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Tom McHale

The Most Pernicious Misconception About Democracy - The New New - Medium - 2 views

medium.com/...are-living-in-one-dd3d9418faa6

shared by Tom McHale on 15 Nov 18 - No Cached
  • Tom McHale on 15 Nov 18
     
    "State Tectonics, which wraps up Older's critically acclaimed Centenal Cycle series, may be science fiction, but its speculations are eerily relevant. Reading it, one can't help but think of current refugee crises, the rise of reactionary nationalism, the inevitability of accelerating data breaches, and the terrifying brinkmanship so evident in Washington. But unlike the bleak scenarios played out in Black Mirror, Older's world is nuanced, not dystopic, assuring us that even in the midst of disaster, it's still possible to make a difference with a combination of luck, hard work, and compassion."
Ed Webb

U.S. Military Wanted to Provoke War With Cuba - ABC News - 0 views

abcnews.go.com/...story

US USA military Cuba history conspiracy rightwing communism paranoia ColdWar

shared by Ed Webb on 14 Oct 12 - No Cached
David Hilton liked it
  • In the early 1960s, America's top military leaders reportedly drafted plans to kill innocent people and commit acts of terrorism in U.S. cities to create public support for a war against Cuba.
  • plans reportedly included the possible assassination of Cuban émigrés, sinking boats of Cuban refugees on the high seas, hijacking planes, blowing up a U.S. ship, and even orchestrating violent terrorism in U.S. cities
  • to trick the American public and the international community into supporting a war to oust Cuba's then new leader, communist Fidel Castro
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • "The whole point of a democracy is to have leaders responding to the public will, and here this is the complete reverse, the military trying to trick the American people into a war that they want but that nobody else wants."
  • neither the American public, nor the Cuban public, wanted to see U.S. troops deployed to drive out Castro. Reflecting this, the U.S. plan called for establishing prolonged military — not democratic — control over the island nation after the invasion.
  • a time when there was distrust in the military leadership about their civilian leadership, with leaders in the Kennedy administration viewed as too liberal, insufficiently experienced and soft on communism. At the same time, however, there real were concerns in American society about their military overstepping its bounds
  • reports U.S. military leaders had encouraged their subordinates to vote conservative during the election
  • One idea was to create a war between Cuba and another Latin American country so that the United States could intervene. Another was to pay someone in the Castro government to attack U.S. forces at the Guantanamo naval base — an act, which Bamford notes, would have amounted to treason. And another was to fly low level U-2 flights over Cuba, with the intention of having one shot down as a pretext for a war.
  • Afraid of a congressional investigation, Lemnitzer had ordered all Joint Chiefs documents related to the Bay of Pigs destroyed, says Bamford. But somehow, these remained.
David Hilton

Human Rights Library- University of Minnesota - 1 views

www1.umn.edu/humanrts

modern america asia africa sources documents images primary sources c20th human rights conflict women refugees middle east

shared by David Hilton on 30 Sep 09 - Cached
  • David Hilton on 30 Sep 09
     
    Seems to focus mainly on contemporary human rights although there will be reference to historical conflicts and human rights breaches, I guess. Has links to over 4000 other sites and there are bound to be some useful sources in there.
Javier E

Opinion | How the Far Right Conquered Sweden - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...ar-right-conquered-sweden.html

sweden right

shared by Javier E on 06 Sep 18 - No Cached
  • For decades, Sweden, once a racially and culturally homogeneous country with an expansive social welfare system, insisted that it could absorb large numbers of non-European migrants without considering how those migrants should be integrated into Swedish society.
  • As they did in cities across Western Europe, migrants tended to cluster in low-income neighborhoods; facing poor job prospects and rampant employment discrimination, they naturally turned inward. More young women have started wearing the hijab recently, Mr. Abdirahman tells me, and more young men “internalize the otherness” — rejected by their new society, they embrace the stereotypes imposed upon them. This can lead to a point where they reject gay rights or liberalism as “white, Western ideas,” and even attack firefighters because they represent the state.
  • As we walk around, Mr. Abdirahman, who is single and childless, confesses: “When I came here in 1998, to me this place was paradise. Today, I wouldn’t want my children to grow up here.”
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • Not all immigrants get the same push at home, he says; some parents discouraged their youngsters from going to the city center to mix. Sweden, he is afraid, has entered a vicious circle of immigration, segregation and growing mutual hostility.
  • The situation grew worse with the latest mass influx of refugees, in 2015, after which a number of suburbs became almost exclusively migrant. Considered “no go” areas by some Swedes, these neighborhoods are known to outsiders only from horrific headlines. What people don’t get to see, Mr. Abdirahman worries, is the bus driver or the cleaning lady working themselves ragged to get their children into a university.
  • the government, dominated by the traditionally strong Social Democrats and the centrist Moderate Party, did far too little. That left an opening for the Sweden Democrats, until recently a group relegated to the racist fringe of Swedish politics. In the past few years, the party has recast itself; just like the populist Alternative für Deutschland party in Germany and the Five Star Movement in Italy, it has repositioned itself as anti-establishment and anti-immigrant.
  • The Sweden Democrats accuses all other political actors and the media of “destroying” Sweden, calls for a suspension of the right to asylum and promotes an exit of Sweden from the European Union.
  • Sweden always imagined itself as something different, a society bound by its unique brand of togetherness. But that self-satisfaction justified a myopic approach to the very complex problem of how to integrate vast numbers of foreigners. If you believe in giving everyone a state-of-the-art apartment, social welfare and child benefits, then it’s unlikely you will tackle the hurdles of the highly regulated Swedish labor market.
  • Sweden Democrats profit from the fact that they were often the first to point to the downsides of immigration. Yet as much as they despise wishful thinking, they replace it with simplistic thinking. No matter what problems there might be in Sweden — housing shortages, school closings, an overburdened health care system — in the view of the Sweden Democrats, it is always one group’s fault: migrants.
  • Even if the Sweden Democrats win big on Sunday, the election might be a force for good. The Moderate Party, which is likely to take second place, might split over the question of whether to rule with them. And the Social Democrats, already under pressure to move to the left, might likewise fall apart. Sweden’s party landscape, in other words, might be blown to pieces.If the country is lucky, some parts from this explosion will bind together as a new force — one that takes seriously the need for realism on immigration and integration, without falling for the siren song of right-wing populism.
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