#Truly one of the only highlights of this catastrophic disaster of a final season.

[kismetconstellations]

Josh Keaton, the Forever MVP, pronouncing Shiro's surname like a proper weeb.

[carica-ficus]

Review: It Eats Us From the Inside

Author: Antonija Mežnarić

Date: 19/08/2024

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

_________________________________________________

I've decided to finally test out my library's e-book feature, and what better book to start with, than with a horror novella that's been on my TBR since forever? It's no secret that I'm a big fan of Mežnarić's books, so I was excited to read through this one, especially because it is primarily eco-horror (which I am also a big fan of).

The story follows Doris who, after many years of no contact, decides to go visit her dad in the small town of Karlobag on the Adriatic coast. He has grown sick with a mysterious illness that has plagued his hometown for a long time, and has now started to take its toll on him. As Doris tries to help her dismissive father, she also has to confront their past, the growing toxic sludge that spreads in the sea, and the reality of inescapable change.

The chosen setting provides the opportunity for the author to tackle some very specific, but concerning problems that burden small coastal towns of Croatia - seasonal tourism which provides profit only during the summer, lack of jobs and opportunity for local people, younger generations moving away for higher education and older generation staying without support, and the rising problem of pollution that affects sensitive ecosystems. It is a portrayal of the eerie reality that is slowly worsening over time, especially with the rise in popularity of the Croatian Adriatic coast as a touristic destination, and the inability of local community to take in so much people and the damage they bring.

Furthermore, it highlights the obvious contrast between the financial and societal position of locals and the tourists. Even though the story takes place during off-season, the abandoned houses, the disappearing community, and crumbling infrastructure accurately depict how tourism exploits people who have no other choice, but to accept it as their primary source of profit. Mežnarić doesn't need to criticize the country's reliance on tourism. Instead, she simply highlights its shortcomings and emphasizes its worrisome consequences, which is enough to create a horrific sense of hopelessness.

The toxic sludge that spreads throughout the sea has slowly been growing over the years. While nobody knows what it truly is and how it came to be, it is suspected it is a product of a failed experiment done by another government. The theme of exploiting smaller, poorer countries for endeavors detrimental to natural ecosystems and its people might not be new, but this novella plays it off exceptionally well. Ecological and medical concerns are often ignored until they afflict bigger countries, highly influential people, or powerful corporations. In other words, until the wealthy suffer from it as well. Mežnarić emphasizes the cruel consequences which the local people have to live with, sometimes for generations to come, but the culprits can just cover their tracks and turn the other way.

The sludge is a veracious representation of the impact of global warming and climate change. While extreme occurrences such as highly polluted areas might seem small on a global scale, they should be met with the same level of concern as broader problems. The sludge in the novella might be situated just in the small town of Karlobag, and it might be ignored for most of its existence, but it becomes a frightening premonition of a greater issue when it is discovered that it is spreading. In this way, Mežnarić accentuates that natural disasters are never contained to a single location, but that ecosystems are connected and depend upon one another, which means they can lead to unforeseen circumstances in other regions as well.

Even though "It Eats Us From the Inside" revolves around a natural catastrophe, in its core it deals with Doris's relationship with her dying father. Her queerness and the wish to pursue a better life than a small coastal town could've offered her has led her away from him. Moreover, his stubbornness and harsh demeanor hindered Doris from properly reconnecting. Doris is trying to mend what has been broken, while he is trying to make her accept that there is nothing she can do about it. It is a painful rendition of a dysfunctional father-daughter relationship, and Mežnarić makes it absolutely gut-wrenching to experience.

"It Eats Us From the Inside" was an agonizing read in the best sense of the word. It is filled with tension, sorrow, disgusting body-horror, and a constant feeling of looming dread. There are some sub-plots that I feel encumber the story a little bit and consequently make it slightly incoherent, but I have really enjoyed this novella, especially the gruesome graphic depictions Mežnarić truly excels in.

[littlemisssquiggles]

Pinehead Headcanons: Oscar’s Baobab

yellow-eyed-green-crocodile replied to your post “Pinehead Headcanons: Oscar’s Golden Circle”

What of Ren was the Baobab? Or, rather, it’s removal. In the book, the Little Prince would remove the baobab seed every morning, because the trees brought all kinds of negative emotions and Ren’s Semblance is the muting of those kinds of emotions. What do you say?

Squiggles Answers:

@yellow-eyed-green-crocodile​ Hmm, that’s not a bad concept Yellow. But I was more looking for Ren being represented by an actual character from the Little Prince, similar to how the Fox, Pilot and Rose are legit characters.

Are the Baobab Trees like the Rose in the Prince's story? Were the trees characters themselves or just part of the setting and environment of the planet the Prince was from?

Then again, I do see your point about the Removal of the Baobab Seed fitting Ren and his semblance. Plus I just looked up the nature behind the Baobab Trees and it’s actually quite cool:

“…Their seeds are invisible at first, undetectable until one of them decides to wake up and take root in the planet’s soil. When they are young, they look innocent and cannot be distinguished from the rose bushes (the good plants). However, if they are allowed to grow big enough, they will be unable to get rid of afterwards…”

When it came to the Fox from the Little Prince, one of the reasons why I gravitated so much to this character was because of the underlying lesson it imprinted on the Prince during his travels in regards to taming of the heart, the meaning of love and responsibility. 

It is for this same reason why I could easily picture Nora Valkyrie above any other character in RWBY imparting this message onto Oscar since her relationship with Ren is the very embodiment of the what the Fox taught the Prince; at least according to how I see it.

This is why I started liking the thought of Renora symbolizing the Fox in Oscar’s little prince story since the two are often seen as a pair due to their strong bond and unyielding dedication to one another. I still do like that idea a lot, however if I had to see Ren representing a character from the Little Prince, I guess the message behind tending to the Baobab Tree working just as well.

I can even picture a potential bonding moment for Ren and Oscar with the young huntsman using the analogy of the Baobab Tree to teach Oscar about the emotions of the heart; both the negative and positive. Like imagine it like a moment where Oscar is extremely overwhelmed about something that he is unable to disclose to anyone else.

Once upon a time, in a Rosegarden-inspired RWBY Musing I had posted before Volume 6, I described a theory titled ‘Oscar’s Choice’. In this theory of mine, I depicted a scenario in which Ozpin is gone and Oscar is at his wits end on how to get the old wizard back. He is then approached by James Ironwood with a proposal to separate both his and Ozpin’s souls using Atlas’s experimental aura research. Of course, Oscar is apprehensive about going through with  the procedure given the life-threatening repercussions of it. So Ironwood gives Oscar an opportunity to think things over before making a final decision. However at the same time, the General also advises Oscar not to tell anyone of what the two discussed regarding him undergoing aura experimentation. Classified information and all that rubbish, right?

So Oscar is forced to keep the truth about his potential aura experimentation on the down low. Not even Qrow Branwen was allowed to know which only added to Oscar’s confliction on the matter. Things ultimately get to a point where the pressure of such a detrimental decision starts to weigh heavily on Oscar emotionally. He suddenly becomes very secretive and withdrawn from the group; preferring to spend more time in the company of the General, and the first people to take notice of his sudden change in behaviour are the members of his Golden Circle---Ruby Rose, Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren.

Since Ruby has been the social link for Oscar highlighted the most canonically, naturally, Ruby is the first person to acknowledge how strange Oscar has been acting lately, bringing it to the attention of rest of the team including the JNR gang who all share her same levels of concern. Especially Jaune who is reminded on his final moments with Pyrhha leading up to the Fall of Beacon with Oscar’s sudden change in attitude.

I pictured Ruby even being forward enough to try and pry the truth out of Oscar by confronting him in a similar manner he did with her back during the Mistral Days, paralleling the reverse of their dojo scene from V5. Unfortunately for Ruby, her confrontation only serves to push Oscar further away from her…or so, she is led to believe.

Basically in the end, overwhelmed by the pressures of the decision and Ironwood and the enormous guilt he felt from lying to Ruby and the rest of his friends about what was truly going on with him, Oscar is forced to come clean. But he confesses to an unlikely ally. Rather than talking to Ruby, Oscar goes to Ren.

I liked the idea of Oscar turning to Ren due to how well he’s able to control his emotions and remain calm in dire scenarios. At the time, Oscar needed that. Since he was slowly beginning to fall apart from everything, what he needed was someone emotionally stable enough to keep him from crumbling altogether (further emphasizing why I like the concept of Ren and Nora representing the ‘legs’ of Oscar’s Voltron of Friendship since their the two I can see keeping him grounded and upright given their respective natures).

So Oscar discloses the truth to Ren, thinking that Ren would keep his secret for him. But in the end, Ren either convinces Oscar to come clean himself or surprises him by instigating the moment for Oscar to come clean. 

Basically the idea I had back then was that Oscar viewed Ren as someone who would put duty before his own personal feelings in the matter (kind of like Ironwood). However in the end, Ren is forced to intervene since he didn’t want Oscar to follow the same path as Pyrhha. 

We rarely get to see how Pyrhha’s death affected Ren and Nora. We know how much it affected Jaune since the narrative constantly draws attention to it.

It’d be interesting to know that, while Ren wasn’t as devastated as Jaune, he still harboured some feelings of guilt over what became of Pyrhha. Given that his semblance allows him to mask emotions, imagine if Ren somewhat possesses a sort of sixth sense when it comes to interpreting how others feel. Perhaps back during the Beacon Days, Ren did take notice of something being off about Pyrhha but rather than approach her himself, he left it up to Jaune since he shared the closer affiliation to Pyrhha.

Then after she died, Ren probably felt bad in the sense that he wondered if he had joined Jaune in intervening with Pyrhha, would things have ended differently? If both Ren and Nora had been there that night with Pyrhha and Jaune at the battle of Beacon, would it have made a difference? Would all three of them had been able to convince Pyrhha to not sacrifice herself? Would it have changed anything?

Somehow I like the idea of that being questions that Ren would sometimes ask himself in regards to what became of Pyrhha.

Could he have done something to help? Would his intervention had made a difference? 

I like this idea since it lends to my theory. From having those thoughts, I can see that as an incentive for Ren to put his foot down and prevent a similar fate from befalling another person he’d grown to care about. I know the show didn’t focus much on how Ren’s friendship was with Pyrhha since their bond wasn’t the main driver for her story and development as much as it was with Jaune. Nonetheless, one can interpret that Ren did care a lot for Pyrhha. She wasn’t just his teammate. She was one of his dearest friends and sister in arms. Pyrhha was family to Ren.

Jaune wasn’t the only person who lost her. Ren and Nora did too. The same can be said for Oscar with his growing connection to the former RNJR gang. Ruby might share the title of Oscar’s closest confidante at the moment, but I believe that Oscar is meant to grow close with JNR as well.

I’d like to believe that Ren cares or will come to care for Oscar a lot as a fellow brother on the battlefield. A baby brother even. The newest member of their growing family. And given the fact that Ren lost his family, I’d like to think that that family dynamic is very important to him. Like I said, I know the show doesn’t really focus much on Ren (which was what made his story in V4 so awesome and one of the best parts of that season in my opinion) still, I think family is important to Ren.

Who knows? Perhaps this is something that he and Oscar might end up sharing in common and even bonding over? Perhaps Oscar will share a similar backstory to Ren---an orphan who lost his original family to an unforeseen tragedy that he couldn’t prevent even if they wanted to and he basically had to watch one of his parents die to ensure that he survived.

Remember how Ren wanted to stay behind with his father but Li Ren ensured that his son got to safety. Ren’s father sacrificed himself so that his son could live on and this was a fate Ren couldn’t change. He didn’t want to leave but he had no choice to.

I like the idea of a similar scenario occurring for Oscar’s past with his family. I’d like to stick to my Pinehead headcanon where Oscar was raised by his father for most of his life until he lost his father recently due to some unforeseen disaster that Oscar wanted to prevent but couldn’t.

My theory is that Oscar only came to live with his aunt on her farm recently. He was probably born and bred in the farm lifestyle but at the time, his family had their own farm that was probably lost during a major catastrophe. After that, Oscar was taken in by his Auntie Pine and had been staying with her but only for a couple of months or so leading up to the events of V4. 

Oscar’s old bedroom back during his introduction in V4 sure didn’t look like the room of a kid whose lived in it for years. It more reminded me of a kid who probably has only been there for a couple of months and the only artifacts he possessed to decorate his room with were a few handful belongings he managed to salvage from his past life in addition to whatever hand-me downs his new relatives gave him to make him feel more comfortable in his new abode.

Oscar’s original farm boy attire also gave me the impression that he either a) came from a background where he didn’t have much to begin with; meaning he was poor and/or b) he came from a background where he had clothes of his own that could better fit him but then he lost it all and the only thing he could wear were what his relatives could give him. His aunt probably gave him a couple of shirts and pants his uncle had that she easily tailored as best as she could to fit his smaller size.

The fact that we meet Oscar sporting a shirt that appeared to be two sizes too big for him tucked into pants that were probably patched to fit him better, held up only by the suspenders with a pair of worn out boots that looked to have seen better days just gave me that vibe. But, as always, this is only my opinion.

And I’ve gone off topic here. Resuming talk on Ren, I’m thinking he and Oscar could probably share that in common. Orphans who lost their old homes and families and had to find them somewhere else. The difference is that unlike Oscar, Ren lost his home at a young age and eventually found his home with Nora.

But with Oscar, I think he’s still searching for his new home. Sure he had his aunt but, like I said, I don’t think Oscar has lived with Auntie Pine for very long. So he probably is still dealing with any repressed emotions from his past with his old family.

I guess what I’m basically trying to voice here is that, should Oscar find himself repeating a scenario that reminds Ren of Pryhha, I’d like to think that he would be the one to speak up about it. I know in the case of this, many people would obviously expect Ruby or Jaune to be frontrunners, however I think it would be more interesting if this scenario is used to strengthen Oscar’s relationship with Ren. Henceforth completing the trinity of him sharing distinctive moments with all three remaining members of the former Team JNPR. I just like the idea of Oscar going through a similar scenario like with Pyrhha and Ren being the person to out him on that.

I like the idea of Oscar trusting Ren enough to tell him the truth of Ironwood’s proposal to experiment on his aura, believing that Ren would have a similar approach to the General---duty before personal emotions as I said. But then Ren would surprise Oscar by being the one to intervene and assist him to come clean before the team.

To tie into your point about Ren representing the ‘removal of the Baobab seeds’, Ren could help Oscar rid himself of the negative emotions he was feeling in his heart ---doubt, guilt, failure---and by doing that, Oscar is able to prevent himself from succumbing to those feelings. 

In a way, you can almost say that Ironwood is the embodiment of the Baobab in Oscar’s story. Perhaps Ren and James can share influence from the Baobab. But while Ren represents the removal of it---a man who is at peace with his emotions, Ironwood is the characterization of someone who has been consumed by the baobab in his heart.

It is said that each of us has a baobab in our heart. We are all capable of emotions, both positive and negative. The baobab represents the negative emotions of the heart. It might be only a seed one day---minor, harmless at first glance without causing much trouble. But if left unchecked and allowed to foster, those same negative emotions---the baobab of the heart---can implode, grow out of control and have devastating impact on one’s personality, interfering with their internal order and autonomy.

Currently,  it can be said that Ironwood has his own Baobab in the form of his fears. And as the series has highlighted since V4, Ironwood’s Baobab had now grown to a state where he’s become consumed by it.

My theory is that Ironwood will be Oscar’s Baobab in a way or…rather, he’d be the one to plant baobab seeds in Oscar’s heart. At first Ironwood will approach Oscar kindly given off the impression that he can be trusted by Oscar especially given the fact that he was one of Ozpin’s longstanding allies. This is in turn will cause Oscar to let his guard down around James or rather, Ironwood will entice Oscar into trusting him by appealing to the side of him that wants to reconnect with Ozpin.

Since everyone else on the hero team, inclusive of Qrow, seem to not want to discuss Ozpin or the thought of him returning from his isolation, perhaps this will be Ironwood’s ticket into getting Oscar to listen to him.

This is why I like the idea of Ironwood feeding into Oscar’s desperation to reunite with Ozpin as a means of manipulating the young boy into achieving his own selfish desires.

Since V7 will open right after the events of V6, after Oscar revealed that Ozpin came back temporarily to aid him---perhaps this will provide Oscar the encouragement to try and reach out to Oz in an attempt to get him to return. Perhaps Oscar will see himself responsible to mending the broken bond between Oz and the rest of the group.

Thus, Ironwood takes full advantage of this.

He lets his desperation to finding a ‘new approach to stopping Salem’ feed into Oscar’s desperation. 

When I think of Ironwood being Oscar’s Baobab it makes me like this headcanon even more. 

I like the idea of Ironwood emotionally manipulating Oscar, making him believe that his efforts were to help him reunite with Ozpin when the reality was, James had his own plans for Oscar which involved using his soul as a battery to power an immortal army he’d hope to be humanity’s salvation.

 And do you know what makes this Baobab analogy in reference to Oscar’s relationship with Ironwood so much more fascinating? It is said that in its initial form, baobab growth resemble rose bushes.

What’s fascinating is the symbolism behind the rose bushes and baobabs? At first, they both look distinctively similar but while one grows into something beautiful, the other grows into something devastating and harmful.

In terms of relationships, Ruby is Oscar’s rose. Roses are the good plants, according to the Little Prince analogies meaning that Oscar’s bond to Ruby is the healthier relationship. Meanwhile, baobabs are the bad plants and if Ironwood is Oscar’s Baobab like I’m theorizing here, he is the unhealthy relationship. The one that could prove devastating to him if left to its wilds.

But again, the irony is that rose bushes and baobabs look similar at first and why I’m getting giddy about this is because it makes me think…what if…in the beginning, the main reason why Oscar figured he could trust Ironwood is because the General reminded him of Ruby.

Like maybe Ironwood shared the same good intentions as Ruby...the only difference is their approach. 

This in turn reminds me of something I realized about Ruby and Ozpin which ties into something I noticed about Ozma and Ruby. One hunch that I have is that Ozpin gravitated towards Ruby so much because she reminded him of himself---his first self.

I’ve said before that Ruby reminds me a lot of Ozma given their righteous nature. I also think that in a strange way both Ironwood and Ozpin are the same---they both wish to achieve the same goal in protecting humanity but where they clash is in their approach.

 When I took at it this way, Ozpin (technically Ozma) is symbolic of the rose bush from the Little Prince while Ironwood is the Baobab.

I’m sorry if this is making James sound more like a bad person. It’s just that…I think he encapsulates the Baobab or rather the nature of it more.

Why I like this is because I’m thinking of a scenario where Ironwood’s influence on Oscar even starts to affect his bond with Ruby. Perhaps Ironwood will encourage Oscar to be reclusive and secretive, even with Ruby. 

Perhaps Ironwood will start to see Ruby’s own influence on Oscar as coming between his own intentions for the young boy and thus, he starts doing things to forge a wedge between the two such as enforcing that Oscar stay within his custody at all times or something.

Technically out of everyone on the group, Oscar is a minor at 14-years-old and the dangerous thing about him is that unlike Ruby Rose, who has her older sister Yang and Uncle Qrow as guardian figures and caretakers, Oscar has no one.

He has no immediate family in Atlas. He doesn’t even have a huntsman team that he’s a part of. Yet.

So imagine if…Ironwood takes advantage of that and tries to sort of…I dunno…worm his way into planting himself as Oscar’s legal caretaker while he’s a resident of Atlas Kingdom or something like that. I mean he would have the authority to do that, to be honest.  

I even have this scenario in my head where Ironwood gets Oscar to consent to undergoing harmful experiments on him on the promise of them bringing Ozpin back. However the experiments don’t work and only hurt Oscar in the process and what’s worse is that he can’t tell the others the truth since Ironwood told him not to by the almighty power of Classified Information.

But in the end, Oscar’s secret is found out when he suddenly collapses from pain during a heated fight between him and Ruby when she confronts him on his suddenly reclusive behaviour. After Oscar falls ill, the others find out that it was due to injuries on his body from Ironwood’s botched experiments.

After Oscar falls unconscious, Jaune spends the night healing Oscar of his wounds. During this time, while Jaune does his best to heal Oscar with his semblance, Ruby stays by Oscar’s hand holding his hand through the whole ordeal while Ren and Nora also stay close too.

Basically they both stand watch to ensure that no one comes barging in to disturb Jaune from helping Oscar.

Somehow I just have this idea of Ironwood convincing Oscar that it’s okay for him to sign his life away to be experimented on, only for the others to remind him later that he’s just a kid and that Ironwood had no right even putting him in such a position in the first place.

It’s a weird thought but ironically enough, I can definitely see that being possible. But that’s just me

Anyways, I think that’s all I got to see for now on this topic. As usual, I went off on one of my usual tangents. Take as much from it as you will and let me know whatcha think.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2019) 

[labourpress]

Author Naomi Klein speech to Labour Party Conference

Author Naomi Klein, speaking at Labour Party Conference, said:

 ***CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY***

 Thank you Kate for that lovely introduction and all the work that you do to put social justice on the world agenda.

It’s been such a privilege to be part of this historic convention. To feel its energy and optimism.

Because friends, it’s bleak out there. How do I begin to describe a world upside down? From heads of state tweeting threats of nuclear annihilation, to whole regions rocked by climate chaos, to thousands of migrants drowning off the coasts of Europe, to openly racist parties gaining ground, most recently and alarmingly in Germany.

Most days there is simply too much to take in. So I want to start with an example that might seem small against such a vast backdrop. The Caribbean and Southern United States are in the midst of an unprecedented hurricane season: pounded by storm after record-breaking storm.

As we meet, Puerto Rico - hit by Irma, then Maria - is without power and could be for months. It’s water and communication systems are also severely compromised. Three and half million US citizens on that island are in desperate need of their government’s help.

But just like during Hurricane Katrina, the cavalry is missing in action. Donald Trump is too busy trying to get Black athletes fired - smearing them for daring to shine a spotlight on racist violence.

Amazingly a real federal aid package for Puerto Rico has not yet been announced.

By some reports, more money has been spent securing presidential trips to Mar-a-Lago.

As if all this weren’t enough, the vultures are now buzzing. The business press is filled with articles about how the only way for Puerto Rico to get the lights back on is to sell off its electricity utility. Maybe its roads and bridges too.

This is a phenomenon I have called The Shock Doctrine - the exploitation of wrenching crises to smuggle through policies that devour the public sphere and further enrich a small elite.

We see this dismal cycle repeat again and again. We saw it after the 2008 financial crash. We are already seeing it in how the Tories are planning to exploit Brexit to push through disastrous pro-corporate trade deals without debate.

The reason I am highlighting Puerto Rico is because the situation is so urgent. But also because it’s a microcosm of a much larger global crisis, one that contains many of the same overlapping elements: accelerating climate chaos; militarism; histories of colonialism; a weak and neglected public sphere; a totally dysfunctional democracy.

And overlaying it all: the seemingly bottomless capacity to discount the lives of huge numbers of Black and brown people.

Ours is an age when it is impossible to pry one crisis apart from all the others. They have all merged, reinforcing and deepening each other..... like one shambling, multi-headed beast.

I think it’s helpful to think of the current US president in much the same way.

It’s tough to know how to adequately sum him up. So let me try a local example.

You know that horrible thing currently clogging up the London sewers. I believe you call it the fatberg?

Well Trump, he’s the political equivalent of that.

A merger of all that is noxious in the culture, economy and body politic, all kind of glommed together in a self-adhesive mass. And we’re finding it very, very hard to dislodge.

It gets so grim that we have to laugh. But make no mistake: whether it’s climate change or the nuclear threat, Trump represents a crisis that could echo through geologic time.

 But here is my message to you today:

Moments of crisis do not have to go the Shock Doctrine route - they do not need to become opportunities for the already obscenely wealthy to grab still more.

They can also go the opposite way.

 They can be moments when we find our best selves..... when we locate reserves of strength and focus we never knew we had.

 We see it at the grassroots level every time disaster strikes.

 We all witnessed it in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower catastrophe.

 When the people responsible were MIA....... the community came together...... Held one another in their care, organized the donations and advocated for the living -- and for the dead.

 And they are doing it still, more than 100 days after the fire.

 When there is still no justice and, scandalously, only a handful of survivors have been rehoused.

 And it’s not only at the grassroots level that we see disaster awaken something remarkable in us.

 There is also a long and proud history of crises sparking progressive transformation on a society-wide scale.

 Think of the victories won by working people for social housing and old age pensions during the Great Depression..... Or for the NHS after the horrors of the Second World War.

 This should remind us that moments of great crisis and peril do not necessarily need to knock us backwards.

 They can also catapult us forward.

 Our progressive ancestors achieved that at key moments in history, in your country and in mine.

 And we can do it again - in this moment when everything is on the line.

But what we know from the Great Depression and the post-war period, is that we never win these transformative victories by simply resisting..... by simply saying “no” to the latest outrage.

 To win in a moment of true crisis, we also need a bold and forward-looking “yes”

- a plan for how to rebuild and respond to the underlying causes.

 And that plan needs to be convincing, credible and, most of all, captivating.

 We have to help a weary and wary public to imagine itself into that better world.

 And that is why I am so honoured to be standing with you today.

 With the transformed Labour Party in 2017.

And with the next Prime Minister of Britain,

 Jeremy Corbyn.

 Because in the last election, that’s exactly what you did.

 Theresa May ran a cynical campaign based on exploiting fear and shock to grab more power for herself - first the fear of a bad Brexit deal, then the fear following the horrific terror attacks in Manchester and London.

 Your party and your leader responded by focusing on root causes: a failed “war on terror”.... economic inequality and weakened democracy.

 But you did more than that.

 You presented voters with a bold and detailed Manifesto.

 One that laid out a plan for millions of people to have tangibly better lives:

 free tuition,

 fully funded health care,

 aggressive climate action.

 After decades of lowered expectations and asphyxiated political imagination, finally voters had something hopeful and exciting to say “yes” to.

 And so many of them did just that, upending the projections of the entire expert class.

You proved that the era of triangulation and tinkering is over.

 The public is hungry for deep change - they are crying out for it.

 The trouble is, in far too many countries, it’s only the far right that is offering it, or seeming to, with that toxic combination of fake economic populism and very real racism.

 You showed us another way.

 One that speaks the language of decency and fairness, that names the true forces most responsible for this mess - no matter how powerful.

 And that is unafraid of some of the ideas we were told were gone for good.

 Like wealth redistribution.

 And nationalising essential public services.

 Now, thanks to all of your boldness, we know that this isn’t just a moral strategy.

 It’s a winning strategy.

 It fires up the base, and it activates constituencies that long ago stopped voting altogether.

 If you can keep doing that between now and the next election, you will be unbeatable.

You showed us something else in the last election too, and it’s just as important.

 You showed that political parties don’t need to fear the creativity and independence of social movements - and social movements, likewise, have a huge amount to gain from engaging with electoral politics.

 That’s a very big deal.

 Because let’s be honest: political parties tend to be a bit freakish about control.

And real grassroots movements..... we cherish our independence - and we're pretty much impossible to control.

 But what we are seeing with the remarkable relationship between Labour and Momentum, and with other wonderful campaign organizations, is that it is possible to

combine the best of both worlds.

 If we listen and learn from each other, we can create a force that is both stronger and more nimble than anything either parties or movements can pull off on their own.

 I want you to know that what you have done here is reverberating around the world - so many of us are watching your ongoing experiment in this new kind of politics with rapt attention.

 And of course what happened here is itself part of a global phenomenon.

 It’s a wave led by young people who came into adulthood just as the global financial system was collapsing and just as climate disruption was banging down the door.

 Many come out of social movements like Occupy Wall Street, and Spain’s Indignados.

 They began by saying no - to austerity,

to bank bailouts,

 to fracking and pipelines.

 But they came to understand that the biggest challenge is overcoming the way neoliberalism has waged war on our collective imagination, on our ability to truly believe in anything outside of its bleak borders.

 And so these movements started to dream together, laying out bold and different visions of the future.... and credible pathways out of crisis.

 And most importantly they began engaging with political parties, to try to win power.

 We saw it in Bernie Sanders’ historic campaign in the US primaries.... which was powered by millennials who know that safe centrist politics offers them no kind of safe future.

 By the way.... Bernie, is the most popular politician in the United States today.

 We see something similar with Spain’s still-young Podemos party, which built in the power of mass movements from Day One.

 In all of these cases, electoral campaigns caught fire with stunning speed.

 And they got close to taking power - closer than any genuinely transformative political program has in either Europe or North America in my lifetime.

 But still, in each case, not close enough.

 So in this time between elections, it’s worth thinking about how to make absolutely sure that next time, all of our movements go all the way.

A big part of the answer is: Keeping it up.

 Keep building that yes.

 But take it even further.

 Outside the heat of a campaign, there is more time to deepen the relationships between issues and movements, so that our solutions address multiple crises at once.

 In all of our countries, we can and must do more to connect the dots between economic injustice, racial injustice and gender injustice.

We need to understand and explain how all of those ugly systems that place one group in a position of dominance over another - based on skin colour, religious faith, gender and sexual orientation - consistently serve the interests of power and money and always have.

 They do it by keeping us divided.

 And keeping themselves protected.

 And we have to do more to keep it front of mind.... that we are in a state of climate emergency....  the roots of which are found in the same system of bottomless greed that underlies our economic emergency.

 But states of emergency, let’s recall, can be catalysts for deep progressive victories.

So let’s draw out the connections between the gig economy - that treats human beings like a raw resource from which to extract wealth and then discard - and the dig economy, in which the extractive companies treats the Earth in precisely the same careless way.

And let’s show exactly how we can move from that gig and dig economy to a society based on principles of care - caring for the planet and for one another. Where the work of our caregivers and of our land and water protectors, is respected and valued. A world where no one and nowhere is thrown away - whether in fire-trap housing estates or on hurricane-ravaged islands.

I applaud the clear stand Labour has taken against fracking and for clean energy. Now we need to up our ambition and show exactly how battling climate change is a once-in-a-century chance to build a fairer and more democratic economy.

Because as we rapidly transition off fossil fuels, we cannot replicate the wealth concentration and the injustices of the oil and coal economy, in which hundreds of billions in profits have been privatized and the tremendous risks are socialized.

We can and must design a system in which the polluters pay a very large share of the cost of transitioning off fossil fuels. And where we keep green energy in public and community hands. That way revenues stay in your communities, to pay for childcare and firefighters and other crucial services. And it’s the only way to make sure that the green jobs that are created are union jobs that pay a living wage.

The motto needs to be: leave the oil and gas in the ground, but leave no worker behind. And the best part, you don’t need to wait until you get to Westminster to start this great transition. You can use the levers you have right now.

You can take a page from Barcelona and turn your Labour-controlled cities into beacons for the world transformed.

A good start would be divesting your pensions from fossil fuels and investing that money in low carbon social housing and green energy cooperatives.

That way people can begin to experience the benefits of the next economy before the next election - and know in their bones that yes, there is, and always has been, an alternative.

In closing.....

I want to stress, as your international speaker, that none of this can be about turning any one nation into a progressive museum.

In wealthy countries like yours and mine, we need migration policies and levels of international financing that reflect what we owe to the global south - our historic role in destabilizing the economies and ecologies of poorer nations for a great many years.

For instance, during this epic hurricane season, we’ve heard a lot of talk of “the British Virgin Islands,” the “French Virgin Islands” and so on.

Rarely was it seen as relevant to observe that these are not reflections of where Europeans like to holiday.

They are reflections of the fact that so much of the vast wealth of empire was extracted from these Islands in bonded human flesh.

Wealth that supercharged Europe’s and North America’s industrial revolution, positioning us as the super-polluters we are today.

And that is intimately connected to the fact that the future and security of island nations are now at grave risk from superstorms storms, sea level rise, and dying coral reefs.

What should this painful history mean to us today?

It means welcoming migrants and refugees.

And it means paying our fair share to help many more countries ramp up justice-based green transitions of their own.

Trump going rogue is no excuse to demand less of ourselves in the UK and Canada or anywhere else for that matter.

It means the opposite -that we have to demand more of ourselves.

To pick up the slack until the United States manages to get its sewer system unclogged.

I firmly believe that all of this work, challenging as it is, is a crucial part of the path to victory.

That the more ambitious, consistent and holistic you can be in painting a picture of the world transformed, the more credible a Labour government will become.

Because you went and showed us all that you can win.

Now you have to win.

We all do.

Winning is a moral imperative.

The stakes are too high, and time is too short, to settle for anything less.

Thank you

[junker-town]

5 NFL teams that have disappointed us most this season

Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

The Browns are boring, the Falcons are a disaster, and the Cowboys can’t beat teams with a pulse.

Some NFL teams have overachieved to kick off their 2019 season.

The 49ers are one of two remaining unbeaten teams after dismantling foes with a smothering defense. The Saints have overcome Drew Brees’ absence with a 4-1 record that includes wins over contenders like the Seahawks, Cowboys, and Texans. Even the Patriots are 6-0 for the first time since 2015.

Those hot starts have come at the expense of some regrettable ones. The Chargers are threatening to waste another year of Philip Rivers’ career outside the playoff race after a 2-3 start that includes bungling losses to the Lions and Broncos. The Steelers and Jets have each fallen apart after losing their starting quarterbacks for extended periods. The Falcons’ quest to define Dan Quinn’s tenure as anything other than “28-3” has been successful, only in that it’s exposed his team as an overmatched, undercoached mess.

That’s left heavy competition for the title of 2019’s most disappointing team. Four teams have begun the season without a single win in five weeks, and four more only have a single victory — two of whom (the Steelers and Cardinals) got their lone wins against the former group. So who is truly the king of frustration this fall?

The Los Angeles Chargers. The poor, cursed Chargers

This was supposed to be the year. Keenan Allen was healthy. Philip Rivers was back and coming off one of the most efficient years of his career. A top 10 defense, led by the pocket-destroying duo of Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram, returned mostly intact.

And yet, through five weeks, the 2019 Chargers only have one fewer loss than they had in last year’s entire regular season.

They’ve gone 2-3 in an extremely Chargers way. They only defeated the Colts in Week 1 thanks to Adam Vinatieri’s sudden inability to kick a field goal. They lost to Detroit in Week 2 as a result of red zone turnovers and their own special teams problems — with regular kicker Michael Badgley injured, punter Ty Long made just one of three field goal attempts in a 13-10 loss. Their comeback effort against the Texans one week later was derailed by a holding penalty that wiped out what would have been a first-and-goal situation from the Houston 7-yard line with 30 seconds to play. They lost that game 27-20.

This was all a warm-up to Week 5’s catastrophe. The Broncos were winless when they traveled to Los Angeles. After 10 minutes, they led by 14 points. This was also the game in which Melvin Gordon returned from a contract holdout that kept him from the field in Weeks 1-4. The Chargers promptly rushed for the fewest yards they have all season (35).

Patrick Mahomes’ sudden mortality in light of an ankle injury — he has just one passing touchdown his past two games — should have created an opportunity for LA to rise to the top of the AFC West. Instead, the club is in third place in the division, two games behind the Chiefs and staring up at the Raiders. At least there’s still time for this team to turn things around and rally all the way to an underwhelming Divisional Round postseason loss to the Patriots. — Christian D’Andrea

The Cleveland Browns, who are mediocre and boring

Between hatin’-ass quarterback Baker Mayfield, the dynamic wide receiver combo of Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham Jr., and a defense led by destroyer of worlds Myles Garrett, the Browns should be fun to watch. They were a wildly popular pick to win the Super Bowl, but more than anything, the Browns were supposed to be must-watch TV.

The most disappointing about them so far in 2019 is that they’re borderline unwatchable.

Mayfield’s hair-on-fire style of play has devolved into him repeatedly retreating from pressure and playing mostly awful football. He has four touchdowns and an NFL-high eight interceptions.

That’s meant a whole lot of nothing from Beckham, the human highlight reel who was supposed to send the Browns’ offense into overdrive. In his first five games in Cleveland, he caught an 89-yard touchdown on a slant and made one of his trademark one-handed grabs down the sideline. That’s about it. With the Giants, he averaged 92.8 receiving yards per game, and that was with the slowly rotting Eli Manning at quarterback. Now Beckham’s averaging just 67 yards in Cleveland.

Even the defense has been subpar. It’s below the league average in points (21st), yards (18th), red zone conversions against (29th), and rushing yards per attempt allowed (30th). It got absolutely steamrolled by the 49ers to the tune of 275 rushing yards in Week 5.

It’s not even close to too late for the Browns to turn things around. They’re 2-3 and just one game behind the Ravens, who they already beat in Week 4. But their utter unwatchability is what makes the Browns the NFL’s biggest letdown so far the season. — Adam Stites

The Atlanta Falcons, proving that this city can’t have nice things when it comes to sports

Speaking as a current Atlanta resident, I can tell you that the 404 has had a rough couple of weeks (I’m so sorry, Braves fans). The Falcons started this season as a dark horse Super Bowl contender, and instead they’re 1-4 heading into Week 6. Atlanta’s lone win (somehow) came during Week 2 at home against the Eagles on Sunday night.

There are so many problems with Atlanta right now, but I’ll just start with the defense, which gave up 53 points and 426 passing yards to the Houston Texans last week, including almost 600 (592) total yards of offense. While Falcons have had some injuries on defense — most notably Keanu Neal — Quinn’s unit should be much farther along at this point, especially since he took over defensive playcalling duties this season.

The Falcons have usually been able to rely on their offense, but it hasn’t been all that better. They’re scoring just 20 points per game (and giving up 10 more points on average). Matt Ryan has thrown seven interceptions, and Devonta Freeman scored his first touchdown of the season last week against the Texans on a 9-yard reception. The Falcons’ running game is near the bottom of the league. It has totaled just 338 yards and two touchdowns, one coming from Ryan and the other from Freeman’s backup, Ito Smith.

The lone bright spots are Julio Jones and Austin Hooper; both are averaging around 72 yards per game, and have six TDs between them.

The fact that Atlanta is this bad doesn’t bode well for Quinn’s job security, since the Falcons have games against the Rams, Seahawks, Saints, and Panthers coming up after Arizona in Week 6. If the Falcons go winless for that stretch, Atlanta might have to call it quits on Quinn. —Morgan Moriarty

The Denver Broncos, who sucked before Bradley Chubb got hurt

John Elway might not be very good at being an NFL general manager. So far he’s picked nothing but duds at the quarterback position, and Joe Flacco is a hilarious exclamation point on that track record. Vic Fangio is a coach who is easy to believe in, but he’s saddled with an offense that offers nothing in the realm of consistency.

He’s also had some growing pains on the defensive side of the ball, where Denver was supposed to win games this season. Instead, the defense has blown two late leads, first against the Bears and two weeks later against the Jaguars.

The Broncos didn’t get a sack until Week 4 and didn’t force a turnover until Week 5. The pass rush was mostly nonexistent through the first three weeks of play, and when it did finally start to pick up, the Broncos lost Bradley Chubb to an injury.

The Von Miller-Chubb duo was expected to destroy opposing quarterbacks. It hasn’t and it won’t now that Chubb is out for the year and Fangio is still without a dominant inside linebacker to make his defense work (something he had throughout his time with the 49ers).

Denver would be better off going the rebuild route at this point. — James Brady

The Dallas Cowboys, who flounder against good teams

Unlike the other teams on this list, the Cowboys have a winning record. They’re tied atop their division. They’re still a good bet to make the playoffs. There have been times this season when they’ve looked unbeatable.

And yet, I can’t help but be disappointed by how toothless they’ve been against fellow contenders. I expected them to take that next step this year as a Super Bowl contender. I thought I saw it early in the season, when the offense was creative and looked dominant enough to make up for the defense’s slower start. Then, in back-to-back games against the Saints and Packers, the Dallas offense couldn’t do much of anything.

In both losses, turnovers and a less effective running game hurt the Cowboys. Dak Prescott struggled to move the offense at all against the Saints and by the time he found his footing against the Packers, it was too late.

The defense, despite holding the Saints to 12 points, didn’t do its part either. It forced just one turnover and gave up 100+ yards on the ground in both games — a common theme in the team’s losses — including four rushing touchdowns to Packers running back Aaron Jones. Although the pass rush came alive against the Saints (five sacks), it has been quiet in other games and ranks in the bottom half of the league.

Special teams hasn’t been good either, with kicker Brett Maher making only 4 of his 7 field goal attempts so far.

Fans’ confidence has plummeted during this two-game skid, and it’s hard to blame them despite the small sample size. These Cowboys can easily handle teams like the Giants, Washington, and the Dolphins. But they roll over against opponents with winning records.

There’s still room for optimism, though. The Cowboys have been a stronger team in the second half of the season in each of the past two years, and a healthier offensive and defensive line would do wonders to help fix their biggest problems.

Dallas just needs to prove it can beat teams it could potentially meet in the playoffs. Otherwise, it’ll seem like these are the same old Cowboys we’ve seen for more than two decades: good enough to make the playoffs, but not good enough to make it to Championship Weekend. — Sarah Hardy

Which team has disappointed you most so far in 2019? Is it a team we included or another one? Let us know in the comments.