#Policy and Resources Committee

[johnbrace]

Policy and Resources Committee (Wirral Council) 12th July 2023 Part 3 of 3

[wausaupilot]

Fired for posting on Facebook? Wausau considers new social media guidelines for employees

A new social media policy under discussion this week prohibits city employees from posting statements on social media that could "compromise public confidence" in Wausau, a rule that - if violated - could result in termination.

By Shereen Siewert | Wausau Pilot & Review A new social media policy under discussion this week prohibits city employees from posting statements on social media that could “compromise public confidence” in Wausau, a rule that – if violated – could result in termination. The proposed social media policy is one of several items on the Human Resources agenda for Monday and applies to written and…

[txttletale]

Hi! Do you think you could link me to some resources about the problems/ evils of the EU? Would love to find some but it's hard to know what's reliable when I have no base knowledge in this area + you seem very well informed :)

sure. let's start with what the EU does to its own member states--in 2009, the EU bailed the greek government out of severe debt on the condition that they establish brutal austerity measures, cutting public spending and welfare. these measures served to immiserate and destroy the lives of thousands of greek people:

Greek mortality has worsened significantly since the beginning of the century. In 2000, the death rate per 100,000 people was 944.5. By 2016, it had risen to 1174.9, with most of the increase taking place from 2010 onwards.

[forbes]

Since the implementation of the austerity programme, Greece has reduced its ratio of health-care expenditure to GDP to one of the lowest within the EU, with 50% less public hospital funding in 2015 than in 2009. This reduction has left hospitals with a deficit in basic supplies, while consumers are challenged by transient drug shortages.

[the lancet]

The homeless population is thought to have grown by 25 per cent since 2009, now numbering 20,000 people.

[oxfam]

the most brutal treatment, however, the EU of course reserves for migrants from the global south. the EU sets strict migration quotas and uses its member states as weapons against desperate people fleeing across the mediterranean. boats are prevented from landing, migrants that do make it to land are repelled with brutal violence, and refugees are deported back to countries where their lives are in lethal danger. these policies have led to many, many deaths--and the refugees and migrants who do survive are treating fucking inhumanely.

After a perilous journey across the desert, Abdulaziz was locked up in Triq al-Sikka, a grim prison in Tripoli, Libya. Why? Because the EU pays Libyan militias millions of euros to detain anyone deemed a possible migrant to Europe [...] A leaked EU internal memorandum in 2020 acknowledged that capturing migrants was now “a profitable business model” [...] in Triq al-Sikka and other detention centres, “acts of murder, enslavement, torture, rape and other inhumane acts are committed against migrants”, observed a damning UN report.

[the guardian]

Volunteers have logged more than 27,000 deaths by drowning since 1993, often hundreds at a time when large ships capsize. These account for nearly 80% of all the entries.

[the guardian]

Refugees and asylum seekers were punched, slapped, beaten with truncheons, weapons, sticks or branches, by police or border guards who often removed their ID tags or badges, the committee said in its annual report. People on the move were subject to pushbacks, expulsion from European states, either by land or sea, without having asylum claims heard. Victims were also subject to “inhuman and degrading treatment”, such as having bullets fired close to their bodies while they lay on the ground, being pushed into rivers, sometimes with hands tied, or being forced to walk barefoot or even naked across a border.

[the guardian]

In September, Greece opened a refugee camp on the island of Samos that has been described as prison-like. The €38m (£32m) facility for 3,000 asylum seekers has military-grade fencing and CCTV to track people’s movements. Access is controlled by fingerprint, turnstiles and X-rays. A private security company and 50 uniformed officers monitor the camp. It is the first of five that Greece has planned; two more opened in November.

[the guardian]

i could go on. i could cite dozens more similarly brutal news stories about horrific mistreatment, or any of the dozens of people who have killed themselves in the custody of border police under horrific conditions. the EU is a murderous institution that does not care about the lives of refugees and migrants or about the lives of the citizens of any member state that is not pursuing a vicious enough neoliberal political program

[communistkenobi]

I love finding new communists blogs because you immediately have to scroll through all the posts to see if you wanna follow them or block them lmao. Anyway from what I understand you work in western academia to some degree and as a student taking some classes in the social sciences it’s such a pain in the ass trying to even bring up a Marxist perspective. How do you deal with how much pushback socialism has in academia?

I’m doing a PhD in sociology ! And please feel free to block me, we are all annoying etc 

I would say that resistance to socialist ideas is a major source of frustration for me in academia - a learning curve for me has been gearing my writing & research to work around that type of institutional hostility. It depends on the discipline as well. Given that Marx is such a titanic figure in sociology I find it easier to engage with his work openly (although you will be mocked for it lol - it’s viewed as a dead-end project in the West since the USSR collapsed), whereas more history- or politics-based courses I’ve taken have been extremely hostile to even tepid Marxist analysis. I have friends to vent to and have found other people in my discipline who are like-minded, which has helped. You will need to do a lot of tactical retreats - I’ve found that tying your analysis to state policy helps a lot, it helps you get grants, and academics trade in policy-talk across disciplines so it will prepare you for that if you want to stay in academia.

I have also been making peace with the fact that academia is not really the place to “do” socialism - it is a deeply political job, and my ideological commitments motivate me to do work and research that I hope are beneficial to the world, but I think the authority and privileges afforded to academics, not academia itself, is the better avenue to conduct political activity - participating in student & left-wing actions, giving money and resources to activist groups, using your prestigious position to publicly speak on issues, sign important documents for vulnerable people (profs are counted as authorities to sign off on name change documents for trans people in Canada for example, as well as visa and citizenship proof I believe?), things like that. There was that Canadian doctor, Dr. Yipeng Ge, who was suspended from his university position for speaking out against Israel and went to Palestine on a medical mission, Engels used his family’s money to fund Marx & socialist actions, Lenin went to law school, etc (i am NOT remotely comparing myself to any of them to be clear lol, just demonstrating that there is historical precedent for this way of thinking). I’ve done a decent amount of union + community work and the reoccurring lesson I keep learning is that there are many little, vacant positions of power sprinkled throughout the world that will help you organize and agitate above and beyond your individual capabilities. And the right wing knows this! They take over local school board committees and town halls and run for office in their local neighbourhoods all the time, often unopposed, and use that to exert terrible political influence.

I try very much to resist the “one of the good ones” mindset re: my own career in academia and is one I struggle with pretty often. being pragmatic about what academic research actually does in the world is still something I’m grappling with. Academia has provided me with an incredibly prestigious education and a lot of social capital that I hope to use for some amount of good. I’m also betting on what is essentially a lottery ticket, given how rare tenure-track university positions are, so maybe all of this will be irrelevant anyway lol. I’m not sure if that’s helpful but it’s not a settled issue for me either, so if this reads as vague or wishy-washy that’s why!

[covidsafecosplay]

The People’s CDC COVID-19 Weather Report: October 14, 2024

The People's CDC has released another updated report on COVID-19 data and action items for the United States of America.

Highlights:

According to data last updated 10/5/2024, the CDC’s national wastewater map shows 16 states with “High” or “Very High” wastewater levels.

According to the Wastewater COVID-19 National and Regional Trends dashboard, all regions continue to show a downward trend over the last several weeks.

Many Bay Area counties are set to reimplement mask mandates in hospitals from November 1 through Spring 2025. Some of the rules apply to only certain healthcare staff while others include visitors and patients. Though these mandates are limited in scope, duration, and geography, a few are expanded compared to last year’s Bay Area mask rules, a sign that pressure on decision makers is working. 

In the past week, the California Department of Public Health reported that 6 new cases of bird flu (H5N1) were confirmed in dairy workers in California, with each case being connected to contact with infected cattle in California’s Central Valley. While there is yet no documented human-to-human transmission, each new case presents a greater risk of the virus mutating to spread from human to human.

The Texas State Affairs Committee posted notice of a hearing at the Capitol on October 16 to discuss, among other things, “Unmasking Protestors.” Opposition is mounting, and people are organizing.

Read the rest of the report here:

Please note that the CovidSafeCosplay blog and its admin are unaffiliated with the People's CDC or its management, and are simply sharing the resource.

Via the People's CDC About page:

The People’s CDC is a coalition of public health practitioners, scientists, healthcare workers, educators, advocates and people from all walks of life working to reduce the harmful impacts of COVID-19.  We provide guidance and policy recommendations to governments and the public on COVID-19, disseminating evidence-based updates that are grounded in equity, public health principles, and the latest scientific literature. Working alongside community organizations, we are building collective power and centering equity as we work together to end the pandemic. The People’s CDC is volunteer-run and independent of partisan political and corporate interests and includes anonymous local health department and other government employees. The People’s CDC is completely volunteer run with infrastructure support being provided by the People’s Science Network

[fatehbaz]

when the Empire's researchers realized that the cause of the ecological devastation was the Empire:

much to consider.

on the motives and origins of some forms of imperial "environmentalism".

---

Since the material resources of colonies were vital to the metropolitan centers of empire, some of the earliest conservation practices were established outside of Europe [but established for the purpose of protecting the natural resources desired by metropolitan Europe]. [...] [T]ropical island colonies were crucial laboratories of empire, as garden incubators for the transplantation of peoples [slaves, laborers] and plants [cash crops] and for generating the European revival of Edenic discourse. Eighteenth-century environmentalism derived from colonial island contexts in which limited space and an ideological model of utopia contributed to new models of conservation [...]. [T]ropical island colonies were at the vanguard of establishing forest reserves and environmental legislation [...]. These forest reserves, like those established in New England and South Africa, did not necessarily represent "an atavistic interest in preserving the 'natural' [...]" but rather a "more manipulative and power-conscious interest in constructing a new landscape by planting trees [in monoculture or otherwise modified plantations] [...]."

Text by: Elizabeth DeLoughrey and George B. Handley. "Introduction: Toward an Aesthetics of the Earth". Postcolonial Ecologies: Literatures of the Environment, edited by DeLoughrey and Handley. 2011. [Text within brackets added by me for clarity and context.]

---

British colonial forestry was arguably one of the most extensive imperial frameworks of scientific natural resource management anywhere [...]. [T]he roots of conservation [...] lay in the role played by scientific communities in the colonial periphery [...]. In India, [...] in 1805 [...] the court of directors of the East India Company sent a dispatch enquiring [...] [about] the Royal Navy [and its potential use of wood from Malabar's forests] [...]. This enquiry led to the appointment of a forest committee which reported that extensive deforestation had taken place and recommended the protection of the Malabar forests on grounds that they were valuable property. [...] [T]o step up the extraction of teak to augment the strength of the Royal Navy [...] [b]etween 1806 and 1823, the forests of Malabar were protected by means of this monopoly [...]. The history of British colonial forestry, however, took a decisive turn in the post-1860 period [...]. Following the revolt of 1857, the government of India sought to pursue active interventionist policies [...]. Experts were deployed as 'scientific soldiers' and new agencies established. [...] The paradigm [...] was articulated explicitly in the first conference [Empire Forestry Conference] by R.S. Troup, a former Indian forest service officer and then the professor of forestry at Oxford. Troup began by sketching a linear model of the development of human relationship with forests, arguing that the human-forest interaction in civilized societies usually went through three distinct phases - destruction, conservation, and economic management. Conservation was a ‘wise and necessary measure’ but it was ‘only a stage towards the problem of how best to utilise the forest resources of the empire’. The ultimate ideal was economic management, [...] to exploit 'to the full [...]' and provide regular supplies [...] to industry.

Text by: Ravi Rajan. "Modernizing Nature: Tropical Forestry and the Contested Legacy of British Colonial Eco-Development, 1800-2000". Oxford Historical Monographs series, Oxford University Press. January 2006.

---

It is no accident that the earliest writers to comment specifically on rapid environmental change in the context of empires were scientists who were themselves often actors in the process of colonially stimulated environmental change. [...] [N]atural philosophers [...] in Bermuda, [...] in Barbados and [...] on St Helena [all British colonies] were all already well aware of characteristically high rates of soil erosion and deforestation in the colonial tropics [...]. On St Helena and Bermuda this early conservationism led, by 1715, to the gazetting of the first colonial forest reserves and forest protection laws. On French colonial Mauritius [...], Poivre and Philibert Commerson framed pioneering forest conservation [...] in the 1760s. In India William Roxburgh [and] Edward Balfour [...] ([...] Scottish medical scientists) wrote alarmist narratives relating [to] deforestation [...]. East India Company scientists [...] [including] Roxburgh [...] went on to further observe the incidence of global drought events [...]. The writings of Edward Balfour and Hugh Cleghorn in the late 1840s in particular illustrate the extent of the permeation of a global environmental consciousness [...]. [T]he 1860s [were] a period [...] which embodies a convergence of thinking about ecological change on a world scale [...]. It was in the particular circumstances of environmental change at the colonial periphery that what we would now term "environmentalism" first made itself felt [...]. Victorian texts such as [...] Ribbentrop's Forestry in the British Empire, Brown's Hydrology of South Africa, Cleghorn's Forests and Gardens of South India [...] were [...] vital to the onset of environmentalism [...]. This fear grew steadily in the wake of colonial expansion [...] particularly [...] after the great Indian famines of 1876 [...].

Text by: Richard Grove and Vinita Damodaran. "Imperialism, Intellectual Networks, and Environmental Change: Origins and Evolution of Global Environmental History, 1676-2000: Part I". Economic and Political Weekly Vol. 41, No. 41. 14 October 2006

---

The “planetary consciousness” produced by this systemizing of nature [in eighteenth-century European science] […] increased the mobility of paradise discourse [...]. As European colonial expansion accelerated, the homogenizing transformation of people, economy and nature which it catalyzed also gave rise to a myth of lost paradise, which served as a register […] for obliterated cultures, peoples, and environments [devastated by that same European colonization], and as a measure of the rapid ecological changes, frequently deforestation and desiccation, generated by colonizing capital. On one hand, this myth served to suppress dissent by submerging it in melancholy, but on the other, it promoted the emergence of an imperialist environmental critique which would motivate the later establishment of colonial botanical gardens, potential Edens in which nature could be re-made. However, the subversive potential of the “green” critique voiced through the myth of endangered paradise was defused by the extent to which growing environmental sensibilities enabled imperialism to function more efficiently by appropriating botanical knowledge and indigenous conservation methods, thus continuing to serve the purposes of European capital.

Text by: Sharae Deckard. Paradise Discourse, Imperialism, and Globalization: Exploiting Eden. 2010.

[feminismisstillahatemovement]

WASHINGTON — The FBI source who reported President Biden’s alleged role in a bribery scheme said that a Ukrainian businessman claimed to keep as “insurance” 15 audio recordings of first son Hunter Biden and two of Joe Biden, a Republican senator revealed Monday.

Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) made the staggering claim in a Senate floor speech after FBI Director Christopher Wray last week allowed House Oversight Committee members to see a redacted informant file about the claim that Hunter and then-Vice President Joe Biden received $5 million apiece to serve the interests of Burisma Holdings owner Mykola Zlochevsky.

“Congress still lacks a full and complete picture with respect to what that document really says. That’s why it’s important that the document be made public without unnecessary redactions for the American people to see,” said Grassley, accusing the bureau of needlessly redacting information about the recordings from the file shared with House lawmakers.

“Let me assist for purposes of transparency,” the 89-year-old went on. “The 1023 [form] produced to that House committee redacted reference that the foreign national who allegedly bribed Joe and Hunter Biden allegedly has audio recordings of his conversations with them. Seventeen total recordings.

“According to the 1023, the foreign national possesses 15 audio recordings of phone calls between him and Hunter Biden,” Grassley continued. “According to the 1023, the foreign national possesses two audio recordings of phone calls between him and then-Vice President Joe Biden. These recordings were allegedly kept as a sort of insurance policy for the foreign national in case he got into a tight spot. The 1023 also indicates that then-Vice President Joe Biden may have been involved in Burisma employing Hunter Biden.”

The senator concluded: “So, as I’ve repeatedly asked since going public with the existence of the 1023, what, if anything, has the Justice Department and FBI done to investigate? The Justice Department and FBI must show their work. They no longer deserve the benefit of the doubt.”

Grassley learned of the informant file this year from a whistleblower and told House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.), who issued a subpoena to the FBI. The informant is a longtime paid FBI source.

Grassley said the FBI’s alleged disinterest in the Biden bribery allegation contrasts with its treatment of former President Donald Trump, who on Tuesday will become the first former president arraigned on federal charges for allegedly mishandling classified information after he left office.

“It’s clear that the Justice Department and FBI will use every resource to investigate candidate Trump, President Trump and former President Trump,” Grassley said. “Based on the facts known to Congress and the public, it’s clear that the Justice Department and FBI haven’t nearly had the same laser focus on the Biden family.”

Hunter Biden earned up to $1 million per year from 2014 to 2019 to serve on the board of Burisma, despite having no relevant energy industry experience.

Then-VP Joe Biden met with a Burisma executive at a DC dinner in April 2015, which featured in The Post’s explosive first report on Hunter’s abandoned laptop.

As vice president, Joe Biden also allegedly pushed US support for Ukraine’s natural gas industry during a trip to Kyiv just days after Hunter quietly joined Burisma in April 2014.

(Text source: New York Post)

[foreverlogical]

How is this changed if the actions taken by Musk caused the deaths of soldiers in the alliance America is part of? And how is this changed if after having calls with Vladimir Putin, Musk starts advocating publicly for Ukrainian surrender? And what if he is making money off this? 

And what do we do with the reports that Musk privately acknowledged that he was “in” the Russia-Ukraine War—but not, per the evidence we currently have, on the same side as America?

Is there some reason the House GOP is scared to investigate this? Or DOJ? What am I missing here? 

How is all this inflected by the data confirming Musk complies with the demands of hostile foreign governments at a far higher rate than his Twitter predecessors did? And how is that inflected by the fact that his Twitter coowners are autocratic Saudi butchers allied with Russia? 

And in the midst of all this he comes out publicly and tells 150 million followers to vote Republican? At a time we know both the Russians and the Saudis have secretly interfered in American elections on behalf of the Republicans? And then he starts making all sorts of changes... 

...to what is more or less a public utility (even if it is privately owned) that benefit hostile foreign governments, agents of hostile foreign governments, American disinformation agents operating as “useful idiots” for hostile foreign governments, and anti-American Kremlinists? 

And as I recall, didn’t he at one point threaten to stop providing resources to the American government that he’d previously provided *while* he was simultaneously advocating for a Ukrainian surrender following multiple phone calls with Vladimir Putin? Like—that seems really bad? 

Again, I’m not an expert in this, but I’m asking at what point Musk runs afoul of FARA? Or the Logan Act? Or something rather more serious that relates to military conflicts in which the United States is involved? All of this seems really serious to me and everyone’s ignoring it. 

America just went through an eight-year period in which a narcissistic sociopathic far-right White male billionaire colluded with Russia and the Saudis to interfere in our elections and advance illegal Russian adventurism. Is it just me or is the exact same thing happening again? 

(PS) Obviously I’m leaving a ton of things out here, e.g. the fact that Musk, like Trump, has repeatedly been accused of fraud, or that Kremlin policy inside the U.S. is to foment racial and religious divisions to weaken America... and Musk has been doing exactly that on Twitter. 

(PS2) Are we sure we’re not in the middle of a national security situation here? Is it wrong to think the Senate Intel Committee should be holding hearings to find out what Musk has been doing secretly with the Russians—and whether or how it’s connected to Twitter and the Saudis? 

(PS3) If Elon Musk will do the bidding of Vladimir Putin in terms of disabling Ukrainian military equipment and proposing that Ukraine surrender a good portion of its land area to Putin and his war criminals, what *else* is he doing at the bidding of the Kremlin or Saudi royals? 

(PS4) When we see Musk simultaneously pushing the “Ban the ADL” hashtag even as hostile foreign agents intending to cause chaos in the U.S. are doing the same thing, and we know who Musk is holding secret calls with... uh, isn’t that all super concerning from a NatSec standpoint? 

(PS5) And not for nothing, but many of you will remember the major media report I just posted in which Musk confesses that he wants to “take over the world’s financial system.”

Uh, for whom? Will he seek to benefit Russia and Saudi Arabia and harm the United States in that, too? 

(PS6) Remember how Trump led with racism and antisemitism and other forms of ethnic and religious bigotry that caused *chaos* in the United States, only for us to learn he was in cahoots with Russia and the Saudis?

Does that not feel... familiar, now?

I have some concerns here. 

(PS7) I’ve never claimed to be an expert in these particular areas, which are a subspecialization within federal criminal practice that very rarely comes into play. But I certainly—as a citizen and voter—am wondering why the *hell* we’re not having congressional hearings on this? 

(PS8) There’s no question whatsoever that Congress has an obligation to exercise its oversight responsibilities very aggressively here—as if I’m understanding correctly Elon Musk has a defense contract. The revelations in the new book about him are therefore very f*cking serious. 

(PS9) And remember how Trump always accuses others of what he has just done or is about to do? Just as concerns that Musk could be doing the bidding of hostile foreign nations arise, he starts threatening to sue others for “controlled speech.” We have seen this playbook before...

(PS10) I would think the FBI, DOJ, FTC, FCC, NSA, SEC and *many* others would want to be all over this situation right now. Instead we are getting radio silence. Or, not radio silence, but Musk and his allies pushing racial and religious division inside the U.S. on a daily basis. 

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this press release from the Department of the Interior:

The Department of the Interior’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Parks Canada, Environment and Climate Change Canada and Mexico's Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources recently signed a new agreement to strengthen cooperation and coordination for the conservation of the American bison across its range in North America. Through a Letter of Intent, the countries will work to pursue bison conservation, restore ecological processes, and support traditional human use of natural resources with a particular focus on the unique historical connection between bison and Indigenous peoples.  

This Letter of Intent was worked on at the recent Canada/Mexico/United States Trilateral Committee for Wildlife and Ecosystem Conservation and Management held in San Diego, California and outlines additional collaboration across national borders towards the United States, Mexico and Canada’s shared goal of domestic bison conservation. The Trilateral Committee began in 1996 as a pioneering initiative among the three countries to align efforts safeguarding North America’s wildlife and ecosystems. The committee’s Species of Concern Working Table brings together state, federal and Tribal resource managers and non-governmental organizations to share their expertise and coordinate conservation of species that span the continent.   

The recently signed Letter of Intent outlines the various ways that the three North American nations will work together, including by:  

Improving collaboration on regional activities to promote policies, practices and effective methods in support of the ecocultural conservation of bison; 

Promoting joint work plans within the Trilateral Committee’s Species of Common Conservation Concern working table; 

Fostering transparency about the technical information that is developed jointly; and 

Streamlining reporting on activities conducted under the Letter of Intent with the Executive Table of the Trilateral Committee for its review.

These international efforts will continue to build on the Interior Department’s domestic bison restoration efforts, including the Grasslands Keystone Initiative. In 2023, Secretary Haaland issued a Secretary's Order and announced a $25 million investment to empower the Department’s bureaus and partners to use the best available science and Indigenous Knowledge to help restore bison across the country. The Order formally established a Bison Working Group (BWG) composed of representation from the five bureaus with bison equities: the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, and U.S. Geological Survey. The BWG is developing a Bison Shared Stewardship Plan, which will establish a comprehensive framework for American bison restoration, including strengthening long-term bison conservation partnerships. Central to the development of that plan will be robust engagement with Tribes, including prioritizing Tribally led opportunities to establish new large herds owned or managed by Tribes and Tribally led organizations.   

The American bison once thrived across the largest original distribution of any native large herbivore in North America, ranging from desert grasslands in northern regions of Mexico to interior Alaska. After North America’s European settlement, bison populations were reduced from an estimated 60 to 80 million to a mere 1,000 animals. These surviving bison were saved from extinction and became the founders of several protected populations that put the species on a path of recovery and conservation.  

Today, bison remain absent from nearly 99 percent of their historic range. Most of the bison in North America are in herds that are constrained by fences, isolated from each other, and have fewer than 1,000 individuals, raising concerns about their genetic integrity, wildness and long-term viability of the species.   

Approximately 31,000 bison are currently being stewarded by the United States, Canada and Mexico with the goal of conserving the species and their role in the function of native grassland systems, as well as their place in Indigenous culture.  

[probablyasocialecologist]

Hundreds of lawyers and legal organisations have signed an open letter calling on the US authorities to protect the rights of Americans to criticise Israel’s assault on Gaza. “Elected officials have irresponsibly accused protesters for Palestinian rights of antisemitism and support for terrorism, and called for the mobilization of law enforcement resources to police them, contributing to racist fear-mongering. This portends a dangerous reignition of ‘war on terror’ policies that led to extreme state repression and constitutional rights violations against Arab, Muslim and other communities of color,” the letter says. “The hundreds of incidents happening across the country signal a much broader effort to criminalize dissent, justify censorship and incite anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab and anti-Muslim harassment, doxing, and vigilantism against Palestinians and their allies.” On Friday, the US Senate unanimously passed a resolution condemning “anti-Israel, pro-Hamas student groups” after demonstrations on university campuses, some of which included antisemitic language and chants praising the Hamas attack. But many others have been in solidarity with Palestinian civilians under Israeli bombardment in Gaza. The ADC [American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee] condemned the resolution as a “blatant attempt to silence, demonize, and criminalize legitimate criticism and dissent surrounding Israel’s occupation and war on Gaza”. “By conflating criticism of Israel with support for Hamas and antisemitism, this resolution threatens the very fabric of freedom of speech in American institutions of higher learning,” it said. “This resolution is not only misleading but eerily reminiscent of the McCarthy-era and post-9/11 tactics designed to suppress differing opinions and stifle discourse.”

[johnbrace]

Policy and Resources Committee (Wirral Council) 12th July 2023 Part 2 of...

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Morgan Stephens at Daily Kos:

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is making it clear that her state will not be part of Donald Trump’s mass deportation plan. In an interview with Newsweek on Friday, she vowed to stand firm against the president-elect's proposals, aligning with other Democratic state leaders who are determined to block efforts to send the National Guard to carry out mass deportations of undocumented immigrants. [...] Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes has referred to Trump’s proposed migrant camps as “concentration camps.” She is also concerned that mass deportations could violate due process, or the constitutional mandate that government officials follow proper legal procedures before depriving an individual of life, liberty, or property, according to the National Constitution Center.

“The problem with that is it leads to abuses,” Mayes said of Trump’s mass deportation plans, and argued that Trump should instead focus on “violent cartel members” inside the U.S. On Tuesday, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker also vowed to resist incoming border czar Tom Homan's threatened deportations, saying he and Trump don't have the authority to proceed with mass deportations.  "We have laws that protect undocumented immigrants, and we're going to follow the law. I'm concerned that the Trump administration and his lackeys aren't," Pritzker said at a press conference. However, He did note some exceptions, though.  "Violent criminals who are undocumented and convicted of violent crime should be deported," Pritzker said. "I do not want them in my state. I don't think they should be in the United States."  Chicago will be the first place targeted for deporting undocumented migrants after Trump is sworn in, according to Homan. Pritzker publicly vowed to protect Illinois residents last month at a press conference. 

Remember Pritzker saying, “You come for my people, you come through me” in the days after the election? Later, he helped spearhead an organization called Governors Safeguarding Democracy, joining with fellow Democrats readying their fight by sharing information and resources.  The incoming Trump administration has also set its sights on California. But the border state, a longtime Trump target, is pushing back against his planned deportations. On Tuesday, Sen. Alex Padilla criticized them as “extremist” during a Judiciary Committee hearing.  [...] As Daily Kos reported last month, Democratic governors have a handful of options to push back against mass deportations, including executive order authority directing states not to intervene. But sheriffs can go outside this sort of sanctuary-city jurisdiction. As governors and other local leaders join together to oppose mass deportations, it’s becoming apparent that states will be the de facto battleground for shaping U.S. immigration policy. 

Happy to see some statewide-level Democrats, including Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, have plans to fight the cruel mass deportation policies by the Trump-Miller-Homan trifecta of evil.

[mariacallous]

This summer, the Supreme Court is poised to overturn a cornerstone of administrative law known as "Chevron deference." Established in the 1984 case Chevron v. NRDC, this doctrine instructs courts to defer to federal agencies' interpretations of laws where the underlying statute is ambiguous (or even silent). Absent Chevron, Congress could be forced to be much more specific in how it crafts legislation, delegates authority, and conducts regulatory oversight. If it refuses to adapt, agencies could be incapacitated and service delivery could stall.

Ironically, the effort to dismantle Chevron and return responsibility to the legislative branch may happen amid a historically unproductive and divided Congress. Briefing and oral arguments for Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, the case challenging the 1984 decision, raised questions about Congress' preparedness. And outside the Court, commentators fear Congress may be too broken to fix.

As close watchers of efforts to modernize Congress over the past decade, we don't share that pessimism. But a lot will have to change. In the 40 years since Chevron was decided, Congress has seen worsening dysfunction and atrophy. Staffing on House committees has shrunk by 41 percent. Critical support offices like the Congressional Research Service and the Government Accountability Office have downsized by more than 25 percent. Meanwhile, the complexity of the federal bureaucracy has increased immensely.

While Chevron is often described as diminishing congressional authority, that's not entirely accurate. Rather than stealing authority from Congress, the ruling created the political conditions for Congress to be deliberately ambiguous, and punt contentious policy details to the executive branch. This change was then followed by a hollowing out of committee expertise, increased dependence on lobbyists, centralization of power in leadership, and more gridlock. As attorney Paul Clement argued in Loper Bright v. Raimondo:

Chevron is a big factor in contributing to gridlock. And let me give you a concrete example. I would think that the uniquely 21st-century phenomenon of cryptocurrency would have been addressed by Congress, and I certainly would have thought that would have been true in the wake of the FTX debacle. But it hasn't happened. Why hasn't it happened? Because there's an agency head out there that thinks that he already has the authority to address this uniquely 21st-century problem with a couple of statutes passed in the 1930s.

A post-Chevron world could force Congress to increase its internal capacity, invest in expertise, overhaul its processes, better monitor implementation, and respond more quickly. If not, depending where SCOTUS comes down, things could start to break.

Massive institutional reforms in Congress are rare and usually come in response to a crisis or scandal, whether post-Nixon budget changes, post-Jack Abramoff lobbying reform, or post-9/11 security changes (including the embrace of email after Anthrax attacks).

More recently, we saw continuity upgrades accelerated during the pandemic, and Congress is now responding with remarkable haste to responsibly adopt AI tools. Since 2019, a bipartisan modernization effort in the House has produced and implemented over 100 reforms, creating a virtuous cycle in which members, staff, and outside experts work together to improve the institution.

Post-Chevron, these efforts need to be dramatically expanded. This will require not just incremental adjustments but a comprehensive upgrade in resources, staffing, and operations. It will require a major increase to the legislative branch's budget even as the U.S. faces a difficult fiscal outlook. Indeed, while Congress is a mere 0.1 percent of federal expenditures, it has long been a salient and politically expedient place for politicians to make cuts.

One key area where Congress will need to improve is its regulatory monitoring and oversight. AEI scholars Kevin Kosar and Philip Wallach proposed a vehicle for this change: a new "Congressional Regulation Office" (CRO). The CRO would undertake critical tasks such as conducting benefit-cost analyses of significant agency rules, performing retrospective reviews to assess the effectiveness and impact of existing regulations, and identifying redundancies or conflicts across the regulatory landscape. Another approach would be to build this function inside of an existing agency, such as the Government Accountability Office or the Congressional Budget Office.

In addition to building a new regulatory support function, Congress will need to bolster its staff capacity and technology resources, with a particular focus on committees with substantial regulatory jurisdiction, as well as support agencies.

Unfortunately, to date, we are unaware of any major hearings or other efforts in Congress to address this challenge. Meanwhile, court watchers see that an upheaval to Chevron is coming. Regardless of where you come down on the merits of the case, it's crucial to get ready. While most will be focused on the November election throughout 2024, some of the biggest changes coming to Congress may soon be decided by nine votes.

[covid-safer-hotties]

Drs. Ziyad Al-Aly, Akiko Iwasaki and Eric Topol, along with other acclaimed researchers, have issued a position statement on Long COVID published yesterday in the journal Nature Medicine. This document provides a much-needed perspective on the continued dangers posed by the “forever COVID” policy enshrined in official public health policies.

This important review comes on the heels of the recent publication in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) of a reference frame for the chronic disease. It was developed by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) Committee on Examining the Working Definition for Long COVID.

The 2024 NASEM Long COVID definition is: “Long COVID is an infection-associated chronic condition that occurs after SARS-CoV-2 infection and is present for at least 3 months as a continuous, relapsing and remitting, or progressive disease state that affects one or more organ systems.”

Most importantly, previous documentation of a COVID infection is not required for the diagnosis. The NASEM report explains: “By now, most persons worldwide have had at least one episode of acute SARS-CoV-2 infection. A requirement for proof of diagnosis could wrongly exclude many patients …”

This closer approximation to a scientific definition of long COVID is an important step towards educating the public and issuing a call for action to address the viral assault on the global population.

The authors of the study, published in Nature Medicine, should be commended for giving urgency to an issue that Dr. Al-Aly has rightly called “the elephant in the room.” Yet as sincere as these appeals may be to take Long COVID seriously, they will not convince the bourgeois authorities who have already dismissed warnings about the acute stage of COVID-19.

The complex multisystem disorder that can affect nearly every organ system after a COVID infection spares no one across the age spectrum. It appears that even fetuses in utero are at increased risk of respiratory ailments if the mother was infected during pregnancy.

Considering our rapidly developing comprehension of the long-term health consequences of COVID, thanks to the exemplary work being done by these scientists, the policy of mass infection demanded by the financial oligarchy assumes an even more sinister and deranged character.

The “cardinal” symptoms of Long COVID include brain fog and memory changes, fatigue, rapid sudden onset of heart rate, significant sleep disturbances, and immense sense of discomfort and illness after exerting oneself. There are no cures and, worse, no diagnostic tools that can tell someone they have Long COVID. Only recently have healthcare workers and researchers begun to identify treatments for Long COVID, but there is an absence of randomized trials to guide these decisions.

The authors note, “Care for people with Long COVID varies widely across settings and practitioners. It is often challenged by lack of widespread recognition and understanding of Long COVID among medical professionals, constrained resources and competing demands on healthcare systems still recovering from the shock of the pandemic, lack of standardized care pathways, lack of definitive diagnostic and treatment tools, and a general pervasive pandemic fatigue with an urge to ‘move on.’” The last point is a byproduct of the impact of forcing the population to accept COVID as a permanent fixture of society.

On top of the horrific impact it has on an individual person, on a social scale, mass Long COVID leads to loss of productivity, disruption in the workplace and increased risk of occupational-related injury or fatalities. Cognitive impairment, even after mild infections, is common, and there can be dire consequences for workers in occupations where the slightest error or inattention can be devastating: truck drivers, electricians, airline pilots, first responders and more. To say nothing of the impact on the wider community.

The report makes reference to the 2022 US Brookings Institute estimates on the figure of 2 million to 4 million US adults who were out of work because of Long COVID. Add to this the Minneapolis US Federal Reserve Bank report from July 2022, finding that people with Long COVID had a 10 percent poorer chance of being employed, and when they were, worked 25 to 50 percent less than uninfected individuals.

On a global scale, the authors wrote, “On the basis of all the available data, a conservative estimate of the annual global economic toll of Long COVID could be around $1 trillion, amounting to 1% of the 2024 global GDP.” Other estimates are even higher: An economic study from 2022 placed the cost of Long COVID at $3.7 trillion, or $11,000 per capita for the US alone, amounting to 17 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP).

Most compelling in the Al-Aly et al. review was their assessment of the global cumulative incidence of Long COVID, which until now had been opaque.

Basing their estimates on meta-regression studies that pooled all the available evidence, they estimated that figure for the first four years of the pandemic at 409 million cases of Long COVID. The authors remarked, “It is crucial to emphasize that these estimates only represent cases arising from symptomatic infections and are likely to be conservative. The actual incidence of Long COVID, including cases from asymptomatic infections or those with a broader range of symptoms, is expected to be higher.”

By comparison, among the most common ailments afflicting the world’s population, heart and circulatory issues, affect around 620 million. This means that in only four years, Long COVID, as a disease, has risen nearly to the top of the global list. Furthermore, Long COVID, as a multi-organ disease process, will only exacerbate noncommunicable and communicable diseases that arise in the future.

Placing these figures into context, this week, based on wastewater data, infection modelers estimate that COVID infections have once again climbed above 1 million cases per day, a staggering figure, to which the CDC is completely indifferent. COVID modeler Dr. Mike Hoerger of the Pandemic Mitigation Collaborative, in a social media discussion with this writer, said that presently, on average, every American has been infected between three or four times.

In a rare show of concern, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that COVID-19 was spreading across the globe, with positivity rates in Europe above 20 percent. In opening their August 6, 2024, news report on COVID, they warned, “The UN health agency is also concerned that more severe variants of the coronavirus may soon be on the horizon.”

The European continent is swimming in a river of infection, like the unfortunate Olympic athletes sickened by swimming in the polluted Seine. And as we have already noted, the Olympics themselves have been a superspreader event.

Knowing that reinfections, more severe disease, and remaining unvaccinated, all raise the risk of Long COVID, one can only watch the current wave of infections with alarm. These will be given further fuel as schools and universities begin to open their doors later this month. Furthermore, global COVID vaccinations have essentially come to a halt. Long COVID is the long tail of the ongoing pandemic that has no end.

Unique in the report by Dr. Al-Aly and colleagues is the raising of social issues affecting the global impact of Long COVID. In support of the UN Foundation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), they raise the need to end poverty and hunger, improve access to health, provide quality education, improve working conditions and reduce inequalities. They also call for funding to support coordinated interdisciplinary research on Long COVID on a global footing.

The recognition of the social issues that need to be addressed is an important insight. However, the appeal to existing public health institutions and political processes to heed their warnings will not bear any fruit.

First and foremost, the “forever COVID” policy is not a misguided public health construct. It is a calculated and coordinated approach to ensure pandemic threats would not impede the unfettered accumulation of surplus value off the backs of the working class. If the sick and infirm fall by the wayside, these social losses are seen as financial gains by the class that seeks to extract from the working class every minute of their potential labor power and avoid the cost of their “lingering on.”

In this regard, Senator Bernie Sanders’ introduction of legislation titled the “Long COVID Research Moonshot Act of 2024” is simply political theater, aimed at deluding the public into thinking that the capitalist system is capable of reform. The bill would provide a paltry $1 billion in mandatory funding per year for 10 years to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support Long COVID research.

To think this legislation will see the light of day while social spending is being slashed to fund the forever wars is to look at the world through very thick rose-colored glasses. Those researchers and public health advocates who wish to promote the application of the scientific principles that guide their own work must recognize the necessity for a broader social perspective.

To address Long COVID, as the world Trotskyist movement has demanded, one must begin by eliminating COVID across the world. Despite the dismissal of such a perspective by capitalist governments and the corporate media, zero COVID is and remains the only viable solution.

Only one social class is capable of taking up and fighting for such a policy: the international working class. The fight against COVID and future pandemics, like the looming H5N1, must be integrated into the revolutionary mobilization of the working class against the capitalist system and the establishment of a socialist society, in which human needs, including the most basic concerns of healthy life, will be the basis of social policy, not private profit.

[marveltrumpshate]

Civil Rights Advocacy & Litigation

Since there is no Avengers Initiative working to physically fight our way to a more equitable world, we have to rely frequently on advocacy, public education, and litigation to bend the arc of the work more quickly towards justice. If this is your personal charitable focus, you have a lot of options to choose from, from organizations working on systemic change for marginalized populations to those focusing on freeing individuals from the prison industrial complex and defeating censorship. 

For more information on donation methods and accepted currencies, please refer to our list of organizations page.

Autistic Self Advocacy Network

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network seeks to advance the principles of the disability rights movement with regard to autism. ASAN believes that the goal of autism advocacy should be a world in which autistic people enjoy equal access, rights, and opportunities and have their voices heard. For that reason, the organization is run by individuals on the autism spectrum. ASAN's primary focuses are advocating for policies that protect disability and civil rights, creating tools and leadership training for autistic self-advocates, and offering educational resources. 

The Bail Project

In their own words, “The Bail Project, Inc. is an unprecedented effort to combat mass incarceration at the front end of the system. We pay bail for people in need, reuniting families and restoring the presumption of innocence. Because bail is returned at the end of a case, donations to The Bail Project™ National Revolving Bail Fund can be recycled and reused to pay bail two to three times per year, maximizing the impact of every dollar. 100% of online donations are used to bring people home.”

The financial burden that bail places upon many arrestees means that they stay in the system disproportionately longer than necessary, disrupting their economic options and personal stability. This is particularly true if they’re poor and/or people of color. To fight bail and provide pretrial support is to fight mass incarceration and the racial and economic disparities of the bail system in the United States.

Center for Reproductive Rights

The Center for Reproductive Rights is the only global legal advocacy organization dedicated to ensuring reproductive rights are protected in law as fundamental human rights for the dignity, equality, health, and well-being of every person. With local partners across five continents, they have secured legal victories before national courts, UN Committees, and regional human rights bodies on issues such as access to life-saving obstetrics care, contraception, maternal health, and safe abortion services and the prevention of forced sterilization and child marriage.

Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund

DREDF is the leading civil rights organization in the United States that fights for and is directed by people with disabilities and parents of children with disabilities. Not only does DREDF work directly with their clients to help them know their own rights, but they train and educate lawyers, lawmakers, and other societal gatekeepers to make sure they know those rights as well.

Electronic Freedom Foundation

The leading nonprofit defending civil liberties in digital spaces, EFF champions user privacy, free expression, and innovation through impact litigation, policy analysis, grassroots activism, and technology development. They fight against online censorship and illegal surveillance, advocate for net neutrality and data protection, and more so that technology supports freedom, justice, and innovation for everyone. 

Innocence Project

The mission of the Innocence Project is deceptively simple: exonerate those who have been wrongly convicted through the use of DNA evidence. The reality of it involves much broader strokes covering support for exonerees rebuilding their lives post-release and criminal justice reform through targeted litigation and the implementation of laws to prevent wrongful conviction. They strive to restore freedom for the innocent, transform the systems responsible for unjust incarceration, and advance the freedom movement.

Native American Rights Fund

NARF is the oldest and largest nonprofit that defends Native American rights and provides legal assistance to Native American tribes, organizations, and individuals across the U.S. They concentrate on issues such as tribal sovereignty, land rights and treaty compliance, tribal natural resource protection, education on Native American human rights, and more.

Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES)

Most known for their work on the Texas/Mexico border but operating on the national frontlines of the fight for immigration rights, RAICES provides free and low-cost legal services, bond assistance, and social programs to underserved immigrant children, families, and refugees. Among their many accomplishments, RAICES established the largest bond fund in the U.S., which they use to secure the release of individuals from ICE detention, and has more immigration lawyers than any other organization in Texas. These lawyers represent individuals, including children, in court, offer residency and citizenship services, assist asylum seekers, and deal with removal defense. RAICES also offers social services ranging from case management and resettlement assistance to a national hotline connecting migrants with local community resources and transit support for recently released migrants.

Southern Poverty Law Center

They’re mostly known in the U.S. as a hate group watchdog of sorts, but their work goes beyond tracking and exposing hate groups and promoting tolerance education programs. SPLC fights for voting rights advocacy, children’s rights, immigration reform and family reunification, LGBTQ+ rights, economic justice, and criminal justice reform. They work “with communities to dismantle white supremacy, strengthen intersectional movements, and advance the human rights of all people.” Essentially, if there is injustice against a vulnerable and/or marginalized group in the U.S., SPLC aims to address and fix it.

Transgender Law Center

Transgender Law Center, the largest trans-specific and trans-led organization in the U.S., changes law, policy, and attitudes so that all people can live safely and authentically and free from discrimination regardless of their gender identity or expression. Through its precedent-setting litigation victories and community-driven programs, TLC protects the rights of transgender and gender nonconforming people in areas spanning employment, prison conditions, education, immigration, healthcare, and more.

[starkinvs]

okay. i understand that many people simply do not understand the essence of the previous post/don't understand the subject of the discussion. let's start with the fact that russia imposed its language at the state level by force. fifteen countries of the Soviet Union speak russian in one way or another precisely because their cultural identity was not taken into account. Khrushchev's words at the party congress in 1961: "the sooner we start speaking russian, the sooner we will build communism." do i need to explain what communism was like under the Soviet Union? the next paragraph will present several events on the language front of Ukraine.

April 6, 1933 — by order of the new leadership of the People's Commissariat of the Ukrainian SSR, a commission was organized to check the work on the language front. the task of the commission was "to reject the artificial (what could this mean?) demarcation of the Ukrainian language from the russian language in dictionaries and to eliminate nationalistic spelling rules that oriented the Ukrainian language toward Polish, Czech, and bourgeois cultures."

April 26, 1933 - a meeting in the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine on issues of national policy. the tasks have been set out to a wide circle:

— to stop the immediate publication of all dictionaries, to review the dictionaries and all terminology, to unify technical terminology with the terminology that exists in the Soviet Union and is used in Ukraine.

— to review the personnel on the language front and to expel bourgeois-nationalist elements from this front (people who in most cases resisted due to their education and clear understanding of the consequences of such decrees).

April 20, 1938 - the Council of People's Commissars of the Ukrainian SSR and the Central Committee of the Communist Party (bolsheviks) of Ukraine adopted resolutions "on the mandatory study of the russian language in non-russian schools of Ukraine", "on the mandatory study of the russian language in schools of national republics and regions". the resolutions for the first time included an order on the mandatory teaching of the russian language in all non-russian schools. (that is, not only in Ukraine, but also in all other countries of the Soviet Union).

April 17, 1959 - a session of the Supreme Council of the Ukrainian SSR adopted the law "on strengthening the connection between school and life and on the further development of the public education system in the SSR". the study of the Ukrainian language in schools was declared optional (that is, the majority of people were taught only in russian, which only increased the number of russian speakers, thereby eradicating the Ukrainian language, which carries the cultural code of the nation). the number of hours of teaching Ukrainian literature and language in secondary specialized educational institutions has been reduced (reduction of Ukrainian literature, therefore writers who write in Ukrainian, excluding the cultural and historical factor of Ukrainian nationality, completely blurring it and making it almost inseparable from Russians).

1970 - the order of the USSR Ministry of Education on writing and defending all dissertations only in russian. as a result, I am now faced with the fact that while writing my diploma and actively searching for resources, I constantly have to translate and clarify all the information, scanning it for the presence of political and ideological propaganda.

i could continue the list, but I would prefer to be unbiased and give several examples of such a policy.

Belarus.

during the language reform of 1933, the "classical spelling of the Belarusian language" was abandoned - more than 30 phonetic and morphological features were introduced into the Belarusian language, which brought it closer to the russian language. why?

on May 5, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus created a special "Political Commission for Review of the russian-Belarusian Dictionary and New Rules for Spelling the Belarusian Language". it is noteworthy that not a single linguist was part of the commission, and its members were mainly politicians. i believe that russians or ideological puppets.

in the "russian-Belarusian Dictionary" in 1953, when the tracing of the russian language was put at the forefront, and, as a rule, the original Belarusian word followed. the question is the same, what's the point?

the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko himself expressed an "interesting" opinion.

"nothing great can be expressed in Belarusian. the Belarusian language is poor. there are only two great languages in the world - russian and english" - according to this statement by President Lukashenko, which he made back in 1995, experts count the loss of status and displacement of the Belarusian language in Belarus. Lukashenko then initiated the granting of state status to the russian language, but in the end only russian became the state language, while Belarusian remained secondary and little used.

as is known he is a puppet of the Kremlin. needless to say that the Belarusian language was not taught in schools during the Soviet Union, literature in the Belarusian language was extremely impoverished, and propaganda made its own adjustments. i am glad that now Belarusians are switching to their own language and Ukrainians understand the Belarusian language without difficulty, it works both ways.

Kazakhstan.

the languages ​​of some peoples that were part of the Soviet empire experienced repeated changes of alphabets.

this applies, in particular, to the Turkic languages. Uzbeks, Turkmens, Kyrgyz, and Azerbaijanis previously used Arabic script for writing. in the late 1920s, according to the decree "on the new Latinized alphabet of Arabic writing," their languages ​​were transferred to the Latin alphabet. such an attempt was also made to the Kazakh language, but it did not take root at that time.

in 1932-1933, the state authorities of the USSR artificially created a severe famine(!) in the Kazakh SSR, as a result of which more than 40 percent of ethnic Kazakhs died. At the same time, more than a million citizens repressed by the Stalinist government were deported to the republic. therefore, the indigenous Kazakh population became an ethnic minority. subsequently, the percentage of Kazakhs in the total population decreased even more due to mass migration to the KSSR during major events, such as the development of virgin lands.

during some periods of Soviet times, the number of ethnic Kazakhs in the republic was only 30 percent. it was impossible to speak Kazakh in the cities because it was not understood, and many ethnic Kazakhs switched to russian in everyday life. mandatory study of Kazakh in schools was abolished, the number of Kazakh schools decreased (for example, in Alma-Ata there was only one school with Kazakh as the language of instruction).

"the opportunity to get an education in Kazakh began to decrease in 1939, and later higher education was only available in russian. consequently, parents who wanted their child to study at the institute had to prepare them for this and sent their children to schools with russian. as a result, a whole generation of exclusively russian-speaking Kazakhs appe,ared in Kazakhstan in the 1970s and 1980s." says Ainash Mustoyapova, author of the book "Decolonization in Kazakhstan."

Estonian language.

since 1940, with the Soviet occupation, the status of the Estonian language began to decline: it ceased to be the only state language - russian became the second, the use of the Estonian language in many areas was reduced: in international negotiations, diplomatic correspondence, in foreign trade and on trade marks, in matters concerning the armed forces in training. estonian was forced out of teaching and deprived of the opportunity to develop terminology in the fields of navigation, maritime, aviation and rail transport, it also ceased to be used in mining, energy, textile and some areas of heavy industry, since most industrial enterprises were under the direct control of moscow. sounds familiar.

Crimean Tatar language.

with the beginning of the Red Terror in 1921, the population of Crimea, and accordingly among the Crimean Tatars, decreased by a third.

during this time, several waves of genocide (and therefore expulsions) took place: the execution of the intelligentsia in 1921-22, the famine(oh, we heard about that already) of 1922-23, and up to 1926-27, dispossession and deportation to Siberia, the execution of the intelligentsia. and then Sürgünlik - the forced deportation of the Crimean Tatars from their native land to Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and the Urals.

currently, Crimean Tatar is considered a language that is on the verge of destruction (seriously endangered) according to the UNESCO classification. this means that the language is used by older generations of speakers, while parents do not instill in their children the study and knowledge of the language. this is also a consequence of the Deportation, genocidal actions, in particular, the ban on the use of the Crimean Tatar language in places of deportation, as well as the total Russification in the countries that were part of the USSR.

i will probably stop here, because this list can be continued for a long time, but the idea is the same everywhere - along with the language, the national identity of the people is washed away, the language stores the cultural code, historical information. myths, legends, ancient manuscripts, documents, literary collections, which include a description of the traditions and life of the people, all this has a huge influence. that is why people study different groups of languages, their influence on each other, that is why linguistics exists.

but the fact remains - the russian language is not native to all countries of the post-Soviet space except russia itself, it is an artificially imposed language, a whole scheme of extermination and subjugation of peoples who have mixed into one mass. now I see this as a huge problem: the russian language isolates from another world. people of post-Soviet countries can easily communicate with each other, but there is an opinion that learning english is simply becoming meaningless, because there are as many as 15! culturally and historically similar countries that speak the same language, and all together they are much larger than all of Europe. there is no such thing in western europe, there everyone speaks english as a common language, but each country has its own language, but here, in eastern europe it is very difficult to meet an armenian or romanian speaking their own language and this is pure madness.

this is a policy of isolation from the rest of the world, this is the impossibility of reading news from different sources, which often gives rise to a holy confidence that the propaganda media of their country are definitely not lying, because due to the impossibility of comparison, a person becomes like cattle without a choice who were not given any alternatives. and yes, i believe that if you speak russian and support military aggression, you should be isolated from society, because the desire to destroy is not the norm, a person with a destructive mindset without a clear moral compass is a threat to society, especially if he supports the murder of innocent (!) people.

this should not be the norm and must be discussed and if people themselves cannot understand what is what, the cancel culture will help us. only by making it clear to the russians that they are not welcome in society as long as a bloody regime destroys cities and lives, will they be able to realize that it is time to change something and that these changes must start with them. people can destroy regimes. people can win. people live on this earth only once and there is no point in living as a weak-willed creature.

all this was written for educational purposes. only being educated can we destroy a system that we do not like, because beliefs come from facts, which are based on knowledge. only by winning discussions with the voice of reason and protecting yourself from violence, but operating with common sense, can the new generation influence the future. do not be careless, learn and teach others, get information and inform.