#Labor and Religion Coalition

[firstumcschenectady]

“Changing the Narrative” based on Deuteronomy 15:1-4 and Matthew 26:1-16

I grew up in the country, and went to college in rural New Hampshire, so when I started interning as a pastor in urban Los Angeles, …. well, there was a big learning curve. I was scared of cities, because they were just new to me, and I found them overwhelming. Los Angeles is a major urban center, and like most of our urban centers it has dazzling wealth and heartbreaking poverty. Homelessness is an especially huge problem in Los Angeles because people spend their live savings to get there expecting to “make it big” by walking down the street and having a producer hire them for a major movie. Also, it isn't cold there, so there aren't networks of code blue shelters.

I worked at a wonderful church, the Hollywood United Methodist Church, and in ways similar to here, the congregation itself was a mixture of the housed and the unhoused, and no conversation about the church happened without awareness of their unhoused neighbors. One of the most distressing moments of my life was in getting to know the unhoused in the Hollywood Church and those who lived around it, and realizing that many of them were the same population as the people I cared for at Sky Lake Special Needs camps. That the most vulnerable among us were living the hardest lives is a lesson I've never gotten over. While I served there we would also go to Skid Row – the poorest part of Los Angeles - and serve meals, an experience that wiped any lingering blinders I had about the justice of unfettered competitive capitalism.

After my first year interning at Hollywood, I went on a mission trip to Cuba with Volunteers in Mission. We started in Havana, and eventually drove east to the site where we would work. After several days on the road I finally realized that I was tense all the time because it constantly felt like we were about to slip into a neighborhood like Skid Row, and I expected the punch to the stomach that I'd experienced in seeing Skid Row. But, in Cuba, everything felt like the neighborhood before you got to jaw-dropping poverty. But you never got to jaw-dropping poverty. This was 2004, and I've since learned that in the early years after the US embargo there really wasn't enough enough food, but by 2004 the island had figured out how to feed and house everyone sufficiently – even though cement crumbled and drug stores were largely bare.

There wasn't much panhandling in Cuba either. There was a little bit, in tourist spots, but our hosts pointed out that because everyone is housed and fed in Cuba, the panhandling was for extra money, not for for basics. I ended up going back to Cuba a few years later, and had very similar experiences. Like the metaphors of a fish being unable to understand water, it took leaving unfettered competitive capitalism for me to be able to see it.

This week I had the chance to attend a conversation led by the Labor and Religion Coalition on the New York State Budget. Many of us are familiar with the Federal Poverty Line, right? And we're also familiar with it's limitations, namely that it is abysmally low and a person or family living above that line will still be struggling to make ends meet. You may already know about the United Way measure “ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed)”, but I didn't. (Can't tell you if I hadn't heard it or hadn't retained it though. Shrug.)

ALICE is a measure of who isn't making ends meet in society. Fabulously, United Way does an amazing amount of work with the data on Alice. For instance, in NYS 14% of people live under the poverty line. Another 30% of people are in ALICE, and 56% of people are “doing OK” and making ends meet. The numbers a bit worse in Schenectady – in our city 49.8 people live below the ALICE threshold, which is to say that HALF of the people in this city aren't making ends meet.

What was particularly interesting in the presentation this week was the visual on recent poverty rates.

Namely, that during 2020, when the government focused on responding to people's needs with stimulus checks, child tax credits, and expansion of SNAP benefits, people living under the national poverty line hit a 20 year LOW.

And since then, the rates have been creeping back up. The work of the Labor and Religion Coalition and their partners The Poor People's campaign includes asking NYS to readjust it's priorities. Stop having regressive tax laws that benefit corporations and the wealthy, and use the income gained to bring greater support for the most vulnerable.

Compared to how we have been operating as a society, this feels like a PIPE DREAM. There so many barriers, so many counter arguments, so much fear of the accusation of “raising taxes.” But then I read the Bible, and I read it with the guidance of Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis and Rev. Dr. William Barber, and God is behind that pipe dream.

Which, for me at least, means it is possible.

Which means we can dream about what it would feel like to live in a society where everyone is housed, and housed adequately. Archaeology suggests that in the first 400 years of Ancient Israelite society – the years before kings – all the houses were about the same size. Which means that society was organized around mutual care for each other and sharing of resources. I've been shocked to learn from the book “The Dawn of Everything” by David Graeber and David Wengrow that MANY ancient societies were really egalitarian like that, including ones with major urban centers, including ones that were stable for many centuries. The ancient Hebrews weren't an outlier.

The Hebrew Bible, though, gets really clear on what is needed to create a society where people care for each other. Everyone needs access to resources – in their case land. Did you know that in Hawaii the native people divvied up the land like really narrow pieces of pie because they knew every group of people needed access to the resources of both the land and the sea? God has worked with peoples in so many times and places to take care of each other, and that means it is possible. Liz Theoharis sufficiently mentions the other rules, “forgiving debts, raising wages, outlawing slavery, and restructuring society around the needs of the poor.”1 That's what we hear in Deuteronomy today. That's what Jesus reflect on in the gospel.

I'm struck by her clear statement that “charity will not end poverty.” It reminds me of the Simone Weil quote, “It is only by the grace of God that the poor can forgive the rich the bread they feed them.” As long as we have a society that makes some people rich BY making other people poor we'll have lots and lots of opportunities for charity, but nothing will change.

Our work, I believe, is the work of “narrative takeover.” For us, it may take some time. There is a lot in this unfettered competitive capitalism that we've been trained not to see, or to think is necessary, or acceptable, and the work we're doing with “We Cry Justice” this year helps us reframe the narrative.

What IS the purpose of a society? If it is to fulfill “there will be no need among you,” then we know what direction to turn in, even it it will be a long journey to get there. It is funny, isn't it? That people know the quote “the poor you will always have with you” but they don't know that the implication of it is “as long as you fail to follow what God is asking of you.”

So I invite us to this dream. What would it be like to live in a society that houses people well, where everyone had enough nutritious food, where healthcare can accessed? Can you even dream it? What are the implications? I think life would be easier for teachers – because so many barriers to learning would be eliminated. If those who spend their lives fighting to make ends meet were able to focus there gifts elsewhere, what could they offer? We would be able to offer great care to those who are aging, those who are young, and those with special needs – none of which we're doing now. People fighting to survive might then have energy for art, music, gardening, and other wonderful things that would enrich their lives and the lives of those around them! I suspect mental health would increase, because the fundamental fear of falling through the safety net wouldn't keep people up at night, and because there would be less stress, and more time for people to connect with those they love. Lives would probably get longer, violence would decrease, ERs would be less crowded, I think there might even be less litter and faster scientific progress. OH, and just that quick reminder- studies say that housing everyone, and feeding everyone, and getting healthcare to everyone would COST US LESS AS A SOCIETY THAN HOW WE DO IT NOW.

Kinda makes you wonder who benefits from how we do it now, doesn't it?

OK, that's probably about as much fish trying to see the water as we can take for a day. But I'd love to hear from you what else WILL happen when we make God's dreams a reality.... let's keep on building that narrative for each other, until we can see the dream clearly and then see the ways we are most gifted at moving towards it. May there be no need among us. Amen

1Liz Theoharis “1: Is Ending Poverty Possible?” in We Cry Justice, ed. Liz Theoharis (Minneapolis: Broadleaf Books, 2021) used with permission.

Rev. Sara E. Baron 

First United Methodist Church of Schenectady 

603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305 

Pronouns: she/her/hers 

http://fumcschenectady.org/ 

https://www.facebook.com/FUMCSchenectady

January 28, 2024

[racefortheironthrone]

Warhammer Gaslamp: Introduction

The year is 2725 IC...some two hundred years since the Age of Crisis. The time of Karl Franz I, the "Fourth Deliverer of the Empire," has long past, as has the age of knights and dragons – throughout the Old World, magic itself is a dying art.

The Empire of Man is stronger than ever before, but it is an Empire that runs on coal and iron, held together with roads of steel track, and powered by boiling, thumping hearts that pump steam and gas through the veins of the mightiest industrial power in the world. The forests remain, but they have dwindled in size, cut down to feed the endless hunger of the great metropolises, the mighty smokestacks of Nuln, Talabheim, New Averheim, and greatest of all, the bright gaslights of mighty Altdorf ("The Big Turnip"), and a hundred smaller cities that light the night skies.

The Neüscience of the Imperial Technomancers has increased national prosperity a hundredfold, improved the health and well-being of the common citizens, and helped the Imperial Army, Navy, and Airkorps put the endless hordes of Khaos on the backfoot for generations. In spite of (or because of?) this, Imperial society has become increasingly divided between the elite who profit from the new economy of high finance and heavy industry, and those millions of unskilled and semi-skilled laborers whose endless toil keeps them only ever one step ahead of the breadline and the bailiff. Meanwhile, the mounting toll of industrial pollution, epidemic disease, industrial accidents, and Neüscientific “experiments” running amok raises new questions about the high cost of success.

Politics has become ever more fractious. The Imperial Parliament is divided between the House of the People, where the Farmer-Artisan Party (representing a coalition of the Craft Guilds and their fellow urban workers, and a significant minority of rural laborers and small farmers) holds the plurality, and the House of the Nobles, where the Liberal-Conservative Party (representing both the traditional landed aristocracy and the new monied elite) holds power, and the two clash fiercely over labor rights, taxation, industrial regulation, and social welfare. Holding the uneasy balance of power is Emperor Karl-Franz XIV, his "Iron" Chancellor Ludwig von Ostermark, and their smaller Patriotic Party (largely supported by veterans and members of the civil service), who try to maintain Imperial unity and industrial production in the face of the "Threat from the Black North."

In the streets and on the shop-floors, the captains of industry known as the Great Monopolhauses (allied and often intermarried with the nobility) deploy their legions of spies and private soldiers against the rising strength of the Laborer’s Guild, who are mobilizing in the factories by the hundreds of thousands, and the industrial spies and gunthugs are kept in check only by the still-potent might of the Craft Guilds who fear and resent their industrial upstart rivals but trust the bosses even less.

The religion that once united an Empire today divides it, as Orthodox Volkmarites and Radical Hussites split over matters of class and faith. Although the two factions are still nominally part of the same Sigmarite religion, and the Church of Sigmar is held together by the firm hand of the Emperor, the two factions compete fiercely over theology and dogma, and positions within the Church unto the Grand Theogonacy itself. To the north, the philosophy professor-turned-street preacher Nietzsche von Zarathustein has single-handedly revived the fortunes of the Cult of Ulric with his fiery doctrine of Neo-Ulricism and his best-seller Man unt Wulf-Man. From the great industrial heartland of the south, the radical scholar Mark Karhl preaches the overthrow of the status quo as an inherently exploitative regime, and his pamphlet The Scarlet Platform and his massive three-volume treatise on political economy, Der Gelden (which almost no one has completed), inspire many young radical students and workers to join the revolutionary Scarlet Party and the ranks of the Laborer’s Guild. Are rumors of his secret allegiance to a Tzeenchite secret society true, or mere bourgeois propaganda?

Exacerbating these divisions is the constant threat from Khaos. Up in the "Black North" and their allied territories on the great steppes on the other side of the pole, the forces of evil pervert the laws of science to their mad push for world domination. Khornate breeder-lords select from an unceasing flow of gladiators to produce the perfect warriors; Nurglite bio-priests carefully engineer the next insidious plague to slip past the Imperial Plasmic Survey; Slaaneshi sin-merchants mobilize a world-wide network of Cathayan black tar and warpdust powder (bartered from the Skaven) to corrupt the Empire from within; and Tzeenchite techno-mancers design ever more fiendish mutated F.R.E.A.K.S and the twisted Biomechs.

Inside the Empire, things are scarcely better. Even with the darkness of the forests pushed back to the periphery and the Greenskin hordes banished to the far side of the World's Edge Mountains, the threat of Were-beastmanism and other, more insidious, forces winds its way into every neighborhood in the Empire despite the best efforts of the Imperial Plasmic Survey and the Schwarzmänner. Mutants who cannot conceal their true nature – known as the "Untervolk" - have decamped into the subway tunnels and sewers that form the Undercities of the Empire, waging an unceasing war for survival against “norms” and “ratfolk” alike. From the back alleyways and the salons of the nobility alike, the endless secret societies of Khaos vie to do their masters' bidding, undermining the Empire from within in preparation for the coming war.

It is a time that desperately needs heroes, men and women willing to brave the darkness on the mean streets and the shell-torn battlefields of the Old World alike. Mystery and intrigue, adventure and mad science await!

[qnewsau]

'Gutless': Gay former faith school student calls out PM

New Post has been published on https://qnews.com.au/gutless-gay-former-faith-school-student-calls-out-pm/

'Gutless': Gay former faith school student calls out PM

A former Christian school student whose school suspended him for being gay has blasted Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for a “gutless” move to abandon discrimination law reform.

Currently, exemptions in the Sex Discrimination Act allow religious schools to discriminate against students and staff based on their gender, sexuality, marital status, or pregnancy.

Labor pledged at the last election to strengthen legal protections for people of faith while also scrapping the exemption to prevent discrimination against LGBTQ+ people in Australian schools.

Last week, PM Albanese claimed he’d only move forward if he had bipartisan support, but said the window to introduce the draft legislation had closed.

LGBTQIA+ groups were furious, and so was James Elliot-Watson. When he was a teenage student, he was punished by his Christian school simply for being gay.

In March, the now-29-year-old partnered with Equality Australia and shared his story (below).

James said his Sydney Christian school blocked him from a prefect role after he confided in a teacher that he was “struggling with his sexuality”.

When he later came out during class, James said the school suspended him. Since then, James said he’s spent “thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours in therapy” trying to overcome what he’d experienced at school.

  View this post on Instagram

  A post shared by Equality Australia (@equalityaustralia)

‘Gutless’

This week, James Elliot-Watson furiously hit out at Prime Minister Albanese. He said the lack of action means that young LGBTQ+ people are at risk.

“If there’s something you need to get right, it’s this. And he’s just walked away from it,” James told ABC News.

“There’s no other way to describe it, it’s gutless.

“There are people who are going to go through horrible, terrible, emotional tolls that otherwise would not be happening had the law been there to protect them.

“For every day that this legislation doesn’t do the job that it’s being put there to do, represents more lives being needlessly harmed.

“For me, it’s clear cut, black and white — you either do something or you don’t.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed on August 9 that the draft legislation was on ice.

He blamed the Coalition for the failure to reach an agreement. Albanese said they’d not suggested any amendments to the draft, that he didn’t release publicly.

“The last thing that Australia needs is any divisive debate relating to religion and people’s faith,” he said.

“I don’t intend to engage in a partisan debate when it comes to religious discrimination.”

Greens: ‘No-one’s buying it’

But Greens MP Stephen Bates said Labor had refused to work with the Greens to finally pass the discrimination reforms.

“Labor won the last election with a promise to protect LGBTIQA+ workers and people of faith from discrimination. He’s failed at both,” Stephen said.

“Yet another broken election promise from a Prime Minister too cowardly to do his job.

“Enough broken promises. If this government cares at all about LGBTIQA+ workers, they would move right now to remove section 38 of the Sex Discrimination Act like the Law Reform Commission said to [in a recent report].

“This Labor government has had the numbers to get this done for months. The Greens have offered time and again to work collaboratively to make this change.

“When the LNP are in government, they waste no time in implementing a radical conservative agenda.

“Now that Labor is in power, we are told their hands are tied and that they’d love to do nice things but can’t because Dutton won’t let them. No-one’s buying it.”

For the latest LGBTIQA+ Sister Girl and Brother Boy news, entertainment, community stories in Australia, visit qnews.com.au. Check out our latest magazines or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

[kamlatheripemango]

Understanding the Political Parties

Taken From “Democracy and Clientelism”  by Carl Stone

Chapter Six Page 111-122

  

Since the development of mass parties in Jamaica in the early 1940s, the party system has been dominated by the two main political parties, the Jamaica Labour Party (J.L.P.) and the People’s National Party (P.N.P.), who have occupied control of the executive at approximately ten year intervals. Each of the two parties has earned at least forty percent of the aggregate vote in five of the seven parliamentary elections held between 1944 and 1976, despite challenges from a wide variety of small but short-lived political parties.

 

Both parties have always been multiclass alliances rather than unified class parties. The policy and ideological differences between these two par­ties reflect divergent dominant class interests and tendencies in either party. The P.N.P. has from its inception consistently represented a “radi­cal reformist” policy tendency while the J.L.P. has consistently repres­ented a more cautious and “conservative reformist” tendency.

 

The dominant founding leadership within the P.N.P. consisted of an upper-middle-class intelligentsia providing second-level leadership to the maximum leader Norman Manley, and Oxford-trained lawyer, humanist and liberal intellectual. Manley was no firebrand socialist but his intellect­ualism and visionary nationalist commitment attracted into the P.N.P. party alliance all the radical middle-class intelligentsia and leftists of the period, some of whom articulated Marxist notions of socialism. The second level of early P.N.P. leadership was essentially divided between this left-leaning tendency and a center tendency that was nationalist rather than socialist in ideology. Manley straddled the two coalitions with some difficulty until the factions split in 1952,2 leaving himself and the moderate-nationalist tendency in full command of the party between 1952 and 1969.

 

The J.L.P. in its early stages was hardly a political party. It began as a loose alliance of individuals supporting the prominent labor leader of the time, the charismatic Alexander Bustamante3 who happened to be Nor­man Manley’s cousin. Its effective mass base was the Bustamante Indus­trial Union and it was really the union converting itself into a party to contest the first universal adult suffrage election in 1944. Its founder­leader was a militant antisocialist and demagogic populist who was des­pised by the P.N.P. intelligentsia as being an unlettered upstart lacking the refinements of middle-class education. The early J.L.P.’s second-level leadership was a mixture of conservative individuals whose common polit­ical identity was not ideology nor policy but loyalty to Bustamante.

 

Initially the styles and approaches of the two main parties were a study in contrasts. The J.L.P. set the pace in the transition towards clientelistic, pork-barrel, machine politics. It de-emphasized formal organizational structure, relying mainly on clientelistic networks of personal support for its political bosses and particularly on the demagogic crowd appeal of the flamboyant Bustamante. Its message to the masses was the delivery of short-run material benefits and inducements in exchange for support. It reinforced patronage politics with the cement of Bustamante’s charisma and symbolic image of champion of the poor and the downtrodden. While avoiding leftist class rhetoric, Bustamante constantly thrived on adversary class politics by publicly abusing, challenging, and ridiculing the planter-merchant class on behalf of the cause of the masses. Unrestrained class mil­itancy was curiously mixed with ideological conservatism and belief in the free enterprise system, the symbols of empire, British political overlord­ship, and the need to maintain the existing system of social relations but with necessary economic and social reforms. He skillfully used religion to berate socialism and Marxism as anti-Christian evils.

 

The P.N.P. tried initially to develop along the lines of the British Labour Party which it regarded as its model. It established dues paying community party groups in the respective electoral constituencies which elected dele­gates to an annual conference. It attempted to encourage grass roots par­ticipation in party life and to promote political education among its activists. Conversion to the nationalist cause and to socialist notions of change was placed on equal footing with winning votes. The party leader, Manley, self-consciously attempted to create a genuine democratic party structure in contrast to the oligarchic J.L.P. and the authoritarian per­sonal power with which Bustamante ran the J.L.P. as if it were his private estate. In order to compete with the populist style of Bustamante, which captivated the masses in the initial stages, Manley was gradually molded into a populist leader through his immense gift of eloquent oratory.

Fac­tional contentions within the P.N.P. forced him to assume tight control over the party machine and to assume the role of maximum party boss. The pressure to gain votes and the primacy of electoral advantages over political consciousness converted the party over time into an electoral apparatus controlled by party bosses promising to dispense patronage. The political culture of clientelism embedded in the social structure over­took the idealism of the P.N.P. In spite of this conversion, however, a genuine mass party structure developed with reasonably well-informed activists with an interest in debating policies and ideology. Democratic procedures for candidate election were also developed. In time, personal loyalty to the party leader became more important than ideological leaning as the basis for party membership, and by the mid-l950s when the P.N.P. came to power, it had become a clientelistic party like the J.L.P. but with a more democratic and stronger formal organizational structure.

 

A process of organizational convergence born of the pressures of com­petition completed the evolution of the two parties by the late 1950s. The P.N.P. copied the personalism and clientelism of the J.L.P. while the J.L.P. imitated the formal organizational structures of the P.N.P. when it went into opposition in 1955 under the direction of a new group of upper-middle-class, second-level leadership. The J.L.P. established local party branches within the electoral constituencies and an annual conference like the P.N.P. in which constituency delegates elected party officials.4 Like the P.N.P. it created a central secretariat that functioned to coordinate party activities between elections. What began as a cadre party of notables uni­fied around a dominant political boss and existing only at election periods was now restructured in the image of a mass party. Traces of the earlier authoritarian cadre structure of the J.L.P. still persist. Leaders are still personally recruited by the party leader from among notables and elites out­side the membership of the party. Unifying party principles, policies, and ideology remain very weak and undeveloped except in so far as party posi­tions are articulated in opposition to the P.N.P. and socialism. Demo­cratic procedures are constantly violated with impunity at the whim of the party leader.5 The grass roots and formal community branch structures remain largely undeveloped except for a few constituencies.

 

While the J.L.P. has been wedded to ideological acceptance of the capi­talist free enterprise basis of the economy, the P.N.P. has consistently articulated a Democratic-Socialist line supporting greater state ownership and intervention in the economy and nationalization of important foreign owned industries. The P.N.P. has tried consistently over the years to bring to the party arena and its agenda of issues intellectual currents of left-of­-center ideas derived from the wider international arena of anticolonial pol­itical and social movements, while the J.L.P. has tended to be parochial, nonintellectual, and inward-looking in its policy thinking. As a result, the P.N.P. adopts more of the approach of political missionaries seeking to convert the society to radical visions of transformation. The I. L. P., in con­trast, is more incrementalist and cautious in seeking short-term adjust­ments and reforms that tinker with the existing political system and social order rather than prescribe fundamental changes. The P.N.P.’s approach to nationalism is consequently cosmopolitan, regional, outward-looking, and Third World-oriented, while the J.L.P. is essentially localist and parochial in its concept of nationalism.

 

The P.N.P., in the current period, has therefore promoted basic value changes and structural changes in its social policies including worker par­ticipation in industry, cooperative ownership of land and capital, the dem­ocratization of the management of educational institutions, and greater grass roots participation in public life through revitalized local level com­munity councils. The basis of these initiatives is a constant search for new, experimental, and innovative concepts through which to transform the society according to more up-to-date and progressive models of socio­political development. The P.N.P. has therefore been the driving force behind the independence movement and the principal advocates of institu­tional change in the political system. The J.L.P.’s focus has been more on the attempt to maximize growth and material benefits operating within the constraints and parameters of the social system and power structure as it exists.

 

Underlying these contrasting visionary and pragmatic approaches to public policy are vastly differing views of political and social reality that are embedded in the traditions of the two parties developed over a thirty-year period of involvement in public life. The P.N.P. intelligentsia view the Jamaican social system as capable of responding to fundamental social engineering and policy experimentation, and as capable of evolving new patterns of development similar to those emerging in countries experienc­ing currents of socialist and leftist change. The P.N.P. sees the folk tradi­tions of the Jamaican people as sufficiently flexible to adapt to new ideas and to assimilate novel approaches to problem solving. The J.L.P.’s prag­matism is rooted in a deep respect for the existing folk traditions and methods of community and individual problem solving, and a fear that idealistic and millenarian expectations may simply trigger chaos or confu­sion, or be misunderstood and create illusions of change without solving the underlying problems, while raising expectations for better and more satisfying solutions. Essentially, the underlying difference between the two main parties lies in the J.L.P. pragmatism and conservatism and P.N.P. liberalism and belief in leftist social engineering. In consequence, although the P.N.P. has never been a Marxist party, it has attracted Marxists and has allied itself to Marxist fringe groups.

 

To be sure, both parties contain a rich diversity of individual and fac­tional tendencies, and the dominant or ascendent tendencies in either party has varied overtime. Left-of-center social engineering dominated the more conservative tendencies in the P.N.P. during its tenure as the opposition party between 1944 and 1955. The ideological split and bloodletting in the party in 1952 eliminated this leftist influence and installed the ascendency of the more conservative tendencies among the party’s leadership. The 1969 change in party leadership that brought Norman Manley’s son Michael Manley to the top leadership position in the party, reverted the ascendency back to the leftists. In government, a division of labor deve­loped between 1972 and 1976 in which non-leftists controlled most impor­tant areas of policy making except the domain of foreign policy. The domi­nance of the new party leader Michael Manley and his open support for the leftists gave the P.N.P. government a visible leftist image.

 

The J.L.P. has always represented a curious coalition of conservative business interests clinging to the party out of fear of P.N.P. socialism and the trade union leaders from the B.I.T.U. The paradoxical union-business alliance produced leaders, some of whom favored left-of-center welfare and social policies to benefit the poor peasantry and the working class, and others who believed in the primacy of the interests of business and the sub­ordination of all other interests. Because of the loosely knit character of the J.L.P. leadership, its anti-intellectualism, pragmatism, and reluctance to formulate sweeping ideological principles to govern its policies in govern­ment, the J.L.P. leadership has never been divided into ideological fac­tions. J.L.P. factions are based on personalist coalitions supporting competing challenges for top party leadership. J.L.P. governments have therefore reflected a wider diversity of policy tendencies among its govern­ment ministers than the P.N.P. Unlike the P.N.P., all the J.L.P. top leaders have been ideologically conservative with the result that policy approaches under the J.L.P. have been more right than left of center.

It is important to understand the historical roots of the divergent ideo­logical tendencies between the parties and the dynamic class forces that account for them. The J.L.P. began as a worker’s movement seeking to provide a party expression for its preeminent and popular trade union base. Its incrementalist view of change was rooted in the low level of class consciousness of its mass base which articulated angered militancy towards the capitalists but had no aspirations for state power, ownership, Their main concern was with a better distribution of income and the recog­and control of the means of production or a strong sense of class solidarity. nition of certain rights of trade union representation as workers. Essen­tially, the working class saw state power and institutions as alien to their interests but awesome in the degree to which their mastery demand an understanding of the culture of the colonizer which they did not possess.  Their political mood was one of populist distrust of and alienation towards distant governmental institutions. This naturally lent itself to the flamboy­ant populist and demagogic leadership of the J.L.P.’s founder-leader, Bus­tamante, whose style reflected the populist oppositionist tendency of the working class.

 

The P.N.P., on the other hand, started as a nationalist movement repres­enting a middle-class challenge for the wresting of control of the state insti­tutions from the colonizer. Unlike the J.L.P., its initial focus was therefore on access to and control over state power and on political rights for the masses. Its more highly educated upper-middle-class top leadership sym­bolized both a higher level of status respectability than the lower-middle-class J.L.P. top leadership, and a greater capability in the mastery of the culture of the colonizer. Its more political orientation -demanded a more fully articulated political ideology which was expressed through the frame­work of the Fabian Socialism it embraced. Its appeal was therefore strong­est among the more educated, informed and politicized sectors of the subordinate classes. In the course of attempting to build a mass base to compete with the J.L.P., it developed its own working-class trade union arm which in the early period articulated the rhetoric and symbolism of socialism. As the P.N.P. mass base developed between 1944 and independ­ence, it became distinguishable from that of the J.L.P. as it successfully mobilized the more ideologically radical, informed and politicized sections of the working class and small peasantry. Its strong appeal to the middle peasantry and rural middle class converted the national farmers organiza­tion, the Jamaica Agricultural Society, (J.A.S.), into a strong ally of the P.N.P. party. In such parishes as St. Ann in Manchester, where the J.A.S. was strong, the P.N. P. established a hegemony over the small peasant vote.

 

Like the J.L.P.which later acquired strong big capitalist support because of its antisocialist response to the P.N.P.’s challenge, the P.N.P. also developed a dual class tendency. It combined the nationalist aspira­tions of the respectable middle class with working-class and peasant radi­calism inspired by the activist and left-of-center leadership in the P.N.P. party. The J.L.P., on the other hand, combined ideologically conservative but militant working-class and peasant support with big capitalist backing complemented by firm petty capitalist and antisocialist tendencies in the lower sections of the social structure.

 

Since 1969, under the new leadership of Michael Manley (a trade union 1st product of the period working-class expansion of the P.N.P. mas base) a new class dimension was added to the P.N.P. giving the party three-dimensional class component. This third-class component embrace the militant and radical urban unemployed youth who are victims of economic stagnation in the postindependence period and articulate in the contemporary period the most militant and radical class tendencies in the society. They represent a new brand of populism which is hostile to the capitalists as well as to the middle class, committed to black nationalism, and a Third World and Africanist perspective demanding broader political rights and freedoms to facilitate greater mass control over state power. Their effect has been to radicalize the P.N.P. even further along a left-of-center ideological path as well as to divide the party in terms of its compet­ing class tendencies.

 

The two parties’ mass appeals, projected symbols of mobilization and political approach and styles can therefore be differentiated in terms of the  following syndrome of contrasting features:

 

      Radical Reformist
1.   Socialist (i.e. supporting state ownership and cooperatives)
2.   Cosmopolitan and internationalist
3.   Seeking radical changes
4.   Promoting mass political education


5.   Ideological                                
6.   Cooperative with Marxists         
7.   Active formal mass organization

     

Conservative
I.    Capitalist (i.e. defending free enterprise)
2.   Parochial

3.   lncrementalist

4.   Noninterest in mass political education

5.  Nonideological

6.  Hostile to Marxists

7.  Weak formal mass organization

 

It should be noted, however, that in spite of these differences in approach, style, and mobilizational symbols between the two parties, sim­ilar and convergent societal pressures and machinery for problem diagno­sis and policy prescription have tended to result in a strong underlying similarity in the concrete economic and domestic policies and programs of the two parties when in office. In agriculture, for example, except for the P.N.P.’s consistent promotion of cooperatives, the policy emphases of both P.N.P. and J.L.P. governments have been similar. Both party governments have promoted subsidies, small farmer credit, state market­ing of domestic agriculture, government land acquisition and redistribu­tion to small farmers, the discouraging of idle land holdings, the importance of traditional agricultural exports such as sugar and bananas, and attempts at diversifying local production to promote important substi­tution. Both party governments have promoted import substitution via the local manufacturing sector, heavy reliance on North American loan financing for infrastructural development and public expenditure, govern­ment ownership of utilities and some productive enterprises, economic integration with the eastern Caribbean states, government attempts to monitor the financial system, and fiscal initiatives designed to redistribute income to the poorer classes. Both have emphasized primary and second­ary level educational expansion of adult literacy programs, social wel­fare expansion, low income government funded housing, special employment projects by government expenditure in local government and public works, price controls, law and order and a massive build up of the local machinery of security and crime control and youth skill training and community development programs.

 

What has been substantially different is the politics and political method­ology accompanying these policies and the degree of emphasis given to ideology. In agriculture, the P.N.P. has been more aggressive in attacking big landowners and in encouraging militant demands for access to idle lands. That party has also more aggressively and explicitly encouraged a dominant role for the state in agriculture. In industrial policy, the P.N.P. has also been more explicit in advocating economic nationalism as a cen­tral principle or objective, and has been more aggressive and contentious in its dealings with the local capitalists as well as the foreign corporate inter­ests. Similarly, the P.N.P.’s social policies have been given more of an ideo­logical packaging designed to suggest that far-reaching class and social changes are being attempted with very explicit socialist ideological objec­tives, although the content of the policies are qualitatively similar to J.L.P. policies.

 

These differences of ideology and political methodology between the parties add up to important substantive divergencies in policy perspectives in the one area of public policy in which symbols make up a substantial party of policy making. The reference is, of course, to foreign policy. Here, the P.N.P. under Michael Manley’s leadership has charted some new directions that departed fundamentally from the broad, interparty consen­sus on foreign policy that operated between 1962 and 1968. These new directions include aggressive bargaining with multinational corporations; trade, political, and diplomatic ties with Communist countries; active involvement in Third World international north-south contentions and racial and anticolonial struggles in Africa; a more explicit Third World identity, coupled with an aggressive rhetoric and anti-imperialist posture; close strategic ties with middle-level Latin American states such as Mexico and Venezuela; and close fraternal ties with neighboring Communist Cuba. All these represent new P.N.P. foreign policy areas of change that differ from the pro-Western, benevolent view of powerful market econo­mies, anticommunism, lukewarm Third World identity, passivity in bar­gaining attitudes to the MNC’s, and the exclusively English-speaking networks of foreign alliances that were supported by both parties between independence and 1968.

 

The contrasting styles and approaches of the two parties provide a basis for cyclical changes in party strength. The J.L.P symbolizes the party of stability and pragmatic commonsense government while the P.N.P. sym­bolizes the party of change and experimentation. Class pressures for radi­cal change tend to be articulated by the radical reformist (P.N.P.) party during periods of sharp antagonism over class issues. Conservative reac­tions seek to restore the balance by increasing class support for the party of stability (J.L.P.), and by defining the radical party as a party of confusion. The radical party is unable to escape the loss of credibility because of its limited ability to restructure the society consistently with the rhetoric of change. The conservative party is itself, however, inevitably trapped by having to alienate large sections of the more dispossessed among the sub­ordinate classes by its alignment with the forces of class reaction. This sets in motion another phase of change in the cyclical ebb and flow of party strength.

 

The pattern of cyclical change in the party system requires a periodizing of the alternating “ascendency” and opposition roles played by the two parties between 1944 and the present time.

A “conservative beginning” (1944-54) is followed by a “radical drift,” (1955-61), and was succeeded by a “conservative restoration” (1955-61) which was in turn followed by a further “radical drift.” As outlined, at each period the central mass mobil­izing political issues change as do the opposition basis of the challenge (see Table A, page 120).

 

Of interest is the fact that it is during the first and fourth periods that ideological differences between the parties become sharpened in response to class tendencies advocating radical social and political change under the banner of socialism. During the second and third periods, when the build­ing of the institutional infrastructure of government was being settled by incremental progress towards self-government in period two, and the grad­ual undertaking of development tasks that came with independence (1962) in the third period, these ideological differences remained muted and lar­gely latent. It is as if ideology was set aside until the new structure of government was consolidated. Once this consolidation took place, the sharpening of ideological differences reemerged with even greater force in the fourth period. It is of even more significance that during the periods of ideological ferment (periods 1 and 4), it is the party of change which initiates the ideological challenge and the questioning of the class system while the party of stability merely responds by aligning with conservative elite and mass tendencies in the society.

The conservative class forces attempted in both the conservative and radical periods to contain the social tendencies seeking to weaken the class system. These conservative forces are to be found in both political parties. During the “conservative restoration” period, the main instruments of

Table A

Party in Ascendancy Main Symbolic Image Party In Opposition Main Opposition Challenge

1944-54 conser­vative beginning JLP Incrementalist welfare distribution PNP State owner­-ship and de­-colonization

1955—61

radical

drift PNP Idealistic nation building, West Indian national­ism, rational modernizing agent (i.e. planning) JLP Parochial nationalism, widening rich-poor gap

1962-72

conservative resto- ration JLP Bureaucratic moderni zing by pragmatism, foreign (USA) penetration, and law and order PNP Social justice pop­ular parti­cipation, rich-poor gap, politi­cal rights (including
free speech)

1972— radical drift PNP Anti-capitalist pro-Third World, economic nationalism, pro- welfare state and government regulated econ­omy, industrial democracy JLP Individual vs. the state, pro-free enter­prise, anti­-communism/socialism

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

containing radicalism were: tight agenda management of the issues enter­ing the domain of public and party discussion; political parties ignoring the more conflict-prone class and racial issues relating to ownership and minority control of the economy; the suppression of radical literature and organizations by the J.L.P. government; a tendency by the main part’ spokesman to exaggerate the prospects for long-term economic growth am development; and by the ascendency of the moderates over the remnant of the leftists in the party of change. During the second period of radical drift, the main mechanism is that of attempts to align with and co-opt radical and far left tendencies in a PNP. ideological coalition in which moderate and conservative tendencies are preeminent in the implementation am formulation of public policy. The result has been a sharp dichotomy between leftist rhetoric and cautious policy making, and sharp internal party contentions between the leading second-level leadership in either ideological camp.

 

Of even more significance is the fact that the periods of ideological quie­tude have been the periods in which significant diversification, moderniza­tion and growth have taken place in the economy, while the periods of intense and polarized ideological conflicts and divisions are periods when the economy is in stagnation and mass social discontent prevalent.

 

The resolution of the left challenge in the “conservative beginning” was to expel the radical faction from the party of change, the P.N.P., in response to pressures from the conservative capitalist interests. In the second period of “radical drift” this route is not as easily available due to a significant leftist tendency among important urban party activists; the identification of the party leader with the leftist faction; that faction’s per­sonal loyalty to him, and the organic connection between the P.N.P.’s left­ist posturings and its foreign policy and Third World and socialist connections. Instead of being resolved within the party of change, the major ideological confrontation has to be resolved itself in a bitter, intense and “winner take all” antagonism between the two parties. The P.N.P. had labelled the J. L.P. leader, Edward Seaga, as an infidel foreign born proim­perialist agent of the C.I.A. and antipeople capitalist interests. TheJ.L.P., on the other hand, has accused the P.N.P. leader, Michael Manley, of plot­ting to sell out the country’s interest to Cuba’s Fidel Castro and an assort­ment of communist interests. Interparty violence reached an unprecedented level between 1975 and 1976 as both parties attempted to destroy the respective opposing party’s machinery by the mercenary vio­lence of hired gunmen. This culminated in political espionage by the deten­tion of prominent J.L.P. leaders for alleged subversive activity and attempts to completely discredit the J.L.P. and its leadership. For the first time this stable two-party system witnessed a breakdown of the traditional interelite give-and-take, tolerance and accommodation to the ground rules of coexistence which are a necessary part of the survival of the two.party system.

 

Since the P.N.P.’s electoral victory in 1976 and the ending of the state of emergency in 1977, interparty tensions have declined but a number of unresolved issues stand in the path of the resumption of normalcy between the two parties. The J.L.P. has been demanding a revamping of the present electoral system which permitted the intimidation of voters, multiple vot­ing, rigged voting lists and electoral practices in some constituencies in the 1976 election.7 The P.N.P. government has been reluctant to make the necessary changes to clean up the electoral process. Both party leaders regard each other with mutual loathing and contempt, in contrast to the mutual respect which characterized all pairs of top leaders in the past. Given the extent to which the parties tend to mirror and reflect the style and tendencies of party leaders, and the degree to which personal loyalty to the top party boss is a central feature of party loyalty, especially among activists, the mutual hostility between the two party leaders will continue to encourage bitter interparty antagonisms between J.L.P. and P.N.P. activists. Both parties continue to surround their constituency machinery in most urban constituencies with gunmen and violent mercenaries8 who add a continuing fascist and militarized feature to grass roots political life. Politics and partisan competition have become a zero sum game in which procapitalist tendencies in both parties fear their elimination in the event of an emergent ascendency or left forces in the party change, the P.N.12. Similarly, left forces in and outside of the party of change fear the day that a conservative J.L. P. party victory could usher in a return to the repression of the left that took place during the “conservative restoration” of 1962 to 1972 under the J.L.P. government. The Jamaican two-party system has therefore been experiencing some of the stability anxieties and neuroses which plague most unstable Third World political systems where military coups and intense factional violence are prevalent.

 

Parties and a party system consist also of voters whose patterns of party choice influence the balance of strength between competing parties. In analyzing the pattern of the two-party vote it is therefore necessary to get a more complete picture of the party system in Jamaica.

Voting and party competition in Jamaica represent a relatively unique pattern of party competitiveness. Since the first electoral contest based on universal adult sufferage in 1944, the two major parties, the Jamaica Labour Pary (J.L.P) and the People’s National Party (P.N.P.), have alter­nated in office at two-term intervals over a series of eight parliamentary elections. The pattern of electoral victories has been as follows:\

 

Elections   Parliamentary Seats                                            Popular Vote

                       J.L.P.              P.N.P.                                                                 J.L.P.               P.N.P.
1944               22                    5                                                                         4.14                23.5
1949               17                  13                                                                       42.7                  43.5
1955               14                  18                                                                       39.0                  50.5
1959               16                  29                                                                       44.3                  54.8
1962               26                  19                                                                       50.0                  49.6
1967               33                  20                                                                       50.7                  49.1
1972               17                  36*                                                                     43.2                  56.1
1976               13                  47                                                                       43.2                  56.9

 

*Adjusted from 37 to 36 after a successful J.L.P. petition and judicial recount.

[yhwhrulz]

Today's selected anniversaries: 7th May 2023

1794:

French Revolution: Maximilien Robespierre established the Cult of the Supreme Being as the new state religion of the French First Republic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_of_the_Supreme_Being

1798:

War of the First Coalition: A British garrison repelled a French attack on the Îles Saint-Marcouf off the Normandy coast, inflicting heavy losses. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_%C3%8Eles_Saint-Marcouf

1937:

Employees at Fleischer Studios in New York City go on strike in the animation industry's first major labor strike. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1937_Fleischer_Studios_strike

1946:

Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita founded the telecommunications corporation Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo, later renamed Sony. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony

[welcometomy20s]

April 13, 2023

On Monday, I talked about alignment from a business perspective, and how it has been screwed up lately. Next two days, I kind of hit around the subject, but now it’ll come more into focus.

To recap, the World Wars saw the first successful experiments in a modern command-heavy economy, in which citizens responded in various ways. These experiments also fostered a more egalitarian mindset from the persecuted minorities who campaigned and largely received more egalitarian rights. The coalition of business and hierarchy-maintaining (like religion) elites joined forces to slowly throw the wrench and increasingly present an anti-governmental stance.

Instead of government being seen as an opportunity to better influence political decision-making, they were increasingly seen as bought out husk of nonsense, and increasingly American and soon many in the world started to entertain a more libertarian perspective and the aforementioned coalition swooped in to be the spearheads of this new regime.

Formerly liberal Berkeley students became the progenitors of free market absolutists, much like the Watergate babies in Congress. During that transition, companies started to punt pension into stock-based options, tying the elderly to the whims of the stock market. Stock market before was a quiet market, it was about buying stocks and sitting on them, earning the constant dividend that a sturdy company would usually give. But now, stock required a large return, and dividends weren’t going to be enough. Fortunately, the internet came to the rescue.

The Internet’s power was in its social organizing powers. It was very good at bringing very disparate knowledge together and creating new structures within them. It didn’t make anything, therefore it had very little in actual labor value, but it had immense potential value.

Internet companies leveraged these potential values. They did not make a profit, but they still grew like crazy, as more people entered, more structure could be formed to be exploited. These were the perfect vehicle to turn the stock into a cash printer. All you have to do is to buy these ludicrously growing stocks, sell them when they are higher, and wait for them to crash, so that a new ludicrously growing company can be formed from its ashes. Big companies did their part by absorbing these companies just as they were finishing maturing, and ballooning them into wider adoptance, further squeezing that value, and cushioning the inevitable fall.

It was a viable environment, but one that increasingly had no need for reality. Its touch of reality need only be light, and as many more people made this so-called dumb money, this dumb money can be used to finance purely nonsense products which will quickly balloon and fail. The economy is now fully decoupled from its labor-energy base, and GDP starts to float away from energy expenditures. At this point, economic methods fail to provide real results.

[sounmashnews]

[ad_1] CNN  —  Here’s a have a look at the lifetime of David Cameron, former prime minister of the United Kingdom. Birth date: October 9, 1966 Birth place: London, England Birth title: David William Donald Cameron Father: Ian Cameron, a stockbroker Mother: Mary (Mount) Cameron Marriage: Samantha (Sheffield) Cameron (June 1, 1996-present) Children: Florence Rose Endellion, 2010; Arthur Elwen, 2006; Nancy Gwen, 2004; Ivan Reginald, 2002-2009 Education: Eton College; Brasenose College, Oxford, 1988 - First Class honors diploma in Politics, Philosophy and Economics Religion: Anglican Is a descendant of King William IV. Was the twelfth prime minister to take workplace throughout Queen Elizabeth II’s reign. The first Conservative (Tory) prime minister since John Major in 1997. 1988-1992 - Works on the Conservative Party Research Department. 1992 - Becomes particular adviser to Norman Lamont, the chancellor of the exchequer. 1993 - Is particular adviser to Home Secretary Michael Howard. 1994-2001 - Head of company affairs for media firm Carlton Communications. 1997 - Runs unsuccessfully for a parliamentary seat from Stafford. 2001 - Becomes a member of Parliament (MP) representing the city of Witney, in Oxfordshire, and serves as a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee. 2003 - Is appointed shadow deputy chief within the House of Commons. May 2005 - Is appointed shadow training secretary. December 6, 2005 - Is elected chief of the Conservative Party. February 25, 2009 - His son Ivan, who suffered from cerebral palsy, dies on the age of 6. May 6, 2010 - No one occasion receives a majority in parliamentary elections. The Conservatives win 306 seats within the 650-seat House of Commons, 20 seats shy of a majority. May 11, 2010 - Queen Elizabeth II invitations Cameron to be the new prime minister after Gordon Brown’s resignation. Cameron declares his intent to type a coalition authorities with the Liberal Democrat occasion. July 20, 2010 - Makes a visit to the United States, assembly with President Barack Obama. July 20, 2011 - Cameron addresses an emergency session of the House of Commons concerning the phone hacking scandal at News Corp. Cameron defends his ties to Rupert Murdoch and former News of the World editor Andy Coulson, who beforehand labored as Cameron’s communications director. June 14, 2012 - Cameron testifies earlier than the Leveson Inquiry relating to the News Corp. cellphone hacking scandal. September 26, 2012 - Appears on the “Late Show with David Letterman.” May 7, 2015 - With all of the leads to, Cameron and his Conservative Party claim an outright majority in Parliament, with 331 seats out of 650, and might type a brand new authorities. June 24, 2016 - Following the UK vote to leave the European Union, Cameron declares his resignation saying he'll depart when a brand new chief is appointed. July 13, 2016 - Cameron resigns. Home Secretary Theresa May replaces him. September 12, 2016 - Cameron declares he will stand down immediately as a member of parliament, saying he doesn’t wish to be a “diversion to the important decisions that lie ahead for my successor in Downing Street and the Government.” March 6, 2018 - The BBC and different British media report that Cameron has develop into a paid advisor to Illumina, a US-based genomics firm, and is serving as vice chairman of an funding fund referred to as the UK-China fund. He is banned from lobbying till July 2018, based on the UK’s Advisory Committee of Business Appointments, which accepted his new positions.

September 2019 - Cameron’s memoir “For the Record” is printed. [ad_2] Source link

[rotationalsymmetry]

Someone said something (related to the last thing I posted) that set me off. (But possibly unjustifiably -- possibly what I’m getting riled up about is not really based on what that person was trying to communicate -- so, I’m not directly tying this to what they said.) Collective action is different from individual action, but collective action still requires individuals to act. Sometimes people getting really into leftist theory just stop at talking about things and don’t ever actually do anything. (This is a really normal human failure mode: we love making things not-my-problem.)* Some examples of individual action: throwing an aluminum can in the recycling, refusing to wear a certain brand of sneakers, taking the subway rather than driving. Some examples of collective action: lobbying your local government to provide curbside recycling (or composting); putting public pressure on a specific corporation to hit certain waste reduction targets; organizing or participating in a boycott of that brand of sneakers (which is different than just personally or informally not buying them -- a boycott involves demands and implies you’ll all collectively go back to buying the shoes or grapes or whatever if your demands are met -- you have to let the target know that you’re boycotting and why); pushing your local government into building more high-density housing near subway stops. That’s not a comprehensive list -- for one thing, somehow I didn’t work in strikes. But I hope it paints the picture.

Not action: talking about the importance of collective action in extremely vague terms that imply that since you’re rejecting individual action as effective, that means you don’t actually have to do anything. Additionally, collective action is not without personal cost. Reducing the pollution caused by multinational corporations (while a good thing) is likely to mean we don’t get as many consumer goods available, and some of the ones that are available will be more expensive. If we pass more restrictive laws around sustainable seafood, some seafood is either going to be unavailable or be much more expensive. All that isn’t necessarily bad overall -- it can be worth it -- but I’m worried some people here “oh, well most pollution doesn’t come from individuals, it comes from corporations” as meaning that we all don’t materially BENEFIT from all that corporate pollution. We do. (Plastic straws for instance: putting pressure on businesses to use paper rather than plastic straws is absolutely a form of collective action. It might not be a good one and it can create issues for people with disabilities, but it is definitely a form of collective action. Please keep in mind that “collective action” is a term that describes strategy, it’s not a statement of how good or bad the action/end goals are.) Collective action isn’t something that just happens out there in the ether. It is not accomplished by magical fairies. It is done by people. And it is work. The Montgomery Bus Boycott was collective action. And it involved an awful lot of individuals being willing to do an awful lot of walking. Anyways, there’s a reason a lot of people on this site push joining a labor union hard. Joining some sort of organization with a common mission is how you get out of “am I wearing the wrong sneakers” individual action.

[newstfionline]

Friday, September 3, 2021

US faith groups unite to help Afghanistan refugees after war (AP) America’s major religions and denominations, often divided on other big issues, have united behind the effort to help receive an influx of refugees from Afghanistan following the end of the United States’ longest war and one of the largest airlifts in history. Among those gearing up to help are Jewish refugee resettlement agencies and Islamic groups; conservative and liberal Protestant churches; and prominent Catholic relief organizations, providing everything from food and clothes to legal assistance and housing. “It’s incredible. It’s an interfaith effort that involved Catholic, Lutheran, Muslim, Jews, Episcopalians ... Hindus ... as well as nonfaith communities who just believe that maybe it’s not a matter of faith, but it’s just a matter of who we are as a nation,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. The U.S. and its coalition partners have evacuated more than 100,000 people from Afghanistan since the airlift began Aug. 14, including more than 5,400 American citizens and many Afghans who helped the U.S. during the 20-year war.

Hurricane Ida’s aftermath, recovery uneven across Louisiana (AP) In New Orleans, an ongoing power outage after Hurricane Ida is making the sweltering summer unbearable. But in some areas outside the city, that misery is compounded by a lack of water, flooded neighborhoods and severely damaged homes. Four days after Hurricane Ida struck, the storm’s aftermath—and progress in recovering from it—are being felt unevenly across affected communities in Louisiana. In New Orleans, power was restored Wednesday to a small number of homes and businesses, city crews had some streets almost completely cleared of fallen trees and debris and a few corner stores reopened. Outside New Orleans, neighborhoods remained flooded and residents were still reeling from damage to their homes and property. More than 1,200 people were walking through some of Ida’s hardest-hit communities to look for those needing help, according to the Louisiana Fire Marshal’s office.

More than 45 dead after Ida’s remnants blindside Northeast (AP) A stunned U.S. East Coast faced a rising death toll, surging rivers and tornado damage Thursday after the remnants of Hurricane Ida walloped the region with record-breaking rain, drowning more than 40 people in their homes and cars. In a region that had been warned about potentially deadly flash flooding but hadn’t braced for such a blow from the no-longer-hurricane, the storm killed at least 46 people from Maryland to Connecticut on Wednesday night and Thursday morning. In New York, nearly 500 vehicles were abandoned on flooded highways, garbage bobbed in streaming streets and water cascaded into the city’s subway tunnels, trapping at least 17 trains and disrupting service all day. Videos online showed riders standing on seats in swamped cars. All were safely evacuated, with police aiding 835 riders and scores of people elsewhere. The National Weather Service said the ferocious storm also spawned at least 10 tornadoes from Maryland to Massachusetts, including a 150-mph (241 kph) twister that splintered homes and toppled silos in Mullica Hill, New Jersey, south of Philadelphia.

President’s murder inquiry slow amid Haiti’s multiple crises (AP) In the nearly two months since President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated, Haiti has suffered a devastating earthquake and a drenching tropical storm, the twin natural disasters deflecting attention from the man-made one that preceded them. Add the constant worry over deteriorating security at the hands of gangs that by some estimates control territory that’s home to about a fifth of Haiti’s 11 million citizens, and the investigation into Moïse’s killing is fast fading from the public consciousness. Even those still paying attention, demanding accountability and pressuring for a thorough investigation give no chance to the crime’s masterminds being brought to justice in a country where impunity reigns. It doesn’t help that Moïse was despised by a large portion of the population. “The hope for finding justice for Jovenel is zero,” said Pierre Esperance, executive director of the National Human Rights Defense Network.

Fancy a beer in Britain? In some pubs, supplies are running low. (Washington Post) Fears are brewing among pint-loving Brits amid reports of a national beer shortage. Some pubs say they are running low on pints of Carling and Coors—the latest victims of the United Kingdom’s supply chain crisis, sparked by Brexit and exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, that has led to headline-grabbing scarcities of items including McDonald’s milkshakes, beloved Nando’s chicken and the polarizing breakfast spread Marmite. “We are experiencing some supply problems,” a spokesman for pub chain Wetherspoons said Tuesday, apologizing for any inconvenience caused to customers. The lack of beer has been attributed to the ongoing shortage of truck drivers to transport goods, a problem sparked by Britain’s decision to leave the European Union following a 2016 referendum that divided the country. The driver shortage has not been helped by the country’s “pingdemic,” in which tens of thousands of workers were forced to self-isolate after being contacted by the National Health Service app for coming into contact with someone who tested positive for coronavirus.

Merkel steps down with legacy dominated by tackling crises (AP) Angela Merkel will leave office as one of modern Germany’s longest-serving leaders and a global diplomatic heavyweight, with a legacy defined by her management of a succession of crises that shook a fragile Europe rather than any grand visions for her own country. In 16 years at the helm of Europe’s biggest economy, Merkel did end military conscription, set Germany on course for a future without nuclear and fossil-fueled power, and introduce a national minimum wage and benefits encouraging fathers to look after young children, among other things. But a senior ally recently summed up what many view as her main service: as an anchor of stability in stormy times. He told Merkel: “You protected our country well.”

India locks down Kashmir after top separatist leader’s death (AP) Indian authorities cracked down on public movement and imposed a near-total communications blackout Thursday in disputed Kashmir after the death of Syed Ali Geelani, a top separatist leader who became the emblem of the region’s defiance against New Delhi. Geelani, who died late Wednesday at age 92, was buried in a quiet funeral at a local graveyard organized by authorities under harsh restrictions, his son Naseem Geelani told The Associated Press. “They snatched his body and forcibly buried him. Nobody from the family was present for his burial. We tried to resist but they overpowered us and even scuffled with women,” said Naseem Geelani. As most Kashmiris remained locked inside their homes, armed police and soldiers patrolled the tense region. Government forces placed steel barricades and razor wire across many roads, bridges and intersections and set up additional checkpoints across towns and villages in the Kashmir Valley. Authorities cut most of cellphone networks and mobile internet service in a common tactic employed by India in anticipation of mass protests.

Women and technology in Japan (NYT) Japan is facing a severe shortage of workers in technology and engineering. And in university programs that produce workers in these fields, Japan has some of the lowest percentages of women in the developed world. Up to age 15, Japanese girls and boys perform equally well in math and science on international standardized tests. But at this critical juncture, when students must choose between the science and humanities tracks in high school, girls appear to lose confidence and interest in math and science. In these fields, the higher the educational level, the fewer the women, a phenomenon many blame on cultural expectations. “The sex-based division of labor is deeply rooted,” one young woman said. To help change the trend, two women with science backgrounds co-founded a nonprofit called Waffle, which runs one-day tech camps for middle and high school girls. Asumi Saito and Sayaka Tanaka offer career lectures and hands-on experiences that emphasize problem solving, community, and entrepreneurship to counter the stereotypically geeky image of technology. “Our vision is to close the gender gap by empowering and educating women in technology,” Saito said.

Taiwan Warns China Can ‘Paralyze’ Island’s Defenses in Conflict (Bloomberg) Taiwan warned that China could “paralyze” its defenses in a conflict, a stark new assessment expected to fuel calls in Washington for more support for the democratically ruled island. China is able to neutralize Taiwan’s air-and-sea defenses and counter-attack systems with “soft and hard electronic attacks,” Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said in an annual report to lawmakers seen by Bloomberg News. The document offered a more alarming assessment than last year’s report, which had said China still lacked the capability to launch an assault. While Beijing isn’t believed to possess the transport and logistical capacity necessary for an invasion of Taiwan’s large and mountainous main island, the ministry recommended monitoring Chinese efforts to expand training and preparations for complex landing operations. China already has the ability to seize Taiwan’s surrounding islands, it said.

Those left in Afghanistan complain of broken US promises (AP) Even in the final days of Washington’s chaotic airlift in Afghanistan, Javed Habibi was getting phone calls from the U.S. government promising that the green card holder from Richmond, Virginia, his wife and their four daughters would not be left behind. He was told to stay home and not worry, that they would be evacuated. Late Monday, however, his heart sank as he heard that the final U.S. flights had left Kabul’s airport, followed by the blistering staccato sound of Taliban gunfire, celebrating what they saw as their victory over America. “They lied to us,” Habibi said of the U.S. government. He is among hundreds of American citizens and green card holders stranded in the Afghan capital. Victoria Nuland, undersecretary of state for political affairs, would not address individual cases but said all U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents who could not get evacuation flights or were otherwise stranded had been contacted individually in the past 24 hours and told to expect further information about routes out once those have been arranged.

[ruminativerabbi]

Bibi Out, Naftul In

I had an important decision to make last Sunday morning: what music to listen to as I drove around in far-eastern Connecticut looking for the last-minute things we needed to buy for Emil’s wedding that afternoon. Lots of things suggested themselves, but I finally settled on “Brightly Dawns our Wedding Day,” a quartet from The Mikado and one of Arthur Sullivan’s most lovely choral pieces. The music—a BBC recording that Spotify recommended—was gorgeous. But, as I drove around looking for open stores, I realized that I was listening not only to an appropriate piece of wedding-day music, but also to a (choral, but trenchant) comment on the topic I knew even then I wanted to write about this week: the new government in Israel and the promise it holds for the future.

The plot line of The Mikado is a bit complicated, but the basic idea is that the singers are rejoicing over a happy marriage about to take place and noting, in four-part harmony, that one must always rejoice over happy events even without knowing what the future will bring. (Within the storyline of the operetta, the union being celebrated is unlikely to endure for more than a single month because the groom’s execution has already been scheduled for thirty days in the future. Emil and Adam’s union, on the other hand, I fully expect to be permanent and enduring. But the deeper point is that love should always be celebrated for its own sake and not merely because of where it might conceivably lead or tragically not lead, which idea I certainly can endorse wholeheartedly.) In the end, no one knows the future. But when two hearts are joined as one and from two separate individuals emerges a couple wholly devoted to each other’s welfare—that is a moment to rejoice, not to suffer over your inability to forecast every twist and turn on the road ahead.

And that is something like the set of thoughts I bring to the remarkable and—at least by myself—unexpected departure of Benjamin Netanyahu for greener pastures (or jail) and the no less unexpected ascension of Naftali Bennett to the office of Prime Minister.

Bennett heads a coalition of, to say the very least, strange bedfellows. In fact, it would not be entirely wrong to say that the parties to the new coalition, co-led by Bennet and his unlikely partner Yair Lapid, are united by more or less nothing at all other than their wish to send Bibi packing, which goal they have actually managed to accomplish. So the question isn’t whether the parties to the new government are each other’s natural allies (which they certainly aren’t) or whether they will attempt to exploit each other’s wish for the government not to collapse to accomplish their own goals (which they certainly will), but whether they will be able effectively and successfully to govern a nation known for its political fractiousness and, at least recently, political instability. That, more than anything else, is the question.

They are a very diverse lot, the partners to this new coalition.

Most unexpected of all, I suppose, would have to be Mansour Abbas, head of the Islamic Raam party. At first blush, there shouldn’t be anything too surprising here—Arabs make up about 20% of the Israeli population and there have been many Arab MKs in the past. But this is the first time an Arab party has been invited into the corridors of power as a member of the governing coalition. Is this a sign of desperation, welcoming into the government people whose allegiance to the Jewish nature of Israel is beyond tenuous? Or is it a sign of health, and of great health at that, this notion of a democracy specifically not excluding citizens from positions of power because of their ethnicity or their faith? I think I think the latter: part of the democratic process has to be a willingness to allow all citizens to be represented by the leaders they themselves choose. And that right cannot be abrogated by their unwillingness to toe this or that party line. It’s a daring move, bringing Raam in. It could obviously backfire. But it could also herald a new period in Israeli politics, one in which the citizenry is represented in the government in an unprecedented, but ultimately reasonable and fair way. We’ll see.

Bennett himself is the leader of the Yamina party, a tiny right-wing group that has exactly six seats in the 120-seat Knesset. That’s both good and bad: good, because Bennett’s retention of power will obviously have to depend on his ability to compromise with people who are in many ways totally dissimilar from himself or the other MKs of his own party, but bad because it means the PM has no natural power base on which to rely and will almost definitely be at odds with the vast majority of his fellow Knesset members. Yair Lapid, who heads the centrist and very hopefully-named Yesh Atid (“There Is A Future”) party, will take over as Prime Minister in two years. (In the meantime, he will serve as Foreign Minister.) Yesh Atid did better than Yamina, but they still only have seventeen seats in the Knesset. That means that together Bennett and Lapid only control twenty-three out of 120 seats. Will there be enough common ground for the members of the government to govern? Or will the coalition collapse almost immediately now that the only glue holding them all together—their common loathing of Netanyahu—has vanished with the object of their loathing himself. I suppose we’ll see about that too.

The other parties in the coalition are all far more likely to be uncomfortable in each other’s presence than comfortable. The left-wing Labor and Meretz parties have almost no important positions in common with the right-wing New Hope and Yisrael Beiteinu parties. Nor does it bode particularly well that the sole centrist party in the government now is Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party. (Gantz will remain in place as Minister of Defense.)

It’s also important to notice who isn’t in the new government. For the first time in a long time, there are no Haredi parties represented. Whether that will signal a sea-change in Israeli policy towards drafting ultra-Orthodox young men remains to be seen, as also remains to be seen whether the new coalition will have the strength finally to break the Orthodox stranglehold on matters of personal status (like marriage and divorce) and to offer a fair deal to non-Orthodox Jews in Israel whose tax shekels pay the salaries of the nation’s Orthodox rabbis but who must also pay dues to their own synagogues to support their own clergy. It’s unlikely that the coalition will want to step too heavily on the toes of the nation’s ultra-Orthodox population. On the other hand, the possibility of change with respect to the imperious, self-righteous way the chief rabbinate has been permitted to impose its will on the entire nation is something we can only hope to see realized.

So the chances of long-term success are not great. The coalition holds a razor-thin majority of exactly two seats in the Knesset. (This basically means that for anything at all to be accomplished, more or less every single member but one of the coalition has to be on board.) There are eight parties that belong to the governing coalition, a number only exceeded one single time in the past history of Israel. Whether that turns out to be the kiss of death or a sign of vibrant democracy at its most pliable and effective remains too to be seen. On the other hand, the new government includes nine female cabinet ministers, the most ever. But on the other other hand, none of the governing parties is led by a Jew of Middle Eastern or Sephardic origins—not a good sign for a nation in which non-Ashkenazic Jews have often felt looked over or disregarded.

So, to sum up, there are a thousand good reasons to expect the Bennett government to collapse momentarily. The man himself is a bit of an anomaly too—he will be Israel’s first religiously-observant Prime Minister who appears in public wearing a kippah, yet he leads a nation overwhelming secular in its orientation. (Whether his ascension will eventually be seen as emblematic of the nation’s move from the secular Zionism of the state’s founders to the kind of religious Zionism that has religion itself at the core of its self-conception—that too will be revealed only in the future.) He is Israel’s first Prime Minister born to American parents too, a natural, fluent English-speaker (like Netanyahu) who will do well on American television—which is key for Israeli politicians who want to win the hearts of the American public. But, of course, Bennett is also a natural Hebrew speaker—which is important since he now leads a nation of native-born Israelis to whom the ability to speak English well is unimportant and who will be far more closely tuned into the nuances of his Hebrew-language speeches and rhetoric.

The Israel of today is not the Israel of 1948. But neither is it the Israel of 1967 or even of the early 2000s. The nation today, particularly in the wake of the success of the Abraham Accords, is facing a set of potential foreign policy break-throughs, including with the Palestinians, that are unprecedented. So maybe the notion of a coalition that includes left-wing, right-wing, and centrist parties, plus an Arab party, will turn out to be the perfect government to move Israel successfully into the next decade, one—and the first—that can truly claim to represent the widest possible spectrum of opinions and positions. Things could go south at any moment, obviously. But for the moment I’m hoping for the best and wishing PM Bennett success in leading his nation forward successfully for these next two years.

[5lazarus]

1. Of the fics you’ve written, which is your favorite and why? (I am going to go read it :^) )

thank you for the ask! sorry it took so long to respond! haha, well, if you have the time, my favorite thing is my long project Fen’Harel’s Teeth. It’s what got me into Dragon Age, to be honest. I love the games (wouldn’t have started my tumblr back up during quarantine to delve into the dubious comfort of fandom if I didn’t!), but there is so much they lack, they hint at history that the writers don’t quite know. So I decided to fill the gaps. Red Jennies? Liberation movements from below? That almost decolonial narrative? The horror that a devout Dalish mage Inquisitor has endured, and must face in the religion that is thrust upon them? Maybe I don’t know the last one, but I do know what is must be like to be a person with a conscience fighting for religious liberty, sexual autonomy, and freedom of movement. So I’m filling in the gaps. It’s the anarchist au literally no one asked for, though it’s mostly me poking at the different political factions I’ve seen and playing with what that would mean in Thedas. Briala means a very different thing than Adaia Tabris, who has a very different goal than Fenris vs Merrill vs Solas vs Fairbanks vs the Freemen of the Dales etc, etc. It’s a lot of fun, it’s good practice for what I actually want to write about--which is about the movement for a better life for everyone, not just the few, which is the most important story our species ever tells, I think. Basically, I was reading The Girl with the Leica and Victor Serge’s poetry and Say Nothing and An Indigenous People’s History of the United States when I first noticed my girlfriend playing In Hushed Whispers, and I was fascinated by her Inquisitor’s conversation with Solas, picked up the controller for my own game, and got hooked. Everything was swirling around in my brain and I wanted to write something that reflected the world I was seeing. Now, if you want to avoid all that, my other favorite story is Anders in Autumn, which started off as me just writing fluff for a prompt challenge and then turned me into exploring the sociopolitical undercurrents of Kirkwall. I’ve never been happy with the way Anders and Fenris’ relationship is depicted--very Occupy Wall Street-era of liberal conception of what coalition organizing is. You can really, really tell that the Bioware writers have never done anything like mutual aid organizing, tenant organizing, maybe they’ve gone to a vigil but never a protest where the cops are looking for an excuse for a brutal arrest, which is irritating, because that’s the world Anders is from. Running a free clinic? That’s straight out of the Black Panther playbook. (and let’s not even talk about labor organizing lol) Anyway, in my experience, most of the time, people will band together to fight a mutual oppressor if they’re stuck together long enough, and I think two people thrown together for seven years will learn how to strike an accord, especially if they’re facing down people who want to kill them. And, well, Prop 22 passing pisses me the fuck off and has me absolutely terrified for the future of the United States of America, so I wrote this to give myself hope. A strike with a happy ending, because God knows we need a happy ending. Sometimes stories are stronger than their creators, and I think that about Dragon Age, and I think that about the stories I am teaching myself slowly how to write as well. Love stories, not just Solas and Lavellan or Anders and Fenris, but how much these characters love the world they live in, and aim to make it better. No matter the cost, laying the groundwork for a better world.

[firstumcschenectady]

“Hope for the Meek” based on Psalm 37:1-11 and James 5:1-6

I really love the book of James. When we worked our way through it in Bible Study years ago, I remember the shock that members of this church had that there was a book of the Bible that they could just receive without having to fight with it. That it was a book about God as we know God, and it didn't even feel like there was a lot of contextual translating to do. Just... it was right. And that was a relief. And it is a great book.

Also, I did HEAR the passage this morning and it wasn't particularly comfortable to sit through, particularly as a citizen of the wealthiest nation the world has ever known. And I know I am complicit.

I know I am complicit because I am a human who likes to eat food and while I do engage in some practices to make sure that the coffee we make at home results in neither deforestation of rain forests nor wage theft from growers... I don't manage to do that with every purchase. For instance, I have no idea if the people who harvested and transported the broccoli I'm making this week are paid fairly – and in this society if I don't know … they very well may not be.

And that's just ONE component of life, right? The food we eat, the clothes we wear, the ways we travel, the things we purchase, the ways we deal with refuse, and if we have homes the ways we heat them, the places electricity comes from ….

I can't keep up. And often, even if I wanted to, there aren't good options! Or, the options that are good are so expensive that it seems like the money would be better used redistributing resources to those who are impoverished by our systems.

And, as you may already know if you've been listening to me preach for a while, I can then go down rabbit holes of guilt and frustration and be overwhelmed and just hang my head in shame for siding with the rich oppressors when it is SO CLEAR that the whole darn system is biased against God's beloveds who live in poverty.

So it is kinda easy to weep and wail for how things are, even when I'm in many cases the oppressor and only sometimes the oppressed.

But then I stop, sometimes, and listen for God.

It is an occupational hazard, one that I strongly recommend to all people.

And what I hear feels like an interruption of my though process and spiraling about broccoli and solar power.

Instead, I hear a calling to a bigger picture, almost like the ways that the parables of Jesus were useful in bringing attention to the systems of oppression in his day and in breaking through the details to see the broad strokes. I hear God suggesting that I not obsess over the sourcing of broccoli, nor feel an obligation to perfect every purchase I make, and INSTEAD to focus on the big picture. Which then leads me to ask what the big picture is, and God laughs at me.

This is pretty much status quo for our relationship.

And then, suddenly, I remember what I did on Monday. On Monday I went to the Capitol with the “Invest in Our New York” campaign that was co-sponsored by many organizations – the ones I was connected to were the Labor and Religion Coalition and the New York State Poor People's Campaign. It was a day for faith leaders to ask for a Moral New York State budget and it was a true delight to have two of this church's laity in leadership present as well.

Anyway, we got to have conversations about what PROGRESSIVE tax laws, and how if we stop being so regressive in our tax laws we could have enough money in New York to transform the lives of the vulnerable among us. Because, remember, tax law can make a difference in HOW MANY HUMANS LIVE IN POVERTY and such important things like that, not to mention how much money is available to subsidize housing... and pretty much every other important function of government as well.

So, this week I'd bee in the Capitol advocating for

A capital gains tax on income over $500,000 a year gained through investments – which is estimated to bring in $12 Billion (yes BILLION) a year.

Raising corporation taxes on companies with more that $2.5 million a year in profits – which would raise $7billion annually

Breaking up the income tax brackets differently, and adding a few at the top – which would raise $21 billion annually

Taxing the WEALTH of billionaires – a sustainable annual income of $1.5B

Creating an heir's tax on inherited wealth over $250,000 – an annual income of $4B.

Now, you may note that these are not radical. They're not impacting most New Yorkers. They're asking the wealthy to pay their FAIR SHARE so that there is enough to provide resources for everyone.

This really seems like the stuff James was talking about – that when someone who has a wealth in the billions and objects to paying taxes at the same rates as those who are bringing home a paycheck makes those objections, James would respond, “weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you.” Because objecting to taking from obscene wealth to pay for food for the hungry is INHUMANE.

God isn't asking me to be perfect in all I do, or all I purchase. But, I did hear that God would like SIGNIFICANT systemic change, particularly changes that pick up those who have been harmed the most.

I really like these asks we made on Monday, which I interpreted to mean that they're pipe dreams. Because normally if I like something, other people think it is radical. However, we were assured that they are likely to be in the Joint House Budget proposal. Now, I think a lot of things go into that and then a lot of things end up getting negotiated out, so I'm not holding my breath or anything but --- that's good news.

It is seriously good news that our state, which has the greatest wealth disparity in the country, because we have an unusual percentage of the super wealthy, is giving serious consideration to how we can have tax laws that work for everyone and not just for the super wealthy.

We can't win every battle, we can't get every good resolution passed, and we can't spend all of our money responsibility. There will always be ways that James calls us out, AND, at the same time, there is reason to hope.

The Psalm says, “the meek shall inherit the land, and delight in abundant prosperity.” When I first read it, I wondered if this was simply a device to keep people from losing hope. I thought about how trust in God to create justice “eventually” has been a means to maintain the status quo. But then I started to wonder what it would be like to trust in this dream of God's. Maybe I won't ever see it, but maybe my life can be a contribution towards getting to it.

What if those who wished to do harm didn't have the power to do so, so people didn't get hurt? Then the ones James calls out as taking the wages of laborers..,wouldn't? What if we could live together with security and delight? What if those who are in need didn't have to fight to get what they deserve, but we all lived in a society with just distribution of resources and the meek people who aren't willing to lord over anyone else – what if they also get enough and had delight and ease?

The Psalm isn't a pipe dream, it is yet another description of the kindom of God we're working toward. A more moral state budget isn't a pipe dream either. As Rev. Dr. Theoharis – oh, did I mention she was also there advocating with us on Monday??- as Rev. Dr. Theoharis says, change is possible INCLUDING when people who are seen as POWERLESS work together.

I love her story of migrant laborers taking on big farming and winning.

I love that requests for a more moral budget are in consideration. I love that I got to advocate with amazing people on Monday, and be heard by some great ones too. I love having a little hope. And I LOVE LOVE LOVE the idea that the meek get the benefits without having to fight for them. That's an image I want to savor. That in the kindom of God it isn't your birth place, or your connections, your skills, or even your capacity to be persistent that gets you a fair shake in life – but it is your EXISTENCE. The meek. The meek shall inherit the land and delight in abundant prosperity. That's what I'm working on, and I'm sooooo very glad to be working on it with you, beloveds of God. Amen

Rev. Sara E. Baron  First United Methodist Church of Schenectady  603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305  Pronouns: she/her/hers  http://fumcschenectady.org/  https://www.facebook.com/FUMCSchenectady

March 10, 2024

[stephenjaymorrisblog]

From The Warsaw Ghetto- To The Gaza Strip

(Palestinians versus Israel)

By Stephen Jay Morris

May 14, 2021

©Scientific Morality

The bifurcation of metaphysical morality boils down to good and evil.  This is intended for the simple minded who can’t comprehend the complexities of political science.  In the Old Testament, King Solomon is a hero. Two women come to him, each claiming a newborn baby is theirs. King Solomon took a sword and threatened to split the baby in two so as to equally award half of the child to each alleged mother. One of the women, intent on saving her child’s life, surrendered the baby to the other.  Thus, the real mother was revealed and King Solomon awarded the child to her.

We could use that ancient Solomonic wisdom in the Mideast right now!   The only people who give a damn about the plight of the Palestinian people are the international Left, while the supporters of Israel are American Imperialists, “End of Days” Evangelical Christians, and a handful of Conservative American Jews and Orthodox Jews.  Most Jews in the USA are Reformed Jews and Secular Jews.  American Jews consider themselves, simply, American and many marry outside of their religion.  American Secular Jews have no Jewish identity, which satisfies a lot politically conservative Jews.  This is a curious contradiction.

I always thought that Judeo morality was absolute.  How can you have one foot in Israel and another in America?  Is America the greatest country in the world, or is Israel?  Religious dogma dictates that you cannot serve two masters.  Can the Rabbis in a Yeshiva solve this dilemma?  Rabbis arguing about text in the Torah is how Polemics got started.

There is this notion that Jews are all monolithic and all the same.  The revisionist Zionists infer that they speak for the Jewish people.  They don’t!  They tell non-Jewish Right wingers that Anti-Zionism is the same as Anti-Antisemitism.  WRONG!!!!!  Take the case of the ultra Orthodox Jewish sect, Neturei - Karta.  They believe that the Jewish nation of Israel violates Jewish Law and Prophecy.  This sect is against Israel.  What do the rest of the Zionists think of this sect?  They don’t.  They simply ignore it. Are these Jews are self-hating?  Are they Uncle Jake's?  What is an Uncle Jake?  A Jewish version of an Uncle Tom.

Then there is the Jewish Left, and the secular Jewish Left. These secular Jews would never disclose that they are Jewish.  I knew a guy for years who never told me he was Jewish.  Then there are the Jewish Left groups like Hashomer Hatzair, or even the former political party in Israel, the Labor Party.  The Jewish Left in Israel has been suppressed.  They have been taken over by the Likud Party and a coalition of Jewish religious Right groups.  They are financed by Right wing Christians in the USA.  If you’d like to learn about the history of the Jewish Left, click here: The first Zionists were socialists > Sapardanis Kostas

The same problem exists with the Palestinians.  The first group that represented them was the The PLO – Palestinian Liberation Organization, who were Marxist revolutionaries.  Following them, the Islamic religious Right took over.  That was Hamas.  What kills me about Right wing propaganda is how they like to mislabel their enemies; ie: “Islamic Fascists are Leftists.” Holy shit turds!  Leftists? They are absolutely not!

So, what would be a Solomonic solution be to all this? The Palestinians should kick Hamas out and create a secular Leftist revolutionary group.  The Left wing Israelis should destroy the Jewish Right and have a peace treaty and planning conference with Palestinians.  Other then this, I agree with my Anarchist comrades: Have a “No State Solution.”  Fuck it, man!  As a Jew, I can say this shit.

Addendum: Today is May 17, 2021. Israel is bombing the Gaza Strip. It is said that the first casualty of war is the truth. I say the first fatalities of war are women and children.  What is happening in Israel now reminds me of the Vietnam War during the late 60’s and early 70’s.   Innocent women and children, along with elderly Vietnamese, were bombed by the American Air Force, while U.S. ground troops burned down their straw huts.  The women and children were always accused of being in cahoots with the Vietcong, the communist guerrillas of the jungle.

The same lie that I heard back then is now coming from the Right wing government of Israel.  They say that the Islamic guerrilla group, Hamas, is using innocent civilians for human shields.  So the Palestinian women and children have to be sacrificed in order to protect Israel? Excuse me?  Protect? What’s the matter—are Israel’s nuclear bombs at the bomb clinic undergoing repairs?  Maybe the Iron Dome is out of order?  Hamas versus nuclear Israel is, by no measure, a fair match.  When the Polish Jews rose up in World War II, they were in the same position, fighting the invading Nazi army in the Warsaw Ghetto.  Just like the Gaza Strip, no one could leave or enter the occupied city.  Of course, the Nazis called the Jewish resistance, “Terrorists.”

I think Benjamin Netanyahu should be charged with war crimes.  I also think that the Likud Party should be outlawed.  I don’t care if 71% of the Israeli voting population supports Donald Trump.  Shame on all you people! I realize that the Israeli Left is outnumbered, however, if you were true to your convictions, you would protest your government.  The mainstream media will not cover your protest, but social media will.  

All my life, the subject of Israel would come and go. I remember the Six Day War in Israel, back in 1967.  At my junior high school, I saw a Jewish and a Black student debating. The Black Civil Rights movement was supporting the Palestinians at the time.  The Jewish kid wore a Yarmulke, so he was a target of hostilities towards Israel.

When I was 13 years old, I didn’t know better and I supported Israel.   I am older now, so—no dice!  Just because I am Jewish, it doesn’t mean that I am obligated to be a supporter, especially when the Israeli government is corrupt.  This war is morally wrong and should be stopped!

[qnewsau]

Scrap laws allowing faith schools to discriminate, AG told

New Post has been published on https://qnews.com.au/alrc-religious-exemptions-discrimination-report/

Scrap laws allowing faith schools to discriminate, AG told

Blanket legal exemptions that allow religious schools to discriminate against staff and students based on sexuality and gender identity should be scrapped, a major inquiry has told the federal government.

The Australian Law Reform Commission’s long-awaited report on the subject is finally out this week.

The recommends finally scrapping laws which inexplicably allow religious schools to discriminate against staff and students on the basis of their sexuality, gender identity, marital or relationship status, or pregnancy.

The report also says religious schools should be able to preference the employment of people who share the same religion, where “reasonably necessary and proportionate”.

Religious schools aren’t thrilled, but the LGBTQI+ groups have called on the government to adopt the report’s recommendations.

It all comes as Labor prepares new draft religious discrimination legislation. Repealing those exemptions is a core part – and a 2022 election promise.

In response, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus (above) said the government wants to “enhance protections in anti-discrimination law in a way that brings Australians together.”

“Just as Commonwealth law already prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, gender, sexuality, disability and age, no one should be discriminated against because of their faith,” he said.

“Equally, no students or member of staff should be discriminated against because of who they are.

“At the same time, religious schools must continue to be able to build and maintain communities of faith.

“The government is seeking to strengthen protections for all of us – students, teachers, people of faith. So that’s why bipartisan support for solutions is essential.”

No more delays, advocates say

However LGBTQIA+ advocates said the government needs to get a move on. They’re worried the Coalition will say no and effectively “veto” the reform.

“Every day we delay these reforms there will be more students who are robbed of their chance to become a school prefect or take their partner to the formal,” Equality Australia CEO Anna Brown said.

“And there will be more teachers fired or told they are no longer fit for any promotions.

“While they will never get back these opportunities the government can act now to protect future generations from harm.”

Greens LGBTQIA+ spokesperson Stephen Bates says the ALRC’s recommendations are “very positive”.

“We know that aged care, housing, hospitals, disability services and many more essential public services have been outsourced to religious institutions over the years,” Stephen said.

“LGBTIQA+ people are still discriminated against when they engage with these services or work there.

“We want to work with the Government to get the ALRC’s recommendations passed. We haven’t seen the bills yet. But we’re optimistic that we can work together to deliver fairer anti-discrimination legislation.”

‘Reasonable and proportionate’

Meanwhile, the Australian Human Rights Commission also gave the ALRC’s report and recommendations a big tick.

“Our laws should also ensure that the allowance of preferential employment by religious educational institutions should only occur where it is necessary to maintain a community of faith,” Sex Discrimination Commissioner Anna Cody said.

“Any such allowances should be reasonable and proportionate. This is in keeping with international human rights law.”

For the latest LGBTIQA+ Sister Girl and Brother Boy news, entertainment, community stories in Australia, visit qnews.com.au. Check out our latest magazines or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

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Rising for a Global Feminist Future with the Movement to Elect Bernie Sanders.

written by:  A Feminist Future

We are a coalition of feminists contending with both our differences and our commonality in age, race, class, religion, labor, and sexual orientation. We meet at the intersection of our fluid identities. Though our experiences are different, we share a vision of a feminist future.

We urgently call in our friends, families, and comrades to unite with us in the broad passionate movement supporting Senator Bernie Sanders’ campaign, and to work to heal the relationships necessary to create a new era for our communities, this country, and the world. We support the volunteers, door knockers, and movement to elect Senator Sanders because his proposed policies are ideas whose time has come. All of our lives we have been creating movements and art organized around the critical basic human dignity of all people. We support the movement to elect Senator Sanders because engaging electoral politics is a part of the larger strategic democratic movement for solidarity and a feminist future to take hold. We believe an end to patriarchy demands an end to class and racial oppression.

All across this country and globe, women and children have been working toward a shift in collective consciousness. A feminist future requires political change by men, women, and gender non-binary people not just in the structures and laws but in our collective values and behaviors. It requires an end to violence against women, girls, and all femme people. A feminist future demands the spirit of cooperation. We are inspired and motivated by the grassroots movements brewing across the globe and here in the United States of America for decency, dignity, and respect. We amplify poor, unemployed, and working people behind this political moment aching with passion and anxiety toward the uncertainty of tomorrow. We must strategically rally and rise together.

Time is not on our side.

We are explicitly naming the ecological disaster we are facing and we must vote for a future where our environment and our planet are treated with the utmost respect and protection. A world where our rainforests are protected, where clean drinking water is not a privatized commodity, and the earth is finally free of fracking and extraction. We are voting for a future to end poverty and rebuild the corrupt dehumanizing state of our world and the fragmentation of ourselves. We choose a politics of collectivity. We choose a future that honors social responsibility and connection.

We stand with the abolitionists, healers, and storytellers who pursue a world where we are brave enough to consider one another and fight for each other. We envision a world where discrimination, war, and white terrorism are laughed out of the room and become a thing of our past. Where we honor the dignity, respect, and self-determination of the Palestinian people. Where the people of Puerto Rico are free of colonial debt and domination. Where our government commits to the transformational power of an authentic apology and restorative process with millions of people displaced and torn apart by corporate interests masked as foreign policy.

(continue reading)

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Track #2

a playlist inspired by the documentary Thirteeenth

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JU$T - Run the Jewels

RTJ speaks to the spirit of Ava Duvernay’s documentary, Thirteenth, from the very beginning. Their lyrics sardonically recast the American Dream as dystopian reality. The language around academic and fiscal accomplishments are revealed to mask an underlying, contemporary system of slavery--slavery under capital, and slavery under consumption: “Master economics cuz you took yourself from squalor, mastered economics cuz your grade say you a scholar, mastered Instagram cuz you can instigate a follow,” are the opening lines, and while innocuous in themselves, are punctuated by the repetition of a righteous utterance of “slave”. This refrain serves as a subversive reminder that, “the Thirteenth Amendment say that slavery’s abolished, shit,” but, “look at all these slave masters posing on your dollar.” Similarly, Thirteenth acknowledges the continuity of slavery despite the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, illustrating modern slavery’s rapid, bipartisan-powered evolution under the Reagan, Nixon, and Clinton administrations.

The Guillotine - The Coup

“The Guillotine” is a reference to a major symbol of the French Revolution, which is generally viewed by historians as having been caused by the failure of France’s “Old Regimee” to pacify acute social and economic inequality. Transnational intellectual elites shifted the public sphere from Versailles (the home of the Court) to Paris, making the influence of the Court less effective. A financial crisis, further exacerbated by state debt, food shortages, and a population boom, led to the radicalization of the urban poor. If this is sounding familiar that’s because it is the dream imagined by The Coup, only this time for Black American liberation. The Old Regime, feudalism, and the privileges of nobility (including the exemption from taxes) were forcibly abolished under the Revolution. In “The Guillotine”, Boots incorporates this major French event to illustrate a radical solution to today’s unliveable serfdom. “Hey, you! We got your war, we’re at the gates, we’re at your door!” is a reference to the Bastille, a prison which was symbolically liberated by French revolutionaries. In a contemporary, American context, the Bastille can be construed as the mass industrial prison complex. But Boots further develops this analog: “It’s finna blow ‘cause they got the TV, we got the truth,” refers to the monopoly that capital has on American speech. Despite the stereotyping of the black urban male, and the continued disenfranchisement of felons in television, music, newscasting, and the mainstream, Boots’ message optimistically asserts that “the truth” will triumph over manufactured consent. Even though white supremacy controls all aspects of the justice system, people will ultimately triumph: “They [white elite] own the judges and we [the people] got the proof; we got hella people, they got hella ‘copters; they got the bombs but we got the--we got the--we got the Guillotine!”

Close Your Eyes (And Count to F**k) - Run the Jewels

Just as Thirteenth addresses the racial disparities of being on death row, “Close Your Eyes” challenges the machinery of solitary confinement, torture, and uses institutionalized religion as a metaphor for the disproportoinate burden placed on the young, black male. The story is told from the perspective of a prisoner in solitary, who has broken out and is leading a prison coup. The “conditions'' have created the narrator--the “villain”, who is “given vision, the vision becomes a vow to seek vengeance on all the vicious.” RTJ equivocates retributive justice with justified revenge, suggesting that victimized black men are righteous in wreaking vengeance on the justice system, and for seeking dues in an eye-for-an-eye-like fashion. Before they kill the wardens, the prisoners waterboard them--“We killin' 'em for freedom 'cause they tortured us for boredom. And even if some good ones die, fuck it, the Lord'll sort 'em.” This line is a reference to the Albigensian Massacre, during which the Papal Legate said, “Kill them; let God sort them,” justifying the slaughter of faithful Catholics along with Papal enemies. This old story translates to the modern day in the form of a justice system which treats black people in America as meaningless collateral in the pursuit of capital; the narrator encourages the prisoners to respond in kind. RTJ furthermore draws a comparison between enslavers and pedophilic members of the clergy, who strip “kids to the nude and tell them God’ll forgive them.” In this comparison, the clergy and enslavers use shame to keep their victims silent. By RTJ’s reasoning, if black children believe that they are sinful, then they will not feel justified to defend their basic human rights, or to bring vengeance on those who have wronged them.

No Rest for the Weary - Blue Scholars

Blue Scholars is composed of lead rapper Geologic, the son of Filipino immigrants, and jazz pianist Sabzi, an Iranian-American. Despite being an API crew, their music addresses the racial and socioeconomic issues plaguing marginalized groups in America more generally. “No Rest for the Weary” speaks to the colonial-imperialist legacy of American labor, and the mass industrial prison complex. “Diamonds ain’t enough to cover up a legacy of strange fruit,” is a tribute to Billie Holiday’s song “Strange Fruit”, which was penned to challenge the lynching of Black people in the South. “No Rest” reminds us that lynchings never ended, through allusions to the ways in which the early and contemporary police state impact intersectional peoples:

Pages torn out of the memory of those who remain shackled in the chains of international capital gain.

Geologic explains that those who have been enslaved have had their histories stolen from them. It isn’t clear whether Geologic means to say Black diasporic peoples who were enslaved by white colonizers, or Black Americans who are enslaved today under the mass industrial complex. To Geologic, it doesn’t matter, since all forms of slavery are driven by capital gain. DuVernay’s documentary, Thirteenth, similarly breaks this down for us, and uses examples of corrupt capital, such as the ALEC coalition, to demonstrate the parallels between old and contemporary slavery.

Blood of the Fang - CLPPNG

CLPPNG’s “Blood of the Fang” is filled with vampiric imagery, and opens with a reference to the experimental horror film, Ganja & Hess. In the original film, vampirism serves proxy to the assimilation or submission of black people to white people and white society. “Blood of the Fang'' continues this theme. At its heart, the song is a critique of moderate modern politics:

Queen Angela done told y’all, ‘Grasp at the root,’ so what y’all talking about ‘hands up don’t shoot’? [...] Brother Malcolm done told y’all, ‘By any means,’ so what y’all talking about, ‘all on the same team’?

CLPPNG invokes powerful black leaders such as Angela Davis, Huey P. Newton, Geronimo Pratt, Ericka Huggins, Malcolm X, and others, and in particular targets of COINTELPRO. He provides a poetic history of COINTELPRO, a covert and illegal CIA program that sought to sabotage and surveille black, communist, and socialist organizations. While the origins of COINTELPRO preceded the modern mass industrial complex, its systematic dismantling of black leadership enabled the culture we see today. CLPPNG facilitates a revival of radical and revolutionary politics in the face of a racist police state and industrial prison industry. It is not enough, according to CLPPNG, to simply demand, “don’t shoot.” Meanwhile, ‘all on the same team’ refers to President Barack Obama’s speech following the 2016 election transition--and serves to highlight the bipartisan effort to disenfranchise Black Americans, and undermine efforts at abolition.

* this concludes Xing’s half of the project; part ii was posted by Cesaria