It was interesting watching rhe Iraq war unfold in the UK. Blair was right in there of course, but most people weren't, and we hadn't had 9/11, so we didn't have the kind of 'with us or against us' attitude you apparently had in the States. Plus our media was more sceptical (though while still presenting the West as essentially benign.)
This time around I'm not sure what to think. I'm entirely against Putin and what he's doing, and I'd like to think that the 'plucky little Ukraine' narrative could be right, but I doubt it is. The possibilities all round are genuinely disturbing.
On a more important matter, 'Feminists Against Capitalist War' is surely Peak Leftist Sloganeering!
The sign was actually a counter slogan to what had become a proto-woke merger of identity politics and nationalism, seen particularly in many mainstream feminists justifying the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan because it would 'liberate' women. We saw the same merger with gay identity politics--killing Iraqis would protect LGBT people, supposedly.
Good to see you and Gordon are collaborating. As a former antiwar protestor in US, I don't see any antiwar movement in US for this time, unlike Iraq. As someone else has said, the US is not really divided R v L any more, it's Top Down v Grassroots or "Deplorables." Those of us who used to think Democrats were for the people stopped doing so 12 years ago in the financial crisis. And what shocks me, but post COVID it shouldn’t, is the complete absence of any discussion of what the US has been doing in the Ukraine past 8 years & beyond. National Endowment for Democracy and selling off Ukrainian assets to "global investors." The real rage is that that party's going to end. I remember finding one blogger during Iraq, Billmon, who was objective, had int'l readers, and told all the lies US was saying - was first to report use of mercenaries. Old school reporter, old school liberal before it became a nest of international financiers & their devotees. I am just sorry for the human tragedy, and I've never seen this level of projection before - and I've seen lots.
Censorship is a sign of weakness. The worst kind is when humour is banned. Then the people in power are really scared.
Censorship is currently used in an air of superiority. As in "The stupid people cannot be trusted to discern between different perspectives". As in "the deplorables".
Many conflicts and many wars are driven by the fuel of incomprehension and distancing. Outright rejecting that the other party has a point. The more we dehumanize the other party, the less we want to hear about what he is saying. (It would be very uncomfortable for us if there were a valid concern from the other side, when we are bombing them flat!)
We are now talking about taking people to International Criminal Court for war crimes. I applaud the initiative, and could name a long list of people who would also be welcome in The Hague after bombings of civilians in Gaza, Syria, Libya, etc. etc. etc.
Thanks for the useful thoughts.
It was interesting watching rhe Iraq war unfold in the UK. Blair was right in there of course, but most people weren't, and we hadn't had 9/11, so we didn't have the kind of 'with us or against us' attitude you apparently had in the States. Plus our media was more sceptical (though while still presenting the West as essentially benign.)
This time around I'm not sure what to think. I'm entirely against Putin and what he's doing, and I'd like to think that the 'plucky little Ukraine' narrative could be right, but I doubt it is. The possibilities all round are genuinely disturbing.
On a more important matter, 'Feminists Against Capitalist War' is surely Peak Leftist Sloganeering!
The sign was actually a counter slogan to what had become a proto-woke merger of identity politics and nationalism, seen particularly in many mainstream feminists justifying the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan because it would 'liberate' women. We saw the same merger with gay identity politics--killing Iraqis would protect LGBT people, supposedly.
Good to see you and Gordon are collaborating. As a former antiwar protestor in US, I don't see any antiwar movement in US for this time, unlike Iraq. As someone else has said, the US is not really divided R v L any more, it's Top Down v Grassroots or "Deplorables." Those of us who used to think Democrats were for the people stopped doing so 12 years ago in the financial crisis. And what shocks me, but post COVID it shouldn’t, is the complete absence of any discussion of what the US has been doing in the Ukraine past 8 years & beyond. National Endowment for Democracy and selling off Ukrainian assets to "global investors." The real rage is that that party's going to end. I remember finding one blogger during Iraq, Billmon, who was objective, had int'l readers, and told all the lies US was saying - was first to report use of mercenaries. Old school reporter, old school liberal before it became a nest of international financiers & their devotees. I am just sorry for the human tragedy, and I've never seen this level of projection before - and I've seen lots.
Thanks for a great post.
Censorship is a sign of weakness. The worst kind is when humour is banned. Then the people in power are really scared.
Censorship is currently used in an air of superiority. As in "The stupid people cannot be trusted to discern between different perspectives". As in "the deplorables".
Many conflicts and many wars are driven by the fuel of incomprehension and distancing. Outright rejecting that the other party has a point. The more we dehumanize the other party, the less we want to hear about what he is saying. (It would be very uncomfortable for us if there were a valid concern from the other side, when we are bombing them flat!)
We are now talking about taking people to International Criminal Court for war crimes. I applaud the initiative, and could name a long list of people who would also be welcome in The Hague after bombings of civilians in Gaza, Syria, Libya, etc. etc. etc.
Peace,
Goran