#International Crimes Tribunal

[infocrazebyrepwoop]

Student Protest Killings to Be Tried in International Crimes Tribunal, Announces Govt

The interim government has announced that the killings during the recent student protests will be prosecuted in the International Crimes Tribunal. Investigations into these incidents will be conducted under the supervision of the United Nations, according to Professor Asif Nazrul, the interim government’s advisor on law, justice, and parliamentary affairs, who disclosed this at a press conference…

[news4dzhozhar]

So a handful of Republicans literally sent a letter to the ICC Prosecutor threatening the entire office AND their families if they (International Criminal Court) move forward with issuing arrest warrants for any member of Israel's government for war crimes. You know, cuz the US is the mafia now 🙄🤦 Considering the US and Israel are 2 countries who aren't members of the ICC (if that doesn't speak volumes) the warrants wouldn't be enforceable regardless but yah, let's make the US look like an even bigger pile of shit than they already do. If you dare try to prosecute war crimes...you've been warned (literally how the letter is worded). So embarrassed of this country that I'm at a loss for words. Just think for a minute what any sane, rational person would take from such a letter.

[dirjoh-blog]

The International Military Tribunal for the Far East-aka The Tokyo War Crimes Trial.

Most people will have heard of the Nuremberg Trials, but few have heard of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE), or Tokyo War Crimes Trial. The Nuremberg trials are often criticized because of the low number of convictions of Nazi War criminals. The conviction rate of International Military Tribunal for the Far East was even lower. Most surprisingly the Japanese Emperor,…

[nothoward]

I tried to investigate "war criminal" it seems to be trendy. What follows is my attempt to get a quick bullet point explanation across to you. Such a thing helps me learn, too.

Ask questions. Make observations. Draw your own conclusions. Thanks for giving this/me a chance:

• In 1919 at the Paris Peace Conference, an International Tribunal was proposed.

• In July 1998, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, was adopted by 120 United Nations members. Leaving 28 members.

• Crimes cited in the charter include:

Genocide

Crimes against humanity

War crimes

The crime of aggression

• Israel is not a signatory because of the inclusion of "the action of transferring population into occupied territory" within the definition of war crimes.

• The five other nations that failed to join in ratification are

China I admit to being confused here. It seems the PRC, need guarantees that the Statute cannot grant.

Libya similar to Qatar. At the time of ratification they had recently experienced a war funded on one side by the US and Russia on the other, giving them weak diplomatic footing.

Qatar seems to be the crabby neighbor of nations. They maintain a precarious uniform relationship with all (roughly) equally.

Russia signed in 2000. Withdrawn by Putin, 2016

US signed by Bill Clinton. Revoked by George W Bush.

https://nomadcapitalist.com/global-citizen/countries-arent-part-of-icc/

• 1 July 2002, the court became official.

• 11 March 2003 inaugural session.

• 8 July 2005 first arrest warrants.

• There may be people in the nonsignatory countries who would be eligible to be tried by the court. It is up to one of the participant countries to bring the subject to a signatory country, and at great diplomatic risk, charge the individual.

• Finally, any country may surrender a citizen to the court.

[saintkevorkian]

only the most myopic minds reading through blind eyes could find Lolita titillating (--the novel; no comment in re film I’ve never seen)

the plot summary on this page doesn’t mention Valeria at all, but that’s one of the most important pre-Ramsdale anecdotes; she’s ‘Humbert’s’ first wife who behaves like a small child & eventually leaves him for a Russian-macho cab driver whose diminution of her agency as an independent adult seems only fitting in light of her behaviour. To wit, the story of Dolores is preceded by a grotesque of adults playing at this ~lolicon dynamic. Their humiliating and contemptible end, as subjects in some collective where they’re to crawl about on hands and knees eating bananas, gives ‘Humbert’ a laugh from prison.

Q, the rival nonce, is only firmed up as a character in the scene of his own murder. He’s pissed as a drunken newt & very inelegant.

But perhaps these erotic readers are aspiring to abase themselves.

On the subject of grievous misreadings of this book, the only--but only--sexist portrayal in the entire novel is Rita. People insulted by judgements ‘Humbert’ makes about women’s looks ought probably to re-evaluate the circumstances in which they repose confidence in others’ opinions

[dougielombax]

The Hague has to have the most ominous and imposing name for a city I’ve ever seen.

It sounds like some forerunner trilogy shit.

“He will be taken to face trial in The Hague, and brought to justice for his crimes.”

You get the idea.

YOU ARE GOING TO THE HAGUE!

*Don Giovanni Overture reprise intensifies*

[recursive360]

Chilling Realities of War

“The Third Geneva Convention, relative to the treatment of prisoners of war, is one of the four treaties of the Geneva Conventions.”

It states, “...Non-combatants, members of armed forces who have laid down their arms, and combatants who are hors de combat (out of the fight) due to wounds, detention, or any other cause shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, including prohibition of outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment. The passing of sentences must also be pronounced by a regularly constituted court, affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognised as indispensable by civilised peoples...”

Third Geneva Convention, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Third_Geneva_Convention&oldid=1143308126 (last visited Mar. 8, 2023).

Slava Ukraini!

[qqueenofhades]

I would like to... gently shake the people going 'Dick Cheney/Alberto Gonzalez/[insert neoconservative architect here] endorsing Harris is entirely and only a bad look for Harris' because that's not the point. And like, I get feeling weird about it (I've been unimpressed with Dick's backpedaling since Liz Cheney got primaried), but: Trump is proving too extreme for THE PEOPLE WHO MADE HIM POSSIBLE. This is their consequences. THAT'S the point.

Look, this is what I think about it: I fucking hate Dick Cheney and all the architects of the Bush Junior neoconservatism-early-aughts-War-on-Terror-Patriot-Act-No-Child-Left-Behinding Republican Party that laid the groundwork for the Tea Party and then for Trump. If there was any justice in the world, Dubya would be at the Hague for a war crimes tribunal and not allowed to sit in Texas painting dogs and enjoying a quiet retirement. But he was fortunate to be the president of the most powerful country in the world, and America doesn't obey international law unless it feels like it, so that's what we get. (And yes, someone asked Dubya if he was going to endorse in 2024, following Cheney, and was told, no doubt with much pious handwringing, that "President Bush retired from presidential politics many years ago." But he's still raising money for MAGA Senate candidates in Pennsylvania, evidently. Fuck you, George W. Bush. Kids these days don't say it enough.)

However, since literally the entire pre-Trump establishment Republican party is now deciding that Trump is too insane, fascist, and dangerous even for them, I'm not surprised but still annoyed that Online Leftist Logic (TM) has translated that to "Harris must secretly be an early-noughties hard-right neocon Republican and that's why they want to vote for her!!!" Most if not all of them have said that they openly disagree with her policies but are voting for her anyway because she is the only way to maintain American constitutional democracy. And yes, we're all shocked that DICK FUCKING CHENEY, architect of the Iraq War and the Patriot Act, felt that there was in fact a line of fascist government overreach that he wasn't willing to cross, but if that's the case -- if even these completely terrible warmongering corporate assholes are like "uh Trump is too bad even for us to support," then you should, I don't know, maybe listen to that. But as ever, I search for logic in vain.

Likewise: Harris has made zero policy concessions to these Republicans and she never went fishing for Cheney's endorsement specifically. She didn't suddenly declare Iraq a totally okay and normal thing in order to get Cheney and his warhawks on board, and yes, Old Dickhead probably has no small amount of personal motive to get back at Trump considering what he did to Liz. But that's the thing where apparently political motives should only ever be pure, moral, and Perfect, and taking the right action for the "wrong" reasons is still disqualifying because you weren't thinking enough pure moral thoughts while you did it, or something. I don't give a fuck why Cheney decided to vote for Harris, because I don't respect his opinion and can't foresee myself ever doing so. But because we are in an unprecedented historical moment where even DICK GODDAMN CHENEY thinks that Donald Trump is too dangerous to ever have power again, I will thank him for doing that and that alone and then tell him to hit the f'n road if he thinks he deserves a scrap of credit or Democratic policy concessions for it. He doesn't. He sucks. But he's still making a choice that we need to see made at this moment, and people who don't get that, as usual, can STFU.

Basically: Cheney's endorsement is not directed at you, and it's not intended to move voters who already fit your profile and therefore think, like I do, that Cheney can eat shit. It's directed to all the career-Republican-politician types who can see him doing that and decide that they can do the same thing. Hell, we just had 17 former staffers of Ronald Reagan announcing their Harris endorsement (in addition to the 200+ Bush, McCain, Romney alumni who already signed on and all the ex-Trump officials at the DNC) and going so far as to insist that Ol' Ronnie Raygun himself would have supported Harris. Now look. I hate Ronald Reagan more than any other twentieth-century president. The degree to which he ALSO laid the groundwork for incredible damage to America cannot be overstated. But because I am not an idiot, I can see that this does not mean Harris has suddenly turned into Reagan in her policies. So. Yeah.

The other thing to note here is that Harris has seen the advantage in cultivating a bipartisan coalition and making a cross-party case for voting her to preserve American democracy. Now, a lot of the Republicans have said that they are going to stay Republicans and they want to purge their party of Trump and MAGAism, they are trying to buy time for that transition to happen by voting for Harris, and while I have never voted for or agreed with a Republican in my whole life, I actually think that's a good thing! I don't WANT to fear the end of American democracy every four years because the Republican Party has become a screaming shitgibboning insane vehicle of American Gilead while inciting stochastic terrorism against Springfield, Ohio and everyone else who doesn't bow down to Trumpist Dear Leader and his KKK alt-right Elon Muskified supporters! I don't WANT this howling fascist conspiracy-theory-puppet-of-Vladimir-Putin black hole of violence to be just what we have to accept as the center-right (except you know, now far-far-far-far-can't-see-it-with-a-telescope-right) party in America! I would prefer it if we had a functioning democracy again where both parties were engaging in fair competitiveness and good faith and had the basic premise of making people's lives better, even if they disagreed about how to do it! I would REALLY like it if we could go back to the days of disagreeing about taxes and foreign policy and social welfare -- you know, NORMAL THINGS -- instead of Commander Vance and the Project 2025 foot soldiers trying to install a theocratic fascist dictatorship! I WOULD LIKE THAT A WHOLE LOT!

That said: I have pretty much reached my limit with asking people to vote. I have done it for 8+ years (since before Trump was elected the first time) and I'm done. Either you know the stakes of this election at this point, or you're so blindly and stupidly committed to misunderstanding them that there's nothing I or anyone else can possibly do to convince you. I still see people posting a lot of stuff from the bad-faith anti-democratic leftist cranks and arguing with them endlessly and... why? Why? Why are you giving them the oxygen and exposure that they crave, and which is giving them more attention than anyone else is giving them? Block them. Mute them. STOP ENGAGING WITH EVERYTHING THEY SAY EVEN IF YOU'RE TRYING TO REFUTE IT. It's not going to work, and at this point, it's not remotely conducive to winning this election. The Great Myth of the Undecided Voter (TM) is another one that, I hope, can finally bite the dust, and the actual undecided voters who are out there are not the ones posting dirtbag leftist bullshit about Harris on The Website Formerly Known as Twitter. This election is now completely down to a numbers game: who can make their identified voters turn out to vote. So please. Spend your time and energy on reaching those folks, who might want to or have said they will vote but need a push or extra help to make sure they do.

That being the case, if lifelong Republicans want to vote for Harris and help defeat a Trump dictatorship, they're actually being more helpful for the cause of American democracy than every single shrieking Online Leftist out there, and maybe they should think about that. I'm amused at how they still think they can make demands of the Democrats, because -- when your entire plan from the word go has been "I'm not voting for the Democrats and there's nothing you can do to make me!!!" -- why are you surprised that they don't take your thoughts and opinions into account? That's the basic simplest Democracy 101 version of how electoral politics works. If you have removed yourself from their voter pool and laugh and scoff at any suggestion that you should enter it, then they're not gonna listen to you or think that they should make policy to appease you (which is good, because most of these people are fucking nuts). That's why they're blowing a gasket disowning AOC, still one of the most left-wing members in the House, because she wants to actually win and make real changes in society and has reached a happy-ish marriage with the Democratic party, instead of virtuously losing her seat and becoming irrelevant like some other members of the Squad who got primaried out this year. And the Democrats have accepted many of AOC's views as mainstream policy! She didn't change, but she stayed in the party and worked with it, and the party as a whole is moving to where she was all along. But because any hint of compromise or working to get results, rather than just posting self-righteous screeds on the internet, is Bad, she had to go, I guess. Or something.

Anyway. That's the that on that. If you want to win this election, target and talk to the people who have already identified themselves as likely or possible voters, they just need that extra push to become definite voters. I'm over the anti-democratic hypocritical leftist cranks as much as I am the screaming shitgibboning racist-mob-inciting fascists. If it takes some Republicans gritting their teeth and getting on board the "let's save American democracy" boat with me, then fine. They're actually willing to do the smallest tiny thing to make that outcome come about, and that means, for right now, they are the enemy of my enemy and I'll accept their help. After that, I would in fact like it if we had a sane center-right party again, once Trump is in jail and we can fumigate the MAGA rot. It's up to them.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

An international tribunal will investigate missing children and unmarked graves associated with Canada's residential school system, including public sessions in Montreal in 2026.

The Native Women's Shelter of Montreal, in partnership with Amnistie internationale Canada francophone (AICF), will host the Permanent Peoples' Tribunal. 

Na'kuset, executive director at the Native Women's Shelter, said the organization is spearheading the effort to demand accountability for alleged crimes committed against Indigenous children at residential schools. The theme of the tribunal will be Âcimowin, which is a nêhiyawêwin (Plains Cree language) word meaning "true story" or "an account." 

"It's an opportunity for us to show the world exactly what happened," she said. [...]

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @newsfromstolenland, @vague-humanoid

[news4dzhozhar]

[odinsblog]

“More than four months ago, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court asked me to assist him with evaluating evidence of suspected war crimes and crimes against humanity in Israel and Gaza. I agreed and joined a panel of international legal experts to undertake this task. Together we have engaged in an extensive process of evidence review and legal analysis including at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

The Panel and its academic advisers are experts in international law, including international humanitarian law and international criminal law. Two Panel members are appointed as expert ‘Special Advisers’ by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. Two Panel members are former judges at criminal tribunals in The Hague.

Despite our diverse personal backgrounds, our legal findings are unanimous. We have unanimously determined that the Court has jurisdiction over crimes committed in Palestine and by Palestinian nationals. We unanimously conclude that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity, including hostage-taking, murder and crimes of sexual violence. We unanimously conclude that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity including starvation as a method of warfare, murder, persecution and extermination.

I served on this Panel because I believe in the rule of law and the need to protect civilian lives. The law that protects civilians in war was developed more than 100 years ago and it applies in every country in the world regardless of the reasons for a conflict. As a human rights lawyer, I will never accept that one child’s life has less value than another’s. I do not accept that any conflict should be beyond the reach of the law, nor that any perpetrator should be above the law. So I support the historic step that the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has taken to bring justice to victims of atrocities in Israel and Palestine.

Today, my colleagues and I have published an oped and a detailed legal report of the Panel’s findings. My approach is not to provide a running commentary of my work but to let the work speak for itself. I hope that witnesses will cooperate with the ongoing investigation. And I hope that justice will prevail in a region that has already suffered too much.”

—AMAL CLOONEY, Barrister and Co-Founder of the Clooney Foundation for Justice

[radfem-vex]

I've revotalized a version of the (Radical) Feminist Sisterhood Flag originally made by Diana Russell!

OG flag by Diana

Dr Diana EH Russell, PhD, (November 1938 to July 2020) was a feminist writer and activist from Cape Town, South Africa. She was an anti-apartheidist, women's rights, and human rights activist.

She was a triple alumni who attended University of Cape Town, London School of Economics, and Harvard University.

She organized (along with other feminists) the first International Tribunal on Crimes Against Women, which was held in Brussels, Belgium.

She was anti-porn, anti-sex trade (or anti rape-economy), and properly defined femicide as the killing of human females because they are female. There is so much more about her to learn, I recommend dianarussell.com

Attention bilingual people:

Diana Russell really wanted her message of global sisterhood to be spread to as many feminists as possible. The uniting and collective organizing of women is how we secure more rights and begin to structurally reorder society towards female liberation. Diana's message unfortunately is only available in English so if you can reblog with a translation of the following, I'm sure Diana's spirit would much appreciate it.

Dear Visitors and Supporters, I'm convinced that the wide distribution of this feminist flag would help to bring attention to feminist actions, and to facilitate international feminist solidarity, thereby empowering our struggle to combat misogyny and sexism in all its oppressive and discriminatory forms. I regret that the words can only be in one language; but I have seen no good alternative to this limitation. I'm searching for a fabulous feminist organizer with the vision, energy, time and motivation to take on the important job of marketing this beautiful feminist flag. If you're interested in helping with this project, please contact me via my contact page. Thank you! —————— 2020 NOTE: Diana has passed away so she can no longer work on this project that was very important to her. But she would definitely want other feminists to take up the cause of creating a feminist flag, either using her flag design (please credit her if you use it), or another design. So please feel free to do so! Thank you! ❤️

In my contribution, I've created a high quality rendition of Diana's initial global sisterhood flag with essentially more vibrancy. I've also created a version that contains the radical feminist symbol I've created.

1.

This is definitely my favourite out of the set. Image ID on alt text.

2.

3.

4.

[reality-detective]

Military Intel & Covert Ops: Celebrities, The Judges/Olu Unit, Gitmo, Diego Garcia, Pine Gap, Naval Base Guam, White House & FISA Declassification

The hidden world of military intelligence and covert ops with elite units like The Judges/Olu, Gitmo, Diego Garcia, Pine Gap, and Naval Base Guam is about to unravel. The White House and FISA Declassification hold the key to exposing the secrets that have been shielded for far too long. What’s coming next will shake the very foundations of power.

We stand on the brink of DECLAS, where FISA documents are declassified, and the secrets of the elite are laid bare. The web of deceit and manipulation that has controlled the halls of government for years is on the verge of collapse. The Judges/Olu Military Unit in collaboration with US Forces is orchestrating a covert operation, shaping a new narrative that promises civil order, but at what cost?

At the heart of it all lies the Trump Administration and the secret locations—Diego Garcia, Pine Gap, Guam, and even beneath Washington, D.C. The whispers are growing: Gitmo is overflowing with prisoners of high stature, while hidden underground facilities prepare for something monumental. The political tension is mounting, and a storm is brewing.

As Trump’s era fades, a military government is stepping in, rewriting the rules of engagement. The Judges/Olu and US forces are shaping a grand narrative aimed at transforming society. But who’s pulling the strings behind this shift? Is this retaliation for the years of slander by the liberal elite? We may soon find out.

But the plot thickens. The final stage—FISA Declassification—promises to unleash a storm that no one is prepared for. Every signatory tied to FISA warrants is under investigation. The Steele dossier will be exposed for the fraud it was, and the dominoes will fall, taking down the deep state operatives who manipulated the system.

The global implications are staggering, with UK, Australia, and key international players embroiled in the surveillance operations. The truth will ignite diplomatic chaos, as alliances tremble in the face of this coming revelation.

It all leads to this moment: the specter of treason. Mainstream media won’t tell you, but they know Trump’s return is on the horizon, and they know what’s coming with him: vengeance. The storm is here. “The Plan” is unfolding, and soon, traitors will face justice.

The US Space Force (USSF) has been quietly capturing deep state operations since 2019. The global cabal, their data, their power, all documented, all ready to be exposed. The SCARE EVENT set to erupt in 2024 will send shockwaves through the entire system.

The countdown is ticking, and the world braces for what’s next. FISA will expose the corruption, the lies, and the crimes that have been hidden in plain sight. No one is safe. The question is, are you ready for what’s coming? The storm is real, and the truth is inevitable. Get ready. Be Prepared.

If you have been doing your homework... When Trump came into office, the military more than doubled the size of Gitmo and military tribunals began around the end of 2017 early 2018. The swamp was deep, it takes time to round up over one million people for their arrest. The last I heard there were over 400,000 pending indictments and what is about to happen is near. 🤔

[pannaginip]

Since 2021, such attacks have been documented by human rights groups, who stressed that these put marginalized communities in danger. As such, Karapatan said these incidents constitute a clear violation of international humanitarian law (IHL).

From 2021 to 2024, Karapatan documented 9,163 individuals or about 1,953 families who were affected by aerial bombing and indiscriminate strafing in the province of Cagayan. Human rights groups attribute these attacks to the Philippine Air Force.

During this time, a total of 17 incidents were recorded in Cagayan: 11 bombings and strafing, 2 bombardment, and 4 strafing attacks. Six occurred under the Duterte administration while 11 happened during the Marcos Jr. administration. This is part of the 13 regions in the Philippines subjected to aerial bombings where Karapatan documented 378,203 victims.

“One of the emblematic cases under the Duterte administration was the bombing of Marawi City, when the President declared martial law in Mindanao on May 23, 2017 that lasted until December 31, 2019.“ said Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay.

In the first year of Marcos Jr., there were 6,931 victims of bombings documented as part of the government’s counterinsurgency campaign, Karapatan said.

In May, an international people’s tribunal issued a guilty verdict to Marcos Jr. and the US government for violating the international humanitarian law.

In the initial verdict furnished to the media, the five-member jurors of the [International Peoples Tribunal or] IPT revisited the US government’s role in the counterinsurgency program that allowed such war crimes to happen, saying that the “heavy bombardment and forced displacement of communities, and the killing of civilians and hors de combat of state forces would not have been possible without the direction, arms, and training provided by the US government.

2024 Aug. 12

[mostlysignssomeportents]

When parties fail, movements step up

This Saturday (19 Aug), I'm appearing at the San Diego Union-Tribune Festival of Books. I'm on a 2:30PM panel called "Return From Retirement," followed by a signing:

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/festivalofbooks

Does anyone like the American two party system? The parties are opaque, private organizations, weak institutions that are prone to capture and corruption, and gerrymandering's "safe seats" means that the real election often takes place in the party's smoke-filled rooms, when a sure-thing candidate is selected:

https://doctorow.medium.com/weak-institutions-a26a20927b27

But there doesn't seem to be any way to fix it. For one thing, the two parties are in charge of any reform, and they're in no hurry to put themselves out of business. It's effectively impossible for a third party to gain any serious power in the USA, and that's by design. After the leftist Populists party came within a spitting distance of power in the 1890s, the Dems and Repubs got together and cooked the system, banning fusion voting and erecting other structural barriers.

The Nader and Perot campaigns were doomed from the outset, in other words. Either candidate could have been far more popular than the D and R on the ballot, and they still would have lost. It's how the deck is stacked, and to unstack it, reformers would need to take charge of at least one – and probably both – of the parties.

But that's not cause for surrender – it's a call to action. In an interview with Seymour Hersh, Thomas Frank (Listen, Liberal) sets out another locus of power, one with the potential to deliver control over the party to its base: social movements:

https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/ordinary-people-by-the-millions

It's been done before. The parties are routinely transformed by power-shifts within their internal coalitions: since 1970, corporate Dems have consistently pushed the party to the right, making it the power of white-collar professionals and relying on working people showing up and marking their ballots with a D because they have "nowhere else to go."

Bill Clinton was the most successful of these corporate raiders, delivering the parts of the Reagan Revolution that Reagan himself could never have managed: dismantling tariffs and bank regulations, passing the crime bill and welfare "reform." He came within a whisper of (partially) privatizing Social Security.

This set in motion the forces that made Trumpism possible: when Dems told deindustrialized workers to "learn to code" and blamed them for the destruction of their communities, it opened a space for Make America Great Again, the (empty) workerist rhetoric of the GOP. The Dems' plan of putting "really smart people" in charge and letting them run things was a (predictable) disaster. "Really smart" isn't the same as "infallible" and really smart people can be spooked or bulled into doing the wrong thing – like Obama "foaming the runways" for the banks with the houses of mortgage holders, and leaving the bankers responsible for the Great Financial Crisis unscathed:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/15/mon-dieu-les-guillotines/#ceci-nes-pas-une-bailout

"Really smart people" can't get us out of this mess. Instead, we need the kind of muscular political action – the "whirlwind" – that characterized FDR's New Deal: "complete reformation of the banking industry.. just about every other industry as well. Regulation. Social Security. Public works. Antitrust. Soil conservation."

FDR got there by alienating his former classmates and refusing the go-slow entreaties of his cronies. He got there because there was a mass social movement that made him do it ("I want to do it, now make me do it"):

https://humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2014/09/16/i-agree-with-you-i-want-to-do-it-now-make-me-do-it/

Every time in US history where one of the political party duopoly listened to its base, it was because of a mass social movement: the farmers' movement (1890s), labor (1930s), civil rights and antiwar (1960s). As Frank says:

Social movements succeed. They build and they change the intellectual climate and then, when the crisis comes, they make possible things like agrarian reform or the New Deal or the Civil Rights acts of the 1960s.

Today, we see the seeds of those social movements: the new union movement. Black Lives Matter. Neobrandeisians with their "hipster antitrust." These are the movements that are creating "ideas lying around": ideas that, in time of crisis, can move from the fringe to the center in an eyeblink:

https://doctorow.medium.com/ideas-lying-around-33a28901a7ae

They are setting in motion another transformation of the Democratic Party, from its top-down, "really smart people" model to a bottom-up, people-powered one, kept in check by movements, not party bosses. As Frank says, "They require the mass participation of ordinary people. Without that, I am afraid that nothing is possible."

I'm kickstarting the audiobook for "The Internet Con: How To Seize the Means of Computation," a Big Tech disassembly manual to disenshittify the web and make a new, good internet to succeed the old, good internet. It's a DRM-free book, which means Audible won't carry it, so this crowdfunder is essential. Back now to get the audio, Verso hardcover and ebook:

http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/17/popular-front-of-judea/#speaking-frankly

[cavalierzee]

Hold Them Accountable

Incitement to commit acts of violence, especially in the context of armed conflict, can be considered a violation of international law, including international humanitarian law (IHL) and human rights law. Incitement to genocide and war crimes are severe offences under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and may be investigated and prosecuted.

Furthermore, encouraging or inciting the use of weapons against civilians or non-combatants is a violation of the Geneva Conventions and customary international humanitarian law.

Politicians or military leaders who incite war crimes can be held accountable under the principle of command responsibility.

During World War II, Nazi leaders who incited violence and genocide through propaganda were held accountable at the Nuremberg Trials.

Rwanda Genocide: Politicians and media figures who incited violence during the Rwandan Genocide were prosecuted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).

Why not hold Nikki Haley responsible, Isaac Herzog, Mike Pence and Chris Evans?

By Elijah J Magnier