Ways of Seeing is a 1972 television series of (four) 30-minute films created chiefly by writer John Berger and producer Mike Dibb.

  • 14 Posts
  • 19 Comments
Joined 3 years ago
Cake day: December 29th, 2021
  • culprit@lemmy.mlOPtoMemes@lemmy.ml•"it's either socialism or barbarism"
    2·
    3 days ago

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stateless_society

    In stateless societies, there is little concentration of authority. Most positions of authority that do exist are very limited in power, and they are generally not permanent positions, and social bodies that resolve disputes through predefined rules tend to be small.

    Over the course of history most stateless peoples have become integrated into external state-based societies.

    Some political philosophies, particularly anarchism, regard the state as an unwelcome institution and stateless societies as the ideal, while Marxism considers that in a post-capitalist society, the state would become unnecessary and would wither away.

    This is the goal. As the means of production are socialized (owned by everyone), the concentrations of wealth, influence, power and authority would be eroded down. It is continually iterative process with democratic and participatory inputs.

  • culprit@lemmy.mlOPtoMemes@lemmy.ml•always has been
    11·
    11 days ago

    also from the wiki link:

    Von Mildenstein’s articles explored several questions about the future of Palestine and the viability of Zionism in what he described as the “turbulent Orient”.

    Contrary to the derogatory stereotypes prevalent in Nazi propaganda, von Mildenstein depicted the Jewish settlers in Palestine as optimistic and industrious, a direct contradiction to the Nazi portrayal of Jews.

    from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zionist_antisemitism:

    Jewish scholar Ze’ev Jabotinsky, who developed Revisionist Zionism in the 20th century, wrote:

    Our starting point is to take the typical Yid of today and to imagine his diametrical opposite … because the Yid is ugly, sickly, and lacks decorum, we shall endow the ideal image of the Hebrew with masculine beauty. The Yid is trodden upon and easily frightened and, therefore, the Hebrew ought to be proud and independent. The Yid is despised by all and, therefore, the Hebrew ought to charm all. The Yid has accepted submission and, therefore, the Hebrew ought to learn how to command. The Yid wants to conceal his identity from strangers and, therefore, the Hebrew should look the world straight in the eye and declare: “I am a Hebrew!”

  • culprit@lemmy.mltoEurope@feddit.org•China’s Transnational Harassment Exposed — With Ties to HungaryEnglish
    1·
    22 days ago

    Being an explicitly US funded org with a clearly pro-NATO bias is plenty for me. The contents of the article are mostly in the realm of ‘shadowy connections’ with paraphrased testimony of one clearly pro-US Chinese person. No evidence provided beside “take our word for it” alongside hearsay and ancedotes. This is not what I consider ‘investigative reporting’ by a long shot. If you look through the headlines on the site, it is very clear they have an agenda to push.

  • culprit@lemmy.mltoEurope@feddit.org•China’s Transnational Harassment Exposed — With Ties to HungaryEnglish
    43·
    24 days ago

    If it means less fascist violence spread in the interests of US hegemony, then who am I to complain. Maybe you should consider that being the running dogs of the US is not a long term self-serving strategy. It would be in the best interests of Europe to understand this truth deeply. Or just carry water for the capitalist-to-fascist status quo against anyone that opposes it. What happened last time again?

    https://www.hamptonthink.org/read/the-dark-side-of-usaid

    In addition to the CIA’s covert support for the mujahideen’s holy war against the secular evils of increased living standards and women’s rights, USAID also played an interesting role in this conflict.

    The agency reportedly spent $50 million on a “jihad literacy” program in Afghanistan, primarily during the 1980s. This effort included the publication and distribution of ultra-conservative textbooks that “tried to solidify the links between violence and religious obligation,” according to author Dana Burde. Lessons on basic math and language were accompanied by depictions of Kalashnikov rifles, grenades, ammunition, and a commitment to militancy and retribution against the Russians (who were depicted as “invaders” despite having been invited to lend military assistance by the PDPA). After consolidating power in the ‘90s, the Taliban government revised and reprinted these textbooks, and copies have even been found in Pakistan as recently as 2013.

    Assisting the Taliban’s precursor with reactionary, jihadist propaganda to viciously sabotage a progressive, feminist government and its allies is a strange form of “humanitarianism.” You might even say it’s the opposite of humanitarianism.

    In 2014, the Associated Press reported on a USAID plan to use HIV-prevention workshops to secretly “[recruit] a younger generation of opponents to Cuba’s Castro government.” After being exposed, the scheme proved profoundly embarrassing to the U.S. political establishment and detrimental to the reputation of Western aid organizations. But this was not the first USAID regime change plot to be exposed that year. The agency had also set up a Twitter-inspired app called ZunZuneo in 2010 in an attempt to “build a base of unsuspecting Cuban users, and then introduce rumors and misinformation to destabilize the country’s socialist government.”

    More recently, USAID was caught funding rappers and other artists to, as Russiagate conspiracy theorists would say, “sow political discord” in Cuban society (but it’s okay when we do it). Thankfully, all of these tactics have failed and the Cuban Revolution lives on.

    For its part, USAID provided $128 million in funding to the would-be dictator and his collaborators, and an additional $307 million to Venezuela’s right-wing political opposition more broadly, including for use in plots that were condemned by the International Red Cross and the United Nations. Reporting by the L.A. Times even revealed that $41.9 million in aid was diverted from Guatemala and Honduras and redirected to Guaidó and his fellow insurrectionists “to pay for their salaries, airfare, ‘good governance’ training, propaganda, technical assistance for holding elections and other ‘democracy-building’ projects.”

    This was not the first time USAID was involved in the imperialist sabotage of Venezuela’s ongoing socialist project. During the years prior to the Guaidó debacle, the agency also played a central role in a conspiracy to meddle in Venezuela’s elections by weaponizing social media (again, it’s only bad when Russia does it).

    Similar to their recent efforts in Cuba and Venezuela, the U.S. meddled in the politics of Nicaragua through a complex network of “aid” organizations and right-wing media outlets. One of the most notorious institutions USAID has supported is called the Chamorro Foundation, which is “run by one of the richest and most powerful family dynasties in Nicaragua.” The organization was complicit in a violent coup attempt against Ortega in 2018 and is now under investigation for money laundering.

    Despite its reputation among American liberals as a benevolent humanitarian organization, USAID is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. It is a Trojan horse for Western imperialism — an insidious, destabilizing force that causes far more harm to the Global South than any “good” resulting from its ostensible assistance. And, despite far-right delusions about the agency in question supposedly being composed of “radical left lunatics,” its history reveals consistent and relentless opposition toward leftist movements around the world.