#every accusation by a genocidal majority is a confession

[curtwilde]

TW: Rape, violent language, islamphobia.

On Slide 3 you can see the vile genocidal fantasies of hindutva ghouls towards grieving Palestinian mothers and children, and yet they'll whine about safety of Hindu women just to demonize Muslim men. Please remember every accusation from the Hindutva genocidal majority is a confession.

Source

This is what hindutvavadis - even the soft sanghis here on tumblr - support and align themselves with. This is what they believe and what they vote for.

[itshistoryyall]

Part 5: Wrapping Up Europe

(Holy Roman Empire) 

I am not gonna lie, that last section exhausted me. It took some time to get back into a researching worthy headspace. Regardless, this section will be much shorter and will put us up to speed so that we can end with the Salem Witch Trials, and perhaps some modern witch hunts and why that terminology is confusing for the U.S. President to use.

These next trials have casualties numbering in the thousands and occur during one of history’s most tumultuous time periods. Beginning with the Würzburg Trials in 1626, the executions lasted through 1631 with only 219 taking place within the city proper. By comparison, Bamberg, a city with the largest death count, numbered in the thousands. A bit of background before we dive in—the Holy Roman Empire (800-1806) encompassed much of central and western Europe, including all of what is now Germany. During the late 16th/17th centuries the world experienced a period of atypically cold temperatures that caused crop failures, deep freezes, poor survival of livestock, and a higher risk of disease. This is referred to as The Little Ice Age, and as you can imagine pushed tensions to a precipice and made people suspicious. Quickly, all of the calamity that had befallen the common man was blamed on the mystical, and it was believed that only a supernatural force could account for the loss a normal way of life. As we progress through a few decades, there were sporadic executions for witchcraft under each prince-bishop’s rule in Bamberg; however, the real trouble starts with Johann Georg Fuch von Dornheim in 1626. One night a severe frost decimated crops and livestock in a large area, and the slowly fizzled-out witch hunts resumed their prior intrigue—this time with a few major changes. Times were tough, and officials needed a better way to execute witches without wasting precious firewood, so a large crematorium was constructed in the epicenter of the executions. Additionally, Bamberg constructed a large prison to house the insurmountable number of accused. The prison called a Drudenhaus or Malefizhaus, were large structures built with single cells for individuals as well as larger cell sections that could house larger groups of prisoners. The structure in Bamberg, has been all but completely destroyed in our current time, and we have little information on what it actually looked like, but what we do know comes from prints that were illustrated within a pamphlet distributed during the time of the executions. In the prints we can see some of the layout of these prisons as well as some inscriptions on plaques above the entrance.

“And at this house, which is high, every one who passeth by it shall be astonished and shall hiss; and they shall say, ‘Why hath the Lord done thus unto this land and to this house?’

 9 And they shall answer, ‘Because they forsook the Lord their God who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have taken hold upon other gods, and have worshiped them and served them; therefore hath the Lord brought upon them all this evil.’”(1 Kings 9:8-9)

The other passages were in a medieval dialect of German that was difficult to translate, so I did not, but there were also passages from the Bible covering the walls within the hallways. Those accused of witchcraft were held here and tortured. I don’t know if any of this is starting to sound really familiar or not, but it seems to me as if it shares a few similarities to a large-scale genocide that occurred about three centuries after these events.[1]

(Picture Public Domain)

One of the most important sources of information that we have regarding the torture of prisoners is the letter that one of the victims, Johannes Junius, had written to his daughter explaining his confession of practicing witchcraft. He mentions in the letter that he had already been tortured, and that some kindly executioner told him that if he didn’t confess in some way that he would continue to be tortured until it killed him. Since Johannes had already faced severe torture, he decided to take the less painful route and confess to the crimes that he was falsely accused of. In the margins of the note he details that some of his accusers apologized to him because they were also forced to accuse him with the threat of torture.[2] The executions and torture went on for quite some time until the working class began to realize that no one was safe from the accusations which were synonymous with execution at this point, and began to refuse to contribute fire wood, or other important materials that were needed to perform the executions. The final nail in the coffin, after the chancellor of Bamberg himself, was the execution of a wealthy woman named Dorothea Flock. She was the second wife of the city’s councilor whose first wife was also executed for witchcraft. Dorothea’s family quickly tried to have her released and every effort was thwarted. Eventually, her husband entreated the highest council of Germany known as the Hofrat to send release documents to have her taken out of the prison and returned home. However, the witch hunters were tipped off about the arrival of the letters, and they executed Dorothy before they had a chance to be delivered. This did have a positive outcome, though, and the trials were halted pending an investigation by the Hofrat in 1630, leading the Catholic Church to blame the bishop for the issue. There remained a small trickle of executions for two more years until the Swedish Protestant troops arrived in Bamberg and released the remaining prisoners asking that they refrain from divulging information regarding the activities taking place inside the prison walls.

The last European trial I wanna talk about is not so much a trial as it is a giant historical scandal which are by far the most fun topics to research when sifting through a ton of material. It is called the Affair of Poisons, and it took place in France during King Louis XIV’s rule between 1677-1682. This is not a prominent number of casualties; however, it is one of the closest occurrences to the trials that occurred in the American Colonies. I find this particular event especially interesting because this is the only case where some essence of a realistic explanation is the root cause of the accusations and consequential executions. It all began with a tale as old as time—an arbitrary case of a woman conspiring to poison her father and two brothers so that she and her lover could inherit the estates and money. The accused, Marie Madeleine d’Aubray, marquise de Brinvilliers, was a part of a Parisian fad to dabble in the spiritual and exciting aspects of magic, and she visited her regular spiritual councilor to procure the poison that she used to murder her family. Often this popular fad would include seances, fortune-telling, and love potions that were very très chic at the lavish parties that the French aristocracy was widely known for, and its popularity spanned the gap between classes including bourgeoisie and poorer peoples of France.

The fun was short-lived, however, and Marie’s trial drew a lot of attention and spurred the anxieties of other nobles who were afraid something similar might happen to them. A special court was instituted to help quell these panic-driven accusations. Known as chambre ardente, or burning court, the court held 210 sessions over three years and issued 319 arrests.[3] Once fortune tellers were arrested for providing poisons to murderers, they gave up lists of their clients—these lists gave no distinction between those who might have had a spiritual reading versus those that had purchased a poison with the intent to murder someone. The most famously known execution is that of Madame Monvoisin, whose client list included marquises, family of clergy members, military heroes, and many more of France’s most elite members of society—including, Madame de Montespan, mistress to the king. Montespan was accused of having won the king’s love via potions and other nefarious and manipulative magical means, but it is important to note that she was interrogated while intoxicated and was never proven to have taken part in these dealings. The tribunal that was established to deal with these cases is notable because it is one of the only witch hunts to have been conducted so professionally, and with far less of the hysterics that were typical of other trials on this scale. There were only 36 people sentenced to death and many others were not even brought to trial.

So concludes our European adventures, and I think that we can without a doubt say that it doesn’t even begin to end there. There are still so many other cases that I didn’t look into because of the sheer amount of information that needed sorting through, but I hope that the important information about this topic was conveyed clearly and in a memorable way. I know that I certainly learned a lot from this part of the project, and I’m looking forward to finishing it with the conclusions we can draw, the historical implications of these events, and the parallels that we can draw from these events that reflect on recent and current events. See you guys in America circa 1692!

[1] That would be the Holocaust that I’m referring to here. You know, the one where they built prisons that they tortured people in on massive scales? Wait, wasn’t that about religious intolerance too? It’s almost like it’s always about religious intolerance….weird

[2] (History Muse, 1628)

[3] (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2010)

[mychristopherstokes66world]

What we know: >Temple is made of plywood/concrete, light enough to support underground tunneling underneath. >Trump has not been on the lolita express and it's a false herring for the media to attempt to generate an attachment between Trump/Epstein only to fail afterwards when there is proven to be no link. >Tucker Carlson is a pizzagate regular / comet ping pong VIP. We need to ask him what chidlren on pizza taste like and if he knows how to make synthetic adrenachrome. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/05/AR2007070501270.html http://nymag.com/nymag/rss/travel/washingtondc/index3.html >Flynn knows where the bodies are buried. What is under epstein island -- confirmed? Kill/rape rooms, black projects, and hosting an evil off world entity at the very bottom. https://thedevilman666.blogspot.com/https://www.facebook.com/groups/qanonreports https://twitter.com/CIACLOWN1 https://www.bitchute.com/channel/ciaclown16661 >People in boats reporting to hear screams near the island or eerie sound distortions like: 

No wonder you keep fucking losing, you use the same tactics you've been using since biblical times. >Be subversive pieces of shit >Cause cultural upheaval >People start noticing >Keep going hard because the goys are dumb >Get genocided and/or removed like the cancer you are >play victim regroup and try again You think you'd learn after the 100th time it won't work like that. ou all have been missing out on some epic sauce. Let's start with Crazy Days and Night Blog today's blind item: The Retail King > the renovations on 71st street started and so did the fighting. Lots of demands, about not wanting public disclosure of details. Major disagreements with the planning commission and code officials. There were digging request (like the ones you hear about going on in London today). It was a constant uproar. The technology RK was putting in had never been seen before. It was causing serious issues with the neighbors, the city, historical committees and Con Ed. Lots of legal going back and forth. Every now and then, tidbits would make the papers but a lot the club got to hear at Vera’s, did not. Then this article makes some astonishing connections and shows infiltration of NHS in UK by the Mossad. The Epstein Associate Nobody's Ever Heard of: >I have a story to tell you. A story that causes my heart to pound and my blood pressure to rise as I type each and every word. A true story of a woman of great wealth and power, who rode on Jeffrey Epstein’s “Lolita Express” private jet on several occasions. She appears to be a German-born Israeli state intelligence operative based in London. An ex-model whose name appeared in the Panama Papers from the Mossack Fonseca leaks and who became embroiled in a FIFA corruption scandal with Sepp Blatter and his family. She is perhaps the closest example that you could possibly find to a real-life “Bond Girl.” Yet, she is almost completely unknown to the majority of us. https://theswamp.media/the-epstein-associate-nobody-s-talking-about-the-idf-linked-bond-girl-infiltrating-the-uk-nhs Creepy af ^^^^ And this: Israel runs UK child abuse rings: 40 Friends of Israel who made the unthinkable real... The Zionist modus operandi for shaping politics, foreign policy and public opinion includes the use of Organised Child Sexual Abuse and Child Trafficking as a tool for rewarding, entrapping, controlling (blackmailing) and, when necessary, removing, parliamentarians and other key public office holders and VIPs. The organised, widespread trafficking and sexual abuse of children is employed throughout the world, including in the British Isles for decades, as an effective tool for advancing the cause and agenda of Greater Israel.trafficking and sexual abuse of children is employed throughout the world, including in the British Isles for decades, as an effective tool for advancing the cause for Greater Israel. Found here..so much sauce, so many connections: https://ift.tt/2XMDMrT THEN we have a massive media push to eliminate Barak who is challenging Bibi for PM...was he set up by BIBI's MOSSAD? (pic related). There is more than enough sauce to show that Epstein was MOSSAD and his blackmail material has been helping BIBI run the USA from behind the curtain for a very long time. That he is now deflecting and shoving Barak into the camera with Epstein associations will he be able to avoid such an association himself? CAN he claim he had NO IDEA what the MOSSAD was doing under his lengthy watch? Sloppy Job MOSSAD--BIBI is not getting out of this one. NOT THIS TIME.

i think we have forgotten a key player... Rachel Chandler. Read thread: https://twitter.com/qblueskyq/status/1108870314442846216?lang=en

also why is no one talking about tucker carlson being a pizzagate vip??? http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/05/AR2007070501270.html in the article about comet pingpong it says Tucker visited that place along with other notables

Dyncorp. Same one that the Vegas shooter ran through.

>Where is Maxwell? She is the key.

Here she is. The foundation she created (Terramar Project) that was funded by the Clintons closed its doors the other day.

>It's just a coincidence, goy.

Former Israeli PM Ehud Barak Gave Harvey Weinstein Info on Israeli Firm Hired to Fight Accusations

Barak unwittingly gave Weinstein information that helped him reach out to Israeli firm Black Cube, hired to research his accusers and to scuttle reports of his sexual abuse

https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/ex-pm-barak-gave-weinstein-info-on-israeli-firm-hired-to-fight-accusations-1.5463816

 In the meantime check out the new drone footage from yesterday- shows the island has an ambulance for some reason.

you'd think all the street boys playing around the ping pong tables would be off putting. I wouldn't think so...seems like an environmental hazard. He was busted for building illegally on Greater St James, so I think it's entirely plausible he flaunts any related laws. https://ift.tt/2JIREKc Also not sure what these are. Carpet? For being so unkempt, there sure is a lot of reno work going on all of the sudden....hope by the time the feds get there nothing major has gone "missing". Whether you believe in the occult, or not…they do. Epstein Island is a Satanic (Saturnian) Sacrificial Temple astronomically aligned to herald the transition of the Age of Pisces into the Age of Aquarius. In specific, TODAY, July 16th, 2019, the Half-Blood Thunder Moon Eclipse. On the Alignments: *The Sundial faces the 11th Hour (Aquarius is the 11th Sign) *The Azimuth through the Compass to the front doors of the Temple intersects Aquarius in the sky, and the "Tennis Court" on the ground *The Azimuth through the Sundial to the front doors of the Temple intersects Aquarius on February 19th (Boundary Stone Day/Terminus (Rome)), the Zenith of Orion, directly through the Boundary Stones just outside of the Sundial. Also, February 19th (Terminus) 180 degree opposite is July 19th (Anniversary of the death of JFK, Jr.)  *The Temple is a Sun Temple (Gold Dome) *The Temple features Neptune (ruler of Pisces/12th Sign) opposite Pan/Satyr/Saturn (ruler of Aquarius/11th Sign), with the symbolic "doorway" in between. This is also confirmed on the Sundial, with the 12th Hour offset and overlaid on the 11th Hour.  *Pan leads the children (to the sacrifice) *The Temple faces South (Capricorn/Saturn)  The July 16th 2019 Half-Blood Thunder Moon Eclipse: *Moon/Eclipse is in 24 degrees Capricorn (ruled by Pan/Saturn) *24 degrees Capricorn is Decan Star 3 (the Peacock), also known as the Parrot (hence the birds on the temple), facing West. *Saturn (Planet) is in conjunction with Pluto (Hell)  *Mercury is Retrograde (draining the Sun) More on the Sundial: *The Gnomon is set at 42 degrees (42 negative confessions of Ma'at, 42 degrees is the angle of light that enters the eye) *The size of the inner circle is set/measured by the shadow cast by the gnomon. While the stone outer circle is set/measured by the shadow cast by the 14 benches (which cast a trilothon).  *The 14 benches represent the 14 pieces of Osiris. https://imgshare.io/image/screenshot-2019-07-16-23-46-192.aLJvZ https://imgshare.io/image/screenshot-2019-07-16-23-46-552.aLu5Y https://imgshare.io/image/screenshot-2019-07-16-23-46-442.aLKJF https://imgshare.io/image/screenshot-2019-07-16-23-46-572.aLVR5 https://imgshare.io/image/screenshot-2019-07-16-23-46-332.aLgvu

[pridge]

The Capital of Cambodia - and the Genocide!!

Right where did I leave off…..am not actually sure as I sit writing this without wifi to check! So this may remain in if I don’t decide to edit it.

Firstly, for my own recollection, I am not sure if I mentioned the very cool cocktail bar I discovered way back in Saigon. Up some dark steps directly opposite my Airbnb, no signs at all. And then just a dark door you basically had to knock to enter. All based on US speakeasy’s in probation. Very cool. Although when I say discovered….that isn’t entirely true. As its on google and tripadvisor! But Columbus discovered America, and a French guy “discovered “ Angor Wat. So I’m claiming this!! There was also a really nice craft beer place just round the corner with a 3rd floor roof bar – so a height I can cope with.

As a segway back to current timeline. I now have rest of trip booked up and mapped out. Am due back in Saigon on Friday 13th, and then start my organised tour up the coast of Vietnam. I have subsequently left Siem Reap and currently in Cambodian capital of Phonm Pen. I had a pretty relaxing time in Siem Reap. Although nothing too exciting to report. Had a few beers and meals with a cool US defence lawyer called Dalin, who was also travelling alone. A lot of politics laden conversations, as a shared interest, as well as reflecting on travelling, culture and life. We had very similar views on the world, as he comes from west coast he is lucky to be in the majority there of being as bemused by Trump as we the rest of us. I also, hopefully, got over the worst of my final MBA module, largely sat in front of/under fans drinking iced coffee in various spots. Got a couple of daytimes set aside here the next couple of days to more or less finish my final assignment. So fingers crossed I have got the hang of this corporate finance stuff now!!

Had a very easy coach journey down to Phonm Pen. Chose to go with the quicker air-conditioned option, rather than mixing with locals and most backpackers on the $4 cheaper option. Despite the hotel pick-up not turning up until after we were due to leave, that seems fine over here, and there was unseasonal rains which appeared to cause chaos on the local roads! Only minor annoyance on the coach was the woman in the seat behind me seemed to not understand the concept of earphones – and had her music playing out of some form of mini-stereo. Luckily I just hid under my sound reducing earphones – but am sure probably annoyed hell out of a lot of rest of passengers.

Having then easily found my hotel in Phonm Pen, and having to turn down dozens of requests for “tuk tuk” from the local drivers – who all seemed totally bemused I’d want to walk 1km or less to my hotel!! Perfectly ok hotel in central area – I think. Right by night market which I may go and explore one evening. Headed out having refreshed myself to Larry’s Bar & Grill. Essentially seems to be an expat establishment, run and owned by Larry. Who was actually sat out front playing chess with a friend whilst I was there it turned out. Tough life!! Anyone who’s read my Facebook will also know that at this point I allowed myself to enter into a conversation with a slightly unhinged Swedish guy. My instincts were saying not to – but also I am aware that I shouldn’t just exist in my own bubble of the world.

As it turns out he was an alcoholic, who recently gave up weed. He was also essentially on a sex tour of asia, which he appears to do on a regular basis. And it turns out he is rather right-wing compared to me. Blames immigrants for his company folding, when in fact he basically admitted that GPS meant his taxi firm folded as competition became too hot. He was then also a BMW car salesman – but lost his job after some form of argument with his boss (who I checked – was not an immigrant). He was predicting the collapse of the Swedish economy due to the number of free-loading foreigners that were breaking their social security system. I know far too little about Sweden to possibly comment on the factual accuracy of this. Anyway, I listened, I felt disgusted at his views. But interesting to hear a different view point. I also had what I think he thought was great live advice from him, where he was telling me about this crazy prostitute he’d seen a few times in Thailand. He’d broken one of his own rules, which essentially is not to spend more than one time with a prostitute. But she then started acting crazy….his words….because she had fallen in love with him….which led to his great advice of essentially “don’t allow yourself to fall in love with a prostitute, especially a Thai one”. This was seen as good advice by him as it meant he could just walk away from this apparently crazy Thai prostitute. Just a different world out there – and one I frankly can’t stand, or understand, and don’t like.

I then had a few cold beers at the extortionate price of £1 a pint vs 70p in Siem Reap, and a bite to eat. And found myself talking to a very nice Australian/New Zealand couple. Both on their last night in Cambodia before heading back to Sydney. We had some long conversations, and we were all equally bemused by the whole “ladies” bars in Phonm Pen, which I’d heard from others about, and there are similar in Saigon I think. Where basically as a western guy you pay slightly more than normal for your beer, but you end up having a number of local girls who work there hanging on your every word. They are not officially prostitutes it seems….but can be….all very confusing and weird. I think I would rather sit on my own with my book than to have women pretend to be interested in me because that’s there job!!

Anyway, enough about prostitutes. As a complete and utter opposite. Visited the S-21 museum and the Killing Fields today. Bit hard to know where to start really. Having visited German concentration camps in Poland, the holocaust museum in Jerusalem and more recently the very hard hitting Vietnam War museum in Saigon, I was wondering how this would impact me. Both were exceptionally well done – and had really great audio tours.

The  S-21 prison, was essentially an old school that was converted into a prison for interrogation. And on this they did not hold back. I’d be doing it something of a disservice if I didn’t at least try and describe it a bit – as best I can. First off, well it is a school. And they converted into into a place of torture and horror.

Actually – step back briefly. So a few bits of context for Cambodia. In a nutshell they suffered due to the Vietnam War and Cold War going on at the time – with essentially first a French and then a US back government – which always ends well. The last of these was put in power in 1970 as the Vietnam war was just going from bad to worse for the USA. At the same time there were the Khmer Rouge building up their power in the mountain and jungle villages, essentially a vaguely communist, but largely nationalist, party. Led by the secretive Pol Pot, it seems very few of his people knew his real intentions. Essentially he wanted to return Cambodia to how it was in the 10th-12th century. And by that I don’t mean being a strong empire again, although he did want that, but he wanted to do that by returning to a rural agrarian society. Essentially he wanted to dismantle the current country and rebuild it in a rose tinted image of its past.

Having come to power in 1975 – with another glorious American airlift to empty their embassy. The Khmer Rouge then proceeded to order the evacuation of all the cities and relocation of people to the countryside. Keeping in mind, for example, that Phonm Pen had approx. 3m people there at the time. Within weeks, the estimated population was 50,000 loyal Khmer Rouge. Alongside this, they decided the only way to achieve Pol Pot’s vision was to eradicate intellectuals, artists, teachers – in fact wearing glasses meant you probably just disappeared.

This eventually led to an estimated 1 in 4 people being killed either directly or indirectly (disease, starvation etc caused by the forced relocations of people to the countryside). Let that sink in. 1 in 4. That was 3m people in 4 years. 3m is a lot – although sadly other genocides have bigger numbers sadly. The figure of 1 in 4. If you still have your parents, and a sibling. That means one of you would have been dead by the end of this. Imagine losing 1 in 4 of all the people you knew, or of your friends. And often not knowing what happened to them, or if you knew they had died, where their bodies were. 25% of one countries whole population – means no-one was unaffected. No-one. It is a deep scar that it is hard to imagine how to ever heal, or even what damage it has done to the collective as well as individual psyche.

S-21. Where people were interrogated under the most terrible torture until they admitted to essentially anything. They were water-boarded (the gentle sound US name), they were locked in tanks full of biting insects, they were beaten bloody, they had fingers and toes cut off. All whilst spending most of their days either locked in unbearably tiny and hot cells, or perhaps worse, in large rooms chained to multiple other prisoners. They were not meant to be killed….as this was just meant to extract confessions. And in the end everyone confessed, which would lead to more arrests and more torture. When I say they confessed, I mean they signed that what they were being accused of was true and to give names of others. People were tortured into saying they were CIA and KGB agents (often at the same time), and often without knowing what the hell the CIA or KGB even were. Several of the blocks had barbed wire put up over the front of the building to stop people making attempts at suicide if they ever managed to get the brief chance to do so. And who could blame them for trying.

There were 12 known survivors of this place. 12, from the 100’s and 1000’s that passed through the doors. They escaped in 1979 when the Vietnamese army invaded Cambodia and overthrew Pol Pot (more on that in a bit).

The whole of S-21 was harrowing. And to see the pictures of the teenagers who basically ran the place – and to wonder how do people end up being able to justify torturing other human beings. And for what end? Did they really believe that they were getting accurate confessions. The whole thing was just a nightmare crazy.

Following that we leapt back on our bus to head to the Killing Fields. Of which there are more than 300 in Cambodia. These were the sites of mass execution that would come on the back of the torture – or just because you were an intellectual or a teacher, or in the wrong place at the wrong time. This particular one outside Phnom Pen had somewhere around 20,000 victims. And in keeping with Pol Pots vision this was not industrial genocide. This was done with crowbars, farm equipment, machetes or anything they had to hand. If Hitler’s holocaust was the disgusting pinnacle of organised industrial genocide, then this was, well I am not sure what it was. I think the only way to sum it up was one particular tree that they have evidence that shows was used to kill babies. And I literally mean by smashing their skulls against it before throwing them in a big pit. Just writing that makes me want to cry.

Once again though so many people say they were just following orders, or were scared for themselves or their own families. And who wouldn’t be under one of the most brutal regimes ever seen. The challenge for me though is how does a society allow itself to get to a stage where it even allows orders like this to become normal. How does it become normal to work as a concentration camp guard, or to work at a Stalinist gulag, or force millions of Armenians to match and starve to death in winter, or enforce the Cultural Revolution in China….and and and. The worst and though is what would any of us do differently in the circumstances. Undoubtedly there were monsters who could barely be classed as human giving the orders, or near the top, and even in the rank and file doing the doing. But that can’t explain the scale of any of this.

Similar to Nazi Germany, the Khmer Rouge deliberately dehumanized those it saw as a threat and wanted killed. For me this dehumanisation is what scares me the most. It is why I abhor racism, sexism, bigots and to a certain extent populism. As soon as you start seeing one human as less a human than you that can be a really slippy slope towards many many worse things. I believe people are fundamentally good – and often it is circumstances or context that leads people to do bad or evil things. But how do societies stop such atrocities and genocides in the future. I just don’t know. Rwanda was so recent. And the UK, USA, Russia, China, Australia and the UN were still recognising the Khmer Rouge as the “rightful government” of Cambodia as recently as 1991. 12 years after they’d actually been deposed by Vietnamese troops – and there is surely no way these atrocities were unknown. So the leaders of the world put politics and the Cold War above their own ethics and morals. And that is also scary. Again though, the context is hard, as I was too young to really remember the Cold War and the impact that had.

Overall, as you can probably tell it was a very moving and thought provoking day. Upsetting is an understatement.

To help process all that had a lovely long walk along the river here. They have a beautiful promenade that stretches quite some way. I waited for it a cool down a bit first, but was nice to stretch my legs for first time in ages. Also, it took me all the way down into what can only be described as a real locals area – but in the sense that there were lots of bars and restaurants in some sort of retail park – by a nightmarket – but all just locals there. Almost as if that is there way to avoid us tourists!

There is still obvious French influence in Phonm Pen – not just the street names, but a lot of the food and restaurants still have a very French flavour to them. So to finish on a more positive note – this place is a buzzing city, and hasn’t allowed itself to forget its past – both good and bad. But has endured and carried on. Maybe that is the essence of the human condition.

Am now just having a quiet beer and considering what to eat. Think I will retreat into a book as well as far too much thinking done today!!

[torreygazette]

Why Compare the BHI and the KKK?

The latest social media spat within Protestantism surrounds a statement made by the known celebrity apologist Dr. James White involving the BHI and KKK.

The Black Hebrew Israelites (BHI) are a fairly new sect that has developed in the religious world—particularly America. Multiple positions they hold are counter to historic Christian views. Some articulations of their views are nuanced but the primary focus is that Africans and others impacted by the Atlantic slave trade are the true Israel (e.g. "Hebrews") and thus God’s chosen people. They reference Old Testament prophecies to establish this, but after this generic premise, a chasm between different sects arise. For the purpose of this article I will mention the extreme viewpoints of some in this camp:

White people will be slaves and oppressed in New Heavens & New Earth

White people are the Edomites and evil

Other extreme comments can be found regarding violence to white people, who they view as evil. They also believe in observance of the Old Testament laws and thus have a works righteousness dynamic—they oppose any reformation soteriology. There are hardly any connections to of historic orthodox, catholic Christianity.

With many criticisms of doctrine in the camp of the BHI, it remains hard to equate them with the doctrine and historical actions of the KKK. This is what makes Dr. White's comment so historically invalid and reprehensible. I quote:

“These people are racist in a way that make the KKK look like amateurs, in comparison to these guys. They get away with it because they are of a different color and you can be racist if you're that color.  But … this is the worst example of using and abusing religion as a cover for racism that you’ll ever see.”

The majority of Dr. James Whites followers have decided to insert the word “today's/modern time” to justify the claim that the BHI has more impact and growth than the KKK/white supremacist in our present communities:

The original statement—“the worst example…that you’ll ever see”—in Dr. White’s quote shows that this is not limited to the current time period, but even if we ignore close to hundreds of years and focus merely on recent history is this claim true? Dr. White highlights the religious tones of the BHI but relatively ignores that the KKK has claimed to be a “Christian” organization throughout its tenure. As recently as 2014, a leader of the Traditionalist American Knights of the KKK argued that they are a “Christian” organization. It is an extreme claim that BHI as a group are the worst example of using and abusing religion as a cover for racism—let alone to the extent of making the KKK seem like amateurs.

Political Examples

In 2015, a radical group that goes by Anonymous released documents outing possible/potential KKK members. This list includes people like Frazier Glenn Miller, convicted of the murder of three people at a Jewish site in Kansas 2014 (still pretty recent). The list has been shown to not be entirely accurate, but it still demonstrates a noticeable KKK present in the United States of America that is unmatched by BHI. Wikipedia has sources for a list of purported—and relatively recent—politicians associated with the KKK:

Robert Byrd, Hugo Black, Edward Jackson, Rice Means, Clarence Morely, Bibb Graves, Clifford Walker, George Gordon, John Tyler Morgan, Edmund Pettus, John Brown Gordon, John Clinton Porter, David Duke, Benjamin F. Stapleton, Warren G. Harding, Harry S. Trueman.

This list includes politicians from the 1920’s until the 1980’s, ending with David Duke, a guy that (poorly) attempted to run for president. Yes, he lost, but to even be considered a possible candidate for president of the United States shows a level of societal influence and impact that no member of the BHI has ever had. President Trueman's (1945) connection to the KKK is not solid, but circumstantial evidence has created a likelihood that he was connected to this domestic terrorist group. Pure numbers show that even with the recent growth of BHI it is nowhere near ingrained in the fabric of American society as the KKK and white supremacist thought.

Recent Examples

On June 17, 2015, a young white male named Dylann Roof entered into a bible study at an African Methodist Episcopal church. He sat there as if genuinely attempting to fellowship with these beloved saints. Ultimately, he shot and killed nine people in that church. Later, reasons for the shooting became known because he confessed a desire to start a race war. Other details have come out showing the murderer posing with symbols of white supremacy and neo-Nazism.

Considering I write this is 2018, I hope this event is not dismissed as out of “today’s context” by people attempting to limit the scope of Dr. White's claims. If the theoretical impact and growth of BHI supposedly exceeds the KKK, I’d expect to hear about the BHI community committing mass genocide or having a serial killer in their midst. As of yet, that is not the case. Yet, it is not a mere theory of a Christian apologist personality that nine funerals were held to lay these saints to rest.

Further, how much actual history do we have to ignore to force a context that makes this statement true? During my lifetime there are multiple examples of terror by the KKK.

On June 7, 1998, James Byrd was murdered by three white supremacists in Jasper, Texas. They dragged his body behind a pickup truck on an asphalt road. What led to this tragedy? Nothing but hate for black people, the same ideology that fuels the KKK. Mr. Byrd accepted a ride home and was murdered. Not just murdered but tortured. They beat him severely, urinated and defecated on him, and chained him by his ankles to their pickup truck before dragging him for approximately 1.5 miles. One of the murderers had a patch that showed his affiliation with a gang of white supremacist known as the Confederate Knights of America. This gang is directly tied to the KKK. For a group that some claim has a lack of influence and decreasing violence in recent decades, examples like these show otherwise.

Similarly, the last recorded lynching by the KKK was in 1981. The lynching of Michael Donald. His body hung from a tree in Mobile, Alabama. No matter what his accused crime was, the United States does not conduct law and order in this manner with no trial taking place. This type of terror has never been attributed to a BHI group.

We can disagree with the BHI's theology and their vile comments, but are we really going to compare words and threats with funeral services and actual death? Even if words are to be compared with actions, there are white supremacist groups that talk just as vile as BHI. It is only a broken logical process that assesses a position which says horrible things as worse than a position that says similar things and has actually fulfilled its threats.

1981 is not so long ago. This lynching happened during my lifetime. Michael Donald was born in 1961 and more than likely he’d still be alive today! The grandmother and grandfather of my kids are still alive and were born around this same time period. How can we state that this reign of terror is not apart of the current context when people born the same year are still alive and active today?

I truly believe the statements made by Dr. White and currently defended vigorously by his supporters are horribly wrong. No matter what spin is put on the statement, it is false and playing off of stereotypes concerning black people in America—the anger and dangerous black male stereotype to be exact. There is no way a verbal threat can be categorized as worst than actual violence. Each example listed in this piece shows actual violence done in the name of white supremacist thought. Even if we limit the scope to say “Dr. White, meant it in today's setting,” we have two murders of people linked back to this thought process (Dylann Roof and Frazier Glenn Miller). We also have the last known lynching being recorded in the lifetime of middle-aged people in America. The only way to prove Dr. White’s claim to be true is to throw out all of history.

Ignore the white supremacists' marches in 2017 and every other example prior to January 1st, 2018, there are still white supremacist groups that say things just as vile and evil as the worst Black Hebrew Israelite quotes. One is left asking why or specifically how this group is defined as the worst! Unfortunately, I can only conclude that this is race baiting at its finest. There is no basis to support Dr. White's comments. He will dig his heels in even more and so will his followers. The fact is that his claims are false.

All of this is similar to how he dug his heels regarding the last racial divisive issue when he grabbed almost every stereotype to apply it to a Black kid that littered and flipped off the cops. (Stereotypes such as “it’s a 70% chance he never met his father,” “he would be the father to kids he will not support,” and other baseless claims.)  Calls for repentance were ignored. He simply got support from his favorite black friends to justify his statements and no repentance ever came forth.

To conclude, I’d like to state that the is no way Black Hebrew Israelites are the worst example for using religion as a cover to hide racism. I do not know if Dr. White is a racist or not, but I do know that with a platform as far-reaching as his, I pray he uses his words and accusations more carefully.

[vioncentral-blog]

HRW Accuses Rwanda of ‘Systematic Use of Torture’ Against Suspected Militants

https://www.vionafrica.cf/hrw-accuses-rwanda-of-systematic-use-of-torture-against-suspected-militants/

HRW Accuses Rwanda of ‘Systematic Use of Torture’ Against Suspected Militants

The report, entitled "'We Will Force You to Confess': Torture and Unlawful Military Detention in Rwanda," discusses over 100 cases of unlawful military detention and torture from 2010 onward, ignored by the judiciary and legislature.

"Research over a number of years demonstrates that military officials in Rwanda can use torture whenever they please," said Ida Sawyer, Central Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "Impunity for unlawful detention and the systematic use of torture has led many victims to give up all hope for justice."

© AFP 2017/ Gerard JulienRwanda President Secures Third Term With 98% Votes

"The Rwandan government has every right to protect its citizens from armed groups like the FDLR [Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda], but allowing the military to commit heinous crimes only creates mistrust in the government."

The Rwandan government has denied allegations of secret military camps and torture in the past. In March 2016, Rwandan Justice Minister Johnston Busingye told the UN Human Rights Committee that "no interrogation of suspects is carried out" and "no people are imprisoned" at the Kami military camp, one of the sites named by HRW as an illegal military prison.

"[When we arrived] at Kami, I was still blindfolded," one former detainee told HRW. "They told me to lie on the ground. Two soldiers stood on me, one on my head and one on my feet. They stood on me and beat me. Then they made me curl up into a ball, tied me up, and pulled my legs and arms. They did this for hours and kept telling me to confess."

© AFP 2017/ Simon MainaFrance, BNP Paribas Bank Accused of Having Hand in 1994 Rwandan Genocide

Most of the victims of the abuse, according to HRW, were those believed to be associated with the FDLR. The group is comprised of ethnic Hutus, whose traditional rivalry with the Tutsi people, greatly exacerbated by Belgian colonial rule, has led to multiple wars and genocides in the latter half of the 20th century.

Most recently, the Rwandan Civil War and Genocide of 1994 saw 500,000 to 1 million Tutsis butchered by the Hutu-majority government's Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR). Some members of the FDLR were FAR members who helped perpetrate this massacre. The FLDR continues to operate in Rwanda and the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo, where they fled after being ousted from power at the end of the genocide. Their greatest period of activity since the civil war was in 2009, where they killed hundreds of Congolese civilians over dozens of attacks.

FAR was eventually defeated by the Tutsi Rwandan Patriotic Front (FPR), which remains in control of the country to this day. The FPR leader, Paul Kagame, has been president since 2000. Conditions in the country have significantly improved under Kagame, with much greater political stability, healthy economic growth and drastically improved life expectancy. However, there is still significant tension between the Hutu majority — 85 percent of the population — and the Tutsi-controlled FPR.

© AFP 2017/ ERIC PIERMONTFrench Bank Paribas Faces Complaint From NGOs Over its Role in Rwanda Genocide

Kagame has also been accused of undemocratically threatening his political opponents into submission. On Friday, the family of one-time Rwandan presidential hopeful Diane Rwigara said they were denied food and kept in solitary confinement by Rwandan police. Rwigara, a frequent critic of Kagame, has accused him of civil rights violations and in May announced her intention to run against Kagame in the August 2016 presidential election.

The National Electoral Commission disqualified Rwigara and two other candidates from running, saying that she had forged signatures on her presidential bid petition. Rwigara denied the charge, and the act was criticized by human rights group as well as the US and EU. Kagame won the election with 98.8 percent of the vote.

Rwigara, as well as her mother and sister, were arrested in late August on charges of forgery and inciting insurrection.