1margd
Nina Jankowicz | @wiczipedia | 5:37 PM · Aug 9, 2020
Amazing to see these videos popping up on Telegram:
peaceful protestors demanding to see precinct protocols, demanding votes be counted accurately, precinct captains relenting.
In this video opposition candidate Tsikhanouskaya gets more than 90% of the vote. #Belarus
1:32 ( https://twitter.com/wiczipedia/status/1292575874462646273 )
Amazing to see these videos popping up on Telegram:
peaceful protestors demanding to see precinct protocols, demanding votes be counted accurately, precinct captains relenting.
In this video opposition candidate Tsikhanouskaya gets more than 90% of the vote. #Belarus
1:32 ( https://twitter.com/wiczipedia/status/1292575874462646273 )
2margd
Brave people.
max seddon @maxseddon | 5:40 PM · Aug 10, 2020:
The footage streaming in from Minsk, in spite of an internet blockade and
reports the army has been deployed against protesters, is just incredible
0:25 ( https://twitter.com/maxseddon/status/1292939015562440704 )
max seddon @maxseddon | 5:40 PM · Aug 10, 2020:
The footage streaming in from Minsk, in spite of an internet blockade and
reports the army has been deployed against protesters, is just incredible
0:25 ( https://twitter.com/maxseddon/status/1292939015562440704 )
3margd
Alex Kokcharov @AlexKokcharov | 11:00 AM · Aug 12, 2020:
In #Belarus, the state TV is showing visibly terrified detained protesters. They were probably beaten up before their public promises to no longer take part in anti-Lukashenka #protests.
This is happening in #Europe in 2020. Just terrible.
0:17 ( https://twitter.com/AlexKokcharov/status/1293563045709590528 )
From МБХ Медиа
In #Belarus, the state TV is showing visibly terrified detained protesters. They were probably beaten up before their public promises to no longer take part in anti-Lukashenka #protests.
This is happening in #Europe in 2020. Just terrible.
0:17 ( https://twitter.com/AlexKokcharov/status/1293563045709590528 )
From МБХ Медиа
4margd
Belarus honks.
Franak Viačorka @franakviacorka | 9:04 AM · Aug 13, 2020:
Rule of law in action! Policeman is punishing the drivers for illegal honking. No need for bureaucracy.
2:20 ( https://twitter.com/franakviacorka/status/1293896221657096197 )
Franak Viačorka @franakviacorka | 9:04 AM · Aug 13, 2020:
Rule of law in action! Policeman is punishing the drivers for illegal honking. No need for bureaucracy.
2:20 ( https://twitter.com/franakviacorka/status/1293896221657096197 )
5margd
Thai economy was already shaky before COVID... Students really upped the ante in criticizing the monarchy.
Thailand protesters 'cross the Rubicon' and risk all to criticise the monarchy
Rebecca Ratcliffe | 11 Aug 2020
Anger has been building since 2014 coup in which prime minister Prayuth Chan-ocha seized power, with students now holding rallies almost daily
Thai protesters have broken a long-standing taboo, risking lengthy jail terms to criticise the king, after weeks of student-led pro-democracy rallies that have swept across the country.
Over recent weeks, high school and university students have targeted the government of prime minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha, calling for its dissolution and for democratic reforms. Now, some protesters have begun openly criticising the country’s wealthy and powerful monarchy.
Such public comments are highly unusual, and have left the government in a bind. Allowing criticism to pass would undermine the status quo that keeps them in power, say analysts, while cracking down hard on the students could foment further protests and intensify scrutiny of the monarchy.
Thailand has some of the strictest lèse-majesté (wounded majesty) laws in the world, and anyone who “defames, insults or threatens the king, queen, heir-apparent or regent” can face up to 15 years on each charge.
Protests, which are organised by different groups, are broadly united around three demands: dissolve the government, end the intimidation of activists and rewrite the constitution, which was written under military rule and has cemented the army’s power.
On Monday night, at a rally attended by thousands, a protest group went further, issuing a 10-point list for reform of the monarchy. Criticism of the monarchy should be allowed, the king’s budget should be cut, and the monarchy should not interfere with politics, the Thammasat University Pro-Democracy Group said.
...The king, who spends most of his time living in Germany, succeeded his father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, in 2016 and has since strengthened his authority...
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/12/thailand-protesters-cross-the-rubi...
Thailand protesters 'cross the Rubicon' and risk all to criticise the monarchy
Rebecca Ratcliffe | 11 Aug 2020
Anger has been building since 2014 coup in which prime minister Prayuth Chan-ocha seized power, with students now holding rallies almost daily
Thai protesters have broken a long-standing taboo, risking lengthy jail terms to criticise the king, after weeks of student-led pro-democracy rallies that have swept across the country.
Over recent weeks, high school and university students have targeted the government of prime minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha, calling for its dissolution and for democratic reforms. Now, some protesters have begun openly criticising the country’s wealthy and powerful monarchy.
Such public comments are highly unusual, and have left the government in a bind. Allowing criticism to pass would undermine the status quo that keeps them in power, say analysts, while cracking down hard on the students could foment further protests and intensify scrutiny of the monarchy.
Thailand has some of the strictest lèse-majesté (wounded majesty) laws in the world, and anyone who “defames, insults or threatens the king, queen, heir-apparent or regent” can face up to 15 years on each charge.
Protests, which are organised by different groups, are broadly united around three demands: dissolve the government, end the intimidation of activists and rewrite the constitution, which was written under military rule and has cemented the army’s power.
On Monday night, at a rally attended by thousands, a protest group went further, issuing a 10-point list for reform of the monarchy. Criticism of the monarchy should be allowed, the king’s budget should be cut, and the monarchy should not interfere with politics, the Thammasat University Pro-Democracy Group said.
...The king, who spends most of his time living in Germany, succeeded his father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, in 2016 and has since strengthened his authority...
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/12/thailand-protesters-cross-the-rubi...
6GeorgeKhan
This user has been removed as spam.
7margd
Belarus riot police drop shields and are embraced by anti-government protesters
Mary Ilyushina, Frederik Pleitgen and Claudia Otto | August 14, 2020
Minsk, Belarus (CNN)At least 50 Belarus security personnel in riot gear dropped their shields and were embraced by anti-government protesters in Minsk, as demonstrators chanted "brothers" at the police.
The scene unfolded in front of several government buildings in the of the capital. Protesters also shouted, "Sveta -- President," referring to opposition politician Svetlana Tikhanovskaya who says she won the majority in Sunday's highly contested presidential election...
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/14/europe/belarus-protests-riot-police-intl/index.ht...
Mary Ilyushina, Frederik Pleitgen and Claudia Otto | August 14, 2020
Minsk, Belarus (CNN)At least 50 Belarus security personnel in riot gear dropped their shields and were embraced by anti-government protesters in Minsk, as demonstrators chanted "brothers" at the police.
The scene unfolded in front of several government buildings in the of the capital. Protesters also shouted, "Sveta -- President," referring to opposition politician Svetlana Tikhanovskaya who says she won the majority in Sunday's highly contested presidential election...
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/14/europe/belarus-protests-riot-police-intl/index.ht...
8margd
Like Assad and Trump, Lukashenko welcomes Putin help.
Under Siege in Belarus, Lukashenko Turns to Putin
Andrew Higgins and Ivan Nechepurenko | Aug. 15, 2020
MOSCOW — After claiming for weeks that Russia was plotting to overthrow him, President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko of Belarus appealed to the Kremlin on Saturday for help against a wave of protests and strikes triggered by police violence after a disputed presidential election.
Mr. Lukashenko spoke by telephone with President Vladimir V. Putin, Belarus’s state news agency Belta reported, and secured a promise of Russian security assistance should Belarus request it. The agency quoted Mr. Lukashenko as saying that Mr. Putin had pledged that, if needed, “comprehensive assistance will be provided to ensure the security of the Republic of Belarus.”
The Kremlin’s own account of the leaders’ conversation, however, gave no indication that Mr. Putin had offered any concrete support or even a clear endorsement of Mr. Lukashenko’s staying in power.
The Belarus news agency said Mr. Putin had offered help to “ensure the security of Belarus in the event of external military threats,” which suggested that any help from Russia might not include security assistance against domestic threats like protesters.
In its own statement on the talks, the Kremlin said that Mr. Putin had agreed with the Belarusian leader on the need “to strengthen allied relations” and prevent “destructive forces” from using the political turmoil in Belarus to “harm the mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries.”
Mr. Putin and Mr. Lukashenko, the Kremlin said, “expressed confidence that all existing problems will be settled soon.”
As recently as last month, Mr. Lukashenko was accusing Moscow of engineering plots to overthrow his government and even sending mercenaries to Belarus to disrupt the presidential election, which was held last Sunday...
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/15/world/europe/belarus-russia-Lukashenko-Putin....
Under Siege in Belarus, Lukashenko Turns to Putin
Andrew Higgins and Ivan Nechepurenko | Aug. 15, 2020
MOSCOW — After claiming for weeks that Russia was plotting to overthrow him, President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko of Belarus appealed to the Kremlin on Saturday for help against a wave of protests and strikes triggered by police violence after a disputed presidential election.
Mr. Lukashenko spoke by telephone with President Vladimir V. Putin, Belarus’s state news agency Belta reported, and secured a promise of Russian security assistance should Belarus request it. The agency quoted Mr. Lukashenko as saying that Mr. Putin had pledged that, if needed, “comprehensive assistance will be provided to ensure the security of the Republic of Belarus.”
The Kremlin’s own account of the leaders’ conversation, however, gave no indication that Mr. Putin had offered any concrete support or even a clear endorsement of Mr. Lukashenko’s staying in power.
The Belarus news agency said Mr. Putin had offered help to “ensure the security of Belarus in the event of external military threats,” which suggested that any help from Russia might not include security assistance against domestic threats like protesters.
In its own statement on the talks, the Kremlin said that Mr. Putin had agreed with the Belarusian leader on the need “to strengthen allied relations” and prevent “destructive forces” from using the political turmoil in Belarus to “harm the mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries.”
Mr. Putin and Mr. Lukashenko, the Kremlin said, “expressed confidence that all existing problems will be settled soon.”
As recently as last month, Mr. Lukashenko was accusing Moscow of engineering plots to overthrow his government and even sending mercenaries to Belarus to disrupt the presidential election, which was held last Sunday...
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/15/world/europe/belarus-russia-Lukashenko-Putin....
9margd
Thai protests: Thousands gather in Bangkok to demand reforms
8/16/2020
Thousands of protesters staged another anti-government rally in the Thai capital, Bangkok, on Sunday to demand political reforms.
Demonstrators want a revised constitution and are also calling for reform of the monarchy - a sensitive subject in Thailand.
Under Thai law, anyone criticising the royal family faces long prison sentences.
There have been almost daily student-led demonstrations in recent weeks.
Several protest leaders have been arrested.
But organisers said they hoped Sunday's rally would show broader support for change beyond the student groups. Bangkok police said on Sunday evening that about 10,000 attended the protest.
...Observers said Sunday's protest at Bangkok's Democracy Monument was one of the biggest anti-government demonstrations since Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha took power in a 2014 coup...The protesters are demanding that Mr Prayuth - a former general who won disputed elections last year - stand down.
The BBC's Jonathan Head in Bangkok says recent inclusion of the monarchy in the protesters' demands has electrified the debate.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-53798826
8/16/2020
Thousands of protesters staged another anti-government rally in the Thai capital, Bangkok, on Sunday to demand political reforms.
Demonstrators want a revised constitution and are also calling for reform of the monarchy - a sensitive subject in Thailand.
Under Thai law, anyone criticising the royal family faces long prison sentences.
There have been almost daily student-led demonstrations in recent weeks.
Several protest leaders have been arrested.
But organisers said they hoped Sunday's rally would show broader support for change beyond the student groups. Bangkok police said on Sunday evening that about 10,000 attended the protest.
...Observers said Sunday's protest at Bangkok's Democracy Monument was one of the biggest anti-government demonstrations since Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha took power in a 2014 coup...The protesters are demanding that Mr Prayuth - a former general who won disputed elections last year - stand down.
The BBC's Jonathan Head in Bangkok says recent inclusion of the monarchy in the protesters' demands has electrified the debate.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-53798826
10margd
Thai protests: Lawyer Anon Nampa among nine arrested in sweep against activists
8/20/2020
Mr Anon (Nampa), 36, was the first to openly break the taboo (lese-majeste laws) earlier this month, calling for reform at a Harry Potter-themed protest in Bangkok.
Among the others detained after Mr Anon were activists Baramee Chairat, Suwanna Tarnlek and Korakot Saengyenpanm, and a popular rapper, Dechatorn Bamroongmuang from the group Rap for Democracy, who performed at the July protest at Bangkok's Democracy Monument.
They have been charged with sedition and could face prison sentences of up to seven years. Activists said they had seen a police list of 20 more facing possible arrest in the near future.
The protesters are demanding dissolution of the government headed by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, a former army chief who seized power in a 2014 military coup and returned as the country's civilian premier after a controversial election last year.
...Insulting the monarchy in Thailand can mean up to 15 years in jail under the kingdom's lese-majeste law.
The use of this legislation has slowed in recent years as Thai King Vajiralongkorn has let it be known he no longer wants it so widely used. But observers say the government has used other legal routes to target dissent, including the sedition law.
Media captionThe anti-government rally in Bangkok is thought to be the biggest in Thailand for six years
Mr Anon's arrest on Wednesday saw him charged with sedition for a second time this month. He was earlier arrested over the July rally with another activist, Panupong Jaadnok.
This latest arrest is over the Harry Potter-themed protest that took place in Bangkok on 3 August, where Mr Anon had stressed that he wanted to reform, not overthrow, the constitutional monarchy.
He focused in particular on the huge assets of the Crown Property Bureau which, under the late King Bhumibol, had been notionally held in trust for the benefit of the Thai people, but have now been declared the personal property of the king, making him by far the wealthiest person in Thailand.
Mr Anon also questioned King Vajiralongkorn's decision to take personal command of all military units based in Bangkok, something he believes cannot be compatible with a democratic, constitutional monarchy.
...His comments were nothing short of extraordinary in a country where few dare to openly discuss the institution. In recent years, critics of Thailand's monarchy who have fled to neighbouring countries have been abducted and murdered.
Thai police are cracking down on the student-led movement that has given rise to the country's biggest rallies since the coup six years ago.
Protesters seek the resignation of the military-backed government, an end to the harassment of its critics, a new constitution and fresh elections...
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-53844232
8/20/2020
Mr Anon (Nampa), 36, was the first to openly break the taboo (lese-majeste laws) earlier this month, calling for reform at a Harry Potter-themed protest in Bangkok.
Among the others detained after Mr Anon were activists Baramee Chairat, Suwanna Tarnlek and Korakot Saengyenpanm, and a popular rapper, Dechatorn Bamroongmuang from the group Rap for Democracy, who performed at the July protest at Bangkok's Democracy Monument.
They have been charged with sedition and could face prison sentences of up to seven years. Activists said they had seen a police list of 20 more facing possible arrest in the near future.
The protesters are demanding dissolution of the government headed by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, a former army chief who seized power in a 2014 military coup and returned as the country's civilian premier after a controversial election last year.
...Insulting the monarchy in Thailand can mean up to 15 years in jail under the kingdom's lese-majeste law.
The use of this legislation has slowed in recent years as Thai King Vajiralongkorn has let it be known he no longer wants it so widely used. But observers say the government has used other legal routes to target dissent, including the sedition law.
Media captionThe anti-government rally in Bangkok is thought to be the biggest in Thailand for six years
Mr Anon's arrest on Wednesday saw him charged with sedition for a second time this month. He was earlier arrested over the July rally with another activist, Panupong Jaadnok.
This latest arrest is over the Harry Potter-themed protest that took place in Bangkok on 3 August, where Mr Anon had stressed that he wanted to reform, not overthrow, the constitutional monarchy.
He focused in particular on the huge assets of the Crown Property Bureau which, under the late King Bhumibol, had been notionally held in trust for the benefit of the Thai people, but have now been declared the personal property of the king, making him by far the wealthiest person in Thailand.
Mr Anon also questioned King Vajiralongkorn's decision to take personal command of all military units based in Bangkok, something he believes cannot be compatible with a democratic, constitutional monarchy.
...His comments were nothing short of extraordinary in a country where few dare to openly discuss the institution. In recent years, critics of Thailand's monarchy who have fled to neighbouring countries have been abducted and murdered.
Thai police are cracking down on the student-led movement that has given rise to the country's biggest rallies since the coup six years ago.
Protesters seek the resignation of the military-backed government, an end to the harassment of its critics, a new constitution and fresh elections...
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-53844232
11margd
Brave man.
Russia Opposition Leader in Intensive Care After ‘Poisoning’
Anatoly Medetsky and Ilya Arkhipov | August 20, 2020
Russian opposition leader and anti-corruption campaigner Alexey Navalny has been hospitalized with suspected poisoning and is in intensive care, his spokeswoman said Thursday.
Navalny, 44, fell ill on a plane returning to Moscow from the Siberian city of Tomsk, Kira Yarmysh, the spokeswoman, said on Twitter. The aircraft made an emergency landing in Omsk where he was taken to the hospital for treatment of “toxic poisoning” and has been put on a ventilator, she said.
The anti-Kremlin activist is unconscious and in “serious condition,” Yarmysh said. Aides believe something was put in his tea during the visit to meet activists as “it was the only thing he drank from the morning,” she said.
Poison is among the potential causes being investigated, Anatoly Kalinichenko, a doctor at the Omsk clinic where Navalny is hospitalized, told journalists...
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-20/russian-opposition-leader-in-...
Russia Opposition Leader in Intensive Care After ‘Poisoning’
Anatoly Medetsky and Ilya Arkhipov | August 20, 2020
Russian opposition leader and anti-corruption campaigner Alexey Navalny has been hospitalized with suspected poisoning and is in intensive care, his spokeswoman said Thursday.
Navalny, 44, fell ill on a plane returning to Moscow from the Siberian city of Tomsk, Kira Yarmysh, the spokeswoman, said on Twitter. The aircraft made an emergency landing in Omsk where he was taken to the hospital for treatment of “toxic poisoning” and has been put on a ventilator, she said.
The anti-Kremlin activist is unconscious and in “serious condition,” Yarmysh said. Aides believe something was put in his tea during the visit to meet activists as “it was the only thing he drank from the morning,” she said.
Poison is among the potential causes being investigated, Anatoly Kalinichenko, a doctor at the Omsk clinic where Navalny is hospitalized, told journalists...
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-20/russian-opposition-leader-in-...
12margd
Franak Viačorka @franakviacorka | 8:31 AM · Aug 23, 2020:
More than 250K already at the Independence square in Minsk! It’s more than in 1990 when people protested for Independence.
Belarus will be free.
0:31 ( https://twitter.com/franakviacorka/status/1297511764112932865 )
________________________________________
Paul Ronzheimer @ronzheimer | 8:39 AM · Aug 23, 2020:
Police: „Dear citizens, this is an unauthorized mass meeting...
“ But people dont care, even the street which leads to the square is PACKED.
0:16 ( 8:39 AM · Aug 23, 2020 )
https://twitter.com/ronzheimer/status/1297513701680058369
More than 250K already at the Independence square in Minsk! It’s more than in 1990 when people protested for Independence.
Belarus will be free.
0:31 ( https://twitter.com/franakviacorka/status/1297511764112932865 )
________________________________________
Paul Ronzheimer @ronzheimer | 8:39 AM · Aug 23, 2020:
Police: „Dear citizens, this is an unauthorized mass meeting...
“ But people dont care, even the street which leads to the square is PACKED.
0:16 ( 8:39 AM · Aug 23, 2020 )
https://twitter.com/ronzheimer/status/1297513701680058369
13margd
Carter Centre to launch first-ever US election initiative, citing ‘erosion’ of democracy
Exclusive: Democracy promotion group founded by Jimmy Carter will launch US-focused initiative for first time in its history
Richard Hall | 8/22/2020
REUTERS The democracy promotion organisation founded by former president Jimmy Carter is to launch its first United States election initiative this year, citing an “erosion” of democracy in the country.
The Carter Centre has monitored more than 110 elections in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and Asia since 1989 as part of democracy promotion efforts around the world. Although there are no plans yet to monitor polls in the US, this will be the first time it has engaged in a US election.
“We are now at a point where we have taken an institutional decision to explore some direct engagement on US election issues. And this is a departure from our whole history trying not to do that,” David Carroll, director of the centre’s Democracy Programme, told The Independent.
In the past, he added, the centre has prioritised countries where there is “a significant potential for an important change in the quality of democracy”, or where democracy is “under severe threat”...
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-election/carter-center-us-e...
Exclusive: Democracy promotion group founded by Jimmy Carter will launch US-focused initiative for first time in its history
Richard Hall | 8/22/2020
REUTERS The democracy promotion organisation founded by former president Jimmy Carter is to launch its first United States election initiative this year, citing an “erosion” of democracy in the country.
The Carter Centre has monitored more than 110 elections in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and Asia since 1989 as part of democracy promotion efforts around the world. Although there are no plans yet to monitor polls in the US, this will be the first time it has engaged in a US election.
“We are now at a point where we have taken an institutional decision to explore some direct engagement on US election issues. And this is a departure from our whole history trying not to do that,” David Carroll, director of the centre’s Democracy Programme, told The Independent.
In the past, he added, the centre has prioritised countries where there is “a significant potential for an important change in the quality of democracy”, or where democracy is “under severe threat”...
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-election/carter-center-us-e...
14margd
Renew Democracy Initiative @Renew_Democracy | 12:01 PM · Aug 25, 2020
Appeasement doesn’t stop dictators. The free world must.
#Navalny @Kasparov63 @navalny
0:39 ( https://twitter.com/Renew_Democracy/status/1298289496560107521 )
Appeasement doesn’t stop dictators. The free world must.
#Navalny @Kasparov63 @navalny
0:39 ( https://twitter.com/Renew_Democracy/status/1298289496560107521 )
15margd
Bill Kristol @BillKristol | 8:58 AM · Sep 13, 2020
Much of what's happening in the U.S. is depressing. But what's taking place in Minsk is inspiring.
And since that is due in part--only in part, but still truly in part--to the U.S. and to the meaning of the U.S. in the modern world,
it's a reminder to care--a lot--about the U.S.
Quote Tweet
Hanna Liubakova (journalist from Minsk) @HannaLiubakova · 1h
#Belarus. Happening right now in #Minsk. The video shows the current scale of the march.
The interior ministry reported that at least 250 people have already been detained.
Despite all arrests and repressions, people are on the streets again and again - also, all over the country
0:28 ( https://twitter.com/HannaLiubakova/status/1305123264042340358 )
Regional cities have become important of the protests as well.
Thousands of people came out to the streets in #Brest today. All major cities but also smaller ones are protesting today
0:06 ( https://twitter.com/HannaLiubakova/status/1305123888834150405 )
*important centres of the protests. And here's today's march in Mahilou, where thousands of people came out to the streets. This is to show that people are expressing their discontent all across #Belarus. Dozens of people were brutally detained in the regions as well
0:10 ( https://twitter.com/HannaLiubakova/status/1305129053003935745 )
More than 100,000 people are on the streets of #Minsk, as @nashaniva estimates.
But thousands people are also joining from various neighbourhoods.
No,it doesn't stop in spite of all brutality. #Lukashenko's security forces resources are not without limits, it's definitely expensive
0:27 ( https://twitter.com/HannaLiubakova/status/1305130634264928257 )
-----------------------------------------------------------------
ETA:
Franak Viačorka (Minsk journalist) @franakviacorka | 8:33 AM · Sep 13, 2020
Several huge columns like this marching Minsk streets in the direction of Drazdy where Lukashenka resides.
0:05 ( https://twitter.com/franakviacorka/status/1305122501442392065 )
Much of what's happening in the U.S. is depressing. But what's taking place in Minsk is inspiring.
And since that is due in part--only in part, but still truly in part--to the U.S. and to the meaning of the U.S. in the modern world,
it's a reminder to care--a lot--about the U.S.
Quote Tweet
Hanna Liubakova (journalist from Minsk) @HannaLiubakova · 1h
#Belarus. Happening right now in #Minsk. The video shows the current scale of the march.
The interior ministry reported that at least 250 people have already been detained.
Despite all arrests and repressions, people are on the streets again and again - also, all over the country
0:28 ( https://twitter.com/HannaLiubakova/status/1305123264042340358 )
Regional cities have become important of the protests as well.
Thousands of people came out to the streets in #Brest today. All major cities but also smaller ones are protesting today
0:06 ( https://twitter.com/HannaLiubakova/status/1305123888834150405 )
*important centres of the protests. And here's today's march in Mahilou, where thousands of people came out to the streets. This is to show that people are expressing their discontent all across #Belarus. Dozens of people were brutally detained in the regions as well
0:10 ( https://twitter.com/HannaLiubakova/status/1305129053003935745 )
More than 100,000 people are on the streets of #Minsk, as @nashaniva estimates.
But thousands people are also joining from various neighbourhoods.
No,it doesn't stop in spite of all brutality. #Lukashenko's security forces resources are not without limits, it's definitely expensive
0:27 ( https://twitter.com/HannaLiubakova/status/1305130634264928257 )
-----------------------------------------------------------------
ETA:
Franak Viačorka (Minsk journalist) @franakviacorka | 8:33 AM · Sep 13, 2020
Several huge columns like this marching Minsk streets in the direction of Drazdy where Lukashenka resides.
0:05 ( https://twitter.com/franakviacorka/status/1305122501442392065 )
16lriley
How to democracy Rhode Island:
https://www.theintercept.com/2020/09/11/deconstructed-revolution-statehouse/
https://www.theintercept.com/2020/09/11/deconstructed-revolution-statehouse/
17John5918
'The only way to stop violence': why protesters are unmasking Belarus police (Guardian)
During the past month’s uprising against Alexander Lukashenko, riot police and assorted thugs loyal to his regime have been given carte blanche by the Belarusian president to harass, assault and arrest peaceful protesters.
In recent days, however, protesters have found out that for all Lukashenko’s men’s ruthlessness and impunity, they have a vulnerable point: their faces. Grab at the mask of a policeman and he will run for cover.
Since the beginning of the protests, which followed rigged elections on 9 August, the majority of police, security officers from the feared KGB, and other officers targeting protesters have hidden behind masks or balaclavas. Footage from rallies in recent days showed that when large groups of protesters swarmed around police officers and grabbed at their masks or balaclavas, their response was to hide their faces in their hands or run.
“The only way to stop violence is to pull off the masks, in both the literal and metaphorical sense. An officer who is no longer anonymous will think twice before he grabs, beats or kidnaps someone”...
During the past month’s uprising against Alexander Lukashenko, riot police and assorted thugs loyal to his regime have been given carte blanche by the Belarusian president to harass, assault and arrest peaceful protesters.
In recent days, however, protesters have found out that for all Lukashenko’s men’s ruthlessness and impunity, they have a vulnerable point: their faces. Grab at the mask of a policeman and he will run for cover.
Since the beginning of the protests, which followed rigged elections on 9 August, the majority of police, security officers from the feared KGB, and other officers targeting protesters have hidden behind masks or balaclavas. Footage from rallies in recent days showed that when large groups of protesters swarmed around police officers and grabbed at their masks or balaclavas, their response was to hide their faces in their hands or run.
“The only way to stop violence is to pull off the masks, in both the literal and metaphorical sense. An officer who is no longer anonymous will think twice before he grabs, beats or kidnaps someone”...
18John5918
Extinction Rebellion is showing Britain what real democracy could look like (Guardian)
The protest movement’s call for meaningful participation highlights the failings of dysfunctional Westminster politics...
At moments like this, old parties flounder. New ideas arise outside the system, and effective opposition takes place on the street. Of course, this is difficult now, as there are good public health reasons not to gather in large numbers, and we can expect the government to exploit them. But civil disobedience is ever-inventive, constantly developing new tactics in response to attempts to shut it down.
We saw some of these in Extinction Rebellion’s latest week of protests, and we saw something else too: its emergence as a broad oppositional movement, taking on the billionaire press, the lobbyists, the banks and other bastions of power, that are not usually associated with the extinction and climate crises, but are fundamental to them. From the beginning, XR has been both an environmental movement and a democracy movement: participatory politics, in the form of citizens’ assemblies, has been one of its key demands.
Like the suffragettes and the civil rights movement, it was excoriated for threatening “our way of life”. Almost all democratic advances, everywhere, have been secured by people who were branded “anarchists” and “criminals”...
In some places, particularly Ireland, Iceland, France, Taiwan, British Columbia, Ontario and several Spanish and Brazilian cities, a host of fascinating experiments with new democratic forms has been taking place: constitutional conventions, citizens’ assemblies, community development, digital deliberation and participatory budgeting. They are designed to give people a voice between elections, tempering representative democracy, allowing them to refine their choices...
when people are allowed to make big and frequent decisions, the results can be transformative. Alienated, polarised populations come together to identify and solve their common problems. Democracy becomes a lived reality...
In XR’s outrageous, reviled protests we see the beginnings of what could become a 21st-century democratic revolution. Through his incompetence, callousness and greed for power, Johnson* has done us two favours: exposing the shallowness of our theatrical democracy, and creating a potential coalition ranging from hospital porters to supreme court judges. Now we must decide how to mobilise it.
* And one could add Trump.
The protest movement’s call for meaningful participation highlights the failings of dysfunctional Westminster politics...
At moments like this, old parties flounder. New ideas arise outside the system, and effective opposition takes place on the street. Of course, this is difficult now, as there are good public health reasons not to gather in large numbers, and we can expect the government to exploit them. But civil disobedience is ever-inventive, constantly developing new tactics in response to attempts to shut it down.
We saw some of these in Extinction Rebellion’s latest week of protests, and we saw something else too: its emergence as a broad oppositional movement, taking on the billionaire press, the lobbyists, the banks and other bastions of power, that are not usually associated with the extinction and climate crises, but are fundamental to them. From the beginning, XR has been both an environmental movement and a democracy movement: participatory politics, in the form of citizens’ assemblies, has been one of its key demands.
Like the suffragettes and the civil rights movement, it was excoriated for threatening “our way of life”. Almost all democratic advances, everywhere, have been secured by people who were branded “anarchists” and “criminals”...
In some places, particularly Ireland, Iceland, France, Taiwan, British Columbia, Ontario and several Spanish and Brazilian cities, a host of fascinating experiments with new democratic forms has been taking place: constitutional conventions, citizens’ assemblies, community development, digital deliberation and participatory budgeting. They are designed to give people a voice between elections, tempering representative democracy, allowing them to refine their choices...
when people are allowed to make big and frequent decisions, the results can be transformative. Alienated, polarised populations come together to identify and solve their common problems. Democracy becomes a lived reality...
In XR’s outrageous, reviled protests we see the beginnings of what could become a 21st-century democratic revolution. Through his incompetence, callousness and greed for power, Johnson* has done us two favours: exposing the shallowness of our theatrical democracy, and creating a potential coalition ranging from hospital porters to supreme court judges. Now we must decide how to mobilise it.
* And one could add Trump.
20John5918
End Sars protests: The young Nigerians who forced the president to back down (BBC)
Widespread protests over Nigeria's hated Special Anti-Robbery Squad (Sars) are a sign that the country's massive young population is finding its voice and demanding reforms in Africa's most populous country, which has been characterised by poor governance since its independence 60 years ago.
Despite forcing the president to disband the unit, they are not satisfied as they want total police reforms and for officers in the rogue department to face justice.
But it goes beyond this because the wave of protests has given a platform to a section of the country's young population who are deeply dissatisfied.
On the streets, those marching are mostly comfortably-off young people, some with dyed hair, pierced noses and tattooed bodies.
It is the sort of gathering that security personnel are quick to label criminals, but in truth, these are largely hard-working young people who have mostly had to fend for themselves without support from the state...
Widespread protests over Nigeria's hated Special Anti-Robbery Squad (Sars) are a sign that the country's massive young population is finding its voice and demanding reforms in Africa's most populous country, which has been characterised by poor governance since its independence 60 years ago.
Despite forcing the president to disband the unit, they are not satisfied as they want total police reforms and for officers in the rogue department to face justice.
But it goes beyond this because the wave of protests has given a platform to a section of the country's young population who are deeply dissatisfied.
On the streets, those marching are mostly comfortably-off young people, some with dyed hair, pierced noses and tattooed bodies.
It is the sort of gathering that security personnel are quick to label criminals, but in truth, these are largely hard-working young people who have mostly had to fend for themselves without support from the state...
21John5918
>19 Matke: The world is an endlessly depressing place.
I part company with you there, Gail. There's certainly plenty of cause for depression, particularly as so many well-intentioned protests are marred by violence, but "endlessly"? Many of the examples posted here give me hope rather than depression. The nonviolent popular uprising in Sudan last year which overthrew a brutal 30-year Islamist military dictatorship, largely led by women and youth, is one that is particularly close to home for me, but I see many examples of renewed popular (as opposed to populist) participation in grassroots democracy through nonviolent means. "Power to the people!" as John Lennon, Wolfie Smith* and many others have said.
* The leading protagonist in a 1970s BBC comedy series entitled "Citizen Smith".
I part company with you there, Gail. There's certainly plenty of cause for depression, particularly as so many well-intentioned protests are marred by violence, but "endlessly"? Many of the examples posted here give me hope rather than depression. The nonviolent popular uprising in Sudan last year which overthrew a brutal 30-year Islamist military dictatorship, largely led by women and youth, is one that is particularly close to home for me, but I see many examples of renewed popular (as opposed to populist) participation in grassroots democracy through nonviolent means. "Power to the people!" as John Lennon, Wolfie Smith* and many others have said.
* The leading protagonist in a 1970s BBC comedy series entitled "Citizen Smith".
22kiparsky
>21 John5918: So, more reasonable to say that the world is an intermittently depressing place?
23John5918
>22 kiparsky:
Probably. I don't deny that there's plenty to be depressed about, particularly in the USA, it's only the word "endlessly" which I query. I think there are some very encouraging signs of hope. But then I've always been an incorrigible optimist!
Probably. I don't deny that there's plenty to be depressed about, particularly in the USA, it's only the word "endlessly" which I query. I think there are some very encouraging signs of hope. But then I've always been an incorrigible optimist!
24margd
Voters in the State of Georgia are inspiring.
I hope the state/counties get it together in the days ahead. No one should have to wait hours to vote!
Determined Georgia voters cast ballots early as lines stretch for hours
Ross Williams| Stanley Dunlap - October 13, 2020
...Voters across Georgia reported long lines and technical glitches on Monday, the first day of early voting in the state. Many voters lined up before polls opened statewide and waited hours to cast a ballot. Throughout the day, Georgians lined up at community centers, retrofitted museums and other precincts overwhelmed by the number of voters anxious to cast a ballot on the first day of early voting.
...State, county officials and election rights organizations attributed the lengthy waits Monday to the heightened interest in a pivotal election, keeping people socially distanced, many people freed up for the Columbus Day holiday and new poll workers adjusting to processing voters on what is expected to be the biggest test of Georgia’s voting equipment between now and the end of general election voting Nov. 3...
https://georgiarecorder.com/2020/10/13/determined-georgia-voters-cast-ballots-ea...
I hope the state/counties get it together in the days ahead. No one should have to wait hours to vote!
Determined Georgia voters cast ballots early as lines stretch for hours
Ross Williams| Stanley Dunlap - October 13, 2020
...Voters across Georgia reported long lines and technical glitches on Monday, the first day of early voting in the state. Many voters lined up before polls opened statewide and waited hours to cast a ballot. Throughout the day, Georgians lined up at community centers, retrofitted museums and other precincts overwhelmed by the number of voters anxious to cast a ballot on the first day of early voting.
...State, county officials and election rights organizations attributed the lengthy waits Monday to the heightened interest in a pivotal election, keeping people socially distanced, many people freed up for the Columbus Day holiday and new poll workers adjusting to processing voters on what is expected to be the biggest test of Georgia’s voting equipment between now and the end of general election voting Nov. 3...
https://georgiarecorder.com/2020/10/13/determined-georgia-voters-cast-ballots-ea...
25margd
Voters in Harris County, Texas (Houston) also inspire! This huge county, which affords people just one drop-off box, shattered first-day, early voting record.
Harris County shatters record for first day of early voting in country
Charly Edsitty | October 13, 2020 6:49PM
The first day of early voting in Texas got off to a fast start as Harris County beat the highest single-day tally of early voting turnout ever.
The Harris County Clerk's Office announced on Twitter at 4:30 p.m. that over 100,300 votes have been cast so far in Harris County.
Harris County actually broke the record held since 2016 about three hours earlier, according to a tweet from the clerk's office...
https://abc13.com/early-voting-texas-2020-polling-locations-harris-county-wheele...
Harris County shatters record for first day of early voting in country
Charly Edsitty | October 13, 2020 6:49PM
The first day of early voting in Texas got off to a fast start as Harris County beat the highest single-day tally of early voting turnout ever.
The Harris County Clerk's Office announced on Twitter at 4:30 p.m. that over 100,300 votes have been cast so far in Harris County.
Harris County actually broke the record held since 2016 about three hours earlier, according to a tweet from the clerk's office...
https://abc13.com/early-voting-texas-2020-polling-locations-harris-county-wheele...
26margd
Thailand cancels emergency decree in bid to calm protests
By GRANT PECK | 10/22/2020
BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s government on Thursday canceled a state of emergency it had declared last week for Bangkok in a gesture offered by the embattled prime minister to cool massive student-led protests seeking democracy reforms.
The decree had banned public gatherings of more than four people and allowed censorship of the media, among other provisions. It was challenged in court by an opposition party and a group of university students.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha: “I will make the first move to deescalate this situation,” he said. “I am currently preparing to lift the state of severe emergency in Bangkok and will do so promptly if there are no violent incidents.”
As he was speaking, protesters marched near Government House, his office, to demand he step down. They also asked for the release of their colleagues who were arrested in connection with earlier protests.
They said that if their demands were not met, they would return in three days. Although the protesters pushed their way through police lines, neither side resorted to violence.
The protesters are pressing for a more democratic constitution and reforms to the monarchy. The implicit criticism of the royal institution has stirred controversy because it traditionally has been treated as sacrosanct and a pillar of national identity.
...Police sought to impose censorship on media reporting of the protests, citing what they called “distorted information” that could cause unrest and confusion.
They want to block access to the online sites of four Thai news organizations and one activist group that broadcast live coverage of the protests. They had also proposed a ban on over-the-air digital television coverage of one of the broadcasters, Voice TV.
https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-democracy-prayuth-chan-ocha-bangkok-th...
By GRANT PECK | 10/22/2020
BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s government on Thursday canceled a state of emergency it had declared last week for Bangkok in a gesture offered by the embattled prime minister to cool massive student-led protests seeking democracy reforms.
The decree had banned public gatherings of more than four people and allowed censorship of the media, among other provisions. It was challenged in court by an opposition party and a group of university students.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha: “I will make the first move to deescalate this situation,” he said. “I am currently preparing to lift the state of severe emergency in Bangkok and will do so promptly if there are no violent incidents.”
As he was speaking, protesters marched near Government House, his office, to demand he step down. They also asked for the release of their colleagues who were arrested in connection with earlier protests.
They said that if their demands were not met, they would return in three days. Although the protesters pushed their way through police lines, neither side resorted to violence.
The protesters are pressing for a more democratic constitution and reforms to the monarchy. The implicit criticism of the royal institution has stirred controversy because it traditionally has been treated as sacrosanct and a pillar of national identity.
...Police sought to impose censorship on media reporting of the protests, citing what they called “distorted information” that could cause unrest and confusion.
They want to block access to the online sites of four Thai news organizations and one activist group that broadcast live coverage of the protests. They had also proposed a ban on over-the-air digital television coverage of one of the broadcasters, Voice TV.
https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-democracy-prayuth-chan-ocha-bangkok-th...
27margd
We the People: Lessons from Africa for Defeating Authoritarianism in 2020 U.S. Election
Kyle Murphy | October 19, 2020
U.S. democracy is facing its greatest challenge in a generation, simultaneously confronting an authoritarian leader, a global pandemic, and the consequences of centuries of systemic racism and inequality. Americans tend to think of our country as democracy’s exemplar, and the United States has a long history of pointing out governance problems abroad, suggesting steps to solve them, and often devoting resources to various forms of intervention. This has been the case in U.S. policy toward Africa for decades, and I am among those who did it. But we are too often guilty of that stereotypically American habit of exercising our mouths more than our ears and casting our gaze abroad while averting our eyes at home. It’s past time for the United States to listen and draw lessons from pro-democracy movements in Africa.
There’s remarkable similarity in how autocratic leaders go about seizing and retaining power, and civil society movements in several African countries have recent, hard-won experience with many of the scenarios we face in the United States. Sometimes they have prevented democratically-elected leaders from becoming autocrats or replaced ruthless dictators with more democratic systems, and at other times they have fallen short. But their experiences have yielded smart strategies, creative tools, and pitfalls to avoid...
https://www.justsecurity.org/72926/we-the-people-lessons-from-africa-for-defeati...
Kyle Murphy | October 19, 2020
U.S. democracy is facing its greatest challenge in a generation, simultaneously confronting an authoritarian leader, a global pandemic, and the consequences of centuries of systemic racism and inequality. Americans tend to think of our country as democracy’s exemplar, and the United States has a long history of pointing out governance problems abroad, suggesting steps to solve them, and often devoting resources to various forms of intervention. This has been the case in U.S. policy toward Africa for decades, and I am among those who did it. But we are too often guilty of that stereotypically American habit of exercising our mouths more than our ears and casting our gaze abroad while averting our eyes at home. It’s past time for the United States to listen and draw lessons from pro-democracy movements in Africa.
There’s remarkable similarity in how autocratic leaders go about seizing and retaining power, and civil society movements in several African countries have recent, hard-won experience with many of the scenarios we face in the United States. Sometimes they have prevented democratically-elected leaders from becoming autocrats or replaced ruthless dictators with more democratic systems, and at other times they have fallen short. But their experiences have yielded smart strategies, creative tools, and pitfalls to avoid...
https://www.justsecurity.org/72926/we-the-people-lessons-from-africa-for-defeati...
28John5918
Covid: How to protest during a global pandemic (BBC)
"We were adamant that everyone coming had to come in PPE, and on the day I was handing out extra masks," she said. "We also decided that for the march we would set everyone off in groups of six at 20-second intervals to somewhat stick to governmental guidelines"...
"We were adamant that everyone coming had to come in PPE, and on the day I was handing out extra masks," she said. "We also decided that for the march we would set everyone off in groups of six at 20-second intervals to somewhat stick to governmental guidelines"...
29John5918
Scholars warn of collapse of democracy as Trump v Biden election looms (Guardian)
Dozens of experts on fascism warn of global danger, calling for action from ordinary people: ‘It is not too late’...
30lriley
#29--once he's out I don't think there is going to be very much hesitation anymore about whether Donald is a fascist or not. It's pretty clear to me that he is. One of the main issues really is his supporters don't want to carry that label and honestly some of them are probably not but if you think extra legal means is legitimate you're in that camp like it or not. It's also why so many police are there too--they don't believe in their own accountability to the taxpayers that they are suppose to protect and serve.
31guido47
Well, once Pence gets in (I Hope) how many of the Trump Stooges can Pence get RID of immediate. eg. Say the AG... one of the vilest men ever!
Guido.
Guido.
32jjwilson61
>31I hope you mean Biden not Pence
33margd
Political appointees serve at the pleasure of the president, so new president can replace immediately. Sometimes they submit letters of resignation which president can accept or sit on while he/she decides on replacement or (rarely) reappointment.
Some very few appointees are on six year terms: mostly low profile--intent is to not have positions sit vacant while new president attends to "more important" appointments. Still, president can ask for term-appointees' resignation.
My understanding, anyway.
Some very few appointees are on six year terms: mostly low profile--intent is to not have positions sit vacant while new president attends to "more important" appointments. Still, president can ask for term-appointees' resignation.
My understanding, anyway.
34guido47
Sorry >32 jjwilson61: of course Just a brain slip. hey I am almost 74 yo. just like the orange...
Guido.
Guido.
35John5918
No matter who wins the US election, here are reasons to be hopeful (Guardian)
A few voices from the USA.
Ahead of the election result writers highlight the political positives at a crucial juncture in US history...
A few voices from the USA.
36lriley
#35--well it's virtually tied but this is what you get when you put up shit candidates like the Democrats did. They were afraid that Sanders was going to win so Clyburn and Obama staged an intervention and really quite a lot more of Biden's voters are voting against Trump than really voting for Joe/Kamala.....and Joe like Hillary is supposed to carry on the legacy of Barack......and there's a point to be made here because Trump isn't carrying anyone's legacy and neither did Obama. Barack is still popular with democrats but the rest of the country is past him and not looking at him anymore for leadership. He shouldn't be picking the democrat's candidates---he should allow the primary process to do that.
In line with all that is Schumer's gormless approval of Amy McGrath to run against McConnell. We're going to out-conservative the conservative. The people of Kentucky when all was said and done really wanted the Democrats to put up Charles Booker. Neither Schumer or Durbin should be the leaders of the Senate democrats AFAIC--their project to put up corporate friendly competition to the republicans failed big time and if you're looking through the bios and issues of these people there are things you notice like they're all team players who are on board with all the same shit of the establishment leaders of the party. Team players are often capable of delivering a stump speech or are witty enough to handle a debate but because of their subservience to their leadership their ability to reach out to the undecided or uncommitted almost always has its limits. Real across the board enthusiasm?--not really.
So here we are left hoping that Biden somehow pulls it out but really these are the self inflicted wounds of a party that doesn't want to stand for anything not in the interests of their wealthiest donors.
In line with all that is Schumer's gormless approval of Amy McGrath to run against McConnell. We're going to out-conservative the conservative. The people of Kentucky when all was said and done really wanted the Democrats to put up Charles Booker. Neither Schumer or Durbin should be the leaders of the Senate democrats AFAIC--their project to put up corporate friendly competition to the republicans failed big time and if you're looking through the bios and issues of these people there are things you notice like they're all team players who are on board with all the same shit of the establishment leaders of the party. Team players are often capable of delivering a stump speech or are witty enough to handle a debate but because of their subservience to their leadership their ability to reach out to the undecided or uncommitted almost always has its limits. Real across the board enthusiasm?--not really.
So here we are left hoping that Biden somehow pulls it out but really these are the self inflicted wounds of a party that doesn't want to stand for anything not in the interests of their wealthiest donors.
37margd
Rabbi Michael Adam Latz #BlackLivesMatter @RavMABAY | 8:04 PM · Nov 13, 2020:
https://twitter.com/RavMABAY/status/1327417043180691458
Tucked away into the Midrash from nearly 2,000 years ago is the story of Miriam. The rabbis teach that on the night the Israelite slaves were gathering their belongings to flee Egypt, Miriam the Prophetess slipped into her satchel a timbrel and a tof—a small hand drum. 1/
Why on earth would she do such a thing? They had no food, no time to let the bread rise, and Pharaoh had a rather erratic habit of changing his mind, first letting them go, then deciding they would remain in slavery. What if he changed his mind again? 2/
We know that 400 years of bondage was brutal; Egyptian task masters beat our ancestors, denied them food, forbade practicing Judaism, demanded they throw their newborn sons into the Nile. Egypt was a place of constriction, narrow-mindedness, human degradation & dehumanization.3/
The Midrash teaches that when the Israelites finally crossed the sea and reached the shores of liberation, it was Miriam and the women around her who took her timbrel and her tof and began dancing and singing in celebration; they rejoiced in their freedom. 4/
They did not know what was ahead of them. They had no guarantees that the God who liberated them would stick with them in the desert. They had absolutely no guarantees their new found freedom would last. 5/
But Miriam understood something holy, something essential of the human psyche: We cannot move forward without celebration. We humans need song and dance and celebration after we’ve left the places that have assaulted our dignity and brutalized our humanity. 6/
My beloved community: We have not yet reached the promised land. We may never in our lifetimes. We have so much work ahead of us.
But it is imperative that we pause for a moment to follow in the footsteps of Miriam to sing, to dance, to rejoice. 7/
We defeated a tyrant, an authoritarian, not with bullets or with bayonettes but with our ballots.
We showed the world that not all battles must be fought with a sword.
For one brief moment, tonight, we touch the sky with tears of joy. 8/END
#ShabbatShalom
https://twitter.com/RavMABAY/status/1327417043180691458
Tucked away into the Midrash from nearly 2,000 years ago is the story of Miriam. The rabbis teach that on the night the Israelite slaves were gathering their belongings to flee Egypt, Miriam the Prophetess slipped into her satchel a timbrel and a tof—a small hand drum. 1/
Why on earth would she do such a thing? They had no food, no time to let the bread rise, and Pharaoh had a rather erratic habit of changing his mind, first letting them go, then deciding they would remain in slavery. What if he changed his mind again? 2/
We know that 400 years of bondage was brutal; Egyptian task masters beat our ancestors, denied them food, forbade practicing Judaism, demanded they throw their newborn sons into the Nile. Egypt was a place of constriction, narrow-mindedness, human degradation & dehumanization.3/
The Midrash teaches that when the Israelites finally crossed the sea and reached the shores of liberation, it was Miriam and the women around her who took her timbrel and her tof and began dancing and singing in celebration; they rejoiced in their freedom. 4/
They did not know what was ahead of them. They had no guarantees that the God who liberated them would stick with them in the desert. They had absolutely no guarantees their new found freedom would last. 5/
But Miriam understood something holy, something essential of the human psyche: We cannot move forward without celebration. We humans need song and dance and celebration after we’ve left the places that have assaulted our dignity and brutalized our humanity. 6/
My beloved community: We have not yet reached the promised land. We may never in our lifetimes. We have so much work ahead of us.
But it is imperative that we pause for a moment to follow in the footsteps of Miriam to sing, to dance, to rejoice. 7/
We defeated a tyrant, an authoritarian, not with bullets or with bayonettes but with our ballots.
We showed the world that not all battles must be fought with a sword.
For one brief moment, tonight, we touch the sky with tears of joy. 8/END
#ShabbatShalom
38John5918
After student election wins, Lebanese prepare for bigger battles (Al Jazeera)
Independent students have pulled out unprecedented wins at universities. Can they translate the gains to national politics?...
39John5918
Local people have had to improvise during the pandemic. Could their solutions stick? (Guardian)
A new kind of community politics – ‘flatpack democracy’ – has emerged in towns left to fend for themselves by the centre... A couple of tantalising questions were triggered by all this. Would at least some of the energy and creativity that had been unleashed be sustained beyond the pandemic? And if that happened, might any of the people involved shift their attention to politics?... it’s clear that in plenty of places, the basic structures of self-help have remained in place...
40margd
Young protesters in Thailand risk much to demand change from military, monarchy
Sporting a three-fingered salute borrowed from "The Hunger Games," many students attend protests still dressed in their school uniforms.
Patrick Smith and Nat Sumon | Nov. 25, 2020
Most high school kids have enough to worry about without pounding the streets demanding reforms in an autocratic regime.
But in Thailand, that's exactly what thousands of students — some as young as 10 — have been doing for the last four months.
They have joined forces with college students and longtime democracy campaigners to call for change in a country ruled by a regime loyal to the monarchy, with a constitution drawn up in the wake up of a military coup...
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/young-protesters-thailand-risk-much-demand-ch...
Sporting a three-fingered salute borrowed from "The Hunger Games," many students attend protests still dressed in their school uniforms.
Patrick Smith and Nat Sumon | Nov. 25, 2020
Most high school kids have enough to worry about without pounding the streets demanding reforms in an autocratic regime.
But in Thailand, that's exactly what thousands of students — some as young as 10 — have been doing for the last four months.
They have joined forces with college students and longtime democracy campaigners to call for change in a country ruled by a regime loyal to the monarchy, with a constitution drawn up in the wake up of a military coup...
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/young-protesters-thailand-risk-much-demand-ch...
41John5918
Thai protesters practise ‘coup prevention’ in latest rally (Al Jazeera)
Thousands of pro-democracy activists have blocked an important junction in Bangkok to rehearse “coup prevention” strategies in the latest round of Thailand’s anti-government protests... Inflatable Santa Claus figures joined the bright yellow rubber ducks that have become a symbol of the movement as some 5,000 demonstrators massed on Friday in the shadow of a motorway flyover in the north of the capital... “The 14th coup will not happen because the people will come out and resist”...
42margd
Navalny is one brave man:
Poisoned.
Jailed 30 days in jail that killed Magnitsky.
Released info on Putin palace & daughter.
Called for demonstrations.
Putin:
Sends goons to discourage demos.
Calls for 13.5 year Navalny jail term.
Detains Navalny activists.
Blocks social media.
Poisoned.
Jailed 30 days in jail that killed Magnitsky.
Released info on Putin palace & daughter.
Called for demonstrations.
Putin:
Sends goons to discourage demos.
Calls for 13.5 year Navalny jail term.
Detains Navalny activists.
Blocks social media.
43margd
Aleksei Navalny Protests: Live Updates as Mass Rallies Sweep Across Russia
Anton Troianovski, Andrew E. Kramer and Andrew Higgins | 1/23/2021
... Braving bitter cold and attempts at intimidation, protests unfold across Russia.
Driving the protests is the demand that Navalny is released from jail.
The police and protesters clash in several cities, with reports of more than 2,100 people detained.
Protests in the Putin era are met with heavy-handed repression.
Does Navalny pose a threat to Putin’s rule?
Voices in the crowd: Protesters explain why they joined the demonstrations.
U.S. warns Americans to avoid protests as Russia cracks down on organizers...
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/23/world/europe/navalny-protests-russia.html
Anton Troianovski, Andrew E. Kramer and Andrew Higgins | 1/23/2021
... Braving bitter cold and attempts at intimidation, protests unfold across Russia.
Driving the protests is the demand that Navalny is released from jail.
The police and protesters clash in several cities, with reports of more than 2,100 people detained.
Protests in the Putin era are met with heavy-handed repression.
Does Navalny pose a threat to Putin’s rule?
Voices in the crowd: Protesters explain why they joined the demonstrations.
U.S. warns Americans to avoid protests as Russia cracks down on organizers...
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/23/world/europe/navalny-protests-russia.html
44John5918
Prince Harry says social media misinformation is threat to democracies (Guardian)
Prince Harry has said that “time is running out” for social media companies to address misinformation which he believes is a threat to democracies. He has called for more accountability for platforms, accusing them of shunning responsibility, and highlighted both the role that they played in the US Capitol riots earlier this month and the treatment of the Rohingya population in Myanmar...
45John5918
No, America should not ‘accept and move on’ (Al Jazeera)
In Kenya, in the aftermath of the 2007 elections, there was a recognition that the problems could not be resolved merely by technical fixes to the election – though these are indispensable. The distrust was rooted in historical grievances that were inflamed by opaque election practices. Commissions were established to inquire into these and develop recommendations. However, once the crisis passed, the momentum for change was lost and many of those reports and recommendations are gathering dust while elections continue to be arenas of terror and death.
There’s a lesson here for the US. Strike while the iron is hot. Fix the real kinks in the system – gerrymandering, voter suppression, and partisan management of elections, to name a few. However, also recognise that disputes over the outcome and conduct of the election are rarely only about the actual numbers, but also about deeper societal fractures that need to be healed, and that opportunities to do that do not last for very long. By all accounts, the US has a deeply polarised population... These divisions are now inflamed by an antiquated, gerrymandered, opaque electoral system overseen by partisan officials that has proven to be no match for demagoguery.
That should give US media pause for thought. In effect, the US electoral system has suffered an attack from Trump and his allies and has proven to be very vulnerable. In the aftermath of that attack, telling the victims to simply accept that Joe Biden won and move on will do little to calm resentment. It also spurns a crucial opportunity to audit the vulnerability as well as foster a comprehensive national conversation about what ails society. And that goes beyond simply rebutting allegations of fraud. It requires asking the same questions that would be asked when other national systems failed and then instituting the necessary reforms to make the system more resilient.
46margd
Wow!
James Holland @James7Holland | 6:50 PM · Feb 2, 2021:
MUST WATCH: #Navalny’s speech from court.
This kind of bravery in the face of a violent regime that has already tried to murder you is inspiring.
Having survived one attempt on his life, he appears to have lost all fear, and grows stronger.
4:16 ( https://twitter.com/James7Holland/status/1356751758316474368 )
From Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
James Holland @James7Holland | 6:50 PM · Feb 2, 2021:
MUST WATCH: #Navalny’s speech from court.
This kind of bravery in the face of a violent regime that has already tried to murder you is inspiring.
Having survived one attempt on his life, he appears to have lost all fear, and grows stronger.
4:16 ( https://twitter.com/James7Holland/status/1356751758316474368 )
From Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
47John5918
The Triumph of Democratic Institutions in the US: Lessons for South Sudan (The Sudd Institute)
Publication Summary
This Weekly Review applauds the power of human innovation and its success. It celebrates the strength of the American democratic institutions, which has enabled the American people to weather what was a substantial threat to a long-established institutional tradition of peaceful transfer of power. The hope is that such lessons could also help emerging countries, such as South Sudan, at the very least, to appreciate the value of rule-based institutions. Moreover, the review highlights the perils of predicating public institutions on personalities. The rest of the review revisits the definition of institutions, brief context and state of institutions in South Sudan, and concludes with some recommendations.
48margd
Global democracy has a very bad year
The pandemic caused an unprecedented rollback of democratic freedoms in 2020
The Economist | Feb 2, 2021
(world map of authoritarian, hybrid, flawed democratic, full democratic regimes)
https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2021/02/02/global-democracy-has-a-very-...
The pandemic caused an unprecedented rollback of democratic freedoms in 2020
The Economist | Feb 2, 2021
(world map of authoritarian, hybrid, flawed democratic, full democratic regimes)
https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2021/02/02/global-democracy-has-a-very-...
49John5918
>48 margd:
Interesting graphic. There are a couple of errors. They list Sudan as "authoritarian" whereas since the 2019 nonviolent revolution it would be more correct to call it "hybrid", I believe. And when I hover my mouse over South Sudan, there is no information. South Sudan would probably be on the lower end of "authoritarian". Somalia also doesn't seem to have any information. Kenya is described as "hybrid", whereas it is in fact a "flawed democracy". But then it's not unusual for the western media to ignore or misrepresent African countries which they don't understand or which don't fit neatly into categories as defined in the Global North.
Interesting graphic. There are a couple of errors. They list Sudan as "authoritarian" whereas since the 2019 nonviolent revolution it would be more correct to call it "hybrid", I believe. And when I hover my mouse over South Sudan, there is no information. South Sudan would probably be on the lower end of "authoritarian". Somalia also doesn't seem to have any information. Kenya is described as "hybrid", whereas it is in fact a "flawed democracy". But then it's not unusual for the western media to ignore or misrepresent African countries which they don't understand or which don't fit neatly into categories as defined in the Global North.
50margd
Nazi-occupied Norway, 1942: teachers take a stand
It was 1942. Norway was in the second year of Nazi occupation with a puppet prime minister in place. New orders arrived - all teachers were to pledge loyalty to the Nazis, join the Nazi national teachers union, and indoctrinate their students accordingly. Parents protested by the thousands, but teachers did something quite remarkable. They refused. Simply refused.
The government responded by closing schools and withholding the salaries of 10,000 teachers. Many teachers responded courageously by teaching in their homes. The Nazi retaliation was brutal. Teachers were arrested and sent in freezing cattle cars to concentration camps. Ignoring the danger, Norwegians gathered along the tracks as they passed, singing and offering gifts of food. The teachers were starved, forced to crawl through snow and endured nighttime marches where they were viciously beaten. Incredibly, months of such treatment did not break their spirits, and they were finally returned to their homes and their newly reopened schools.
Photo of teachers lined up: https://www.facebook.com/WeDigHeritage/photos/a.612918548793564/4353002564785125...
- Services Archaeology and Heritage Association | Facebook, Oct 13, 2021
It was 1942. Norway was in the second year of Nazi occupation with a puppet prime minister in place. New orders arrived - all teachers were to pledge loyalty to the Nazis, join the Nazi national teachers union, and indoctrinate their students accordingly. Parents protested by the thousands, but teachers did something quite remarkable. They refused. Simply refused.
The government responded by closing schools and withholding the salaries of 10,000 teachers. Many teachers responded courageously by teaching in their homes. The Nazi retaliation was brutal. Teachers were arrested and sent in freezing cattle cars to concentration camps. Ignoring the danger, Norwegians gathered along the tracks as they passed, singing and offering gifts of food. The teachers were starved, forced to crawl through snow and endured nighttime marches where they were viciously beaten. Incredibly, months of such treatment did not break their spirits, and they were finally returned to their homes and their newly reopened schools.
Photo of teachers lined up: https://www.facebook.com/WeDigHeritage/photos/a.612918548793564/4353002564785125...
- Services Archaeology and Heritage Association | Facebook, Oct 13, 2021
51John5918
>50 margd:
Thanks, margd. One of many examples of nonviolent resistance even to the most brutal of regimes, namely Hitler's Nazis. Denmark also offers some inspiring examples.
Thanks, margd. One of many examples of nonviolent resistance even to the most brutal of regimes, namely Hitler's Nazis. Denmark also offers some inspiring examples.
52margd
Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum | 9:09 AM · Jun 4, 2023:
The Atlantic {also married to Polish opposition politician)
34 years ago today, Poland voted for democracy. Today, hundreds of thousands and marching to keep it #WielkiMarsz
Photo ( https://twitter.com/anneapplebaum/status/1665345013687934978/photo/1 )
The Atlantic {also married to Polish opposition politician)
34 years ago today, Poland voted for democracy. Today, hundreds of thousands and marching to keep it #WielkiMarsz
Photo ( https://twitter.com/anneapplebaum/status/1665345013687934978/photo/1 )
53margd
Nearly 900,000 voters in Guinea-Bissau were eligible to cast their ballot on Sunday. The prime minister speculated that no party would win an absolute majority in the election.
DW | 4 June 2023
Around 200 international observers were in Guinea-Bissau to monitor the election
...A key political debate in Guinea-Bissau is whether to keep the current semi-presidential system, or to change the constitution and move to system where the president is also the head of government.
Under the current system, the largest party or coalition in parliament appoints the government, but the president has the power to dismiss it in certain circumstances, which has led to political deadlocks in the past.
President Umaro Sissoco Embalo of Madem-G15 dissolved parliament last year and has attracted criticism for appointing his own government officials without oversight.
He advocates for changing the constitution to give himself more powers.
Critics of Embalo say he has cracked down on civic freedoms and curtailed the free press.
The country's economy often hinges on the volatile price of cashew nuts, but a booming drug smuggling trade connecting South America with Europe has also plagued Guinea-Bissau and its political sphere for many years....
https://www.dw.com/en/guinea-bissau-polls-close-in-legislative-election/a-658192...
DW | 4 June 2023
Around 200 international observers were in Guinea-Bissau to monitor the election
...A key political debate in Guinea-Bissau is whether to keep the current semi-presidential system, or to change the constitution and move to system where the president is also the head of government.
Under the current system, the largest party or coalition in parliament appoints the government, but the president has the power to dismiss it in certain circumstances, which has led to political deadlocks in the past.
President Umaro Sissoco Embalo of Madem-G15 dissolved parliament last year and has attracted criticism for appointing his own government officials without oversight.
He advocates for changing the constitution to give himself more powers.
Critics of Embalo say he has cracked down on civic freedoms and curtailed the free press.
The country's economy often hinges on the volatile price of cashew nuts, but a booming drug smuggling trade connecting South America with Europe has also plagued Guinea-Bissau and its political sphere for many years....
https://www.dw.com/en/guinea-bissau-polls-close-in-legislative-election/a-658192...
54margd
Trygve Olson @trygveolson | 9:01 PM · Jul 6, 2021:
Trained 1000's in over 40 countries - including Ukraine, Belarus, & Russia - to fight for democracy, Senior Advisor @ProjectLincoln
Some have asked for the Seven Rules of Dealing with Autocrats - here they are in a thread.
Rule #1 Play the Game You Are in Not the One You Wish or Want to Play - This means when one side is playing the zero-sum illiberal there is no win-win to be played. You will either win and democracy survives or you lose to the autocratic forces.
Rule #2 Always Speak Truth to Power Because You Never Know the Tipping Point -- You must confront Big Lies of illiberal forces by speaking truth to their base of power -- people. There is a tipping point where your Truth or the Big Lies prevail.
Rule #3 Don't Hand the Autocrats Battering Rams with Which to Beat You -- The game you are in, the battle you are fighting, isn't about policy or ideology. They will use what you say to divide you from your allies who you need to win the battle for democracy.
Rule 4 Understand Authoritarians Must Live in a Truth-Free Present -- The past presents truths about the big lies and fear the illiberal forces use. The future for autocratic forces only matters for maintaining power at the moment. They only care about keeping/gaining power
Rule 5 Practice Zero-Sum Judo -- Use their tactics against them -- Big Truths, Marginalization, make them dependent, mock the disinformation, divide and conquer their power structure. Use their desire for the legitimacy of democracy against them.
Rule 6 The Stalin Rule: Stand Together with Anyone Who Will Join You to Disturb, Disrupt and Diminish the Illiberal Structures. Even if you share nothing in common beyond a love of democracy and how much you loath their politics in normal times you fight side-by-side with them
Rule 7 Wake Up Every Day Thinking Where Can the Vertical Power Structure Be Exposed, Confronted, and Destabilized -- Each of us and all of use on Team Democracy must wake up every day and ask what can I do to be on the side of restoring faith and confront the fear they use.
Ultimately, I am an optimist. When fear of the illiberal autocrat erodes by people show they are not afraid, faith takes hold and others want and will join the fight. It is one we must win in America. This isn't about only what kind of country we want our child to have...
{Discussion follows at https://twitter.com/trygveolson/status/1412577528464785410 }
Trained 1000's in over 40 countries - including Ukraine, Belarus, & Russia - to fight for democracy, Senior Advisor @ProjectLincoln
Some have asked for the Seven Rules of Dealing with Autocrats - here they are in a thread.
Rule #1 Play the Game You Are in Not the One You Wish or Want to Play - This means when one side is playing the zero-sum illiberal there is no win-win to be played. You will either win and democracy survives or you lose to the autocratic forces.
Rule #2 Always Speak Truth to Power Because You Never Know the Tipping Point -- You must confront Big Lies of illiberal forces by speaking truth to their base of power -- people. There is a tipping point where your Truth or the Big Lies prevail.
Rule #3 Don't Hand the Autocrats Battering Rams with Which to Beat You -- The game you are in, the battle you are fighting, isn't about policy or ideology. They will use what you say to divide you from your allies who you need to win the battle for democracy.
Rule 4 Understand Authoritarians Must Live in a Truth-Free Present -- The past presents truths about the big lies and fear the illiberal forces use. The future for autocratic forces only matters for maintaining power at the moment. They only care about keeping/gaining power
Rule 5 Practice Zero-Sum Judo -- Use their tactics against them -- Big Truths, Marginalization, make them dependent, mock the disinformation, divide and conquer their power structure. Use their desire for the legitimacy of democracy against them.
Rule 6 The Stalin Rule: Stand Together with Anyone Who Will Join You to Disturb, Disrupt and Diminish the Illiberal Structures. Even if you share nothing in common beyond a love of democracy and how much you loath their politics in normal times you fight side-by-side with them
Rule 7 Wake Up Every Day Thinking Where Can the Vertical Power Structure Be Exposed, Confronted, and Destabilized -- Each of us and all of use on Team Democracy must wake up every day and ask what can I do to be on the side of restoring faith and confront the fear they use.
Ultimately, I am an optimist. When fear of the illiberal autocrat erodes by people show they are not afraid, faith takes hold and others want and will join the fight. It is one we must win in America. This isn't about only what kind of country we want our child to have...
{Discussion follows at https://twitter.com/trygveolson/status/1412577528464785410 }
55margd
>52 margd: Thousands of Poles marched in the streets again pre-election. Meanwhile, the govt...
Anne Applebaum (The Atlantic) @anneapplebaum
Polish election thread:
1. The national post office distributed this leaflet, "Your Referendum Vote," to everyone in Poland. An acquaintance got it yesterday. Main headline: "IT'S ALREADY AN INVASION, THEY ARE SAILING HERE!" Photo is of African refugees on the Mediterranean
Photo leaflet ( 6:34 AM · Oct 5, 2023 )
2. the leaflet is printed by the deceptively named "Indepedent Media Foundation," a state-funded organization, according to this article: https://www.onet.pl/?pid=e36d40c9-d5fa-49f8-9cef-c58118deeb8c&sid=b177a2c9-1...
The reference is to a question on the referendum that will be held on Oct 15: "Do you support the admission of thousands of illegal immigrants from the Middle East and Africa, in accordance with the forced-relocation mechanism imposed by the European bureaucracy?”
4. Note that there is no "force-relocation mechanism imposed by the European bureaucracy", this is an invention. The purpose of the referendum, which is of dubious legality, is to persuade Poles that there is, and that the opposition approves of it.
5. The referendum is being held alongside a general parliamentary election, and is, a designed to persuade voters that an opposition victory will lead to immigration from the Middle East and Africa. Also more higher retirement age, etc
6. The biggest immigration from the Middle East and Africa in Polish history took place over the last several years, under the current government, some of whose bureaucrats were selling visas in exchange for bribes. Obviously the leaflet doesn't explain that.
7. Already, the visa scandal has repercussions, with European leaders demanding explanations: https://www.reneweuropegroup.eu/news/2023-10-03/polish-government-must-be-held-r...
8. Millions in taxpayers money is being spent, nevertheless, in order to scare Poles into believing that they will be "invaded" if they vote for the opposition. It's a state-organized disinformation campaign. Here's the leaflet again:
https://twitter.com/anneapplebaum/status/1709883552676897070/photo/1
Lesson of the story: Don't let an autocratic political party take over your country.
More here: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/10/polish-parliamentary-election-...
Anne Applebaum (The Atlantic) @anneapplebaum
Polish election thread:
1. The national post office distributed this leaflet, "Your Referendum Vote," to everyone in Poland. An acquaintance got it yesterday. Main headline: "IT'S ALREADY AN INVASION, THEY ARE SAILING HERE!" Photo is of African refugees on the Mediterranean
Photo leaflet ( 6:34 AM · Oct 5, 2023 )
2. the leaflet is printed by the deceptively named "Indepedent Media Foundation," a state-funded organization, according to this article: https://www.onet.pl/?pid=e36d40c9-d5fa-49f8-9cef-c58118deeb8c&sid=b177a2c9-1...
The reference is to a question on the referendum that will be held on Oct 15: "Do you support the admission of thousands of illegal immigrants from the Middle East and Africa, in accordance with the forced-relocation mechanism imposed by the European bureaucracy?”
4. Note that there is no "force-relocation mechanism imposed by the European bureaucracy", this is an invention. The purpose of the referendum, which is of dubious legality, is to persuade Poles that there is, and that the opposition approves of it.
5. The referendum is being held alongside a general parliamentary election, and is, a designed to persuade voters that an opposition victory will lead to immigration from the Middle East and Africa. Also more higher retirement age, etc
6. The biggest immigration from the Middle East and Africa in Polish history took place over the last several years, under the current government, some of whose bureaucrats were selling visas in exchange for bribes. Obviously the leaflet doesn't explain that.
7. Already, the visa scandal has repercussions, with European leaders demanding explanations: https://www.reneweuropegroup.eu/news/2023-10-03/polish-government-must-be-held-r...
8. Millions in taxpayers money is being spent, nevertheless, in order to scare Poles into believing that they will be "invaded" if they vote for the opposition. It's a state-organized disinformation campaign. Here's the leaflet again:
https://twitter.com/anneapplebaum/status/1709883552676897070/photo/1
Lesson of the story: Don't let an autocratic political party take over your country.
More here: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/10/polish-parliamentary-election-...
56margd
Indonesia arrests 59 militants ahead of elections
The country’s counter terrorism police have arrested militants and seized weapons, propaganda material, bomb-making chemicals ahead of national elections.
DW | 31 Oct 2023
Indonesia's counter-terrorism force on Tuesday said it has arrested 59 suspected militants linked to terrorist organizations al-Qaeda and Islamic State over suspected plots to disrupt the upcoming presidential elections in February...
https://www.dw.com/en/indonesia-arrests-59-militants-ahead-of-2024-elections/a-6...
The country’s counter terrorism police have arrested militants and seized weapons, propaganda material, bomb-making chemicals ahead of national elections.
DW | 31 Oct 2023
Indonesia's counter-terrorism force on Tuesday said it has arrested 59 suspected militants linked to terrorist organizations al-Qaeda and Islamic State over suspected plots to disrupt the upcoming presidential elections in February...
https://www.dw.com/en/indonesia-arrests-59-militants-ahead-of-2024-elections/a-6...
57margd
Can people be fooled into thinking authoritarianism is better than democracy?
Here is what award-winning novelist Margaret Atwood has to say:
6:05 ( https://twitter.com/FT/status/1748888165455130643 )
- Financial Times FT | 9:00 PM · Jan 20, 2024
Here is what award-winning novelist Margaret Atwood has to say:
6:05 ( https://twitter.com/FT/status/1748888165455130643 )
- Financial Times FT | 9:00 PM · Jan 20, 2024
58margd
Gift article for 13 days:
The New Propaganda War
Anne Applebaum
...If people are naturally drawn to human rights, democracy, and freedom, then those concepts have to be poisoned.
...Autocrats in China, Russia, and elsewhere are now making common cause with MAGA Republicans to discredit liberalism and freedom around the world.
...the core problem for autocracies: The Russians, the Chinese, the Iranians, and others all know that the language of transparency, accountability, justice, and democracy appeals to some of their citizens, as it does to many people who live in dictatorships. Even the most sophisticated surveillance can’t wholly suppress it. The very ideas of democracy and freedom must be discredited—especially in the places where they have historically flourished.
...modern Chinese propaganda seeks to inculcate nationalist pride, based on China’s real experience of economic development, and to promote a Beijing model of progress through dictatorship and “order” that’s superior to the chaos and violence of democracy.
...Russians, although they hear very little about what happens in their own towns and cities, receive similar messages about the decline of places they don’t know and have mostly never visited: America, France, Britain, Sweden, Poland—countries apparently filled with degeneracy, hypocrisy, and Russophobia...
...the story of how Africans—as well as Latin Americans, Asians, and indeed many Europeans and Americans—have come to spout Russian propaganda about Ukraine is not primarily a story of European colonial history, Western policy, or the Cold War. Rather, it involves China’s systematic efforts to buy or influence both popular and elite audiences around the world; carefully curated Russian propaganda campaigns, some open, some clandestine, some amplified by the American and European far right; and other autocracies using their own networks to promote the same language...
...Fear, cynicism, nihilism, and apathy, coupled with disgust and disdain for democracy: This is what modern autocrats sell to their citizens and to foreigners, all with the aim of destroying what they call “American hegemony.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/06/china-russia-republican-par...
The New Propaganda War
Anne Applebaum
...If people are naturally drawn to human rights, democracy, and freedom, then those concepts have to be poisoned.
...Autocrats in China, Russia, and elsewhere are now making common cause with MAGA Republicans to discredit liberalism and freedom around the world.
...the core problem for autocracies: The Russians, the Chinese, the Iranians, and others all know that the language of transparency, accountability, justice, and democracy appeals to some of their citizens, as it does to many people who live in dictatorships. Even the most sophisticated surveillance can’t wholly suppress it. The very ideas of democracy and freedom must be discredited—especially in the places where they have historically flourished.
...modern Chinese propaganda seeks to inculcate nationalist pride, based on China’s real experience of economic development, and to promote a Beijing model of progress through dictatorship and “order” that’s superior to the chaos and violence of democracy.
...Russians, although they hear very little about what happens in their own towns and cities, receive similar messages about the decline of places they don’t know and have mostly never visited: America, France, Britain, Sweden, Poland—countries apparently filled with degeneracy, hypocrisy, and Russophobia...
...the story of how Africans—as well as Latin Americans, Asians, and indeed many Europeans and Americans—have come to spout Russian propaganda about Ukraine is not primarily a story of European colonial history, Western policy, or the Cold War. Rather, it involves China’s systematic efforts to buy or influence both popular and elite audiences around the world; carefully curated Russian propaganda campaigns, some open, some clandestine, some amplified by the American and European far right; and other autocracies using their own networks to promote the same language...
...Fear, cynicism, nihilism, and apathy, coupled with disgust and disdain for democracy: This is what modern autocrats sell to their citizens and to foreigners, all with the aim of destroying what they call “American hegemony.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/06/china-russia-republican-par...
59John5918
>58 margd:
Not sure I agree with that paragraph about Africans. I think many Africans and people in other non-aligned nations in the Global South simply can't get too excited about westerners trying to claim the moral high ground when Russia invades another country (which most of the world including most of the Global South has in fact condemned as an illegal act) when that same west has a history of doing exactly the same thing to many other countries without a peep of protest (and continues to support Israeli genocide in Gaza even as we speak). One can talk about human rights, democracy and freedom, but people in the Global South have experienced very little of those fine ideals in practice in western policies, indeed often quite the opposite. They can spot hypocrisy when they see it.
Not sure I agree with that paragraph about Africans. I think many Africans and people in other non-aligned nations in the Global South simply can't get too excited about westerners trying to claim the moral high ground when Russia invades another country (which most of the world including most of the Global South has in fact condemned as an illegal act) when that same west has a history of doing exactly the same thing to many other countries without a peep of protest (and continues to support Israeli genocide in Gaza even as we speak). One can talk about human rights, democracy and freedom, but people in the Global South have experienced very little of those fine ideals in practice in western policies, indeed often quite the opposite. They can spot hypocrisy when they see it.
60margd
Meet the Press: The Threat to Democracy (47:26)
NBC | May 26, 2024
Secretaries of State Brad Raffensperger (R-Ga.), Jocelyn Benson (D-Mich.), Al Schmidt (R-Penn.) and Adrian Fontes (D-Ariz.) join a special edition of Meet the Press on threats to democracy ahead of November’s elections. Anne Applebaum, author of, “Autocracy Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World,” and Renee DiResta, author of, “Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies into Reality,” describe the international threats from disinformation and authoritarianism abroad. Peter Baker {NYT}, Evelyn Farkas {McCain Institute}, Ben Ginsberg {R lawyer} and Amna Nawaz {PBS} weigh in with the presidential race.
https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/video/may-26-the-threat-to-democracy-2116...
NBC | May 26, 2024
Secretaries of State Brad Raffensperger (R-Ga.), Jocelyn Benson (D-Mich.), Al Schmidt (R-Penn.) and Adrian Fontes (D-Ariz.) join a special edition of Meet the Press on threats to democracy ahead of November’s elections. Anne Applebaum, author of, “Autocracy Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World,” and Renee DiResta, author of, “Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies into Reality,” describe the international threats from disinformation and authoritarianism abroad. Peter Baker {NYT}, Evelyn Farkas {McCain Institute}, Ben Ginsberg {R lawyer} and Amna Nawaz {PBS} weigh in with the presidential race.
https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/video/may-26-the-threat-to-democracy-2116...
61margd
Joint efforts needed to combat disinformation
Janosch Delcker | 13 June 2024
The spread of fake news is destabilizing societies and fueling anti-democratic movements around the world. Collaborative efforts are needed to tackle the problem, says a new report*...
Transnational cooperation between civil society organizations, media outlets, and the world's largest technology companies is needed to effectively combat disinformation, according to a new analysis by non-profit think tank the Bertelsmann Foundation.
"We need to be just as professional and coordinated as those who seek to do harm with their campaigns," said Cathleen Berger, a senior expert on future technologies and sustainability at the foundation and one of the report's co-authors. The analysis is based on discussions with more than 100 experts, academics, activists, and policymakers from more than 50 countries, she added.
The limits of fact-checking
'Pre-bunking' and demonetizing
Big Tech's responsibility
Working together
https://www.dw.com/en/collaboration-is-key-in-fight-against-disinformation-globa...
----------------------------------------------
* {Soon to be posted?} https://www.bfna.org/
Janosch Delcker | 13 June 2024
The spread of fake news is destabilizing societies and fueling anti-democratic movements around the world. Collaborative efforts are needed to tackle the problem, says a new report*...
Transnational cooperation between civil society organizations, media outlets, and the world's largest technology companies is needed to effectively combat disinformation, according to a new analysis by non-profit think tank the Bertelsmann Foundation.
"We need to be just as professional and coordinated as those who seek to do harm with their campaigns," said Cathleen Berger, a senior expert on future technologies and sustainability at the foundation and one of the report's co-authors. The analysis is based on discussions with more than 100 experts, academics, activists, and policymakers from more than 50 countries, she added.
The limits of fact-checking
'Pre-bunking' and demonetizing
Big Tech's responsibility
Working together
https://www.dw.com/en/collaboration-is-key-in-fight-against-disinformation-globa...
----------------------------------------------
* {Soon to be posted?} https://www.bfna.org/
62lriley
on the subject of politics as news---political parties create narratives all the time so that much of what they tell the public is manufactured in a way usually to show them in their best light. It's like some degree of fake or phoniness is always baked into their final product. Here in the United States both sides were already doing this well before Trump came along to say anything he construed negatively was 'fake news'. He just turned it into a kind of meme. But really all it is is just 'propaganda'---a word that the anti-curious Donald might not have been able to define otherwise.
I think right now a bigger concern is shutting down media when it dissents or is seen to as in the recent case of TikTok. All that is about how to control how people think about things---to cut them off from media they don't want us to see. Saying that newspapers aren't nearly what they use to be and 24-7 television news channels have pretty much lost the bulk of the public under 50. Independent internet news sources are just wiping the floor with them and those politicians who don't understand that are just completely lost when seeing their not so carefully designed bs blowing up before their eyes.
I think right now a bigger concern is shutting down media when it dissents or is seen to as in the recent case of TikTok. All that is about how to control how people think about things---to cut them off from media they don't want us to see. Saying that newspapers aren't nearly what they use to be and 24-7 television news channels have pretty much lost the bulk of the public under 50. Independent internet news sources are just wiping the floor with them and those politicians who don't understand that are just completely lost when seeing their not so carefully designed bs blowing up before their eyes.
63John5918
Support for democracy in Africa falls amid military coups and corruption (Guardian)
Support for democracy is falling in Africa amid a string of military coups and dissatisfaction with corruption and mismanagement, according to a report by Afrobarometer. However, Africans still have a stronger preference for democratic governance than many parts of the world. Two-thirds of people in 30 African countries prefer democracy, surveys conducted in 2021 or 2023 found, down seven percentage points from a decade earlier...
64margd
Louis 🇬🇧 〓〓 🇺🇦 💙 MVTFWD @LouisHenwood | 5:15 PM · Jul 17, 2024:
To all my American friends 🇺🇸
This is what a defeated leader of a ruling party looks like walking alongside an opposition leader who has defeated him
No conspiracy theories, no allegations of a stolen election
Just civility on both sides
0:12 (https://x.com/LouisHenwood/status/1813684045307605076)
To all my American friends 🇺🇸
This is what a defeated leader of a ruling party looks like walking alongside an opposition leader who has defeated him
No conspiracy theories, no allegations of a stolen election
Just civility on both sides
0:12 (https://x.com/LouisHenwood/status/1813684045307605076)
65margd
Venezuela: democracy denied turns violent. Hopefully no blood will be shed.
Anton Gerashchenko @Gerashchenko_en | 3:40 AM · Jul 30, 2024:
Venezuela's electoral commission announced the victory of Nicolás Maduro in the presidential election, causing mass protests to erupt in the streets.
According to official data, Maduro gained 51.2% of votes, and the candidate from the opposition Edmundo González - 44%. At the same time, US company Edison Research exit polls showed González winning the election convincingly. Venezuela's opposition said the results were rigged, as they were in the 2018 election, where Maduro also won.
According to media, protesters captured the international airport in Maiquetia and demolished monuments to former President Hugo Chávez. In some places, security forces used tear gas. Preliminary, there are injured among both protesters and security forces.
Venezuela's Foreign Ministry recalls its diplomats from Argentina, Chile, Peru, Costa Rica, Panama, the Dominican Republic, and Uruguay, which did not recognize the election results.
0:53, 0:12, 0:12 riots (https://x.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1818189980922970196)
______________________________
Trump: We will have our next Republican convention in Venezuela because it will be safe
0:06 C-span Trump (https://x.com/BidenHQ/status/1814145433452609815)
- Kamala HQ @BidenHQ | 11:49 PM · Jul 18, 2024
----------------------------------------------
Venezuela Travel Advisory (State Dept)
"Do not travel to Venezuela due to crime, civil unrest, kidnapping, and the arbitrary enforcement of local laws. Reconsider travel due to wrongful detentions, terrorism, and poor health infrastructure"
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/ven...
_________________________________
Leopoldo López @leopoldolopez | 8:19 PM · Jul 29, 2024:
Google translate: Venezuelan. Dad, husband. @VoluntadPopular activist. Co-founder and Secretary General of @WLCongress . Committed to the Freedom of Venezuela.
Google translate: These are the symbols of when dictatorships fall. Yesterday Venezuela won and today they began to collect. Until the end!!
0:12, 0:13, 0:53 (https://x.com/leopoldolopez/status/1818078960594395534/video/3)
------------------------------------------
Mario Nawfal @MarioNawfal | 4:44 PM · Jul 29, 2024:
🚨🇻🇪POSTERS OF MADURO ARE BEING TORN DOWN IN VENEZUELA
0:07 (https://x.com/YWNReporter/status/1818021977514287353/video/1)
🚨🇻🇪BREAKING: HUGO CHÁVEZ STATUE TOTALLY DESTROYED IN VENEZUELA
0:09 (https://x.com/UHN_Plus/status/1818012434675925350/video/1)
Anton Gerashchenko @Gerashchenko_en | 3:40 AM · Jul 30, 2024:
Venezuela's electoral commission announced the victory of Nicolás Maduro in the presidential election, causing mass protests to erupt in the streets.
According to official data, Maduro gained 51.2% of votes, and the candidate from the opposition Edmundo González - 44%. At the same time, US company Edison Research exit polls showed González winning the election convincingly. Venezuela's opposition said the results were rigged, as they were in the 2018 election, where Maduro also won.
According to media, protesters captured the international airport in Maiquetia and demolished monuments to former President Hugo Chávez. In some places, security forces used tear gas. Preliminary, there are injured among both protesters and security forces.
Venezuela's Foreign Ministry recalls its diplomats from Argentina, Chile, Peru, Costa Rica, Panama, the Dominican Republic, and Uruguay, which did not recognize the election results.
0:53, 0:12, 0:12 riots (https://x.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1818189980922970196)
______________________________
Trump: We will have our next Republican convention in Venezuela because it will be safe
0:06 C-span Trump (https://x.com/BidenHQ/status/1814145433452609815)
- Kamala HQ @BidenHQ | 11:49 PM · Jul 18, 2024
----------------------------------------------
Venezuela Travel Advisory (State Dept)
"Do not travel to Venezuela due to crime, civil unrest, kidnapping, and the arbitrary enforcement of local laws. Reconsider travel due to wrongful detentions, terrorism, and poor health infrastructure"
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/ven...
_________________________________
Leopoldo López @leopoldolopez | 8:19 PM · Jul 29, 2024:
Google translate: Venezuelan. Dad, husband. @VoluntadPopular activist. Co-founder and Secretary General of @WLCongress . Committed to the Freedom of Venezuela.
Google translate: These are the symbols of when dictatorships fall. Yesterday Venezuela won and today they began to collect. Until the end!!
0:12, 0:13, 0:53 (https://x.com/leopoldolopez/status/1818078960594395534/video/3)
------------------------------------------
Mario Nawfal @MarioNawfal | 4:44 PM · Jul 29, 2024:
🚨🇻🇪POSTERS OF MADURO ARE BEING TORN DOWN IN VENEZUELA
0:07 (https://x.com/YWNReporter/status/1818021977514287353/video/1)
🚨🇻🇪BREAKING: HUGO CHÁVEZ STATUE TOTALLY DESTROYED IN VENEZUELA
0:09 (https://x.com/UHN_Plus/status/1818012434675925350/video/1)
66margd
Statement from the Office of the Secretary General on the Electoral Process in Venezuela and Report from the Secretariat for the Strengthening of Democracy (News Release)
Department of Electoral Cooperation and Observation, Organization of American States | July 30, 2024
...There has been talk of an audit or a recount of the minutes of electoral material that has not had the slightest conditions of security and control. Likewise, we must keep in mind that with respect to audits, the regime is at least 11 years behind, when it committed to UNASUR (in a meeting on April 18, 2013, in Lima) to audit 100% of the minutes of the electoral process of April 14, 2013. Obviously, this was never done. It is obvious that a new mockery would be inadmissible.
Considering that the opposition campaign headquarters has already presented the minutes by which it would have won the election and Maduro, including the CNE, has not yet been able to present the minutes by which it would have won, which at this point would be laughable and pathetic if it were not tragic; in this context it is imperative to know about Maduro's acceptance of the minutes in the hands of the opposition and consequently accept his electoral defeat and open the way to the return to democracy in Venezuela. If this is not done, it would be necessary to hold new elections but in this case with Electoral Observation Missions from the European Union and the OAS present and a new National Electoral Authority so that the margin of institutional irregularity that plagued this process could be reduced...
https://www.oas.org/en/media_center/press_release.asp
Department of Electoral Cooperation and Observation, Organization of American States | July 30, 2024
...There has been talk of an audit or a recount of the minutes of electoral material that has not had the slightest conditions of security and control. Likewise, we must keep in mind that with respect to audits, the regime is at least 11 years behind, when it committed to UNASUR (in a meeting on April 18, 2013, in Lima) to audit 100% of the minutes of the electoral process of April 14, 2013. Obviously, this was never done. It is obvious that a new mockery would be inadmissible.
Considering that the opposition campaign headquarters has already presented the minutes by which it would have won the election and Maduro, including the CNE, has not yet been able to present the minutes by which it would have won, which at this point would be laughable and pathetic if it were not tragic; in this context it is imperative to know about Maduro's acceptance of the minutes in the hands of the opposition and consequently accept his electoral defeat and open the way to the return to democracy in Venezuela. If this is not done, it would be necessary to hold new elections but in this case with Electoral Observation Missions from the European Union and the OAS present and a new National Electoral Authority so that the margin of institutional irregularity that plagued this process could be reduced...
https://www.oas.org/en/media_center/press_release.asp
67margd
Michael McFaul (frmr US ambssador to Russia) McFaul | 2:36 AM · Jul 31, 2024:
Both exit polls and Parallel Vote Tabulations (or quick counts) are showing definitively that Maduro lost the elections in #Venezuela by a 2 to 1 margin. He cannot be allowed to steal this vote.
AltaVista PVT (Parallel Vote Tabulation) Results
https://supervisiondev2.metabaseapp.com/public/dashboard/6b2f7b3b-16ec-4af6-84c7...
Both exit polls and Parallel Vote Tabulations (or quick counts) are showing definitively that Maduro lost the elections in #Venezuela by a 2 to 1 margin. He cannot be allowed to steal this vote.
AltaVista PVT (Parallel Vote Tabulation) Results
https://supervisiondev2.metabaseapp.com/public/dashboard/6b2f7b3b-16ec-4af6-84c7...
68lriley
FWIW US elections haven't been particularly clean either so that interfering in other countries elections can come across as very hypocritical. The US also has a long history of staging coups when it doesn't like other countries leaders even when those leaders were elected fairly and democratically. Examples such as Iran, Guatemala, Chile. We propped up Hussein for a long time. We supported the apartheid regime in South Africa until much later than most. We seem to have no issue with Middle Eastern nations that don't give a shit about elections at all and are ruled by aristocracy/royalty or the Israelis who take voting rights away from half their population pretty much because they have the wrong religion or religious roots. It goes on and on and on. And often when we don't like who wins we say the election was unfair. Our thumb is on the scale of a wide variety of shitty little despots ruling countries as long as they do want we want them to. Could also mention our role in the United Nations vetoing all kinds of proposals and would be solutions sometimes (fairly often lately) in the face of pretty much the rest of the world. And we love rulings by world courts when they go our way and trash and ignore them when they don't. When we send our troops in somewhere it's almost always some bullshit reason. We are also by far the world's biggest supplier of military grade weapons, bombs, missiles etc. Not to mention the rat lines and stay behind armies of nazi and Italian fascists and their European friends we set up after WWII along with a fairly extensive history of assassinating other nation's political leaders we didn't like. We also kind of created and promoted the idea of collateral damage.
69margd
Foreign policy @ForeignpolicyWB | 3:28 PM · Aug 1, 2024 {X}:
The Wagner group is terrorizing the population of Venezuela with the support of Maduro's security forces.
0:22 (https://x.com/ForeignpolicyWB/status/1819092833690865872)
The Wagner group is terrorizing the population of Venezuela with the support of Maduro's security forces.
0:22 (https://x.com/ForeignpolicyWB/status/1819092833690865872)
70lriley
It's really hard to speculate how clean Venezuela's elections are but a few things. The initial big sin of Chavez/Maduro was their socialist ideology. The next even bigger sin was when Chavez nationalized Venezuela's oil......not only that but Venezuelan refineries use to refine some of the dirtiest crude oil that came out of North America (like out of the Canadian tar sands) that other refineries (like in the United States) wouldn't touch. He stopped doing that and some billionaires lost a lot of $. Billionaires have a lot of political clout. Bush/Cheney and the CIA almost pulled off a coup of Chavez but he managed to survive. So a few years back we had the Maduro/Guaido bs. As it happens it started over an election that the Trump administration said was rigged. Trump has a habit of calling elections that don't go his way rigged. As it also happens the guy that Maduro beat wasn't even Guaido.....but they wanted to call election corruption and put Guaido in anyway. Was the election unfair? Maybe.....but the complainers were hardly clean either and Trump's team of fair players included Pompeo, mad dog Bolton, Marco Rubio and Eliott Abrams (who'd gone missing sometime around Iran contra but probably been hanging around Roger Stone at the bar at Mar el Lago......that guy is pure evil anyway). They almost got Maduro out but here we are trying to overthrow foreign governments and it's not got a thing to do really with our love for democracy it's really all about resources and resource wars.....as in going to war over oil.
And nothing in between then and now has really changed. Corrupt Venezuelan govt.? probably.....so what. Their opposition in Venezuela will likely be worse (maybe not for us in the United States or for our billionaires but for the people who live in Venezuela). Corrupt US govt? Absolutely. Again so what. FWIW the party of Guaido is a party of middle class and upper pale complexioned people. If you look at the party of Chavez/Maduro......they are the working class, the working poor and poor, the rural dirt farmer and they're darker complexioned. There are a lot of black people in Venezuela.....they're not in Guaido's party. There's the argument that the party of Guaido will bring modernity and the 21st century to Venezuela in a way that the party of Chavez/Maduro won't or will do very very slowly. When the rich and technocrats take over though you pretty much have to have an aristocracy of the super rich. To me this is some part of what all this dispute is about.
And nothing in between then and now has really changed. Corrupt Venezuelan govt.? probably.....so what. Their opposition in Venezuela will likely be worse (maybe not for us in the United States or for our billionaires but for the people who live in Venezuela). Corrupt US govt? Absolutely. Again so what. FWIW the party of Guaido is a party of middle class and upper pale complexioned people. If you look at the party of Chavez/Maduro......they are the working class, the working poor and poor, the rural dirt farmer and they're darker complexioned. There are a lot of black people in Venezuela.....they're not in Guaido's party. There's the argument that the party of Guaido will bring modernity and the 21st century to Venezuela in a way that the party of Chavez/Maduro won't or will do very very slowly. When the rich and technocrats take over though you pretty much have to have an aristocracy of the super rich. To me this is some part of what all this dispute is about.
72lriley
>71 margd: Much of it's because of the political and economic situation too. Oil is the biggest driver of their economy by far. They don't have a lot otherwise and at least to me who controls that is what the battle is really about. It's pretty much a one pony economy. There are several executive orders from the United States also sanctioning Venezuela. They're not meant to help.
To my eyes it's more interference in the domestic affairs of another country. Like we're not doing that here, there and everywhere and we basically do it for economic reasons. We're not doing it to make lives better. The coming years there will be more and more resource wars which is partly why the battle about our borders is always front line and center. There's also the planet is heating up which has always tied into oil consumption among other things. The wars for energy and water resources and global warming are going to create more movement of peoples. Those wars are already going on even within the United States and scientists have been talking about this for years. I don't think Venezuela is alone in Latin or South America in having a shaky economy and having people migrating out for what they hope are better opportunities elsewhere and I think we should expect more from all over. It's why the border is such a driver of the MAGA movement. I also think that our political leaders here in the United States would prefer the right wing dictators of the 70's and 80's over what there is now.
To my eyes it's more interference in the domestic affairs of another country. Like we're not doing that here, there and everywhere and we basically do it for economic reasons. We're not doing it to make lives better. The coming years there will be more and more resource wars which is partly why the battle about our borders is always front line and center. There's also the planet is heating up which has always tied into oil consumption among other things. The wars for energy and water resources and global warming are going to create more movement of peoples. Those wars are already going on even within the United States and scientists have been talking about this for years. I don't think Venezuela is alone in Latin or South America in having a shaky economy and having people migrating out for what they hope are better opportunities elsewhere and I think we should expect more from all over. It's why the border is such a driver of the MAGA movement. I also think that our political leaders here in the United States would prefer the right wing dictators of the 70's and 80's over what there is now.
73margd
Lovable Liberal and his Old English sheepdog @DougWahl1 | 1:10 PM · Dec 25, 2024
SHOULD THIS HAPPEN IN THE US?
This week a bill was introduced in Australia that will limit the total spending on a party by billionaires to Just $20,000 This will ban billionaires from single-handedly buying Elections.
Your thoughts?
SHOULD THIS HAPPEN IN THE US?
This week a bill was introduced in Australia that will limit the total spending on a party by billionaires to Just $20,000 This will ban billionaires from single-handedly buying Elections.
Your thoughts?
74margd
On X, audio is largely unintelligible:
3:02 (https://x.com/MarioNawfal/status/1872704121330880728)
Elon "Free Speech" Musk?
Mario Nawfal @MarioNawfal | 1:00 PM · Dec 27, 2024:
GERMAN PRESIDENT: X IS A THREAT TO DEMOCRACY
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier:
“External influence is a threat to democracy, whether it is covert, as recently revealed in the elections in Romania, or open and unabashed, as is currently being intensively done on the platform X.
I strongly oppose all attempts at external influence.
Election decisions are solely made by eligible voters in Germany.”
Source: @RadarHits
3:02 (https://x.com/MarioNawfal/status/1872704121330880728)
Elon "Free Speech" Musk?
Mario Nawfal @MarioNawfal | 1:00 PM · Dec 27, 2024:
GERMAN PRESIDENT: X IS A THREAT TO DEMOCRACY
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier:
“External influence is a threat to democracy, whether it is covert, as recently revealed in the elections in Romania, or open and unabashed, as is currently being intensively done on the platform X.
I strongly oppose all attempts at external influence.
Election decisions are solely made by eligible voters in Germany.”
Source: @RadarHits
