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plotapplication · 4 days ago

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Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell

George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty Four is one of the most influential and haunting works of 20th-century literature. Published in 1949, the novel presents a grim vision of a future society ruled by totalitarianism, where government control permeates every aspect of life, from language to thought. Orwell’s exploration of power, oppression, surveillance, and truth resonates deeply today, making the novel timeless in its relevance.

The Setting: A World Under Totalitarian Rule

*1984* is set in Airstrip One (formerly Britain), a province of the Party-controlled superstate of Oceania. The society is dominated by the ruling figure known as Big Brother, a symbol of omnipresent surveillance and control. Though Big Brother’s actual existence is ambiguous, his image—on posters, coins, and telescreens—remains ever-present, reminding the populace that they are always being watched. The Party, led by the mysterious and feared figure of Big Brother, maintains an iron grip on the people, using fear, manipulation, and violence to keep them in line.

The novel's protagonist, Winston Smith, lives in a world where privacy is nonexistent, independent thought is forbidden, and truth is constantly rewritten to suit the Party’s needs. The Party's control over the citizens is not just physical but psychological, shaping how they think, what they believe, and even what they perceive as reality.

Themes of Totalitarianism and Power

One of the most striking aspects of *Nineteen Eighty-Four* is its exploration of totalitarianism. Orwell’s dystopia is a vision of a society where all aspects of life are tightly controlled, not merely by force but by manipulation of truth and language. The Party enforces its ideology through a variety of mechanisms, including the Thought Police, who punish any form of dissent, and Newspeak, a language designed to eliminate the possibility of subversive thoughts. The famous slogan of the Party, “War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength,” encapsulates the paradoxical nature of totalitarian ideology: the more oppressive the regime, the more it insists that its actions are justified and beneficial.

Orwell was deeply concerned with the way in which power can warp truth. Under the Party’s rule, history is continuously rewritten to fit the present political narrative. What Winston experiences as the past is constantly altered in the Ministry of Truth, where he works as a records clerk. This distortion of reality is perhaps the novel's most chilling aspect, as it illustrates the terrifying power of the state to shape not just the present, but the very memories and understandings of the past.

Surveillance and the Loss of Privacy

A key feature of Orwell's dystopia is the ubiquitous surveillance system. In the world of *1984*, citizens are under constant watch by the Party. Telescreens—devices that broadcast propaganda while simultaneously monitoring the inhabitants—ensure that no one can escape scrutiny. The phrase "Big Brother is watching you" is not just a warning but a fundamental aspect of daily life. Even private thoughts are not safe, as the Thought Police can detect and punish “thoughtcrimes.”

The novel’s emphasis on surveillance as a means of control feels eerily prescient in our own era, where technology has advanced to a point where surveillance is increasingly pervasive. Orwell's depiction of a society where privacy is nonexistent and even the inner workings of the mind are subject to regulation is a cautionary tale about the dangers of unchecked state power in the digital age.

Language and Thought Control: Newspeak

In *Nineteen Eighty-Four*, Orwell introduces the concept of Newspeak, a language constructed to eliminate the possibility of rebellious or subversive thoughts. The Party understands that if people can think freely, they might resist its control. So, Newspeak is engineered to reduce the range of thought. Words that could express dissent are eliminated, and the vocabulary itself becomes smaller and simpler, making it impossible for people to articulate ideas that could challenge the Party’s rule.

Newspeak is a particularly insidious form of control because it changes how people perceive the world. Language is tied to thought, and by limiting the language available, the Party reduces the scope of what individuals can think, making it harder to even conceive of rebellion or resistance. In Orwell’s dystopia, controlling language is the most effective way to control minds.

Winston Smith: The Rebel and the Tragic Hero

Winston Smith, the novel's protagonist, is a low-ranking member of the Party who secretly harbors thoughts of rebellion against the oppressive regime. He begins an illicit love affair with Julia, a co-worker, and the two engage in acts of defiance, including reading forbidden books and discussing the idea of revolution. For Winston, this rebellion is a desperate attempt to reclaim his humanity and to experience the freedom of independent thought.

However, Winston’s journey ultimately reveals the profound strength of the Party’s control. He is captured by the Thought Police, tortured, and brainwashed until he is reduced to a shell of his former self. The psychological and physical torture Winston endures in the Ministry of Love, particularly his experiences with O'Brien, a high-ranking Party member who pretends to be an ally, underscores the extent to which the Party seeks to break not just the body, but the mind. By the end of the novel, Winston is forced to betray Julia, and he accepts the Party’s version of reality, demonstrating the total victory of totalitarianism over the human spirit.

The Relevance of *1984* Today

Though Orwell wrote *Nineteen Eighty-Four* in response to the rise of totalitarian regimes in the mid-20th century—specifically Stalinist Russia and Nazi Germany—the novel’s themes are strikingly relevant today. Issues of surveillance, censorship, the manipulation of truth, and the concentration of power in the hands of a few elites are still critical concerns in the modern world. Orwell's vision of a society where truth is malleable and the state controls every aspect of life speaks to the dangers of unchecked political power and the erosion of individual freedoms.

In recent years, discussions around the erosion of privacy, government surveillance programs, and the manipulation of information through social media have led many to draw comparisons between Orwell’s dystopia and contemporary society. Concepts such as “fake news,” the rise of populist authoritarianism, and the spread of misinformation are troubling echoes of the kind of totalitarian control Orwell warned about.

Conclusion: The Power of *1984* as a Warning

*1984* is more than just a bleak vision of the future; it is a warning. Orwell’s novel cautions against the dangers of unchecked government power, the manipulation of truth, and the loss of individual freedoms. Through its exploration of language, surveillance, and the destruction of personal autonomy, *Nineteen Eighty-Four* forces readers to confront the fragility of truth and the potential consequences of political systems that prioritize control over freedom.

In the end, Winston Smith’s tragic fate serves as a sobering reminder of what can happen when a society loses its ability to think critically and independently. Orwell’s novel continues to challenge us to defend truth, protect our freedoms, and remain vigilant against the dangers of tyranny, whether overt or subtle, that may arise in any form or era.

*1984* is not just a story of a dystopian future; it is a mirror that reflects our own time, urging us to never forget the value of liberty, the importance of truth, and the necessity of questioning power.

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bookhavenblog · 8 days ago

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Why Orwell's _1984_ Feels Relevant Today

Affiliate Link: Get 1984 by George Orwell on Amazon When I started 1984, I thought I knew what to expect: a dystopian classic filled with the harsh realities of a fictional totalitarian regime. But what I found was much more disturbing—and frighteningly relevant to today’s world. Orwell’s haunting tale of control, surveillance, and the erosion of truth felt less like fiction and more like a chilling reflection of modern society. In fact, it took me longer than expected to get through it; 1984 kept me on edge, creeping me out with how close parts of its fictional world felt to our reality. Orwell’s vision of a society completely controlled by an authoritarian regime is bleak. The government, personified as "Big Brother," monitors every movement, thought, and relationship. People live in constant fear of the “Thought Police,” a force so pervasive that even private thoughts against the Party’s ideology can result in punishment. The idea of being punished not just for what you do but for what you think is unsettling enough. Yet, Orwell takes it further with a world where history is constantly rewritten, truth is redefined, and people are forced to adopt “doublethink”—a practice where contradictory beliefs are accepted simultaneously. Reading 1984 in today’s world, where surveillance technology is constantly advancing, and where our data is meticulously tracked and analyzed, Orwell’s predictions don’t feel far-fetched. Today, algorithms track our every move online, social media feeds us targeted information, and there’s constant debate over who controls “the narrative.” Orwell’s cautionary tale about the fragility of truth and the malleability of reality felt deeply relevant, reminding me of just how much influence those in power hold over what we see, hear, and believe. The Plot: A Glimpse into a World of Absolute Control 1984 is set in Oceania, a fictional superstate where the ruling Party, led by Big Brother, exercises complete control over every aspect of life. Privacy doesn’t exist; even thinking rebellious thoughts is a crime, thanks to the omnipresent surveillance and the constant monitoring of the Thought Police. Winston Smith, the protagonist, works at the Ministry of Truth, where his job is to rewrite historical records to align with the Party’s ever-changing narrative. Winston secretly despises the Party, and as he becomes increasingly aware of the Party’s lies, he risks everything to seek out truth and personal freedom. Orwell’s choice to show us the story through Winston’s eyes makes the world of 1984 even more disturbing. We feel his hopelessness, his frustration, and his longing for something genuine in a society stripped of individuality. Winston’s job of “altering” history struck me as especially creepy because it highlights how fragile and malleable the concept of truth can be when those in power control the narrative. The idea that the past can be changed, rewritten, or erased altogether isn’t just fictional—it’s something we witness today in debates over media bias, misinformation, and the spread of propaganda. Themes of Surveillance and Thought Control Orwell’s portrayal of Big Brother and the Party’s control over personal lives is both horrifying and all too familiar. The Party controls not just actions but thoughts, forcing citizens to conform through the concept of “Newspeak”—a language designed to eliminate dissent by restricting the range of thought. The fewer words people have to express rebellion, the fewer people can rebel, or so the Party believes. Through the use of telescreens, microphones, and Thought Police, the government in 1984 creates a world where privacy doesn’t exist and where people police their own thoughts out of fear. This level of control feels disturbingly close to our world, where technology tracks our every move and privacy feels increasingly limited. The idea that our personal data, online behavior, and even our thoughts could be influenced or manipulated is unsettling. While we might not be under the direct control of a "Thought Police," there are echoes of Orwell’s world in the way modern technology monitors our behavior, shaping our views and controlling what we see. Doublethink and the Manipulation of Truth One of 1984’s most unsettling aspects is the concept of “doublethink,” where citizens are required to believe contradictory ideas simultaneously. The Party rewrites history, redefines facts, and controls language to ensure that people are unable to hold rebellious or critical thoughts. Citizens are expected to believe whatever the Party tells them, even if it directly contradicts what they were told before. This redefinition of truth creates a world where reality is whatever the Party says it is—a chillingly familiar idea in today’s world, where “alternative facts” and polarized narratives can create multiple versions of reality. Doublethink feels particularly relevant in the age of information overload, where news and media often present conflicting accounts of the same events. Orwell’s insight into how truth can be reshaped to fit an agenda reminds us of the dangers of media manipulation, echo chambers, and selective information. In 1984, Orwell warns that when people lose their ability to discern truth from lies, they become easy to control. Winston’s Struggle: A Hope That Slowly Fades Winston’s journey is a descent into despair, but his struggle is painfully relatable. He represents the small part of humanity that longs for freedom, truth, and authenticity in a world that denies all three. Winston’s quest for truth and his attempts to resist Big Brother make him a tragic hero—a man who dares to hope even when he knows the odds are stacked against him. Yet, as the novel progresses, Winston’s hope diminishes, and the inevitability of the Party’s control over everything—including his mind—becomes apparent. His ultimate defeat serves as a sobering reminder of what can happen when an authoritarian regime gains too much power over people’s thoughts and lives. Orwell doesn’t offer a happy ending or a sense of closure; instead, he leaves us with a sense of helplessness and a haunting fear that Winston’s fate could be our own. Reading 1984 Today: A Frighteningly Familiar Mirror For me, reading 1984 was more than just an exploration of dystopian fiction—it was a deeply unsettling experience that took me longer to get through than expected. The book was constantly chilling, not because of its far-off, futuristic vision, but because of how close parts of its world felt to our own. Today, we live in a time where technology can track our movements, where online algorithms shape what we see, and where narratives are constantly constructed and reconstructed. Orwell’s warnings feel more relevant now than ever, making 1984 a book that not only challenges readers but leaves them with lingering questions. Are we heading down a similar path? What protections do we have to safeguard truth, privacy, and freedom in our own lives? These questions, and the sense of unease Orwell instills, made this book an unforgettable and terrifying read for me. Affiliate Link: Get 1984 by George Orwell on Amazon Has 1984 left you as unsettled as it did me? Let’s discuss this modern-day reflection of Orwell’s world in the comments below. Read the full article

#book-review #book-reviews #books #Fantasy

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and-then-there-were-n0ne · 5 years ago

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We may be living through times of unprecedented change, but in uncertainty lies the power to influence the future. Now is not the time to despair, but to act.

Your opponents would love you to believe that it’s hopeless, that you have no power, that there’s no reason to act, that you can’t win. Hope is a gift you don’t have to surrender, a power you don’t have to throw away. And though hope can be an act of defiance, defiance isn’t enough reason to hope. But there are good reasons. […]

It is important to say what hope is not: it is not the belief that everything was, is or will be fine. The evidence is all around us of tremendous suffering and destruction. The hope I am interested in is about broad perspectives with specific possibilities, ones that invite or demand that we act. It is also not a sunny everything-is-getting-better narrative, though it may be a counter to the everything-is-getting-worse one. You could call it an account of complexities and uncertainties, with openings. “Critical thinking without hope is cynicism, but hope without critical thinking is naivety,” the Bulgarian writer Maria Popova recently remarked. And Patrisse Cullors, one of the founders of Black Lives Matter, early on described the movement’s mission as to “Provide hope and inspiration for collective action to build collective power to achieve collective transformation, rooted in grief and rage but pointed towards vision and dreams”. It is a statement that acknowledges that grief and hope can coexist. […]

Hope locates itself in the premises that we don’t know what will happen and that in the spaciousness of uncertainty is room to act. When you recognise uncertainty, you recognise that you may be able to influence the outcomes – you alone or you in concert with a few dozen or several million others. Hope is an embrace of the unknown and the unknowable, an alternative to the certainty of both optimists and pessimists. Optimists think it will all be fine without our involvement; pessimists adopt the opposite position; both excuse themselves from acting. It is the belief that what we do matters even though how and when it may matter, who and what it may impact, are not things we can know beforehand. We may not, in fact, know them afterwards either, but they matter all the same, and history is full of people whose influence was most powerful after they were gone. […]

After a rain mushrooms appear on the surface of the earth as if from nowhere. Many come from a sometimes vast underground fungus that remains invisible and largely unknown. What we call mushrooms, mycologists call the fruiting body of the larger, less visible fungus. Uprisings and revolutions are often considered to be spontaneous, but it is the less visible long-term organising and groundwork – or underground work – that often laid the foundation. Changes in ideas and values also result from work done by writers, scholars, public intellectuals, social activists and participants in social media. To many, it seems insignificant or peripheral until very different outcomes emerge from transformed assumptions about who and what matters, who should be heard and believed, who has rights.

Ideas at first considered outrageous or ridiculous or extreme gradually become what people think they’ve always believed. How the transformation happened is rarely remembered, in part because it’s compromising: it recalls the mainstream when the mainstream was, say, rabidly homophobic or racist in a way it no longer is; and it recalls that power comes from the shadows and the margins, that our hope is in the dark around the edges, not the limelight of centre stage. Our hope and often our power.

Changing the story isn’t enough in itself, but it has often been foundational to real changes. Making an injury visible and public is usually the first step in remedying it, and political change often follows culture, as what was long tolerated is seen to be intolerable, or what was overlooked becomes obvious. Which means that every conflict is in part a battle over the story we tell, or who tells and who is heard.

“Memory produces hope in the same way that amnesia produces despair,”the theologian Walter Brueggemann noted. It is an extraordinary statement, one that reminds us that though hope is about the future, grounds for hope lie in the records and recollections of the past. We can tell of a past that was nothing but defeats, cruelties and injustices, or of a past that was some lovely golden age now irretrievably lost, or we can tell a more complicated and accurate story, one that has room for the best and worst, for atrocities and liberations, for grief and jubilation. A memory commensurate to the complexity of the past and the whole cast of participants, a memory that includes our power, produces that forward-directed energy called hope.

Amnesia leads to despair in many ways. The status quo would like you to believe it is immutable, inevitable and invulnerable, and lack of memory of a dynamically changing world reinforces this view. In other words, when you don’t know how much things have changed, you don’t see that they are changing or that they can change. Those who think that way don’t remember raids on gay bars when being homosexual was illegal, or rivers that caught fire when unregulated pollution peaked in the 1960s or that there were, worldwide, 70% more seabirds a few decades ago. Thus, they don’t recognise the forces of change at work.

One of the essential aspects of depression is the sense that you will always be mired in this misery, that nothing can or will change. There’s a public equivalent to private depression, a sense that the nation or the society rather than the individual is stuck. Things don’t always change for the better, but they change, and we can play a role in that change if we act. Which is where hope comes in, and memory, the collective memory we call history.

The other affliction amnesia brings is a lack of examples of positive change, of popular power, evidence that we can do it and have done it. George Orwell wrote: “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” Controlling the past begins by knowing it; the stories we tell about who we were and what we did shape what we can and will do. Despair is also often premature: it’s a form of impatience as well as of certainty. […]

More broadly, shifts in, say, the status of women are easily overlooked by people who don’t remember that, a few decades ago, reproductive rights were not yet a concept, and there was no recourse for exclusion, discrimination, workplace sexual harassment, most forms of rape, and other crimes against women the legal system did not recognise or even countenance. None of the changes were inevitable, either – people fought for them and won them.

Social, cultural or political change does not work in predictable ways or on predictable schedules. The month before the Berlin Wall fell, almost no one anticipated that the Soviet bloc was going to disintegrate all of a sudden (thanks to many factors, including the tremendous power of civil society, nonviolent direct action and hopeful organising going back to the 1970s), any more than anyone, even the participants, foresaw the impact that the Arab spring or Occupy Wall Street or a host of other great uprisings would have. We don’t know what is going to happen, or how, or when, and that very uncertainty is the space of hope.

Those who doubt that these moments matter should note how terrified the authorities and elites are when they erupt. That fear signifies their recognition that popular power is real enough to overturn regimes and rewrite the social contract. And it often has. Sometimes your enemies know what your friends can’t believe. Those who dismiss these moments because of their imperfections, limitations, or incompleteness need to look harder at what joy and hope shine out of them and what real changes have emerged because of them, even if not always in the most obvious or recognisable ways.

Change is rarely straightforward. Sometimes it’s as complex as chaos theory and as slow as evolution. Even things that seem to happen suddenly arise from deep roots in the past or from long-dormant seeds. A young man’s suicide triggers an uprising that inspires other uprisings, but the incident was a spark; the bonfire it lit was laid by activist networks and ideas about civil disobedience, and by the deep desire for justice and freedom that exists everywhere. […]

We write history with our feet and with our presence and our collective voice and vision. And yet, and of course, everything in the mainstream media suggests that popular resistance is ridiculous, pointless, or criminal, unless it is far away, was long ago, or, ideally, both. These are the forces that prefer the giant stays asleep.

Together we are very powerful, and we have a seldom-told, seldom-remembered history of victories and transformations that can give us confidence that, yes, we can change the world because we have many times before. You row forward looking back, and telling this history is part of helping people navigate toward the future. We need a litany, a rosary, a sutra, a mantra, a war chant of our victories. The past is set in daylight, and it can become a torch we can carry into the night that is the future.

#society books #books #culture #communities #society #hope #rebecca solnit

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theyoungkleinwriter · 4 years ago

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Writing Blind #20: Dystopia

Now onto one of my first dives into a particular genre. When it comes to books I find that in a post-1945 world dystopian fiction has exploded into the world and since then we have seen it evolve from some old classics to more modern classics. Before we properly continue I think a definition is in order. Now dystopia has been defined as an imagined state or society in which there is great suffering or injustice, typically one that is totalitarian or post-apocalyptic. Whilst this is the general rule for dystopian fiction the difference usually lies in the degree of injustice or suffering and in some cases it isn't as obvious for instance the society displayed in the book Brave New World which is categorised as a dystopia whilst having the façade of a utopia. This is actually a fantastic element that a lot of modern dystopias have forgotten, most dystopia worlds are ruled by governments who aim to be or at least present themselves as utopias.

Dystopia fiction really began in the years following the Second World War with the publication of classic works like George Orwell’s 1984 and Animal. These are typical examples of the genres early roots which aimed to comment on fears of the time and in Orwell's case present commentary on the totalitarian regimes the world had experienced. However as time progressed the issues we faced also changed and dystopian fiction changed to reflect this through the decades, Margret Atwood’s Handmaids Tale is a great look at one such reality exploring dystopia from an oppressed female perspective which to my knowledge hadn't been developed in as much detail and came in the 1980′s. Jumping ahead in time to the new century we then see the point to where dystopian fiction has really come. Beginning with The Hunger Games in 2008 by Suzanne Collins we saw a dramatic change in the genre. It took a turn towards a blend with the young adult fiction genre. This sharp turn has led to the last decade where the YA dystopia sub-genre has easily become the most prolific as hundreds of books wanted to replicate the success of The Hunger Games. On a personal note I think this point is where the pollution of the genre has come from as whilst The Hunger Games offered genuine commentary on the glorification of violence in our society it begins the cliché in most YA Dystopian novels where the villainous government is villainous just because and there is an arbitrary class divide without any proper reason to it. Whilst The Hunger Games doesn't commit the crime to any significant degree the same cant be said for most of its imitators. Essentially I think most modern Dystopian fiction has lost a lot of its real purpose in commenting on genuine real issues and acting as a warning like much of the previous fiction.

Now I know you might be asking (probably not); why is this still relevant? My answer is simple, because dystopian fiction will never go out of style. No matter how the world changes or evolves there will always be some social issue that we disagree with and then there will always be a writer who feels they need to tell a story to help us understand and explore that issue. Sure the issues may change over the years and maybe in fifty years time we will look back on books written now in the same way we do A Clockwork Orange and 1984, not as predictions of the future but more as warnings and tales of how far we can go wrong. Plus as Brave New world shows us the horrible government in charge doesn't have to appear overtly oppressive to our eyes. Besides that the best bit about books. Society changes but the words on the page don’t. Therefore in the future what we view as dystopian now may seem completely different and people in the future may see us as completely unreasonable. In the end what we get is something that will remain relevant as long as clever readers and writers have a mind to question the society they live in.

Now before I finish I think it would be inappropriate not to tell you about traits of what exactly qualifies something as a piece of dystopian fiction. Therefore I’d like to present a short summary of identifiers that can help intelligent readers and writers puzzle out the ever expanding genre.

Oppressive regime - Come on, you can’t have a dystopia without an overarching organisation/government controlling the way people think and the way they live. Now as I have discussed before they don’t need to be overtly evil, they just need to expert a degree of control over the populace that restricts their freedom in some degree.

Class divides - Can be optional but almost all dystopia’s I have read contain some sort of hierarchy and class divide. How this divide exists depends on the book but it can vary. Let’s see some examples; genetically engineered from birth, gender, political beliefs, born into a particular social group and race.

Mysterious past conflict - Cant have a dystopia without one of these. Usually there is always some conflict or world wide catastrophe from the past that led to the world being the way it is. Now this doesn't have to be universal and it doesn't have to have been a single moment. Usually there is some strangely named war in the past (cough*purity wars*cough) that explains how this went downhill so quickly. Handmaids Tale actually subverts this as the decline is more gradual and frighteningly believable as well.

Rebellious protagonist - Again not the complete rule but most dystopian stories feature a rebellious protagonist who rebel in varying degrees of scale and success against the established system. Lets go through the list and see some familiar faces; Offred, Katniss Everdeen, Bernard Marx, Winston Smith, Beatrice Prior and Kathy H.

Parallels to the real world - Of course the reason the book exists since there should be some part of it the either comments on or parallels real world problems with the goal to show how bad it could be or to just offer a neat little warning to people.

(Optional) Depressing ending - Simply put, dystopias don't usually have a happy ending, 1984, the ambiguous ending of Handmaids Tale and even The Hunger Games don’t feature particularly happy endings. It’s got me asking why? Why can’t our poor suffering character’s find some happiness even if the villains are defeated?

Well I hope all that I have written can be of some use to you in the future. I think there’s a growing feeling that dystopian fiction has hit some sort of wall with its blend with the YA genre. However I think in the next few years we may be lucky enough to see the genre change and move in different directions again. Only this time there is a hopeful shift back to proper commentary of social issues and it features that desire to attain the perfect utopia and instead ending up in the gruelling world of a dystopia.

This had been TheYoungKlein and I’m writing blind.

#writing #writers #writing advice #writing blog #love of writing #dystopia

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iol247 · 5 years ago

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Flashback: Unabomber Publishes His ‘Manifesto’

Ted Kaczynski was a madman who killed and maimed innocent people – but did some of his worries for the future come true?

By 2017 standards, a bearded man ranting in his manifesto about how “one of the most widespread manifestations of the craziness of our world is leftism” might, at best, have a chance ending up name-checked by Alex Jones. Most likely, he’d become the hero of a thousand faceless message board posters. His 35,000-word diatribe against technology titled “Industrial Society and Its Future” might be suitable for a personal blog, but a national newspaper? Surely not.

Of course, more than 20 years ago, when Ted Kaczynski mailed out what would come to be known as the “Unabomber Manifesto,” it was huge news. After over a decade spent living as a recluse without electricity or running water in a cabin in Montana – sending mail bombs to university academics and corporate airline executives – Kaczynski sent letters to the New York Times and the Washington Post demanding they publish his manifesto and agree to print an annual follow-up for three years. If they did, the bombings would cease. If not, the Unabomber hinted at more bombings to come.

It had started in May of 1978, when a package exploded and injured a Northwestern University security officer. A year later, another bomb was sent to the same college, injuring a graduate student. Also in 1979, Kaczynski snuck a bomb into the cargo hold of an American Airlines flight. It went off mid-flight, causing an emergency landing and afflicting 12 passengers with smoke inhalation. In 1985, he switched things up, and sent a shrapnel-loaded bomb to a computer store in Sacramento, California, claiming the owner as his first victim. By the mid-1980s, the Unabomber had become a real-life American boogeyman. A killer who would strike without warning, and without much reason. Why was he doing what he did – and when would he do it again?

The publication of the manifesto would end up being his undoing. Members of Kaczynski’s family had a slight suspicion Ted could be the person behind the terror campaign. His brother David was one of the thousands of people who called the FBI tip-line after the manifesto was published and a million-dollar reward was offered for information leading to the capture of the Unabomber. After a long search, FBI agents arrested an unkempt Kaczynski in his Lincoln, Montana cabin on April 3rd, 1996. They found bomb making components, over 40,000 journal pages and the manifesto’s original typed manuscript.

There’s no defending the actions of a person who mails bombs with the intent to do serious harm. But Andrew Sodroski, executive producer of the new Discovery mini-series, Manhunt: Unabomber, thinks there is plenty to take away from Kaczynski’s words. As he said in a phone conference with reporters leading up to the show, “What the manifesto has to say about our relationship with technology and with society is more true right now than it was when Ted published it.”

Not many domestic terrorists convicted of murder get called prophetic by television producers – and there are scholars from different sides of the political spectrum who agree that the the Unabomber’s anti-technology stance was ahead of its time. “His work, despite his deeds,” wrote Dr. Keith Ablow, a psychiatrist and member of the Fox News Medical A-Team, “deserves a place alongside Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, and 1984, by George Orwell.” Ray Kurzweil, noted author, computer scientist and futurist, quoted a passage from the manifesto in his 1999 book, The Age of Spiritual Machines. Some believe he’s a murderous modern-day Henry David Thoreau, while others say he’s a genius and a prophet. So what, exactly did he get right?

Kaczynski opens his manifesto with, “The Industrial Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race.” The technology he goes on to rail against, keep in mind, was mid-1990s – before smartphones, before Twitter, before “Likes” on Facebook and algorithms helped pick out things for you to buy and experience. Although the word “dystopia” never shows up throughout the essay, Kaczynski believed (and you have to assume still does so from his prison cell) that the future wasn’t some Philip K. Dick or Handmaid’s Tale scenario; the dystopian future started happening a long time ago. Computer networks, the mass-communication media, the modern health care system, pesticides and chemicals, all products of the Industrial Revolution, are destroying the planet, he writes. As one portion of the manifesto is sub-titled, “The ‘Bad’ Parts of Technology Cannot be Separated From the ‘Good’ Parts.”

In point number 49 the manifesto, Kaczynski writes, “In the modern world it is human society that dominates nature rather than the other way around, and modern society changes very rapidly owing to technological change.” One of the big problems, he believed while writing his manifesto, was the inevitable growth of artificial intelligence and how humanity will cope with it. “First let us postulate that the computer scientists succeed in developing intelligent machines that can do all things better than human beings can do them.” As one Wired article explained in 2015, “A manufacturing device from Universal Robots doesn’t just solder, paint, screw, glue, and grasp – it builds new parts for itself on the fly when they wear out or bust.” From checking you out at the grocery store to flipping burgers, robots are being designed to integrate into the labor force and cut costs.

He goes on to write in point number 172, “In that case presumably all work will be done by vast, highly organized systems of machines and no human effort will be necessary. Either of two cases might occur. The machines might be permitted to make all of their own decisions without human oversight, or else human control over the machines might be retained.” When Kaczynski’s thoughts were published, we were still dealing with the Terminator version of the robots overtaking humanity and destroying it – it was a nightmare scenario, fiction. But Kaczynski wasn’t writing speculative fiction; he was stating, from an academically-trained point of view, where he saw technology headed.

Technology overtaking humanity was only one of the scary possibilities. The rise of the “one percent” super rich and corporations controlling everything, was another. “Human freedom mostly will have vanished, because individuals and small groups will be impotent vis-a-vis large organizations armed with supertechnology and an arsenal of advanced psychological and biological tools for manipulating human beings, besides instruments of surveillance and physical coercion,” he wrote.

Tech companies have untold amounts of data on every person that logs online for everything from shopping for cat litter to ranting on Twitter. How to understand that data – and what to use it for – is an industry in itself. Could it be used to manipulate us? See the 2016 U.S. election and the rise of fake news spread through Facebook. “Hyperpartisan Facebook Pages Are Publishing False And Misleading Information At An Alarming Rate,” as one 2016 BuzzFeed article put it, showed up in feeds even if the people didn’t follow those groups. Some of the false news was spread the old-fashioned way, through word of mouth; but, as John Herman of the New York Times explained, misinformation on the social media service thrives or dies, “at least in part, on Facebook’s algorithm.” As Kaczynski believes, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. All of this seemed farfetched when Kaczynski’s words were put in front of a mass audience. In 1994, audiences were being told suave cyberterrorists like the ones in the movie The Net were the ones looking to steal your information online and do whatever they please with it.

After all this, however, calling Kaczynski a prophet might be a stretch. He’s a highly intelligent person who wanted to try and stop where he saw humanity headed by any means necessary – including murdering people. Yet he routinely points out throughout his manifesto that there very well might be no stopping the inevitable. The entire point of his manifesto, as he states, is revolution, anarchy: “Its object will be to overthrow not governments but the economic and technological basis of the present society.” Kaczynski, who has stated admiration for the eco-anarchist movement (“but I think they could do it better,” he also said in an interview in 1999), takes aim at both leftists, including “socialists, collectivists, ‘politically correct’ types, feminists, gay and disability activists, animal rights activists and the like”). He also writes, “conservatives are fools,” and that they’re, “just taking the average man for a sucker, exploiting his resentment of Big Government to promote the power of Big Business.” Kaczynski even engages in some gaslighting: “Feminists are desperately anxious to prove that women are as strong and as capable as men. Clearly they are nagged by a fear that women may NOT be as strong and as capable as men.”

All of this reiterates the point that Kaczynski is no hero whatsoever. The person who wrote “Industrial Society and Its Future,” is a fanatic. And as is sometimes the case, fanatics can take things to the tragic extreme. Yet there is something to be taken away from his words if you read closely; it’s that we give up a piece of ourselves whenever we adjust to conform to society’s standards. That, and we’re too plugged in. We’re letting technology take over our lives, willingly. It’s the sort of thing that doesn’t take a madman dressed up like a prophet to tell us; it’s all too evident. Kaczynski, to steal a phrase from the tech world, was just an early adopter of these thoughts. Yet his warning will probably forever go unnoticed because of the horrific deeds he carried out to get his message across.

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/flashback-unabomber-publishes-his-manifesto-125449/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

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harrypotterfirsttime · 4 years ago

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JK Rowling’s essay about why she’s a TERF: Abbreviated

My last post was LONG, much longer than I’d intended, and difficult to read on tumblr I’m sure (if anybody would like it sent as a pdf please let me know). So I’m making a shorter post and only including the paragraphs that I responded to with links to a source, for people who are more interested in the places where JK Rowling provably lied in her essay.

“For people who don’t know: last December I tweeted my support for Maya Forstater, a tax specialist who’d lost her job for what were deemed ‘transphobic’ tweets. She took her case to an employment tribunal, asking the judge to rule on whether a philosophical belief that sex is determined by biology is protected in law. Judge Tayler ruled that it wasn’t.”

First of all, Maya didn’t lose her job. Her contract was simply not renewed by her workplace, something that she was not entitled to under any law. JK Rowling also continues to falsely assert that Maya’s belief was that ‘sex is determined biology’, when she actually asserted that under no circumstances is a trans woman a woman nor a trans man a man, and the judge ruled that it did not fit all five necessary limbs to be a philosophical belief (it actually only failed the last one). The judge ruled that the ‘under no circumstances’ part of her assertion was absolutist, and that is what ultimately failed the fifth limb. [source]

“All the time I’ve been researching and learning, accusations and threats from trans activists have been bubbling in my Twitter timeline. This was initially triggered by a ‘like’. When I started taking an interest in gender identity and transgender matters, I began screenshotting comments that interested me, as a way of reminding myself what I might want to research later. On one occasion, I absent-mindedly ‘liked’ instead of screenshotting. That single ‘like’ was deemed evidence of wrongthink, and a persistent low level of harassment began.”

First off, this goes against the statement a spokesperson made for her when this happened, stating that she had a ‘clumsy middle-aged moment’ and liked the tweet by ‘holding her phone incorrectly’. The tweet she liked also had no content that she could research, it was a baseless claim that men in dresses get more solidarity than cis women (which I won’t even dive into, we have so much more to cover). [source] I also won’t dive into the use of ‘wrongthink’ as if we are all characters in George Orwell’s 1984, simply because nobody is controlling her speech, she is simply facing consequences for the shit she chooses to fling at the wall.

“I mention all this only to explain that I knew perfectly well what was going to happen when I supported Maya. I must have been on my fourth or fifth cancellation by then. I expected the threats of violence, to be told I was literally killing trans people with my hate, to be called cunt and bitch and, of course, for my books to be burned, although one particularly abusive man told me he’d composted them.”

Can we salute the man who decided to tell JK Rowling that he composted her books, because that’s absolutely hilarious. But really, I just want to point out that no matter how many threats of violence JK Rowling thinks she is getting, transgender people are subjected to much more abuse both online and in real life, and it affects their wellbeing much more directly than simply being called a cunt or a bitch on twitter. [source] While JK Rowling thankfully isn’t killing trans people, she’s disappointing so many of her LGBT+ fans who looked up to her and found comfort during their childhood in her books that encouraged people to be brave and be themselves.

“What I didn’t expect in the aftermath of my cancellation was the avalanche of emails and letters that came showering down upon me, the overwhelming majority of which were positive, grateful and supportive. They came from a cross-section of kind, empathetic and intelligent people, some of them working in fields dealing with gender dysphoria and trans people, who’re all deeply concerned about the way a socio-political concept is influencing politics, medical practice and safeguarding. They’re worried about the dangers to young people, gay people and about the erosion of women’s and girl’s rights. Above all, they’re worried about a climate of fear that serves nobody – least of all trans youth – well.”

I’ll tackle this paragraph from top to bottom. Firstly, the reason you believe the overwhemling majority of people supported you is because many of those who don’t (myself included, until now) simply rolled their eyes and ignored you, because you are not worth our time. We have lives to live that are unconcerned with your bigotry. Second, I hope those people who were working in fields dealing with gender dysphoria and trans people have since left their jobs, because they have no business serving a community who they secretly harbour unsupportive ideologies about. And finally, the idea of supporting and helping trans people (specifically trans youth) is DANGEROUS to young people, gay people, and women’s and girls’ rights is simply false. No women’s rights have been repealed in favour of trans people’s rights (mainly because trans women continue to shockingly be women). In fact, trans youth with parents who are very supportive and affirming show a statistically significantly lower rate of both depressive symptoms and suicide attempts. [source] [specific graph]

“If you didn’t already know – and why should you? – ‘TERF’ is an acronym coined by trans activists, which stands for Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist. In practice, a huge and diverse cross-section of women are currently being called TERFs and the vast majority have never been radical feminists. Examples of so-called TERFs range from the mother of a gay child who was afraid their child wanted to transition to escape homophobic bullying, to a hitherto totally unfeminist older lady who’s vowed never to visit Marks & Spencer again because they’re allowing any man who says they identify as a woman into the women’s changing rooms. Ironically, radical feminists aren’t even trans-exclusionary – they include trans men in their feminism, because they were born women.”

The first two sentences in this paragraph are true. Viv Smythe, a trans inclusive cis radfem, is credited with coining the term TERF to describe her fellow radical feminists who are ‘unwilling to recognize trans women as sisters’. It has also become widely used to describe feminists who exclude trans women from their feminism, even if they are not radfems. [source] I don’t care about who has been called a TERF, all I need to know is that they are transphobes, which they should feel equally disgusted at the fact their behaviour warrants the label. Trans men do not want to be included in radical feminism because we were ‘born women’, and JK Rowling including this as if it is an excuse is appalling. Trans men are not women, therefore we do not appreciate radfems claiming to support us based on their obsession with what genitals we were born with.

“The fourth is where things start to get truly personal. I’m concerned about the huge explosion in young women wishing to transition and also about the increasing numbers who seem to be detransitioning (returning to their original sex), because they regret taking steps that have, in some cases, altered their bodies irrevocably, and taken away their fertility. Some say they decided to transition after realising they were same-sex attracted, and that transitioning was partly driven by homophobia, either in society or in their families.”

There is a lot to unpack in this paragraph. And I don’t have the room in this already much too long post to dive into detransitioning, so I’ll say this: it sucks that some people transition only to realize they shouldn’t have. But these people are a staggering minority of people who do transition, and there is no external person they can blame for believing them when they relay their symptoms (as doctors are supposed to do) and acting accordingly, with the patient’s consent. The issues I have here are the language JK Rowling uses to say young women are transitioning, purposefully misgendering trans masculine people. And implying that people are transitioning because they are gay, because their families or society push them to not be gay and instead transition, is absolutely laughable. Studies have already shown that society as a whole is much less accepting of transgender people than they are of gay people and lesbians. [source]

“Most people probably aren’t aware – I certainly wasn’t, until I started researching this issue properly – that ten years ago, the majority of people wanting to transition to the opposite sex were male. That ratio has now reversed. The UK has experienced a 4400% increase in girls being referred for transitioning treatment. Autistic girls are hugely overrepresented in their numbers.”

There are a number of factors that could have led to such an increase in referrals, and no studies have a definitive answer, though most speculate that the increase in acceptance and visibility of trans people is likely a major contributor. [source] Additionally, I personally believe that more trans women seeked transition years ago because it was impossible to be accepted as a trans woman without fully medically transitioning, whereas trans men could get by without transitioning and simply presenting as their gender. Now that transition is more acceptable and available, trans men do not need to hold themselves back from transitioning, but unfortunately, with more visibility has come more vitriol that is specifically aimed at trans women, and this could discourage them from transitioning or coming out at all. I won’t dignify the statement about autism in afab trans people being prevalent other than saying that cis people can be autistic, trans people can be autistic, and implying that neuro-atypical people cannot make informed decisions about their bodies and healthcare is abhorrent.

“The same phenomenon has been seen in the US. In 2018, American physician and researcher Lisa Littman set out to explore it. In an interview, she said:

‘Parents online were describing a very unusual pattern of transgender-identification where multiple friends and even entire friend groups became transgender-identified at the same time. I would have been remiss had I not considered social contagion and peer influences as potential factors.’

Littman mentioned Tumblr, Reddit, Instagram and YouTube as contributing factors to Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria, where she believes that in the realm of transgender identification ‘youth have created particularly insular echo chambers.’”

Lisa Littman’s study can be read here. There are a multitude of issues with this study, and many big names in psychology and gender studies have spoken up about the issues in her conclusions and in the methods to begin with, which are unscientific and deeply flawed. [source] The biggest flaw, in my opinion, is that the study interviews parents of trans youth as opposed to the trans youth themselves, and takes the parents’ limited knowledge of their child’s inner thoughts and experience as fact without consulting the trans person at all. Additionally, recruitment for the study was mainly done through anti-trans organizations. All of this information is available in the original study and in the rebuttal. Because of this, I cannot take anybody who cites Lisa Littman or her study seriously, because it is not credible whatsoever.

“When I read about the theory of gender identity, I remember how mentally sexless I felt in youth. I remember Colette’s description of herself as a ‘mental hermaphrodite’ and Simone de Beauvoir’s words: ‘It is perfectly natural for the future woman to feel indignant at the limitations posed upon her by her sex. The real question is not why she should reject them: the problem is rather to understand why she accepts them.’”

More people than JK Rowling is probably aware of feel ‘mentally sexless’ in youth, because they have no crippling discomfort regarding their gender identity, and either do not feel pressure to prescribe to gender stereotypical behaviours or actively rebel against it. According to brain studies, everyone is technically a ‘mental hermaphrodite’ because there remains to be no such thing as a male brain or female brain. [source]

“I want to be very clear here: I know transition will be a solution for some gender dysphoric people, although I’m also aware through extensive research that studies have consistently shown that between 60-90% of gender dysphoric teens will grow out of their dysphoria. Again and again I’ve been told to ‘just meet some trans people.’ I have: in addition to a few younger people, who were all adorable, I happen to know a self-described transsexual woman who’s older than I am and wonderful. Although she’s open about her past as a gay man, I’ve always found it hard to think of her as anything other than a woman, and I believe (and certainly hope) she’s completely happy to have transitioned. Being older, though, she went through a long and rigorous process of evaluation, psychotherapy and staged transformation. The current explosion of trans activism is urging a removal of almost all the robust systems through which candidates for sex reassignment were once required to pass. A man who intends to have no surgery and take no hormones may now secure himself a Gender Recognition Certificate and be a woman in the sight of the law. Many people aren’t aware of this.”

First of all, the number of kids who “desist” from their gender dysphoria are not reliable. Mainly because the methods in these studies are not robust (ie one study defined gender dysphoria as exhibiting any behaviour that was not typical of their gender, such as boys playing with barbies and girls playing with monster trucks; another study classified subjects that did not return to the clinic and did not follow up as desisters without confirming). [source] Additionally, studying children who do exhibit true gender dysphoria, the main factor determining whether it will persist or desist seems to be the intensity, and not at all related to peer relations. [source] Trans people wishing to transition medically may no longer need to subject themselves to extensive and unnecessary therapy to convince medical professionals that they are who they say they are, but they still need to wait on very long lists for our turn to access hormone replacement therapy and surgeries, and can spend all of that time being sure that we are indeed trans and want these medical treatments. JK Rowling is also purposefully misreporting facts in regard to Gender Recognition Certificates. In order to get one, one must be over 18, have lived as their true gender for at least 2 full years, and provide two medical reports (one from a gender specialist and another from a general practitioner) citing that they have gender dysphoria. If they have not had any medical transitional treatments, the medical reports must state whether they are waiting for them or why they are not pursuing any, in direct contradiction of JK Rowling’s assertion that any man can get this certificate. [source]

“I believe the majority of trans-identified people not only pose zero threat to others, but are vulnerable for all the reasons I’ve outlined. Trans people need and deserve protection. Like women, they’re most likely to be killed by sexual partners. Trans women who work in the sex industry, particularly trans women of colour, are at particular risk. Like every other domestic abuse and sexual assault survivor I know, I feel nothing but empathy and solidarity with trans women who’ve been abused by men.

So I want trans women to be safe. At the same time, I do not want to make natal girls and women less safe. When you throw open the doors of bathrooms and changing rooms to any man who believes or feels he’s a woman – and, as I’ve said, gender confirmation certificates may now be granted without any need for surgery or hormones – then you open the door to any and all men who wish to come inside. That is the simple truth.”

‘Natal girls and women’ is another transphobic dog whistle. There is a non-offensive way to say this, which I am sure if JK Rowling has done all the reading she has claimed to do, she must have stumbled upon the word ‘cisgender’ at some point. It effectively communicates the same information without alienating trans people and implying they are less than cis women. Trans women are not ‘men who believe or feel like women’, and this long standing myth that cis men will use the guise of being a trans woman to gain access to public bathrooms and changerooms has been thoroughly debunked, because trans women have been using women’s bathrooms and changerooms for years with no issues. [source] And scroll up for the claim that Gender Confirmation Certificates are given out to any man who decides to be a woman for a day above, this is just more misinformation, no ‘simple truth’.

“On Saturday morning, I read that the Scottish government is proceeding with its controversial gender recognition plans, which will in effect mean that all a man needs to ‘become a woman’ is to say he’s one. To use a very contemporary word, I was ‘triggered’. Ground down by the relentless attacks from trans activists on social media, when I was only there to give children feedback about pictures they’d drawn for my book under lockdown, I spent much of Saturday in a very dark place inside my head, as memories of a serious sexual assault I suffered in my twenties recurred on a loop. That assault happened at a time and in a space where I was vulnerable, and a man capitalised on an opportunity. I couldn’t shut out those memories and I was finding it hard to contain my anger and disappointment about the way I believe my government is playing fast and loose with womens and girls’ safety.”

First of all, JK Rowling is blatantly lying. The Gender Recognition Act Reform has been completely shelved by the Scottish government in light if the more pressing need to fight the coronavirus on April 1st, and I cannot find any updates on this being considered by the government. [source] The only trans related news out of Scotland I can find is that on June 5th, the Scottish government included trans women in the definition of women in guidance for school boards, which will have none of the effects that JK Rowling is fear mongering about. [source] Again, I am upset to know that JK Rowling is a survivor, but she is using this revelation as a weapon to make people fear that it will happen to others as a result of trans people gaining access to the same public spaces as their cis counterparts. Women’s and girls’ safety is NOT being put at risk by trans people using a bathroom or changeroom.

#jk rowling #transphobe #terf #important #not hp #long post #sources

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alexsmitposts · 5 years ago

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From Orwell to Huxley: Grim Prospects of Truth-Telling Scroll through NEO’s website and you will realize that we have been honest in reporting the problems the world faces on a daily basis. The articles are straightforward: real issues, real people, and real insight. While we are steadfast in our reporting, more and more journalists are being subject to the most severe form of censorship, some have taken to – self-censorship in order to avoid the wrath of the powers that be. Such arm twisting by the authorities is nothing but a frontal attack on any semblance of a free media. It is even worse than that—people, in general, are so skeptical of anything written or reported by the mainstream news nowadays. Things have gotten to the point where they don’t believe anything that the MSM says, however, the unfortunate part is that now the lines between mainstream and independent media has also started blurring, with more and more independent media also falling in step with the official government line. I have a distant relative who now says that she refuses to watch or read any news from any source since it is all propaganda, and this feeling of discontent is becoming widespread. Mark Twain once said, “If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you’re mis-informed.” But the wise Mark Twain could also not imagine the dystopian world we live in today, where the only alternative is not to read anything and not to trust anything, as much of news has been turned into mindless entertainment. We know what is happening to Julian Assange, and that is no longer real news, at least for most viewers and the MSM. His ordeal, first at his Embassy holdup after jumping bail, and then being turned over to UK authorities is just the start of another horror story. Given his deteriorating health his stay at the prison is putting his life at risk, and even UN Human Rights experts have warned of his health complications. All that is happening now was predicated by earlier writers. Hence it is time to revisit a bit of ominous literature, as it is not as if we were not warned about what to look forward to in the future. “Brave New World” vs. “1984” – which won? The BBC did an excellent adaptation of “Brave New World” many years ago. I don’t think it survived on tape (it was a few years before the VCRs became ubiquitous). I was able to find one that is close, with Aldous Huxley, an interview with Mike Wallace back in the late ’50s which describes the enemies of freedom in the United States. My first reaction was that of surprise as all that was described seemed so true even in today’s context. He had been able to accurately describe how various bureaucracies, technology, and propaganda methods work in tandem to create a false narrative and distract the people from more real and pressing issues. From his description it becomes clear that the methods being used today to distract us are the same that Hitler used, only now they have become more effective. To compare and contrast, George Orwell’s “1984”, and Alex Huxley’s “Brave New World”—they both predicted different visions of a dystopian future. What has emerged now is a combination of the two takes on what the future holds, or at least that is what the situation looks like as of now. People say we are more Huxley than Orwell, but there are some Orwellian methods too, at least for journalists and whistleblowers. Orwell saw a world where fear was used whereas Huxley perceived a world where we will be manipulated in other ways—more effectively and willingly! It is so very true that Truth has become Treason with the torture of Julian Assange. The powers to be would like us not to consider him a journalist. Truth has never been well received by governments who want to hide it, at any cost, even at the expense of fundamental principles of the founding fathers. But the situation is getting grim day-by-day now. So, where does that leave us? The lesson to others is clear: challenge the global US military empire and you will be destroyed. Politicians are acting as bullies like George Orwell predicted… perhaps. Huxley’s “Soma” drug is allegorical to how people are drugged by devices and perhaps some actual drugs. In Enemies of Freedom Huxley is exposing how free choice, the rational side of man are bypassed – and how the democratic process is circumvented and efforts made to eliminate what would be informed and free choice. Huxley dives deep into the forces that are taking away freedom, including electronic devices, overpopulation, and materialism. However, the greatest threat is over the organization of society and the lack of “thinking beings.” The system, including how education is allocated makes sure that those who question the most are afforded the least conducive environment for learning. Madness in Method But there are better ways, for instance, aversion conditioning is how “Brave New World” has prevailed over “1984.” Low levels of education, distractions caused by cellphones and mindless computer games, and various forms of modern-day “Soma” are all tools in the hands of governments to keep the minds of the and people distracted and to keep them calm and mindless. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be only a few left who would want to read one, or at least have the inclination and time. Younger folk have been manipulated into relinquishing virtually any right or privilege as long as they can still keep their video games and smartphones. “Brave New World” depicts a society that bears more than coincidental resemblance to our society today (watch CNN and Anderson Cooper to get a better idea). But the “Powers That Be” would also prefer that we live in the “1984” society, and they are trying their best to plunge us into that darkness by attacking journalists who describe inconvenient truths. Huxley summed it up best: “By means of ever more effective methods of mind-manipulation, the democracies will change their nature; the quaint old forms— elections, parliaments, Supreme Courts and all the rest—will remain. … Democracy and freedom will be the theme of every broadcast and editorial. … Meanwhile, the ruling oligarchy and its highly trained elite of soldiers, policemen, thought-manufacturers and mind-manipulators will quietly run the show as they see fit.” The comparison is made to radio and television fodder “new devices” and now all that he predicted – subliminal projections contained within films. Once you establish the utility of something that is known to work, you can be certain that the technology of it will steadily improve. How can we preserve the integrity of humans in an age when we are being persuaded below the level of “choice and reason” – not only in how we think but even in our choices for political office. It is no longer a matter of making an intelligent choice for one’s self interests, but falling prey to the manipulations of [MSM] and the manipulations of consumers by Madison Avenue. A democracy depends on the individual voter making an intelligent and rational choice for what he regards as his enlightened self-interest in any given circumstance. But attempts are being made to bypass that “rational choice” by appealing to unconscious forces below the surface – below the level of choice and reason. But that is not happening anytime soon but at least we have a modern version of soma with PR, mind control and a new generation of prescription drugs. Soma can even compete with religion; it takes away bad experiences and makes us all happy and content. All that was written as fiction is now a reality, even genetically engineered babies and a society driving by never-ending consumption. In the quest for the most modern devices, people have become hooked to a reality that does not exist. It is this generation of low castes who are proven to be clueless and preoccupied with promiscuity that paints anyone who speaks in disapproval as intolerant. Society has been transformed into “a pre-ordained caste system ranging from a highly intelligent managerial class to a subgroup of dim-witted serfs programmed to love their menial work; and of soma, a drug that confers instant bliss with no side effects.” That drug comes in many different forms – mostly ignorance and is distributed by the manipulated media and corrupt advertisers. And let us also not forget why it is no longer even necessary to burn or restrict books. As we learned from the newest release, at the movies, of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 –very few among us are actually interested in reading book or truthful news anymore and fewer, in any case, have the critical thinking abilities to understand their true meaning. “We are not born equal but must be made equal by the fire!”

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danielpayne1 · 6 years ago

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“Big Brother is Watching You”

On the 70th anniversary of George Orwell’s dystopian novel known as “1984”, it can be argued that Orwell’s predictions have almost become a self-fulfilling prophecy. For those who are unaware of this storyline, here’s a quick clip to fill you in on the society that Orwell feared so greatly.

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In 1984, there is a clear distinction made between what is considered “truth” and what is considered “fact”. “Truth” is something that cannot be denied and is correct, whereas “fact” is something that the people are told to believe by the authoritarian government in order to control society’s thoughts. Despite Orwell writing this about communist Russia, it is scary how much this book relates to western society today.

So who is big brother and when is he watching us?

One of the glories of capitalism and the free market is the freedom that comes with it. The ability we have to vote for who we want, to wear what we want, go where we want and all in all, construct our idea of self, exactly how we want to. Supposedly anyway…

Though conspiracy theories are often mocked and brushed aside, it seems confusing that Google released a statement saying that they would specifically tackle and remove conspiracy theory sites in order to prevent what they claim are “well established historical and scientific facts” being contradicted. Though on the surface, this seems as though google are purely removing false information. At what point was it warranted for google to choose the information that we receive.

I don’t remember voting for this…do you?

Fake News

Whether an advocate or adversary of President Trump, it cannot be denied that he is likely to be the first person you think of when you hear the phrase “fake news”.

Why is this?

In the build up to the 2016 American elections, this term was thrown around by Trump, and whether accurate or not, seemed to resonate among a mass audience. The term refers to news published by the mass media (both mainstream and social), and its bias nature that we are supposedly unaware of.

Don’t believe this?

Ask yourself, why did people love Barack Obama’s policies so much and hate Trump’s so much? Is it really because of Trump’s immigration policies? Because Obama holds the current record for the largest amount of immigrants deported which amounted to 2 million over his two terms in office.

Could it be that we have been socialised in recent years to hate the typecast that Trump represents: A white, ageing, unattractive, uncharismatic and upper class, male, business owner.

It is hard to understand how much our views are influenced by the media that we are provided with, but it is important to try and inform yourself with conflicting views in order to make choices that are blindly followed.

Nothing to hide?

It is well known that Facebook and other social media sites store your information in order to provide you with suggestions of things you might find interesting or relate to your life. However, it is unclear as to who such information is then fed to.

This can have both affordances and constraints. For example, individuals in America are put on a watch list if they buy the necessary colours needed to print money, meaning that crime can be prevented.

However, this also means that we are constantly being watched, which is truly not what I consider to be freedom!

So what can be done? At the moment, there is not much we can do, apart from ensure that we are not controlled by the governing bodies that seem to be watching us. Though this may seem farfetched, if what we do and see is controlled and we are completely unaware of this, then we might be closer to living in a dystopian society than we even realise!

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deltastorm101 · 6 years ago

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Mirror’s Edge Catalyst - A (critical) love letter.

Hello and welcome back to another episode of “a review I thought I could never write because I’m way too emotionally attached to this game which I know insanely, almost creepily well”, mixed with a healthy dose of “I should do everything but write this review because I want to finish school at some point but I have to use the surge of inspiration while it lasts”!

Today we will be talking about Mirror’s Edge Catalyst, which was released 2016 as a prequel-ly reboot (saying it like this because for the longest time I’ve thought it to be a prequel but turns out it’s a lot more like a reboot... my bad) to the first Mirror’s Edge from 2008 (which, by the way, still looks fantastic today considering its release year). I will occasionally throw in references and aspects from the first game as well, but this will primarily be about Catalyst.

Time for game 👏 review 👏!

And as always - warning: spoilers. I’ll try to keep the really huge ones out of this or at least mark them well, but going off and playing for yourself first is recommended.

To start this off, I want to say that I initially loved the first Mirror’s Edge - however, only after playing Catalyst, I realized how bad the controls and bugs in it actually were, which is another way of saying Catalyst is a miracle when it comes to naturally flowing controls and crisp and polished looking environments. The city it takes place in, “Glass”, is breathtakingly gorgeous, period. Shiny, clean, it is just on point and one of the biggest reasons I consider it to be my favourite game from the day I first played it, hands down. Not even one of the new Tomb Raider games or one of my childhood-reminiscent games were able to top it and that means something.

The game takes place in an open world map complex under a totalitarian government, drawing parallels to George Orwell’s “1984” – big brother is watching you, all that. A dystopian world if I’ve ever seen one. The open world aspect is one of the best decisions the developers could have made; I have no words to describe how beautiful the different city districts are, and being able to run in freeroam through the city of Glass like parkour runners are meant to feels so much better than being trapped in closed-off levels like it was the case in the first game.

When I first wrote down some key aspects for this review while I was playing it once more, I noted that apparently, you only truly understand the game’s backstory and the protagonists’ origins if you’ve bought and read the comic, Mirror’s Edge Exordium, and that I think it’s not that important because you can well understand what’s going on at the beginning without it – the game starts with Faith, the main protagonist, getting out of jail/a sort of juvenile detention, making her way back into her old circle of friends and family and, of course, old unresolved and new unconsidered problems and conflicts. The comic basically explains what has been messed up by who to make her end up in juvie in the first place and, as I said, it’s not really necessary to know. But, after having bought it now after literal years of consideration, I can say that it’s definitely very nice to know, and totally worth it. There are a lot of elements from the game carefully and lovingly worked into the comic and vice versa (I don’t know what was written first, comic or game, but they fit together very nicely), and just having more reasons, more answers, a larger overview and even partly some explanations for the first game feels... right.

The voice acting is good overall – not strikingly awesome but definitely up there, especially during emotional cutscenes. Sometimes the controls are a bit wonky and Faith might not immediately do what your fingers tell her to but that could definitely be on me - in games where fast reaction is important, quick time events can go wrong occasionally, nothing new. There are some passages you could consider a QTE but they’re being displayed early enough for you to be able to mentally prepare for them as far as I see it. And in my book, that’s a massive improvement from the first game, where you were able to press a button perfectly in time even while having reaction time (= a temporary slow mode) activated, and still watch Faith gracefully fall down the side of the building while flailing her arms in fear because she didn’t grab onto that perfectly grabbable practical white ledge. Why, you ask? I don’t know, ask Faith. Oh, you can’t, obviously made clear by the nasty sound of her hitting the road and her neck being snapped apart. Seriously, I cringed to the moon and back when I first heard that ugly sound. Which is another thing they improved in Catalyst; now all you hear is her quick, raspy, fear-filled breaths and a blissful silence paired with a white death screen after you’ve hit a death barrier. Not the ground, a death barrier. There’s a shitload of them. Which is a pity regarding the fact that a whole lot more out-of-bounds areas would be reachable and playable if there weren’t. Honestly, I find it kind of disappointing that there’s this many invisible walls, fall-through grounds and death barriers. I can see why, conserving computing resources to avoid loading screens, blah blah, but still... let me go off the map, dammit. The game is about a group of people living “off the grid”, why can’t the player actually do that? Hm? Hmmm?

Another aspect tying into this is the social playing mechanic(s), which I found interesting but indeed totally unnecessary. We all know leaderboards of races and stuff, which were incorporated here as setting the best time in short, timed courses (“dashes”), which naturally have been hacked and cheated into ridiculousness. No, RunnerMaster69, I do not believe you ran that dash in three seconds and 420 nanoseconds, I just don’t. Upon completing a dash, you leave an ‘echo’, so basically a ghost other players can compare themselves to, and for you to see which route another player took. Nothing too groundbreaking on that front. There’s a way of tagging locations you’ve been to: so-called Beat Link Emitters (Beat L.E.s) are like little chips shining red in the world you can put down wherever you’re able to stand safely and have them appear in other people’s games to touch, which is a nice way of incorporating a way of saying “Hey, look where I was able to climb!” (And yes, I have abused this system; there’s a glitch making it possible for Faith to float down high buildings onto lower ones, which aren’t death-barriered but not reachable on a normal way. You bet I was a floating gurl putting down Beat L.E.s whereeeeever I could. So much fun. Sorry.)

The same goes for hackable billboards, which can also appear in your friends’ games, but they could have been designed a lot more interestingly. If you hack a billboard, your runner tag appears on it, which consists of a visual symbol, a frame around it, and a background. You can customize the tag in a companion app, which again I didn’t really find necessary. But it is pretty self-explanatory and a nice gimmick if you’re into that kinda stuff.

Maybe an irrelevant aspect: Faith is wearing the same outfit (almost) throughout the whole game. Only at the beginning while getting to the runners’ lair she’s wearing something different and I see missed potential there: let the player run in these clothes, or in the prison clothes, or in the clothes from Mirror’s Edge 1, or in some of the fancy clothes Glass’ high society is wearing, or generally different runner’s attire which still stays true to the style, or Black November garb... endless opportunities, missed. Not at all crucial, but in my opinion maybe better than some different-looking billboard...

Coming back to the (back-)story aspect once more; as with all of today’s big triple-A games, there’s a looooot of documents and recordings to find, to give the player a loooot of backstory, which I found terribly overdone. It always felt like there was too much to collect and too few actual story told; not to mention some story bits not being in either of the games or their collectables, but in a separately sold comic, well done EA, well done.

Additionally, a lot of the documents were about literal history of the state called Cascadia and the ‘conglomerate’ and Omnistat and the November Riots (don’t worry if you have no idea what these words mean, I don’t either...) and regarding the fact that I finished taking history in school with a D ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)... you can imagine I wasn’t that interested in the actual history elements. Give me story anytime, but get the hi- prefix outta here please.

Another thing that I just very recently discovered: Some of the performed parkour movements are inaccurate. Thanks to my new interest of binging parkour tutorial videos I’ve seen actual mistakes in movement (in both games), which I can understand sometimes because some of them have been implemented on purpose and for a reason. For example: A parkour safety roll is performed sideways, with one of your shoulders hitting the floor first and the impact being absorbed and reduced by your whole back rolling over the ground in a diagonal line, ending in one of your feet carrying over the fall’s momentum for you to be able to stand up and run right along, probably even faster than before the drop. In the first game, this was handled straight up terribly; not only did Faith not roll diagonally but straight on her spine, which fuckin hurts if you perform it after you took a fall and is dangerous as all hell, but all her momentum got lost as well - it didn’t make any difference if you took a hard fall, the screen flashed red and you had to build new momentum, or if it was a soft fall with a nice (hurting and dangerous) roll, her stopping dead in her tracks like “Oh wow, did you see that, I made a roll” and then continuing to build new momentum because it all got lost. BUT since this is about Catalyst: Faith is still performing a straight spine-hurting-dangerous-as-all-hell-roll, but at least she keeps her momentum when she does it. Regarding to what I said at the beginning of this semi-rant-paragraph because I’ve “studied” (emphasis on the quotation marks) parkour theory so much at this point, yet am not able to actually perform any moves because I don’t have the strength, stamina or willpower to- Uh, where was I...? Ah, yeah, the reason for the incorrectly performed roll. It’s obvious when you think about it: motion sickness, a gamer’s best friend when it comes to first-person perspective. If Faith was performing a correct roll, it would turn and shake the camera around too much, which could potentially make the player motion sick over time. Period. Look up some first-person safety roll footage on YouTube and you’ll see what I mean. So, there’s a reason, and we should be thankful the roll is a straight gymnastics roll. Sorry Faith, looks like your spine and neck have to suffer a little longer. However, I can and will not understand why they have Celeste, a character from the first game, climb up ledges with her knees and elbows. No. NO. Feet first. If you can’t do feet first, then do one foot first and then pull up the rest. If you can’t do that, train more and don’t call yourself a runner yet, doing this for a living on top of I-dunno-how-high-rooftops.

My feelings are kind of ambivalent on the no-guns mechanics - all you can defend yourself with is your fists (and legs and momentum, of course), while in the first game, you could snatch people’s guns and start some weaponized combat. I liked both of these strategies, not really caring when they announced Faith not being able to do shootieshootie-pewpew this time around.

One thing I liked a lot considering the open world aspect is that if you die, you respawn exactly where you last stood on safe ground before dying (except in missions, of course). It makes freeroaming very comfortable because you don’t have to worry about respawn- and checkpoints; you can just try again when you messed up a jump.

They also changed the beacon- and navigation system (“runner’s vision”) a bit too, which was also definitely necessary for the open world (which they’ve praised as a lot less linear, but honestly? It isn’t really. I knew my way around in Glass pretty well after a mere month of playing), but they did include options for how much you want the game to help you. There’s normal runner’s vision, with a red streak appearing every few seconds, showing you exactly where to run; there’s classic runner’s vision, made to be like in the first game, with environmental beacons and indicators being coloured in red when coming close to them and without the red streak; and of course, you can switch it off completely, which I occasionally like to do to test how well I really know my way around in Glass.

The soundtrack is outstanding. Straight up phenomenal. It can empower and hype you up, but can also be relaxing during a relaxing sightseeing trip through Glass. And it’s also great to leave on as background music while studying (I’m making use of that when preparing for graduation exams), or driving.

There is dynamic day- and night time - I liked that a lot, it’s a good way of showing off the lighting at all sorts of times. Only problem I had: a night sky is supposed to be black, not royal blue.

Note: almost all the “problems” I’ve listed here have been made mods for (e.g. more exciting looking billboards, more outfits, a changeable day-night cycle and a black night sky). If I had enough experience with (and patience for) modding, I’d definitely try it myself but the ‘flaws’ aren’t grave enough for me to feel a desire to manipulate and tweak some game files.

Okay, time for a spoiler. Not a bad one, but one that could give you ideas if you know how Mirror’s Edge rolls, or if you’ve played the first game... which is basically a spoiler in itself too. Ahem, anyway.

Towards the end of the game, when I was profoundly convinced of it being one of my all-time favourites, I was like “Yes, finally a game that improves and learns from past mistakes and listens to their players and what they want”... and then came Noah. I bawled my eyes out and I will be forever angry at the devs for doing this. That’s all I’m saying.

That ultimately didn’t stop me from loving the game though. From an objective standpoint I’d say it’s an overall good prequel/reboot/requel/preboot. Faith’s universe became a bit more mainstream but also a lot more polished and they definitely listened to their fans to some degree. From the very subjective standpoint I have written this review from, I’m saying that Mirror’s Edge Catalyst holds a very special place in my heart and I am truly glad it saw the light of day, after everyone waiting 8 years for it to be released after the first game. (I didn’t wait quite that long; I got Mirror’s Edge 1 in January 2016 and was completely and utterly hooked and hyped for Catalyst in May 2016.)

And that concludes it. If you’ve read this far – thank you. I’m aware that this is a bit different from my other reviews tone-wise - I have put every ounce of sass I possess into this because I... felt like it :D I hope it was fun to read!

#and now please scream at me to study xD #mirror's edge #mirror's edge catalyst #faith #games #stefs game review

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ara-la · 8 years ago

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Fascism & How to Fight It (2017)

PART's Perspective:

On Fascism and How to Fight It

Decolonization and Liberation

by Michael Novick, Anti-Racist Action-Los Angeles/People Against Racist Terror (ARA-LA/PART)

Since Trump's election, concern about fascism has become widespread. George Orwell's 1984 became a bestseller and sold out at Amazon.

But many people seem to think that resisting fascism involves defending the status quo, or giving the Democrats "backbone." The idea that opposing fascism is meant to save the established order is actually part of the appeal of fascism to people who are fed up with the status quo. Identifying fascism, in the US context, exclusively with the right wing and the Republicans is also naive. Fascism is built from above and below, and has support from elites who finance both major parties and deep roots in the whole history of the US.

There are, roughly speaking, three views of fascism out there, all incorrect or false to one degree or another: 1) how fascism presents itself; 2) how competing rulers, and competing strategies and ideologies within imperialism present it; and 3) how working class revolutionaries, anarchist or socialist, have traditionally seen it. These incorrect understandings of fascism reflect incorrect understandings of class society and colonialism as a whole.

Fascism presents itself as revolutionary, anti-capitalist and anti-communist, nationalistic and militaristic, a vanguard that welds together a “volk” into a fighting machine in which a new state and social order is created that purges weakness, sentimentality, and “alien” influences, particularly insofar as it defends “womanhood.”

Competing pro-imperialist ideologies generally speaking, portray fascism as uniquely totalitarian, nationalistic, militaristic, racist, religiously rigid and xenophobic, to which anti-gay and anti-woman have been added more recently. These pro-imperialists portray themselves as a bulwark against fascism.

Communist and anarchist analyses have tended to portray fascism as reactionary, and anti-working class, but using racial and religious scapegoating to manipulate workers into lining up behind an iconic “maximum leader.” Sexual repression, particularly latent or repressed homo-eroticism, is often emphasized as a psychological factor.

All three views accurately portray fascism as the master of propaganda and spectacle, and as noted, as nationalistic and militaristic. But what's wrong with or inadequate about these views? How can a more correct understanding guide successful revolutionary anti-fascist practice?

Fascists, rival imperialists, and euro/worker-centric communists and anarchists, all have, for purposes of their own, reasons to disguise the true nature of fascism, and to distinguish it categorically from other “less evil” forms of class society and oppressive, exploitative rule.

Fascists want to present themselves as revolutionary anti-capitalists (may even believe they are) in order to cement a mass base and mass participation in their effort.

Other rulers and pro-imperial ideologies or strategies want to portray fascism as evil incarnate, the bogey man in comparison to whom the others’ exploitation, oppression, militarism and repressive measures look benign or justified. They use fascism as a threat to dangle if resistance steps up — “Look how much worse things can be; we’re the best deal you’re going to get.” They want working and middle class people to unite with "their own" bourgeoisie because fascists would be so much worse.

Euro/worker-centric socialists and anarchists are blinded to the true nature of fascism — and of their own projects — because they believe their approach will run their advanced industrial societies better (that is, deep down they still accept the empire). In some cases they are actually seeking an alliance with “their own” bourgeoisie, with whom they think they can make common cause against the fascists.

If these views are wrong, what is correct? People understand that there is a vital connection between imperialism and fascism. As the US has become more openly imperialist, there is a common widespread fear that “fascism” is on the immediate horizon here. The left used anti-fascist rhetoric against Bush, and the right used it against Obama. Now everyone smells it over the Trump regime.

But to really understand what is going on, we need to take a step back to get a clearer and more valid picture of the real context of empire and class society within which fascism operates.

The Imperial/Colonial Roots of “Fascism”

The European "nation states" where modern imperialism and fascism originated are better understood as empire states. Great Britain/UK, France, Spain, etc. were each an empire in themselves, modeling themselves on the Greek empire of Alexander and the Roman Empire of the Caesars. They took shape by controlling dominated people and other language groups consolidated within a territory and an economic bio-region through the leadership of the bourgeoisie in alliance with the landed gentry. Leadership necessarily implies the independent participation of other classes and strata (higher AND lower), whose efforts were cohered with and subsumed into the bourgeoisie’s project.

Germany and Italy — where fascism emerged most fully and (briefly) triumphantly — both had failed to consolidate such empire states completely or in a timely manner, compared to many other European powers. The fascists set themselves the task of accomplishing what their bourgeoisie had failed to do — propel Germany and Italy into full domestic empire state status and full international participation in carving up the rest of the globe. (This is actually quite similar to what happened in the Czarist Russian empire, where the communists, particularly under Stalin, set themselves the task of completing the revolution the Russian bourgeoisie had proven itself incapable of carrying out, particularly in agriculture, and pushing for the Russification of dominated peoples and lands in what Lenin had referred to as "prison house of nations.")

Fascism in Europe, particularly German and Italian fascism, set itself the task of completing the empire-state building process that their bourgeoisie had lagged in carrying out. For Germany, especially, this meant redrawing the map of Europe itself, and building an extensive empire within the heart of Europe. This ultimately proved intolerable to the British (and the US), who thus delineated Hitler’s Germany in particular as beyond the limits of “acceptable” imperialist behavior.

But Hitler’s philosophy, ideology and mechanisms of rule were rooted in imperialism, in lessons learned from US empire building and scientific ‘race relations,’ as well as that empire’s industrialization, modernization, and integration of immigrant workers into an “Americanized” proletariat — reservations, sterilization, white supremacist mass organizations, mass merchandising. Some of the cells which coalesced into Hitler’s National Socialist German Workers Party were actually composed of former members of the US KKK who had returned to Germany in the 20’s after the US Ku Klux Klan collapsed.

Nazi views and practices also grew out of the German colonial experience in Africa, where the German Reich had carried out a mass genocide of the Herero people of Namibia (aka German Southwest Africa).

The Nazi party distinguished itself from other right wing parties and movements, however, in its willingness to develop armed power outside the alleged `monopoly’ of the state, and to carry forward independent action based on other class strata, regardless of bourgeois dictates. Nonetheless, even the Nazi party, like Mussolini’s fascists, participated in and was legitimated by the bourgeois electoral system.

Fascism: Bringing Colonial Rule Home

In general, fascism can best be understood as bringing the methods of imperial rule in the colonies into the metropole. This is true regardless of whether the societies in which it was imposed or organized had a previous imperial history. It is no coincidence, for example, that Franco of Spain launched the Falangist campaign from a colonial garrison, or that later French fascist forces were based in the settler-colonists of Algeria. Fascist elements in Romania and Hungary, for example, who collaborated with Hitler, hearkened to the glorious past of the Roman or Hapsburg Empires.

In the colonies, genocide has been the rule, not the exception, of imperialism. “Democracy” is only for the settlers; dictatorship and slave labor apply to the indigenous and other colonized people. The corporate model of economic organization, later applied by the fascists to the state as a whole, developed in colonial enterprise. The first corporations were the colonizing corporations — British East India Company, Hudson’s Bay Company, or the British crown's monopoly on the African slave "trade," etc. — who could bear the costs and risks of colonization because of shared and limited liability, and who exercised state power directly over the colonized territories and populations.

Militarism in the form of conquest is a necessity of direct and settler colonialism. In Brazil, for example, all the vast tracts of land conquered by Portugal were distributed to the families of the military officers who conquered them.

The mass base of participation in colonial rule came via the settler population of all class strata, who participated actively and often independently in land grabs and extermination without waiting for bourgeois legitimacy.

All this was translated to the metropole by Hitler, however he may have defined or proclaimed his system. Except that the mechanisms — dictatorship, slave labor, corporatization of the state and society, mass participation in militarism, looting and oppression — were seen operating directly within the German population at large, including against its racially and ethnically defined minorities, and against its European neighbors. Hitler was ultimately intolerable to Churchill and Roosevelt, not because of philosophical differences, but because the state he created empowered Germany to remake the existing world economic order. Hitler’s genocide of the Jews and the Roma is defined as unique because it was carried out against Europeans, inside Europe.

US capital played a strong role in building Hitler’s war machine, perhaps hoping as some in Britain did that it could safely be directed against the Soviets. In any event, once the die was cast, and global war became inevitable, the `democracies’ showed no compunction in waging warfare on a mass scale against both German and Japanese civilians.

Nor, once the war was won, did the US delay in swiftly incorporating the Nazi apparatus into the US military, space program, and national security state agencies, especially the CIA, or in providing a subordinate role within the US empire to the Japanese militarists. In Vietnam and elsewhere that the Japanese had dislodged European empires, the US swiftly restored French colonial rule.

Colonialism is not dead history. Although most (not all) direct external colonialism has been ended -- the US, England and France all have direct colonies in the Caribbean where slave-based colonies extracted much of the wealth that built the empires -- colonialism persists in neo-colonialism and in settler colonial societies (like the US, Israel, Canada, Australia, etc) where large numbers of colonizers inhabited colonized terrain and established their own states. What is more, the imperial societies are re-colonizing the globe under economic doctrines of neo-liberalism, direct corporate rule via forms such as the WTO, and increasingly, the "neo-conservative" direct application of military might. Neo-liberalism plus neo-conservatism equals neo-colonialism.

However, to say there is no difference between capitalist imperialism in general, and fascism in particular, is wrong. Fascism is a form of imperialism in extremis, moved to taking desperate measures in the name of survival (often, but not only, because of the strength of its conscious opposition). Fascism relies more on a visceral identification with the leader, who embodies the nation and its cause. The degree to which fascism must emphasize its mass appeal and its revolutionary face is a measure of the weakening of the grip of “normal” imperial and colonial thinking within the working classes, and of their allegiance to the deal they got.

It is important to understand that saying imperialism sometimes takes fascist form is not the same as attributing fascism to a “ruling class plot.” All forms of imperialism, especially modern imperialism and colonialism, have always been cross-class projects, in which at least substantial strata of working and other “subordinate” classes have always participated independently and directly, not merely under the direction of the bourgeoisie or “ruling” class.

Where there is not a revolutionary anti- capitalist and anti-imperialist threat manifest in the ranks of working and oppressed people, fascism may still appear necessary or desirable to the rulers or other strata because of other threats, or because of other weaknesses of the bourgeoisie.

What’s more, fascist regimes are not necessarily going to ally with each other because of ideological affinities. Alliances will shift between and among ‘democracies’ and ‘dictatorships’ just as they did before, during and after World War II. So we may see US Christian fascists opposing Muslim fascists or Hindu supremacists, or Arab reactionaries and Zionists opposing each other. This “anti-fascism” does not preclude simultaneous fascist initiatives within their own society.

Similarly, state and bourgeois-based fascist elements may move against other fascist forces within their own society, particularly those that emphasize the anti-elitist face of fascism. Competing elements within fascist movements may use violence against each other in seeking to dominate.

Fascism, furthermore, has always presented itself as a competing ideology for state building and economic advancement in colonized societies, in opposition to anarchist, communist and other socially-liberatory ideologies, or by emphasizing unitary and totalitarian methods as more efficient than pluralistic or secular bourgeois democracy. The Japanese empire pre-World War II, for example, presented their militaristic, xenophobic imperialism as a “liberator” of Asia from European colonialism and domination. Many Latin American countries have had fascist and proto-fascist movements, sometimes based in or supported by religious or military authorities.

In the current period, we can find fascist kernels in communities of color as well as within the white population. While such fascisms have often been subordinate to larger imperial forces, to the extent they prove capable of or interested in independent action, the fascism of imperial powers may define them as a critical enemy rather than an ally.

You Can't Build a Free Society on Stolen Land

What's key for us to understand, however, is that t because the US is a settler colonial, as well as an imperial society, it has always had elements of what later became known as fascism operating within its society and state against internally colonized and enslaved populations and territories. Trying to find a moment or "golden age" in US history is like removing layers of an onion.

The "fascist" was there before 9-11, before the post-World War II national security state, before the World War I Red Scare, before the Spanish-American War and over-seas conquests, before the Mexican-American war and manifest destiny, before the War of 1812 to overturn the British recognition of sovereign Native nations in the interior. The mass participation and base for this has fundamentally been the white settler population (although people of color have at times been incorporated, in a neo-colonial or modified settler role).

George Jackson: “Fascism is Already Here”

This is what George Jackson meant when he said fascism is already here. It was not rhetorical hyperbole or meaningless substitution of ‘fascism’ for ‘capitalism.’ The Black colony and especially Blacks within the prison system (the new plantation /reservation /concentration camp) lived and live under conditions of fascism (including a cross-class racist alliance of white supremacist prisoners and guards who uphold the rule of the bourgeoisie and its state).

But this is true not only inside the prisons. The channeling of Black youth into prisons, parasitic criminal organizations, the military or neo-colonial regulation systems is a manifestation of fascist-style domination and incorporation of a threatening population.

The fundamental basis of “white privilege” is that working people of European descent are spared such fascist methods of rule, so long as they remain loyal to and identify with the oppressors. There are substantial mass strata, including among white workers, petty bourgeois and employees in state security forces such as the prisons and police, for whom fascism of the more modern, “European” form has great appeal, as well as sectors of the bourgeoisie and of the bureaucratic governing class who are accustomed to and predisposed towards fascist style rule.

The turn to fascism does imply, however, a change in the composition, structure, powers and rationale of the state, and in the forms of domination and exploitation of the “metropolitan” (oppressor nation) working people. The types of oppression and exploitation that have been directed at the (internally) colonized population begin to make themselves felt against the settlers as well, even as they are being courted and propagandized to adopt a new and more intimate and totalitarian identification with the rulers and empire.

This describes what is happening in the US today. The process of fundamentally transforming the nature of the US state, not merely quantitatively in terms of repression, but qualitatively in terms its fundamental modes of operation and social contract, is happening primarily from the top down - orchestrated by the neo- and paleo-cons and a supportive faction of the bourgeoisie. Secondarily, it's driven from the bottom up (more so by clerical fascist forces and by neo-Confederates closely allied to the rulers, as well as by the white proletarian, declassed white lumpen and petty bourgeois elements who are drawn into openly and expressly neo-nazi and other armed and violence-prone formations). What we are seeing today particularly in the Trump campaign and presidency is a dangerous integration of those groupings, with members of the big bourgeoisie and the military recruited directly into control of major government departments.

But corporatization proceeded within the Obama-led state apparatus as well, ranging from the cutting of deals on financial regulation with financial giants, and on health care with Big Pharma, to the incorporation of local police into Homeland Security-led border enforcement or the use of the economic crisis as a club to force the privatization of public education. ALEC and similar corporate front groups were already writing state legislation and municipal ordinances, and corporations were already allowed to buy elections and politicians.

That means we must seriously prepare for situations of much more naked repression, perhaps akin to those which pertain in the colonial and semi-colonial areas — the dirty war in Argentina, the Pinochet regime in Chile, the death squads in Central America, the Israeli Occupation Forces in Palestine, etc. That such repression may sometimes target open, self-proclaimed fascists does not negate its own fascist character. Since the goal is stabilization in crisis, threats to stability are unwelcome.

Economic Crisis of the Empire and Industrialism

These statist, pro-imperial forces see quite clearly that the economic and environmental crises facing their system require a re-incorporation of mass support on a different basis than the old imperial bribe. They also foresee and openly promise a period of `endless war’ and increasing militarization of the entire society.

Less openly, but no less relentlessly, they are girding up for a military showdown with China, Russia and Iran (the only "debate" seems to be about which to take on first, manifest in the electoral maneuvering and Deep State leaks about Russia and Putin). The prospect of taking on that battle, in the context of a dwindling economic pie of which they are taking a larger share, necessitates both increased repression and inventive methods of obtaining consent, for which “fascism” is as good a code name as any.

The reason that it’s important to consider whether a fully fascist state is on the horizon in the US is not a matter of semantics but of survival. Or perhaps more currently, we need to understand exactly how the rulers and retail fascists are transforming the nature of the state, and what initiatives will be undertaken by or allowed for non-ruling class forces to push forward fascism independently of the rulers.

What is vital is seeing how what is happening is rooted in pre-existing cross-class alliances that must be smashed if we have a chance to turn the crisis into an opportunity for a liberatory transformation of this society and state. If people see anti-fascist struggle as a means to return to a mythical democratic, egalitarian past, we are indeed doomed.

In a certain sense, whether we call it fascism is immaterial. The question is, what room do we have to maneuver, what timetable do we have to operate on, what methods of organization and struggle are appropriate or likely to be successful in the current period? The timetable and nature of organizing, as well as the means of struggle appropriate and necessary to pursue, will be affected by the nature of the state and the extra-parliamentary fascist forces we confront. So will the kind of alliances we can make and the type of organizations we build.

Withstanding Fascism & Brutality

Fascism, however we “define” it, has meant a particularly brutal and harsh form of governance within imperial metropoles, a much more active pursuit of genocide, a more naked and totalitarian form of domination of labor and other mass organizations. This is not a linguistic question.

Other forms of social and political organization are also capable of excesses, but fascism distinguishes itself by seeking to reconstitute the individual personality and the state in a ‘revolutionary’ fashion. In the third world, imperialism has long operated through dictatorial, militaristic puppet regimes that carried out bloody repression. Whether those can correctly be called “fascist” is arguable — they are responding to pressures from above and outside their own societies and often have a limited mass base within them.

But if we are again facing anything close to that type of repression and death squad activity inside the US itself, as the Black Panther Party, the Chicano-Mexicano struggle, and the American Indian Movement did in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, we need to adjust our organizing dramatically.

I think the current political context in the US, whether we label it fascist or not, calls for a whole range of things connected to the idea of more clandestine struggle (I am not thinking necessarily or exclusively of illegal or armed action here). Nonetheless, we do need to incorporate the same sense that “from-below” fascist forces have long grasped — that independent political action must make use of all forms of struggle and all means of exerting countervailing power.

The abiding lesson of the previous history of fascism in power is that the alleged state monopoly on armed power is a polite fiction aimed at disarming the oppressed. Particularly in the US context, where armed settlers operated independently of the state to capture land, suppress slave rebellions and other colonial functions, it is fatuous to believe that only the state acts as an armed agent. Class fractions, regional networks and other social elements have always been armed and used arms to advance their interests in the U.S. Pacifism is exclusively a pathology of the left. We need to develop the capacity to defend ourselves and our communities.

We need to strategize based on an understanding that mainstream media work is almost entirely pointless, at least as currently conceived. The transformation of “journalism” and “entertainment” into corporate/state propaganda is pretty much complete. Simply turning back the final straw, after the camel’s back has been broken, is not enough. Previous court rulings have made it clear that freedom of speech and the press are essentially protected only for corporate interests.

Alternatives are happening — developing our own media, pirate radio, webcasting, using indymedia — but remember, the Internet is closely monitored and subject to being choked off. Facebook, Google and the rest, as well as the telecommunications giants and ISPs, feed directly into the intelligence gathering apparatus of the state. When Bush stole the 2000 election from Gore, the Democrats backed off eliminating Pacifica Radio as a medium of grassroots dissent; but now, in the wake of the Trump triumph, they are seeking to neuter and circumscribe Pacifica into the voice of a safe, tame and mainstream "resistance."

We need to focus more energy on less public forms of organizing than fruitless rallies and demonstrations. Being out in the streets in numbers is exciting and provides an opportunity to contact and influence many people who are new to politics, but to the extent such rallies become ritualized and impotent, reacting to policy initiatives and threats from the state, they can't sustain themselves. We need to organize deeper and more sustained initiatives of our own away from public scrutiny, not simply reacting to state and fascist provocations.

We need to listen more, as a means not only of intelligence gathering on the enemy, but also of understanding what’s on the minds of the people we want to work with and among. We need to develop community-based grass roots anti-racist and anti-empire work that has endurance, and that rewards people in the doing of it.

Anti-fascists can never abandon confrontation with nazis, but public venues are going to be increasingly controlled and subject to massive repression. The disappearance of the anti-war movement in the face of ongoing war has to do partly with the hold of illusions on the Democrats, reflected in Van Jones's comment on Trump's "presidential" moment glorifying the US casualty in his Yemen raid. But it also is testament to the inefficacy of street demonstrations in stopping war, and the effectiveness of militarized police in disrupting anti-corporate, anti-globalization street actions.

We need to think about methods of infiltration and subversion of state and fascist initiatives, as well as counter-organizing a base for anti-racist culture and resistance among people who would otherwise be drawn to the nazi “solution.”

Organizing Below the Radar

We need to build a legal/self defense component into all our work, anticipating busts, frame-ups and harassment. We need to build stronger outside networks of support for people locked down, materially and otherwise. There needs to be thought about safe houses, cultivation of supporters who never do anything public to identify themselves with the anti-racist and anti-fascist movement, secure means of covert communication, transportation and release and dissemination of information. In other words, we need to adopt some methods of organization that are better suited to conditions of occupation or fascism. Simply masking up is not sufficient. To the extent we can get at all ahead of the curve on this, it will be a lot easier to do, and a lot likelier to survive the repression. We need to think about building redundancy in all those mechanisms.

Organizing and outreach into the prisons and the military are vital. These spheres, along with workplace organizing, have always had some of the characteristics of occupation or fascism that impede open organizing. They are vital areas in which to work. The degree of state and bourgeois repression applied in these arenas under “normal democracy” are a measure of their strategic importance.

They are an important proving ground of our ability to organize under such conditions as well as our capacity to craft a message and practice that engages the people we want to reach. This is also true for work with high school students, for many of the same reasons (especially as the military, the police and private corporations increasingly penetrate the schools).

One key to understanding fascism is to grasp, and counter, the appeal fascism makes to women. The male-dominated left tends to discount the revolutionary potential of women, the need for a strategy to deal with the role of violence in the lives of women and children, and the efforts of fascists to present themselves as the answer to women’s problems. A fuller discussion and an attempt to develop practice based on a deeper understanding of those issues must take place in a sustained way.

The state has moved into this arena in various ways. The use of Afghan women as justification for waging war on Al Qaeda, the Taliban and Afghanistan and Pakistan is one clear example. Another notable one is creation by the Pentagon of a network of organizers out of “army wives,”

whose job it is to maintain morale and support for the war efforts among the families of the troops. Clerical fascist groups have always been very strong and effective in this regard, appealing to both men and women around a “kinde, kuche, kirche” (children, kitchen, church) sex-role definition of women in the family, augmented in the modern period by appeals to women’s (racial) self-defense and women’s leadership in anti-abortion and related struggles, as well as in corporate enterprises. This reflects an attempt to augment bourgeois feminism with fascist feminism, as the empire confronts a global proletariat increasingly composed of women.

Progressive faith-based groups, some of whom are hard-core pacifists, must be addressed in an anti-fascist strategy, just as “White Rose” Catholics formed one base of anti-fascist resistance in Hitler’s Germany. Such groups also have a long history of civil resistance, sanctuary-type activities regarding unjust immigration policies, and otherwise breaking the law or doing secret work for reasons of conscience. The burglary of the FBI offices in Media, PA that ultimately exposed COINTELPRO, for example, was carried out by Catholic-affiliated anti-war/anti-draft resisters close to the Berrigans. I think we might be able to learn a great deal from them.

We need to begin operating, to a degree, as if fascism is already fully in place. This is not defeatism, because only acting in this way will we be able to turn the dynamic around, overcome white privilege, complacency and complicity, and use the on-going crisis as a basis for a truly revolutionary transformation of society. We similarly need to start working with the understanding that it is already too late to reverse global warming quickly in the short term. We need to build community-based, anti-capitalist efforts to live under the harsh environmental conditions that will prevail over the next decades. Anything less is suicidal. In other words, we need to take the current political, economic and environmental crises as the breeding ground, not for fascism, but for our own independent, revolutionary anti-imperialist offensive!

I invite responses and discussion of these ideas, some of which were first put forward over a decade ago in "Turning The Tide." Email [email protected], write ARA, PO Box 1055, Culver City CA 90232 or visit us on-line at www.antiracist.org.

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metrofuturist · 8 years ago

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2017 isn’t ‘1984’ – it’s stranger than Orwell imagined

by John Broich

A week after President Donald Trump’s inauguration, George Orwell’s “1984” is the best-selling book on Amazon.com.

The hearts of a thousand English teachers must be warmed as people flock to a novel published in 1949 for ways to think about their present moment.

Orwell set his story in Oceania, one of three blocs or mega-states fighting over the globe in 1984. There has been a nuclear exchange, and the blocs seem to have agreed to perpetual conventional war, probably because constant warfare serves their shared interests in domestic control.

Oceania demands total subservience. It is a police state, with helicopters monitoring people’s activities, even watching through their windows. But Orwell emphasizes it is the “ThinkPol,” the Thought Police, who really monitor the “Proles,” the lowest 85 percent of the population outside the party elite. The ThinkPol move invisibly among society seeking out, even encouraging, thoughtcrimes so they can make the perpetrators disappear for reprogramming.

The other main way the party elite, symbolized in the mustached figurehead Big Brother, encourage and police correct thought is through the technology of the Telescreen. These “metal plaques” transmit things like frightening video of enemy armies and of course the wisdom of Big Brother. But the Telescreen can see you, too. During mandatory morning exercise, the Telescreen not only shows a young, wiry trainer leading cardio, it can see if you are keeping up. Telescreens are everywhere: They are in every room of people’s homes. At the office, people use them to do their jobs.

The story revolves around Winston Smith and Julia, who try to resist their government’s overwhelming control over facts. Their act of rebellion? Trying to discover “unofficial” truth about the past, and recording unauthorized information in a diary. Winston works at the colossal Ministry of Truth, on which is emblazoned IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH. His job is to erase politically inconvenient data from the public record. A party member falls out of favor? She never existed. Big Brother made a promise he could not fulfill? It never happened.

Because his job calls on him to research old newspapers and other records for the facts he has to “unfact,” Winston is especially adept at “doublethink.” Winston calls it being “conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies… consciously to induce unconsciousness.”

Oceania: The product of Orwell’s experience

Orwell’s setting in “1984” is inspired by the way he foresaw the Cold War – a phrase he coined in 1945 – playing out. He wrote it just a few years after watching Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin carve up the world at the Tehran and Yalta conferences. The book is remarkably prescient about aspects of the Stalinist Soviet Union, East Germany and Maoist China.

Orwell was a socialist. “1984” in part describes his fear that the democratic socialism in which he believed would be hijacked by authoritarian Stalinism. The novel grew out of his sharp observations of his world and the fact that Stalinists tried to kill him.

In 1936, a fascist-supported military coup threatened the democratically elected socialist majority in Spain. Orwell and other committed socialists from around the world, including Ernest Hemingway, volunteered to fight against the rightist rebels. Meanwhile, Hitler lent the rightists his air power while Stalin tried to take over the leftist Republican resistance. When Orwell and other volunteers defied these Stalinists, they moved to crush the opposition. Hunted, Orwell and his wife had to flee for their lives from Spain in 1937.

George Orwell at the BBC.

Back in London during World War II, Orwell saw for himself how a liberal democracy and individuals committed to freedom could find themselves on a path toward Big Brother. He worked for the BBC writing what can only be described as “propaganda” aimed at an Indian audience. What he wrote was not exactly doublethink, but it was news and commentary with a slant to serve a political purpose. Orwell sought to convince Indians that their sons and resources were serving the greater good in the war. Having written things he believed were untrue, he quit the job after two years, disgusted with himself.

Imperialism itself disgusted him. As a young man in the 1920s, Orwell had served as a colonial police officer in Burma. In a distant foreshadowing of Big Brother’s world, Orwell reviled the arbitrary and brutish role he took on in a colonial system. “I hated it bitterly,” he wrote. “In a job like that you see the dirty work of Empire at close quarters. The wretched prisoners huddling in the stinking cages of the lock-ups, the gray, cowed faces of the long-term convicts…”

Oceania was a prescient product of a particular biography and particular moment when the Cold War was beginning. Naturally, then, today’s world of “alternative facts” is quite different in ways that Orwell could not have imagined.

Big Brother not required

Orwell described a single-party system in which a tiny core of oligarchs, Oceania’s “inner party,” control all information. This is their chief means of controlling power. In the U.S. today, information is wide open to those who can access the internet, at least 84 percent of Americans. And while the U.S. arguably might be an oligarchy, power exists somewhere in a scrum including the electorate, constitution, the courts, bureaucracies and, inevitably, money. In other words, unlike in Oceania, both information and power are diffuse in 2017 America.

Those who study the decline in standards of evidence and reasoning in the U.S. electorate chiefly blame politicians’ concerted efforts from the 1970s to discredit expertise, degrade trust in Congress and its members, even question the legitimacy of government itself. With those leaders, institutions and expertise delegitimized, the strategy has been to replace them with alternative authorities and realities.

In 2004, a senior White House adviser suggested a reporter belonged to the “reality-based community,” a sort of quaint minority of people who “believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.… That’s not the way the world really works anymore.”

Orwell could not have imagined the internet and its role in distributing alternative facts, nor that people would carry around Telescreens in their pockets in the form of smartphones. There is no Ministry of Truth distributing and policing information, and in a way everyone is Big Brother.

It seems less a situation that people are incapable of seeing through Big Brother’s big lies, than they embrace “alternative facts.” Some researchers have found that when some people begin with a certain worldview – for example, that scientific experts and public officials are untrustworthy – they believe their misperceptions more strongly when given accurate conflicting information. In other words, arguing with facts can backfire. Having already decided what is more essentially true than the facts reported by experts or journalists, they seek confirmation in alternative facts and distribute them themselves via Facebook, no Big Brother required.

In Orwell’s Oceania, there is no freedom to speak facts except those that are official. In 2017 America, at least among many of the powerful minority who selected its president, the more official the fact, the more dubious. For Winston, “Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four.” For this powerful minority, freedom is the freedom to say two plus two make five.

John Broich is Associate Professor at Case Western Reserve University.This article was originally published on The Conversation.

#literature #1984 #dystopia

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jessicachortkoff · 8 years ago

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1984 in 2017: In the spring of 2014, when Los Angeles City College performed a play of George Orwell’s “1984,“ I captured the following stills and wrote the two articles below. LACC also had several notable people come to our school to discuss drone surveillance, and the book club had special events too. I am publishing this now because it seems to apply even more today than it did a few short years ago. -Jessica Chortkoff : Heeding Orwell’s Warning Before it is Too Late Technology, privacy, torture, war, psychological manipulation, and control of history and information, were talking points at the Book Program’s series of discussions on George Orwell’s 1984, on April 22, 23, and 24. The discussions explored 1984’s protagonist, Winston Smith; his experiences, his family, and his motivations. Ignorance is Strength “You become so detached you don’t know the history anymore,” said Student Service Assistant Bessie Love, who led the Wednesday discussion with Evaluator Glenda Foster. Love read aloud Orwell’s 1944 letter to his contemporary, Noel Willmett. The letter predates the novel by several years. “Already history has in a sense ceased to exist, ie. there is no such thing as a history of our own times which could be universally accepted, and the exact sciences are endangered as soon as military necessity ceases to keep people up to mark,” Orwell wrote in the letter. In Orwell’s novel the protagonist, Winston Smith, works at the Ministry of Truth, falsifying documents and rewriting history on a continuous basis. As the book says, “whoever controls the past controls the future.” “History is very important because it is a tool to teach us what happened in the past so it’s not repeated in the future,” said Eric Sherman, a student and theater major, who has spent three years portraying Martin Luther King Jr. in a one man show designed to bring the teachings of important historic figures to elementary school students. Sherman was surprised at how little the children knew about King’s life, and even how much he learned himself just preparing for the role. “When you revamp or you destroy that which has already been formally done, what happens is it brings people into a state of mind of ignorance, and once ignorance sets in you are 90% if not 100% of the time going to repeat something devastating, or a catastrophe from the past,” Sherman said. Freedom is Slavery The recent weakening of the Voting Rights Act reminded some of the participants of the novel as well, since this served to weaken the rights that the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution promises. Foster remembers accompanying her mother to the poles as a child and the problems she faced before the laws were put in place. “When voting rights started she got stopped at the poles, ‘oh, your grandfather didn’t vote’,” Foster said of those times. Foster went on to explain that in many small towns some people may have never possessed a voter ID. In the past their voice would have been heard, but now that has been complicated for them. “It just amazed me that this is an Amendment in the Bill of Rights and they are trying to take that away, just like in the novel,” said Sherman. Sherman feels this kind of tampering with rights puts the 13th Amendment in jeopardy as well. “Just like in the novel when they were slowly but surely taking things away, to put people in bondage, and into slavery, so they cannot think anymore, to not have a mind anymore, to [not] be able to function,” Sherman said. “If you don’t know your rights, if you don’t know what belongs to you, it’s easy for someone to come along and tell you oh, well this is not the way it’s supposed to be, it’s supposed to be like this…” Sherman said. Sherman is also very concerned about the breakdown of intimacy perpetuated by the use of devices such as cell phones and computers. “Big Brother was working to destroy intimacy in relationships, he didn’t want people to love anyone else but Big Brother, or to really have any sort of emotional connection to them,” Sherman said. “Really our society is being formulated that way because of technology, and we don’t really have that intimacy with each other anymore. Just by having normal conversation, or going to each other’s house and sit down and talk to each other. We don’t have conversations anymore.” He believes it takes communication to think outside the box, and to collaborate with fellow artists. Other topics included the news, which has seen an influx of celebrity gossip and a frightening lack of real reporting about issues of great importance around the world in recent years. Tuesday, May 6, and Wednesday, May 7, the Book Program ended its tribute to 1984 with “The Drone Age.” Pepperdine Law Professor Gregory McNeal spoke May 6 at 12:30 p.m. Guest Speaker Heidi Boghosian, Executive Director of the National Lawyers Guild, spoke on Wednesday, May 7, at 12:30 p.m., about drones and the importance of privacy. Drones Big Brother may not be watching you, but Uncle Sam is. The Los Angeles City College Book Program, as part of its ongoing series of events dedicated to George Orwell’s classic novel, 1984, presented two guest speakers to discuss the political, legal and ethical implications of government surveillance in “The Drone Age.” Gregory S. McNeal, Pepperdine University Law professor, counter-intelligence writer, commentator, and consultant, spoke to an audience of mostly students at the Faculty/Staff Center Tuesday May 6, and Heidi Boghosian, Executive Director of the National Lawyers Guild, First Amendment writer, and radio host, spoke Wednesday May 7, at the 3rd floor multipurpose room of the Student Union Building. There was an excellent turnout for both, as both rooms were filled to capacity. The speakers were chosen to express opposing viewpoints. McNeal believes “Federal Legislation of privacy is a horrible idea.” Boghosian says that “On a typical day your image is caught on surveillance cameras at least 200 times.” McNeal spent the majority of his speech expounding on the logistics of the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution. According to McNeal, America’s political climate is a far cry from Orwell’s imagined future. “To put a telescreen in your home would be illegal,” McNeal said. “It would not happen.” But according to McNeal, even if such a thing were to occur, the evidence it recorded would never stand up in court. “Even if you killed people, your children, that evidence would not be able to be used,” McNeal said. However, he also pointed out that there is not reasonable expectation of privacy behind a fence of any height, in one’s own back yard. If it can be viewed from the air over head, it is subject to surveillance. And although it is illegal for the police to use technology to see through walls, if the blinds are open that is a different story. McNeal’s point in the many instances he discussed it that what the average person think’s is a reasonable expectation of privacy does not always match up to what the court thinks is a reasonable expectation of privacy. For instance, there is no legitimate expectation of privacy for records turned over to the police by a third party, rather it be your cellphone provider, internet provider, a gas station camera, ect. Anyone can take this information, and it is not possible to use the internet or a cell phone without involving such a party. “It’s like being in your home and opening up your blinds,” McNeal said. What McNeal is more concerned with is the banning of cameras and drones in public parks. He told the story of a young boy using a drone to create an aerial map of a park, who according to McNeal, was threatened by the park with six months in prison. “To me that is actually the Big Brother I’m scared of,” said McNeal, “one that prevents drones.” Boghosian has what she calls a “very special job.” Part of her job involved going to protests and monitoring police treatment of activists. She brought up the events of the 2000 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles. A spokesperson for the American Civil Liberties Union, had described the event as “nothing less than an orchestrated police riot.” That riot included the firing of rubber bullets into the crowd and beating people with batons. The National Lawyers Guild was able to file law suits and effectively change police policy. Boghosian’s book “Spying on Democracy: Government Surveillance, Corporate Power, and Public Resistance” was written with the treatment of protestors in mind. Boghosian sees a distinct relationship between the First Amendment and the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution, since she has seen many cases where FBI agents infiltrated certain groups, especially animal rights and environmental groups. “I have seen first-hand, a lot of stories of infiltration agents provocateur, going into grassroots organizations and really trying to disrupt the work of activists, especially those involved in animal rights and environmental causes,” Boghosian said. “Those two activists have been labeled the top terrorist threat in this country by the FBI, they are specially prone to infiltration.” She then told a story about how her organization, The National Lawyers Guild, was infiltrated. Agents went through their garbage, an agent posed as a staff member in their Washington DC office, their phones were tapped, their mail read, and an attempt was made to label them a subversive organization. The FBI did not succeed, however, because the NLG, after being monitored for 30 years, sued them and won. She feared for journalists in particular, though. “That has a chilling effect on free speech. When you know that you being watched closely, it necessarily impacts how you act with others.” Boghosian said. She made it clear that she was afraid of a country where a reporter could be arrested and trialed for espionage. This brought to mind Edward Snowdon. I think he’s a hero,” said Boghosian, “he should be allowed back. I think he’s a hero.” Boghosian explained to the audience that many laws are hundreds of years old, and that “if you become unpopular, probably everyone in this room could be brought up on a charge.”

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stormhavenmedia · 5 years ago

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Authors note; As always follow the links and research on your own, believing random dudes on the internet is how we got here. Nothing in this should be taken as a reason to in any way hate any group. Racism is bad for you. My purpose here is to set the record straight and present the actual undisputed, but little known facts. Prejudice and Judgement are two different things.

“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”

George Orwell

Recent years have seen the rise of Somali politicians in North America. The two most prominent examples being Ahmed Hussein, (Axmed Xuseen) Canadian Minister of Immigration during the first Trudeau government, and Ilhan Abdullahi Omar first term US congresswoman and famously leader of the progressive “squad”.

Both Xuseen and Ohmar have similar backstories. They were welcomed by Canada and the US respectively as refugees. Both were supported by generous social systems in their first years in their nations that saved them. I say “saved them” because under the legal definition provided by the 1951 Refugee Convention, to be considered refugees they could not have returned to Somalia “owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion.” So if they were legitimate refugees then de facto Canada and the United States saved them from brutal persecution. Both were given every opportunity to succeed, and succeed they did. Both received high-end educations not readily available to much of the population. Both were elected to high public office that incredibly few citizens can aspire to.

Both Axmed Xuseen and Ilhan Ohmar have shown their immense gratitude by using every opportunity, and the full weight and very real privilege of their offices, to denigrate both societies with a literally endless stream of cringe-inducing epithets. The vitriol with which they assault the people and societies who sponsored them is incredibly vicious in both cases. Every “white” American and Canadian are brutal racists. We have no culture, no history of any note. Our home countries are merely constructs of “white-colonial-settler” supremacy. The societies that provided them with an elite education and elected them to high office, are according to them, irredeemable and inherently racist to their cores. This message is blasted into the national conscience by seemingly unlimited access to the corporate media, the odious CBC, academia and the utter adulation of the economic elite “woke” classes. Their views are even being heralded in the British medical Journal, The Lancet as scientific fact. The piece shown below generally asserts that all evil in the world, from slavery to colonization, originates with “whiteness” which must be swept from the earth.

Our Somali heroes/victims claim positions of moral authority due to the inherently superior non “white” culture that spawned them. Their history is not stained with the conquest and subjugation of the “other” as is all “white” culture. They hold themselves literally incapable of being racist.

They both site their adherence to Islam, the religion of peace, and thus cement their position as historical victims. Both like to lecture the inherently racist “white” citizens who elected them about the massive deficits in their culture, and their desperate need to end “white superiority” and “whiteness” itself in a vaguely genocidal incitement. Any dissent is met with furious tirades, and legislation, criminilizing Islamophobia.

What follows is a history both Ohmar and Axmed and the legions of the “woke” hoped you would never learn. Through deliberate and sustained action, our education systems have been manipulated over generations to ensure we forget our history. We are taught only the very selective facts those in power wish us to know. The warping of our education system has been very successful. I have a college level education and have studied history all my life yet much of what this was unknown to me. This has been a long game. It has allowed these two individuals, and many others to perpetrate some of the most epic gas-lighting in human history.

One culturally iconic feature of Somali culture and language neither Axmed Xuseen or Ilhan Ohmar have chosen to share with us putrid “whites” is the word “Jareer”. Jareer is an ancient Somali term of racist derision for the Bantu peoples, and anyone else they feel is racially inferior. Millions of Bantu people were hunted and sold in open slave markets in the ports of Zeila and Mogadishu for at least a thousand years. The fact is that Somalis were beneficiaries of the brutal Islamic wars of conquest that carved out the Maghreb wiping out the indigenous cultures. This meant they also enslaved Oromo and Nilotic people. Somalis had a much different impression of these groups. Their capture, treatment and duties of the two groups of slaves differed markedly, with Oromo favored because Oromo subjects were not viewed as racially jareer by their Somali captors. Both the use of the term Jareer and the deeply held, openly racist, views of the Somali population persist to this day.

In the 700 years immediately before Europeans came to Africa, Somalia was one of the centers of the brutally colonial Islamic Caliphates. The Somalis created an empire based on trading with the burgeoning Islamic world being carved out with the sword from the Indus Valley to Europe, killing millions between the rise of Muhammad and the beginning of the European Age of Empire.

Irfan Husain, Islamic scholar speaking about the muslim conquest of India that began around 1000 AD, “Demons from the Past”

“While historical events should be judged in the context of their times, it cannot be denied that even in that bloody period of history, no mercy was shown to the Hindus unfortunate enough to be in the path of either the Arab conquerors of Sindh and south Punjab, or the Central Asians who swept in from Afghanistan…The Muslim heroes who figure larger than life in our history books committed some dreadful crimes. Mahmud of Ghazni, Qutb-ud-Din Aibak, Balban, Mohammed bin Qasim, and Sultan Mohammad Tughlak, all have blood-stained hands that the passage of years has not cleansed..Seen through Hindu eyes, the Muslim invasion of their homeland was an unmitigated disaster.

“Their temples were razed, their idols smashed, their women raped, their men killed or taken slaves. When Mahmud of Ghazni entered Somnath on one of his annual raids, he slaughtered all 50,000 inhabitants. Aibak killed and enslaved hundreds of thousands. The list of horrors is long and painful. These conquerors justified their deeds by claiming it was their religious duty to smite non-believers. Cloaking themselves in the banner of Islam, they claimed they were fighting for their faith when, in reality, they were indulging in straightforward slaughter and pillage…”

Much of the lucrative merchandise the Somali Caliphs taxed were chained human beings. While Europeans were busy in their mud huts trying to stitch together the ruins of the Roman Empire, the Somali Caliphates were instrumental in the trafficking on some 12 million human beings. They then continued the practice for another 600 years after European contact, until the Italian colonial administration abolished slavery in Somalia at the turn of the 20th century. Somalia’s slaving empire had lasted over a thousand years.

I will rely on mostly African scholars where possible for historical and cultural contextual telling of this story in detail.

We begin with Nat Amarteifio; historian, and former mayor of Accra, Ghana’s capital. Speaking about the origins of Slavery

“There is a willful amnesia about the roles that we played in the slave trade……….The system already existed,” Amarteifio said. “The Europeans saw it. And thought: ‘Ah, we can try these people in our lands in the New World…..But Amarteifio says the Europeans weren’t going out and capturing Africans. They couldn’t — they got sick and died from illnesses like malaria. Some African ethnic groups went into business, warring with other groups so they could capture prisoners they sold as slaves to the Europeans. Amarteifio says they were organized and intentional about it. “To pursue slavery successfully, you need a highly organized group because somebody has to go out there — somebody has to locate the victims; somebody has to lead an army there; somebody has to capture them, transport them to the selling centers; all the time, keeping an eye on them to make sure they don’t revolt,” he said. “And then sell them, and move on.”

https://www.pri.org/stories/2019-08-20/willful-amnesia-how-africans-forgot-and-remembered-their-role-slave-trade

Sandra E. Greene. Anbinder Professor of African History at Cornell University Speaking on the origins of African slavery.

“Very few Americans know that slavery was common throughout the world as well as in Africa”, says Sandra E. Greene. Greene’s research focuses on the history of slavery in West Africa, especially Ghana, where warring political communities in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries enslaved their enemies, and the impact can still be felt today. “Slavery in the United States ended in 1865,” says Greene, “but in West Africa it was not legally ended until 1875, and then it stretched on unofficially until almost World War I. Slavery continued because many people weren’t aware that it had ended, similar to what happened in Texas after the United States Civil War.”

https://research.cornell.edu/news-features/curious-history-slavery-west-africa

Senegalese Anthropologist, Economist and Author; Tidiane N’Diaye spoke to Silja Fröhlich at Deutsche Welle,

“According to N’Diaye, slavery has existed in practically all civilizations. This was also the case in Africa before settlers came….In central East Africa, ethnic groups such as the Yao, Makua and Marava were fighting against each other and entire peoples within the continent traded with people they had captured through wars. Thus Arab Muslims encountered already existing structures, which facilitated the purchase of slaves for their purposes…

..Back then, Arab Muslims in North and East Africa sold captured Africans to the Middle East. There, they worked as field workers, teachers or harem guards, which is why the castration of male slaves was common practice. Muslims, on the other hand, including African Muslims, were not allowed to be enslaved, according to Islamic legal views. Initially, the Arab Muslims in Eastern and Central Europe took white slaves to sell them to Arabia, ….But the growing military power of Europe put an end to Islamic expansion and now that there was a shortage of slaves, Arab Muslims were looking massively to black Africa.”

https://www.dw.com/en/east-africas-forgotten-slave-trade/a-50126759

The African Slave Trade to Asia and the Indian Ocean Islands,

In: African and Asian Studies

Author: Robert Collins,

01 Jan 2006 Volume 5: Issue 3

Speaking about the ancient origins of African slavery;

https://brill.com/view/journals/aas/5/3/article-p325_4.xml?fbclid=IwAR0bCEvWxYhemcUv4wQkwttRFfoXmJcE7W4OI6iDiQI2yQfCEDVIrLRmJ2s

Unraveling Somalia: Race, Class, and the Legacy of Slavery

By Catherine Besteman, 1999, University of Pensylvania Press, On Somali Identity and racial prejudice.

SOME ASPECTS OF THE ARAB SLAVE TRADE FROM THE SUDAN 7th — 19th CENTURY, Yusuf Fadl Hasan

Chairman, Turkish Studies Unit, U. of K., 2000-(Founding) Vice-Chancellor, University of Sharjah, U.A.E, March 1997-February 1998.President (Vice-Chancellor), University of Khartoum, 1985-1990. President, Omdurman Islamic University, 1984-1985. Deputy Vice-Chancellor, U. of K., 1983-1984.Dean, Faculty of Arts, U. of K. 1975-1979.Director, Sudan Research Unit, U. of K., 1965-1072.Visiting Professor at the Universities of London, Qatar, Mecca, Riyadh, Tripoli, Cairo, Ahmadu Bello, Mousil, Bergen and Aden

Sudan Notes and Records

Vol. 58 (1977), pp. 85-106

https://www.jstor.org/stable/44947358?seq=1

Speaking to the origins of Islamic Slavery

Slavery and Slave Trades in the Indian Ocean and Arab Worlds: Global Connections and Disconnections…Straight, No Chaser: Slavery, Abolition,and the Modern Muslim Mind

Bernard K. Freamon, Professor of Law Emeritus on the Faculty of Law, Seton Hall Law.

http://www.yale.edu/glc/indian‐ocean/freamon.pdf

Speaking about the denial toward its history of slavery in the Islamic world.

Some general historical perspective on the Trans Saharan slave trade and the enslavement of Europeans. 8th and 9th century AD

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/atd-tcc-worldciv2/chapter/transsaharan-slave-trade/

“During the 8th and 9th centuries of the Fatimid Caliphate, most of the slaves were Europeans (called Saqaliba) captured along European coasts and during wars.[2] However, slaves were drawn from a wide variety of regions and included Mediterranean peoples, Persians, peoples from the Caucasus mountain regions (such as Georgia, Armenia and Circassia) and parts of Central Asia and Scandinavia, English, Dutch and Irish, Berbers from North Africa, and various other peoples of varied origins as well as those of African origins. Toward the 18th and 19th centuries, the flow of Zanj (Bantu) slaves from East Africa increased with the rise of the Oman sultanate, which was based in Zanzibar. They came into direct trade conflict and competition with Portuguese and other Europeans along the Swahili coast.[3] The North African Barbary states carried on piracy against European shipping and enslaved thousands of European Christians. They earned revenues from the ransoms charged; in many cases in Britain, village churches and communities would raise money for such ransoms. The government did not ransom its citizens.”

Gwyn Campbell

The International Journal of African Historical Studies

Vol. 22, No. 1 (1989), pp. 1-26

Published by: Boston University African Studies Center

https://www.jstor.org/stable/219222?seq=1

Speaking to the fact that the Islamic slave trade carried on without puase all during the period of the Atlantic slave trade and was in no way displaced by it. Here they are speaking about the early 19th century.

An article pointing to some of the implications of the Islamic slave trade on African women.

https://newafricanmagazine.com/16616/

“While in the European “New W o r ld ”, the measure of a man’s stature was mapped out and calibrated on the physical dimensions of empire built upon the sinews of forced masculine labour, in the Islamic Orient wealth was a reflection of prestige, young girls the vessel of male h u b r is , the mats of male pleasure ground, the malleable material to be shaped to the master’s will.

Thus, women slaves in the Arab world were often turned into concubines living in harems, and rarely as wives, their children becoming free. A large number of male slaves and young boys were castrated and turned into eunuchs who kept watch over the harems. Castration was a particularly brutal operation with a survival rate of only 10%.”

“The combined effect of all these factors,” says Duncan Clarke, “was a steady demand for slaves throughout the Islamic world, which had cover story to be met from wars, raids or purchases along the borders with non-Islamic regions. Although some of these slaves came from Russia, the Balkans and central Asia, the continuing expansion of Islamic regimes in sub-Saharan Africa made black Africans, the major source.”

A paper discusing the modern reality of Somalia for non Somali’s

Mohamed A. Eno, Dean at St Clements University Somalia; Associate Professor of African Studies and Senior Faculty & Researcher in the English Department, ADNOC Technical Institute, UAE.

Mohamed H. Ingiriis ,Graduate student at Goldsmiths, University of London

Omar A. Eno ;Adjunct Professor of African History and Director of the African Migration and Development Research Program at Portland State University, Oregon, USA

Discrimination and Prejudice in the Nucleus of African Society: Empirical Evidence from Somalia

“The long silence of Somali studies toward what relates to prejudice, subjugation, and discrimination against the oppressed Bantu people in the country will be discussed before the conclusion finally wraps up the study with suggestions and recommendations for further research

During post-independence era and despite the repeated praise of the civilian regimes for democratic ideals, the Bantu Jareer (like the outcast groups) were not allowed to field their own candidate for parliament, not to think of cabinet post which was exclusively for Somalis . Often, bureaucratic barricades were used to shut them out at party nomination level. “The state and the SYL party feared that if a Jareer were fielded it would be difficult to defeat him in numerical terms; so they had to formulate strategies to deprive him at preliminary stages by every possible means,” comments Macallin Dhaayoow of Bandhowoow area of Xamar Jab Jab in Mogadishu.

Muuse Mocoow explains an episode which reveals how it was easier to scapegoat on a Bantu than any other person. “We have had situations in which we had to pay for crimes committed by others,” explains Muuse, a Bantu Jareer construction supervisor based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. “My brother and my uncle were arrested for construction materials their boss had stolen from the construction project of his ministry in order to use it for the building of his personal house in Booli-Qaran. His high ranking police kin told him that if anyone could be implicated as the culprit, then he wouldn’t be taken to the National Security Court for stealing public property. Because as Bantu we did not have anyone to stand for our right, we became sacrificial lamb for the crime of every culprit from the ruling clans,” adds Muuse as he gets emotional with tears rolling down his face. “This is one of the reasons why many of us [Bantu] left Somalia because there are no Muslims. The law doesn’t protect us; the so-called revolution didn’t protect us; nothing protects us unless we are absent from the land. That is what we did.” Muuse concludes with these pitiful remarks: “We are here in Saudi Arabia, aged, and will probably die here. It is sad; but because of what has been happening in the country for the past 20 years, there is nothing to go back to. They (Somalis) became much wilder beasts. No human can associate with them.” The account given by Xuseen Juma Shongole reveals an exemplary case of how even the state provided not only a leeway to expropriation of the property of members of the Bantu Jareer community, but actually practically participated in the looting of the fertile farms adjacent to the rivers. According to Xuseen: We woke up one morning only to witness our livelihood including mature crops and thousands of fruit bearing trees bulldozed to the ground. There was a number of heavy machinery equipment because the government had decided to build a sugar factory in the neighborhood and saw it in its benefit to dislodge us from the area in order to establish an enormous sugarcane plantation to supply the factory. To add insult to injury, the staff of the project told us that we should stop ‘crying over land’ and be part of the ‘waged workforce’ that would be employed to work on our state-expropriated farms. That action told us that our livelihood was not important to the government and that the governor who was representing it was very cruel, arrogant and irresponsible.” In order to contribute to the argument related to the theory of heterogeneity of the Somali people rather than the untenable, old concept of homogeneity, we intend to highlight a distinct community that has been and still is the victims of persecution, prejudice and discrimination under the veil of the concept of egalitarian Somalia. The group is the Bantu Jareer ethnic community which, related to its African origin, is “permanently removed from the social boundary of Somaliness ” (Kusow 2004:)

Modern Islamic Slavery

Africa is one of the few places on earth where slavery still persists. In fact African countries were some of the last to actually make the practice illegal. Muslims are once again trading Jareer slaves in open air markets in Tripoli, Libya

“The footage released by CNN appears to show youths from Niger and other sub-Saharan countries being sold to buyers for about $400 (£300) at undisclosed locations in Libya…..These modern slavery practices must end and the African Union will use all the tools at its disposal,” Mr Conde said.”..

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-42038451

“Thirteen anti-slavery campaigners were sentenced for up to 15 years in prison in Mauritania last week, for their role in a protest aimed at denouncing the practice of slavery in the country. The government tribunal found members of the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA) guilty of various counts, including attacks against the government, armed assembly and membership of an unrecognized organization. Mauritania is the world’s last country to abolish slavery, and the country didn’t make slavery a crime until 2007. The practice reportedly affects up to 20% of the country’s 3.5 million population (pdf, p. 258), most of them from the Haratin ethnic group

For centuries, the black Haratins have been caught in a cycle of servitude enforced by the …..descendants of Arab Berbers.

https://qz.com/africa/763470/the-last-country-to-abolish-slavery-is-jailing-its-anti-slavery-

activists/

There Are 46 Million Slaves in the World — Here’s Where They’re Found

A chilling reminder from the Global Slavery Index.

Somalia remains 6th on the Global Slavery Index

An index measuring strength of response against slavery. Canada rates very high Somalia not so much.

Somalia is a failed state. I will not engage in argument here about why it persists in being so since its independence.

Somalia’s population has grown exponentially in the last 40 years despite having no viable economy or government. The country and the U.N. decry its lack of ability to support this level of population growth. Now while the countries of the west like Canada, which without immigration has a steady or declining population already, are exhorted to stop having children, yet no such admonition is given to the loyal followers of Islam.

https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/somalia-population/

While there is still slavery practiced by Somalis it just doesn’t bring in the big bucks like it used to. Many enterprising Somalis have turned to piracy on the high seas. Success has been mixed thanks in part to the Royal Canadian Navy.

youtube

They have thus far been unable to base their economy on piracy in the same way as slavery and it has made the country less than attractive as a port.

Somalis have also become enthusiastic about once again subjugating their African neighbors to Islam and one imagines this is providing some limited employment. This should be viewed as part of an unbroken thirteen cenutry push to impose the will of Alaah on their fellow human by any means.

From a BBC report

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-15336689

“It emerged as the radical youth wing of Somalia’s now-defunct Union of Islamic Courts, which controlled Mogadishu in 2006, before being forced out by Ethiopian forces.

There are numerous reports of foreign jihadists going to Somalia to help al-Shabab, from neighboring countries, as well as the US and Europe. It is banned as a terrorist group by both the US and the UK and is believed to have between 7,000 and 9,000 fighters. Al-Shabab advocates the Saudi-inspired Wahhabi version of Islam, while most Somalis are Sufis.

It has imposed a strict version of Sharia in areas under its control, including stoning to death women accused of adultery and amputating the hands of thieves.”

Al Shabab executed the passengers of a bus

Al-Shabab’ Somali Jihadists have been welcomed 2020 with lots of Jihad

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) Jan 18, 2020 — At least two people were killed and more than 20 others wounded when a suicide car bomber targeted a construction site along a highway outside Somalia’s capital, police said Saturday. Six Turkish nationals were among the wounded, with two in serious condition, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said. The Turkish construction workers appeared to be the bomber’s target, Somali police Col. Abdi Abdullahi said. Most of the casualties were police officers providing security for the Turkish workers constructing a highway between the capital, Mogadishu, and the agricultural town of Afgoye, 30 kilometers (18 miles) north of the city. The al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist group, based in Somalia, claimed responsibility for the attack, according to the the group’s radio arm, Andalus. Al-Shabab often carries out such attacks in and near Mogadishu. Turkey has invested heavily in Somalia, with technical and development assistance exceeding $1 billion, according to the Turkish government. Turkish companies run the international airport and seaport in Mogadishu, and in 2016 the Turkish president inaugurated Turkey’s largest embassy complex in the world there.”

https://www.keloland.com/news/national-world-news/at-least-2-killed-20-wounded-in-bombing-near-somali-capital/

NPR, December 28, 2019…A truck bomb in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, killed at least 79 people today. More than 100 were injured. It was the worst attack in the city in two years, and the country’s president has placed the blame on the Islamist group al-Shabab”

https://www.npr.org/2019/12/28/792088722/somalia-bombing-kills-at-least-79

Critical Threats Project 2019 assesment of Al-Shabab capabilities and intentions

https://www.criticalthreats.org/analysis/al-shabaab-area-of-operations-october-2018

“Al Shabaab holds territory surrounding the capital, Mogadishu, from which it coordinates complex attacks targeting the Somali Federal Government.[5] Increased counterterrorism pressure may have reduced the overall volume of attacks in Mogadishu, but the city is not yet secure.[6] Key al Shabaab sanctuaries persist in central Somalia, especially in Lower and Middle Shabelle regions, and in southern Somalia in Bay, Gedo, and Middle and Lower Jubba regions. Al Shabaab is able to project force from Somalia and safe havens along the eastern border with Kenya to attack Kenyan security forces and soft targets in Kenya’s Mandera, Wajir, Garissa, and Lamu counties.”

https://www.criticalthreats.org/analysis/al-shabaab-area-of-operations-october-2018

In closing I would set straight a couple of facts about Canada and slavery.

Slavery has been part of all human cultures. It is in the earliest records we have. Europeans were the first Empire in human history to have abolished it. Canada as a Nation State responsible for our own affairs was formed in 1887. Slavery was abolished throughout the British Empire in 1833. No human being has ever legally been brought into Canada as the possession of another human being. In fact the colony of lower Canada, now Ontario, and its Canadian political class with the avid support of its citizens were at the forefront of the abolitionist movement. In 1793 the Act to abolish slavery was passed in the Upper Canada legislature

John Graves Simcoe, Lieutenant Governor of the colony, had been a supporter of abolition before coming to Upper Canada; as a British Member of Parliament, he had described slavery as an offence against Christianity.[2][3] By 1792 the slave population in Upper Canada was not large. However, when compared with the number of free settlers, the number was not insignificant. In York (the present-day city of Toronto) there were 15 African-Canadians living, while in Quebec some 1000 slaves could be found. Furthermore, by the time the Act Against Slavery would be ratified, the number of slaves residing in Upper Canada had been significantly increased by the arrival of Loyalists refugees from the south who brought with them servants and slaves.[4]

At the inaugural meeting of the Executive Council of Upper Canada in March 1793, Simcoe heard from a witness the story of Chloe Cooley, a female slave who had been violently removed from Canada for sale in the United States. Simcoe’s desire to abolish slavery in Upper Canada was resisted by members of the Legislative Assembly who owned slaves, and therefore the resulting act was a compromise.[2] The bulk of the text is due to John White, the Attorney General of the day. Of the 16 members of the assembly, at least six owned slaves.[5]

The law, titled An Act to Prevent the further Introduction of Slaves and to limit the Term of Contracts for Servitude within this Province, stated that while all slaves in the province would remain enslaved until death, no new slaves could be brought into Upper Canada, and children born to female slaves after passage of the act would be freed at the age of 25.[6]

This law made Upper Canada “the first British colony to abolish slavery”.[5][7] The Act remained in force until 1833 when the British Parliament‘s Slavery Abolition Act abolished slavery in most parts of the British Empire.

Chief Justice of Upper Canada William Osgoode followed up 10 years later

“In 1803, Chief Justice William Osgoode placed on the law books the ruling that slavery was inconsistent with British law. Although this did not legally abolish slavery, 300 slaves were set free in Lower Canada (the future Quebec). Citizens who wanted to bargain in the slave trade had no protection from the courts. The decline of slavery took place in Upper Canada as well. The short growing season and cost of feeding and clothing slaves, along with abolitionist sentiment stirred by Simcoe, caused more and more slaves to be set free. Future lieutenant governors of Upper Canada, like Sir Peregrine Maitland, continued the humanitarian spirit of Simcoe and offered Black veterans grants of land. The desire to stamp out slavery in Upper and Lower Canada was so strong that an application from Washington, D.C. to allow American slave owners to follow fugitive slaves into British Territory was flatly denied. Judges who favored abolition were handing down more and more decisions against slave owners; as a result, when the British Imperial Act of 1833 abolished slavery throughout the British Empire, very few slaves remained in Upper and Lower Canada.

The decades after 1833 saw an increase in abolitionist sympathizers as the fugitive enslaved increased in number and found freedom in Canada. Anti-Slavery Societies also increased. George Brown, founder of the “Globe and Mail” newspaper, and Oliver Mowat, a future premier of the province of Ontario, joined the Toronto Anti-Slavery Society. At the first large and enthusiastic meeting at City Hall, it was resolved that “Slavery is an outrage to the laws of humanity and its continued practice demands the best exertions for its extinction.” The Society further declared that they would raise money to house, feed, and clothe the destitute travelers. Weeks and months spent making their way to freedom took a toll on the bodies and minds of the enslaved. Many died along the way. Still, thirty thousand (a conservative estimate) reached Canada between 1800 and 1860 according to the Anti-Slavery Society. Often upon reaching freedom, former slaves would kneel down, kiss the ground, and thank the good Lord that they were free, and then they would build churches for their spiritual growth and development, as well as that of future generations.”

http://www.pbs.org/black-culture/shows/list/underground-railroad/stories-freedom/abolition-slavery-canada/

By way of comparison Somali Sultan Yusuf Mahamud Ibrahim (1798 – 1848), the third Sultan of the House of Gobroon ruled Somalia. He was victorious during the Bardheere Jihad, which ended with the Baardheere Jamaaca being destroyed and the city of Baardheere being burnt to the ground. Somalia during his entire reign was shipping hundreds of thousands of chained Jareer Bantu slaves all over the Muslim world leaving the Sultan counting his gold.

Somalia remains today a dystopian failed state desoite sustained efforts of the African Union and International actors. Its failure is driven by deeply ingrained racism and clan rivalry. Somalia’s disintegration was not caused by its brief European colonial period. Unless you want to argue that ending slavery was the sole cause of its downfall. Somalia’s current state and any hope for its future lies soley in the hands of Somali’s. I truly do wish them the best.

The truth is that neither Axmed Xuseen and Illhan Ohmar, nor the brutal xenophobic Somali society they originate from have anything to teach anyone about tolerance or morality. Anything they know about pluralistic society they learned here in North America.

Axmed and Ilhan have been working a very deft con on all of us. They are not the descendants of slaves, they are descended from some of the most brutal slavers the world has ever known. Somalis are not in any way the victims of history. Somalis are among its most stubornly unrepentant perpetrators.

William Ray

Somalia; A Racist Islamic Slave Empire Authors note; As always follow the links and research on your own, believing random dudes on the internet is how we got here.

#Ahmed Hussein #Axmed Xuseen #Canada Politics #Ilhan Ohmar #Liberal Party of Canada #Mp Ahmed Hussein Canada #Politics #Somali #Somalia #Somalia Slavery

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oswald-hanciles-posts · 5 years ago

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THE OSWALD HANCILES COLUMN

The Big Lie Embedded in “Political Tribalism” (Part 1) Sierra Leone is a cauldron of Orwellian “Big Lie”. Like Americans would with turkey for their ritual “Thanksgiving” feasts, in the Conference of Berlin of 1884/1885, racist Europeans - who had enslaved Africans for about four hundred years - carved countries out of the African continent. They called this area I hold a passport for…. “Sierra Leone”. 134 years after, people in Sierra Leone call themselves “Sierra Leoneans”. Big Lie!! The seven million people who have lived in the 47,000 square mile area called “Sierra Leone” are NOT “Sierra Leoneans”. They are ‘Mende-ians’; ‘Temne-ians’; ‘Limba-ians’, etc. Another Big Lie over the past two centuries is that “Sierra Leoneans” have claimed they are “Christians” or “Muslims”. The Christianity and Islam in Sierra Leone is just a veneer. Christianity has become an excuse for the native effervescence and hedonism of people within Sierra Leone to be given spiritual license within churches. Islam for people in Sierra Leone is more of ritual, and more of hypocritical Islamic piety in the wearing of Arabic clothes; or, Muslims in rituals of killing of sheep during Islamic holidays. Very few of the creeds of Christianity or Islam have ever been practiced by Sierra Leoneans. That is another story. Today, I touch on the most dangerous Big Lie: what I dubbed in 2014 in many social media postings as “Political Tribalism” . Tribal War of Political Tribalism Political Tribalism in Sierra Leone has meant since 1964 the Mende-speaking people of the Southeast would fanatically support the SLPP; and the Temne-speaking people of the Northwest would inflexibly support the APC, or, political parties headed by Northern politicians (Thaimu Bangura of PDP; Dr. John Karefa-Smart of UNPP… in 1996). Blindly, wildly, the people in these two major political blocks would romp, sing, scream, sometimes, erupt into violence… even commit suicide… as they express their fanatical support for either the APC or SLPP. Another Big Lie is that presidential elections in Sierra Leone are democratic exercises. The truth is that democratic elections in Sierra Leone have always been subconscious CIVIL WARS between the Mende-speaking people and the Temne-speaking people. All over the world in the not-too-distant-past, at the end of civil wars, or, wars, the tribe that would win takes legitimate war booty from the enemy - gold and other precious things from the vanquished enemy; would rape their women; would enslave their men; would take over the enemy’s territory, and exact taxes from the enemy. In Sierra Leone, the tribe that wins the presidential elections knows it has won a civil war over the ‘enemy tribe’. They would take the best jobs in the public sector; they would allow their own tribe’s men to steal with impunity…. The business of good governance; of managing institutions … is merely to fool those foolish white people who meddle into Sierra Leone’s affairs.. Of course, another Big Lie is that those who get the best government jobs and steal huge sums of money from government’s coffers convince their own tribe/region that they are stealing on their behalf. Once the Southeastern-dominated-Mende-speaking SLPP is in power, the Mende-speaking political and bureaucratic elite who would comprise less than one percent of the populace would fool the majority Mende-speaking that they are stealing on behalf of Mende-speaking people. When the Northwestern-dominated-Temne-speaking APC would be in power, the few elite would convince the majority that they are stealing on behalf of Temne-speaking Northerners. So, it has been for almost sixty years; but over 98 percent of the Mende-speaking people and the Temne-speaking people have been getting poorer and poorer; and resource-rich Sierra Leone has some of the worst human development indicators in the world. Over the past one year, there have been a consistency and intensity by some of the avowedly Temne-speaking Northern-province APC elite against the Southeastern “Mende” of the SLPP – claiming they are fighting FOR “Northerners”. Could they get away with mobilizing mass support from the Temne-speaking masses? They could… According to the laws of the Mind; the precedence of the Big Lie becoming a fearful force if not checked. George Orwell’s book, “1984”, and the Big Lie If you have read George Orwell’s 1946-published book, “1984”, then you would understand the concept of the Big Lie; and you would better understand the SLPP and the APC as they have governed Sierra Leone. Orwell wrote about an atmosphere of deceit where "that which is truth is totally controlled by an authoritatively positioned ruling party”. The protagonist in Orwell’s “1984” thinks to himself thus: “The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears...And if all others accepted the lie which the Party impose…if all records told the same tale…then the lie passed into history and became truth. 'Who controls the past' ran the Party slogan, 'controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.' ….. “. In Sierra Leone, it is not only the party that holds the reins of the presidency that tries to control the narrative of the past and the present…; the opposition APC appears to be better at the game : as they talk and write about the “glorious years of the APC under Siaka Stevens….”. The historical fact is that the Siaka Steven years was the era of naked coercion of the populace, especially Southeasterners; and the institutionalization of stealing of government money. This is not meant for you to read and laugh. The Big Lie has proven to be highly toxic when used by diabolical forces in society. Take the case of Rwanda in 1994. The Big Lie and the Genocide in Rwanda in 1994 “In April 1994, when Rwanda erupted into violence, neighbor turned on neighbor, family turned on family, and love turned to hate. The Rwandan genocide turned friends into enemies. …800,000 people were brutally slaughtered in 100 days..”. (SOURCE https://www.worldvision.org/refugees-news-stories/1994-rwandan-genocide-facts) A lot of ethnic hate has been spewed especially in audio messages on social media accessed by mainly Sierra Leoneans over the past few months. Do we ignore these clearly hate speech? From a BBC NEWS analysis we learn: “….The genocide was sparked by the death of the Rwandan president, Juvenal Habyarimana, a Hutu, when his plane was shot down above Kigali airport on 6 April 1994….In Kigali, the presidential guard immediately initiated a campaign of retribution. Leaders of the political opposition were murdered, and almost immediately, the slaughter of Tutsis and moderate Hutus began…. The early organizers included military officials, politicians and businessmen, but soon many others joined in the mayhem…..Organized gangs of government soldiers and militias hacked their way through the Tutsi population with machetes, or blew them up in churches where they had taken refuge….Encouraged by the presidential guard and radio propaganda, an unofficial militia group called the ‘Interahamwe’ (meaning “Those who attack together”) was mobilized. At its peak, this group was 30,000-strong…”. (SOURCE: Rwanda: How the genocide happened; https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13431486). The current President of Rwanda, Paul Kigame, was blamed for the spark that caused the Rwanda genocide; that his rebel combatants sent a missile that hit the plane that led to the death of Rwandan president then, President Juvenal Habyarimana, a Hutu. Paul Kigame, a Tutsi (the minority ethnic group in Rwanda; with 85% of Tutsis murdered during the 1994 genocide), has denied that accusation, saying that Hutu extremists caused the plane crash so that they would have a pretext for their genocide against the Tutsis. There have been desperate attempts in recent months by some politicians to catalyze the ‘spark’ in Sierra Leone for violence; or, even, civil war. S Donald Trump epitomizes the Big Lie Stop fooling yourself that a Rwanda-1994 “will never happen in Sierra Leone”. “1984” happened; is happening… in the United States. Read the following excerpt by Robert Kuttner, a professor in Brandies University’s Heller School: “In 1984, we learned the official slogans of the party: ‘War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength,’ only slight parodies of communism and Nazism….. (United States’ president Donald) Trump has embellished this technique by lying, then accusing his critics of lying, until the debate is hopelessly scrambled….” A member of the reputable think tank in the US, “Demos”, Robert Kuttner, in his piece gives us a chilling reminder in history of one potent application of the Big Lie: “Adolf Hitler was the first to describe the technique of repeating a lie so often that people would come to believe it. He called it the ‘Big Lie’….Trump’s strategy is to flood the zone — to proliferate so many lies that by the time one lie is rebutted, he has put out several more, and he seems to believe even the lies that contradict previous lies. Ignorance really is Trump’s strength….” (SOURCE: George Orwell and the Power of a Well-Placed Lie; by Robert Kuttner, January 25, 2017; https://billmoyers.com/story/orwell-hitler-trump/). The savvy use of the Big Lie got Donald Trump elected President of the United States in 2016. Donald Trump, a Republican, had never been elected as a congressman; a senator; or a governor in the US before – and he beat Hillary Clinton, a Democrat, the wife of two-term president, Bill Clinton; a former senator; a former Secretary of State in the government of popular President Barrack Obama. Remember Sierra Leone’s Revolutionary United Front (RUF) leader, Foday Sankoh? At about the time Foday Sankoh ignited his war on Sierra Leone in 1991, he was a complete nonentity; almost unknown. In 1993, in the Lome Peace Agreement sanctioned by the most powerful countries in the world, including the United States, Foday Sankoh - after a almost a decade of scorched earth strategy of murder, maiming, rape, arson - was made “Equivalent to the Vice President”; and Chairman of the Strategic Minerals Commission, a position that made him in economic terms more powerful than President Tejan Kabbah. Lessons for the current President of Sierra Leone, Retired Brigadier Maada Bio? Never underestimate the Big Lie. Don’t think by disdaining the Big Lie it will go away. Know the power of ‘drip…drip…drip...’ of the Big Lie into the subconscious minds of people, especially when the majority of people in Sierra Leone are children and youth. There is an antidote…. I have it. Read me. TO BE CONTINUED. ☝🏾THE OSWALD HANCILES COLUMN, latest article. June 18, 2019

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consciousowl · 6 years ago

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Why Smart People Believe Conspiracy Theories

You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.

~ President Abraham Lincoln

Recently, I cultivated friendships with several people I both admire and genuinely like. They are intelligent, well-educated and spiritual. These are not all aging men in their 50’s who have nothing better to do. To the contrary, they lead busy, productive lives. What they have in common is a deep conviction about conspiracy theories. Things have gotten out of hand. We can no longer trust the media, our elected representatives, large corporations, financial institutions or even our religious leaders. There is a Deep State from which President Eisenhower once warned us, impervious to the political process, who are in no way accountable to the public. I wonder how they reached that conclusion. Certainly, one has to question the continuing wiki leaks, the revelations of Edward Snowden, President George W. Bush’ handling of 9/11 and President Obama’s persistent waging of undeclared wars, using drones to bomb women and children. Yet why give carte blanche to wild conspiracy theories that disempower us all? The bottom line is that smart people believe conspiracy theories because the mainstream media are no longer credible.

How Mainstream Media Inspire Conspiracy Theories

If you track the ownership of newspapers, TV stations and book publishers, you will find that, in the last couple decades, there has been a mass consolidation. Just think of Time Warner merging with Turner. Then the acquisition of both by AT&T. If you look at the major book publishers, they have multiple labels, each with their own editorial staff. We are only talking a half-dozen megacompanies. Supposedly, they all have autonomy. But will the editorial board release any book incriminating to their parent companies? Likewise, the TV networks and newspapers, mostly online. During the Gulf War, President George H. Bush sold the media on censorship to enable a rapid end to the War. I remember watching on CNN the same loop dropping smart bombs on Kuwait day after day. The war did soon come to an end, but self-censorship became the norm.

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How Alternative Media Fill the Conspiracy Gap

It used to be you would have a few wacky newspapers and magazines like the National Enquirer to entertain you. Nobody seemed to mind, as you didn’t see too many liable suits. Nobody really took those publications all that seriously. However, as the narrative of the broadcast media became increasingly repetitive, where journalists on one network did virtual lip synch with those of another, people began actively seeking other sources. With the emergence of Google, YouTube, Facebook and the various social networks, they didn’t have to look far. You could connect with people you didn’t even know and trade perspectives. Even though you usually had to give your real name, your contact information was under your control. You could echo and elaborate on the most fantastic stories, such as politicians and stars being modern day vampires with the blood of innocent children. You didn’t have to answer to an editor or producer. Facebook would throw you out only with the most flagrant abuses.

How Conspiracy Theories Get You Off the Hook

Conspiracy theories all share one thing in common, whether entailing shapeshifting aliens, the Deep State or the Super Rich (Less than one percent of us controls the wealth of at least 80% of humanity.). Someone, something or some group “out there” is doing you in. You didn’t ask for it. They concocted a malicious plot specifically to undermine you and your world.

Whenever you hear the question, “Who done it?”, or hear the statement, “THEY did ______ to _________,” you need to start asking questions. Isn’t it possible that “little old you” had something to do with it all? Did these public villains just spring out of nowhere to harass you? Do they have nothing better to do than make your life miserable? The more you agree with and entertain conspiracy theories, the less you need ever confront your own shadow. You can limit other people’s expectations of you by playing villain. If you can convince them to buy your theory, all the better. The last person to be suspect is you. After all, you came up with the theory, didn’t you?

How Far Out You Can Go with Conspiracy Theories

If you want to take a serious look at the possibilities, you may want to play the videos or read the books of David Icke, who has been at it several decades. Although David never finished high school, he is extremely bright and creative. With flashes of inspiration, he came up with the greatest synthesis of all. When you probe the Illuminati, and the endless reports of UFO’s, you can develop a Grand Conspiracy theory. Given the world is undergoing rapid change (just thinks of the impact of the Internet) every single institution in society is undergoing transformation: government, military, education, corporations and churches. You can look at this as a sustained collaboration toward a Satanic One World Government with mind control that makes George Orwell’s classic, 1984, look like child’s play. The President is in on it, the Pope, the Corporate Heads, the CIA and most certainly the Rothschild’s. Why try to fight it? The whole world is against you.

How to Take Back Your Power

As President Lincoln reminded us, you can’t fool ALL the people ALL the time. It is extremely difficult to pull off a conspiracy among even a handful of people. It becomes highly problematical when it is interagency, intergovernmental and interinstitutional. Somebody, somewhere is going to make a goof and blow the cover. You could step forward and demonstrate real courage. All these happenings occur within YOUR space. YOU are the one witnessing them. Not the guy or gal next to you. This is YOUR life. You just might have something to do with where you are. You could choose it the way it is, and then work from there. You could remember that you are inherently divine, that “He Who is within you is far greater than he who is in the world.” You have the power to wage love on the earth. That is what Buddha, Christ, Saint Francis, Gandhi and Martin Luther King were all about. You can choose to love your enemy until you literally have no more enemies. How to get started? It starts with the prayer of blessing. Since you are divine, you have the power to bless another. As you bless, they prosper, as you curse the wither. When you consistently bless the problem people in your life, even President Trump, or most especially, President Trump, your life and your world will undergo transformation. Only YOU can choose love over fear. We are all… all over the world, working for you, watching you become the hero and heroine you were meant to be.

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