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honeybewrites · 3 months

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Mirralia Intro

You guys voted for one of the Seven Realms for Monday's post, so we're going to talk about Realm Mirralia!

This one has been around the longest. Actually, in the very, very early stages of this story, there was only one Realm, and it was Mirralia. As a result, I've had a lot of time to fully work it out. The name has never changed, and even though the other Realms have names I feel like much better represent them, I just can't bring myself to change it.

One little technical thing:

'Realm' in this WIP refers to a specific 'dimension' in which different laws of physics, different creatures, and different geography apply. Such as giants in one Realm or water obeying different laws of physics or a constantly growing planet. These Realms are connected to each other by Bridges and allow beings to go from one Realm to the other, but they don't exist in the same universe. Think of it like the Nine Realms from Norse Mythology, only there's seven known Realms and it's To The Left™

Anyway, on to the good stuff!

Mirralia has the second largest population of the Seven Realms and is one of the most biologically diverse in both the sense of flora/fauna and intelligent beings. The only other Realm beating it out is Levekint.

Mirralia comes in at just about the size of Earth and hosts one moon, which has been colonized. However, only high ranking government members, military, and influential figures are able to reside there. Even then, it's mostly uninhabited, except for the Mors main facility.

Mirralia hosts a variety of biomes. Ranging from deserts, rainforests, mountains, savanahs, polar caps, and plains. The Realm is 60% water, and hosts two water cities.

Mirralia has had a rather bloody history compared to the other six Realms. It has hosted many civil and Realm wide wars. In the 10,000 years of recorded history, the Realm has had approximately 9,000 recorded wars. One such war resulted in a forced unification of the Realm, creating a singular government. By now, millennia after the unification, most beings are content with the way things are run.

Mirralia is now ruled by a totalitarianism military regime. There is no voting of leaders by the population, and very little is known about the inter operations of the Realm's government. There is a figure head in the form of a monarchy, simply for the sake of appearances and cooperation from the population. The average person cannot tell you how the government works, what titles there are, how laws are created and put into effect. After millennia of this way of life, no one questions it anymore. Most will say it's a positive thing that they don't have to worry about in their own lives, with the underlying fear of knowing the government will not tolerate opposition. Those that do question the government are few and far between, and if they speak out, quickly disappear.

Being one of the strongest militaries in the Seven Realms, The Mors have complete control over the Realm, with a few select influential/aristocratic families helping play the roles of maintaining the population and keeping oppression to a minimum. The leader of the Mors, the GrandMaster, acts as the dictator. Any and every decision of the Realm goes through them and is then given to the public by the monarchy figurehead, dubbed the Royal. The population is kept the in the dark, while those with the power benefit greatly.

Despite this, Mirralia remains to be one of the most sought after Realms to live in. Their poverty and criminal rate is the lowest of any Realm, healing is freely given to anyone, the cost of living is one of the lowest and has some decent options, and the wages for most jobs are decent. Most foreigners tend to move to smaller cities, where discrimination is minimum and the government isn't breathing down their necks. However, getting into Mirralia is a very lengthy process, even for visitation. Mirralia is very strict on their foreigner policies and will not be lenient for any reason.

Mirralian military positions are highly sought after, along with government positions, which are notoriously difficult to obtain. To be accepted into a higher military ranking is a great honor, both to the soldier themself and their family. The higher the rank, the more secrecy is needed, meaning the operative is less likely to make it out of their career without being heavily monitored the rest of their life. If you reach a high enough level to be inducted into the Mors, retirement isn't even an option at that point. Family ties must often be cut at that point, but the operative's family will be very well provided for as a favor for the work the operative does and is kept informed, albeit very vaguely, on the state of the operative.

While government positions are extremely rare, there have been occasions where people have rose into the aristocratic circle and been given jobs to maintain control of the government. Either as figureheads or behind the scenes genuine government work. Any government job is extravagantly paid with the hand off of your life being on the line. Retiring is far from relaxing, as you have military operatives constantly watching you to make sure there's no leaking of information. Any such leaks are dealt with swiftly, and while they aren't generally public, other government officials are always well aware of them in gruesome detail.

Mirralia is a host to many powerful flora and fauna. It's the only Realm dragons are still rarely spotted in. Being so rich in elementally changed resources, many alchemy resources are exported from the Realm. Along with alchemy, Mirralia is one of the top Realms for elemental schools. A large percentage of the Mirralian population is trained in basic elemental. This also attracts many beings wanting to learn, but is once again, very difficult to get into. Any Mirralian born being is able to get in easily enough, while any foreigner will have a very difficult time being allowed to temporarily move to the Realm to learn. Mirralia works hard to maintain a strict social image to the other Realms and will not have it ruined by one collage kid.

This was far longer than I intended it to be, and most of it is just rambles, oops. Hope you enjoyed it anyway! As always, my asks and DMs are always open for WIP or not WIP related topics :D

If anyone wants to be added/subtracted from the tag list, you can comment or DM me!

@pluppsauthor, I know you wanted to be tagged for this post, but didn't wanna assume you wanted to be for all future posts :D

General Tag: @orions-quill @fractured-shield and @leahnardo-da-veggie

EoWC Tag: N/A

LotA Tag: N/A

#echoes of war chronicles #eowc #mirralia #writeblr #writerscommunity #writers on tumblr #wip #monday lore

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herrlindemann · 1 year

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Sonic Seducer, December 2015

Thanks to ramjohn for the scans!

What's 32 cm high, weighs 3.5 kilos and contains 14 discs? Rammstein fans probably already know the answer: it's “XXI - The Vinyl Box Set”, a big box set that will enable the Berlin band to look back over their 20-year career in early December. Even if the band's website recently announced a meaningful "It goes on” [“Es geht weite”], the fact that all the sextet's works will soon be available in record form for your personal collection comes just at the right moment: "XXI - The Vinyl Box Set" contains all the studio albums on double vinyl, from "Herzeleid" to "Liebe Ist Für Alle Da", and adds two LPs with previously unreleased tracks and versions as well as "Raritäten". So it's interesting to review the career of Germany's most internationally popular band since Kraftwerk, from their early days as a band with a martial R roll, to their export successes filling arenas and stadiums around the world.

Of course, no one was expecting such resounding success when Rammstein was formed in Berlin at the end of 1993, from members of East German bands The Inchtabokatables and Feeling B, among others. The first album from 1995, “Herzeleid”, was a bombshell: some drew parallels with the sound and image of over-identification and pseudo-fascist totalitarianism of Slovenia's Laibach. Others suspected Rammstein were the counterpart to Die Krupps, the electro-metal band that was enjoying huge success at the time. The first sign of life from their Motor Music label was the promotional CD of the song “Du riechst so gut”, the mix of thick synthetic groove, brutal industrial metal and powerful male vocals was immediately on everyone's lips and in everyone's ears. “Herzeleid" barely cracked the top 100 album charts when it was released, but a growing audience began to take an interest in these Berliners when they opened for Project Pitchfork, among others. Even cult director David Lynch took notice and chose the songs "Rammstein" and "Heirate mich" for the soundtrack to his film "Lost Highway" — in the US too, Rammstein made an early name for themselves, soon to become a fixture on the international (industrial) metal circuit. "Herzeleid" laid an impressive cornerstone in this respect.

“Herzeleid” (1995)

The first album opens with a song that quickly became a crowd favourite: "Wollt ihr bas Bett in Flammen sehen" introduces massive guitar punches and a bubbling electronic base. What's more, Till Lindemann repeats the band's name so often that no-one can ignore who's playing. The album already shows the extent of the Berliners' palette: the opener and hits like “Du Riechst So Gut” and “Asche Zu Asche” are set against “Seemann”, a ballad that proves Rammstein can slow down the pace without losing any of their intensity. But “Herzeleid” is most legendary for its brutality — admittedly, there's nothing on the album, musically speaking, that Oomph! hasn't mastered, but the gigantic staging of itself and the overflowing pathos give Rammstein its own signature right from the start.

"I find the 'Herzeleid' cover so bad that I can't watch it anymore.” — Richard Kruspe (1999)

Rammstein made a big impression on metal, industrial and electro fans with just one record, as demonstrated by the single "Engel", which stormed the charts before the release of their second album "Sehnsucht". After “Herzeleid” frightened uninformed listeners with songs about scandalous subjects such as necrophilia, sexual violence and plane crashes, the “Engel” music video turned out to be a more or less explicit homage to “From Dusk Till Dawn”. But the controversy was over the cover of “Sehnsucht”, by Austrian extreme artist Gottfried Helnwein, who fitted the members' faces with surgical instruments — so the similarities with the artwork for Scorpions' 1982 album “Blackout”, also by Helnwein, were not coincidental. The second single, "Du Hast", also made it into the German top 10, and Rammstein took the top spot in the album chart with "Sehnsucht". Abroad, particularly in the United States, a similar success was beginning to be felt: "Sehnsucht" won a golden record there and continued to sell well, going platinum record at a later date. A year later, Rammstein were represented with their cover of Depeche Mode's "Stripped" on the tribute compilation "For The Masses" — alongside international acts such as The Smashing Pumpkins, The Cure and Deftones. The fact that the Berliners used scenes from Leni Riefenstahl films in the video not only earned them accusations of right-wing extremism, but could also be seen as a clever provocation. Rammstein denied any fascist tendencies, however, and soon after went on a "Family Values" tour across the United States with Korn, Limp Bizkit, Orgy and Ice Cube. By then they had become stars.

“Sehnsucht” (1997)

With “Engel” and “Du hast”, Rammstein had already scored hits before the release of their second album, and this one did not disappoint. So it's hardly surprising that the song “Tier” was so clearly inspired by Die Krupps' “The Dawning Of Doom” that Jürgen Engler received the copyright after the fact. In terms of content, the band also goes all the way: incest and the resulting parricide, sado-masochistic sexual practices and female genitalia craving cunnilingus are all hot topics — and with “Klavier”, we also find a legitimate successor to “Seemann”. Sales of "Sehnsucht" have long since topped the 2 million mark.

Rammstein in Mexico 1999

Needless to say, Rammstein have not given up in the face of this phenomenal success: ever since the band toured Central and South America with Kiss and Soulfy in 1999, the qualities of these men with showmanship skills have been known there too. With the first retrospective of their work "Live aus Berlin", the first phase of their creative process came to an end shortly before the turn of the millennium, and after a concert at the Fuji Rock Festival in faraway Japan, Rammstein tackled their third album. And, of course, the band didn't think to get rid of its provocative habit, even though singer Till and keyboardist Flake Lorenz had been arrested two years earlier in Massachusetts for simulating anal sex on stage and spraying themselves with artificial sperm on the song "Bück dich". Instead of being sexually explicit, the 'Mutter' album polarised attention with its cover illustration of an allegedly dead foetus. Nevertheless, Flake shakes his head about his arrest and the allegedly evil band Rammstein in an interview with Der Spiegel magazine: "What are they blaming us for? That we dare to use words like 'ficken' and 'Fotze'? That's what every hip-hopper does these days". Especially since “Mutter”, with the song “Links 2 3 4”, effectively distanced the band from the accusations of fascism that the worried media were constantly calling for. An important album for this reason too.

"Mutter" (2001)

Could this be the reason why Rammstein tribute band Die Bestien were originally called “Mama ist die Bestie”? In any case, the pleasure of listening to bestiality is once again guaranteed on "Mutter", as the opening track "Mein herz brennt" already indicates, with its thunderous orchestral guitar. The Swedish director Lukas Moodysson featured this piece prominently in his tragic drama film "Lilya 4-Ever". What's more, with the right-turn rejection of “Links 2 3 4”, the electronically infiltrated mass delirium of “Ich will”, the suggested cloning insult of the title track and “Rein raus”, which calls for abdominal activity, there's enough to cause a stir, if not outrage. Not at all revolting: “Mutter” also topped the charts — like every Rammstein album since “Sehnsucht”.

In the meantime, Rammstein had reached the centre of metal society, as evidenced by the award for "Best International Live Act" at the Kerrang! Awards 2002. While the band were working on their fourth album, the three-hour DVD “Lichtspielhaus” kept the audience on their toes: it contained all the video clips shot so far, plus a few making-of and various concert highlights, recorded at shows in Sydney and Rock am Ring among others. A deep breath before the next album, “Reise Reise”, whose cover depicts a flight recorder. If you rewind the CD before the first track, you hear the last radio messages from a Japanese airliner that crashed, killing over 500 people. Other provocations were not long in coming: the theme of the single "Mein teil" was the criminal case of Armin Meiwes, who had gained dubious notoriety as the cannibal of Rothenburg, and for some uninformed listeners, lines like "Weiche teile und auch harte / Stehen auf der Speisekarte" were already too much. Keyboardist Flake couldn't understand the excitement on this track either: "Doing a song about something that's really happened, I think that's the most normal thing in the world! Nobody complains to the presenter of the 'Tagesschau' about the alarming news he reads either!" For Rammstein, on the other hand, the attention paid to the unsavoury anthropophagy affair was anything but normal, given that at the time the war in Iraq had just been approved without the national media being overly concerned. A context in which the hateful praise of “Amerika” took on a whole new meaning.

"Reise, Reise" (2004)

This record definitely propelled Rammstein to the top of the list of most successful German bands abroad — it was ranked in the top 10 in nearly 20 countries, and number one in five of them. The “Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien” (Federal Office for the Supervision of Media Harmful to Young Persons) could do nothing better with "Mein Teil" than ban the video clip, which is not very tactful in night-time rotation — a half-hearted sanction which Rammstein accepted with a shrug of the shoulders. Surprisingly, the band not only responded with musical crudeness, but also with dark, romantic, sometimes bluesy songs like “Los” and “Ohne dich”, and also with some ferocious and bizarre visual humour: in the video for “Keine lust”, the members appear extremely overweight and take the song about lack of energy and saturation to the extreme. But the truth is, Rammstein are far from fed up.

As benefits a band that subsequently sells out four concerts in a row at the Parkbühne in Berlin's Wuhlheide. And this time, it didn't take Rammstein long to recharge : so many songs remained from the “Reise, Reise” recording session that the sextet quickly returned to the studio to finish “Reise Reise Vol. 2”. But as the band doesn't like the idea of a musical residue, the new opus is finally called “Rosenrot” and not only continues the sound of its predecessor, but also takes new directions : The relatively tender experimental ballad "Stirb nicht vor mir" ("Don't Die Before I Do") features Texas singer Sharleen Spiteri in a duet with Till Lindemann, and "Feuer und Wasser" refers to Friedrich Schiller's poem "Der Taucher". Drummer Christoph Schneider sums it up : "We knew we'd recorded too many quiet songs for “Reise Reise”. That's why we were aware, when writing "Rosenrot", that we needed to compose some slightly harder material to round it all off". "Rosenrot" was not, however, completed by a tour, and performances in the United States, Mexico and Asia fell through due to the long-term illness of keyboardist Flake.

"We had no desire at all to produce this theoretical music on the computer. In contrast to "Mutter", this album is very hand-played." — Flake Lorenz

"Rosenrot" (2005)

The direct successor to “Reise Reise” is certainly not the most surprising album in Rammstein's discography — the punchy but familiar introductory single “Benzin” proves that right from the start. "Mann gegen mann" also rocks straight ahead and is once again only genuine with a video clip that was belatedly banished to the night hours, for which "Spun" director Jonas Akerlund has staged the band naked and had equally undressed men jostling each other. But on “Rosenrot”, Rammstein can also do things differently, orchestrating the Spanish song “Te Quiero Puta” with mariachi brass and ending the album with the modest title “Ein lied” — dedicated to all Rammstein fans. It's likely that some of them felt concerned.

"A situation that was completely new to us until then : writing songs from the nights in a very short time. There were many doubts within the band as to whether we could produce good quality songs in such a short time." — Oliver Riedel about "Rosenrot"

The breaks between albums became longer : apart from the live DVD "Völkerball", which was released in 2006, Rammstein disappeared from the scene for a while after "Rosenrot". But as usual, the band came back with a bang in 2009. But this was without taking into account the suspicions of the Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien (Federal Office for the Control of Media Harmful to Young Person), which quickly placed the fifth album, “Liebe Ist Für Alle Da”, on the blacklist. What had happened ? Well, the song “Ich tu dir weh” appealed to sadomasochistic fantasies, which is hardly surprising in the Rammstein context, but was enough to warrant a blacklisting. The band expressed their dismay at the censorship, and much of the press sided with the band and against the authorities. "Spiegel" even imagined a fictitious and absurd round table discussion on the subject between the Minister for the Family, the band members and popular music star Florian Silbereisen. But you'd have thought the problem lay elsewhere, because the single “Pussy”, which pokes fun at German sex tourists abroad, lent itself much better to controversy. In the video, shot once again by Jonas Akerlund, the members of the band appeared without hesitation as hardcore pornographic actors — the fact that they were dubbed in the end did nothing to detract from the scandalous nature of the clip. According to guitarist Richard Kruspe, the initial impetus for this sultry little film came from the director, who sent an e-mail to the band with the words "Let's make a revolution! Let's shoot a porn!" And that's just the way it is : policing morals has never had any effect on the big boys of Rammstein.

"Liebe Ist Für Alle Da" (2009)

"Das Warten hat ein Ende / Leigt euer Ohr einer Legende" — the opening words of Rammstein's sixth album, which has once again lost none of its metallic power, textual provocation or musical versatility. As well as the catchy, almost cheeky "Pussy" and the hyperactive mosher "Ich Tu Dir Weh", the band pay tribute to Edit Piaf's "Non, Je ne regrette rien" on "Frühling in Paris" and draw heavily on the "Moritat von Mackie Messer" from Bertolt Brecht's "Dreigroschenoper" for "Haifisch". Admittedly, due to the aforementioned blacklisting, the song could only be sold to major customers for a short time, but a watered-down version of the offending track followed. Needless to say, by this time “Liebe Ist Für Alle Da” had already climbed the charts and Rammstein were still the most popular German band — both at home and abroad.

Rammstein 2014 in der Volksbühne

A lot has happened since the release of "Liebe Ist Für Alle Da": Rammstein were invited to the Wacken Open Air for the first time in 2013 — and didn't miss out on performing the song "Sonne" with Heino, who had covered it on his "Mit freundlichen Grüßen" covers album. Richard Kruspe lives again in Berlin and in 2014 presented his second Emigrate album "Silent So Long" with a lot of noise and the participation of Marilyn Manson and Jonathan Davis of Korn. Till Lindemann made common cause with Swedish metalhead Peter Tägtgren under the name Lindemann on the "Skills in Pills" album. And the announcement at the beginning of the article, "It goes on !", gives us hope that album number seven won't be too long in coming. In the meantime, let's listen to Rammstein's discography in detail once again — with "XXI - The Vinyl Box Set", of course, a luxurious package of power that Santa Claus will have trouble transporting. "If we had put more emphasis on the live structure, then some things could have been a bit better, harder, more beautiful! And yet I'm simply happy that we've succeeded in making this record!" - Richard Kruspe about "Liebe Ist Für Alle Da"

#rammstein #till lindemann #paul landers #flake #oliver riedel #christoph schneider #richard kruspe #2015 #*scans #translation #*#translated by endlich-allein

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the-visual-journey-blogg · 11 months

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Subversive Stop-Motion: "Ruka" (The Hand) - Jiří Trnka's 1965 Masterpiece

By Sofi Ojeda

In the realm of stop-motion animation, few films stand out as boldly as Jiří Trnka's "Ruka" (The Hand), a short film that transcends the boundaries of the medium. Released in 1965, this 18-minute cinematic gem is a testament to Trnka's artistic prowess and his daring critique of the political climate he navigated.

Jiří Trnka: The Puppet Master

Before delving into the subversive world of "Ruka," it's crucial to understand the maestro behind the scenes. Jiří Trnka, born in Czechoslovakia in 1912, was not just a puppet animator; he was a talented thinker who challenged the conventions of animation to transmit a message. His early exposure to puppetry when he helped his grandmother making toys and dolls and his mother who was a dressmaker, combined with the help of a stint under renowned puppeteer Joseph Scoopa, set the stage for Trnka's journey into the world of art, children's book illustration, sculpture and animation.

Trnka's career unfolded against the backdrop of political turbulence. His personal experience of totalitarianism under the communist regime led him create multiple films as critique of the context. On the other hand, his unique human character designs and backgorund style, was an unexpected rebellion too, against the Disney formula (which was the standard at that time), while he was still delving as a 2d traditional animator.

However, in 1947, he transitioned to stop motion, and his subsequent films were nothing short of successes, acclaimed for their aesthetics, previously unseen in the world of animation, in which he consistently engaged in critique. One notable creation was "Song of the Prairie" in 1049, a satirical take on United States Westerns.

"Ruka": A Political Allegory Unveiled

"Ruka" begins with a peculiar character—a potter crafting clay pots in his room. This seemingly innocent setting takes a sharp turn as a giant hand attempts to manipulate the pots. The narrative swiftly unfolds into a political allegory, mirroring the oppressive political regime Trnka experienced.

At its core, the film presents a clash between the potter and the hand, symbolizing the individual's resistance to political interference. The hand, a metaphor for dominant political forces, introduces images of authority, including the Statue of Liberty. Set against the early years of the Cold War, "Ruka" becomes a poignant commentary on political propaganda and manipulation.

As the protagonist resists the hand's influence, the film navigates the character's journey from defiance to submission. The potter is coerced into sculpting a giant hand, a metaphor for the insidious nature of indoctrination. Despite receiving rewards, the character's internal struggle unveils the facade of freedom in a totalitarian system.

Legacy and Impact

"Ruka" stands as a subversive masterpiece in the world of stop-motion animation. Trnka's meticulous control over the animation process, from set creation to frame-by-frame shooting, showcases his technical brilliance as well as fantastic storytelling skills. Despite the ban imposed on the film in Czechoslovakia, "Ruka" garnered international acclaim and won the top prize at the Honesty International Animation Festival. However, this was Trnka's last film, so he was unable to witness its subsequent recognition or prohibition.

Jiří Trnka's legacy extends beyond "Ruka." His influence in animation earned him the moniker "the Walt Disney of Eastern Europe." In 1968, he received the Hans Christian Andersen Medal for his contribution to children's literature.

Despite receiving a warm reception for his work, Jiří Trnka harbored mixed feelings about the privileges bestowed upon him and the reality of living under the political regime. His artistic success was accompanied by a poignant melancholy and a dark undertone, a reflection of the challenging context that surrounded him. This dichotomy in Trnka's emotions adds a layer of complexity to his artistic legacy, showcasing the profound impact that political turmoil had on his personal and creative psyche.

Conclusion: Unveiling the Hand of Political Critique

"Ruka" is not merely a stop-motion film; it is a subversive exploration of political power and individual resistance. Trnka's ability to weave a narrative that transcends the confines of animation cements his place as a visionary in the cinematic landscape. As you delve into the 18 minutes of "Ruka," be prepared to witness a puppeteer's masterstroke that challenges norms, leaving an indelible mark on the world of animation.

*This film was considered a masterpiece, being articulate, meaningful, and masterfully done. You can find it on YouTube or in the video below.

Bibliography

Short film: "Ruka" (The Hand) - Jiří Trnka's 1965

youtube

Video: The Hand / Ruka - Subversive Stop Motion on Youtube: Georg Rockall-Schmidt Official Channel.

Documentary: Jiri Trnka - Czech Puppet Animation Master Documentary, 1967. Director: Michael J. Sudyn

Blog: https://wepa.unima.org/en/jiri-trnka/

Blog: Political oppression and resistance in Jiří Trnka’s Ruka/The Hand (1965) https://www.fantasy-animation.org/current-posts/political-oppression-and-resistance-in-ji-trnkas-ruka-the-hand-1965

#2d animation #Youtube #stop motion #stop motion animation #claymation #animated #animation #animation history #jiri trnka #hand shortfilm #ruka short film #Jiří Trnka

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susandsnell · 1 year

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You're so right about Katniss! Her feelings for Peeta always felt like obligation - because he was kind, because he loved her and he deserved to be loved back, because he was what she was supposed to want and she'd be crazy not to - and she had mad vibes with Joanna. (The Katniss thing is also why I hated all of the MCU Natasha ships with guys. She's my second pick after Nina for character I am convinced is a lesbian.)

Thank you so much for articulating all this and sending it my way because I've felt nuts for years reading it this way (+ it's a pleasure to hear from you)! And that's with Joniss as a relatively popular ship, lolol.

I won't deny that him saving her from starving and later all they did for one another during the Games isn't meaningful, but you put it perfectly; the text keeps telling us he deserved to be loved back, he's what she ought to want. It makes a point about why she doesn't owe Gale, but wholly kind of sells us on her owing Peeta. The text makes a point of how Katniss, very realistically, has hang-ups about debt, and how the nature of Panem's totalitarianism is such that all kind acts are viewed as transactional rather than genuine, but then completely undermines this by providing little to no meat to how Katniss' real feelings developed from the ones staged for the Games. It's one of those cases where even if the guy isn't a Nice Guy, there's textual Nice Guying going on lolol. (I do also acknowledge that these books were products of the aughts and queer characters in YA were almost nonexistent, but having recently read Moth Diaries from 2002 which actively engages with comphet, I'm feeling spoiled lol.)

Likewise, the having children thing is like -- I get it, people can change their minds and her not wanting to be a mother was a product of the dystopian society they subsequently rebuilt as well as her own experience of maternal neglect, but given what the real world has always been wrt reproductive rights and just in general treating female queerness/nonconformity as a "phase you'll outgrow"/"you'll find the right guy and want kids eventually", I don't think I'll ever not feel gross about a character who does not want kids eventually ~embracing motherhood~ lmao. It could happen, but when the characters are fictional and hence in the author's control...it feels like propaganda, especially coupled with her repeatedly stating she didn't want a husband. And the quote from the epilogue is literally "It took five, ten, fifteen years for me to agree. But Peeta wanted them so badly." Which. Ew.

Contrast with Johanna, where things felt a lot more organic, less based on a sense of debt and more on some classic rivalry tropes that evolved into a sweet balance between an organic camaraderie and Stupid Sexy Flanders (I mean, the elevator scene? Straight girls do not react like that! "Johanna's motivational insults" and the relationship shift?)

Anyhow, thanks again for the message and sorry for the mini-essay/rant this turned into, haha. I'd be mega interested to hear your MCU Natasha thoughts, though, since your Nina tags were so accurate! (Equally biased because she was an early sapphic crush for me, haha.)

#the hunger games #lesbian katniss truther hours #allthestoriescantbelies #thanks for the ask! <3 #pregnancy cw

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ridenwithbiden · 1 year

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It’s often said that Donald Trump has a cultlike following. But that’s far too benign. “Star Wars” has a cultlike following. Taylor Swift has her cult of “Swifties.” A political organization that has no platform other than loyalty to the leader is not a cult, it’s an autocratic movement.

The tragicomic chaos in the House in the last week is the natural result of a political party that has lived under Trump’s thumb. It should end any pretense that the current Republican Party is a serious governing party.

As Hannah Arendt wrote in “The Origins of Totalitarianism”: “Total loyalty is possible only when fidelity is emptied of all concrete content, from which changes of mind might naturally arise. The totalitarian movements, each in its own way, have done their utmost to get rid of the party programs which specified concrete content and which they inherited from earlier, non‑totalitarian stages of development.”

It seems like another time in another galaxy, but not that long ago there actually was some ideological diversity within the Republican Party.

In 1966, Time ran a cover story highlighting the winners of the 1966 midterm elections as a “Republican Resurgence,” after the Goldwater defeat of 1964. Time’s editors selected six Republicans as being emblematic of this rebirth: California Gov. Ronald Reagan, Michigan Gov. George Romney, Illinois Sen. Charles Percy, Oregon Sen. Mark Hatfield, Massachusetts Sen. Edward Brooke and New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller.

The six governors and senators had differences of opinion on almost all major issues. Hatfield, deeply influenced by his service in World War II, never voted for a bill to authorize U.S. military engagement. He was one of only two Republican senators who voted against the 1991 Gulf War.

With Sen. George McGovern, Hatfield co-sponsored 1971 legislation calling for a complete withdrawal from Vietnam. Reagan, on the other hand, was consistently supportive of the Vietnam War and campaigned against the creation of Medicaid.

In the 1990s and early 2000s, the Republican governors who were pro-choice governed states with a larger collective population than the Republican antiabortion governors. Bill Weld of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania’s Tom Ridge, Arnold Schwarzenegger in California and New York’s George Pataki all were proudly pro-choice.

Today, there are no Republican governors who support abortion rights, and many are actively working to criminalize abortions in their states. The Republican Party three decades ago was overwhelmingly a white-dominated party, but it allowed for at least some dissent and disagreement.

While it is difficult to attribute any deliberate or methodical plan to Donald Trump, whose mind operates like an old-fashioned pinball machine on tilt, his basic antidemocratic, strongman instincts have crushed dissent in the Republican Party, empowering the underlying authoritarian impulses within the party. A once-center-right political party with core ideological principles is now marching toward the formation of an autocratic state.

It’s possible that Trump will not be the Republican nominee in 2024, but his success in molding the party to his image ensures that anyone who wins will continue down an authoritarian path.

When Ron DeSantis ran for governor of Florida in 2018, he aired a commercial showing his toddler daughter building a border wall with toy blocks, followed by a shot of him holding his infant son and reading from a book, “Then Mr. Trump said, ‘You’re fired.’” His wife also appeared in the ad, saying, “People say Ron is all Trump, but he is so much more.”

What’s unfolding in the Republican Party is an inevitable step in the cycle of authoritarian movements. What once was deemed sufficiently pure is judged to be inadequate and in need of purging.

The Night of the Long Knives, the murder of Leon Trotsky, the Red Guards, the Khmer Rouge — each was the result of a radical movement further purifying its core membership and ideology, and something very similar is taking place among today’s Republicans.

When Trump emerged in 2015, he was initially rejected by Republican voters. In May 2015, Donald Trump polled at 3% among Republicans and Republican-leaning independent voters. While it’s not unusual for a new and still-unknown candidate to start with a low number, Trump had almost a 100% name recognition among potential voters.

Republicans knew who he was; they just didn’t like him. A May 2015 Washington Post–ABC News poll found that just over 20% of Republicans viewed Trump favorably. By early December 2015 — and after his attack on John McCain’s war record, his mocking of a disabled reporter and his calling for a Muslim ban — Trump had surged to his largest lead during the Republican primary, opening up a 35%-to-16% margin over Ted Cruz.

Jeb Bush, who led the field in early polling, was by then at the same 3% level of support that Trump had in May. The media coverage of Trump’s rise evidenced an unwillingness to grasp Trump’s appeal. “Donald Trump Leads Florida Polls, Despite Call for Muslim Travel Ban” was the headline in the New Times Broward–Palm Beach. “Trump Poll Surge Continues Despite Backlash Over Muslim Ban,” trumpeted the Dec. 10, 2015, broadcast of Voice of America News.

This was like reporting that Jim Beam sold a lot of bourbon even though it contained alcohol. Trump was rising with Republican voters because of his racism and religious bigotry.

There was no backlash with the majority of Republican primary voters. The exact opposite was occurring. Trump’s hate was creating a surge of appeal.

Donald Trump understood the true nature of the Republican Party better than the party’s leaders. “This suggestion is completely and totally inconsistent with American values,” then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said as he denounced Trump’s proposed Muslim ban. “I do not think it is reflective of our principles, not just as a party but as a country,” then-House Speaker Paul Ryan said of the ban.

But it was his call for a Muslim ban that helped Trump clinch the 2016 nomination. McConnell and Ryan and the establishment donor class of the Republican Party would never admit publicly that the xenophobia and racism that appealed to Trump voters were far more motivating to Republican voters than the small-government, low-taxes, constitutionally conservative so‑called “values” they insisted were the true core of the party.

But their commitment to their deeply held beliefs was so weak that they now supported a man who bragged he was “the king of debt,” refused to release his tax returns to show he even paid taxes and whose Muslim ban was a religious test that was anathema to constitutional principles.

They didn’t care about anything but remaining in power, and they thought they could use Trump while controlling him.

There is a childlike need for many Republicans in what was once “the establishment” to believe that the Trump years were some aberration, that the party was “hijacked” by Donald Trump. The problem with this is that the passengers on the hijacked plane do not cheer for the terrorist. But in the Republican Party, the hijacker is the most popular person on the plane.

Trump and Trumpism dominate the Republican Party because he represents what the Republican Party wants to be. There is no “normal” for the party to return to. It is an autocratic movement, not a traditional American political party. To believe this movement cannot win and end democracy as we know it would be as dangerously naive as thinking that the Donald Trump who announced his candidacy in 2015 with 3% of support within the party could never be elected president.

None of us can choose history, but history can choose us. The fate of the American experiment is in our hands. America or Trump? The next 13 months will decide our future.

Stuart Stevens is an advisor to the Lincoln Project, a political consultant and the author of several books. This article is an adapted excerpt from his latest book, “The Conspiracy to End America: Five Ways My Old Party Is Driving Our Democracy to Autocracy,” which will be published Oct. 10.

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southeurope · 11 months

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LAIBACH and Yugoslavia

LAIBACH is an industrial music group from Trbovlje, Slovenia. They formed in 1980 in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and their early work was characterized by its use of totalitarian imagery and rhetoric, as well as its provocative and often controversial lyrics.

The group's name is a German transliteration of the Slovenian word "Ljubljana," the capital of Slovenia. The name was chosen as a way to challenge the Yugoslav government's efforts to suppress Slovenian culture and identity.

LAIBACH's early work was heavily influenced by the industrial music scene in England, but the group also drew inspiration from a wide range of other sources, including totalitarian regimes, religious extremism, and avant-garde art.

In 1983, LAIBACH released their debut album, Laibach. The album was a critical and commercial success, and it helped to establish the group as one of the leading industrial music bands in the world.

LAIBACH's music is often characterized by its use of distorted guitars, pounding drums, and electronic effects. The group's lyrics are often sung in German, but they also sing in Slovenian, English, and other languages.

LAIBACH's live shows are known for their elaborate stage productions, which often feature totalitarian imagery and symbolism. The group has been controversial throughout its career, but they have also been praised for their innovative music and their willingness to challenge the status quo.

In 1985, LAIBACH released their second album, Nova Akropola. The album was even more controversial than their debut, and it was banned in several countries.

In 1987, LAIBACH released their third album, Opus Dei. The album was a critical and commercial success, and it helped to cement the group's status as one of the leading industrial music bands in the world.

In 1989, LAIBACH released their fourth album, Let It Be. The album was a departure from the group's previous work, and it featured a more melodic and accessible sound.

In 1991, LAIBACH released their fifth album, Kapital. The album was a return to the group's more industrial sound, and it was praised for its dark and atmospheric sound.

In 1994, LAIBACH released their sixth album, NATO. The album was a controversial and provocative release, and it was banned in several countries.

In 1996, LAIBACH released their seventh album, Jesus Christ Superstars. The album was a concept album that explored the life and death of Jesus Christ.

In 2003, LAIBACH released their eighth album, WAT. The album was a return to the group's more industrial sound, and it was praised for its dark and atmospheric sound.

In 2006, LAIBACH released their ninth album, Volk. The album was a concept album that explored the themes of nationalism and populism.

In 2008, LAIBACH released their tenth album, Laibach: Live in Russia. The album was a live recording of a concert that the group performed in Moscow in 2008.

In 2012, LAIBACH released their eleventh album, Spectre. The album was a concept album that explored the theme of surveillance.

In 2014, LAIBACH released their twelfth album, The Sound of Music. The album was a cover album of songs from the musical The Sound of Music.

In 2018, LAIBACH released their thirteenth album, Also Sprach Zarathustra. The album was a concept album that was inspired by the work of Friedrich Nietzsche.

In 2021, LAIBACH released their fourteenth album, So Be It. The album was a return to the group's more industrial sound, and it was praised for its dark and atmospheric sound.

LAIBACH and Yugoslavia

LAIBACH's music was often controversial in Yugoslavia, and the group was frequently censored by the government. In 1983, the group was arrested and charged with sedition after they performed a concert in which they used Nazi imagery.

Despite the controversy, LAIBACH was a popular band in Yugoslavia, and they attracted a large following among young people. The group's music was seen as a way to express dissatisfaction with the Yugoslav government and its policies.

LAIBACH's Legacy

LAIBACH is one of the most influential industrial music bands of all time. The group's music has been praised for its originality, its innovation, and its willingness to challenge the status quo.

LAIBACH's music has also been criticized for its use of totalitarian imagery and rhetoric. However, the group has always argued that their use of these symbols

#dizajn #YUGOSLAVIA #east europe #laibach #industrial #music #art #electronic music #design #creative #designer #product design #print

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high-school-lit-tournament · 1 year

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High School Lit Tournament Round 3

Animal Farm: A farm is taken over by its overworked, mistreated animals. With flaming idealism and stirring slogans, they set out to create a paradise of progress, justice, and equality. Thus the stage is set for one of the most telling satiric fables ever penned –a razor-edged fairy tale for grown-ups that records the evolution from revolution against tyranny to a totalitarianism just as terrible.

The Color Purple: A powerful cultural touchstone of modern American literature, The Color Purple depicts the lives of African American women in early twentieth-century rural Georgia. Separated as girls, sisters Celie and Nettie sustain their loyalty to and hope in each other across time, distance and silence. Through a series of letters spanning twenty years, first from Celie to God, then the sisters to each other despite the unknown, the novel draws readers into its rich and memorable portrayals of Celie, Nettie, Shug Avery and Sofia and their experience. The Color Purple broke the silence around domestic and sexual abuse, narrating the lives of women through their pain and struggle, companionship and growth, resilience and bravery. Deeply compassionate and beautifully imagined, Alice Walker's epic carries readers on a spirit-affirming journey towards redemption and love.

#high school lit tournament #classic literature #animal farm #the color purple

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haloburns · 1 year

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a collection of tag games

hi hello i have returned from the dead (danny phantom puns abound, i know) i've felt like SHITE for months now, so i'm going to mass answer some tag games i've been tagged in by @jadenoryuu and @deathcomes4u (i know penner has tagged me in some but theyre not showing up in my notes??? i'll find them in my emails later and reblog)

these will all be under the readmore with the original post linked!!

Wip themes tag!

Core themes are in blue, minor themes are in orange (mostly because yellow hurts my eyes).

i uhhhhhhhhhh have so many wips, i'm not sure which one jade was talking about, but i'll use my invisobang!

enjoy the teaser! i'll be posting my invisobang next week!

*+*+*

Author self-rec!!

This one is from death! i have 88 DP fics in two years, so uhhhhhhhh this one is a hard one. All titles are links directly to my ao3! (there's gonna be more than five, i'm sorry alkjsflksjdf)

First off:

Any thing from Phic Phight

2022 or 2023! Literally all of those are my favorites, I can't pick and I'm not adding them to my 5 because that feels unfair (to me).

of course i love you (it is my fault that you have not known it all the while)

this one was a dream-related idea i had, and it turned into danny and maddie working through the early stages of post-phantom-reveal relationship. it's one of my absolute favorites, and the title is from le petit prince, which is one of my all time favorite stories.

Summary:

Danny is still adjusting to his parents knowing his identity after the Disasteroid. It's...going. It's only been a few days, after all. But when Sam and Tucker go away on an academic convention trip, Danny's left completely alone for the first time since the accident and things do not go well. Danny does not cope well, and like usual, doesn't ask for help. Maddie finds him losing a fight he shouldn't be, but when she tries to help, she accidentally makes things worse and finds out just how bad things are for her son. She doesn't know a lot about all of this halfa business, but she does know that she loves her son. That has to count for something.

this is the moment (damn all the odds)

ohhhhhh i love this one. it's probably one of my first mateo-centric fics, and i wrote it while i had covid (lying on the floor, trying not to die, i wrote 4k and it was actually comprehensible) because i needed ghost light softness in my life. it's some early stuff as i wanted to flesh out their relationship a bit more. title is kudos to death, ironically lmao

Summary:

Mateo is hurt and a little stranded, and there's only one person he can call. Danny drops everything to help him, and that... that does something.

This is The Moment that he starts to view Danny in a different, more interested light.

there's no way out (i gotta hold you somehow)

this is a companion to "it's just another day without you (and i can't sleep)" but more zoomed in. another mateo centric fic that gives us a look into his pov during their week apart, and also gives us a peek at his family dynamic pre-this is the road to ruin. it wasn't SUPPOSED to be 5k, but i was having too much fun to stop. i love mateo with all my heart and i will continue to subject everyone to him until the itch has ceased

Summary:

Mateo is hurt and a little stranded, and there's only one person he can call. Danny drops everything to help him, and that... that does something. This is The Moment that he starts to view Danny in a different, more interested light.

when the nightmare fades

this is one of the earliest fics i came up with for this series. it changed A LOT. this is where danny and mateo's first kiss was supposed to happen, but the boys got out of control and that happened a fic or two ahead of time, so that changed the tone a bit. instead of it being so charged, it just became SOFT. it will forever hold a special place in my heart

Summary:

The terrible hunted feeling hasn't left Danny in weeks. Midterms are approaching, and the stress has finally caught up to him. A terrifying nightmare wakes him from his unrestful sleep, startling Mateo awake too. When Mateo asks if he's alright, Danny actually opens up instead of hiding away like normal.

quit telling everyone i'm (permanently) dead!

started as an ectober prompt that grew......wildly out of control. danny and teo go home to amity park for thanksgiving and shenangians ensue. it has lots of soft and cute relationship stuff that actually set me up for ANOTHER favorite of mine that ALSO grew wildly out of control

Summary:

Thanksgiving break is quickly approaching, and Danny really wants to make good on his promise to Mateo. So he invites him home for the holiday. It'll be the perfect opportunity to make up for the weekend he spent stuck in the Fenton house while Danny kinda-sorta almost died again. But, like everything else in his life, Amity Parkers don't plan on making that attainable for him, his friends and family included.

this is the road to ruin (and we started at the end)

honorable mention HAS to go to last year's invisobang. this is the end of the original pieces i had planned for the series, and it wasn't necessarily supposed to be the end, but up until posting it, that was all that i had originally plotted. a year's worth of work led me to that, and i could NOT be prouder of it. i've reread it quite a bit because i'm just. in love. maybe that's a little conceited, but i put SO MUCH effort into it, so i like to enjoy it from time to time.

Summary:

What goes up, must come down. Danny is forced to come down hard when Clockwork arrives with news he never wanted to hear. Now Mateo and their friends are in danger, and Danny has to be the one to figure out how to protect them all on his own. Mateo wants to help, but Danny's being too stubborn and ghostly to even think about accepting it. Tension between them grows as the new threat stalks closer, and Danny is forced to make a decision he's never wanted to make: kill or be killed.

my resistance was once much stronger (i can't go on like this much longer)

the follow up to "this is the road to ruin" in what was only supposed to be 10k max and ended up being just over 50k instead. it changed A LOT over the course of writing it, because i did a lot of character study in it. i will always love danny and mateo growing closer, even when they fight and don't communicate clearly

actually, the entire "road to ruin" arc up until "heaven's grief brings hell's reign" is my favorite. all of it. i'm just SO fucking proud of it.

Summary:

Danny's home for winter break, and that's all he wants: a break. But after a breakdown in front of his mom, and with the help of a certain meddling older sister, Danny reveals to his family what exactly has been happening while he was away at Berkeley. He hopes for some space from Mateo, because it'll make leaving easier in the long run, but one poorly timed phone call snowballs into Maddie inviting Mateo to stay with them for Christmas and Truce. Danny can't say no without revealing exactly why he doesn't want his boyfriend coming to spend the holidays with him, so he accepts. Now he has to balance his complicated jumble of feelings with Mateo being so close and so hard to ignore. So much for a break.

come back and let me hold you (darlin' i just got started lovin' you)

OKAY HEAR ME OUT i KNOW this is a country song title but a) i'm southern as FUCK and two) this song is SO FUCKING SWEET

i wanted to write something for ghost light recently but i needed it to be short, so i told myself i had to write less than 1k AND LO AND BEHOLD I DID. this is literally just post-heaven's grief sweetness. technically a song fic because i used the lyrics to craft the fic and maybe thats cringe, but i'm freeeeee so its whatever

Summary:

Danny and Mateo are settling into their new normal in their second semester after Christmas Break, and Mateo is reluctant to leave their little pocket of bliss just to attend classes. Danny convinces him to stay for just a little while longer.

this life is overwhelming (and i'm ready for the next one) & underneath your skin (the ghost within)

these go together, and they're just so different from what i normally write, but they're REALLY fucking good in my humble opinion. pitch pearl has a grip on me, too, and i've been writing some absolute BANGERS with them

Summaries:

Danny just wants everything to stop hurting. His parents are too obsessed with getting their ghost portal up and running to notice that he's struggling to adjust to high school. They definitely don't notice when things take a dark turn and a few new scars crop up. When they fail to get the portal up and running, it's like their children don't exist at all. Everything that had been building in Danny over the last two years finally snaps. Stepping into the portal with blood dripping down his hand had been an accident. The cutting part had been easy, but as the faint whine of a machine powering up reached his ears, he realized regretting all of it was so fucked.

AND

Danny's still alive, and he's not happy about it. After his halfway successful suicide attempt, Danny is living with the consequences of an activated Portal: ghosts targeting him, a new secret identity, and juggling high school. Things are not going well, until he discovers a new aspect of his ghostly self: his ghostly self.

Anything from Perky Beans Cafe

Emeralds and I are co-writing a coffee shop enemies to lovers au, and it's INCREDIBLE

Summary:

Phantom just wanted a hot chocolate... But Danny Fenton (aka Amity Park's very own Blue Hunter) has other ideas. Things do NOT go to plan, but neither party can say they're…unhappy…about the results.

the haunted museum job

a crossover fic that i'm STUPID proud of. i wrote it in like two hours and it's got some of the best character-voice writing i've EVER done. i would love to write mroe for it but alas the muse is in hiding

Summary:

The Leverage team has been tasked with retrieving an ancient Egyptian artefact from a small, Midwest museum. Easy job, won't take more than a Sunday afternoon to complete, and then they'll have more than enough cash and the favor of the Egyptian government on their side. But Amity Park is not your average Midwestern town, and they accidentally crash another team's heist and find themselves out of their depth very quickly.

HONORABLE MENTION

the magic that binds us series

DEATH STARTED THIS SHIT, AND IT IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE THINGS TO WRITE holy SHIT i cannot wait to get back to working on it!! magic goth danny is BABEY

Summary:

Danny got into sleight of hand and showman's magic to spite his parents -- he never expected it to be real. It had started as a joke. His parents kept insisting ghosts were real and were convinced they were building a Portal to the other side just to prove it. Danny, being a little shit, had made a comment about the magic they must be working against to create said Portal. Then his mom had reprimanded him for believing in something as childish as magic. Danny was nothing if not a petty little bitch, so he decided that if his parents wanted to play that game, then they would play that game. He had no idea just what kind of game he was getting himself into.

*+*+*

Little guy maker!!

enjoy this little mateo i made. he is ready for fall.

*+*+*

Fic Stats Game!

Rules: Give us the links to your fic with the most hits, second most kudos, third most comments, fourth most bookmarks, fifth most words, and fic with the least words.

I'm just doing my DP fics because I am NOT dragging myself like that alskjfdlksjdflksdjf

Most Hits

going...! to be in so much trouble... this is my first ever DP fic and the fic that launched me into my au......... surprised my dpxdc fic hasn't overwhelmed it, actually, but it's close!

Second Most Kudos

okay, well, it's the same fic as above, apparently, so i'm just gonna link the top kudos because it's the one that has the SECOND most hits, so like... it evens out, right??

stealing cars is a love language, too

Third Most Comments

oh wow, that's wild. i would NOT have thought it was this one!!

and they were history project partners

actually, yknow what. i'm not surprised alkdjlksdjf it's UFS adjacent, so that actually makes sense. plus it's a phic phight fic so like... yeah, that tracks lmao

Fourth Most Bookmarks

this life is overwhelming (and i'm ready for the next one)

also not a huge surprise there. it's an angsty gen dp fic, what did i expect?? lmao

Fifth Most Words

it's just another day without you (and i can't sleep)

i think this was my first BIG dp fic and it was just. pure. angst. also mateo au, so like.... that tracks

Fic with the Least Words

when you sneeze so hard you accidentally half-die in front of your boyfriend for the first time

this was crack that i wrote on my ten minute break during a particularly nasty allergy season bc i was GRUMPY. it's actually surprisingly popular, considering it's technically danny/oc fic.

OKAY THAT'S IT IM DONE SORRY FOR THE LONG POST AND LOTS AND LOTS OF LINKS LOVE YOU BYE

#danny phantom #ecto fics #my fics #my au #my writing #tag games #long post #readmore

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thedarlingofvenus · 10 months

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Why Authoritarian Legitimation Matters

Modern authoritarian regimes cannot entirely depend on their abuse of power in a strictly hierarchical, pyramid-shaped political order as some tyrannies of the past, especially in the long-term perspective. The persistence of autocratic domination evolves beyond simple mechanisms of repression or violent suppression. In the almost complete absence of totalitarian rule today, authoritarianism has become a residual category for non-democracies.

The Arab Spring was a vivid example of the failure of the social contract in populist authoritarian regimes. This came as a result of the imbalance between popular trust and an acceptable economic performance or a lack of procedural legitimation. Due to the growing frustration and disillusionment, the repressed people in Tunisia, Egypt, Syria and Algeria withdrew from the pre-existing social contract and protested. Similar trends took place in other regions, like the ‘Colour Revolution’ in Ukraine or the ‘Tulip Revolution’ in Kyrgyzstan. These cases illustrate the crucial importance for autocratic regimes to build a strong legitimizing basis.

While legitimacy crisis seems to eventually manifest itself on the surface in a form of protest, revolution or mass migration; it is extremely difficult to trace the early symptoms of legitimacy erosion, manifested in the declining trust and loyalty among population to its leaderships, and escalated inter-elite tensions. Easton and Lipset explained this phenomenon as a ‘reservoir of support’, the situation of popular contentment with satisfactory regime performance, that helps members to tolerate and accept domination.

Przeworski argued that regimes do not collapse when they lose legitimacy but only when citizens see prospects for a viable alternative system. The democratic repertoire of power presupposes the choice for an alternative political reality, however non-democratic regimes allow a limited degree of political and social pluralism in attempt to remain in extensive control over society. The prevalence of hybrid regimes demonstrates the possibility of peaceful coexistence among several antagonistic political systems. According to Habermas ‘as soon as belief in legitimacy of an existing order vanishes, the latent force embedded in the system of institutions is released’. To overthrow the existing political regime and its institutions, the agents of change (‘the latent force’) arise to reconfigure and contest popular perceptions of rules and norms. Autocratic leaders are afraid of spontaneous and unregulated changes that can lead to unexpected results or critical situations.

Von Haldenwang suggests that legitimation involves a two-stage process: a) the ‘demand cycle’ – citizens feedback to legitimation claims in the form of acknowledgment or rejection, expectations directed towards the government; b) the ‘supply cycle’ – the operations carried out by rulers in attempt to legitimise their political order to shape the process and outcome of political decision-making and the implementation of public policies. In authoritarian regimes, ‘the demand cycle’ would be carefully monitored and usually supressed/censored, due to the minimal opportunity to openly channel popular grievances and demands.

(Source)

#my posts

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mariacallous · 2 years

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The death last month of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman from the Kurdistan region of Iran who had been visiting the capital of Tehran, triggered a series of protests that now threaten the Iranian regime itself. Amini died after being arrested—and beaten, according to eyewitnesses��by Iran’s morality police for the apparent crime of not wearing a headscarf in sufficiently modest fashion. Young women have staged protests across the country, voicing their anger at the regime while also brazenly defying the country’s hijab laws, and the protests have expanded to include people from different walks of life. Iranian security forces have cracked down violently on the protesters, and the civilian death toll has risen to an estimated 201 people, according to the Norway-based Iran Human Rights organization.

What are the economic consequences of Iran’s policies toward women? How would an abrupt political transition affect the Iranian economy? And what would an Iran that met its economic potential look like?

Those are some of the questions that came up in my conversation this week with FP columnist Adam Tooze on the podcast we co-host, Ones and Tooze. What follows is a transcript of the interview, edited for clarity and length. For the entire conversation, subscribe to Ones and Tooze on your preferred podcast app.

Cameron Abadi: Iranian women aren’t necessarily facing totalitarian repression: They do have access to the job market; they’re overrepresented in higher education. But their civil rights are clearly curtailed by the centrality of Islamic law in the Iranian Constitution. Does social and economic equality for women demand a wholesale constitutional change in Iran? Or are there examples of explicitly Islamic states that manage to treat women equally?

Adam Tooze: I think we should start by acknowledging that there’s no modern society that treats women equally. There’s no society without a pay gap between men and women. There’s no modern society in which one could say that substance of equality was really fully achieved. Not in the U.S., not in China, not in India, not in the welfare states of most of Europe. I mean, the Scandinavian countries probably come closest, but even they do not achieve full parity in terms of pay, let alone wealth and so on.

But Iran is definitely a special case in the sense that it exhibits some truly crass contrasts. It’s a society in which women are, relatively speaking, very well-educated compared to [the country’s] income level. So 71 percent of women over the age of 25 have at least some secondary schooling, compared with 76 percent of men. So both the levels and the gap—their levels are very high, and the gaps are relatively small. And as you say, women are heavily represented in Iran’s universities. But at the same time, women’s labor market participation in Iran is shockingly low. I mean, it’s only 14 percent. I was kind of dumbfounded when I found this number. That’s half the Saudi participation, which is closer to 30 percent. It’s roughly on a level with Afghanistan pre-Taliban. And I think that has quite a lot to do also with the extraordinary frustration of young women in Iran, because they do get education but then are essentially pushed out of the labor market. I mean, the number is so low that I’m kind of baffled. Is it perhaps something to do with the formal labor market in Iran? Iran also has very low maternal mortality rates—16 women die for 100,000 live births, which is lower than in the United States right now—but it has a very high rate of early marriage and therefore of adolescent pregnancy. And only 5 percent of parliamentarians in Iran are women.

So you have this sort of really stark contrast between a society that in key respects is modernizing, in which women are pushing forward and claiming space, and, on the other hand, systematic exclusions. Are other Islamic regimes [regarding gender] imaginable? Absolutely, they are. I mean, [there are] a whole variety of different options. The most remarkable—again, the numbers really sort of flabbergasted me—is the United Arab Emirates. At least on paper, it ranks 11th lowest in the U.N.’s index of gender disparity. So it’s in the middle of the European states. It’s really remarkable. It has 50 percent female representation in parliament, very high levels of female education. But then, of course, it’s a model petrostate. Several of the other Gulf states, as well, dramatically outrank Iran in terms of women’s participation in society and politics. There’s no question at all that Islamic culture, politics are fully compatible with regimes that are much less exclusionary and much less discriminatory against women than the Iranian regime. I think the vast majority of protesters can see ways in which even the Islamic Republic could be modified that would remove these absurd and, in many ways, just simply dysfunctional discriminations against women.

CA: There’s been a call, both in Iran and on social media very prominently, to workers in Iran to assist the protesters with a general strike, as it’s being referred to. Some shop owners in the bazaars in various cities, including Tehran, have started to oblige, closing up their shops. Bazaaris seem to occupy a special role in the Iranian political economy, or at least in Iranian history, going back to the 1950s, when there was a coup that the bazaaris were involved in, and also going back to the Islamic Revolution of 1979. What’s the theory of the general strike exactly—and would the participation of the bazaaris, this class of shop owners, qualify on its own?

AT: A general strike is the sort of non plus ultra of strikes—it’s not a matter of one particular group of workers involved in a struggle with a particular employer but of workers in general demonstrating in favor of a particular cause. It could be universal suffrage, or it could be austerity. And indeed, in Iranian history, it’s been a highly significant theme. I mean, in terms of the logic of general strikes, as you’d think of it worldwide, the group that classically leads the charge in Iran are the petrochemical workers. The bazaaris are actually a somewhat incongruous group to be engaged in general striking because they’re actually petit-bourgeois merchants. They’re not workers. But they have played a very prominent role in Iranian history all the way back. I mean, you mention the 1950s, but it goes all the way back to the constitutional revolution of 1905 through 1911, the first emergence of modern politics in what was then Persia, you know, modern Iran.

But as you say, the 1950s and then crucially during the anti-Shah protests of 1978, ’79. And even the physical structure of the bazaar, it was a sort of redoubt of anti-Shah resistance, because you can hide people in the bazaar. It’s such a rabbit warren of small shops and alleyways that even the Shah’s fearsome secret police were not able to fully penetrate it. But the logic is really quite complicated, because as petit-bourgeois small shopkeepers and merchants, they’re actually deeply aligned with the Islamic Republic. So they then became almost loyalist bastions of the regime, quite conservative in their cultural politics. And so it’s all the more significant to see them swinging now into at least episodic solidarity with protest movements led by radical young women in high schools and universities. I think it points to the wide range of issues on which the Iranian regime is struggling right now because the bazaaris are furious at taxes and inflation and the general mismanagement of the economy. And so, the civil rights abuses and this violence directed toward young women, it’s sort of the final straw, if you like.

CA: The Iranian regime right now controls so much of the economy. Would a sudden regime collapse represent an economic shock that could impair Iran’s material condition for years possibly? And would that suggest in general that it’s in everyone’s interest to have a more gradual transition of some sort?

AT: I think there are certainly lessons to be learned from the experience of Eastern Europe after 1989 in this regard—that overoptimistic expectations of a sudden shift, the demolishing of a planned economy, should be tempered by an understanding of quite how much damage a transition like that does. It’s also important to recognize that at least until the latest phase of sanctions—so the last 10 years or so of intensified U.S. sanctions—the Iranian revolution had a very substantial effect in reducing poverty among the majority of the Iranian population at the time, which was still rural. And so through the early 2010s, the Iranian regime’s popularity was founded on its success in, to a considerable extent, abolishing the most extreme forms of poverty experienced by Iranian society. The big anxiety about the transition would surely be, as it was in much of Eastern Europe, that as you strip away the accretions of the planned economy, you also strip away the welfare safety net that sustains large parts of the population, the most vulnerable parts of the population above the poverty line. And the situation now, though, over the last 10 years, has shifted rather considerably because the combined impact of sanctions and inflation has substantially weakened that welfare safety net.

So another reason to be anxious about an overly dramatic transition would be that Iranian society is in a pretty fragile state right now. The poverty rates are much, much higher than they were 10 years ago in proportional terms. And so a process of unraveling the existing structures would, I think, put millions of people at risk. One wouldn’t want to shrink from transition or change in the regime for that reason alone. But it certainly is something that, on the basis of the Eastern European experience, one would have to be very concerned about. And presumably it would also create reservoirs of resistance and reservoirs of support for more conservative interpretations of the mission of Islamic economic and social policy. Which are very real.

Iran is now a regime under absolutely massive pressure from the outside. The slogan under which the Iranian economy operates is the so-called resistance economy. It’s a regime shot through with corruption and insider self-dealing. All of that is true. But if one engaged in a dramatic overthrow of the regime in its current state, you would really have to be concerned about how vulnerable substantial segments of the population would be.

CA: Obviously, Iran is not coming close to meeting its economic potential right now. Could you speculate on what role Iran could be playing in the world if it did, in fact, meet that economic potential?

AT: Yeah, it shouldn’t be underestimated. It is, according to purchasing power parity numbers—so adjusting for the cost of living—the world’s 23rd-largest economy. I think the answer to your question is that one could easily imagine it as a candidate member for the G-20 or an expanded G-20. I mean, it should sit alongside Turkey as one of the anchors of the Middle Eastern economy. And unlike the Gulf states, it has a large population and a highly diversified economy at this point. The future of the Iranian economy, one would hope, would not lie simply in the revival of the petrochemical business, which, if sanctions were removed, could expand rather dramatically and quite quickly. Iran has $100 billion in assets frozen abroad under the sanctions regime. It could be exporting 2 million barrels of oil per day over and above what it currently does, which would earn it, at current prices, about $70 billion a year. I mean, it would no doubt benefit enormously from the lifting of sanctions. But beyond simply the revival of the petrostate, it has the potential to be a kind of Germany of the Middle East, with a very strong engineering base, with a highly educated population. And that, I think, is really a tragedy of the current situation: that Iran is, of course, a major geopolitical player in the region, but its economy is fettered and operating well below its potential.

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belacqui-pro-quo · 2 years

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The Faubourg Saint-Germain, however, as Proust depicts it, was in the early stages of this development. It admitted inverts because it felt attracted by what it judged to be a vice. Proust describes how Monsieur de Charlus, who had formerly been tolerated, "notwithstanding his vice," for his personal charm and old name, now rose to social heights. He no longer needed to lead a double life and hide his dubious acquaintances, but was encouraged to bring them into the fashionable houses. Topics of conversation which he formerly would have avoided — love, beauty, jealousy — lest somebody suspect his anomaly, were now welcomed avidly "in view of the experience, strange, secret, refined and monstrous upon which he founded" his views.

Something very similar happened to the Jews. Individual exceptions, ennobled Jews, had been tolerated and even welcomed in the society of the Second Empire, but now Jews as such were becoming increasingly popular. In both cases, society was far from being prompted by a revision of prejudices. They did not doubt that homosexuals were "criminals" or that Jews were "traitors"; they only revised their attitude toward crime and treason. The trouble with their new broadmindedness, of course, was not that they were no longer horrified by inverts but that they were no longer horrified by crime. They did not in the least doubt the conventional judgment. The best-hidden disease of the nineteenth century, its terrible boredom and general weariness, had burst like an abscess. The outcasts and the pariahs upon whom society called in its predicament were, whatever else they might have been, at least not plagued by ennui and, if we are to trust Proust's judgment, were the only ones in fin-de-siècle society who were still capable of passion. Proust leads us through the labyrinth of social connections and ambitions only by the thread of man's capacity for love, which is presented in the perverted passion of Monsieur de Charlus for Morel, in the devastating loyalty of the Jew Swann to his courtesan and in the author's own desperate jealousy of Albertine, herself the personification of vice in the novel. Proust made it very clear that he regarded the outsiders and newcomers, the inhabitants of "Sodome et Ghomorre," not only as more human but as more normal.

— Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism

#Quote #Hannah Arendt #Proust #Agamben #Culture #Politics

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ladysophy · 2 years

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The Dark Side of President Lincoln and the American Civil War (1861-1865).

Note: You may have a few symptoms of cognitive dissonance. However, I will not tolerate hate mail nor trollish behavior. So if you don’t like what you see in this post, stop reading it and go along your way.

In American public schools, American kids from various societal backgrounds were and are still being taught that President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) was a hero who saved the Union from those evil, backward and slave owning Southerns who seceded illegally in the name of abolishing slavery. I was certainly taught this when I was in school from the late 90s to the late 2000s.

Well, I’m here to tell you that it’s unfortunately a bunch of BS. First, Lincoln was indifferent to the plight of slaves/free blacks at best and thought whites were superior to blacks at worst. In fact, he would have had all blacks deported to either Africa, Latin America and/or the Caribbean if he hadn’t been assassinated. He also didn’t campaign against slavery despite popular belief! He also wasn’t a huge fan of Native Americans/Indigenous Americans either.

Second, Lincoln had people in the North imprisoned if they criticized him, his policies, the war, and/or just wanting peace all together. Some sources mentioned that some people were jailed for not saying his name in church! This included some elected officials too. One elected official was placed on some kind of house arrest for criticizing Lincoln overturning Habeas corpus. Another one was deported to Canada for being vocally against his policies. Former President Franklin Pierce’s reputation was ruined in the press’s eyes when he criticized Lincoln’s policies and was corresponding with the Confederate States of America President Jefferson Davis during the war. Lincoln even had his portrait removed from display in the White House! Even former President Millard Fillmore’s reputation took a nosedive too when he too criticized Lincoln and mentioned that the South needed help after the war ended. Lincoln also had the oppositional newspapers shut down too and put their owners and editors in prison during the early stages of the war. If this is not proto-Stalinist behavior, I don’t know what is. Lincoln’s Secretary of State, William H. Seward, boasted that he could place elected officials in the North in prison for criticizing Lincoln and his policies or something to that effect. You see how messed up this is?

From across the pond, many European powers were very concern about the conflict that was engulfing the United States. In fact, they (especially the United Kingdom and France) considered Lincoln and his administration acting in a very despotic manner. They were very close to recognizing the Confederacy when Lincoln (and Seward too) threatened them with war if they dared send any form of humanitarian aid to the South. Unsurprisingly, they backed off, but I’m sure it left a bad taste in their mouths.

Finding out Lincoln had racist views didn’t shock me at the least. Most Americans did back then. He was being a typical hypocritical politician. What really shocked me was the way he and his administration handled Northerners and two former Presidents who criticized him. Yes, Fillmore and Pierce had their own share of flaws and problems, but to have the press to smear campaign them like that? Makes you look like a totalitarian who despises opposite viewpoints like all totalitarians do.

Lastly, the primary cause of the American Civil War wasn’t slavery. It was actually a purely economic reason: the ongoing tax disputes between the North and South. Decades before the American Civil War, the South was producing the majority of goods in America. For some reason or another, the North decided to put taxes on the South. One such tax was called the Black Tariff of 1828 or the Tariff of Abominations. Under this tariff according to Mighty Taxes, the South had to pay about 75% of all taxes in America! Unsurprisingly, the North benefited from this tariff economically. Also according to Mighty Taxes, the South couldn’t buy anymore European imports because they were too expensive. They could only buy from the North. Not surprisingly, this caused a lot of resentment from the South and the North basically did little about it. The tax that started the American Civil War was called the Morrill Tariff of 1861 and it was the highest tariff at that time that benefited the North again! Pissed off, the South decided to secede by drafting their own constitution that included banning high taxes on imports. Even the famous English author Charles Dickens and the father of Communism Karl Marx saw the American Civil War was about money and taxes, not slavery!

The South was willing to negotiate with the North one last time before the first shots rang out, but Lincoln was not having none of it. And the rest is history.

In conclusion, this just puts Lincoln and his administration in a really bad light. It makes him a two faced hypocrite at best and a despot at worst. This makes them warmongers who only cared about money and f**k everyone else (including women, children and the elderly). While there were some not so good people in the Confederacy too, there were some not so good people in the Union too. My lesson here is that there is two sides of the coin when it comes to history. The American Civil War is of no exception.

P.S. Before anyone calls me a racist or a Confederate, I’m not. I’m actually have some ancestors who were slaves in the South.

Sources:

Dilorenzo, Thomas. The Real Lincoln: A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda and an Unnecessary War. 2003.

“How Taxes Caused the Civil War.” Mighty Taxes. www.mightytaxes.com.

#thoughts #american history #stuff that teachers don’t tell you in school #my longest post yet

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privateistanbultour · 24 days

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The Soviet-Backed Communist Takeover in Bulgaria

Soviet Invasion and Occupation

On September 8, 1944, the Soviet Army invaded Bulgaria, marking the beginning of a three-year occupation that would last until December 1947. As soon as Soviet forces entered the country, the Bulgarian Army was placed under Soviet command, and political commissars were introduced to ensure that the army aligned with Soviet policies. This invasion set the stage for a dramatic shift in Bulgaria’s political landscape.

Signing of the Armistice

On October 28, 1944, an Armistice was signed between Bulgaria and the Allied powers, including the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States. While this agreement ostensibly ended Bulgaria’s involvement in World War II, it also effectively sanctioned the Soviet occupation of the country. Soviet Marshal Fyodor Tolbukhin was appointed Chairman of the newly established Allied Control Committee, with Colonel General Sergey Biryuzov serving as his deputy. This committee was responsible for overseeing Bulgaria’s administration during the occupation, further solidifying Soviet control.

The Rise of the Fatherland Front

As Soviet troops advanced into Bulgaria on September 8, 1944, the National Committee of the Fatherland Front, a coalition dominated by communists, declared itself the only legitimate political entity in Bulgaria. The Fatherland Front accused Prime Minister Konstantin Muraviev’s government of wavering and being hypocritical in its dealings with the Soviet Union. This declaration was a clear signal of the impending power shift in Bulgaria Istanbul Tour Guides.

The Coup of September 9, 1944

In the early hours of September 9, 1944, at 2:15 a.m., as Soviet forces had already entered Bulgaria, army officers affiliated with the Zveno political group staged a coup, overthrowing the democratic government of Prime Minister Muraviev. Power was quickly transferred to the Fatherland Front, the communist-led coalition. Just a few hours later, at 6:25 a.m., Bulgarian Radio announced the formation of a new government headed by Kimon Georgiev, a key figure in the Fatherland Front.

Communist Consolidation of Power

Before the coup, the Bulgarian Communist Party was a relatively small organization with only a few thousand members. However, after seizing power, the communists swiftly took control of key government ministries, particularly the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Justice. This allowed them to exert total control over the new government’s decisions. Although the new regime portrayed itself as a government “of the people, for the people, by the people,” it quickly became apparent that it was anything but democratic.

The new government, installed through a military-political coup with significant assistance from the Soviet Army, began to impose a totalitarian system modeled after the Soviet Union. This regime used brutal tactics to maintain its grip on power, suppressing any opposition and eliminating political freedoms. The takeover marked the beginning of an era of severe repression and the establishment of a Soviet-style dictatorship in Bulgaria.

Conclusion: The Beginning of a Totalitarian Era

The events of September 1944 were a turning point in Bulgarian history, marking the transition from a constitutional monarchy to a communist dictatorship. The Soviet-backed coup and subsequent occupation paved the way for decades of totalitarian rule, characterized by oppression, lack of political freedom, and strict adherence to Soviet policies. The Bulgarian people would endure this repressive regime until the fall of communism in Eastern Europe in the late 1980s.

#The Soviet-Backed Communist Takeover in Bulgaria

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