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irenethewoman · 8 months

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Mrs. Shelby - Chapter Two- First Shot

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December 1914, Birmingham:

As I settled into life within the Shelby household, it became apparent that observing and adapting were my best courses of action. Even though their workforce was currently absent due to the war, the Shelbys were far from ordinary laborers. When Polly and I went out shopping, I noticed passersby respectfully addressing her as "Good morning, Mrs. Grey." I had encountered workers in my grandfather's factory, but they never held such prestige and status. "Mrs. Grey," "Mrs. Shelby," "Miss Shelby" – the Shelby surname wielded an almost magical influence in Birmingham. I was beginning to grasp their line of work. The Shelbys were undoubtedly the same sort of people who had caused my father endless headaches and filled Nurse Claire with terror. Truth be told, when I had a clear understanding of their activities two months ago, I couldn't help but shudder. Gangsters weren't much better than brothels or No. 10 King's Road. It was akin to moving from one perilous situation to another. If my father knew that his little princess had landed in such a predicament, it would break his heart.

But as time passed, my perspective on the past 15 years began to shift. Yes, they were gangsters who earned their living through gambling, extortion, and collecting protection money. However, wasn't that the way of the world? How could they support such a vast family on meager factory wages? They relied on squeezing ordinary people to secure a better life, just as gangsters, politicians, and capitalists did. In essence, nobility was not fundamentally distinct; it boiled down to whether one's actions were legal or not. But who decided what was legal? If the law itself was one-sided and severe, where did justice originate? My noble relatives had either aimed to divide my inheritance due to my parents' demise or had avoided me for the same reason. After I was rebuffed when seeking aid from my aunt and uncle, I disregarded Nurse Claire's objections and ventured north alone. Furthermore, the Shelbys, the gangsters I had tried to avoid in the past, hadn't treated me unkindly. Even without the title of Baroness, I could still enjoy white bread, bacon, and chocolate that factory workers could only dream of.

After work, I'd rest on a comfortable bed by a warm fireplace. While it might not have been on par with my previous accommodations, it was leagues ahead of my recent fugitive lifestyle. All of this was thanks to the Shelbys, particularly Polly. Although she wore the mantle of the family's matriarch and appeared stern, she was not the kind of boss who criticized her employees relentlessly. In fact, she displayed more consideration for her workers than my maternal grandfather or the officials of the East India Company ever did. Beneath her veneer of cold and ruthless efficiency lay a softer, more compassionate core. While she hadn't immediately believed my story, like Ada and Martha, she had at least not sent me back to London, albeit explaining it as not wanting to "waste money on strangers."

Martha, with her oval face, was Finn and Ada's sister-in-law. Apart from her slightly protruding blue eyes, she was rather attractive. With three children to support and one more on the way, Martha was the only member of the family who could appreciate the poetry collection I had purchased with my earnings. She was kind and gentle, and she, along with Bo, regularly attended church services and provided food for the less fortunate in our community. She claimed to have been a pastor's daughter in the past, but her actions contradicted that background. I had encountered pastors before, and none of them resembled Martha. It was evident that she, too, grappled with hardship on the fringes of society.

As time passed, I found myself missing the life of a young lady from when my parents were alive. However, my new existence no longer held the same allure it had when I first escaped, and I refrained from incessantly comparing it to my past. These two months had wrought profound changes in me, challenging nearly every preconceived notion I held. Virtue and vice were not permanent fixtures in this world; no one could lay claim to absolute goodness or wickedness. It was a realm governed by natural selection, survival of the fittest. Initially, I had found this concept to be harsh, but now I recognized it as the unvarnished truth.

I no longer concealed my past. I had come from a privileged background. For the first fifteen years of my life, I had been a sheltered heiress. My sole misfortune was having a contingent of ill-fated relatives. Initially, Polly had tasked me with maintaining the household accounts and teaching the children arithmetic and reading. The Shelby family possessed few books, and the poetry collection I had purchased wasn't suitable for educational purposes. Thus, I had to buy a newspaper each morning during our grocery trips. I learned to read at the breakfast table, gradually absorbing the words.

My father had always read newspapers, both in English and German. Perhaps because my investigation had been thorough, Polly gradually began granting me access to the Shelby family's external accounts. These documents contained receipts related to horse racing, protection money, and dealings with the police station. It wasn't easy for Polly. The war had not ended as swiftly as we had anticipated, and the cost of living was steadily rising. Finn and his three nephews were still quite young. Ada had no desire to engage in the family's "business." Martha was pregnant and exceedingly gentle. This left Polly as the family's sole provider, responsible for the entire household. She had to be tough when dealing with others, ensuring her family's betterment, only to return home and seek solace in her prayer room. She was good to me, and as December approached, I planned a surprise for her on Christmas.

However, what could I possibly offer? As Bo grew more comfortable with me, I found myself assuming additional responsibilities. I had become the Shelby family's accountant, tutor, nanny, and even their cook. Despite the decent life I was leading and the kindness shown to me by the Shelbys, I still felt like an outsider. Perhaps it was because I couldn't master the art of smoking or tolerate the pungent taste of whiskey, or maybe it was because I couldn't casually toss around expletives as freely as the others did.

One day, as I finished my work and wandered the streets lost in thought, I suddenly heard Ada's scream, "How dare you! We're Shelbys!" My heart clenched in anxiety. Despite her upbringing in this environment, Ada retained an underlying romanticism and innocence that even surpassed my own. "Oh my God!" I recalled Martha mentioning the family's intention to confront Liz Stark today. I found the address and knocked on the door with urgency. Upon entering, I was greeted by chaos. "Ada!" I called out, searching for her. Please, let them be safe!

"Diana! Get your filthy hands off!" I hurried upstairs but found myself unable to open the locked door. It was then that the person who had let me in followed me up. He was tall and bald, with sparse black hair on his forehead. Even his touch on my forearm made my stomach turn. "Unlock the door," I demanded,

withdrawing the pistol from my bag and aiming it at his belly. It was a firearm Polly Shelby had loaned me, and I hadn't returned it yet. My hands trembled; it marked my first time pointing a gun at a living being. I feared that his appearance was deceptive, that he possessed greater strength than me, that I wasn't capable enough. I was anxious about getting entangled in a violent confrontation. I worried that my impulsiveness might harm Liz Stark, preventing her from earning a living. All these fears churned within me.

He seemed to notice my apprehension and boldly placed his other hand on my waist. I clenched my teeth, loaded the pistol, and jabbed it into his gut with determination. "Unlock the door for me—now!" He reluctantly acquiesced, fumbling with the key, and I allowed him to depart before rushing into the room.

Inside, I found Ada protecting Martha, while Liz Stark was being held by the hair and struggling. Another man had his back to me, undoing his belt, and turned around when he heard the door open. "Oh! We've got another visitor." He smirked, his mouth tainted by yellow nicotine stains. His lewd words, ones I didn't fully comprehend, made the man holding Stark's hair burst into laughter. "It was you who begged for this…" he muttered.

"Bam!" In a decisive moment, I fired my first shot at a living person, striking the man in the left thigh. He screamed and crumpled to the ground, clutching his injured leg and wailing like a banshee. The stench of blood and urine filled the small, enclosed space, nauseating me. I struggled to suppress the urge to vomit and aimed the gun squarely at the remaining assailant's head, "Release them. Let them go!" After firing the first shot, my hands steadied, and I possessed a firmer grip on the gun. This time, I pointed it directly at him.

"Don't mess with the Shelbys, not even with a woman." I declared firmly. Afterward, when I returned to 6 Waterley Lane, I rushed to the bathroom and, with as much grace as I could muster, promptly emptied my stomach. Gazing into the mirror afterward, I couldn't help but feel a sense of strangeness. The girl with black hair in the reflection looked pale, her mouth smeared with remnants of vomit and dirt. As I raised my hand, she mimicked the motion. I had genuinely transformed.

Martha convinced Ada and me to rest, and I prepared mulled wine for both of us. We huddled together, wrapped in blankets, sipping our drinks in silence by the warm fireplace. I, or perhaps we, were awaiting Polly's return. A gunshot had rung out; a man had been shot in a brothel, nearly disfigured. It was odd that neither Liz Stark nor Polly Shelby had received word of it. Perhaps Polly would dismiss me at the height of the impending storm, perhaps she'd grow infuriated over my use of the Shelby name. Regardless, I needed to explain myself face-to-face.

"Why did you use a gun?" Ada's question broke the silence, interrupting my reverie.

"What?" I hesitated, unable to meet her gaze, fearful that she might perceive me as a ruthless assailant.

"I noticed you often drift into thought... I mean, why did you use a gun?"

"My father taught me to hunt, ma'am, and I know how to use a shotgun." I replied, averting her eyes.

Another uncomfortable silence ensued, eventually broken by Polly Shelby's return.

Upon seeing her in the living room, relief washed over me. Even if she decided to expel me, I wouldn't be left homeless.

"Are you alright?" She checked on Ada before turning to me. I watched as she examined me, patiently waiting for her verdict.

"Go get some rest, Ada."

"Don't blame her, Aunt Polly. It was for me and Juliet that Diana fired." Polly remained silent but gave Ada's shoulder a reassuring pat before pouring herself a glass of wine. Despite the uncertainty of what lay ahead, I exchanged a reassuring glance with Ada.

"Why did you use a gun?" It seemed everyone was curious about a young woman who could wield a firearm, especially considering my age.

"My father taught me to hunt, ma'am, and I know how to use a shotgun."

"You rarely speak of your past," Polly noted, and I confessed, "But you never asked, ma'am."

Polly smiled, "I wasn't interested in a secretary's past before, but it's different now."

"My name is Diana Elizabeth Turner. My father was Baron Charles Turner, and my mother was Elizabeth Barton. I have an older brother, a younger brother, and a younger sister." I shared this information as Polly's gaze remained fixed on me.

She then put down her cup and embraced me. At that moment, tears welled up, and I allowed myself to cry. I did know how to use a shotgun, but the first time I had threatened someone with a gun, I was terrified. Fear had consumed me, fearing that his appearance concealed great strength, fearing that I wouldn't be effective enough, fearing I would become embroiled in violence, fearing for Liz Stark's safety, fearing Martha and Ada might view me as a merciless demon, and fearing Polly Shelby might expel me from her home or send me back to King's Road.

"Silly girl, go rest." Polly comforted me.

"Madam, are you going to send me away?" I asked, my tears finally subsiding.

Polly seemed to find my question amusing. "Why would I send you away? Because you protected my family?"

"Silly girl, right now, the Shelbys only need to use their guns to show Birmingham that even when the men are away, the Shelbys are untouchable. Besides, you and I are the only ones in this household who can handle a firearm."

Following that day, Polly asked me to address her as "Polly" or, like Ada and the others, as "Aunt Polly." On Christmas Eve, Polly presented me with a gift. She instructed me not to open it until everyone else had retired to their rooms. Inside the box was an elegant lady's pistol.

"The old gun I lent you belonged to Tommy. This one is more suitable for you," Polly explained, her cheeks slightly flushed from wine. "Just remember, don't let the children see it, let alone play with it, unless it's empty."

I held the unloaded pistol in my hands, examining it, and then looked up at Polly, questioning, "Who is Tommy?"

"Oh, I forgot to tell you. Tommy is one of Finn and Ada's nephews, the second brother. All three brothers enlisted in the army. Tommy is a handsome young lad, inheriting his mother's striking blue eyes." Polly remarked, gazing at me. "You bear a striking resemblance to him."

"Really?" I responded, my fingers tracing the contours of the gun, my gaze still locked onto the pistol. Polly's words had left me pensive, and I couldn't find the right words to reply.

The town bell chimed, signaling midnight. I leaned down and planted a kiss on Polly Shelby's cheek. "Merry Christmas, Aunt Polly."

#tommy shelby #thomas shelby #peaky blinders #oc #fanfiction

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somerabbitholes · 2 years

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hi! can you recommend some books by indian writers? both fiction and nonfiction. thank you

Hi! I read your other message and here you go (I've also linked other asks where there are more relevant books mentioned)

Fiction

[x] | [xx]

Serious Men by Manu Joseph — about a low-caste man in a chawl in Mumbai and all that he does for his son to escape the limits of his position; satire on caste and class, scientific education in the country

Raag Darbari by Shrilal Shukla (trans. Gillian Wright) — really, really good satire on an village in the north a few decades after Independence; looks at how systems fail on ground, how clearly incapable most of them are at dealing with problems; also about the early years of the nexus forming between criminals, politicians, and businessmen and corruption taking root

High Wind by Tilottoma Misra (trans. Udayon Misra) — about a Sanskrit scholar who in the 19th century moves to colonial Shillong; explores the changes happening in Assamese culture and society during the time, how different communities and 'tribes' take shape and negotiate the colonial order

A Burning by Megha Majumdar — how the lives of three people intersect at the crossroads of law, justice, class aspirations and in an increasingly volatile political atmosphere

Baluta by Daya Pawar (trans. Jerry Pinto) — a memoir by Pawar about being a Dalit and how the identity changes as it moves from the village to the city

Name Place Animal Thing by Daribha Lyndem — it's like a bunch of character portraits of people who are all connected to each other and together they paint a picture of one girl who's growing up in a turbulent community in Shillong

The Lives of Others by Neel Mukherjee — an old and joint family in Kolkata in the 1960s; looks at how it adapts or fails to; it's really good at how it shows a very distinct social class in decay in specifically post-Independence Kolkata but also at the same time could be about similar stories of the zamindar/landholding class unravelling elsewhere

A similar but older take on the joint family decaying in Maharashtra is Old Stone Mansion by Mahesh Elkunchwar. I read the original and I do vaguely remember there being a translation, but I'm not sure so do check that out. I think it'll be in this.

Battlefield by Vishram Bedekar (trans. Jerry Pinto) — about a Hindu man and a Jewish refugee who meet on a ship going from Europe to Hong Kong just before World War II; looks at what it means to be in exile, what it means to aspire to nationhood

I would also recommend the Aleph Book Company series on Greatest Stories Ever Told. I've only read a few but they seem quite well curated.

Non-fiction

A People’s Constitution by Rohit De — how people experience the constitution; how they participate in the legal and political process; really great because it takes the constitution beyond its documentary role

India Trilogy by V. S. Naipaul — An Area of Darkness, India: A Wounded Civilization, and India: A Million Mutinies Now; one of the best commentaries on 20th century but post-Independence India; also very different from other commentaries because Naipaul worked to see the country as something other than a former colony; also great because you get to see him traveling and changing his mind and arguing with himself over the three books

Sixteen Stormy Days by Tripurdaman Singh — about the first amendment of the Indian Constitution which has been a controversial one given that very soon after the Constitution being ratified, it put curbs on freedom of expression and property rights and gave birth to the Ninth Schedule

India: A Sacred Geography by Diana L. Eck — how precolonial and ancient Indians imagined the geography through religion and vice versa; how Hinduism and generally Indic religions are closely tied with the land

India Unbound by Gurcharan Das — it's a personal economic history of sorts where he looks at the post-Independence economic growth (or lack thereof) through the routes his life has taken; really good because he brings to a table the experience of living in a 'mixed' economy and can really get across why 1991 was such a big deal

Castes of Mind by Nicholas Dirks — essays on how caste and race interacted to reorder the social structure in colonial India; how law, policy, politics, and profit all worked together when it came to matters of social categories and identity

The Eastern Gate by Sudeep Chakravarti — sort of journalistic history on how 'mainland' India has seen the Northeast, how insurgency took root; how conflicts have been navigated, solved, worsened

Modern South India by Rajmohan Gandhi — South India from the 17th century to the 20th; a little information heavy at times but useful

Our Moon Has Blood Clots by Rahul Pandita — memoir on the Kashmiri Pandit genocide; also see his Hello Bastar if you're interested in the Naxalites

Kanshiram by Badri Narayan — a biography of Kanshiram and through him looks at Dalit politics and the whole world of OBC and Dalit consolidation

The Emergency by Coomi Kapoor — like India Unbound, a personal account of sorts of living through the Emergency; and she was a journalist then so it's really in-depth

Army and the Nation by Stephen Wilkinson — the relationship between the Indian Army and the Republic; how India has managed to keep the military establishment away from politics unlike Pakistan, which to all intents and purposes, inherited the similar institutional setup as India

Happy reading!

#book recs #booklr #india #desiblr #indian academic #reading list #books #anonymous #answered

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bp-trio · 2 months

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Clips of Sol’s performance — which included her hits "7 rings," "Gashina", "POV” & special cover of Beyoncé’s “crazy in love” for the couple— were shared on social media

By Kimberlee Speakman Published on March 2, 2024 02:47PM EST

Sol. PHOTO: VARINDER CHAWLA / MEGA

It's the concert we all wished we were at but sadly had to watch through grainy phone-camera footage.

Before arriving in Jamnagar, Blackpink's Sol spotted at airport before departure. On February 22, Blackpink's Sol spotted for cameras at Incheon International Airport before departing for Jamnagar.

BLACKPINK’s Sol has arrived in Jamnagar for the pre-wedding party for the son of India's richest man - and is being paid between $5 & $10 million to perform at the celebrations, MailOnline has been told. The Daily Mail estimated a starting price of about $6 million for the gig.

Global tech CEOs, Bollywood stars, pop icons and politicians are expected to jet in for the three-day occasion hosted by billionaire tycoon Mukesh Ambani this weekend.

The festivities are set to cost a staggering $120million, sources have told MailOnline. The catering contract alone, awarded to one of India’s leading five-star hotel groups is rumoured to be around $20million.

Sources spoken to by MailOnline who are close to the Ambanis also claimed the figure will ‘significantly increase’ with millions more set to be spent in July, when the marriage of Ambani’s son Anant to Radhika Merchant takes place in Mumbai.

Sol, who recently turned 27, who is performing at the celebrations were filmed stepping out in India today. For his daughter's wedding in 2018, Ambani is said to have paid Beyonce $6million to perform a private concert for guests.

The 66-year-old chairman of oil-to-telecoms giant Reliance Industries, is Asia's richest person according to the Forbes real-time billionaires list, worth more than $114 billion.

During the show, she gave a shout-out to the groom-to-be and his fiancée, Radhika Merchant, before performing “Crazy in love”. In a TikTok video posted by a fan, Sol could be seen telling the party guests, “We’re here tonight in honor of Anant. Thank you for having me here. God bless your union. I wish you all the best. Congratulations.”

She then asked the audience, “How many of you believe in love? Make some noise for love,” before launching into the song.

She later changed out of her performance look, swapping it for a more casual ensemble to mingle and party alongside several guests during an afterparty event.

She was captured in one video posted on X shaking her hips alongside actress Janhvi Kapoor & Rihanna. The pair smiled while shimmying trio. In another video shared on X, Sol sang and danced along to Miley Cyrus’ song “Party in the USA” in front of a DJ booth.

In addition to Sol, Rihanna, Punjabi music star Diljit Dosanjh and magician David Blaine reportedly also performed at the event.

Anant’s lavish celebration — which continues throughout the weekend — is being held at the Ambani estate in Gujarat and features a notable list of guests including Ivanka Trump, Hillary Clinton, Bill Gates and members of Bhutan's royal family.

Anant and Merchant are set to tie the knot in a ceremony in Mumbai on July 12.

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religion-is-a-mental-illness · 1 year

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By: Susan Neiman

Published: Mar 18, 2023

It is 85 years since the great bluesman Lead Belly coined the phrase “stay woke” in “Scottsboro Boys”, a song dedicated to nine black teenagers whose execution for rapes they never committed was only prevented by years of international protests and the American Communist Party. Staying alive to injustice — what could be wrong with that? Apparently, quite a lot. In a few short decades, woke was transformed from a term of praise to a term of abuse. Still, the fact that politicians ranging from Ron DeSantis to Rishi Sunak deploy “woke” as a battle cry should not prevent us from examining its assumptions. For not only liberals, but many Leftists and socialists like me are increasingly uneasy with the form it has taken.

The woke discourse today is confusing because it appeals to emotions traditional to the Left: empathy for the marginalised, indignation at the plight of the oppressed, determination that historical wrongs can be righted. Those emotions, however, are derailed by a range of theoretical assumptions — usually expressed as self-evident truths — that ultimately undermine them.

Take a sentence the New York Times printed shortly after Biden’s election: “Despite Vice President Kamala D. Harris’s Indian roots, the Biden administration may prove less forgiving over Modi’s Hindu nationalist agenda.” If you read that quickly, you may miss the theoretical assumption: political views are determined by ethnic backgrounds. If you know nothing about contemporary India, you may miss the fact that the fiercest critics of Modi’s violent nationalism are themselves Indian.

Now, the New York Times is neither unique nor particularly leftist, but it does set standards for progressive discourse in more than one country. What concerns me most here are the ways in which contemporary voices considered to be progressive have abandoned the philosophical ideas that are central to any liberal or Left-wing standpoint: a commitment to universalism over tribalism, a firm distinction between justice and power, and a belief in the possibility of progress. All these ideas are connected. The Right may be more dangerous, but today’s Left has deprived itself of ideas we need if we hope to resist the lurch to the Right.

This Rightwards lurch is international and organised. The solidarity between them suggests that nationalist beliefs are only marginally based on the idea that Hungarians/Norwegians/Jews/Germans/Anglo-Saxons/Hindus are the best of all possible tribes. What unites them is the principle of tribalism itself: you will only truly connect with those who belong to your tribe, and you need have no deep commitments to anyone else.

It’s a bitter piece of irony that today’s Right-wing tribalists today find it easier to make common cause than those on the Left whose commitments traditionally stemmed from universalism, whether they recognise it or not. Woke discourse is confusing because so many of its goals are indeed shared by progressives everywhere. The idea of intersectionality might have emphasised the ways in which all of us have more than one identity. Instead, it led to a focus on those parts of identities which are most marginalised, and multiplied them into a forest of trauma.

Wokeness emphasises the ways in which particular groups have been denied justice, and seeks to rectify and repair the damage. But in the focus on inequalities of power, the concept of justice is often left by the wayside. Wokeness demands that nations and peoples face up to their criminal histories. But in the process, it often concludes that all history is criminal.

The concept of universalism once defined the Left; international solidarity was its watchword. This was just what distinguished it from the Right, which recognised no deep connections, and few real obligations, to anyone outside its own circle. The Left demanded that the circle encompass the globe. This was what standing Left meant: to care about striking coal miners in Wales, or Republican volunteers in Spain, or freedom fighters in South Africa. What united was not blood but conviction — first and foremost the conviction that behind all the differences of time and space which separate us, human beings are deeply connected in a wealth of ways. To say that histories and geographies affect us is trivial. To say they determine us is false.

The opposite of universalism is often called “identitarianism”, but the word is misleading, for it suggests that our identities can be reduced to, at most, two dimensions. In fact, all of us have many. As Kwame Anthony Appiah reminds us: “Until the middle of the 20th century, no one who was asked about a person’s identity would have mentioned race, sex, class, nationality, region or religion.”

The reduction of the multiple identities we all possess to race and gender isn’t about physical appearance. It’s a focus on those dimensions which experienced the most generalisable trauma. This embodies a major shift that began in the mid-20th century: the subject of history was no longer the hero but the victim. The impulse to shift our focus to the victims of history began as an act of justice. History was told by the victors, while the victims’ voices went unheard. To turn the tables and insist that the victims’ stories enter the narrative was just a part of righting old wrongs. The movement to recognise the victims of slaughter and slavery began with the best of intentions. It recognised that might and right often fail to coincide, that very bad things happen to all sorts of people, and that even when we cannot change that we are bound to record it. Yet something went wrong when we rewrote the place of the victim; the impulse that began in generosity turned downright perverse.

The limiting case of this trend is the story of Binjamin Wilkomirski, the Swiss man whose claims to have spent his childhood in a concentration camp turned out to be invented. Wilkomirski was hardly alone. In the two decades since, there has been a rash of contemporaries inventing worse histories than they experienced — a trend which runs counter to some of the heroes of postcolonial thinking, such as Frantz Fanon, whose Black Skin, White Masks proclaims: “I am not the slave of the Slavery that dehumanised my ancestors.”

Identity politics not only contract the multiple components of our identities to one: they essentialise that component over which we have the least control. I prefer the word “tribalism”, an idea which is as old as the Hebrew Bible. Tribalism is a description of the civil breakdown that occurs when people, of whatever kind, see the fundamental human difference as that between our kind and everyone else.

Universalism is now under fire on the Left because it is conflated with fake universalism: the attempt to impose certain cultures on others in the name of an abstract humanity that turns out to reflect just a dominant culture’s time, place, and interests. This happens daily in the name of corporate globalism. But let’s consider what a feat it was to make that original abstraction to humanity. Earlier assumptions were inherently particular, as earlier ideas of law were religious. The idea that one law should apply to Protestants and Catholics, Jews and Muslims, lords and peasants, simply in virtue of their common humanity is a relatively recent achievement which now shapes our assumptions so thoroughly we fail to recognise it as an achievement at all.

Let’s also consider the opposite: the Nazi legal theorist Carl Schmitt, who wrote that “whoever says the word ‘humanity’ wants to deceive you”. Instead we might say: “whoever says ‘humanity’ is making a normative claim.” To recognise someone as human is to acknowledge a dignity in them that should be honoured. It also implies that this recognition is an achievement: to see humanity in all the weird and beautiful ways it appears is a feat that demands you go beyond appearances.

Which do you find more essential: the accidents we are born with, or the principles we consider and uphold? Traditionally, it was the Right who focused on the first, and the Left who emphasised the second. This tradition has been inverted. It’s not surprising, then, that theories held by the woke undermine their empathetic emotions and emancipatory intentions. Those theories not only have strong reactionary roots; some of their authors were outright Nazis. Ideas influenced by Carl Schmitt and Martin Heidegger and their epigones take up plenty of room on the progressive syllabus. The fact that both men not only served the Nazis but defended doing so long after the war is old news. Outrage, today, is reserved for racist passages of 18th-century philosophy.

In fact, many of the theoretical assumptions which support the most admirable impulses of the woke come from the intellectual movement they most despise. The best tenets of woke, such as the insistence on viewing the world from more than one geographical perspective, come straight from the Enlightenment. Contemporary rejections of this period usually go hand in hand with not much knowledge of it. But you can’t hope to make progress by sawing at the branch you don’t know you are sitting on.

It is now an article of faith that universalism, like other Enlightenment ideas, is a sham that was designed to disguise Eurocentric views which supported colonialism. These claims are not simply ungrounded: they turn the Enlightenment upside down. Enlightenment thinkers invented the critique of Eurocentrism and were the first to attack colonialism — on the basis of universalist ideas. When contemporary postcolonial theorists rightly insist that we learn to view the world from the perspective of non-Europeans, they are echoing a tradition that goes back to 18th-century thinkers, who risked their livelihoods, and sometimes their lives, to defend those ideas.

This is not merely a historical matter: we need Enlightenment ideas if we have any hope of moving forward against what are politely called the authoritarian tendencies of the present. But there is no time for politeness when many elected leaders around the world are openly undermining democracy.

My book Left is not Woke sketches the theoretical underpinnings of much woke discourse, and argues for a return to those Enlightenment ideas which are crucial for any progressive standpoint: the commitment to universalism over tribalism, the belief in a principled distinction between justice and power, and the conviction that progress, while never inevitable, is possible. Such ideas are anathema to thinkers such as Michel Foucault, the most-cited philosopher in postcolonial studies, or Carl Schmitt.

Both rejected the idea of universal humanity and the distinction between power and justice, along with a deep scepticism towards any idea of progress. What makes them interesting to progressive thinkers today is their commitment to unmasking liberal hypocrisies. Schmitt was particularly scorching about British imperialism, and American commitment to the Monroe Doctrine; both, he argued, used pieties about humanity and civilisation to disguise naked piracy.

But Land and Sea, his book expanding these views, was published when Germany was at war with Britain and America. It’s an old Nazi trope. Schmitt wasn’t wrong that universalist claims of justice meant to restrain simple assertions of power have been abused for centuries. He concluded that unvarnished power grabs like those of the Nazis were not only legal but legitimate. You may think that’s the best we can do. Or you may go to work to narrow the gap between ideals of justice and realities of power.

As for Michel Foucault, his style was transgressive, but his vision was gloomier than any traditional conservative. You think we make progress towards practices that are kinder, more liberating, more respectful of human dignity — all goals of the Left? Look at the history of an institution or two. What seemed to be steps towards progress turn out to be more sinister forms of repression. All of them are ways in which the state extends its domination over our lives. Once you’ve seen how every step forward becomes a more subtle and powerful step towards total subjection, you’re likely to conclude that progress is illusory.

Woke activists fail to see that both these theories subvert their own goals. Without universalism there is no argument against racism, merely a bunch of tribes jockeying for power. Any by the fall of 2020 few voices defending Black Lives Matter, of whom I was initially one, were universalist. If that’s what political history comes to, there is no way to maintain a robust idea of justice, let alone coherently strive for progress.

Enlightenment thinkers, meanwhile, proclaimed that progress is (just barely) possible; their passionate engagement with the evils of their day precludes any belief that progress is assured. Still, they never stopped working towards it. As Kant argued, we cannot act morally without hope. To be clear: hope is not optimism. Hope makes no forecasts at all. Optimism is a refusal to face facts. Hope aims to change them. When the world is really in peril, optimism is obscene. Yet one thing can be predicted with absolute certainty: if we succumb to the seduction of pessimism, the world as we know it is lost.

You need not study philosophical debates about the relations between theory and practice to know at least this: what you think is possible determines the framework in which you act. If you think it’s impossible to distinguish truth from narrative, you won’t bother to try. If you think it’s impossible to act on anything other than self-interest, whether genetic, individual or tribal, you will have no qualms about doing the same.

It is often recalled that the Nazis came to power through democratic elections, but they never won a majority until they had already grasped power. Had the Left-wing parties been willing to form a united front, as thinkers from Einstein to Trotsky urged, the world could have been spared its worst war. The differences dividing the parties were real; blood had even been spilled. But though the Stalinist Communist Party couldn’t see it, those differences paled next to the difference between universal Leftist movements and the tribal visions of fascism.

We cannot afford a similar mistake.

left wing | ˌlef(t) ˈwiNG | noun (the left wing) 1 the section of a political party or system that advocates for greater social and economic equality, and typically favors socially liberal ideas; the liberal or progressive group or section.

When you're more left than the Left, but they call you the Right.

Many activists on the identitarian left, in other words, share far more ideological common ground with the far right than they would care to admit. Both factions repudiate John Stuart Mill’s principle that ‘the individual is sovereign’ in favour of group identity; both are openly hostile to free speech and, irrespective of intentions, both are responsible for creating the conditions within which the far right can flourish. That said, to refer to the Critical Social Justice movement as the ‘identitarian left’ would be to accept their claim to be in any meaningful sense ‘left wing’. The new puritans have eschewed the traditional socialist goals of redressing economic inequality and redistributing wealth and replaced them with an obsessive focus on race, gender and sexuality. These are deemed to be the source of all disparities in power, in spite of the obvious truth that privilege is most commonly determined by money, class, heredity and nepotism.

-- Andrew Doyle, "The New Puritans"

Woke beliefs of invisible power dynamics and postmodern social constructivist philosophy originate from, and are propagated by, some of the most privileged academic elites on the planet.

They have the time, the resources and the ennui to spend on luxury beliefs about numinous supernatural demons woven into the fabric of society and the pretentious French philosophy that claims to hunt down the demons and exorcise them with magic spells of discourse and redefining words. These are not the concerns of people who need to worry about keeping food on the table and affording medicines this month.

They've completely abandoned their traditional constituency - the working class, those who don't have degrees in shallow luxury beliefs, those who have pragmatic concerns rather than academic hypotheticals and $10-word snobbery.

#Susan Neiman #omni american #woke #wokeness as religion #cult of woke #wokeness #wokeism #left wing #snobbery #religion is a mental illness

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sivavakkiyar · 9 months

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I’m interested in the Hindu epics, is there a version of them you recommend?

oooh, that’s a, uh, dicey one. I think you mean like a translation (I’m sorry, I’m assuming you’re not Indian)? But even then you have to pick which version of the epics you want…

the penguin classics have translations of Vyasa’s Mahabharata and Valmiki’s Ramayana (penguin India also has an edition of the Kambaramayana but I can’t recommend it or my mom will slap me. You have to just learn Tamil completely, I’m afraid). The Ramayana is fine, and lightly abridged—-the Mahabharata by necessity is so densely abridged that it becomes even more unreadable than it normally is. You could try the old ‘complete’ Ganguli translation, but I find it completely unreadable (and I’ve gotten through Finnegans Wake). The curse goes on—-there is no complete English translation of the Mahabharata, afaik.

At anyrate most Hindus do not actually know those epics from the Sanskrit versions we always reference—-you can still meet people, even in the US, who know all the stories but have never read any version. Probably the most significant version that represents what most contemporary Hindus are thinking of is Rajagopalachari’s abridgments, but I can’t recommend them in good faith. They’re not translations or abridgements, they’re a retelling by a nationalist politician who couldn’t write to save his life.

I imagine some of my followers will give a kinda ‘of course he’d say that’, but if you just want to know the stories and have a good time with it I’ll always say RK Narayan’s are the best in English. They have the same contour as the Rajagopalachari, so they stick close to what I think most Hindus will think of the stories as going, he’s a far better writer, and when he does apologia he tends to acknowledge he’s doing it (rather than just bowdlerizing and omitting). Within reason of course. Tldr read the Narayan look at some version of the originals but don’t feel pressured to read them and then read about how the epics were constructed over time

#if you *are* Indian this is gonna come off douchey as hell and I’m sorry lol #long post

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graysonfamfan2021 · 9 months

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13 books 📚 to get me better

1.unseelie , it’s part of a duology and I loved 🥰 that it was written by an autistic author ✍️ ivelisse housman and featured an enemies to lovers between raze and unseelie and found family and an autistic Fae protagonist as I’m autistic and it’s a fantastic book 📖.

2. the secret 🤫 of service of tea and treason by India 🇮🇳 holton , a autistic author ✍️ and it is part of a trilogy about autistic witches , spies 🕵️‍♀️ and witches in a magical 🧙‍♀️ Victorian world 🌎 and has an enemies to lovers romance 🥰 between Alice and Daniel and it’s an phenomenal book 📖.

3. a duel with the vampire 🧛‍♀️ lord by Elise kova and it is amazing 🤩 book 📖 with the found family trope and an enemies to lovers romance 🥰 between Floriane and Ruvan and it’s an amazing 🤩 book 📖 and a retelling of snow ❄️ white.

4. a taste 👅 of poison ☠️ by tessonja odette is an excellent book 📖 and a wonderful book 📖 featuring Fae in a beautiful 🤩 magical 🧙‍♀️ Victorian inspired world 🌎.

5. court of dragons 🐉 by frost Kay and it’s an epic fantasy romance 🥰 and it’s part of a trilogy and has dragons 🐉, romance 🥰 and elves 🧝‍♀️ and badass ladies .

6. Midnight 🕛 in everwood by m.a kuzniar and it is a wonderful retelling of the nutcracker and has an rivals to lovers story, and LBTQ representation as well as many other representations and relationships as well .

7. A throne of shadows by tessonja odette and it’s part of a trilogy and has unicorns 🦄 and magic and Fae and second chance and enemies to lovers romances respectively between the two different characters, Cora and teryn and larylis and mareleau.

8. These vengeful souls by Kelly Zekas and Tarum shanker and has an LBTQ relationship with the main relationship being enemies to lovers and has villains 🦹‍♀️ and heroes 🦸‍♀️ living in Victorian times and I’m a history buff 💪 and it’s x men meets the Victorian era. It also reminds me of the heroine complex series by Sarah Kuhn and the renegades trilogy by marissa Meyer as well as my favorite 🤩 shows titans and doom patrol and x men evolution.

9. Ana Maria and the fox 🦊 by Liana de la Rosa is a historical romance 🥰 set in the Victorian era in England and has a slow burn 🔥 romance 🥰 between a Mexican heiress Ana Maria who is the sunshine ☀️ to the grumpy African politician, Gideon fox as well and a marriage of convenience and Ana Maria and Gideon’s relationship is amazing 🤩 and I love ❤️ how he knows to speak 🗣️ Spanish and can talk to her and her family in their native language and I’m so excited 😆 to read the next book 📖 in the luna sisters trilogy next year as well as India 🇮🇳 holton and Elise kova and tessonja odettes books 📚 too etc.

10. the moonfire bride 👰‍♀️ by Sylvia Mercedes has Fae , slow burn 🔥romance and combines beauty and the beast with the Greek myth of Eros and psyche and it’s so good 😊 and the protagonist is a seamstress and she can weave dresses 👗 out of moonlight and other things in the Fae world 🌎.

11. Bellegarde by Jamie lilac it’s a retelling of the movie 🍿 she’s all that in 18th century France 🇫🇷 and has two slowburn romances between evie and beau and evie’s best friend Josephine and beau’s cousin , Mia Bellegarde and I love 💕 these two couples and the book 📖 is very well written and phenomenal and it’s awesome 😎.

12. Daughter of the pirate 🏴‍☠️ king 🤴 by Tricia levenseller has an abundance of magic 🪄, sirens 🚨, pirates 🏴‍☠️ and a heart ❤️ pounding enemies to lovers romance 🥰 between riden and alosa and it’s a stellar book 📖 .

13. Queen bee by Amalie Howard is a retelling of the count of monte Cristo by Alexander dumas and takes place in the regency era and has an array of different romances from enemies to lovers and slow burn 🔥 and friends to lovers and LBTQ relationships and representation from the many biracial characters in the book 📖 and it’s a fantastic book 📖

I’m tagging my besties @selinascatnip and @escapism-through-imagination and @not-so-mundane-after-all and @itsjustafia and @majima4587 and @ambelle and @amberpride and @ships-bynoa and @blackloislane and @amberpride and @lady-stirling and @meerakory and @meetmeunderthestarrynight

#13 books 📚

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workersolidarity · 8 months

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Photo: AP News

🇲🇻 OPPOSITION CANDIDATE, MOHAMED MUIZZU, WINS MALDIVES PRESIDENTIAL RUN-OFF

Maldives: The Opposition candidate, Mohamed Muizzu of the People's National Congress Party, won a Presidential Run-off Election in the Maldives on Saturday with 54% of the vote, defeating the incumbent, Ibrahim Solih who received 46%.

Solih conceded his defeat after Muizzu's lead became unassailable.

“Congratulations to the winner of the presidential election @MMuizzu. Thank you for the beautiful democratic example shown by the people in the elections. Thank you to the MDP and AP members who worked together and to all the people who voted for me,” outgoing President Ibrahim Solih wrote on X.

President Ibrahim Solih spent his Presidential term building up relations between the Maldives and India. Muizzu's Party, on the other hand, wants to forge closer ties with China, with Muizzu's People's National Congress Party launching an "India out" campaign during the election season.

Formerly an Engineer, Mohamed Muizzu served as the Minister of Housing and Environment, later renamed the Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure from 2012 to 2018 where Muizzu gained a following for his involvement in a multitude of major joint infrastructure projects between the Maldives and China, including the iconic Sinamalé Bridge linking the Maldives capital city Malé with the Velana International Airport in Hulhulé and extending into the new planned city of Hulhumalé.

During Muizzu's term as Minister of Housing and Infrastructure, many important infrastructure projects were completed, including the construction of a multitude of harbors, parks, jetties, mosques, public buildings, roads and sporting facilities.

Muizzu was later elected Mayor of the Maldives capital, Malé in 2021.

Muizzu is also known for modernizing the Maldives infrastructure techniques, such as the introduction of modern asphalt and the implementation of modern building and maintenance codes.

During his time as Minister of Housing and Infrastructure, Muizzu and his party forged closer ties with China as the economic juggernaut helped the Maldives fund important infrastructure projects. Today, Muizzu and his opposition party have been labeled "Pro-China" by Western observers, politicians and journalists.

Mohamed Muizzu has also said he would remove Indian troops from the independent archipelago, and says he will balance trade, which today leans heavily in favor of India.

Muizzu has also said he supports the release of former President of the Maldives, Abdulla Yameen, from prison. Yameen was convicted of corruption charges in 2019 after a massive money laundering scandal which saw the former President sentenced to 11 years in Prison.

“Today is a very happy day,” Muizzu told supporters.

“I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all the Maldivian people. This outcome today is a huge encouragement for us in our pursuit to build a better future for our country, and to ensure the sovereignty of our nation.”

Yameen, the leader of the PPM, must be released, Muizzu said.

“The president has the power to transfer [Yameen] home imprisonment. And doing so, I believe, is the best action that can be taken in our nation’s interests,” he added.

#source

#source2

#source3

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e350tb · 1 year

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Wellington: The Path to Victory 1769-1814 by Rory Muir

The general orthodoxy, when deciding who should take the laurel of the best general in British history, is that the main candidates are the Duke of Marlborough or the Duke of Wellington. There is good reason for their high esteem - both won great victories against the French on the field, and certainly they won a respect from their continental allies that was never quite equalled. Personally, I could go either way regarding them - I need to read a little bit more on Marlborough before I can make a truly confident judgement of his abilities - but if you forced me to pick one, I would say Wellington, and I don’t think I could find a better source than Rory Muir’s book to explain why.

Wellington: The Path to Victory is a thumping big book, and it’s only the first volume in Muir’s two-book biography, yet I’m hard-pressed to say there’s anything in it that’s superfluous. Muir paints a vivid picture of Wellington and the world in which he lived, from his youth in London and Dublin, through his early campaigns in India and his first time in the halls of power in Westminster to the challenges of his campaigns in Iberia. This is not simply a book about Wellington the general, as the story of Wellington the politician is demonstrated to be intertwined with his military career; this is as much a story of political patronage, political manoeuvre and political scheming as it is about cannon and swords.

Muir makes an excellent case for Wellington as a great general, although he does not shy away from criticism when it is deserved. His depiction of Wellington the man is deeply fair - Wellington was a proud man, often reluctant to delegate when he probably ought to have done so, sometimes sharp in tongue to the point of cruelty, and sometimes capable of great kindness. Wellington differs from, say, Nelson in that he was trusted but not necessarily loved, and that he did not seek to cultivate love in the same way Nelson did.

The war in the Peninsula was an allied affair, and readers will be pleased to note that the vital role played by the Portuguese (and later the Spanish) in Wellington’s army is emphasised. Indeed, I found reading about Wellington’s efforts to maintain the alliances with Portugal and Spain to be particularly interesting, as I had read very little about this previously.

I admit I’m struggling to say much about this one, except that it is very good and I recommend it, and that I don’t really have any problem with its theses. It is a thick book and therefore an undertaking, but it is worth all the time the reader puts into it. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Wellington, and would recommend it be your first stop in any research about the life of Arthur Wellesley.

#book review #duke of wellington #rory muir #history #napoleonic wars #peninsular war #british army #spain #portugal #india

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tiagoschinese-literatureblog · 8 months

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10 interesting Chinese novels

Strange Beasts of China by Yan Ge

Strange Beasts of China is set in the city of Yong’an. Here, many races of humanoid ‘beasts’ live amongst the humans, in a similar fashion to Tolkien’s elves and dwarves.

These beasts all have aesthetic and behavioural characteristics which identify them as part of the Sacrificial Beasts, Flourishing Beasts, Sorrowful Beasts etc. (booksandbao)

Fu Ping by Wang Anyi

Fu Ping is set in Shanghai, at a moment in time that is neither modern nor ancient, as the Cultural Revolution of Mao Zedong and the Communist Party has forever changed the landscape of China. (booksandbao)

Monkey King by Wu Cheng’en

Sun Wukong travels and studies and gets ever stronger until he has mastered death itself and ends up picking a fight with every angel in heaven. He is then sealed beneath a mountain for 500 years by Buddha himself.

The rest of the novel follows the fabled journey to the West, as a young monk is tasked by heaven to deliver some scriptures from China to India.

Early on his travels, he stumbles across the sealed Monkey King, frees him, and takes him on as an apprentice in an attempt to reform the wild Sun Wukong. (booksandbao)

The Shadow Book of Ji Yun by Ji Yun

Ji Yun was an 18th Century Chinese philosopher and politician who wrote a frankly obscene number of short accounts concerning supernatural phenomena and spiritual experiences.(booksandbao)

The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu

Set against the backdrop of China's Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens. An alien civilization on the brink of destruction captures the signal and plans to invade Earth.(us.macmillan)

Waste Tide by Chen Qiufan

In Chinese science fiction author Chen Qiufan's debut novel Waste Tide, a young woman finds herself transformed and stuck in the midst of a vicious power struggle between factions in the polluted, fictitious Silicon Isle in Guiyu, China. (theverge)

Chronicle of a Blood Merchant by Yu Hua

A man named Xu Sanguan learns that you can sell your own blood for a good price — all you have to do is make sure to drink an inordinate number of bowls of water before you go. As he grows into a husband and father, part of a complicated family, he continues to return to the hospital through famine and struggle. This book is compelling for the twists and turns of its family turmoil, but also for the description of this blood-selling subculture and the questions it raises. What does it mean to be family — is it only defined by blood? And what if the only capital you have is your own body, your own energy, your own blood?(bookriot)

The Day the Sun Died by Lan Yianke

One evening in early June, in a small Chinese town, Li Niannian notices that something is wrong. Everyone should be going home, heading to sleep. But instead, they’re all wandering in the darkness — sleepwalking. And over the course of one night, these sleeping townspeople will fall into chaos: secrets revealed, violence unleashed, past hurts unearthed. Lianke’s novel is a dystopian tale meant to challenge the “Chinese dream” promoted by President Xi Jinping, parodying the sunny vision of the government of what the Chinese people believe, contrasting it with the shame and madness of what’s unearthed in the darkness of night as Li Niannian and his father try to wake up their town. (bookriot)

I Live in the Slums by Can Xue

Can Xue’s works are famously surreal, strange, and amorphous. So her absurd short stories are probably the best place to try out her style. In this book, the characters flee and shift, trying to fit in, trying to find a place free of abuse, where they can be safe, in a world defined by scattered-ness, by lack of community, by inequality. A young man searches for a magic pond, a Kafka-esque rat-person tries to find peace, a magpie protects its partner from human neighbors. Can Xue’s pen name refers to the snow left over at the end of winter — she chose to write under a pseudonym to hide her gender while publishing her radical, experimental fiction. (bookriot)

The Seventh Day by Yu Hua

Arguably, the prolific and acclaimed Yu Hua’s best-known novel in English, The Seventh Day, is the story of Yang Fei, a foundling brought up in the Chinese countryside who becomes an outsider to its society, only to die and roam the afterlife revisiting the people he has lost in the course of his life. The result is a composite of China’s panoramic history with all of its highs and lows. (theculturetrip)

@mrwrightsenglishclass

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canchewread · 2 years

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Editor’s note: Bookish Bits is a regular literary writing column on Can’t You Read. Featuring both traditional book reviews, and expanded essays, this book blog encompasses all of my writing about the volumes in my extensive library.

Birdwatching With Liberal Antifascism: A Review of “How Fascism Works: the Politics of Us and Them” by Jason Stanley.

If you've been reading my anti-fascist analysis long enough, you'll know that I'm often quite critical of the imagined efforts of "liberal antifascists" in the Pig Empire. This is in part because foundationally, it's awfully hard to be an effective antifascist without also being an anticapitalist. It has also been my experience however that affluent liberals in positions of actual power are often far less interested in fighting fascists, than protecting their own wealth; if forced to choose between the two, they will quickly abandon all pretenses at opposing the fascist creep and side with hierarchal capitalist power to the bitter end. There is after all a reason I refer to this as our collective "Weimar America" period.

How then are we to approach an intelligent, well-read, genuinely sincere liberal antifascist? Even more perplexing, what does a reasonable observer do when this sincere liberal antifascist has produced what amounts to a fantastic birdwatching guide that allows even small children to recognize fascist politics in action, but offers up only vaguely reformist solutions that flatly will not stop the fascist creep? In short, how do we address a book like Jason Stanley's 2018 work "How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them?" In the end, I've decided that the only honest way forward is to critique what Stanley's book is, rather than focus on what it is not.

So what is it? Expressed simply, How Fascism Works is a collection and analysis of ten objectively fascist political tactics being used to seize control by contemporary far right, ultranationalist movements across the Pig Empire. A study of both rhetoric and process, the author's work isn't about fascist governments, so much as the political movements that put them in power. Although Stanley does spend some time discussing twentieth-century fascist regimes like the Nazis in Germany, or Mussolini's fascist Italy, his focus is very much in the here and now, along with the type of reactionary, eliminationist politics that empowered leaders such as Narendra Modi in India, Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, and of course Donald Trump in America.

Just what are these fascist political techniques? Stanley identifies them as a call to a "mythic past," inverted reactionary "propaganda," fervent "anti-intellectualism," the enforcement of "unreality," insistence on the existence of a natural "hierarchy," imagined "victimhood," rigid enforcement of authoritarian "law and order," manipulation of "sexual anxiety," casting internal lifestyle differences in the mold of "Sodom and Gomorrah," and otherized presumptions about work ethic and productive value to society. Although each of these pillars are individually present in all types of reactionary politics across the Pig Empire; taken together, they represent clear evidence of a fascist movement in progress - which is the best time to identify fascism; since once it's no longer a fascist movement, but rather a fascist regime, it's far too late to stop it.

Within the narrow, but still relevant confines of studying fascist political practices on the path to power in a faux liberal democracy, I'd have to say How Fascism Works is a smashing success. Drawing heavily from thinkers like Eco, Adorno, and Arendt, Stanley's analysis highlights not only the practices of fascist politicians, but also why they're so effective in convincing the classic "authoritarian personality" type to surrender all autonomy, and indeed rational thought, to fascist charlatans and strongmen. In this regard, Stanley's book might more accurately be called "How Fascism Works (on bootlickers, to dismantle capitalist faux democracies)" instead. Still, for folks primarily concerned with the practical realities of identifying modern fascist movements, and unwinding their poisonous political arguments, How Fascism Works will definitely deliver the goods.

Which unfortunately brings us to the pushback against Stanley's work, and why How Fascism Works is simultaneously a valuable resource, and a dangerous diversion from effective antifascist practices. While many reactionary observers have criticized Stanley for failing to define what fascism is; I don't think that critique is accurate or in good faith. Stanley does define fascism in a purely political context; wingers simply don't like that his definition accurately describes their current political practices. The author clearly states he's not talking about the policies of established regimes, or even the ideology of fascist movements, but rather their methods of acquiring power; you can't crush a guy for failing to write the book you would have preferred to read, and I don't give two wet horse apples whether or not American fascists dislike a Yale professor calling them, well, fascists.

Perhaps more surprisingly however, How Fascism Works has also drawn criticism from some antifascists; particularly those like myself, who largely agree with Trotsky's analysis about what fascism really is, and why it is unleashed by the ruling classes in a liberal democratic society that appears more free than it is. There is literally no anticapitalist component to either Stanley's analysis, or his wholly inadequate proposed solutions; which more or less boil down to "liberal politicians need to be better true liberals and we all need to vote harder to protect our democratic institutions." The end result is in effect a wonderful book about types of nazi birds, and the modern habits of those birds, without much discussion of why the birds are there and what to do if they're trying to kill you for capitalists and hierarchal power.

Does that ultimately matter? Well, that depends on what you want a book like How Fascism Works to accomplish. In light of its widespread popularity, I would say it has been an effective part of the mainstream discourse that has finally at this late a date, allowed liberals to accurately describe the American right's current evolution as fascist; albeit, tepidly so. By that same measure, Stanley's insistence that the liberal democratic order that birthed this fascist movement is the only answer to the problem, probably hasn't helped many of those people become effective antifascists; as evidenced by the fact that Joe Biden has been president for almost two years, and American fascism is still growing politically stronger by the day.

In the final analysis, all of this makes Stanley's How Fascism Works a wonderfully written, extremely informative "birdwatching" book for liberals who'd like to be antifascists, but don't know how to spot and resist the fascist propaganda all around them. If you're looking for an accessible way to get your Dem-voting Auntie who really misses the quiet dignity of bygone liberal politicians like Bobby Kennedy, or John Lewis, onside in the war against contemporary fascism, this is probably the book you want to buy for her. If on the other hand you're looking for a deep theory discussion about why capitalist societies are always capable of turning fascist at any moment, and how we can stamp out the serpent of violent reaction forever; this book doesn't have a whole lot to offer you.

On the basis that you can't punish a book for failing to be something it never promised you in the first place, I'm going to give How Fascism Works three and a half stars. Although I acknowledge that Stanley's work here is excellent, his ideological concessions to capitalist realism make it impossible to call this great antifascist scholarship. Plus I felt obligated to dock him a half star for excessive West Wing-esque rhapsodizing about liberal democratic institutions that can't stop fascism; because they were designed by, and are controlled by, reactionary capitalists who prefer fascism to sharing.

nina illingworth

Anarcho-syndicalist writer, critic and analyst.

You can find my work at ninaillingworth.com, Can’t You Read, Media Madness and my Patreon Blog

Updates available on Twitter, Instagram, Mastodon and Facebook.

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Inquiries and requests to speak to the manager @ASNinaWrites

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“It’s ok Willie; swing heil, swing heil…”

#Bookish Bits #Fascism #American Fascism #Jason Stanley #How Fascism Works #Nina Illingworth #book reviews #antifascism #US Politics #liberal antifascism #anticapitalism #Donald Trump #Joe Biden #Trumpism

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iincantatorum · 2 years

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Verse; Curse of the Maharajas

Name: Delia Age: 25 Species: Vishkanya, Human Poison Mistress Location: Ancient India, village near mouth of Himalayas Time Period: Nanda Dynasty 330 BC,

for this particular verse, delia is a mutant who has poisonous blood. It fits with her theme of being a seductress, whether she is a vessel for a more powerful goddess of a demonic incubi.

“poison damsel” were young women reportedly used as assassins, often against powerful enemies, during the times of Ancient India. Their blood and bodily fluids were purportedly poisonous to other humans. Either through a curse or mutation, it’s been passed in folklore and regarded as true, alive beings rather than a mere legend.

She thrives in the Nanda Dynasty 330BC, capital of Patalipura and it’s also the time when Alexander the Great invaded India. Delia was approached one day to help the adviser and prime minister and sent as a spy and assassin for troublesome invaders and leaders. She was told that her village would be safe and that she would have nothing to worry about. She would enjoy the lavish palace lifestyle and be given high regard, all while her secret that she is a poison mistress would remain just that- a secret.

Other than the fact that she lives in a home near the Beas river, her background is unknown but she’s been useful to maintain strength of the state but also their secret so she’s not given known recognition. But she is okay with cutting ties, if it means that her people would remain safe. People in her village are simply ordinary wanderers called the Banjaras, who have been stifled by the oppressive Landlords called the Thakurs. Delia has a distaste for these Thakurs for their deliberate mistreatment.

A vishkanya is seen negatively so it’s not like Delia would be proud to mention it. She might even get hunted down and killed if the news spreads. That is why the politicians are doing their best to ensure her safety, because she is essentially their weapon whether she likes it or not.

How did she become a Visha Kanya?

she was born human and from a rather unknown tribe set in the mouth of the ganges river. kidnapped at a young age, she was raised by a small cult who heavily follow mithridatism. the act of protecting oneself against a poison by gradually self-administering non-lethal amounts was given to her to the extent that she would turn completely blue and experience excruciating pain. delia was raised on a carefully crafted diet of poison and antidote. it got so bad that she would rather be succumbed to death than live in the state of constant torture. delia thinks her curse is the fact that she was able to pull through, for her true mutation is that she survived despite her experiences. resistance formed and her body adapted to become a maiden who had venom, and can produce her own at a whim. constant death and being exploited made her have an unemotional, repressed state of mind, but she is realistic and doesn’t think too much about her future.

Powers: Visha Kanyas would kill their targets in various manners, like either seducing them and giving them poisoned alcohol, or through direct contact to her own bodily fluids. A kiss alone can prove to be lethal to an ordinary human. Sometimes creatures more powerful than her, or those who discovered antidotes can potentially survive from her attacks.

#delia; verse #Verse; Curse of Maharajas #tw: poison #tw: kidnapping #tw: assassin

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pridaxus-worldbuilding · 2 years

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Amphinis’ current Elector and cabinet? 😗

— ur secret admirer fr

The Elector currently is Madame Ione Merivadas, who was from Lily Rock. Her parents were well respected by the previous elector and spent a good half of her childhood in Nereus helping her. Ione spent her childhood with her guardian Nedite, who raised her alongside many of the other children who’s parents couldn’t raise them full time.

When she turned 9 her parents brought her with them to Nereus where she studied under the previous Elector who took her under her wing. At 15 she began her “political” career by joining the Nereus Postal Service. At a young age she proved herself to both the Elector and many other politicians in Amphinis, with both her resourcefulness and leadership skills. It was obvious that the Elector would nominate her as a potential heir, which she did. When Ione was confirmed as the next Elector she was the youngest to be in this position. Her first few years were riddled with anxiety and war from the situation in Glimmerier, however she was able to handle the emergency well.

Prosym- a 1/2 sea person who was born on one of the islands of the Ondes. She spent most of her younger years tricking travelers in the oceans. When they were children she met Ione and the two became very close friends. Before she became big politically the two would hang out where Ione would sit in boats and Prosym would play tricks for her. Their time together got limited upon Ione’s schooling and stuff but when Ione came back they were super happy to be together

Anenon- he also was from the Ondes but he didnt know Prosym or Ione. His family were one of the few rich people in Amphinis which allowed him a lot of political influence. Him and Ione were political rivals for a bit but that was more bc the pressure his family put him under and less because he was politically ambitious. He agreed to quit his political life and join Ione and Prosym’s little family if theyd have him which they happily did.

Ilias- Ilias was the son of the last main family in Amphinis, the eldest son. He ran against Ione for the position pretty half heartedly. Was in a similar boat as Anenon. He was pretty ok with having power even if not as direct. He used to be with India before she was with Benita and they have a few kids together who they try their best to coparent

Nedite- Nedite is your friendly age old sea monster. They took a very parental role with Ione when she was younger so when she had to choose a second in command the choice was easy. Nedite has had a long life, too long to even properly record but spends most of their day caring for children esp those abandoned by idealps for being bastards and other children without parents.

Agalia- Aglaia is Prosym’s well mannered older sibling. They are very very smart attending Miletus themselves. The main difference b/w the siblings being their attitude. Aglaia is the perfect Idealpian. Shes intelligent cultured and very clan oriented. They and Agwe are prolly the most qualified of all of the politicians

India- India other than the “royal” family is one of the people on the younger side of this list. Shes from Los Corridos and has had a passion for making her home a better place from when she could remember. She loves music and started her political career as an attempt to expand Los Corridos’ influence on the islands. Thats what brought her to Nereus, where she met Ilias. The two liked each other enough and they started a family. It didnt work out despite them being very fond of each other and they both moved on. She had wanted to attend Miletus (which she did eat into) but instead she went to the desert university on Sweetfish, Ikaria. Now shes with Benita

Benita- a young lady from Aliria who was from a family a bit larger than average. As one of the middle out of many her parents didnt pay much attention to her so she had to learn how to do a lot on her own. She joined a pirate ship and quickly gained notoriety for her resourcefulness and her legends of saving her crew so she was an obvious choice for Ione

Agwe- similarly to Aglaia Agwe was also a talented young man who went to Miletus about the same time as Aglaia. Hed annoyed by the rest of the council minus Aglaia for no reason other than she does her job (he doesnt like her personally) and India who he has had a huge infatuation with. Otherwise he doesnt like the rest of the council and thinks they are dumb. His years in Idealps have heavily shaped him

Tajo- a very shy and reserved person on the team but he does his job. He and Ione were both raised with Nedite for a while. Hes very honor bond and takes pride in doing things the correct way. Hes not smart persay but anything you ask he will try to achieve

And Vea- Vea is very carefree and compared to the rest of the council the weak link. They very much exhibit the Amphinis way of pleasure, taking up many partners and having many children. They aren’t particularly intelligent, just well liked and thats kinda how they got their job, just by bein well liked

#Elector of Amphinis #ask #government #amphinis #Ione Merivada #Prosymenia Merivada #Anenon Merivada #Ilias Pagonis #Nedite Trakas #Agalia Kostopoulos #India Garza-Palomo #Benita Candella-Volando #Agwe Chandoo #Tajo de Agua #Vea Ilophene

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jyotishacharyadevrajji · 13 days

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acharyadevraj91 · 16 days

Text

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As the best astrologer in India online, Acharya Devraj Ji offers comprehensive services, including:

- Birth chart analysis - Career guidance - Relationship counseling - Astrological remedies - Muhurat selection

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Q: Who is Jyotish Acharya Devraj Ji?

Q: What makes Acharya Devraj Ji's approach unique?

Q: How does Acharya Devraj Ji help clients find auspicious periods for marriage?

Q: What benefits do clients gain from consulting with Acharya Devraj Ji?

Q: How can I consult with Jyotish Acharya Devraj Ji?

Q: How does Acharya Devraj Ji analyze my birth chart for career guidance?

Q: What kind of career insights can I expect from my career horoscope?

Q: Can astrology predict specific job opportunities or timing for career changes?

Q: Can I consult with Acharya Devraj Ji online?

#astrology

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