offguardian--2020-07-11--What does “diversity and inclusion” mean to you?

What does “ diversity and inclusion ” mean to you ?
With the recent non-stop coverage of the race-related disturbances , media debates on slavery , statues and racial prejudice , some readers might be inclined not to read on .
Over a year ago I recall the collective groan around our office when it was announced we were all to attend a training course on diversity and inclusion in the workplace .
We were also required to attend a shorter course about unconscious bias , similar to the one Keir Starmer is booked on .
For a few of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reminder to avoid engaging in anything remotely resembling office banter or innuendo .
But the training course got me thinking a little about what these words and values really mean and how they should be measured .
My thoughts were reignited late last year when I came across a competition , the theme of which was ‘ embracing differences ’ .
Entrants were asked to come up with a quote of no more than 20 words saying what embracing inclusion and diversity means to them .
However , I anticipated that the competition @ @ @ @ @ @ @ restricted to inclusion and diversity interaction in our western ‘ liberal ’ culture and the shallow sound-bites and virtual-signalling that go with it .
My view is that on race , equality and diversity issues we create problems which didn ’ t previously exist and ignore huge problems which do , for reasons I ’ ll explain .
Contrary to what we are told , the ‘ advanced ’ West doesn ’ t have ownership of equality , inclusion and diversity .
This , I believe is because the majority of the public @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of in their own life , work , country or sphere of the world .
In contrast , I would imagine the thoughts of the majority here are very much focused on other societies and people throughout the world and our attitude towards and what we can learn from them .
So , I think on all levels , equality , inclusion and diversity needs to be redefined to a broader more global awareness .
In the West we are too inward-looking and eager to jump on any political bandwagon without thought for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about this , I was reminded of the high-profile people and celebrities weighing in on matters they know nothing or care about , to promote themselves and their politics .
The ‘ anti-Semitism ’ hoax which was cynically used by Labour politicians and celebrities and there ’ s been plenty of grandstanding over ‘ Black Lives Matter ’ All these people claim to embrace equality , inclusion and diversity but use war , religion and race to bolster themselves with what may appear on the surface to be genuine , caring narratives .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ in society and the world , then distance themselves from the fall-out .
Like many , I can ’ t help thinking that at least some of these events are related to the repeated attempts to undermine and remove Trump – media and celebrity culture being used to whip up the hysteria which in turn stirs up the general public .
The end result is this distracts away from big issues such as world conflict , imperialism and corruption , most of the general public on either ‘ side ’ viewing race , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ divisive terms .
I don ’ t believe anyone can claim to embrace inclusion and diversity , while failing to adopt careful thinking and behaviour towards all humans everywhere .
Just the other day with the latest furore on everything race , I started thinking about recent events and the new names , expressions and slogans we keep hearing .
‘ Black Lives Matter , ‘ White Lives Matter ’ ‘ cancel culture ’ , ‘ taking the knee ’ , chucking statues in rivers and all the virtual signalling celebrity bandwagons on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are about respecting and including others , being compassionate to all and self-aware .
But I also think the crucial part of it is about self-education and reflection , being inquisitive and having the ability to think critically , fairly and without prejudice and reflecting this in our actions .
Sadly , much of this is well beyond the scope of every-day interaction between diverse people and groups in UK and western society and work training courses .
My other thoughts which may be shared by many readers is that our attitude towards @ @ @ @ @ @ @ determined by the same standards we claim to hold in our societies .
They should have the freedom to evolve in the way they choose , as we did – before we screwed it up .
But we should not interfere or sanction – we should build relations and consensus despite our differences .
The blind arrogance and let ’ s be frank , racism dressed up as either ‘ patriotism ’ or ‘ liberal ’ human rights concern towards Russia , China , Africa and the Middle East is so typical in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ compounded so much conflict and prejudice .
For me this is a massive double standard .
Given that so far , significant sections of our populations lack the ability to think critically and reflect on these matters , we have a lot to learn from less-developed societies about basic decent values .
For reasons I ’ ll go on to explain , if we don ’ t wake up now , our present delusion of our righteousness and pureness could bite us hard .
As I mentioned above , I attended a work @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ m open-minded to these things but normally a good training course which teaches me something useful always sticks with me .
I honestly remember little about the content of the course .
Thinking back , I believe the simple reason was that I didn ’ t think unconscious bias was a significant issue in the grand scheme .
We all have unconscious bias and perhaps in a world which was free of greater problems related to racism , foreign wars of aggression and conscious and open discrimination , I could see more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ RT about unconscious bias is worth reading and the concluding paragraphs , I think articulately sums up my feelings .
So perhaps this fits in with my general thoughts that we concentrate too much on the less important to the detriment of tackling the most serious problems arising from actions .
Anyway , with the competition about diversity and inclusion still in my mind , I thought I would write down some quotes which provoke some real thoughts .
If we are to address cynical attempts to create or compound divisions and so @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our message has to be simple , yet profound .
One which also meets the requirements of the short attention span level most of the general public have .
At least to start off a thought-process in these people .
I jotted down some quotes as below which try to encapsulate these thoughts .
They probably won ’ t win a competition , but I think some of them perhaps remind us that thinking carefully beyond our own lives , workplaces and shores is the crucial point of this .
This is where @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on race , inclusion and diversity in the West comes to the surface .
To demonstrate our displeasure against inequality based on race , we tear down 300-year old stone statues .
But meanwhile , in Iraq , millions were killed and displaced by the Blair government , a country still shattered today .
In Libya , a country was destroyed by the Cameron government , now slave markets run .
In Yemen , with our complicity , millions of people are bombed back to the stone-age .
In Syria , one of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the world , we arm and fund racist , sectarian terrorists to try to unseat a president we disapprove of .
And we starve their people under sanctions .
How many misinformed comments and slogans have we heard from ‘ woke ’ liberals in the West about unproven and unlikely bombed hospitals and chemical weapons in Syria ?
Yet so few comments from the same people about the people of Yemen who are undeniably dying daily from British bombs , disease and starvation .
The people of all the nations above have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our government , media and general public .
So much for inclusion and diversity .
The countries and people of the countries we ’ ve been attacking , stand head and shoulders above us in terms of human rights , inclusion , diversity , and resilience .
For example , Syria isn ’ t and has never claimed to be a perfect system or society .
But it embraces the freedom of religious worship and despite war , its many ethnic groups live together peacefully .
It ’ s resisted 9 years of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ never have endured and come out stronger in many ways .
I know that often countries under war or sanctions become more united , resilient and resourceful and Syria , despite our repeated meddling will evolve to something better than before .
Syria and other ‘ less developed ’ nations are not obsessed about the words , equality , inclusion and diversity as we are .
They just get on with it .
Equality , inclusion and diversity as we understand them in the West are just empty words to hide behind and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ For their faults , you ’ ll find these values more associated with the behaviour of Russia , Syria , Venezuela , Iran and their people .
Do we in the West possess the same intelligence , community spirit and resilience as our so-called rivals ?
.
I rather doubt that as we in the big boys world club have become pampered and dumbed-down , allowing our thinking to become tainted by identity politics , celebrity and ‘ woke ’ culture and consumerism .
Covid-19 and the blind surrender to lockdown shows clearly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we once were .
Today , the West claims to be the champion of human rights , diversity and inclusion but in the background of an aggressive foreign policy and dehumanising wars of regime change against other races of people .
Meanwhile a rapidly evolving Russia with admittedly some human rights issues within seeks pragmatism , partnership and consensus in its foreign relations with all countries .
Based on what we ’ ve been told about Russia for years , this may seem a little back to front .
But I know which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to peace , inclusion and diversity on this planet and its not Russia .
For one relatively recent example of what being liberal and diverse means in western society nowadays look no further than the Americans and also the Israelis painting fighter jets pink for breast cancer awareness month .
Here is my quote on that .
It ’ s clear that we in the West are living under a massive delusion .
Our leaders are destroying the rest of the world while distracting the public with silly counterproductive debates and slogans .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ human rights , equality and decency in their true definition , racism will always exist in our societies .
Demonstrating against racism in our communities or attending diversity and inclusion training courses is largely pointless .
The obvious end result of all this as I ’ ve mentioned here before , is a hot war with Russia , likely triggered by ‘ humanitarian intervention ’ in Syria or elsewhere .
Or possibly with China , considering the hostile rhetoric we ’ ve been hearing more of recently .
The UK and the West @ @ @ @ @ @ @ values , diversity and inclusion and never has been .
It ’ s against them , so is against all of us .
The so-called less-developed world actually has a better record than us .
If a devastating global conflict can somehow be avoided , I suspect it won ’ t be long before we look to them for help and inspiration to overthrow the whole rotten system which is working against all of us .

What does “diversity and inclusion” mean to you?
Kevin Smith
With the recent non-stop coverage of the race-related disturbances, media debates on slavery, statues and racial prejudice, some readers might be inclined not to read on.
Over a year ago I recall the collective groan around our office when it was announced we were all to attend a training course on diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We were also required to attend a shorter course about unconscious bias, similar to the one Keir Starmer is booked on.
For a few of my colleagues I expect it was timely reminder to avoid engaging in anything remotely resembling office banter or innuendo.
But the training course got me thinking a little about what these words and values really mean and how they should be measured.
My thoughts were reignited late last year when I came across a competition, the theme of which was ‘embracing differences’. Entrants were asked to come up with a quote of no more than 20 words saying what embracing inclusion and diversity means to them.
However, I anticipated that the competition judges would be conditioned to expect something restricted to inclusion and diversity interaction in our western ‘liberal’ culture and the shallow sound-bites and virtual-signalling that go with it.
The problem
My view is that on race, equality and diversity issues we create problems which didn’t previously exist and ignore huge problems which do, for reasons I’ll explain.
Contrary to what we are told, the ‘advanced’ West doesn’t have ownership of equality, inclusion and diversity. This, I believe is because the majority of the public understand these values very narrowly in terms of in their own life, work, country or sphere of the world.
In contrast, I would imagine the thoughts of the majority here are very much focused on other societies and people throughout the world and our attitude towards and what we can learn from them.
So, I think on all levels, equality, inclusion and diversity needs to be redefined to a broader more global awareness.
In the West we are too inward-looking and eager to jump on any political bandwagon without thought for the consequences.
When I was thinking about this, I was reminded of the high-profile people and celebrities weighing in on matters they know nothing or care about, to promote themselves and their politics. The ‘anti-Semitism’ hoax which was cynically used by Labour politicians and celebrities and there’s been plenty of grandstanding over ‘Black Lives Matter’
All these people claim to embrace equality, inclusion and diversity but use war, religion and race to bolster themselves with what may appear on the surface to be genuine, caring narratives. But the reality is they create division in society and the world, then distance themselves from the fall-out.
Like many, I can’t help thinking that at least some of these events are related to the repeated attempts to undermine and remove Trump – media and celebrity culture being used to whip up the hysteria which in turn stirs up the general public.
The end result is this distracts away from big issues such as world conflict, imperialism and corruption, most of the general public on either ‘side’ viewing race, inclusion and diversity in very simplistic and divisive terms.
I don’t believe anyone can claim to embrace inclusion and diversity, while failing to adopt careful thinking and behaviour towards all humans everywhere.
Recent thinking
Just the other day with the latest furore on everything race, I started thinking about recent events and the new names, expressions and slogans we keep hearing.
‘Black Lives Matter, ‘White Lives Matter’ ‘cancel culture’, ‘taking the knee’, chucking statues in rivers and all the virtual signalling celebrity bandwagons on Twitter.
I feel inclusion and diversity are about respecting and including others, being compassionate to all and self-aware.
But I also think the crucial part of it is about self-education and reflection, being inquisitive and having the ability to think critically, fairly and without prejudice and reflecting this in our actions. Sadly, much of this is well beyond the scope of every-day interaction between diverse people and groups in UK and western society and work training courses.
My other thoughts which may be shared by many readers is that our attitude towards people beyond our shores should not be determined by the same standards we claim to hold in our societies.
They should have the freedom to evolve in the way they choose, as we did – before we screwed it up. But we should not interfere or sanction – we should build relations and consensus despite our differences.
The blind arrogance and let’s be frank, racism dressed up as either ‘patriotism’ or ‘liberal’ human rights concern towards Russia, China, Africa and the Middle East is so typical in mainstream media and celebrity circles and has compounded so much conflict and prejudice. For me this is a massive double standard.
Given that so far, significant sections of our populations lack the ability to think critically and reflect on these matters, we have a lot to learn from less-developed societies about basic decent values. For reasons I’ll go on to explain, if we don’t wake up now, our present delusion of our righteousness and pureness could bite us hard.
A word about unconscious bias
As I mentioned above, I attended a work training course on unconscious bias. I’m open-minded to these things but normally a good training course which teaches me something useful always sticks with me. I honestly remember little about the content of the course.
Thinking back, I believe the simple reason was that I didn’t think unconscious bias was a significant issue in the grand scheme. We all have unconscious bias and perhaps in a world which was free of greater problems related to racism, foreign wars of aggression and conscious and open discrimination, I could see more of a relevance.
This article on RT about unconscious bias is worth reading and the concluding paragraphs, I think articulately sums up my feelings.
But shouldn’t we be more concerned about what we do, rather than what we – unconsciously – think? This new and sustained focus on the unconscious by the so-called ‘race experts’ who perform the bias training essentially represents the colonisation of people’s internal thought processes. And if we continue down this path, brainwashing will become legitimate policy”.
So perhaps this fits in with my general thoughts that we concentrate too much on the less important to the detriment of tackling the most serious problems arising from actions.
Some quotes
Anyway, with the competition about diversity and inclusion still in my mind, I thought I would write down some quotes which provoke some real thoughts.
If we are to address cynical attempts to create or compound divisions and so highlight the real issues, I think our message has to be simple, yet profound. One which also meets the requirements of the short attention span level most of the general public have. At least to start off a thought-process in these people.
I jotted down some quotes as below which try to encapsulate these thoughts. They probably won’t win a competition, but I think some of them perhaps remind us that thinking carefully beyond our own lives, workplaces and shores is the crucial point of this.
We should learn that genuine celebration of diversity is found most in societies where the word ‘diversity’ is seldom used.”
Equality, diversity and inclusion are empty, insincere words if we in the West continue waging wars abroad.”
Diversity at home is celebrating our differences. On the world stage it us allowing less developed societies to evolve freely.”
To embrace inclusion and diversity you need to be an ambassador for humanity, not a citizen of one state.”
We should be learning from states in the world which are states for all religions and for no religion.”
Diversity is not about glossing over differences to make us appear all equal. It is about treating all with equal respect.”
Iraq, Libya, Yemen and Syria
This is where the lack of thinking and shallow attitudes on race, inclusion and diversity in the West comes to the surface. To demonstrate our displeasure against inequality based on race, we tear down 300-year old stone statues.
But meanwhile, in Iraq, millions were killed and displaced by the Blair government, a country still shattered today.
In Libya, a country was destroyed by the Cameron government, now slave markets run.
In Yemen, with our complicity, millions of people are bombed back to the stone-age.
In Syria, one of the most ethnically and religiously diverse nations in the world, we arm and fund racist, sectarian terrorists to try to unseat a president we disapprove of. And we starve their people under sanctions.
How many misinformed comments and slogans have we heard from ‘woke’ liberals in the West about unproven and unlikely bombed hospitals and chemical weapons in Syria?
Plenty.
Yet so few comments from the same people about the people of Yemen who are undeniably dying daily from British bombs, disease and starvation.
The people of all the nations above have been dehumanised, misrepresented and ignored by our government, media and general public. So much for inclusion and diversity.
The countries and people of the countries we’ve been attacking, stand head and shoulders above us in terms of human rights, inclusion, diversity, and resilience.
For example, Syria isn’t and has never claimed to be a perfect system or society. But it embraces the freedom of religious worship and despite war, its many ethnic groups live together peacefully.
It’s resisted 9 years of war waged from outside which we could never have endured and come out stronger in many ways. I know that often countries under war or sanctions become more united, resilient and resourceful and Syria, despite our repeated meddling will evolve to something better than before. Syria and other ‘less developed’ nations are not obsessed about the words, equality, inclusion and diversity as we are. They just get on with it.
A warning for the future
Equality, inclusion and diversity as we understand them in the West are just empty words to hide behind and make us feel better about ourselves.
For their faults, you’ll find these values more associated with the behaviour of Russia, Syria, Venezuela, Iran and their people.
Do we in the West possess the same intelligence, community spirit and resilience as our so-called rivals?.
I rather doubt that as we in the big boys world club have become pampered and dumbed-down, allowing our thinking to become tainted by identity politics, celebrity and ‘woke’ culture and consumerism. Covid-19 and the blind surrender to lockdown shows clearly that we’re not the nation we once were.
Today, the West claims to be the champion of human rights, diversity and inclusion but in the background of an aggressive foreign policy and dehumanising wars of regime change against other races of people.
Meanwhile a rapidly evolving Russia with admittedly some human rights issues within seeks pragmatism, partnership and consensus in its foreign relations with all countries. Based on what we’ve been told about Russia for years, this may seem a little back to front. But I know which ‘side’ is the biggest threat to peace, inclusion and diversity on this planet and its not Russia.
For one relatively recent example of what being liberal and diverse means in western society nowadays look no further than the Americans and also the Israelis painting fighter jets pink for breast cancer awareness month.
Here is my quote on that.
Inclusion and diversity is not about pink fighter-jets for breast-cancer awareness month. It’s about all humanity below the flight- path.”
Concluding thoughts
It’s clear that we in the West are living under a massive delusion. Our leaders are destroying the rest of the world while distracting the public with silly counterproductive debates and slogans.
Until the UK and the West respects human rights, equality and decency in their true definition, racism will always exist in our societies. Demonstrating against racism in our communities or attending diversity and inclusion training courses is largely pointless.
The obvious end result of all this as I’ve mentioned here before, is a hot war with Russia, likely triggered by ‘humanitarian intervention’ in Syria or elsewhere. Or possibly with China, considering the hostile rhetoric we’ve been hearing more of recently.
The UK and the West is not at the forefront of humanitarian values, diversity and inclusion and never has been. It’s against them, so is against all of us.
The so-called less-developed world actually has a better record than us. If a devastating global conflict can somehow be avoided, I suspect it won’t be long before we look to them for help and inspiration to overthrow the whole rotten system which is working against all of us.


offguardian--2020-07-12--WATCH: The Gates Foundation and the Subversion of Public Health Policy in India

Some might ask why India is in complete lockstep with global lockdown despite the very low COVID19-related mortality figures for 1.3 billion people .
Embedded above is a two-hour interview with investigative journalist Kapil Bajaj .
It focuses on the Public Health Foundation of India and how the Gates Foundation-pharma cabal bought influence , embedded itself within government machinery and is determining India ’ s lockdown and public health policy .
According to Bajaj , it has effectively privatised and taken over the state ’ s public health agenda .
In India , tens of millions are in danger of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ caused massive population displacement , probably the biggest since independence as millions of migrant workers returned to their villages , and has devastated livelihoods , especially among the poorest sections of society .
Even with the inflated COVID-related global death figures we see , those figures could be massively outstripped by the impacts of lockdown .
A study published in the Lancet in May predicted that globally possibly an additional 6,000 children could die every day from preventable causes over the next six months as the response to COVID-19 continues to weaken health @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on the worst of three scenarios in 118 low- and middle-income countries , the analysis estimates that an additional 1.2 million under-five deaths could occur in just six months due to reductions in routine health service coverage levels and an increase in child wasting .
These potential child deaths will be in addition to the 2.5 million children who already die before their 5th birthday every six months in the 118 countries included in the study .
Some 56,700 more maternal deaths could also occur in just six months .
The study warns @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there would be a 9.8 per cent increase in under-five child deaths , or an estimated 1,400 a day , and an 8.3 per cent increase in maternal deaths .
In the worst-case scenario , where health interventions are reduced by around 45 per cent , there could be as much as a 44.7 per cent increase in under-five child deaths and a 38.6 per cent increase in maternal deaths per month .
If routine health care is disrupted and access to food is decreased , the increase in child and maternal deaths @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as one of the 10 countries that could potentially have the largest number of additional child deaths .
With this in mind , Pratyush Singh ( researcher specialising in social medicine and community health ) writes on The Wire website : India has the largest number of TB deaths in the world with more than 1200 people dying every day .
As more TB patients find it difficult to get tested or access medicine this figure is almost certainly increasing… The list of diseases killing and disabling people is very long in India @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , more and more are dying .
The possibility of how the coronavirus phenomenon is killing more people than the infection itself is worth considering.
” He says that more than 200,000 new patients of end-stage renal disease are added every year , which incrementally adds to more than 30 million dialysis episodes per year .
It is worth considering that a dialysis centre is least 50 kilometres away for almost 60 per cent of Indians .
Singh says that as most kidney patients in India depend on haemodialysis that might require as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their travails during the lockdown are apparent .
In India , severe diarrhoea is responsible for the deaths of one in four neonatal children .
Again , Singh notes that timely hospitalised care is the only safety net for an undernourished infant .
Singh provides a damning indictment ( “ delinquent neglect ” ) of India ’ s ( increasingly privatised ) healthcare system which prior to lockdown was for many already difficult to access and woefully neglected in terms of public spending .
He notes that India has the highest under-five mortality @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that more than 3,000 families lose their children under the age of five every day : Now that pressure is building to fully open up economies , Bill Gates , the WHO and strategically co-opted figures are shouting about the coming of the ‘ second wave ’ .
Have no doubt , they will try to keep this pot boiling .

Colin Todhunter
Some might ask why India is in complete lockstep with global lockdown despite the very low COVID19-related mortality figures for 1.3 billion people.
Embedded above is a two-hour interview with investigative journalist Kapil Bajaj. It focuses on the Public Health Foundation of India and how the Gates Foundation-pharma cabal bought influence, embedded itself within government machinery and is determining India’s lockdown and public health policy. According to Bajaj, it has effectively privatised and taken over the state’s public health agenda.
In India, tens of millions are in danger of acute hunger and starvation. Lockdown has caused massive population displacement, probably the biggest since independence as millions of migrant workers returned to their villages, and has devastated livelihoods, especially among the poorest sections of society.
Even with the inflated COVID-related global death figures we see, those figures could be massively outstripped by the impacts of lockdown.
A study published in the Lancet in May predicted that globally possibly an additional 6,000 children could die every day from preventable causes over the next six months as the response to COVID-19 continues to weaken health systems and disrupt routine services. Based on the worst of three scenarios in 118 low- and middle-income countries, the analysis estimates that an additional 1.2 million under-five deaths could occur in just six months due to reductions in routine health service coverage levels and an increase in child wasting.
These potential child deaths will be in addition to the 2.5 million children who already die before their 5th birthday every six months in the 118 countries included in the study. Some 56,700 more maternal deaths could also occur in just six months.
The study warns that in the least severe scenario, there would be a 9.8 per cent increase in under-five child deaths, or an estimated 1,400 a day, and an 8.3 per cent increase in maternal deaths.
In the worst-case scenario, where health interventions are reduced by around 45 per cent, there could be as much as a 44.7 per cent increase in under-five child deaths and a 38.6 per cent increase in maternal deaths per month. If routine health care is disrupted and access to food is decreased, the increase in child and maternal deaths will be devastating.
India is listed as one of the 10 countries that could potentially have the largest number of additional child deaths. With this in mind, Pratyush Singh (researcher specialising in social medicine and community health) writes on The Wire website:
India has the largest number of TB deaths in the world with more than 1200 people dying every day. As more TB patients find it difficult to get tested or access medicine this figure is almost certainly increasing… The list of diseases killing and disabling people is very long in India and every day that it ignores them, more and more are dying. The possibility of how the coronavirus phenomenon is killing more people than the infection itself is worth considering.”
He says that more than 200,000 new patients of end-stage renal disease are added every year, which incrementally adds to more than 30 million dialysis episodes per year. It is worth considering that a dialysis centre is least 50 kilometres away for almost 60 per cent of Indians.
Singh says that as most kidney patients in India depend on haemodialysis that might require as many as five sessions per week, their travails during the lockdown are apparent.
In India, severe diarrhoea is responsible for the deaths of one in four neonatal children. Again, Singh notes that timely hospitalised care is the only safety net for an undernourished infant.
Singh provides a damning indictment (“delinquent neglect”) of India’s (increasingly privatised) healthcare system which prior to lockdown was for many already difficult to access and woefully neglected in terms of public spending. He notes that India has the highest under-five mortality rate in the world, which means that more than 3,000 families lose their children under the age of five every day:
Close to 30,000 mothers die due to pregnancy-related issues in 2017 as per UNICEF data and Indian government estimates show that only 21% of expecting mothers receive complete antenatal care.”
Singh concludes:
More children will die of starvation and lack of healthcare than from the coronavirus infection. Please remember that the first Comprehensive National Nutritional Survey (2016-18) in the country reported that less than 7% of the country’s children under the age of two receive the global minimum acceptable diet.”
Now that pressure is building to fully open up economies, Bill Gates, the WHO and strategically co-opted figures are shouting about the coming of the ‘second wave’. Have no doubt, they will try to keep this pot boiling.


offguardian--2020-07-13--NHS Consultant Says Staff Are Being Silenced Over COVID19

First published on The Bernicean , the below statement is allegedly from a senior consultant working for the NHS in a hospital in Surrey .
Although we can not verify his or her identity , we still think our readers should see it 1 ) because it dovetails with other verified reports , and 2 ) if it is what it alleges to be , it sheds concerning light on the state of things inside the healthcare system I am a consultant at a major , regional hospital in Surrey .
By major you can take that to indicate that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
I had agreed to give an interview to an anti lockdown activist in which I would have revealed my identity .
I have since changed my mind and only feel able to give an anonymous statement .
I have changed my mind simply because that all staff , no matter what grade , at all hospitals have been warned that if they give any media interviews at all or make any statements to either the Main Stream Press or smaller , independent press/social media we may , immediately be suspended without pay @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and I simply cant do it to them .
I therefore can not reveal my identity at this time but wish to state as follows : In my opinion , and that of many of my colleagues , there has been no Covid Pandemic , certainly not in the Surrey region and I have heard from other colleagues this picture is the same throughout the country .
Our hospital would normally expect to see around 350,000 out patients a year .
Around 95,000 patients are admitted to hospital in a normal year and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ similar figure , perhaps 100,000 patients pass through our A & E department .
In the months from March to June ( inclusive ) we would normally expect to see 100,000 out patients , around 30,000 patients admitted to hospital and perhaps 30,000 pass through A & E .
This year ( and these figures are almost impossible to get hold of ) we are over 95 % down on all those numbers .
In effect , the hospital has been pretty much empty for that entire period .
At the start , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we were being used as ‘ redundant ’ capacity , kept back for the ‘ deluge ’ we were told would come .
It never did come , and when staff began to question this , comments like , ‘ for the greater good ’ and to ‘ protect the NHS ’ came down from above .
Now its just along the lines of , ‘ Shut up or you don ’ t get paid ’ .
The few Covid cases that we have had get repeatedly tested , and every single test @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the figures reported back to ONS/PHE ( Office for National Statistics & Public Health England ) were almost exponentially inflated .
It could be that Covid cases reported by hospitals are between 5 to 10x higher than the real number of cases .
There has been no pandemic and this goes a long way to explain why figures for the UK are so much higher than anywhere else in Europe .
The trust has been running empty ambulances during lockdown and is still doing it now .
By this I mean ambulances are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ systems active ( sirens & /or lights ) with no job to go to .
This I believe has been to give the impression to the public that there is more demand for ambulances than there actually is .
Staff only wear face coverings/masks & social distance when public facing , as soon as they are out of public view , the masks come off and social distancing is not observed .
Indeed jokes are made about the measures , and I have heard staff express amazement that despite warnings on packets and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ masks are totally ineffective and dangerous , the public still buy them , because a politician has told them too .
We have cancelled the vast majority of operations and of these ALL elective surgery has been cancelled .
That ’ s surgery that has been pre planned / waiting list .
Non-elective Surgery , this tends to be emergency surgery or that which is deemed urgent has been severely curtailed .
The outcome of this is simple .
People are at best being denied basic medical care and at worst , being @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , in much distress and pain .
Regarding death certification .
All staff that are responsible for this have been encouraged where possible to put Covid-19 complications as reason for death , even though the patient may have been asymptomatic and also not even tested for covid .
I feel this simply amounts to fraudulently completed death certificates and has been responsible to grossly inflating the number of Covid deaths .
The fact is that regardless of what you actually die of in hospital , it is likely that Covid-19 will feature on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with my statement the detailed published guidance from Government on Death Certification which shows how Covid-19 , as a factor is encouraged to at least feature on a death certificate .
Remember Covid-19 itself can not kill .
What kills is complications from the virus , typically pneumonia like symptoms .
These complications are in reality incredibly rare but have featured and a large amount of death certificates issued in recent months .
As long as Covid-19 appears on a death certificate , that death is counted as Covid-19 in the figures released @ @ @ @ @ @ @ genuinely believe that many death certificates , especially amongst the older 65+ demographic have been fraudulently completed so as to be counted as Covid-19 deaths when in reality Covid-19 complications did not cause the death .
There have been Thursday nights when I stood , alone in my office and cried as I heard people cheering and clapping outside .
It sickens me to see all the ‘ Thank You NHS ’ signs up everywhere and the stolen rainbow that for me now says one word and word only ; fear .
There @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and whilst I do not plead forgiveness for myself , I do plead for them .
Most are on low pay , they joined for the right reasons and I did and have been bullied and threatened that if they don ’ t ‘ stay on message ’ they don ’ t eat .
I know that if a way could be found to assure staff within the NHS of safety against reprisals , there would be a tsunami of whistleblowers which I have no doubt would help end this complete and brutal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hard to live with what I have been involved in and I am sorry this has happened .
To end , I would simply say this .
Politicians haven ’ t changed , the country has just made a fatal mistake and started trusting them without question .

First published on The Bernician, the below statement is allegedly from a senior consultant working for the NHS in a hospital in Surrey.
Although we cannot verify his or her identity, we still think our readers should see it 1) because it dovetails with other verified reports, and 2) if it is what it alleges to be, it sheds concerning light on the state of things inside the healthcare system
I am a consultant at a major, regional hospital in Surrey. By major you can take that to indicate that we have an A&E department. I had agreed to give an interview to an anti lockdown activist in which I would have revealed my identity. I have since changed my mind and only feel able to give an anonymous statement.
I have changed my mind simply because that all staff, no matter what grade, at all hospitals have been warned that if they give any media interviews at all or make any statements to either the Main Stream Press or smaller, independent press/social media we may, immediately be suspended without pay. I have a family, dependents and I simply cant do it to them.
I therefore can not reveal my identity at this time but wish to state as follows:
In my opinion, and that of many of my colleagues, there has been no Covid Pandemic, certainly not in the Surrey region and I have heard from other colleagues this picture is the same throughout the country. Our hospital would normally expect to see around 350,000 out patients a year. Around 95,000 patients are admitted to hospital in a normal year and we would expect to see around a similar figure, perhaps 100,000 patients pass through our A&E department.
In the months from March to June (inclusive) we would normally expect to see 100,000 out patients, around 30,000 patients admitted to hospital and perhaps 30,000 pass through A&E. This year (and these figures are almost impossible to get hold of) we are over 95% down on all those numbers. In effect, the hospital has been pretty much empty for that entire period.
At the start, staff that questioned this were told that we were being used as ‘redundant’ capacity, kept back for the ‘deluge’ we were told would come. It never did come, and when staff began to question this, comments like, ‘for the greater good’ and to ‘protect the NHS’ came down from above. Now its just along the lines of, ‘Shut up or you don’t get paid’.
The few Covid cases that we have had get repeatedly tested, and every single test counted as a new case. Meaning the figures reported back to ONS/PHE (Office for National Statistics & Public Health England) were almost exponentially inflated. It could be that Covid cases reported by hospitals are between 5 to 10x higher than the real number of cases. There has been no pandemic and this goes a long way to explain why figures for the UK are so much higher than anywhere else in Europe.
The trust has been running empty ambulances during lockdown and is still doing it now. By this I mean ambulances are driving around, with their emergency alert systems active (sirens &/or lights) with no job to go to. This I believe has been to give the impression to the public that there is more demand for ambulances than there actually is. Staff only wear face coverings/masks & social distance when public facing, as soon as they are out of public view, the masks come off and social distancing is not observed.
Indeed jokes are made about the measures, and I have heard staff express amazement that despite warnings on packets and at point of sales, telling people masks are totally ineffective and dangerous, the public still buy them, because a politician has told them too.
We have cancelled the vast majority of operations and of these ALL elective surgery has been cancelled. That’s surgery that has been pre planned / waiting list. Non-elective Surgery, this tends to be emergency surgery or that which is deemed urgent has been severely curtailed. The outcome of this is simple. People are at best being denied basic medical care and at worst, being left to die, in some cases, in much distress and pain.
Regarding death certification. All staff that are responsible for this have been encouraged where possible to put Covid-19 complications as reason for death, even though the patient may have been asymptomatic and also not even tested for covid. I feel this simply amounts to fraudulently completed death certificates and has been responsible to grossly inflating the number of Covid deaths.
The fact is that regardless of what you actually die of in hospital, it is likely that Covid-19 will feature on your death certificate. I have included with my statement the detailed published guidance from Government on Death Certification which shows how Covid-19, as a factor is encouraged to at least feature on a death certificate.
Remember Covid-19 itself can not kill. What kills is complications from the virus, typically pneumonia like symptoms. These complications are in reality incredibly rare but have featured and a large amount of death certificates issued in recent months. As long as Covid-19 appears on a death certificate, that death is counted as Covid-19 in the figures released by the ONS and PHE.
I genuinely believe that many death certificates, especially amongst the older 65+ demographic have been fraudulently completed so as to be counted as Covid-19 deaths when in reality Covid-19 complications did not cause the death.
There have been Thursday nights when I stood, alone in my office and cried as I heard people cheering and clapping outside. It sickens me to see all the ‘Thank You NHS’ signs up everywhere and the stolen rainbow that for me now says one word and word only; fear.
There are many good people in the NHS and whilst I do not plead forgiveness for myself, I do plead for them. Most are on low pay, they joined for the right reasons and I did and have been bullied and threatened that if they don’t ‘stay on message’ they don’t eat. I know that if a way could be found to assure staff within the NHS of safety against reprisals, there would be a tsunami of whistleblowers which I have no doubt would help end this complete and brutal insanity.
I am finding it increasingly hard to live with what I have been involved in and I am sorry this has happened.
To end, I would simply say this. Politicians haven’t changed, the country has just made a fatal mistake and started trusting them without question.


offguardian--2020-07-14--Coronavirus and Regime Change: Burundi’s Covid Coup

While the people of the western world occupy themselves wearing masks , pointing fingers and using so much hand sanitizer it literally kills them , the big world of Geo-Politics still ticks along , following the same tired old patterns with only slight variations in method .
A modern twist , if you will .
• The president of Burundi , Pierre Nkurunziza , dismissed covid19 as nonsense .
• The president of Burundi was vilified in the Western press .
• The president of Burundi expelled the World Health Organization from his country .
• The president of Burundi @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” .
• The NEW president of Burundi immediately reversed his predecessor ’ s Covid19 policies .
And now for the long version… The Council on Foreign Relations blog posts an article titled “ COVID-19 is Coinciding with Dangerous Trends in Burundi ’ s Democracy ” .
At that time Burundi was listed as having 7 ‘ active cases ’ of COVID-19 .
President Pierre Nukurunziza ’ s reluctance to impose policies aimed at stopping the virus from spreading is converging with his enthusiasm for democratic authoritarianism , putting not only Burundi , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
[ … ] Burundi ’ s trajectory has been apparent for some time .
But the pandemic now raises the stakes for neighboring states whose attempts to control the virus are threatened by Burundi ’ s insistence on moving ahead with electoral theater regardless of the public health risks involved .
[ … ] Just as the EAC ’ s attempts to advance dialogue in Burundi did nothing to stave off the closing of political space , today the organization seems helpless at best as Burundi and neighboring Tanzania refuse to take @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s government expels the WHO : Burundi is expelling the national head of the World Health Organisation ( WHO ) and three members of his team as it prepares for a presidential election that is being held next week despite concern about health risks during the coronavirus pandemic .
The government confirmed on Thursday that a May 12 letter from the foreign ministry was sent to WHO country head Walter Kazadi Mulombo and three others of the U.N. body ’ s health experts , ordering them out by Friday .
Bernard Ntahiraja @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said the officials had been declared “ persona non grata ” but did not give reasons .
[ … ] Burundi has so far reported relatively few cases of the COVID-19 disease : 27 infections and one death .
But testing remains very low : the nation of 11 million people has carried out only 527 tests , according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) .
[ … ] Large crowds have been gathering during the election campaign in Burundi , which has no lockdown measures in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ African nations .
[ … ] Some Burundians say privately they believe COVID-19 infections are higher than officially stated but they say they fear to say so publicly because they could be targeted and punished .
Léonce Ngendakumana , a presidential candidate for the opposition FRODEBU party , called the expulsion regrettable .
“ The country alone won ’ t be able to contain the pandemic , ” he told Reuters .
The Guardian reports the death of Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza of “ suspected Covid19 ” [ our emphasis ] : The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a sudden illness , suspected by many to be Covid-19 .
The cause of Pierre Nkurunziza ’ s death was described as a heart attack in a government statement .
The 55-year-old was due to stand down in August following elections last month .
It was unclear exactly when he died .
A government statement said the president , a keen sports enthusiast , had attended a game of volleyball on Saturday but fell ill that night and was taken to hospital .
The former footballer ’ s health improved on Sunday but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ June 8 , 2020 , his health suddenly deteriorated and he had a heart attack ” .
The statement described Nkurunziza ’ s death as “ unexpected ” and asked people to remain calm .
The Financial Times runs an article titled “ Coronavirus stalks Burundi ’ s political elite after president ’ s death ” .
It ’ s behind a paywall , but here ’ s a screenshot : The Daily Monitor publishes an article from AFP headlined “ Burundi changes tack as president declares COVID-19 ‘ biggest enemy ' ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s new President Evariste Ndayishimiye has declared the coronavirus the country ’ s “ biggest enemy ” , in a major about-turn for a nation which has largely ignored the dangers of the virus .
Former president Pierre Nkurunziza , who died suddenly last month , and even Ndayishimiye himself , had until now downplayed the gravity of the pandemic , saying God had spared Burundi from its ravages .
Burundi held a full-blown campaign ahead of a May election , and unlike its neighbours which have imposed lockdowns and curfews , has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the virus .
Officially the country has reported only 170 cases and one death in two months .
Ndayishimiye was speaking late Tuesday after the swearing in of his new government in parliament .
“ From tomorrow ( Wednesday ) , I declare the COVID-19 pandemic the biggest enemy of Burundians , because it is clear it is becoming their biggest concern , ” he said .
“ We firmly commit ourselves to fight this pandemic.
” He called for “ the strict respect for preventative measures which the health ministry will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” .
He reminded citizens that coronavirus tests were free , as was treatment , warning those who did not get tested when they had symptoms .
“ If in future someone does not go and get tested in such a case , it means he wants to contaminate others voluntarily… and he will be considered a sorcerer and treated as severely as one would be , ” he said .
As of today , Worldometers.info lists 1 single death & 269 “ Total Cases ” of Covid19 for Burundi : It seems @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Not only is it able to understand the importance of some social protests and avoid them entirely , it ’ s also able to sense when the world leader is inconvenient and take him out .
Many thanks to commenter Stinky , who collated , researched and sent in these links , as well as Edwige and Mucho .

While the people of the western world occupy themselves wearing masks, pointing fingers and using so much hand sanitizer it literally kills them, the big world of Geo-Politics still ticks along, following the same tired old patterns with only slight variations in method. A modern twist, if you will.
Here’s a little summary of Burundi’s recent history:
The president of Burundi, Pierre Nkurunziza, dismissed covid19 as nonsense.
The president of Burundi was vilified in the Western press.
The president of Burundi expelled the World Health Organization from his country.
The president of Burundi died suddenly of a “heart attack”.
The NEW president of Burundi immediately reversed his predecessor’s Covid19 policies.
And now for the long version…
6th May 2020
The Council on Foreign Relations blog posts an article titled “COVID-19 is Coinciding with Dangerous Trends in Burundi’s Democracy”.
At that time Burundi was listed as having 7 ‘active cases’ of COVID-19.
President Pierre Nukurunziza’s reluctance to impose policies aimed at stopping the virus from spreading is converging with his enthusiasm for democratic authoritarianism, putting not only Burundi, but Burundi’s neighbors at risk.
[…]
Burundi’s trajectory has been apparent for some time. But the pandemic now raises the stakes for neighboring states whose attempts to control the virus are threatened by Burundi’s insistence on moving ahead with electoral theater regardless of the public health risks involved.
[…]
Just as the EAC’s attempts to advance dialogue in Burundi did nothing to stave off the closing of political space, today the organization seems helpless at best as Burundi and neighboring Tanzania refuse to take COVID-19 seriously.
*
14th May 2020
Reuters reports that Burundi’s government expels the WHO:
Burundi is expelling the national head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and three members of his team as it prepares for a presidential election that is being held next week despite concern about health risks during the coronavirus pandemic. The government confirmed on Thursday that a May 12 letter from the foreign ministry was sent to WHO country head Walter Kazadi Mulombo and three others of the U.N. body’s health experts, ordering them out by Friday. Bernard Ntahiraja, the foreign affairs assistant minister, said the officials had been declared “persona non grata” but did not give reasons.
[…]
Burundi has so far reported relatively few cases of the COVID-19 disease: 27 infections and one death. But testing remains very low: the nation of 11 million people has carried out only 527 tests, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
[…]
Large crowds have been gathering during the election campaign in Burundi, which has no lockdown measures in place at all, unlike many other African nations.
[…]
Some Burundians say privately they believe COVID-19 infections are higher than officially stated but they say they fear to say so publicly because they could be targeted and punished. Léonce Ngendakumana, a presidential candidate for the opposition FRODEBU party, called the expulsion regrettable. “The country alone won’t be able to contain the pandemic,” he told Reuters.
*
10th June 2020
The Guardian reports the death of Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza of “suspected Covid19” [our emphasis]:
The outgoing president of Burundi has died of a sudden illness, suspected by many to be Covid-19. The cause of Pierre Nkurunziza’s death was described as a heart attack in a government statement. The 55-year-old was due to stand down in August following elections last month. It was unclear exactly when he died. A government statement said the president, a keen sports enthusiast, had attended a game of volleyball on Saturday but fell ill that night and was taken to hospital. The former footballer’s health improved on Sunday but “surprisingly, on morning of Monday June 8, 2020, his health suddenly deteriorated and he had a heart attack”. The statement described Nkurunziza’s death as “unexpected” and asked people to remain calm.
*
15th June 2020
The Financial Times runs an article titled “Coronavirus stalks Burundi’s political elite after president’s death”. It’s behind a paywall, but here’s a screenshot:
*
1st July 2020
The Daily Monitor publishes an article from AFP headlined “Burundi changes tack as president declares COVID-19 ‘biggest enemy'” [our emphasis]:
Burundi’s new President Evariste Ndayishimiye has declared the coronavirus the country’s “biggest enemy”, in a major about-turn for a nation which has largely ignored the dangers of the virus. Former president Pierre Nkurunziza, who died suddenly last month, and even Ndayishimiye himself, had until now downplayed the gravity of the pandemic, saying God had spared Burundi from its ravages. Burundi held a full-blown campaign ahead of a May election, and unlike its neighbours which have imposed lockdowns and curfews, has taken few measures to combat the spread of the virus. Officially the country has reported only 170 cases and one death in two months. Ndayishimiye was speaking late Tuesday after the swearing in of his new government in parliament. “From tomorrow (Wednesday), I declare the COVID-19 pandemic the biggest enemy of Burundians, because it is clear it is becoming their biggest concern,” he said. “We firmly commit ourselves to fight this pandemic.” He called for “the strict respect for preventative measures which the health ministry will from now on display across the country”. He reminded citizens that coronavirus tests were free, as was treatment, warning those who did not get tested when they had symptoms. “If in future someone does not go and get tested in such a case, it means he wants to contaminate others voluntarily… and he will be considered a sorcerer and treated as severely as one would be,” he said.
*
14th July 2020
As of today, Worldometers.info lists 1 single death & 269 “Total Cases” of Covid19 for Burundi:
*
It seems Covid19 is a disease of rare complexity. Not only is it able to understand the importance of some social protests and avoid them entirely, it’s also able to sense when the world leader is inconvenient and take him out.
Many thanks to commenter Stinky, who collated, researched and sent in these links, as well as Edwige and Mucho.


offguardian--2020-07-15--Defying the Mask Dictate

Defying the Mask Dictate

It is not for me to tell others how to behave .
For myself , however , I am unable to wear a face mask because of a medical condition .
Maskaphobia is a lot more common than people may think .
It can start in childhood , get further endorsed in the dentist ’ s chair , by horror movies and scary images – an example might be the image of an executioner or a “ wild animal in a black mask ” to quote one of my favourite poets , George Ivanov ( 1894-1958 ) .
The condition @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that the wearing of face masks in shops will be compulsory from 24 July .
This will make it intolerable for maskaphobes .
Other people wearing masks can only cause more stress for this growing sector of the population .
Other illnesses , as well as maskaphobia , are made worse by the wearing of masks .
So is this directive from the government necessary ?
The graph below charts the falling number of deaths where Covid-19 has been reported from 1 May to 7 July .
I think people can see for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ masks is a simple test to see just how simple , gullible and pliable to government dictates the UK populace is .
People with disabilities , including deaf , blind and paranoid , may suffer adversely from mask apparel .
Other medical conditions which are exacerbated by the wearing of masks include asthma and respiratory illnesses .
People with high blood pressure should not wear masks because added CO2 will increase their blood pressure .
Nearly everyone will have some condition which the wearing of face-masks will make worse .
Mine is not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I do feel a strong aversion to masks , which is growing by the day .
For me it is something else .
Medical conditions are private between you and your GP .
You do not need to tell any third party what yours is .
Explaining that you have one should be sufficient .
You can read more of John Goss ’ work at his blog

John Goss
It is not for me to tell others how to behave. For myself, however, I am unable to wear a face mask because of a medical condition.
Maskaphobia is a lot more common than people may think. It can start in childhood, get further endorsed in the dentist’s chair, by horror movies and scary images – an example might be the image of an executioner or a “wild animal in a black mask” to quote one of my favourite poets, George Ivanov (1894-1958). The condition is serious.
It has been announced that the wearing of face masks in shops will be compulsory from 24 July. This will make it intolerable for maskaphobes.
Other people wearing masks can only cause more stress for this growing sector of the population. Other illnesses, as well as maskaphobia, are made worse by the wearing of masks.
So is this directive from the government necessary?
The graph below charts the falling number of deaths where Covid-19 has been reported from 1 May to 7 July. I think people can see for themselves that this sudden imposition of face masks is a simple test to see just how simple, gullible and pliable to government dictates the UK populace is.
People with disabilities, including deaf, blind and paranoid, may suffer adversely from mask apparel. Other medical conditions which are exacerbated by the wearing of masks include asthma and respiratory illnesses. People with high blood pressure should not wear masks because added CO2 will increase their blood pressure.
Nearly everyone will have some condition which the wearing of face-masks will make worse.
Mine is not maskaphobia. Well not yet, though I do feel a strong aversion to masks, which is growing by the day. For me it is something else.
Medical conditions are private between you and your GP. You do not need to tell any third party what yours is. Explaining that you have one should be sufficient.
You can read more of John Goss’ work at his blog


offguardian--2020-07-16--The Battle of Seattle was Fought by the Pro-war “Left” in Northern Syria

The ongoing series of protests , riots and unrest following the death of George Floyd culminated in the establishment of a self-declared “ autonomous zone ” by activists in Seattle , Washington , after police abandoned a local precinct in the city ’ s Capitol Hill district .
Lasting just three weeks until law enforcement retook the six-block territory from occupants on July 1st , the Capitol Hill Organized Protest ( CHOP ) — initially called the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone ( CHAZ ) — was a short-lived experiment which unfortunately exhibited all the contradictions of the so-called Left that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ today .
Although it is undeniable that American police have a brutality and racism problem ( having been trained by Israel ) , within weeks it was clear that what began as spontaneous protests were hijacked for an establishment agenda .
Meanwhile , the ill-fated demise of the Seattle commune should be understood as symptomatic of a larger problem within the U.S. left as a whole .
One of the most influential figures of the French Revolution , Maximilien Robespierre , who died 226 years ago this month , famously said : The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the Bastille fortress on July 14 , 1789 .
Unfortunately , this protest movement could not be any less educational and the siege of the Seattle Police Department ’ s East Precinct was certainly no Bastille Day .
Many have speculated as to why Mayor Jenny Durkan and the SPD seemingly allowed the protesters to occupy the neighborhood , while they enjoyed direct support from local politicians such as Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant of the Trotskyite Socialist Alternative organization who fancies herself the first “ socialist ” to win an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Strong in 1916 .
However , the more meaningful question is what has this movement accomplished besides recoiling the US working class further away from progressive politics ?
The biggest misconception across the political spectrum , especially on the Right , is that this leaderless and haphazard movement is somehow “ Marxist.
” Karl Marx , whose entire worldview was based on a material and scientific understanding of history , focused on the class system and would be spinning in his grave knowing what a mess identity politics has made in his name @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ cult at the center of these marches ignores both science and class with no political vision beyond destruction , vindictiveness , and the stifling of free speech .
This is why the U.S. political establishment , which has been completely unable to implement the most elementary measures in providing healthcare and securing employment to Americans during the pandemic , is quite happy to jump on board a narrative that pits divisions of the working class against each other based on race while wealth trickles up to the 1 % .
The CHOP/CHAZ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ structure where whites self-flagellated by performing quasi-religious rituals of atonement for the sins of slavery .
There was also a diversity quota of “ centering ” certain individuals based on their ethnic background , gender and sexual orientation to cede leadership roles at the co-op , with white participants coerced into overcoming their “ fragility ” ( or sensitivity in discussing racism ) .
Concurrent with the protests , corporate consultant and University of Washington professor Robin DiAngelo ’ s intellectually fraudulent book White Fragility shot to the top of the New York @ @ @ @ @ @ @ example of how such identity politics fails in dealing with social issues .
Collective punishment is never a suitable guiding principle in addressing social problems , nor is using a conception akin to the religious idea of original sin where “ white privilege ” is the root cause of racism .
There were even mini-reparations demanded of repenting white protesters reminiscent of the collection plate passed around by worshippers in a church .
This sort of bizarre and self-indulgent identity politics is much like what was widely mocked in a viral video of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) convention collapsing into infighting last year .
What began as protests against police brutality were not only derailed into efforts to set-up communes in major cities but a nationwide debate on statues , after the wave of demonstrations and rioting across the country led to the Taliban-style destruction of historical monuments perceived as glorifying racism .
As a result , the toxic political atmosphere which surrounded the events in Charlottesville , Virginia in 2017 was reignited .
While the calls for the removal of Confederate statues erected during the Reconstruction era is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ removal of those honoring slave-owning Founding Fathers such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson which were toppled in Portland , Oregon .
This was followed by a statue of Union General Ulysses S. Grant being knocked over in San Francisco and calls to remove the Lincoln Memorial in DC , two men who victoriously led the North in the Civil War .
Regrettably , the prioritization of such iconoclastic gestures has not only defanged the protests but diverted them from bringing real change to social inequities in the immediate future .
This is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this phenomena .
Last year , a more troublesome example were the calls to remove a historic mural at George Washington High School in San Francisco that were capitulated to by the city school board .
The thirteen panel mural , Life of Washington , painted in 1936 by Russian-American artist Victor Arnautoff was commissioned as part of the Federal Art Project , a New Deal program funded by the Works Progress Administration ( WPA ) which employed visual artists to create public works during the Great Depression .
One controversial panel depicts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ armed colonizers standing over the corpse of a Native American , while another fresco portrays two colonizers surveying land as slaves toil in a field .
It would seem obvious to anyone that the mural is not only explicitly anti-racist but representative of an important period in US history where art was a force for social change and progressive politics was at the center of American life .
Arnautoff was a Russian immigrant who was an assistant to Mexican muralist Diego Rivera , while the WPA and its art program were dominated by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Still , no matter the context or intent — the unflinching depiction of American history was deemed “ offensive to certain communities ” because students were “ triggered ” by the harsh realities illustrated .
This might seem unrelated , but the same illogic is behind the vigilantism of the statue removals .
While the Arnautoff mural is clearly anti-racist and certain monuments may glorify slavery , the distinction is indecipherable to the social justice sect which needs its “ safe space ” from the uncomfortable truths of American history .
The differentiation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and colonial statue commending it is illegible to them .
The entire purpose behind the Arnautoff mural is to make one uncomfortable because its subject matter is something no one should ever be at ease with .
Yet its undeniable educational and artistic value did not prevent the San Francisco school board from voting to paint over it , while articles were published in the New York Times and even The Nation magazine applauding their decision .
What on earth is happening to the left when it is censoring anti-racist art in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ point of education at a high school is to teach students to analyze and interpret subjects like art and history , not just emotionally react to them .
When the very fabric of culture and society like a historic mural or statue can be torn down simply because people are upset by them , the next plausible step is book burning .
San Francisco High School completely failed to educate its students when they decided upon the most backwards way of interpreting the mural , just as the protesters tearing down these statues @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them in a historical context .
Genocide and slavery are indeed the foundations of the US , but we should learn from our tragic history to grasp the equivalent injustices happening today .
Simply eradicating murals and statues that remind us of it , whether they oppose or elevate them , is totally ineffectual .
While some activists have expressed concern that the protests have deviated from their original purpose , the right has fixated on the presence among the marches of “ Antifa ” which Trump wants to designate as a “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ given the completely decentralized nature of the group .
The original Antifa movement in the 1930s had been part of the Communist Party of Germany ( KPD ) in its effort to form a popular front against fascism , but the dilettantes in the modern incarnation are closely associated with black bloc anarchism and other amateurish orientations .
Two decades ago , Seattle was the site of the 1999 protests against the World Trade Organization ( WTO ) , often referred to as the ‘ Battle of Seattle ’ , which saw 40,000 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this was where the black bloc first became notorious for injecting vandalism and senseless violence into peaceful demonstrations and were widely thought to have been infiltrated by law enforcement .
In 2016 , the current embodiment of Antifa first came to attention during protests on college campuses against speaking appearances by far-right media personalities during the US presidential election , including at the University of California at Berkeley which had ironically been the site of the Free Speech Movement in the 1960s .
Following Trump ’ s election , the stage was set @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rally and counter-protests over the removal of a Robert E. Lee statue in August 2017 for “ Antifa ” to be crowned as heroes shadowboxing the historical ghost of fascism .
When the likes of the New York Times is suddenly promoting the black bloc , that ’ s your first clue something else is afoot .
In order to prevent the emergence of a truly progressive movement in the wake of Hillary Clinton ’ s defeat , a false narrative was concocted by the political establishment about the significance of Trump ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was the result of alleged Russian meddling and the racism of “ deplorable ” Trump voters .
Instantly , any critique of the system which produced Trump disappeared and the establishment wing of the Democratic Party was able to neutralize the Bernie Sanders-led opposition in its ranks .
As a result , the vast majority of the left became convinced by the interpretation that Trump ’ s election was purely the outcome of a resurgence of “ fascism ” , thus making Trump the singular , most immediate danger — while US imperialism @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the support for actual fascists in Ukraine .
It should be understood that what Trump and the wave of pro-Zionist , Islamophobic right-wing populists in the EU represent is something qualitatively different .
Still , anyone on the left who dares oppose US imperialism today is risking being branded a ‘ red-brown ’ collaborator .
The Democratic Party , which spearheaded the Orwellian idea of “ humanitarian interventionism ” used to justify the wholesale destruction of uncooperative nations by the American war machine in recent decades , has since tricked the majority of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to unseat “ dictators.
” Even when the Left today ostensibly opposes war , it is often forced to qualify its objections by repeating the same talking points about countries attacked by Washington used to justify it .
The US foray in the Syrian war is a perfect example .
Trump ’ s idea to designate Antifa as a terrorist group would be especially ironic considering that many American leftists who self-identify using the “ Antifa ” black and red standard have thrown their support behind the creation of another infamous “ autonomous @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mostly-Kurdish militias known as Rojava — with the help of none other than the US military .
There is even a self-proclaimed International Freedom Battalion of American and European volunteers fighting to defend the enclave that purports to be in the tradition of the International Brigades which defended the Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War .
These “ Antifa ” conscripts fight alongside the YPG ( People ’ s Protection Units ) , a Kurdish-majority militia which has been rebranded by the Pentagon as the Syrian Democratic Forces ( SDF ) .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ of a history lesson , considering it was the Soviet Union alone which intervened to defend the Spanish Republic from fascism , not the United States .
From Washington ’ s perspective , CHOP/CHAZ should be considered blowback from this policy .
The US creation of the SDF has not been without controversy , as the YPG is widely regarded as the Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers Party ( PKK ) in Turkey which Washington ’ s NATO ally regards as a terrorist organization .
While the Kurds and their Western volunteers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ utopia , in reality they are infantryman for the Zionist plan to balkanize Syria and prevent Damascus from accessing its own resources .
So it makes perfect sense that they would try to replicate what they learned in Afrin in an American city using Rojava as a model .
When Trump tried to follow through on his anti-interventionist pledges as a candidate and pull US troops out of Syria , it sparked outrage from the pro-war “ left ” which glorifies Rojava as a ‘ libertarian socialist ’ and ‘ direct democracy ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Arabs and Assyrian Christians face ethnic cleansing at hands of Kurdish nationalists in their efforts to create an ethno-state .
The ideological inspiration for the Rojava federation is the Jewish-American Zionist anarchist philosopher Murray Bookchin who was especially influential to PKK founder Abdullah Öcalan .
Unbeknownst to many , Bookchin was also a noted Zionist — but this is not as unlikely a paradox as it may seem .
After all , Israel itself was initially established with the settlement of communes and the Zionist form of “ autonomous zones ” known as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) .
Even prior to WWII , European Zionists and early kibbutniks came to Mandatory Palestine as illegal immigrants and began living in their communes while fusing Jewish nationalism and their own conception of socialism , an amalgamation not unlike what the Kurds are practicing in Syria today .
One other highly influential thinker in the anarchist community who purports to be a ‘ libertarian socialist ’ , Noam Chomsky , was himself part of the Zionist kibbutz movement in his youth .
This explains why Chomsky would call for a continuation of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the basis of “ protecting the Kurds “ , who are trying to repeat the formula used to found Israel to create a Syrian Kurdistan as another US protectorate in the Middle East .
It is no coincidence that in the manifesto listing the demands of the sit-in in Seattle , nowhere to be found is the defunding of the Pentagon — the primary supplier through the 1033 Program of the militarized police violence being protested .
The same cognitively dissonant left calling to “ defund the police ” , which will almost @ @ @ @ @ @ @ privatize them , completely ignores endless US wars abroad and opposed efforts by the Trump administration to scale back expansionism in Syria .
The focus on the tearing down of statues from America ’ s colonial ‘ past ’ has also coincided with Israel ’ s preparations in colonizing what remains of Palestinian territory with the annexation of the West Bank — where are the mass protests to stop that ?
If Black Lives Matter dared focus on AIPAC , it would be shut down very quickly .
In 2016 , when BLM @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Sanctions ( BDS ) campaign to boycott Israel , their previously enjoyed benefits suddenly were in jeopardy and was revealed to be the direct result of sabotage by the Zionist lobby .
In the last several decades , there has been a retreat of class conscious forces in U.S. political life , especially after the fall of the Soviet Union .
The degenerate form of the left that exists today is an unfortunate result of the academization of social issues and the influence of the Frankfurt School critical theorists whose bourgeoisification of Marxism @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to critique culture and the arts while removing its class politics .
The politically correct obsession with the policing of language by the postmodern cult of identity politics is excluding the working class from the conversation and counteracting its revolutionary potential .
The CIA fronts in the Open Society , Ford , and Kellogg Foundations of the non-profit industrial complex have successfully corralled the protests while no substantial change has been made to the real ills in US society where the 1 % has made trillions during the pandemic and subsequent economic depression @ @ @ @ @ @ @ over statues and monuments in a crusade to purify history , the ruling class is laughing all the way to the bank .
Max Parry is an independent journalist and geopolitical analyst .
His work has appeared in several independent publications .
Read him on Medium .
Max may be reached at : .

Max Parry
The ongoing series of protests, riots and unrest following the death of George Floyd culminated in the establishment of a self-declared “autonomous zone” by activists in Seattle, Washington, after police abandoned a local precinct in the city’s Capitol Hill district.
Lasting just three weeks until law enforcement retook the six-block territory from occupants on July 1st, the Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP) — initially called the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ) — was a short-lived experiment which unfortunately exhibited all the contradictions of the so-called Left that have become characteristic in the United States today.
Although it is undeniable that American police have a brutality and racism problem (having been trained by Israel), within weeks it was clear that what began as spontaneous protests were hijacked for an establishment agenda.
Meanwhile, the ill-fated demise of the Seattle commune should be understood as symptomatic of a larger problem within the U.S. left as a whole.
One of the most influential figures of the French Revolution, Maximilien Robespierre, who died 226 years ago this month, famously said:
the secret of freedom lies in educating people, whereas the secret of tyranny is in keeping them ignorant.”
The Paris Commune was established after the storming of the Bastille fortress on July 14, 1789. Unfortunately, this protest movement could not be any less educational and the siege of the Seattle Police Department’s East Precinct was certainly no Bastille Day.
Many have speculated as to why Mayor Jenny Durkan and the SPD seemingly allowed the protesters to occupy the neighborhood, while they enjoyed direct support from local politicians such as Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant of the Trotskyite Socialist Alternative organization who fancies herself the first “socialist” to win an election in the city since Anna Louise Strong in 1916.
However, the more meaningful question is what has this movement accomplished besides recoiling the US working class further away from progressive politics?
The biggest misconception across the political spectrum, especially on the Right, is that this leaderless and haphazard movement is somehow “Marxist.”
Karl Marx, whose entire worldview was based on a material and scientific understanding of history, focused on the class system and would be spinning in his grave knowing what a mess identity politics has made in his name.
In contrast, the ‘wokist’ cult at the center of these marches ignores both science and class with no political vision beyond destruction, vindictiveness, and the stifling of free speech.
This is why the U.S. political establishment, which has been completely unable to implement the most elementary measures in providing healthcare and securing employment to Americans during the pandemic, is quite happy to jump on board a narrative that pits divisions of the working class against each other based on race while wealth trickles up to the 1%.
The CHOP/CHAZ occupants reportedly established a reverse hierarchical social structure where whites self-flagellated by performing quasi-religious rituals of atonement for the sins of slavery. There was also a diversity quota of “centering” certain individuals based on their ethnic background, gender and sexual orientation to cede leadership roles at the co-op, with white participants coerced into overcoming their “fragility” (or sensitivity in discussing racism).
Concurrent with the protests, corporate consultant and University of Washington professor Robin DiAngelo’s intellectually fraudulent book White Fragility shot to the top of the New York Times bestseller list and is a perfect example of how such identity politics fails in dealing with social issues.
Collective punishment is never a suitable guiding principle in addressing social problems, nor is using a conception akin to the religious idea of original sin where “white privilege” is the root cause of racism. There were even mini-reparations demanded of repenting white protesters reminiscent of the collection plate passed around by worshippers in a church.
This sort of bizarre and self-indulgent identity politics is much like what was widely mocked in a viral video of a Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) convention collapsing into infighting last year.
What began as protests against police brutality were not only derailed into efforts to set-up communes in major cities but a nationwide debate on statues, after the wave of demonstrations and rioting across the country led to the Taliban-style destruction of historical monuments perceived as glorifying racism.
As a result, the toxic political atmosphere which surrounded the events in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017 was reignited.
While the calls for the removal of Confederate statues erected during the Reconstruction era is long overdue, more debatable is the removal of those honoring slave-owning Founding Fathers such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson which were toppled in Portland, Oregon. This was followed by a statue of Union General Ulysses S. Grant being knocked over in San Francisco and calls to remove the Lincoln Memorial in DC, two men who victoriously led the North in the Civil War.
Regrettably, the prioritization of such iconoclastic gestures has not only defanged the protests but diverted them from bringing real change to social inequities in the immediate future.
This is not the first time we have witnessed this phenomena.
Last year, a more troublesome example were the calls to remove a historic mural at George Washington High School in San Francisco that were capitulated to by the city school board. The thirteen panel mural, Life of Washington, painted in 1936 by Russian-American artist Victor Arnautoff was commissioned as part of the Federal Art Project, a New Deal program funded by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) which employed visual artists to create public works during the Great Depression.
One controversial panel depicts George Washington pointing to a group of armed colonizers standing over the corpse of a Native American, while another fresco portrays two colonizers surveying land as slaves toil in a field. It would seem obvious to anyone that the mural is not only explicitly anti-racist but representative of an important period in US history where art was a force for social change and progressive politics was at the center of American life.
Arnautoff was a Russian immigrant who was an assistant to Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, while the WPA and its art program were dominated by communists such as the two men. Still, no matter the context or intent — the unflinching depiction of American history was deemed “offensive to certain communities” because students were “triggered” by the harsh realities illustrated.
This might seem unrelated, but the same illogic is behind the vigilantism of the statue removals.
While the Arnautoff mural is clearly anti-racist and certain monuments may glorify slavery, the distinction is indecipherable to the social justice sect which needs its “safe space” from the uncomfortable truths of American history. The differentiation between a left-wing WPA mural opposing racism and colonial statue commending it is illegible to them.
The entire purpose behind the Arnautoff mural is to make one uncomfortable because its subject matter is something no one should ever be at ease with. Yet its undeniable educational and artistic value did not prevent the San Francisco school board from voting to paint over it, while articles were published in the New York Times and even The Nation magazine applauding their decision.
What on earth is happening to the left when it is censoring anti-racist art in the name of fighting racism?
The whole point of education at a high school is to teach students to analyze and interpret subjects like art and history, not just emotionally react to them. When the very fabric of culture and society like a historic mural or statue can be torn down simply because people are upset by them, the next plausible step is book burning.
San Francisco High School completely failed to educate its students when they decided upon the most backwards way of interpreting the mural, just as the protesters tearing down these statues did not use their faculties to understand them in a historical context.
Genocide and slavery are indeed the foundations of the US, but we should learn from our tragic history to grasp the equivalent injustices happening today. Simply eradicating murals and statues that remind us of it, whether they oppose or elevate them, is totally ineffectual.
While some activists have expressed concern that the protests have deviated from their original purpose, the right has fixated on the presence among the marches of “Antifa” which Trump wants to designate as a “terrorist organization”, a reckless idea given the completely decentralized nature of the group. The original Antifa movement in the 1930s had been part of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) in its effort to form a popular front against fascism, but the dilettantes in the modern incarnation are closely associated with black bloc anarchism and other amateurish orientations.
Two decades ago, Seattle was the site of the 1999 protests against the World Trade Organization (WTO), often referred to as the ‘Battle of Seattle’, which saw 40,000 march against globalization. Some may recall this was where the black bloc first became notorious for injecting vandalism and senseless violence into peaceful demonstrations and were widely thought to have been infiltrated by law enforcement.
In 2016, the current embodiment of Antifa first came to attention during protests on college campuses against speaking appearances by far-right media personalities during the US presidential election, including at the University of California at Berkeley which had ironically been the site of the Free Speech Movement in the 1960s.
Following Trump’s election, the stage was set in Charlottesville during the Unite the Right rally and counter-protests over the removal of a Robert E. Lee statue in August 2017 for “Antifa” to be crowned as heroes shadowboxing the historical ghost of fascism. When the likes of the New York Times is suddenly promoting the black bloc, that’s your first clue something else is afoot.
In order to prevent the emergence of a truly progressive movement in the wake of Hillary Clinton’s defeat, a false narrative was concocted by the political establishment about the significance of Trump’s victory, which we were told was the result of alleged Russian meddling and the racism of “deplorable” Trump voters. Instantly, any critique of the system which produced Trump disappeared and the establishment wing of the Democratic Party was able to neutralize the Bernie Sanders-led opposition in its ranks.
As a result, the vast majority of the left became convinced by the interpretation that Trump’s election was purely the outcome of a resurgence of “fascism”, thus making Trump the singular, most immediate danger — while US imperialism and endless war continue unopposed, including the support for actual fascists in Ukraine. It should be understood that what Trump and the wave of pro-Zionist, Islamophobic right-wing populists in the EU represent is something qualitatively different.
Still, anyone on the left who dares oppose US imperialism today is risking being branded a ‘red-brown’ collaborator. The Democratic Party, which spearheaded the Orwellian idea of “humanitarian interventionism” used to justify the wholesale destruction of uncooperative nations by the American war machine in recent decades, has since tricked the majority of the left into unwittingly backing US imperialism to unseat “dictators.”
Even when the Left today ostensibly opposes war, it is often forced to qualify its objections by repeating the same talking points about countries attacked by Washington used to justify it.
The US foray in the Syrian war is a perfect example. Trump’s idea to designate Antifa as a terrorist group would be especially ironic considering that many American leftists who self-identify using the “Antifa” black and red standard have thrown their support behind the creation of another infamous “autonomous zone” in Northeast Syria established by mostly-Kurdish militias known as Rojava — with the help of none other than the US military.
There is even a self-proclaimed International Freedom Battalion of American and European volunteers fighting to defend the enclave that purports to be in the tradition of the International Brigades which defended the Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War.
These “Antifa” conscripts fight alongside the YPG (People’s Protection Units), a Kurdish-majority militia which has been rebranded by the Pentagon as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). These leftists are apparently in serious need of a history lesson, considering it was the Soviet Union alone which intervened to defend the Spanish Republic from fascism, not the United States.
From Washington’s perspective, CHOP/CHAZ should be considered blowback from this policy.
The US creation of the SDF has not been without controversy, as the YPG is widely regarded as the Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Turkey which Washington’s NATO ally regards as a terrorist organization. While the Kurds and their Western volunteers may believe they are creating an anarchist utopia, in reality they are infantryman for the Zionist plan to balkanize Syria and prevent Damascus from accessing its own resources. So it makes perfect sense that they would try to replicate what they learned in Afrin in an American city using Rojava as a model.
When Trump tried to follow through on his anti-interventionist pledges as a candidate and pull US troops out of Syria, it sparked outrage from the pro-war “left” which glorifies Rojava as a ‘libertarian socialist’ and ‘direct democracy’ experiment, even though non-Kurds such as Arabs and Assyrian Christians face ethnic cleansing at hands of Kurdish nationalists in their efforts to create an ethno-state.
The ideological inspiration for the Rojava federation is the Jewish-American Zionist anarchist philosopher Murray Bookchin who was especially influential to PKK founder Abdullah Öcalan. Unbeknownst to many, Bookchin was also a noted Zionist — but this is not as unlikely a paradox as it may seem.
After all, Israel itself was initially established with the settlement of communes and the Zionist form of “autonomous zones” known as kibbutz (“gathering” in Hebrew).
Even prior to WWII, European Zionists and early kibbutniks came to Mandatory Palestine as illegal immigrants and began living in their communes while fusing Jewish nationalism and their own conception of socialism, an amalgamation not unlike what the Kurds are practicing in Syria today.
One other highly influential thinker in the anarchist community who purports to be a ‘libertarian socialist’, Noam Chomsky, was himself part of the Zionist kibbutz movement in his youth. This explains why Chomsky would call for a continuation of the US occupation of northern Syria on the basis of “protecting the Kurds“, who are trying to repeat the formula used to found Israel to create a Syrian Kurdistan as another US protectorate in the Middle East.
It is no coincidence that in the manifesto listing the demands of the sit-in in Seattle, nowhere to be found is the defunding of the Pentagon — the primary supplier through the 1033 Program of the militarized police violence being protested. The same cognitively dissonant left calling to “defund the police”, which will almost certainly be used as a pretext to privatize them, completely ignores endless US wars abroad and opposed efforts by the Trump administration to scale back expansionism in Syria.
The focus on the tearing down of statues from America’s colonial ‘past’ has also coincided with Israel’s preparations in colonizing what remains of Palestinian territory with the annexation of the West Bank — where are the mass protests to stop that? If Black Lives Matter dared focus on AIPAC, it would be shut down very quickly.
In 2016, when BLM endorsed the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign to boycott Israel, their previously enjoyed benefits suddenly were in jeopardy and was revealed to be the direct result of sabotage by the Zionist lobby.
In the last several decades, there has been a retreat of class conscious forces in U.S. political life, especially after the fall of the Soviet Union.
The degenerate form of the left that exists today is an unfortunate result of the academization of social issues and the influence of the Frankfurt School critical theorists whose bourgeoisification of Marxism reduced it to a lens by which to critique culture and the arts while removing its class politics.
The politically correct obsession with the policing of language by the postmodern cult of identity politics is excluding the working class from the conversation and counteracting its revolutionary potential.
The CIA fronts in the Open Society, Ford, and Kellogg Foundations of the non-profit industrial complex have successfully corralled the protests while no substantial change has been made to the real ills in US society where the 1% has made trillions during the pandemic and subsequent economic depression.
While the masses are busy tipping over statues and monuments in a crusade to purify history, the ruling class is laughing all the way to the bank.
Originally published at Dissident Voice
Max Parry is an independent journalist and geopolitical analyst. His work has appeared in several independent publications. Read him on Medium. Max may be reached at: [email protected] .