Like a bushfire – all it takes is a spark that is given time to develop. The Abbotts and Jones’ of this world do need to worry as their control is slipping day by day. What do you think?
It takes a spark – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Tag: Change
, neoliberal globalisation gave rise to the political and cultural blowback called Trumpism in the US and its ethnonationalist cousins across the world. Making a fetish of normalcy is a form of American exceptionalism. “America is back” may prove as myopic and delusional as “Make America Great Again”.
Did America really Duck the Dark Night of Fascism? The delusion of normalcy that haunts the United States
This year has seen more than 8 million more gun purchases than 2019, and scholars warn of increasing militia activity. Trump has publicly praised supporters who commit violence, including the Kenosha shooter. International allies are also concerned. After Trump used armed guards to teargas peaceful protestors in Washington DC (which Australia watched live as its reporters were bashed on air), the Scottish Parliament voted to suspend exports of riot shields, tear gas and rubber bullets to the United States. Australia recently updated its “do not travel” advisory to the US, citing civil unrest around the election. Regardless of the outcome of the election, some of the trends may continue beyond Inauguration Day on January 21, 2021, affecting not just the US but its relationships with allies and adversaries alike. Australia would do well to watch carefully and wait for the final results.
As US election day nears, the outcome won’t be simply a matter of political will
Addressing the employment crisis by ensuring workers remain employed and paid as well as providing social services for everyone in the country, regardless of citizenship or immigration status
Guaranteeing a free at point of service Medicare for All single payer healthcaer system for everyone in the country
Immediately using the Defense Production Act to manufacture personal protective equipment (PPE), ventilators, and other needed healthcare equipment for frontline workers dealing with the pandemic
Providing food for everyone in the country for the duration of the crisis
$600 billion in aid to states and cities
An immediate suspension of collections of rent, mortgage payments, medical debt, and consumer debt for four months and a suspension of student loan payments through the duration of the pandemic
Conclusion: Debunking a Myth
It used to be said that people became more conservative in their political outlook as they aged. This was a sort of conventional wisdom, and like many forms of conventional wisdom, it is a load of crap. The reality is that age often correlates with the accumulation of wealth, which usually generates less uncertainty, and with it less need for change. I am doing just fine, thank you, nothing needs to change. This is, once again, an example of class over generation. Typically, each generation winds up better off financially than their parents were, and successive generations of this increase in wealth, and the associated tory turn that goes with it, generated this myth. Once more, it is not generation, it is class.
“They were rebelling against the price of the gasoline – it was the starting point. And then it built up on inequality,” he said, adding that behind the “spectacular frontline” where people clashed with police, there were “clusters of people talking mostly about tax inequality.” And this “free talk” means there’s greater public discontent brewing.
“People talking is always the sign of genuine insurgency movements. In the midst of the protest it felt like the French revolution must have been like this. I don’t know if it’s conscious in the people’s heads. There is this mix of politics, vulgarity, anger, something that is not controllable and it could go either way,” he said.
Given the extent of the public anger, Moreira believes the measures the French government has taken to calm the protests will not be enough in the long run, and the entire economic system must undergo drastic changes.
Hit by a surge of heroin abuse during the 1980s, Portugal’s government first reacted with repression that, as everywhere else on the planet, did little to stanch rising drug abuse, crime, and infection. Gradually, a network of medical professionals across the country adopted harm-reduction measures that would provide a striking record of proven success. After two decades of this ad hoc trial, in 2001 Portugal decriminalized the possession of all illegal drugs, replacing incarceration with counseling and producing a sustained drop in HIV and hepatitis infections.
Our only hope is to stop exploiting the earth—and its people.
via To Those Who Think We Can Reform Our Way Out of the Climate Crisis | The Nation
Under Australia’s two party preferred political system we see alternate parties denigrated by the left and right to keep them suppressed. Two party preferred, not three party preferred is the war cry. We see alternate political parties denigrating the left and right to try to carve their way into a position of political power. From where I stand, political parties are not working for democracy, they are working for themselves and once again, the financial elite. So, it’s time to change the system.
What choices do we have? Where do we turn to establish a democracy for the people by the people? If it’s not political parties, what is it? I think now is the time for a monumental social experiment. We are definitely in the mood and we are well on the way so, let’s keep pushing and flood the parliament with independents. Give independents the balance of power in both houses of parliament and we are in with a chance of knocking off elitist rule and establishing our democratic birth right.
via Feeding the Monster – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Cultural leadership not about replicating the past
But cultural leadership is not just replicating the past — it is about trying to imagine and create something new.
And it’s the scale of what we are missing as a consequence that is so breathtaking.
Yes, it’s the talent, experience, sensibilities and the insights of half the population. It’s also the creation of characters and narratives that fail to resonate with half the audience.
And above all, it’s the chance to turn that map of our identity into something where we can all see something of ourselves, to capture more of the texture and variety of who we are as a people, and how that is changing and being enhanced constantly.
For me, the changes brought about by the advancement of science and technology have been astonishing. As a progressive, I crave change that is worthy and is advantageous for the betterment of society and the world that we inhabit.
I believe that our lives should be subject to constant reflection, otherwise the way forward is locked into the constraints of today’s thoughts.
You cannot change what happens. Particularly when you have no control over it. What you do have control over is the way in which you respond.
Absence of climate and energy policy has left Australia lagging dangerously behind, missing out on investment and facing major electricity disruptions.
Capitalism by its very definition is exploitative. It relies on winners and losers.
Source: The Cancer of Capitalism – » The Australian Independent Media Network
For Vietnam, surrounded by the ever-constant threat of Chinese paternalism, the American war now seems like a historical anomaly.
Absolutely: Men must be part of the solution that ends the violence and discrimination for which their gender is responsible.
Source: Can a privileged white male like me talk about equality and diversity?
Successive weak governments, fearful of change, have failed Australia. Turnbull aims to set a new course by embracing change at home and overseas.
Since the founding of the United States, generations have been inculcated with the belief that capitalism is the only acceptable method of economic organization. Isn’t it time for a radical change of thinking?
Source: Time to imagine: From ‘Disaster Capitalism’ to a system of our own — RT Op-Edge
A monster lives among the Arabs. Its sole purpose is to terrify people from love and sex. No one has seen it, but we’ve all heard it. The monster whispers at t
Source: Love, sex and the burden of shame on the Arab woman: changing the narrative – Your Middle East
Cuba has been shielded by urban development for more than 50 years, largely as a result of a trade embargo imposed by the US.
Most of the capital Havana was built in the first half of the 20th century, and the city’s unspoiled, historic urban character – often described as being frozen in time – is not only beloved by the Cuban people but also closely interlinked with the nation’s identity.
| When you talk to people, … and you ask them, Why are you visiting Havana? The common answer is, I want to see it now. … I want to see the real Havana. … So they share the fear that Havana could be gone and all this magic could be gone. |
But now, Cuba finds itself in uncharted territory.
Al Jazeera’s Nick Clark travels to Havana as the country prepares to normalise relations with the US, encountering a mix of optimism, nervousness and concern about what the impact will be.
He speaks to Miguel Coyula, an urban architect, who is consumed by the question of whether his Havana will survive. Can it handle the potential onslaught of tourists and investments that are lining up? And should everyone who wants to come to Cuba be allowed to?
Coyula discusses the crossroads that Cuba finds itself at – will the country’s rich culture, which includes a tradition of ballet and opera, and its urban identity become something unrecognisable, or will it be preserved through improvement?
He talks about how the embargo acted as an unexpected filter for the kind of tourists who visited over the last five decades and takes us through the streets of Havana to point out how small investments have already started changing the face of the city.
Picture this: Why image is everything for our politicians.
From The Age : Stephanie Peatling,
” Prime Minister Tony Abbott has appointed a new personal photographer:”
News Corp photographer .
