Bulletin N° 806
The Wicker
Man, a pagan horror story
(1973)
http://putlockers.fm/watch/bdrrwydN-the-wicker-man-1973.html
Subject : ‘The
Banality of Evil’ in its Most Archaic, Superstitious Form.
14 June 2018
Grenoble, France
Dear Colleagues and Friends of CEIMSA,
We seem to be speeding backwards in time towards a
neo-feudal era, where misery and insecurity are carefully engineered - both in private
and in public life. A Pandora’s Box has been opened, so to speak, by neo-liberal
ideologues, and the message is out:
“Greed is Good!” An
increasingly fearful and brainwashed population of would-be opportunists are
busy buzzing around looking for new rewards. In seeking “Truth,” the aesthetics
of coherency and of correspondence have given way to a perverse form of pragmatics – if it works, don’t fix it!
A submissive “peasant” class is now being produced
in contemporary societies around the world by neo-liberal social engineering
that prepares populations to be marginalized and managed by the superior powers
of Oligarchs who ultimately set the political-economic agenda for society which
their technicians then are paid to operate on their behalf. A ‘proletarian class
consciousness’ is being systematically displaced by an emotional longing for
“Security” – i.e. the insatiable appetite for limitless wealth, or -what is tantamount to this - for death.
The numbing effect of this
environmental downward shift on the general population – both culturally and ecologically – has
predictably given rise to new patterns of destructive behavior. [Please
see Per Fagereng’s
piece, “Dancing on the electric
grid” in our December 19, 2010 CEIMSA Bulletin N° 472.]
It would appear that the downward spiral is well underway
now, and when/where it will stop is anybody’s guess . . . . Meanwhile, the "progress" we can expect to see from the Trump-Kim-Jong-Un tango this week is: 1) the abating of the probability
of a thermonuclear exchange with North Korea, a danger that was greatly exacerbated by the "Great Deal-Maker" himself; 2) the construction of a few
luxury condominiums or hotel resorts on the beaches of North Korea, which again can be produced by the "Great Builder" himself; and 3) most
certainly US exploitation of North Korea’s most prominent capital asset - a disciplined
and obedient military force in Asia - to be available at low cost in service of the
American Empire, much as the British used colonial Indian regiments to join
with the recently defeated, then rearmed Japanese fascist army in order to “pacify”
the Vietnamese after WW II and to restore French colonialism, just as Europe
and the US have used the “Israeli Defense Force” in the Middle East. (Most of us, to be sure,
have been kept blissfully ignorant of such precedents in the history of Imperial
powers, until it now seems no longer to matter.) This third accomplishment would, of course, ingratiate our "Great White Hope" in the eyes of the US military industrial complex, an indebtedness for a long time to come . . . .
The 19 items below reflect today’s barbarism
that is being set to produce future generations of barbaric behavior, ad nauseam . . . . Only the capitalist investors
in war will profit, and there is no shortage of lackeys who are more than willing
to go along for the ride.
Francis
Feeley
Professor
emeritus of American Studies
University
Grenoble-Alpes
Director
of Research
University
of Paris-Nanterre
Center
for the Advanced Study of American Institutions and Social Movements
The
University of California-San Diego
a.
Headline June 11, 2018
Israeli Troops Kill 4 Palestinians & Wound 600
More
in
Crackdown on Nonviolent Protest
In Gaza, Israeli soldiers killed four Palestinians and
wounded 600 more during the Palestinians’ nonviolent protests Friday along the
separation fence with Israel. Among those killed was a 15-year-old boy named Haitham al-Jamal. Photos also went viral of another
Palestinian protester being shot in the face with a tear gas canister. He
remains in critical condition. The Israeli military has killed at least 124
Palestinians and wounded 14,000 more since the Palestinians’ nonviolent Great
March of Return protests began on March 30.
===========
b.
From: "IAK
Blog" <contact@ifamericansknew.org>
Sent: Thursday, 7 June, 2018 4:03:19 PM
Subject: US news outlets' selective amnesia, mass protests planned, and
more...
|
===========
c.
Sacrificing Gaza: The Great March of
Zionist Hypocrisy
The
Great March of Return is a startling, powerful expression of Palestinian identity
and resistance. Thousands of Palestinians have come out, bravely and
unapologetically, to say: “We refuse to remain invisible. We reject any attempt
to assign us to the discard pile of history. We will exercise our fundamental
right to go home.” They have done this unarmed, in
the face of Israel’s use of deadly armed force against targets (children,
press, medics) deliberately chosen to demonstrate the Jewish state’s
unapologetic determination to force them back into submissive exile by any
means necessary. By doing this repeatedly over the last few weeks, these
incredibly brave men, women, and children have done more than decades of essays
and books to strip the aura of virtue from Zionism that’s befogged Western
liberals’ eyes for 70 years.
===========
d.
Voices from
Gaza: June 8, 2018
===========
e.
No, Israel Is Not a Democracy
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/49617.htm
by lan Pappe
===========
f.
Gaza . . .
Debunking
Myths About the Palestinian Protests
https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/7xm75d/debunking-myths-about-the-palestinian-protests
The
justifications given for the deaths of Palestinian protesters just don't add
up.
===========
g.
Israel:
Apparent War Crimes in Gaza
https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/06/13/israel-apparent-war-crimes-gaza
Accountability
Needed for Officials Who Authorized Lethal Force
===========
h.
Israel’s Attack on the USS Liberty:
A Half Century Later, Still No Justice
In
early June of 1967, at the onset of the Six Day War, the Pentagon sent the USS
Liberty from Spain into international waters off the coast of Gaza to monitor
the progress of Israel’s attack on the Arab states. The Liberty was a lightly
armed surveillance ship.
Only
hours after the Liberty arrived it was spotted by the Israeli military. The IDF
sent out reconnaissance planes to identify the ship. They made eight trips over
a period of three hours. The Liberty was flying a large US flag and was easily
recognizable as an American vessel.
Soon
more planes came. These were Israeli Mirage III fighters, armed with rockets
and machine guns. As off-duty officers sunbathed on the deck, the fighters
opened fire on the defenseless ship with rockets and machine guns.
===========
i.
Meet the Economist Behind
the One Percent’s
Stealth Takeover of America
https://www.alternet.org/meet-economist-behind-one-percents-stealth-takeover-america
Nobel
laureate James Buchanan is the intellectual linchpin of the Koch-funded attack
on democratic institutions.
By
Lynn Parramore / Institute for New Economic
Thinking
Ask
people to name the key minds that have shaped America’s
burst of radical right-wing attacks on working conditions, consumer rights and
public services, and they will typically mention figures like free
market-champion Milton Friedman, libertarian guru Ayn
Rand, and laissez-faire economists Friedrich Hayek and Ludwig von Mises.
James
McGill Buchanan is a name you will rarely hear unless you’ve taken several
classes in economics. And if the Tennessee-born Nobel laureate were alive
today, it would suit him just fine that most well-informed journalists, liberal
politicians, and even many economics students have little understanding of his
work.
The reason? Duke historian Nancy MacLean contends that his philosophy is so stark that even young libertarian acolytes are only introduced to it after they have accepted the relatively sunny perspective of Ayn Rand. (Yes, you read that correctly). If Americans really knew what Buchanan thought and promoted, and how destructively his vision is manifesting under their noses, it would dawn on them how close the country is to a transformation most would not even want to imagine, much less accept.
===========
j.
Henry Giroux
Puts a Lens on the Nightmare of Neoliberal Fascism
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/henry-giroux-the-nightmare-of-neoliberal-fascism/
Is
there a chance to defeat the forces of neoliberal fascism?
Henry
A. Giroux explains why we must understand the historical and contemporary
context of fascism to understand what we are up against.
Mark
Karlin: Why is it important to have an historical
understanding of fascism to shed light on the age of Trump?
Henry A. Giroux: The conditions leading to fascism
do not exist in some ethereal space outside of history. Nor are they fixed in a
static moment in the past. As Hannah Arendt reminds us, the protean elements of
fascism always run the risk of crystallizing into new forms. Historical memory
is a prerequisite to the political and moral witnessing necessary to
successfully counter growing fascism in the United States today. As Richard
Evans, the renowned historian of modern Germany, observes, the Trump
administration may not replicate all the features of Germany and Italy in the
1930s, but the legacy of fascism is important because it echoes a “warning from
history” that cannot be dismissed. What historians such as Evans, Timothy
Snyder and others have suggested is that it is crucial to examine history in
order to understand what tyranny and authoritarianism look
like and how we can use the past to fight against such forces. While the United
States under Trump may not be an exact replica of Hitler’s Germany, the
mobilizing ideas, policies, passions and ruthless social practices of fascism,
wrapped in the flag and discourses of racial purity, ultra-nationalism and
militarism, are at the center of power in the Trump administration. When
selected elements of history are suppressed and historical consciousness and
memory no longer provide insights into the workings of repression, exploitation
and resistance, people are easily trapped in forms of historical and social
amnesia that limit their sense of perspective, their understanding of how power
works and the ways in which the elements of fascism sustain themselves in
different practices. Fascism is not unvarying and expresses its most
fundamental attacks on democracy in different arrangements, which is all the
more reason for people to develop what Timothy Snyder calls “an active
relationship to history” in order to prevent a normalizing relationship to
authoritarian regimes such as the United States under Trump’s rule. Surely, a
critical understanding of history would go a long way in enabling the American
people to recognize the elements of a fascist discourse in much of Trump’s
racist tweets, speeches and policies.
History
unexpurgated provides us with a vital resource that helps inform the ethical
ground for resistance, an antidote to Trump’s politics of disinformation,
division, diversion and fragmentation. Moreover, history reminds us that in the
face of emerging forms of authoritarianism, solidarity is essential. If there
is one thing that the important lessons of history in the work of writers such
as George Orwell have taught us, it is that we must refuse to be complicit in
the mockery of truth. This is especially crucial in the current historical moment,
given the way the Trump administration — along with far-right media giants,
such as Infowars, Sinclair Broadcast Group, Fox News
and Breitbart News Network — work to aggressively
propagate a vast disimagination machine. With the
death of historical memory comes the nightmare we had thought was no longer
possible to witness again. The lessons of history are crucial because they can
readily be put to use in identifying present-day abuses of power and
corruption. History not only grounds us in the past by showing how democratic
institutions rise and fall, it is also replete with memories and narratives of
resistance that pose a dangerous threat for any fascist and authoritarian
system. This is particularly true today, given the ideological features and legacies
of fascism that are deeply woven into Trump’s rhetoric of retribution,
intolerance and demonization; its mix of shlock
pageantry, coercion, violence and impunity; and the constant stoking of
ultra-nationalism and racial agitation. Memory as a form of historical
consciousness is essential in repaying our burden to the dead and the current
victims by holding accountable those who … retreat from any sense of moral
responsibility in the face of their reprehensible actions, if not crimes. Given
the danger of right-wing populism and the incendiary rise of fascism in our
time, Hannah Arendt is useful in reminding us that thinking and judging must be
connected to our actions. Moreover, such thinking must grasp the underlying
causes of the economic and political crisis at hand while acting collectively
to fight neoliberal fascism and its embrace of white supremacy, social and
economic inequality, and its hatred of democracy. That is why historical memory
as a register of critical thinking is so dangerous to Trump and his acolytes.
===========
k.
The Corporate Media’s World of Illusions
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/49609.htm
by Jonathan Cook
For several years now, I have been writing these
regular blog posts with one end in mind: to help open a door for readers and
encourage them to step through. I select issues, usually those that dominate
western media coverage and represent a consensus that we might term the Great
Western Narrative, and try to show how this narrative has been constructed not
to inform and enlighten but to conceal and deceive.
It is not that I and the many other bloggers
doing this are cleverer than everyone else. We have simply had a chance – an
earlier one – to step through that door ourselves, because of a jarring life
experience that the Great Western Narrative could not explain, or because
someone held the door open for us, or more usually because of a combination of
the two.
My
personal awakening
It is easy for me to identify my own process of
awakening. It began with the dislocation of moving to Nazareth and being
immersed in someone else’s narrative – that of the Palestinians. Then, I faced
for the first time in my career as a journalist an impenetrable wall of
opposition, even from my own former newspaper, the Guardian, as I tried to
explain that counter-narrative. In fact, I found that the Palestinian narrative
was invariably misrepresented as anti-semitism. These
were dark years of disillusionment and the loss of a professional and
ideological compass.
===========
l.
Why
Venezuela and Syria Cannot Fall
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/49619.htm
by
Andre Vltchek
Despite
tremendous hardship which the Venezuelan people are having to face, despite the
sanctions and intimidation from abroad, President Nicolás
Maduro has won a second six-year term. Two weeks ago,
at the Venezuelan embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, where I addressed several leaders
of East African left-wing opposition, an acting Charge d’ Affaires, Jose Avila
Torres, declared: “People of Venezuela are now facing similar situation as the
Syrian people.”
True.
Both nations, Venezuela and Syria, are separated by a tremendous geographical
distance, but they are united by the same fate, same determination and courage.
During the Spanish Civil War, Czech anti-fascist fighters, volunteers in the
International Brigades, used to say: “In Madrid we are fighting for Prague”.
Madrid fell to Franco’s fascists in October 1939. Prague had been occupied by
German troops several months earlier, in March 1939. It was the blindness and
cowardice of the European leaders, as well as the support which the murderous
fascist hordes received from populations of all corners of the continent, which
led to one of the greatest tragedies in modern history – a tragedy which only
ended on May 9, 1945, when the Soviet troops liberated Prague, defeating Nazi
Germany and de facto saving the world.
===========
m.
Gaza and the
Psychopaths
https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/06/13/gaza-and-the-psychopaths/
Psychopathic
(Adjective) 1.
Suffering from or constituting a chronic mental disorder with abnormal or
violent behavior.
This
is Oxford’s best shot at describing a condition I feel quite comfortable
framing within its succinct parameters the State of Israel, the vast majority
of its population – if the analysis of Max Blumenthal and Norman Finkelstein
mean anything – the disease of Zionism, a highly virulent form of theocratic
nationalism, as well as that country’s primary enabler – the greatest purveyor
of terror on earth – the United States.
The
instantly iconic photograph of Fadi Hassan Abu Salah,
a double amputee who lost his legs during an Israeli carpet bombing of the Gaza
called Operation Cast Lead in 2008 was murdered by a sniper Monday, May
14thin the context of an Israel now completely unfettered. The
70 year genocide of Palestinians has achieved a bas relief of murderous
psychosis requiring neither justification nor subterfuge. From the Nakba or catastrophe of 1948 – the forced
displacement of Palestinians numbering in the many hundreds of thousands from
their homes and homeland marking the genesis of Israel’s blood soaked breech
birth – to the present moment, there have been, to be sure, many, many worse slaughters by the Israeli
Defense Force (IDF) and its various precursors, but the non-violent nature of
this particular act of Palestinian resistance, “The Right of Return,” has
placed Israel in the untenable absurdity of ascribing kites as lethal weapons
of Hamas.
===========
n.
In The Western World Truth Is An Endangered Species: Come To Its Support
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/49606.htm
by
Paul Craig Roberts
Nowhere
in the Western world is truth respected. Even universities are imposing
censorship and speech control. Governments are shutting down, and will
eventually criminalize, all explanations that differ from official ones. The
Western world no longer has a print and TV media. In its place there is a propaganda
ministry for the ruling elite.
Whistleblowers
are prosecuted and imprisoned despite their protection by federal statue. The
US Department of Justice is a Department of Injustice. It has been a long time
since any justice flowed from the DOJ.
The
total corruption of the print and TV media led to the rise of Intermet media such as Wikileaks, led by Julian Assange,
a prisoner since 2012.
Assange is an Australian and Ecuadorian
citizen. He is not an American citizen. Yet US
politicians and media claim that he is guilty of treason because he published
official documents leaked to Wikileaks that prove the
duplicity and criminality of the US government.
It
is strickly impossible for a non-citizen to be guilty
of treason. It is strickly impossible under the US
Constitution for the reporting of facts to be spying. The function of the media
is to expose and to hold accountable the government. This function is no longer
performed by the Western print and TV media.