#paramilitary politics

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

“Reichsbannerites Clash With Nazis,” Montreal Star. November 10, 1932. Page 24. ---- BERLIN, Nov. 10. - (U.P.) - A violent clash occurred between several hundred Nazis and Reichsbannerites late last night in Chemnitz, Saxony, resulting in the wounding of 35, many seriously.

Knives, revolvers, and stones were used in the fighting, which arose after meetings of the Reichsbanner in celebration of the 14th anniversary of the German revolution, and of the Nazis in commemoration of their members killed in political campaigns.

[grimcatician]

Hello FFXIV community!

I offer you, a boy trying his best!

I’m still finishing up post arr stuff but MAN

Alphinaud is my new skrunkle I love him! Love my beautiful gay son 🥺🥺🥺

(girl you’re being set up for a fall! Girl stop it w the paramilitary org and politics, SLOW DOWN,😭)

[i-merani]

Friendly reminder that Russia is aiding dictators in Africa and Middle East with weapons and trained soldiers and has been doing so for decades.

[hollytanaka]

people who say that people disliking their fics for handling taboo subjects is "censorship" have never lived under an authoritarian gov't in the global south and it shows.

like i'm glad y'all do not know the actual ideological policing and draconian violence that real censorship entails. sucks that your fics aren't getting the feedback you want but bffr.

[illogarithmil]

This week in "VERY SERIOUS paramilitaries who you should take seriously"

[drumlincountry]

The untranslatable emotion of seeing people unironically share Yeats's poetry, as an irish person,

[werewolfetone]

Favorite historical period?

The Enlightenment 👍👍👍

[gregor-samsung]

Донбас [Donbass] (Sergey Loznitsa - 2018)

[sweaterodyne]

Y’all the leader of the United Auto Workers strike is Shawn Fein. He is, according to reports, an aggressive negotiator. I laughed so hard.

UAW go Bragh!

[whatisonthemoon]

Private Armies of Mindanao

From Filipino Free Thiners Private Armies of Mindanao Faraj Pangeran April 2, 2010 The Rise of Private Armies

Ever since the brutal slaughter in Maguindanao, it raised again the issue of private armies. Private armies exist everywhere in the Philippines and was an issue as far back as the early years of the American colonial regime in the Philippines. After independence was re-established in 1946, private armies were seen as essential to safeguarding the republic from the Huks. Since that time, private armies were seen more of a blessing to Malacanang Palace with the exception of Ramon Magsaysay who saw private armies not only as a lawless element but a threat to military readiness. According to the Philippine National Police, there are over 170 private armies in the Philippines and about 68 are found in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Land Struggles

The genesis of private armies in Mindanao can be traced to the discrimination experienced in the land system. Since time immemorial, both Lumads and Moros had a communal land system which meant that essentially as long as one took care of a piece of land, it was yours. When there was a dispute, a datu, chief, or sultan settled it for you and created a deed or edict.

With the establishment of American rule in Mindanao, a new land tenure system was imposed. This included “nationalizing” (really confiscating) ancestral communal lands of the Lumads and Moros into “public lands” under the Public Land Law of 1903. Lumads and Moros now had to register their land claims in Spanish or in English to the American authorities either in Zamboanga or in Manila and non-Christians were allowed only to claim up to 10 hectares while Christians could claim up to 16. It also voided any deeds or land claims made by sultans, chiefs, and datus. Furthermore, all Moros, Lumads, Igorots, and Aetas came under the supervision of the Bureau of Non-Christian Tribes of the Department of the Interior under the Governor-General. This meant in certain circumstances, a Moro or Lumad needed permission to even apply for a land title from the Bureau of Non-Christian Tribes. With the Public Land Act No. 2874, enacted in November 1919, this was increased to 24 hectares. At the same time, Moros and non-Christians were only allowed to claim up to 8 hectares. The amended public land law of 1936 reduced the homestead size back to 16 hectares, and cut the land claims for Moros and non-Christians to four hectares.

What this essentially did was not only to  strip away the ancestral domains of Moros, Lumads, and every other indigenous group in the country, but made religion even a basis to gaining a land title. It also became a land bonanza for American corporations (i.e., Dole, Goodyear, etc.) and Filipino landed families including the Cojuancos, the Arroyos, and many others.

Beginning in 1912, landless peasants from the Visayas and Luzon were shipped to Mindanao and allowed easy access to claim land while Lumads and Moros were forcibly put into re-settlement programs on non-agricultural lands and monitored by the Philippine Constabulary. Christians on the other hand were encouraged to settle in the more productive lands especially along the coasts and corporations were given tax breaks and other measures to develop in Mindanao. This in turn also attracted a number of landed families particularly from Cebu and Manila who saw the opportunities, in particular, logging and mining.

Since technically a Christian person could only claim a certain amount of land, what some Filipino politicians and landlords in the Visayas and Mindanao did was to have their workers claim the land that they wanted, have their connections in Manila process the claim, and then the worker would “sell” that claim to them. Sometimes the workers were not even aware that they had even processed a claim. In this way, some families were able to establish huge estates and plantations in Mindanao without being in violation of the Public Land Laws.

This was compounded with the fact that Moros and other “non-Christians” could not vote, which is one of the reasons why there were no elected Moro, Lumad, Aeta or Igorot politicians during the Commonwealth. The non-Christians were supposedly represented through the Bureau of Non-Christian Tribes which were always staffed by Roman Catholics and never headed by a non-Christian.

During the resettlement programs under Magsaysay, Garcia, and Macapagal settlers were given land for free or simply had to pay a processing fee. These factors are actually the root of the conflict in Mindanao.

In the 1950s, friction began to occur not with just the indigenous populations of Mindanao and the new settlers but between competing politicians. Malacanang began to see the potential of Mindanao in giving that extra–often controversial–votes during elections; private armies had enjoyed support from whomever was president who naturally also came from a political dynasty. Thus, private armies in Mindanao had a two fold purpose: to maintain the political and economic power of political dynasties; and to legitimize the land claims of Christian settlers. In turn, this also would ensure that Mindanao would be part of the Philippine nation-state–something that many Moros still contest–and eventually be “Christianized”. In addition, there were new problems arising from the rise of Communism which gave the Armed Forces of the Philippines an excuse to supply private armies as a counter-insurgency measure.

Generally speaking, warlordism is most pronounced in Sulu, North Cotabato, Davao provinces, Lanao del Sur, South Cotabato, Surigao, Zamboanga, South Cotabato, Sarangani, and Sultan Kudarat–all areas where competition for agricultural land and natural resources is very high. Except for Sulu, North Cotabato, Lanao del Sur, and Sultan Kudarat, these private armies have been recognized at one time or another as a CVO or CAFGUs and are all employed by mining companies, plantations, and/or political dynasties.

Some of the more well known private armies in Mindanao include the Kuratong Baleleng of Ozamis City Mayor Ronaldo O. Parojinog. The Kuratong Baleleng was also instrumental in both Aquino and Estrada’s all out war in Minandao. In North Cotabato vice Governor Emmanuel Piñol maintains another private army. His private army includes its own factory in Mlang and produces mostly M-79 grenade launchers and improvised M-14 armalite rifles. North Cotabato Mayor Roger Taliño has several groups registered as Civilian Volunteers Organization (CVOs) and/or Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Units (CAFGUs), which means it received official backing and were given supplies by Armed Forces of the Philippines or directly by the Department of National Defense.

Not to be outdone, Muslim politicians–particularly in areas where land is contentious–began to arm themselves. “The Barracuda”, the private army of the late Lanao del Norte Governor Ali Dimaporo, is one such example. Dimaporo’s army was reputed to have more firearms than three army brigades and would make Ampatuan’s army look like a boy scout troop. Again, it should be remembered that many of these private armies–whether Muslim or Christian–were encouraged and supplied by our own government and therefore our own taxpayers’ money helped to pay for these armies.

Vigilantes and Liberation Fronts

A by-product of these private armies and the land situation led to the formation of the various Moro liberation fronts as well as the introduction of the New People’s Army (NPA) and vigilante groups in Mindanao. From a Moro perspective, the loss of land was not just seen as an alienation from one’s ancestral ties but as a deep humiliation. The Sultanates of Sulu, Maguindanao, and Lanao were symbols of resistance to foreign rule. But these sultanates were basically gutted by the Public Land Laws and everything else Moro were belittled by the Commonwealth and later the Republic of the Philippines. This was exasperated by the settler programs in the 1950s and 1960s where over a million people from especially the Visayas region displaced the indigenous populations and became the new majority on lands that were part of the Sultanate. Then to further highlight the position of Moros in the country, the Jabidah Massacre occurred in 1968 where 28 Moro recruits were executed by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) after the AFP decided to abandon its plan to invade Sabah and destablize Malaysia.

The MNLF

In light of all of this, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) was formed in the 1970s and began waging a protracted war for independence. The chairperson of the MNLF, Dr. Nur Misuari, was a former professor at the University of the Philippines-Diliman and had been a member of the Kabataan MakaBayan (KMB) of Jose Sison. The KMB members later formed the nucleus of the leadership of the Communist Party of the Philippines.

Since the beginning of the armed struggle, the MNLF made it clear that their main issues in Mindanao were not religious in nature but were for self-determination and for the social and political inequalities that existed not just in Philippine society but within the BangsaMoro themselves. In the late 1970s as the MNLF began to spread through the Moro majority areas of Mindanao, the Communist Party of the Philippines at the same time began operations in non-Muslim areas in Mindanao.

This in turn led further government support of CAFGUs and escalated the violence, leading to the creation of right wing Christian vigilante groups whose goal was to wipe out both the Muslims and the Communists. These included the Alsa Masa, NAKASAKA, Causa Manifesto, Tadtad, and the Davao Death Squads. The Tadtad group was infamous for its practice of ritual cannibalism and keeping the ears of their victims as souvenirs.

Despite all of this, these groups got official approval not only from the government but also from the Roman Catholic Church who refused to condemn the killings or the death squads. The Auxiliary Bishop of Cebu, Msgr. Manuel Salvador, for example, said in 1986 that ”We really cannot blame these civilians who decide to arm themselves.” Certain other groups were also heavily supported by other Christian churches such as Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church, and by anti-communist groups in the US. With the rise of right wing Christian groups, this lead also to the formation of fundamentalist Islamic groups such as the Abu Sayyaf.

One of the Legacies of President Aquino

One of the great ironies of all is that most of these right wing groups–both Christian and Muslim–did not form during the martial law, but during the administration of President Aquino. In 1987, President Aquino praised such groups as a ”concrete manifestation of people power”. The roots of the armed struggle in Mindanao was not originally rooted in religion but in the social inequalities and discrimination until the rise of groups such as the Alsa Masa which occurred during Aquino’s presidency. Likewise, it should be remembered that many of the Muslim politicians like the Ampatuans received their start in politics by being appointed to office by President Aquino and these same people continued to build their private armies with the support of Ramos, Estrada, and Arroyo. Many of these vigilante groups and right wing paramilitary forces still exist today.

The MILF

In 1986, the MNLF and the Aquino administration entered into talks and the MNLF gave up its goal of independence. This gave birth to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the Moro National Liberation Front-Reformist, and other smaller groups. The Moro Islamic Liberation Front, in particular, is not secular. It not only believes in BangsaMoro self-determination but also in “Making the Word of Allah Supreme”.

It is also an open secret that the MILF is supported by elements within the Prime Minister’s Office of Malaysia and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia in their special “Moro Desk”. The Malaysian government has a vested interest in the MILF not only because of the Philippine government’s past support of Indonesia during the Konfrontasi but also because the MILF is predominately Maranaw. The MNLF on the other hand traditionally has its mass support from the Tausugs. The Tausugs have claims to Sabah and have been close to Brunei and Indonesia–Malaysia’s rivals. The Maranaw do not have any territorial claims to Malaysia and traditionally have been close to Malaysian royalty. So the struggle between the MNLF and the MILF is not only an ideological struggle (i.e. secular versus Islamic, integration into the Philippine nation-state versus independence, etc.) but also in a way a proxy war between Malaysia and the Philippines over Sabah.

Dismantling the Private Armies

With the outburst of public anger about the massacre in Maguindanao, the current president, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, vowed to dismantle private armies. Of course the same sentiments had been said since the time of the Commonwealth. However, the roots of the conflict in Mindanao, the rise of private armies, and the formation of right wing groups are all tied together because it is all based on the social inequalities existing in the entire country (especially regarding land), on the weakness of the judicial system, and to a degree prevailing cultural and religious arrogance. Until there is genuine land reform, genuine electoral reform, a fairer distribution of resources for Mindanao, mutual cultural acceptance, and an efficient, fair and independent judiciary where no one is above the law–the country will always have Communist guerrilla fighters, right wing factions, private armies, and other CAFGUs types.

Originally posted here: https://filipinofreethinkers.org/2010/04/02/private-armies-of-mindanao/

[serious2020]

The Truth About Jimmy "Barbecue" Cherizier

Portraying Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier as a revolutionary defies the large accumulation of documentation to the contrary. The documentation includes an order on July 19, 2024, by an investigative judge in Haiti naming Barbecue and others in connection with the Lasalin massacre; site provides English translation. Please read and share this documentation widely. It is quite helpful. The…

[sprites4ever]

To Gun or not to Gun

Thoughts on the fundamental morality of weapons

this is literally me when im a tool of destruction from france fr fr fr france

[IMAGE SOURCE: Forces News]

In a post-WWII, post-nuclear world, peace has become a much bigger topic in geopolitics.

Before the destruction, caused by the industrialization of warfare in WWII, war was seen as a common and good thing in Western society.

Kingdoms would go to war, have thousands kill each other at max, steal some riches and be done with it. If a monarch wanted war, they could sell it to the public, due to the specter of war not being one of major or even total destruction.

Now, it's different.

We humans have biblical destructive powers at our command.

We have weaponized plagues. (Bioweapons that spread pathogens via animals, aerosol, contact etc.)

We have built fighting automatons. (Drones with bombs)

WE COMMAND A FRACTION OF THE STARFIRE (nuclear weapons utilize nuclear fission and fusion, processes that occur naturally in the universe on a massive scale and are the reason stars exist)

And yet, we haven't shook our desire for conflict. Still, conflict is in our nature as persistent predators.

With such threats of total annihilation, geopolitics has become a lot more complex, with efforts centering around avoiding and limiting conflict.

Peace used to be a concept that was only pondered and acted on on a personal scale, now it is on an international scale (except for russia).

And thus, oh-so-often do you hear discussions about the military-industrial complex and its major role in perpetuating war, by giving people the means to fight them.

But, I believe the discussion about it actually comes from a limited, Western perspective.

First off, the Western superpower (United States of America) and great powers (United Kingdom, France and Germany) are not the only places where weapons are produced on a major, Industrial scale. The sentiment that they are stems from Cold-War-and-beyond anti-Western propaganda, which abuses the Western exceptionalist mindset and intrinsically connects war with capitalism, even though modern capitalism arose in the 1800s, and war is a much older concept than that, and despite all the wars waged by anti-capitalists.

For example, no loyalist to the Chinese Communist Party has a right to call warmongering an exclusively Western or capitalist thing, as, out of the five deadliest wars in world history, three were Chinese civil wars.

Another example is how many militias, paramilitaries, guerillias and other militant non-state actors use Soviet weaponry. The Soviet Union was, after all, the place where you had more tanks than food.

This is something that upsets me in the Western discussion of warmongering:

Once again, viewing the world from a Western exceptionalist perspective, Westerners often somehow disregard the roles of non-state actors in the starting and perpetuating of wars.

People, just because they're not the strongest, doesn't mean they can't desire war, or are incapable of starting and perpetuating wars!

(Most non-state actors are actually proxies of state actors anyway)

This is, for example, also why I advocate for more shooter video games to use mercenaries as the enemy soldiers who the player can mow down at their leisure, as, in real life and modern times, becoming a mercenary is always a choice, and one indicative of nonexistent morality at that.

Since they're non-state actors, you don't hear much about them on Western news or in political discussions, but mercenaries are arguably more of 'War Merchants', people whose business is war, than Western arms companies.

The Western arms companies may be similarly immoral,

but the reality of their selling of weapons to all sides of any conflict they can contact is the same as with any other commodity in an age of international trade:

They sell to whoever wants to buy, and whoever they CAN sell to.

Technically, the international sale of, say, German-produced guns works the same way as that of German-produced cars.

I, for one, haven't heard anyone talk about the Volkswagen-BMW complex.

Many Western countries are also democratic, which means that the economy, and that includes arms companies, often has more of an influence on the government than that the government has an influence on the economy.

In russia or China, the opposite is true:

Guns and bombs are only produced, sold and used when the Dear and Very Democratic Dictator for Life says so.

Ultimately, a weapon may be a tool of destruction, but in and for itself, it is morally neutral.

The phrase "It's the guns that kill people" is only half true.

Being man-made tools of destruction, weapons only kill anything and anyone if they are used as such by a person.

Yes, there can be lethal accidents, but you also get those in environments with entirely peaceful tools. Often more so than with weapons, as peaceful tools are underestimated in their destructive capability.

And this leads to my whole point:

While some tools are, by design, more peaceful than others, they can always be used in a destructive way.

A hammer can be used to build homes, or to break a person's skull.

Nuclear fission can be harnessed to produce a ginormous explosion that kills tens of thousands, or to produce electricity to keep tens of thousands warm and safe.

I think we Westerners have enjoyed peace for such a long time that we have forgotten how inherently dangerous the world is, and how fragile peace is. So, we no longer appreciate it.

This isn't to advocate war, but to see war and weapons with more nuance.

I will leave you with a quote from Mahatma Gandhi:

„I do believe that, where there is only a choice between cowardice and violence, I would advise violence… I would rather have India resort to arms in order to defend her honour than that she should, in a cowardly manner, become or remain a helpless witness to her own dishonor.“

[fandom-geek]

gotta say, it's fucking hilarious seeing ppl/probable botting farms saying "but palestine has never been a state" in response to ireland recognising palestine as a state.

like. guys. come here. i'm gonna tell you something. guess what ireland never was before independence???

[doyoulikethissong-poll]

The Cranberries - Zombie 1994

"Zombie" is a protest song by Irish alternative rockband the Cranberries. It was written by the lead singer, Dolores O'Riordan, about the young victims of a bombing in Warrington, England, during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The song was released on 19 September 1994 as the lead single from the Cranberries' second studio album, No Need to Argue. While the record label feared releasing a too controversial and politically charged song as a single, "Zombie" reached number 1 on the charts of Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, and Iceland, and spent nine consecutive weeks at number 1 on the French SNEP Top 100. It reached number 2 on the Ö3 Austria Top 40, where it stayed for eight weeks. The song did not chart on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart as it wasn't released as a single there, but it reached number 1 on the US Billboard Alternative Airplay chart. Listeners of the Australian radio station Triple J voted it number 1 on the 1994 Triple J Hottest 100 chart, and it won the Best Song Award at the 1995 MTV Europe Music Awards.

The Troubles were a conflict in Northern Ireland from the late 1960s to 1998. The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), an Irish republican paramilitary organisation, waged an armed campaign to end British rule in Northern Ireland and unite the region with the Republic of Ireland. Republican and Unionist paramilitaries killed more than 3,500 people, many from thousands of bomb attacks. One of the bombings happened on 30 March 1993, as two IRA improvised explosive devices hidden in litter bins were detonated in a shopping street in Warrington, England. Two people; Johnathan Ball, aged 3, and Tim Parry, aged 12, were killed in the attack. 56 people were injured. Ball died at the scene of the bombing as a result of his shrapnel-inflicted injuries, and five days later, Parry lost his life in a hospital as a result of head injuries. O'Riordan decided to write a song that reflected upon the event and the children's deaths after visiting the town: "We were on a tour bus and I was near the location where it happened, so it really struck me hard – I remember being devastated about the innocent children being pulled into that kind of thing. So I suppose that's why I was saying, 'It's not me' – that even though I'm Irish it wasn't me, I didn't do it. Because being Irish, it was quite hard, especially in the UK when there was so much tension." The song was re-popularised in 2023 after it was played after Ireland games at the 2023 Rugby World Cup. It was picked up by fans of the Irish team, with videos of fans singing the song in chorus accumulating hundreds of thousands of views on social media. This offended other Irishmen, who identified it as an "anti-IRA" anthem, and said that that the lyrics failed to consider their experience during the Troubles.

The music video, directed by Samuel Bayer, was filmed in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in the heart of the Troubles with real footage, and in Dublin. To record video footage of murals, children and British Army soldiers on patrol, he had a false pretext, with a cover story about making a documentary about the peace-keeping efforts in Ireland. Bayer stated that a shot in the video where an SA80 rifle is pointed directly at the camera is a suspicious British soldier asking him to leave, and that the IRA were keeping a close look at the shoot, given "the British Army come in with fake film crews, getting people on camera.” While "Zombie" received heavy rotation on MTV Europe and was A-listed on Germany's VIVA, the music video was banned by the BBC because of its "violent images", and by the RTÉ, Ireland's national broadcaster. Instead, both the BBC and the RTÉ opted to broadcast an edited version focusing on footage of the band in a live performance, a version that the Cranberries essentially disowned. Despite their efforts to maintain the original video "out of view from the public", some of the initial footage prevailed, with scenes of children holding guns. In March 2003, on the eve of the outbreak of the Iraq War, the British Government and the Independent Television Commission issued a statement saying ITC's Programme Code would temporarily remove from broadcast songs and music videos featuring "sensitive material", including "Zombie". Numerous media groups complied with the decision to avoid "offending public feeling", along with MTV Europe. Since it violated the ITC guidelines, "Zombie" was placed on a blacklist of songs, targeting its official music video. The censorship was lifted once the war had ended. In April 2020, it became the first song by an Irish group to surpass one billion views on Youtube.

"Zombie" received a total of 91% yes votes!

[neyatimes]

Wagner's Prigozhin apparently seen in public for first time since failed mutiny

CNN  —  A video emerged on Wednesday that appears to show Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin greeting his fighters in Belarus, in what would be his first public appearance since he led an armed rebellion in Russia last month. “Welcome guys! I am happy to greet you all. Welcome to the Belarusian land! We fought with dignity! We have done a lot for Russia,” a man resembling and sounding like…

[b0neless]

Swannah 'X1A' (Mr Balaclava) 2022.07.?  Hood Veteran ***** "How can I sell my soul if I'm the devil?" - X1A