Quote
April 20, 2013
13 notes
"If you become one of the many internationals in solidarity with Palestine, it is vital to grasp an understanding of the various attempts made to speak for the Palestinians and what should be done in its place, to show appropriate camaraderie. If as an individual you do want to hold the microphone, then do so in your home country against the normalisation your governments partakes in with the apartheid state, or against the blind funding for Israel, be it by your government or companies that bare your nationality. If you want to hold the microphone, do so as an individual speaking out against colonialism, speaking out against apartheid and speaking out against the complicity of all those who remain silent. Conversely, do not do so through making the Palestinians seem like helpless victims in desperate need for international mobilization, as if the only way to liberate Palestine is when the international community does it. Hold the microphone because you’re against injustice, not as a representative of the Palestinians. By having a paternalistic outlook on an entire population and by disregarding its resistance movements by believing the road to liberation lie elsewhere, you are not expressing solidarity; you are expressing a white saviour mentality."

— International solidarity with Palestine: personal observations

Tags: Palestine International Solidarity Movement solidarity colonialism racism imperialism liberation

Link
November 05, 2012
1 note
British have invaded nine out of ten countries

We’re coming for you next, Luxembourg.

Tags: empire imperialism odd news British Empire history

Quote
September 18, 2012
61 notes
"

There are immense political differences in Libya and very petty internal rivalries between members of the same groups. This was clear from the birth of the Transitional Council in Benghazi. In effect this is what the US and its allies wanted in Libya from the start. They wanted a divided opposition to Muammar Gaddafi’s government that would only stay united under the control and management of the US, NATO, and the Arab sheikhdoms. The reason for this was that Washington could neutralize any Libyan opposition group that would get out of line by using the others against them. Moreover, if the new political leaders of Libya refuse to listen to Washington then the Americans can make them fight one another.

From Bosnia to Iraq and Afghanistan, wherever the US goes it deliberately creates a fragile political order that can be manipulated and upset from the outside. This way America can maintain influence over these countries by attempting to hold the balance of power between the rival groups.

"

—

Interview with award-winning sociologist and geopolitical author Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya

And you wonder why Muslims are so pissed off.

(via globalaffairsblog)

This is a fairly old tactic that U.S. agencies, such as the CIA, have perfected over time, particularly in the late 70s through the 80s. Many of these foreign relations strategies were used more frequently and expanded upon after the 1979 Iranian revolution, in which the U.S.-friendly Shah was overthrown and largely replaced by the anti-Western Supreme Leader Khomeini. This complicated the U.S.’s geopolitical strategy in the Middle East and the CIA, including other various foreign intelligence agencies, rallied to perfect their techniques and strategies regarding coups, planted oppositional forces, and the installation of pro-Western governments, or governments that could be politically “manipulated” into doing the bidding of Washington. However, strategic remolding of foreign governments could not use the brute force and direct imperial involvement which the U.S. was heavily criticized for during the previous decades, so emphasis was placed upon covert action through support of various political opposition groups, which took many forms, including the all important influence of economics, and thus, we are led to the foreign policy strategies we see today. The Middle East is of great strategic, geopolitical and economic importance to the United States and Washington doesn’t want to see another Iran, or a country which heavily resists Western pressure and influence, in the region.

(via mohandasgandhi)

(via mohandasgandhi)

Tags: Libya hegemony imperialism global politics regime change

Quote
September 18, 2012
"At the same time as they ignite anger against America, the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafis insist on the maintenance of diplomatic, economic and military relations with the USA. Nor are they taking any genuine steps to stop co-operation with this imperialist regime, or making any serious effort to cancel the shameful peace treaty with the Zionist entity which squanders national independence."

— Egypt’s Revolutionary Socialists Movement (RSM), one of the many youth groups that led last year’s revolution that ousted Mubarak, on the USA’s decision to suspend aid to Egypt after recent anti-film anti-imperialist protests.

(Source: english.al-akhbar.com)

Tags: Muslim Brotherhood imperialism Egypt revolutionary socialism

Photo
August 29, 2012
8,244 notes
citoyenrebelle: mohandasgandhi: eltigrechico: sexdrugsrockpaperscissors: thevocalibertarian: thedailyconservative: DOES THIS NOT CONCERN ANYBODY!? -Areas that Iran can attack with missile-  We should make a map of places the US could attack with unmanned drones. Oh wait… here I found one already made Let’s have some real fun! Here is a photo of the U.S. Bases around Iran And here is a (partial) list of places the U.S. has bombed (in red) Now, here is a picture of the places Iran has bombed BUT BUT BUT IRAN IS SCARY, GUYS. That Average Iranian Living Room of Terror art just killed me. Nooo another victim~ best

citoyenrebelle:

mohandasgandhi:

eltigrechico:

sexdrugsrockpaperscissors:

thevocalibertarian:

thedailyconservative:

DOES THIS NOT CONCERN ANYBODY!? 

-Areas that Iran can attack with missile- 

We should make a map of places the US could attack with unmanned drones. Oh wait…

here I found one already made

Let’s have some real fun!

Here is a photo of the U.S. Bases around Iran


And here is a (partial) list of places the U.S. has bombed (in red)


Now, here is a picture of the places Iran has bombed

BUT BUT BUT IRAN IS SCARY, GUYS.

That Average Iranian Living Room of Terror art just killed me. Nooo another victim~

best

(via atrocementheatral)

Tags: Iran terrorism violence imperialism

Photo
August 06, 2012
6,141 notes
verbalresistance: jadelyn: poptech: All the American Flags On the Moon Are Now White NASA has finally answered a long-standing question: all but one of the six American flags on the Moon are still standing up. Everyone is now proudly talking about it. The only problem is that they aren’t American flags anymore. They are all white … So America f*ck yeah, right? Not quite. While the $5.50 nylon flags are still waving on the windless orb, they are not flags of the United States of America anymore. All Moon and material experts have no doubt about it: the flags are now completely white. If you leave a flag on Earth for 43 years, it would be almost completely faded. On the Moon, with no atmospheric protection whatsoever, that process happens a lot faster. The stars and stripes disappeared from our Moon flags quite some time ago … [More] There’s probably something poetic to be said here about failed nationalism, but I’ll just go with “The moon is not having any of your colonial-nationalist shit.” This… this is great. shit yeah science!

verbalresistance:

jadelyn: poptech:

All the American Flags On the Moon Are Now White

NASA has finally answered a long-standing question: all but one of the six American flags on the Moon are still standing up. Everyone is now proudly talking about it. The only problem is that they aren’t American flags anymore. They are all white …

So America f*ck yeah, right? Not quite. While the $5.50 nylon flags are still waving on the windless orb, they are not flags of the United States of America anymore. All Moon and material experts have no doubt about it: the flags are now completely white. If you leave a flag on Earth for 43 years, it would be almost completely faded. On the Moon, with no atmospheric protection whatsoever, that process happens a lot faster. The stars and stripes disappeared from our Moon flags quite some time ago … [More]

There’s probably something poetic to be said here about failed nationalism, but I’ll just go with “The moon is not having any of your colonial-nationalist shit.”

This… this is great.

shit yeah science!

Tags: the moon space imperialism astronomy science USA

Quote
July 30, 2012
1 note
"As civil liberties campaigner Shami Chakrabati helped carry the Olympic flag in the closing minutes of the Olympics opening ceremony, police were laying into demonstrating cyclists just a short walk from the Stratford stadium. The Critical Mass protest over the elite games lanes, to be used mainly by VIPs as they move effortlessly between Park Lane hotels and the games venues, was attacked by police, and a number arrested. They were held on a bus without food or drink all night waiting to be processed. We can expect similar heavy policing for any dissent during the games."

—

from Lindsey German’s A Tale of Two Cities

funnily enough, Danny Boyle’s Olympics opening ceremony didn’t cover the attacks on the NHS, our history of imperialism, or the austerity and degradation of civil liberties rife today

this counts as Olympics Anti-Freedom Update #3

Tags: Olympics 2012 imperialism civil liberties austerity NHS critical mass protest policing

Video
March 09, 2012
2 notes

“You shouldn’t be telling my story if you don’t believe that I also have the power to change what is going on”

Great video from Ugandan blogger Rosebell Kagumire on problems with the Kony2012 campaign, simplistic good guy/bad guy narratives,  and what she thinks could actually be done to help people on the ground.

(Source: Boing Boing)

Tags: Kony2012 StopKony Uganda LRA Joseph Kony Africa white man's burden imperialism

Text
March 08, 2012
28 notes

White saviors and imperialism: criticisms of #Kony2012

“The only thing the video is missing is including “When a Hero comes along” by Mirah as the soundtrack every time a white person appears.” //
“we can’t separate the medium from the message – and I can’t ignore this message and just focus on the (admittedly great) storytelling techniques. If we don’t ask critical questions, then who will?”
 - contributors to a charity campaigning list

I’ve collated some links to a spread of articles that criticise/question the Kony2012 campaign, both in terms of tactics and messaging… but first, a paragraph from a friend of a friend (Adam Hudson):

That film had no political, cultural, or historical context/analysis at all. No discussion about the role the trans-Atlantic slave trade, colonialism, global capitalism, foreign powers carving spheres of influence in Africa, and Western support of African dictators, like Musevini in Uganda or Mobutu in Zaire/Congo play in the current malaise (war, famine, poverty, instability, etc.) the African continent faces. It also portrayed African people as helpless victims in need of white Western saviors (another problem I had with it). Kony is obviously a war criminal but if we’re going to talk seriously about Uganda and Africa, we need context and critical analysis to understand what’s going on and find solutions to these pressing problems.

TheDailyWhat on Kony2012 — a quick overview of the concerns.

We got trouble (Visible Children) — a reasoned critique of the charity Invisible Children and what they are advocating for.

let’s talk about kony — on stories of self, colonialism, and intervention.

Invisible Children responds to criticism about ‘Stop Kony’ campaign — it would be unfair to not include their defence, though I think Invisible Children’s “defences” don’t really hold water.

Catching Joseph Kony — from someone who’s worked with Invisible Children. More supportive of the work they do on the ground, still critical of the methods.

Bad guys, good guys, and the people in between — more of a fleshing out of the “white saviour” message the film promotes.

This whole palava shows limitations with “clicktivism” and social media as a method of social change: items can go viral (especially video) on the back of their power to incense, but there is little rational engagement with the subject matter at hand, with people sharing campaigns that have actively damaging at worst/entirely ineffective at best ends.

The real challenge now is to refocus the discourse onto voices from the ground in Uganda and across the region (CAR and DRC), and to critically assess what the best way of supporting grassroots movements there are. Articles like Stop Kony, yes. But don’t stop asking questions by Musa Okwonga, or A Peace of my mind: Respect my agency 2012! by @tmsruge, are probably a good place to start.

P.S. if you’re looking for a place to donate, I’ve seen War Child, MSF and “Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe at St. Monica’s in Gulu” mentioned as good and relevant causes in the area that the LRA works (hat-tip Laura Seay).

Tags: StopKony Kony2012 charity clictivism social media imperialism white man's burden racism social change politics

Video
March 04, 2012
354 notes

mctumblovin:

thepoliticalnotebook:

“As I’m talking to you now, they’re dying.” Injured Sunday Times photographer Paul Conroy gives Sky News an interview from his hospital bed. This is a really important interview. His descriptions of what’s happening in Homs are painful and terrible. He spoke of the scheduled regularity of the shelling, beginning with horrible predictability at 6:00 every morning.

I’ve worked in many war zones. I’ve never seen, or been, in shelling like this. It is a systematic … I’m an ex-artillery gunner so I can kind of follow the patterns… they’re systematically moving through neighborhoods with munitions that are used for battlefields. This is used in a couple of square kilometers. 

He described the state of fear in Homs, calling it “beyond shell shock,” and the actions of Assad’s forces “absolutely indiscriminate,” with the intensity of the bombardments increasing daily. Conroy’s detailing of the inhumane conditions and the position of the Syrian citizens and the Free Syrian Army is important, because we don’t have as many journalists who have been able to tell us what it was like to be there as we have had elsewhere. He tells us that “The time for talking is actually over. Now, the massacre and the killing is at full tilt.” 

I actually want to quote his entire interview about the people who are living without hope, food, or power and his conviction that we will look back on this massacre with incredible shame if we stand by and do nothing. In lieu of that, you must must must watch every bit of this interview.

What is wrong with people? Did we learn @#$%ing nothing from Rwanda etc? Is the international community just gonna stand by and let another massacre happen again?!

what can we do though? like, as a serious question, as an individual from a foreign nation.

I think that saying “forget the geopolitics” could be quite a dangerous thing to do, as it’s exactly that source of urgency that colonialists have used to impose long-running brutal systems of oppression in other parts of the world

obviously it’d be great if, say, the UN could intervene in literally a peace-keeping way to protect civilians and stop the fighting - but what if the Syrian army fights back against them? what if the Free Syrian Army does? how do we account for the imperialistic drives of our home countries if we’re pushing for intervention?

this is a genuine question that I want help with. I’m fine with the long-term “well the world needs to be structured like this…” but what do we practically do in the short term for the people of Syria?

(via thearabspringrevolutions)

Tags: Syria Homs Hama Free Syrian Army video journalism Paul Conroy humanitarian intervention imperialism colonialism