protoslacker

[protoslacker]

The United States unconditional support for Israel and its lack of attention to the welfare of peoples in the MENA region, as well as elsewhere in the developing world, in pursuit of peace, human security, and good governance, is detrimental to the universal compliance and voluntary adherence to the norms and rules of international law.    

Ali Abootalebi at Informed Comment. Is Washington’s Defense of Israel’s War destroying the Edifice of the Liberal International Order?

#UN #international law #israel #palestine #american foreign policy

[protoslacker]

Israel had already announced it was ignoring the court, and states were not going to ensure compliance. Yet the ruling’s emphasis on international responsibility in front of Israel’s violations of international law triggered the formation of the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, launched on July 9, 2005, the first anniversary of the verdict. In the face of state and corporate complicity, people took action. The BDS call remains a watershed moment.  BDS has put the spotlight on Israeli impunity and the need to end global complicity with not only Israel’s military occupation but the entire system of settler-colonial apartheid and ethnic cleansing. Solidarity today means building accountability for Israeli crimes and those complicit or complacent with them. 

Maren Mantovani in Africa Is A Country. Is the UN system still relevant?

We are failing every day to force a ceasefire and stop the genocide. But failure is not an option. We must refocus this moment.

#UN #international law #palestine #BDS

[protoslacker]

Two neighbouring countries, Rwanda and Uganda are extensively involved in illegal exploitation of DRC’s mineral resources and the violence that has plagued the eastern region in the past three decades. In recent years, the Rwanda-backed rebel group M23 has intensified its activities, which resulted in the resurgence of widespread violence and massive displacement of people. For years, the United Nations has sounded the alarm over Rwanda’s continued assistance to the M23, putting forward solid evidence of the “direct involvement” of Rwandan Defense Forces in the conflict in eastern Congo-Kinshasa, as well as Rwanda’s provision of “weapons, ammunitions, and uniforms” to the M23 rebels. The United Nations has also implicated Uganda, which has allowed M23 “unhindered” access to its territory during its operations. Despite this evidence, Western countries, especially the United States, have continued to provide support to the two countries, including military aid.

Soleil-Chandni Mousseau in African Arguments. Colonialism Revamped in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Lord Leverhulme’s 1911 concession in the Congo is now held by an African-run New York-based private equity firm with strong links to global philanthropy.

#DRC #africa #colonialism #extraction #american foreign policy

[protoslacker]

We have to think about how we put the people in power, not individuals. That’s the question that we have to be battling with, because any individual is likely to be corrupted and changed by the system. It is now clear that we need to talk about the destruction of the capitalist system so that there can be a real reconstruction of a system that places the people—and the humanity and dignity of all people—at the center. We need a new system with a new relation to the world, to the earth, and all its people.

S’bu Zikode in interview with Richard Pithouse in the Boston Review. “Repression Is Always a Lesson”

An interview with S’bu Zikode, leader of South Africa’s shack dwellers’ movement, thirty years after apartheid’s end.

#struggle #africa #south africa #politics

[protoslacker]

Amilcar Shabazz, a professor in the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies, University of Massachusetts, said Strickland followed a path very similar to civil rights pioneer Du Bois. “He underwent a similar kind of experience to committing himself to being an agent of social change in the world against the three big issues of the civil rights movement — imperialism or militarism, racism and the economic injustice of plantation capitalism,” Shabazz said. “He committed himself against those triple evils. He did that in his scholarship, in his teaching, in his activism and just how he walked in the world.”

Amilcar Shabazz quoted in an obituary by Michael Casey in The Frederick New-Post. William Strickland, a longtime civil rights activist, scholar and friend of Malcolm X, has died

William Strickland, a longtime civil right activist who worked closely with Malcolm X and Jesse Jackson, has died

Institute of the Black World 21st Century

#william strickland #RIP

[protoslacker]

Thomas Zimmer in Democracy Americana (DEC 14, 20230. We Are Falling Apart

The Right is successfully exploiting fears over rising antisemitism for its reactionary crusade while the Israel-Hamas war is tearing the democratic popular front to pieces

Thomas Zimmer is an astute observer of American politics. I don't subscribe to his Substack, I do follow him on Mastodon.

#american politics #antisemitism #college protests #palestine #right politics

[protoslacker]

“Rudd said that the occupation of Columbia University in April 1968, an occupation that caused him to be expelled from the university, was an example of the kind of strategy that the left has to adopt. This strategy had its roots in the organizing techniques of the labor and civil rights movement.”

“Columbia was a success,” he said. “The deed attracted attention. And because of the alliance with the black students, which has never gotten enough media attention in the story of Columbia, we closed down the university. We accomplished our strategic aim, which was to politicize more people and to build the movement. Our goal was not to end the university’s involvement with military research. That was a symbolic goal. The real goal was to build the movement. I got into a lot of trouble for saying the issue is not the issue.”

“The Weather Underground decided to bomb buildings that symbolized centers of power, including the Pentagon, the U.S. Capitol, the California attorney general’s office and a New York City police station, but to call in warnings beforehand so the buildings could be evacuated. The group was responsible for 25 bombings and in 1970 organized the prison escape of Timothy Leary, the famous advocate of psychedelic drugs, for which the group was paid $25,000 by the Brotherhood of Eternal Love, a collection of drug dealers.”

706 comments “

“Joan Baez once remarked that nonviolence can only be practiced and not theorized. _ _ The only bigger failure (Baez goes on to say) than using nonviolent direct action to improve conditions is using violence.”

“Gandhi’s non-violence strategy only works under specific conditions (read “What Gandhi Says: About Nonviolence, Resistance and Courage” by Norman Finkelstein).” + “… Daniel Berrigan’s remarkable letter to the Weather Underground, which he wrote from underground.  Among other places it’s included in America is Hard to Find.”- a letter to the Weathermen, recognizing the same goals of ending a monstrous war but advocating non-violence at all costs

“How Non-Violence Protects The State"  https://theanarchistlibrary…                 + Snowden hasn’t told you 1/10th of how bad it really is.

“One part of the Columbia occupation that Rudd skips in his advocacy of total non-violence is that right-wing students violently attacked the occupiers of Columbia. These reactionaries would have ended the occupation on the second day if left-wing street fighters of the Lower East Side’s Motherf***ers tribe had not violently resisted them. (You can see this fighting going in front of the occupied building in Life Magazine’s photo story about the occupation.) Hence, Rudd trumpets the “victory” of Columbia as a lesson in the success of non-violence, but without defensive violence employed by the occupiers, this victory would have never happened. Maybe some differentiation should be made between violence used in self-defense vs. offensive violence? After all, a healthy organism defends itself, even violently if necessary. It seems to me that Rudd wants to have it both ways. He wants to claim the 1968 victory at Columbia for the strategy of non-violence, but this win occurred at least partly because of the use of defensive violence. His points are well taken, but he oversimplifies what happened at Columbia to support his case.”

“The days of taking it to the street are over. All actions need to be performed via cyberspace, where smart hackers can remain anonymous and untraceable.

Self-defence by Violence “I have been repeating over and over again that he who cannot protect himself or his nearest and dearest or their honour by non-violently facing death may and ought to do so by violently dealing with the oppressor. He who can do neither of the two is a burden.”        Mahatma Gandhi

Apr 23, 2018 How Black Students Helped Lead the 1968 Columbia U. Strike Against Militarism & Racism 50 Years Ago

“ Today, we spend the hour looking back at this pivotal moment. We are joined by Raymond Brown, former leader of the Student Afro-American Society; Nancy Biberman, a Barnard College student who joined the protests as a member of Students for Democratic Society; Mark Rudd, chair of the Columbia University chapter of SDS during the student strike; Juan González, Democracy Now! co-host who was a Columbia student and strike organizer; and Paul Cronin, editor of the new book “A Time to Stir: Columbia ’68.” We also feature excerpts from the 1968 documentary “Columbia Revolt” by Third World Newsreel.”

READ MORE  https://www.democracynow.org/2018/4/23/how_black_students_helped_lead_the

#people's history #movement building

[protoslacker]

Excellent reporting!

“It Is an Honor to Be Suspended for Palestine”

Dispatches from the Solidarity Encampment at Columbia University

https://crimethinc.com/Columbia2024

In this in-depth report, participants offer a blow-by-blow account of the events at Columbia, appraising the tactics that the demonstrators have employed and the challenges that they face.

#columbia university #palestine #encampment #protest #history #journalism

[protoslacker]

That is the most recent legacy of Bernard Lewis. The invasion, occupation, and destruction of Iraq.  But Lewis’ affiliation with powers of death and destruction went much deeper than that. Afghanistan and Iraq are in ruins today, millions of Arabs and Muslims have been murdered, scarred for life, subjected to the indignity of military occupation and refugee camps, in no small measure because of the systemic maligning of Muslims Lewis advanced in his books and articles, and with them informed generations of imperial officers.

Hamid Dabashi in Aljazeera. Alas, poor Bernard Lewis, a fellow of infinite jest

On Bernard Lewis and ‘his extraordinary capacity for getting everything wrong

#bernard lewis #empire #war on the greatere middle east

[protoslacker]

Protests ranged from walkouts to marches to encampments in solidarity with the Columbia efforts, garnering anywhere from 50 to hundreds of protesters. At Yale University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, students started encampments in solidarity with the Columbia “Gaza Solidarity Encampment.”

Isha Banerjee, Apurva Chakravarthy, Joseph Zuloaga, and Manuela Silva in the Columbia Spectator. Pro-Palestinian organizations at universities across the world protest in support of Columbia ‘Gaza Solidarity Encampment

The protests are a show of solidarity for the 108 individuals arrested on campus on Thursday.

#columbia universuity #solidarity with palestine #protest. enpire #divestment

[protoslacker]

What Kramer is essentially calling for is population control by starvation.

Felix de Rosen quoted in an article by Katherine M. Savarese in The Harvard Crimson (Feb. 2010). Weatherhead Fellow Incites Controversy

I am finding Facebook really awful these days.

One troubling part of it is that I look at posts there primarily by people I know. Before "People You May Know" seemed to be people I plausibly know. Now the suggestions are not people I know or know about or can imagine any plausible connection.

More to the point, the persistant Israel propaganda really rubs me the wrong way. I'm old, there's a history to my distress. There's so much I don't notice, but my sense is that USA political propaganda shifted prior to the Gulf War. And then went into overdrive in the lead up to the Iraq War.

I'm no scholar and don't even follow the news well, but with Martin Kramer there ought not be any controversy.

#israel #genocide #academic freedom

[protoslacker]

Although Israel has always formally argued that the Green Line has no legal significance, the Green Line continued to have political, legal and administrative significance. Israel regarded the territories beyond the Green Line, unlike those within the Green Line, as occupied territories, and they were not incorporated into Israeli political and civilian administrative systems. The territories beyond the Green Line were administered by the Israeli military or later also by the Palestinian Authority.[11][12] Citizenship by residence, for example, was determined with reference to the Green Line, as well as a person's refugee status.

Wikipedia. The Green Line (Israel)

#israel #palestine #citizenship

[protoslacker]

In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed (Live At Fillmore East, March 12, 1971)

Allman Brothers Band

Dickey Betts, founding member of the Allman Brothers Band, dies at 80

#music #dickey betts #RIP #Youtube

[protoslacker]

As expected, when the network entered the overfitting regime, the loss on the training data came close to zero (it had begun memorizing what it had seen), and the loss on the test data began climbing. It wasn’t generalizing. “And then one day, we got lucky,” said team leader Alethea Power, speaking in September 2022 at a conference in San Francisco. “And by lucky, I mean forgetful.”

Anil Ananthaswamy in Quanta. How Do Machines ‘Grok’ Data?

By apparently overtraining them, researchers have seen neural networks discover novel solutions to problems.

A fascinating article. Ananthaswamy reports that the researchers called what the networks were doing when the method turned from memorization to generalization as "grokking." He note the term was coined by specification author Robert A. Heinlein to mean, "understanding something “so thoroughly that the observer becomes a part of the process being observed."

The article prompted a couple of connections. First in 1960 Warren McCulloch gave the Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecture, What Is a Number, That a Man May Know It, and a Man That He May Know a Number (PDF).

T. Berry Brazelton with others developed a model of Child development called Touchpoints, The TouchpointsTM Model of Development (PDF) by Berry Brazelton, M.D., and Joshua Sparrow, M.D. The article about AI points out that machines think differently than we do. But I was intrigued by an similarity in what the AI research call "grokking" and developmental touchpoints.

It is not enough to know the answer, instead machine learning and people learning must find a way to the answer.

#artificial intelligence #mind #child development

[protoslacker]

Jews will sit down to a Seder this year with many mixed feelings. The trauma of October 7; the humiliation, the anger, the desire for retribution, and justifications for the horrific violence in Gaza to innocent victims. And there may be added enthusiasm to utter, toward the Haggadah’s finale, just before the door is opened to welcome Elijah the Prophet: “Pour out Your wrath to the nations who do not know You.” But Tamares’ teaching should also be present: “Do not become like Pharaoh.” Dissonant as it may sound, in Tamares’ view, it’s the gift that Jews as inheritors of Torah are meant to bring to the world.

Shaul Magid in Religion Dispatches. To One Early 20th Century Anti-Zionist Rabbi Passover Isn't Simply A Celebration Of Freedom--It's a warning

#jewish studies #myth of redemptive violence #slavery #passover

[protoslacker]

#land back #haida nation #cooperative management #indigenous rights #politics #law

[protoslacker]

Trump is charged with falsifying documents to cover up his frantic efforts to prevent damaging disclosures in the waning days of the 2016 election. Specifically, the charges relate to the October 2016 hush-money payment Trump’s fixer paid a porn star who threatened to disclose their prior sexual relationship. During the federal trial of Trump’s fixer, Michael Cohen, it was established that Trump ordered Cohen to make the payment then repaid him with checks he recorded as legal expenses, when he was in fact repaying an illegal campaign contribution. Still unclear is whether Trump committed tax fraud by writing the checks off his taxes.

Dan Froomkin at Press Watch. Every report on Trump’s trial requires this basic explanation of the charges

#donald trump #criminal trial #fraud #david pecker #what the doorman said