#ListeningTo
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The Anarchists Who Ignited Occupy Wall Street Seven Years Ago Are Now Calling For
#OCCUPYSILICONVALLEY
‘…On Monday, September 17th, millions of people around the world, in millions of different ways, will unleash a one-day flood of memes, posts, pranks, tweets, and statuses—each of them overflowing with everything Silicon Valley wants to keep offline…’
http://abillionpeople.org/osv-press-release.html
What is Orientalism? Here's one pervasive but unobvious example...
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Forging Islamic science
‘…These contemporary images are in fact not ‘reproductions’ but ‘productions’ and even fakes – made to appeal to a contemporary audience by claiming to depict the science of a distant Islamic past.
From Istanbul’s tourist shops, these works have ventured far afield. They have have found their way into conference posters, education websites, and museum and library collections. The problem goes beyond gullible tourists and the occasional academic being duped: many of those who study and publicly present the history of Islamic science have committed themselves to a similar sort of fakery. There now exist entire museums filled with reimagined objects, fashioned in the past 20 years but intended to represent the venerable scientific traditions of the Islamic world…’
https://aeon.co/essays/why-fake-miniatures-depicting-islamic-science-are-everywhere
Capital will be capital
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‘…Ten days after Nike announced that Colin Kaepernick would be the face of its “Just Do It” 30th anniversary ad campaign, the sports apparel behemoth’s stock price closed at an all-time high on Thursday at $83.47, according to a report from Bloomberg…’
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/9/15/1795753/-What-Was-Nike-Thinking
Historical nonsense underpins UK’s Brexit floundering
From Hastings to Dunkirk a past that blinds Britain to reality has been peddled
By Christopher Kissane
‘…In the British mind, that history remains centred on the second World War, the ‘darkest’ and ‘finest’ hour in which Britain imagines it stood alone in defiance of Nazism, not as a global imperialist allied to emerging superpowers.
[….] From the beginning of the European project, British opposition has rested on Powell’s assertion that the defining feature of Britain – “and above all of England” – is its “separateness from the history of continental Europe”.
[….] Superiority, antagonism and a fear of betrayal are not healthy historical lessons; instead they encourage Britain’s worst tendencies…’
https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/historical-nonsense-underpins-uk-s-brexit-floundering-1.3630936
War is a racket, and the endless war means endless cash – but not for the Afghans.
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Pentagon says war in Afghanistan costs taxpayers $45 billion per year
‘…the $45 billion total for the year includes $5 billion for Afghan forces and $13 billion for U.S. forces inside Afghanistan. Much of the rest is for logistical support. Some $780 million goes toward economic aid.
The costs now are still significantly lower than during the high point of the war in Afghanistan. From 2010 to 2012, when the U.S. had as many as 100,000 soldiers in the country, the price for American taxpayers surpassed $100 billion each year. There are currently around 16,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
[….] “Why do the Taliban want a political settlement? They now control more territory than they did since 2001,” Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon said…’
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/pentagon-says-afghan-war-costs-taxpayers-45-billion-per-year
Alternative museum tours explore colonial loot, biased narratives
‘…”It is no longer possible for Britain to present itself as a world power, and people aren’t willing to pretend any more,” says Procter. “They are interested in the stories that aren’t being told.”
Admiral Nelson’s lifelong opposition to the abolition movement, the English Crown’s financial involvement with slavery and the lack of evidence to support lurid tales of cannibalism all come as a bit of a shock.
“Museums provide almost a Trojan horse type of space to confront the official narratives we’re told,” says Procter, who started the tours in 2013.
“I started them out of a sense of frustration over the lack of self-awareness that white British people have over their pasts and history – and that lack of attention is part of the shadow of white supremacy and racism that’s hanging over our heads right now.”…’
The Corporate Media finally gets it – post-Obama.
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https://www.facebook.com/time/photos/a.470156966490/10156010810521491
White People.
Slaves taken from regions of Africa
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/9g5how/slaves_taken_from_regions_of_africa_1229_x_869/
Michael Bloomberg for President?
Whether it be Hillary, Trump or Bloomberg, or even Sanders, certainly what #Murica wants most is someone from NYC to fight the elites.
/jd
#FYI, sometimes the NYT prints the truth.
/jd
‘…The United States controls roughly 800 military bases in dozens of countries around the world. This is far more than any other power. The United States also spends more on its military than China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, India, France, Britain and Japan combined. American Special Operations forces were deployed to 149 countries as of last year…’
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/17/opinion/democratic-party-cortez-foreign-policy.html
Where in the World Is the U.S. Military? (2015)
‘…By my calculation, maintaining bases and troops overseas cost $85 to $100 billion in fiscal year 2014; the total with bases and troops in warzones is $160 to $200 billion.
These costs have heightened debate over whether the United States needs so many bases abroad: What effect do they have around the world, and are they really making us safer?
The first step is looking at where U.S. bases are, and where they’re most prevalent. For my forthcoming book, Base Nation, I compiled a near-comprehensive list of overseas U.S. bases, including smaller cooperative security locations (“lily pads”) and suspected but unconfirmed sites (“unconfirmed lily pads”).
Mapped all together, this data, which comes from the Pentagon’s annual Base Structure Report and additional government, news or academic sources, helps to show just how far America’s reach is…’
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/06/us-military-bases-around-the-world-119321