in 1933, 40% of its total membership, for example). In Russia at the time of the revolution of 1917, agriculture mostly consisted of small farms on which peasant families worked mainly for their own subsistence, bartering or selling their surplus.

Therefore the Spanish Revolution cannot be dismissed as a product a of pre-industrial society. The urban collectivisations occurred predominately in the most heavily industrialised part of Spain and indicate that anarchist ideas are applicable to modern societies Indeed, comforting Marxist myths aside, the CNT organised most of the unionised urban working class and, internally, agricultural workers were a minority of its membership (by 1936, the CNT was making inroads in Madrid, previously a socialist stronghold while the UGT main area of growth in the 1930s was with, ironically, rural workers). The revolution in Spain was the work (mostly) of rural and urban wage labourers (joined with poor peasants) fighting a well developed capitalist system.

In summary, then, the anarchist revolution in Spain has many lessons for revolutionaries in developed capitalist countries and cannot be dismissed as a product of industrial backwardness. The main strength lay of the anarchist movement was in urban areas and, unsurprisingly, the social revolution took place in both the most heavily industrialised areas as well as on the land.

[honeyriot]

In 1977, residents of South Minneapolis mobilized to fight the expansion of adult entertainment businesses along Lake Street. In 1983, after years of unsuccessful protest, these activists sought help from nationally known feminist theorists Catharine MacKinnon and Andrea Dworkin. MacKinnon and Dworkin wrote a controversial amendment to the city's expansive civil rights ordinance that defined pornography as a violation of women's civil rights.

In the late 1960s, a pair of Minneapolis entrepreneurs named Ferris and Edward Alexander sensed opportunity. In 1969, the brothers bought the Rialto Theater on Lake Street. Once a destination for family moviegoers, the theater began screening movies like Deep Throat. Soon a bookstore opened next to the theater. An adult entertainment district began to take shape on Lake Street.

The Alexanders enjoyed a virtual monopoly on the distribution of pornography in Minnesota. They owned a string of businesses across the state. But these Lake Street storefronts would serve as the core of what one newspaper called their "empire of smut."

The cluster of pornographic bookstores and theaters attracted men from all over the Twin Cities. There, they watched movies, read magazines, and sought sexual encounters with both prostitutes (men as well as women) and other patrons.

Residents of the Powderhorn and Central areas were dismayed by the way these businesses altered the climate of their neighborhoods. They objected most to customers harassing women on the surrounding streets.

In 1977, residents mobilized in protest and organized a picket line. City officials responded with a zoning ordinance that outlawed the operation of adult bookstores and theaters within five hundred feet of churches, schools, or residential areas. The injunction would have forced the Alexander brothers to close most of their businesses. The brothers sued the city and won.

In the wake of this ruling, activists regrouped in 1979. Instead of picketing, women volunteers organized themselves into action groups they wryly called "afternoon bridge clubs" and "sewing circles." They spent several hours each week "browsing" bookstores. Like temperance activists in the nineteenth century, they saw how the mere presence of women disrupted an all-male environment. They were courteously confrontational. They greeted people at the door and stood "behind customers, watching customers watch the quarter movies."

Police and city officials sympathized with the protesters. But instead of fighting street harassment, police focused on the men inside the bookstores who sought sexual encounters with other men. Between 1979 and 1985, they arrested over thirty-five hundred men for "indecent conduct."

By 1983, the Lake Street pornography district was still flourishing. Frustrated activists decided to seek help from Andrea Dworkin and Catharine MacKinnon, two nationally-known feminist theorists who argued that pornography scripted women's oppression. The women were living in Minneapolis for a time while they taught a class at the University of Minnesota law school.

Dworkin and MacKinnon brought new life to the anti-pornography campaign when they called for what opponents saw as a de facto ban. They appeared before the city zoning committee in October 1983. Pornography, they argued, was a crime against women. The city council hired them to amend the Minneapolis civil rights ordinance to define pornography as “the sexually explicit subordination of women, graphically depicted” and "a form of discrimination on the basis of sex." The amendment allowed those who had been harmed by pornography to sue its producers and purveyors.

For the next two months, debate over the measure consumed the city. On December 30, 1983, the city council approved the ordinance in a seven-to-six vote. Six days later, it was vetoed by Mayor Donald Fraser, who argued it would never hold up to judicial review.

Dworkin and MacKinnon used the publicity generated by the measure to launch a national campaign. Cities all over the country considered adopting the ordinance they wrote in Minneapolis.

After the mayor's veto, debate over pornography continued to rage in the city. In January 1984, Fraser created the Task Force on Pornography to find consensus on the issue. After a series of meetings, the body proposed a new version of the ordinance, drawing fire from Dworkin and MacKinnon. The pair countered with another measure which offered a narrowed definition of pornography and a less ambitious "trafficking" provision.

In July, the city council approved the new ordinance. The mayor immediately vetoed it.

In 1986, the U. S. Supreme Court affirmed a lower-court decision that declared such measures to be unconstitutional.

https://www.mnopedia.org/thing/minneapolis-anti-pornography-ordinance

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

The UK’s charity regulator is investigating videos of antisemitic speeches given by former Iranian generals to British students, as well as footage of "death to Israel" chants at the British premises of an Islamic charity.

UK officials probe Iran generals' antisemitic talks to students https://t.co/8GJvEReZt2 — BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) January 22, 2024

Two of the videos being investigated by the UK’s Charity Commission show talks by members of the Iranian regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), with one of them describing an apocalyptic war with Jews and Holocaust denial.

The videos, which the BBC saw and verified, were recorded in 2020 and 2021 and show three events. Two were live-streamed speeches by former and active commanders of the IRGC, while the other was an in-person event inside the Kanoon Towhid Islamic Center in western London, commemorating Iran’s top military commander, General Qasem Soleimani. 

Soleimani was killed in a US air strike in 2020. Chants of "death to Israel" were heard during the in-person event, but it wasn’t clear or known who was saying them. There is also other evidence of an IRGC commander giving online talks to British students, where the commander bragged about his role in training Hamas fighters before the October 7 attacks in Israel that claimed the lives of over 1,200 Israelis.

This is former IRGC commander Gen Saeed Ghasemi - he falsely claims the holocaust never happened and urges students to join an apocalyptic war. pic.twitter.com/oT5jMZZ6Bb — Ed Thomas (@EdThomasNews) January 23, 2024

The Islamic Students Associations of Britain (ISA) and its affiliates promoted the online talks in advance, and these events took place in Kanoon Towhid Islamic Center, which was used as a meeting place. Unlike mainstream Muslim student groups in the UK, the ISA was founded to promote the philosophy and ideology of Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran’s first supreme leader and the founder of the Islamic Republic.

Kanoon Towhid is also owned by the Al-Tawheed (TUCF) Charitable Trust, which has already been investigated by the Charity Commission after reports of the event honoring Soleimani, whom the British government sanctioned for his links to terrorism. The commission is investigating the videos seen and verified by the BBC, including one footage of this event.

Orlando Fraser, chairman of the Charity Commission, has previously warned that charities must not "become forums for hate speech" or extremism. The commission has the authority to investigate, sanction, or even close down charities that violate regulations.

This is ridicuously shocking. How does this go under the radar? — Melanie Amini (@TheMelAmini) January 23, 2024

Alicia Kearns, a Conservative MP for Rutland and Melton who also serves as chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee in Parliament, described the speeches as a “brazen act of radicalization," adding that the IRGC should be added to the government’s list of proscribed terrorist groups in the UK, which would make it illegal to be an IRGC member or show support for the IRGC.

In one Instagram Live recording from Iran, which was live-streamed in September 2020 and has been viewed about 1,500 times, IRGC commander Hossein Yekta said universities have become "the battlefront" and urged students to become "soft-war officers.” 

The other video of an online talk from January 2021 glorified the death of Soleimani. Seen by thousands of people, the video shows former IRGC commander Gen Saeed Ghasemi comparing Soleimani’s death to the movie Terminator 2, saying that after Soleimani was killed, the broken pieces would come back together, stronger than ever before. 

I thought “absolute free speech” in universities was paramount, and that students had to learn to be resilient when faced with “opposing views” or am I misremembering the last ten years or so? — Robin Chud (@MisterDanielBro) January 23, 2024

Ghasemi also falsely claimed that the Holocaust was "a lie and a fake" and talked about an apocalyptic war that British students could join to "bring an end to the life of the oppressors and occupiers, Zionists and Jews across the world."

"God willing, myself and you good students in Europe will be written in the beautiful list of the soldiers of the resistance from tonight." Ghasemi also added.

Lastly, the Instagram Live from 2020 was hosted by Mohammad Hussain Ataee, a British citizen in Yorkshire who was previously the secretary of the Islamic Students Associations of Britain. Although he is no longer the organization's secretary, he still serves as the secretary of the Union of Islamic Students Associations of Europe, an umbrella body that includes the British organization. Although Ataee, who was granted an audience with Iran’s supreme leader Khamenei last year, said the allegations against him were false, he did not answer further questions from the BBC.

==

#ThisIsIslam

[formlines]

The Fisherman’s Charm 

Anthony Gabriel

from the website: Great blue herons will be keeping watch over Surrey streets late spring in an elegant and bold artwork by Anthony Gabriel. In The Fisherman’s Charm, Gabriel’s design highlights the graceful curves and long neck of the bird as it patiently waits, watches, and seeks calm waters against a bright red sun that represents the Life-Giver and Healer.

Gabriel chose to feature the great blue heron because it is a species known throughout the shared traditional lands of Semiahmoo, Kwantlen, and Katzie territories and can be seen throughout the Fraser Valley. They are known to be good omens for people venturing out to harvest salmon and other fish. Gabriel says, “I wanted these banners to share that same omen with all the people of our shared communities—a design that represents all our Nations and a reminder of the journey we are all on together.”

The design was recommended by a committee of Elders of the Katzie, Kwantlen, and Semiahmoo First Nations.

[whatisonthemoon]

3 Diplomat Bank Directors Favor New Role for Kim (1977)

Source:  https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1977/12/23/3-diplomat-bank-directors-favor-new-role-for-kim/c8cb6c0d-530a-47f3-a97e-168e1e14c74f/

By Ronald Kessler December 23, 1977

Three of the six directors of Diplomat National Bank here are attempting to continue the bank's association with its former chairman, Charles C. Kim, who has been charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission with aiding a secret takeover of the bank by South Korean interests.

Last week, the three directors mailed documents asking stockholders of the bank to elect two new directors who they said would also be favorable to allowing Kim, who now is a consultant to the bank, to perform unspecified functions for the bank.

Kim was barred by a court order in September from performing managerial functions for the bank after the SEC charged that he had fraudulently helped South Korean agent Tongsun Park and an aide to South Korean evangelist Sun Myung Moon secretly obtain more than half of Diplomat National Bank's stock.

The three directors said in their mailing to the bank's stockholders that Kim should be permitted to continue with the bank because he is "important for the economic well-being and continued growth of the bank."

At the same time that the three directors were appealing to the stockholders on Kim's behalf, the bank received a $2 million deposit - equal to about one-fourth of the bank's present total deposits - from Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church. According to one informed source, the three directors supporting Kim have cited this large deposit from the Unification Church as evidence of Kim's effectiveness on behalf of the bank.

Although the court order obtained by the SEC bars Kim from resuming his position as an officer of the bank without approval of the comptroller of the currency or from engaging in other managerial functions, Robert N. Serino, director of enforcement for the comptroller, said it is "possible" Kim could legally solicit deposits or new loan business for the bank.

In addition, Philip N. Smith, the bank's lawyer in proceedings before the SEC, said the order would allow Kim to act as a "marketing consultant."

"We have to determine," Serino said, "if the intent of the order was to keep his (Kim's) influence out of the bank even on a behind-the-scenes basis, and, if so, if these people (the proposed new directors) should be kept out of the bank."

Diplomat was organized in 1975 to cater particularly to Asians living in Washington. In its brief existence, the bank, which has offices at 2033 K. St., NW, has repeatedly figured in newspaper stories and congressional investigations of South Korean influence-buying schemes here. The bank's deposits at the end of last year stood at $7.2 million.

In its complaint, the SEC said Kim and others defrauded those who purchased stock in the bank when it was organized by concealing or misrepresenting its true ownership and failing to disclose the fact that 45 per cent of the bank's demand, or checking account, deposits came from Moon's Unification Church International.

The account, according to the SEC, was maintained by Bo Hi Pak, president of the Korean Cultural and Freedom Foundation and secret purchaser of 43 per cent of the bank's stock.

Pak is interpreter and a top aide to Moon, who is said by the House Subcommittee on International Organizations to have maintained "Operational ties" with the Korean Central Intelligence Agency.

Kim's role at the bank has been the object of a simmering dispute within the board of directors since Kim resigned as chairman under pressure last April. The bank has continued to pay Kim $33,000 a year as a consultant, although the September court order prevents the bank from renewing his consultant contract when it expires in April.

When the bank's current chairman, William Chin-Lee, told Kim to move his offices out of the bank, the three directors who favor Kim - Dr. Magin T. Quiambao, Harry J. Zink, and Dr. Soo Young Oh - wrote to Lee:

". . . it is our belief that Dr. Kim's presence at the bank has a reassuring effect on depositors and therefore is beneficial to the bank. We believe that not permitting Dr. Kim to remain on the premises would run the risk of creating an unsettling effect among the depositors, which might precipitate a run on deposits . . ."

In addressing stockholders, the three directors said in proxy solicitations that they and the proposed new directors intend to allow Kim to "perform such functions for and on behalf of the bank which are not in contravention of the order entered with respect to the bank."

One of the proposed directors, Phillip D. Grub, professor of international business at George Washington University, said he had been asked to serve on the board by Kim, whom, he knew as a student.

"I've seen nothing in his actions to have any qualms about him as chairman of the bank, a position which he had nine months ago," Grub said. However, Grub said he would evaluate facts the board might have before reaching any conclusions on whether to vote to reinstate Kim as chairman.

Grub said he was not aware of the court order preventing such an action without approval of the comptroller. He said Kim told him he was not aware of the secret ownership of the bank.

Describing Kim as a good administrator, Grub said, "Dr. Kim was one of the organizers of the bank. I think it's his baby."

The second candidate, Diosdado Yap, president of Capital Publishers Inc., which publishes congressional directories, said he was never asked if he supported Kim and was surprised when he read in the proxy material that he was a supporter.

"I have no thoughts about Dr. Kim," he said. "As far as I'm concerned, I'll see what is what. If I smell a rat, I have no interest in the matter," Yap said.

One signature on the proxy solicitation appears to be that of Cheyung Choi, named in congressional testimony last October as a supplier of goods to the Korean Central Intelligence Agency.

The former KCIA official who gave the testimony also said he gave Choi $400,000 from Tongsun Park, who is under indictment for his alleged role in the Korean influence-buying scheme.

The proxy material says stockholders should send their votes to Kim, any of the three directors who initiated the proposal or Napoleon Lechoco.

Lechoco is a Filipino lawyer who held that country's ambassador to the United States at gunpoint for 10 hours in the ambassador's office here in 1974. Last May, a jury found Lechoco innocent of kidnaping and other crimes in connection with the incident on grounds of temporary insanity.

Related links below

The MacNeil/Lehrer Report: Korean Intelligence and Lobbying Scandal (1977)

On the KCIA Connection

On Leon Jaworski

Rev. Moon Aide Concedes KCIA Sent Him $3,000 (1978)

House Unit to Query Aides to U.S. in Korea (1977)

Former KCIA Head Says Park Tong Sun was Korean Agent (1977)

President Park Said to Direct Lobbying (1978)

Neil Salonen - KCIA Agents Becoming UC Members is Not Aboveboard!

What the KCIA and the Moonies did to the Editor of the Korea Journal, Song Sun Keun

George Bush, head of CIA, protected Moon

[wellthatwasaletdown]

These are the actors industry publications think will be nominated for the Oscars. Harry is nowhere and we know from the terrible reviews of dwd and mp that he and his team have very little influence in the world of film, so the anon who thinks HS can ''fuck'' his way to awards selected by committee is mistaken.

Best Actor

Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin

Austin Butler, Elvis

Bill Nighy, Living

Brendan Fraser, The Whale

Paul Mescal, Aftersun

.

[harrytheehottie]

Also, the way the committee has treated Brendan Fraser too

one of their leaders t literally SA’d him and they have the audacity to nominate him. so gross

[industryandenterpriseclaire]

Glue Factory - 23/9/24

In today's college trip we had discussions with Fraser Whiting about his background to the art industry, when he graduated and where he and the Glue Factory is now. The Glue Factory was build in 1891. This building was initially a glue and industrial pipework. This can be seen in the images above in the tank room. Everything is untouched to have the sense how aging this building is and therefore becomes useful to others students for those that seek areas like this for film.

Fraser graduated in 2022 studying painting and printmaking at GSA and is now currently working as facilities manager in the Glue factory and is part of Glasgow Project room committee. He talks about the spaces allocated to those in the art industry and have the opportunities to use the new studio spaces.

In this industry requires a lot of community support for financials and communications between artists and the team in the Glue Factory to make events happen. The events may include art showing, event hires such as weddings. I thought the glue factory was interesting for those aspects of community similar to SWG3 trip. I find it would be interesting to use those large spaces for bigger projects.

[dailyanarchistposts]

I.8.6 What did the agricultural collectives accomplish?

Most basically, self-management in collectives combined with co-operation in rural federations allowed an improvement in quality of rural life. From a purely economic viewpoint, production increased and as historian Benjamin Martin summarises: “Though it is impossible to generalise about the rural land take-overs, there is little doubt that the quality of life for most peasants who participated in co-operatives and collectives notably improved.” [The Agony of Modernisation, p. 394] Another historian, Antony Beevor, notes that ”[i]n terms of production and improved standards for the peasants, the self-managed collectives appear to have been successful. They also seem to have encouraged harmonious community relations.” [The Spanish Civil War, p. 95]

More importantly, however, this improvement in the quality of life included an increase in freedom as well as in consumption. To re-quote the member of the Beceite collective in Aragón: “it was marvellous .. . to live in a collective, a free society where one could say what one thought, where if the village committee seemed unsatisfactory one could say. The committee took no big decisions without calling the whole village together in a general assembly. All this was wonderful.” [quoted by Ronald Fraser, Blood of Spain, p. 288] As Beevor suggests, “self-managed collectives were much happier when no better off than before. What mattered was that the labourers ran their own collectives — a distinct contrast to the disasters of state collectivisation in the Soviet Union.” [Op. Cit., p. 95] Here are a few examples provided by Jose Peirats:

“In Montblanc the collective dug up the old useless vines and planted new vineyards. The land, improved by modern cultivation with tractors, yielded much bigger and better crops … Many Aragón collectives built new roads and repaired old ones, installed modern flour mills, and processed agricultural and animal waste into useful industrial products. Many of these improvements were first initiated by the collectives. Some villages, like Calanda, built parks and baths. Almost all collectives established libraries, schools, and cultural centres.” [The Anarchist Collectives, p. 116]

Gaston Leval pointed out that “the Peasant Federation of Levant … produced more than half of the total orange crop in Spain: almost four million kilos (1 kilo equals about 2 and one-fourth pounds). It then transported and sold through its own commercial organisation (no middlemen) more than 70% of the crop. (The Federation’s commercial organisation included its own warehouses, trucks, and boats. Early in 1938 the export section established its own agencies in France: Marseilles, Perpignan, Bordeaux, Cherbourg, and Paris.) Out of a total of 47,000 hectares in all Spain devoted to rice production, the collective in the Province of Valencia cultivated 30,000 hectares.” [Op. Cit., p. 124] To quote Peirats again:

“Preoccupation with cultural and pedagogical innovations was an event without precedent in rural Spain. The Amposta collectivists organised classes for semi-literates, kindergartens, and even a school of arts and professions. The Seros schools were free to all neighbours, collectivists or not. Grau installed a school named after its most illustrious citizen, Joaquin Costa. The Calanda collective (pop. only 4,500) schooled 1,233 children. The best students were sent to the Lyceum in Caspe, with all expenses paid by the collective. The Alcoriza (pop. 4,000) school was attended by 600 children. Many of the schools were installed in abandoned convents. In Granadella (pop. 2,000), classes were conducted in the abandoned barracks of the Civil Guards. Graus organised a print library and a school of arts and professions, attended by 60 pupils. The same building housed a school of fine arts and high grade museum. In some villages a cinema was installed for the first time. The Penalba cinema was installed in a church. Viladecana built an experimental agricultural laboratory. [Op. Cit., p. 116]

Peirats summed up the accomplishments of the agricultural collectives as follows:

“In distribution the collectives’ co-operatives eliminated middlemen, small merchants, wholesalers, and profiteers, thus greatly reducing consumer prices. The collectives eliminated most of the parasitic elements from rural life, and would have wiped them out altogether if they were not protected by corrupt officials and by the political parties. Non-collectivised areas benefited indirectly from the lower prices as well as from free services often rendered by the collectives (laundries, cinemas, schools, barber and beauty parlours, etc.).” [Op. Cit., p. 114]

Leval emphasised the following achievements (among others):

“In the agrarian collectives solidarity was practised to the greatest degree. Not only was every person assured of the necessities, but the district federations increasingly adopted the principle of mutual aid on an inter-collective scale. For this purpose they created common reserves to help out villages less favoured by nature. In Castile special institutions for this purpose were created. In industry this practice seems to have begun in Hospitalet, on the Catalan railways, and was applied later in Alcoy. Had the political compromise not impeded open socialisation, the practices of mutual aid would have been much more generalised … A conquest of enormous importance was the right of women to livelihood, regardless of occupation or function. In about half of the agrarian collectives, the women received the same wages as men; in the rest the women received less, apparently on the principle that they rarely live alone … In all the agrarian collectives of Aragón, Catalonia, Levant, Castile, Andalusia, and Estremadura, the workers formed groups to divide the labour or the land; usually they were assigned to definite areas. Delegates elected by the work groups met with the collective’s delegate for agriculture to plan out the work. This typical organisation arose quite spontaneously, by local initiative … In addition … the collective as a whole met in weekly, bi-weekly or monthly assembly … The assembly reviewed the activities of the councillors it named, and discussed special cases and unforeseen problems. All inhabitants — men and women, producers and non-producers — took part in the discussion and decisions … In land cultivation the most significant advances were: the rapidly increased use of machinery and irrigation; greater diversification; and forestation. In stock raising: the selection and multiplication of breeds; the adaptation of breeds to local conditions; and large-scale construction of collective stock barns.” [Op. Cit., pp. 166–167]

Collectivisation, as Graham Kelsey notes, “allowed a rationalisation of village societies and a more efficient use of the economic resources available. Instead of carpenters and bricklayers remaining idle because no wealthy landowner had any use for their services they were put to work constructing agricultural facilities and providing the villages with the kind of social amenities which until then they had scarcely been able to imagine.” [Anarchosyndicalism, Libertarian Communism and the State, p. 169] Martha A. Ackelsberg sums up the experience well:

“The achievements of these collectives were extensive. In many areas they maintained, if not increased, agricultural production [not forgetting that many young men were at the front line], often introducing new patterns of cultivation and fertilisation … collectivists built chicken coups, barns, and other facilities for the care and feeding of the community’s animals. Federations of collectives co-ordinated the construction of roads, schools, bridges, canals and dams. Some of these remain to this day as lasting contributions of the collectives to the infrastructure of rural Spain. The collectivists also arranged for the transfer of surplus produce from wealthier collectives to those experiencing shortages, either directly from village to village or through mechanisms set up by regional committees.” [The Free Women of Spain, pp. 106–7]

As well as this inter-collective solidarity, the rural collectives also supplied food to the front-line troops:

“The collectives voluntarily contributed enormous stocks of provisions and other supplies to the fighting troops. Utiel sent 1,490 litres of oil and 300 bushels of potatoes to the Madrid front (in addition to huge stocks of beans, rice, buckwheat, etc.). Porales de Tujana sent great quantities of bread, oil, flour, and potatoes to the front, and eggs, meat, and milk to the military hospital. “The efforts of the collectives take on added significance when we take into account that their youngest and most vigorous workers were fighting in the trenches. 200 members of the little collective of Vilaboi were at the front; from Viledecans, 60; Amposta, 300; and Calande, 500.” [Jose Peirats, The Anarchist Collectives, p. 120]

Therefore, as well as significant economic achievements, the collectives ensured social and political ones too. Solidarity was practised and previously marginalised people took direct and full management of the affairs of their communities, transforming them to meet their own needs and desires.

[sa7abnews]

Ilhan Omar Successfully Defends House Seat Amid Primary Challenges to Progressive ‘Squad’

New Post has been published on https://sa7ab.info/2024/08/16/ilhan-omar-successfully-defends-house-seat-amid-primary-challenges-to-progressive-squad/

Ilhan Omar Successfully Defends House Seat Amid Primary Challenges to Progressive ‘Squad’

MINNEAPOLIS — Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, one of the progressive House members known as the “Squad” and a sharp critic of how Israel has conducted the war in Gaza, has won her primary race in Minnesota.

Omar successfully defended her Minneapolis-area 5th District seat against a repeat challenge from former Minneapolis City Council member Don Samuels, a more centrist liberal whom she only narrowly defeated in the 2022 primary.

Omar avoided the fate of two fellow Squad members. Rep. Cori Bush lost the Democratic nomination in her Missouri district last week, and Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York lost his primary in June. Both faced well-funded challengers and millions of dollars in spending by the United Democracy Project, a super political action committee affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which appeared to sit out the Minnesota race.

Samuels had criticized Omar’s condemnation of the Israeli government’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war. While Omar has also criticized Hamas for attacking Israel and taking hostages, Samuels said she’s one-sided and divisive. He also stressed public safety issues in Minneapolis, where a former police officer murdered George Floyd in 2020.

Conservative populist and former NBA player Royce White defeated Navy veteran Joe Fraser in Minnesota’s primary election for the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar in November.

Former federal prosecutor Joe Teirab also won a contested GOP primary for Minnesota’s 2nd District seat held by Democratic Rep. Angie Craig.

Teirab has the support of former President Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson and the National Republican Congressional Committee.

His opponent, defense attorney Tayler Rahm, won the endorsement at the district convention with support from grassroots conservatives.

While Rahm announced in July that he was suspending his campaign and would instead serve as a senior adviser for Trump’s Minnesota campaign, he remained on the ballot.

Teirab will face Craig in what’s expected to be Minnesota’s most competitive House race in November.

Craig issued a statement following Teirab’s win calling him “a guy who recently moved to the district because he saw a political opportunity.”

“He’s a guy who has spent months doing anything to win the support of Washington Republicans,” Craig said. “And he’s a guy who has made it his life’s mission to take away reproductive freedoms from families and give those decisions to politicians.”

Omar—a Somali American and Muslim—came under fire from the Jamaican-born Samuels and others in her first term for comments that were widely criticized for invoking antisemitic tropes and suggesting Jewish Americans have divided loyalties. This time, Samuels has criticized her condemnation of the Israeli government’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war.

While Omar has also criticized Hamas for attacking Israel and taking hostages, Samuels says she’s one-sided and divisive. He’s also been stressing the public safety issues he focused on in 2022. The big issue at the time was policing in Minneapolis, where a former police officer murdered George Floyd in 2020.

Omar will face Republican Dalia Al-Aqidi, an Iraqi American journalist and self-described secular Muslim who calls Omar pro-Hamas and a terrorist sympathizer.

In the U.S. Senate race, White—an ally of imprisoned former Trump aide Steve Bannon and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones—shocked many political observers when he defeated Fraser at the party convention for the GOP endorsement.

White’s social media comments have been denounced as misogynistic, homophobic, antisemitic and profane. His legal and financial problems include unpaid child support and questionable campaign spending, including $1,200 spent at a Florida strip club after he lost his primary challenge to Omar in 2022. He argues that, as a Black man, he can broaden the party’s base by appealing to voters of color in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area and others disillusioned with establishment politics.

Fraser has said White’s confrontational style and message won’t attract the moderates and independents needed for a competitive challenge against Klobuchar, who’s seeking a fourth term. He said he offers a more mainstream approach, stressing fiscal conservativism, a strong defense, world leadership and small government. Fraser has also highlighted his 26 years in the Navy, where he was an intelligence officer and served a combat tour in Iraq.

Neither has anywhere near the resources that Klobuchar has. White last reported raising $133,000, while Fraser has taken in $68,000. Klobuchar, meanwhile, has collected about $19 million this cycle and has more than $6 million available to spend on the general election campaign. She faced only nominal primary opposition.

Another clash between establishment and grassroots Republicans played out in western Minnesota’s 7th District. Trump-backed GOP Rep. Michelle Fischbach, considered one of the most conservative members of Congress, defeated small businessman Steve Boyd. Boyd ran to her right on a religious platform and blocked her from getting endorsement at the district convention. Boyd has reported spending $170,000, while Fischbach has spent over $1 million.

[daimonclub]

The Olympic Games

The Olympic Games The Olympic Games short story, an article by English-Culture.com blog for sport lovers and students of English all over the world. If you want to know more about the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games visit its website. Follow the worlds top athletes as they go for gold in France (Jul 26-Aug 11, 2024). Paralympic Games – Wednesday 28 August to Sunday 8 September. The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part; the essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well. Pierre de Coubertin The Olympics remain the most compelling search for excellence that exists in sport, and maybe in life itself. Dawn Fraser The Olympics are a wonderful metaphor for world cooperation, the kind of international competition that's wholesome and healthy, an interplay between countries that represents the best in all of us.  John Williams The Olympic Games have a history of about twenty eight hundred years. They are so called because they were first held at a town called Olympia in ancient Greece near Mount Olympus in Greece in 778 B.C. in honour of the Greek God Zeus. These games were held once in every four years, up to 394 A.D. when they were stopped by a royal order of the Emperor of Rome. When they were stopped, competitions were held in literature, arts, dance and music besides sports. The Olympic Games were revived in 1894 by the effort of a French nobleman, Pierre-de-Coubertin, who founded the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in that year.  As a result, the Olympics shifted away from pastime, to allow the participation of professional athletes. Today, the Olympic Games are the world’s largest athletic skill and competitive sport games. More than 200 nations participate in these games. Generally, the games occur every four years. Being the Olympic Games the world's number one sports event, for thousands of athletes they mean a chance to reach glory, but that is not all the games stand for. They are also an important symbol for billions of people around the globe, a symbol of hope peace and friendly co-operation between nations.  There was always a flame at the ancient Games, symbol of We search for perfection and victory but it was not included in the modern games until 1928 in Amsterdam. It is said that it was lit at Olympia from the rays of the sun. It is carried to the Games by a series of runners, and it burns in the stadium throughout the events.

The Olympic Games short composition The ancient Olympics had some differences from the modern Games. There were fewer events, and only free men who spoke Greek could compete, instead of athletes from any country. Women were not allowed to even watch the games on penalty of death let alone play in them. Both the modern and Ancient Olympics have close similarities in their purpose and in their problems. Now 13000 athletes compete in 33 different sports in Olympic Games. The world has already seen 29 Olympic Games. The 30th Olympic Games took place in London in 2012. Now a days, the games become more popular to the audiences and the competitors. The Olympics where held in Athens (Greece) in 1984. From then onwards the modern Olympic Games are being held once in every four years. There was a break, however, during the period of World War I and World War II. The 20th Olympics were held in 1972 at Munich (Germany). Later Olympics were held at Montreal, Moscow, Los Angeles, Seoul, Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney, Athens, Beijing, London and Rio de Janeiro. The 2016 Summer Olympics (Portuguese: Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially known as the Games of the XXXI Olympiad and commonly known as Rio 2016, was a major international multi-sport event celebrated in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. More than 11,000 athletes from 205 National Olympic Committees, including first time entrants Kosovo, South Sudan, and the Refugee Olympic Team, took part. With 306 sets of medals, the games featured 28 Olympic sports, including rugby sevens and golf, which were added to the Olympic program in 2009. These sporting events took place at 33 venues in the host city, and at five in São Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Salvador, Brasília, and Manaus. The next 2020 Summer Olympics game will take place in Tokyo, they are planned to be held from 24 July to 9 August 2020. The city was announced as the host at the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires on 7 September 2013. It will also become the largest city ever in Asia to host the Summer Olympics, a distinction currently held by Seoul, which hosted the 1988 Summer Olympics. It will be the second time that Tokyo hosts the Olympics; it previously hosted the 1964 games. The Olympic Games attract athletes of different countries, from all parts of the world. It is a symbol of international friendship and brotherhood. The Olympic symbol consists of give rings or circles linked together. The five rings represent five different continents – Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and America. The linking represents unity. The five rings are of five different colours. They are Blue, Yellow, Black, Green and Red. The Olympic flag has interlinking rings on plain white background. The torch is first lit at Olympic in Greece and then taken to the place of meet by relay runners. Each athlete, who takes part in the games, has also to take an oath that he would respect and abide by the rules of the game.

The Olympic Games English-culture.com Competitions are held generally in the following games and sports and some others not quoted here: archery, athletics, badminton, baseball, basketball, boxing, canoeing, cycling, equestrian sports, fencing, football, gymnastics, handball, hockey, judo, modern penthalan, rowing, shooting, swimming, table tennis, tennis, volleyball, weightlifting, wrestling and yachting. There are also Paralympic athletics games that are sports practiced by athletes with a physical disability who have competed at separate international events since 1952. It is governed by the International Paralympic Committee through its World Para Athletics subcommittee, and has been one of the sports at the Summer Paralympic Games since 1960. Rules for the sport are adapted from those set forth by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). The majority of rules for Paralympic athletics are the same as those for able-bodied competitions. The Olympic flag is another very important symbol too. The five circles on it represent the five continents, each circle is a different colour, blue, black, red, yellow and green (all against a white background) and every national flag contains at least one of these six colours. Nowadays the games are officially opened by the host country's monarch or political leader. There is a huge display of song, dance and music by the host country, the flame is lit, and the Olympic flag is raised while one athlete says these words: «In the name of all competitors, I promise that we will take part in the Olympic Games, respecting and abiding by the rules which govern them, in the spirit of sportsmanship for the glory of sport and the honour of our teams». There have been two Olympic eras, ancient and modern. The modern era began in 1896 in Greece (like the ancient games) and will celebrate its centenary in Atlanta, USA. It all began when a Frenchman, called Baron Pierre de Coubertin revived the Games. He was a French aristocrat who was fascinated by the Ancient Olympics, so he decided in 1889 to try and revive them. He thought that the Games represented ideals which the modern world badly needed, cooperation between nations, honour, fairness and high morals Baron de Coubertin organized an international conference which took place in June 1894 at the Sorbonne University in Paris. It was during this conference that the International Olympic Committee was set up, two very important decisions were made, that is Olympic Games would take place in Athens in 1896 and athletes from thirteen different countries would take part in the first modern Olympics. Earlier, athletes who won were crowned by olive branches. In modern times, the winners are awarded medals and certificates. Those who come first, are awarded gold medals. Those who stand second are awarded silver medals and those who are third are awarded bronze medals.

The Olympic Games spirit The Olympic Winter Games (official name) (French: Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international sporting event held once every four years, for sports practised on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympics, the 1924 Winter Olympics, was held in Chamonix, France. The original five sports (broken into nine disciplines) were bobsleigh, curling, ice hockey, Nordic skiing (consisting of the disciplines military patrol, cross-country skiing, Nordic combined, and ski jumping), and skating (consisting of the disciplines figure skating and speed skating). The Games were held every four years from 1924 to 1936, interrupted in 1940 and 1944 by World War II, and resumed in 1948. Until 1992 the Winter and Summer Olympic Games were held in the same years, but in accordance with a 1986 decision by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to place the Summer and Winter Games on separate four-year cycles in alternating even-numbered years, the next Winter Olympics after 1992 was in 1994. There have been several boycotts of the Olympics by various countries. The first came in 1956, when the Egyptian, Lebanese, and Iraqi teams boycotted the Melbourne Games to protest the invasion of Egypt earlier that year by the United Kingdom, France, and Israel. Major boycotts of the Olympics occurred again in 1976, 1980, and 1984 over various issues. The issue that prompted the 1980 boycott of the Moscow Games was the 1979 invasion of Afghanistan by the USSR. From the 1940s to the 1980s, the IOC also had to deal with the political problems caused by divided nations. One dilemma concerned the Chinese Olympic team, after the political division of China in 1949 into the People's Republic of China on the mainland and the so-called Republic of China on the island of Taiwan. Another issue was the 1949 political division of Germany into East Germany and West Germany. This raised the question of whether there was to be one German Olympic team or two. The IOC tried to solve this problem by insisting on a combined German team. Terrorism has also darkened the Olympic ideal at several different Games. In the midst of the 1972 Munich Games, the Olympic movement experienced its most tragic hour. A band of Palestinian terrorists made their way into the Olympic village (where most athletes live during the Games), murdered two members of the Israeli team, and took nine hostages. When the IOC, meeting in emergency session, learned that a gunfight had broken out and that all nine hostages were dead, along with five of the terrorists, the Games were suspended for a day. The IOC’s controversial decision to resume the Games that year was endorsed by the Israeli government.

Olympic Games Diving Having survived a century of warfare and political turmoil, the Olympic Games have become a gigantic global event in recent years, gaining more popularity and generating more money than ever before. A great deal of this popularity and wealth is due to the development of satellite communications and global telecasts. Not only can more and more people see the Games, but the television rights to the Games can be sold for hundreds of millions of dollars. With more money, the IOC can also subsidize the development of sports in less affluent nations. In return for their money, however, television networks have gained a strong influence on when, where, and how the Olympics will take place. The Olympic movement has also become dependent on multinational corporations, who pay millions of dollars to become official sponsors of the game and to use Olympic symbols in their advertisements. This has led to the commercialization of the Olympic movement. To conclude we can say that the main aims of the Olympics are to promote sport, to create a more friendly, peaceful world, to spread Olympic principles and to bring athletes together in a great sports festival every four years. We have to be fans of the Olympics because they make us feel optimistic, work together and do our best disregarding economical or political considerations. That's why the Games represent a rare positive symbol for our problematic, chaotic and cruel world. You can also read: Olympic games quotes The Paralympic Games Paris 2024 Olympic Games Great Sports Quotes Sports News https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrumpH7eU8U http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCXKycXaznA Read the full article