offguardian--2020-09-02--From Cotton to Brinjal: Fraudulent GMO Project in India Sustained by Deception

Insecticidal Bt ( Bacillus thuringiensis ) cotton is the first and only GM ( genetically modified ) crop that has been approved in India .
It has been cultivated in the country for more than 20 years .
In a formal statement to the Supreme Court of India , the Indian government has asserted that hybrid Bt cotton is an outstanding success .
It therefore argues that Bt cotton is a template for the introduction of GM food crops .
However , over the last week , two important webinars took place that challenged the government ’ s stance .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ involved a panel of internationally renowned scientists who conclusively debunked the myth of Bt cotton success in India .
The webinar , organised by the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture and Jatan , focused on an evidence-based evaluation of 18 years of approved Bt cotton cultivation in India .
The second webinar discussed the case of Bt brinjal , which the country ’ s apex regulatory body , the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee ( GEAC ) , has brought to the brink of commercialisation .
The webinar highlighted deep-seated problems with regulatory processes in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dogged by secrecy , conflicts of interest and ( scientific ) fraud : participants outlined how the GEAC has been colluding with crop developers and seed companies to drive GM crops into agriculture .
The panel for the Bt cotton webinar ( YouTube : Bt Cotton in India : Myths & Realities – An Evidence-Based Evaluation ) on 24 August included Dr Andrew Paul Gutierrez , senior emeritus professor in the College of Natural Resources at the University of California at Berkeley ; Dr Keshav Kranthi , former director of Central Institute for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Kenmore , former FAO representative in India , and Dr Hans Herren , World Food Prize Laureate .
Dr Herren said that “ the failure of Bt cotton ” is a classic representation of what an unsound science of plant protection and faulty direction of agricultural development can lead to .
He argued that a transformation of agriculture and the food system is required ; one that entails a shift to agroecology , which includes regenerative , organic , biodynamic , permaculture and natural farming practices .
Dr Kenmore said that Bt cotton @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Recurrent cycles of crises have sparked public action and ecological field research which creates locally adapted agroecological strategies .
He added that this agroecology : Prof Gutierrez presented the ecological reasons as to why hybrid Bt cotton failed in India : long season Bt cotton introduced in India was incorporated into hybrids that trapped farmers into biotech and insecticide treadmills that benefited GMO seed manufacturers .
Prof Gutierrez asserted that increases in cotton farmer suicides are related to the resulting economic distress .
Presenting data on yields , insecticide usage , irrigation , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Dr Keshav Kranthi said that a critical analysis of official statistics ( eands.dacnet.nic.in and cotcorp.gov.in ) shows that Bt hybrid technology has not been providing any tangible benefits in India either in yield or insecticide usage .
He said that cotton yields are the lowest in the world in Maharashtra , despite being saturated with Bt hybrids and the highest use of fertilisers .
Yields in Maharashtra are less than in rainfed Africa where there is hardly any usage of technologies such as Bt , hybrids , fertilisers , pesticides or irrigation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ yields rank 36th in the world and have been stagnant in the past 15 years and insecticide usage has been constantly increasing after 2005 , despite an increase in area under Bt cotton .
Dr Kranthi argued that research also shows that the Bt hybrid technology has failed the test of sustainability with resistance in pink bollworm to Bt cotton , increasing sucking pest infestation , increasing trends in insecticide and fertiliser usage , increasing costs and negative net returns in 2014 and 2015 .
Dr Herren said that GMOs exemplify the case @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : He went on to argue that the failure of Bt cotton is a classic representation of what an unsound science of plant protection and a faulty direction of agricultural development can lead to : The government ’ s attempt to use a failed technology as a template for driving GMOs into agriculture has been exposed .
Nevertheless , the GEAC has been moving forward with late-stage trials of Bt brinjal , while ignoring the issues and arguments against its commercialisation that were forwarded a decade ago .
In February 2010 , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the release of Bt brinjal after numerous independent scientific experts from India and abroad had pointed out safety concerns based on data and reports in the biosafety dossier that Mahyco , the crop developer , had submitted to the regulators .
The then Minister of the Ministry of Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh had instituted a unique four-month scientific enquiry and public hearings .
His decision to reject the commercialisation of Bt brinjal was supported by advice from the renowned scientists .
Their collective appraisals demonstrated serious environmental and biosafety concerns .
Jairam @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in February 2010 by stating : The moratorium has not been lifted and the conditions he set out have still not been met .
Moreover , five high-level reports have advised against the adoption of GM crops in India .
Appointed by the Supreme Court , the ‘ Technical Expert Committee ( TEC ) Final Report ’ ( 2013 ) was scathing about the prevailing regulatory system and highlighted its inadequacies .
The TEC went a step further by recommending a 10-year moratorium on the commercial release of all GM crops .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , possessed endemic conflicts of interest and demonstrated a lack of expertise in GMO risk assessment protocols , including food safety assessment and the assessment of environmental impacts .
Ten years on and regulators have done nothing to address this woeful state of affairs .
As we have seen with the relentless push to get GM mustard commercialised , the problems persist .
Through numerous submissions to the Supreme Court , Aruna Rodrigues has described how GM mustard is being forced through with flawed tests ( or no tests ) and a lack @ @ @ @ @ @ @ conflicted : they promote GMOs openly , fund them and then regulate them .
And this is precisely what the webinar ‘ Bt brinjal – the danger is back ’ ( watch on YouTube ) discussed on 27 August .
Organised by the Coalition for a GM-Free India , the webinar was arranged because the regulators have again brought to the brink of commercialisation a new Bt brinjal ‘ event ’ – a different Bt brinjal than the 2010 version .
Also included in the webinar were the experiences of Bt brinjal introduction @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for Sustainable Agriculture ) highlighted how need has never been established for Bt brinjal of which India is a recognised centre of diversity .
The argument for Bt brinjal in the run-up to Jairam Ramesh ’ s moratorium was that pesticide use is a problem in containing the brinjal fruit and shoot borer .
He noted that Bt brinjal was promoted by Monsanto , USAID and Cornell University , but serious protocol violations , environmental contamination concerns and potential adverse health impacts were discovered .
He outlined simple non-pesticidal , agroecological management practises @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deal with the brinjal fruit and shoot borer .
Farida Akhter of UBINIG ( Policy Research for Development Alternative ) outlined how the introduction of Bt brinjal in Bangladesh was not needed but imposed on the country , which has 248 varieties of brinjal .
Where pesticide use is problematic , she argued that it concerns hybrid varieties rather than traditional cultivars of which 24 varieties are resistant to fruit and shoot borer .
Akhter said that poor quality brinjal and financial losses for farmers have been major issues .
Many have abandoned @ @ @ @ @ @ @ incentives to cultivate and where they have done so , fertiliser use has increased and there have been many pest attacks , with 35 different types of pesticides applied .
The Bill Gates-funded Cornell Alliance for Science , a public relations entity that promotes GM agriculture , and USAID , which serves the interests of the GMO biotech sector , tried to sell Bt brinjal on the basis it would ‘ save ’ people from the overuse of pesticides and related illnesses .
But Akhter argued that Bangladesh was targeted because the Philippines @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Again , protocol violations occurred leading to its introduction and Akhter concluded that there was no scientific basis for Bt brinjal : its introduction was political .
As for India , event EE1 , the initial Bt brinjal , has now been replaced by event 142 , a different Bt brinjal .
Kavitha Kuruganti ( Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture ) explained this in the webinar and notes that the GEAC , immediately after the 2010 moratorium was announced , went straight ahead and sanctioned new trials for this Bt brinjal .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ did not apply to this version , while ignoring all the criticisms about lack of competence , conflicts of interest , non-transparency and protocol violations .
It was effectively business as usual !
With event EE1 , Kuruganti implied that the GEAC acted more like a servant for Mayco and its Monsanto master .
Nothing has changed .
She noted the ongoing revolving door between crop developers ( even patent holders ) and regulators .
As before , developers-cum-lobbyists were actually sitting on regulatory bodies as event 142 was proceeding .
Under public-private-partnership @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to private companies for biosafety testing/commercialisation .
Despite major concerns , the GEAC has pressed ahead with various trials .
In May 2020 , under lockdown , Kuruganti notes that the GEAC held a virtual meeting and sanctioned what were effectively final trials prior to commercialisation .
She explains that important information and vital data is not in the public domain .
According to Kuruganti , the regulator sits with the crop developer and the companies and grant biosafety clearance , claiming all tests ( soil , pollen flow , toxicity , etc @ @ @ @ @ @ @ disturbing is that these licensed companies have closed and opened under new names ( with the same people in charge ) , thereby making accountability and liability fixing very difficult if something were to go wrong further down the line .
She concludes that the story of event 142 is even worse than event EE1 : Taken together , the two webinars highlighted how hybrid Bt cotton is being deceptively used as a template for rolling out GM food crops : a fraud being used to promote another fraud in order to force @ @ @ @ @ @

Colin Todhunter
Insecticidal Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) cotton is the first and only GM (genetically modified) crop that has been approved in India. It has been cultivated in the country for more than 20 years.
In a formal statement to the Supreme Court of India, the Indian government has asserted that hybrid Bt cotton is an outstanding success. It therefore argues that Bt cotton is a template for the introduction of GM food crops.
However, over the last week, two important webinars took place that challenged the government’s stance. The first was on Bt cotton and involved a panel of internationally renowned scientists who conclusively debunked the myth of Bt cotton success in India.
The webinar, organised by the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture and Jatan, focused on an evidence-based evaluation of 18 years of approved Bt cotton cultivation in India.
The second webinar discussed the case of Bt brinjal, which the country’s apex regulatory body, the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), has brought to the brink of commercialisation.
The webinar highlighted deep-seated problems with regulatory processes in India and outlined how the GEAC is dogged by secrecy, conflicts of interest and (scientific) fraud: participants outlined how the GEAC has been colluding with crop developers and seed companies to drive GM crops into agriculture.
Bt cotton failure
The panel for the Bt cotton webinar (YouTube: Bt Cotton in India: Myths & Realities – An Evidence-Based Evaluation) on 24 August included Dr Andrew Paul Gutierrez, senior emeritus professor in the College of Natural Resources at the University of California at Berkeley; Dr Keshav Kranthi, former director of Central Institute for Cotton Research in India; Dr Peter Kenmore, former FAO representative in India, and Dr Hans Herren, World Food Prize Laureate.
Dr Herren said that “the failure of Bt cotton” is a classic representation of what an unsound science of plant protection and faulty direction of agricultural development can lead to.
He explained:
Bt hybrid technology in India represents an error-driven policy that has led to the denial and non-implementation of the real solutions for the revival of cotton in India, which lie in HDSS (high density short season) planting of non-Bt/GMO cotton in pure line varieties of native desi species and American cotton species.”
He argued that a transformation of agriculture and the food system is required; one that entails a shift to agroecology, which includes regenerative, organic, biodynamic, permaculture and natural farming practices.
Dr Kenmore said that Bt cotton is an aging pest control technology:
It follows the same path worn down by generations of insecticide molecules from arsenic to DDT to BHC to endosulfan to monocrotophos to carbaryl to imidacloprid. In-house research aims for each molecule to be packaged biochemically, legally and commercially before it is released and promoted. Corporate and public policy actors then claim yield increases but deliver no more than temporary pest suppression, secondary pest release and pest resistance.”
Recurrent cycles of crises have sparked public action and ecological field research which creates locally adapted agroecological strategies.
He added that this agroecology:
…now gathers global support from citizens’ groups, governments and UN-FAO. Their robust local solutions in Indian cotton do not require any new molecules, including endo-toxins like in Bt cotton”.
Prof Gutierrez presented the ecological reasons as to why hybrid Bt cotton failed in India: long season Bt cotton introduced in India was incorporated into hybrids that trapped farmers into biotech and insecticide treadmills that benefited GMO seed manufacturers.
He noted:
The cultivation of long-season hybrid Bt cotton in rainfed areas is unique to India. It is a value capture mechanism that does not contribute to yield, is a major contributor to low yield stagnation and contributes to increasing production costs.”
Prof Gutierrez asserted that increases in cotton farmer suicides are related to the resulting economic distress.
He argued:
A viable solution to the current GM hybrid system is adoption of improved non-GM high-density short-season fertile cotton varieties.”
Presenting data on yields, insecticide usage, irrigation, fertiliser usage and pest incidence and resistance, Dr Keshav Kranthi said that a critical analysis of official statistics (eands.dacnet.nic.in and cotcorp.gov.in) shows that Bt hybrid technology has not been providing any tangible benefits in India either in yield or insecticide usage.
He said that cotton yields are the lowest in the world in Maharashtra, despite being saturated with Bt hybrids and the highest use of fertilisers. Yields in Maharashtra are less than in rainfed Africa where there is hardly any usage of technologies such as Bt, hybrids, fertilisers, pesticides or irrigation.
It is revealing that Indian cotton yields rank 36th in the world and have been stagnant in the past 15 years and insecticide usage has been constantly increasing after 2005, despite an increase in area under Bt cotton.
Dr Kranthi argued that research also shows that the Bt hybrid technology has failed the test of sustainability with resistance in pink bollworm to Bt cotton, increasing sucking pest infestation, increasing trends in insecticide and fertiliser usage, increasing costs and negative net returns in 2014 and 2015.
Dr Herren said that GMOs exemplify the case of a technology searching for an application:
It is essentially about treating symptoms, rather than taking a systems approach to create resilient, productive and bio-diverse food systems in the widest sense and to provide sustainable and affordable solutions in it’s social, environmental and economic dimensions.”
He went on to argue that the failure of Bt cotton is a classic representation of what an unsound science of plant protection and a faulty direction of agricultural development can lead to:
“We need to push aside the vested interests blocking the transformation with the baseless arguments of ‘the world needs more food’ and design and implement policies that are forward-looking… We have all the needed scientific and practical evidence that the agroecological approaches to food and nutrition security work successfully.”
Bt brinjal – the danger is back
The government’s attempt to use a failed technology as a template for driving GMOs into agriculture has been exposed. Nevertheless, the GEAC has been moving forward with late-stage trials of Bt brinjal, while ignoring the issues and arguments against its commercialisation that were forwarded a decade ago.
In February 2010, the Indian government placed an indefinite moratorium on the release of Bt brinjal after numerous independent scientific experts from India and abroad had pointed out safety concerns based on data and reports in the biosafety dossier that Mahyco, the crop developer, had submitted to the regulators.
The then Minister of the Ministry of Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh had instituted a unique four-month scientific enquiry and public hearings. His decision to reject the commercialisation of Bt brinjal was supported by advice from the renowned scientists. Their collective appraisals demonstrated serious environmental and biosafety concerns.
Jairam Ramesh pronounced a moratorium on Bt brinjal in February 2010 by stating:
it is my duty to adopt a cautious, precautionary principle-based approach and impose a moratorium on the release of Bt brinjal, till such time independent scientific studies establish, to the satisfaction of both the public and professionals, the safety of the product from the point of view of its long-term impact on human health and environment, including the rich genetic wealth existing in brinjal in our country.”
The moratorium has not been lifted and the conditions he set out have still not been met. Moreover, five high-level reports have advised against the adoption of GM crops in India.
Appointed by the Supreme Court, the ‘Technical Expert Committee (TEC) Final Report’ (2013) was scathing about the prevailing regulatory system and highlighted its inadequacies. The TEC went a step further by recommending a 10-year moratorium on the commercial release of all GM crops.
The regulatory process was shown to lack competency, possessed endemic conflicts of interest and demonstrated a lack of expertise in GMO risk assessment protocols, including food safety assessment and the assessment of environmental impacts.
Ten years on and regulators have done nothing to address this woeful state of affairs. As we have seen with the relentless push to get GM mustard commercialised, the problems persist. Through numerous submissions to the Supreme Court, Aruna Rodrigues has described how GM mustard is being forced through with flawed tests (or no tests) and a lack of public scrutiny.
Regulators are seriously conflicted: they promote GMOs openly, fund them and then regulate them.
And this is precisely what the webinar ‘Bt brinjal – the danger is back’ (watch on YouTube) discussed on 27 August. Organised by the Coalition for a GM-Free India, the webinar was arranged because the regulators have again brought to the brink of commercialisation a new Bt brinjal ‘event’ – a different Bt brinjal than the 2010 version. Also included in the webinar were the experiences of Bt brinjal introduction in Bangladesh.
Dr Ramanjaneyulu (Centre for Sustainable Agriculture) highlighted how need has never been established for Bt brinjal of which India is a recognised centre of diversity. The argument for Bt brinjal in the run-up to Jairam Ramesh’s moratorium was that pesticide use is a problem in containing the brinjal fruit and shoot borer.
He noted that Bt brinjal was promoted by Monsanto, USAID and Cornell University, but serious protocol violations, environmental contamination concerns and potential adverse health impacts were discovered.
He outlined simple non-pesticidal, agroecological management practises that can and are being used to deal with the brinjal fruit and shoot borer.
Farida Akhter of UBINIG (Policy Research for Development Alternative) outlined how the introduction of Bt brinjal in Bangladesh was not needed but imposed on the country, which has 248 varieties of brinjal. Where pesticide use is problematic, she argued that it concerns hybrid varieties rather than traditional cultivars of which 24 varieties are resistant to fruit and shoot borer.
Akhter said that poor quality brinjal and financial losses for farmers have been major issues. Many have abandoned Bt brinjal, but farmers have received incentives to cultivate and where they have done so, fertiliser use has increased and there have been many pest attacks, with 35 different types of pesticides applied.
The Bill Gates-funded Cornell Alliance for Science, a public relations entity that promotes GM agriculture, and USAID, which serves the interests of the GMO biotech sector, tried to sell Bt brinjal on the basis it would ‘save’ people from the overuse of pesticides and related illnesses.
But Akhter argued that Bangladesh was targeted because the Philippines and India had rejected Bt brinjal. Again, protocol violations occurred leading to its introduction and Akhter concluded that there was no scientific basis for Bt brinjal: its introduction was political.
As for India, event EE1, the initial Bt brinjal, has now been replaced by event 142, a different Bt brinjal. Kavitha Kuruganti (Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture) explained this in the webinar and notes that the GEAC, immediately after the 2010 moratorium was announced, went straight ahead and sanctioned new trials for this Bt brinjal.
The GEAC basically stated that the moratorium did not apply to this version, while ignoring all the criticisms about lack of competence, conflicts of interest, non-transparency and protocol violations. It was effectively business as usual!
With event EE1, Kuruganti implied that the GEAC acted more like a servant for Mayco and its Monsanto master. Nothing has changed. She noted the ongoing revolving door between crop developers (even patent holders) and regulators.
As before, developers-cum-lobbyists were actually sitting on regulatory bodies as event 142 was proceeding.
Under public-private-partnership arrangements, event 142 has been licensed to private companies for biosafety testing/commercialisation. Despite major concerns, the GEAC has pressed ahead with various trials.
In May 2020, under lockdown, Kuruganti notes that the GEAC held a virtual meeting and sanctioned what were effectively final trials prior to commercialisation. She explains that important information and vital data is not in the public domain.
According to Kuruganti, the regulator sits with the crop developer and the companies and grant biosafety clearance, claiming all tests (soil, pollen flow, toxicity, etc) are complete. What is also disturbing is that these licensed companies have closed and opened under new names (with the same people in charge), thereby making accountability and liability fixing very difficult if something were to go wrong further down the line.
She concludes that the story of event 142 is even worse than event EE1:
Once again, they are certainly hiding things that they don’t want conscientious scientists and aware citizens to see and know.”
Taken together, the two webinars highlighted how hybrid Bt cotton is being deceptively used as a template for rolling out GM food crops: a fraud being used to promote another fraud in order to force unnecessary GMOs into Indian agriculture.


offguardian--2020-09-02--Navalny Novichok Poisoning: The (Very Unlikely) Story So Far

“ Maybe the Russians failed on purpose because they want to scare us.
” Navalny Novichok Poisoning : The ( Very Unlikely ) Story So Far For those of you who haven ’ t been following the news – Russian politician ( or “ opposition figure ” , as he is universally referred to in the Western press ) Alexei Navalny was taken ill two weeks ago .
It is now being reported he was “ poisoned ” with “ novichok ” .
Here ’ s a quick rundown of the official story as it currently stands ( bearing in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ official stories ” it will likely be subject to instant , contradictory and retroactive changes in the coming weeks ) : • Alexei Navalny has never held any elected office , his political party doesn ’ t have a single MP in the Duma , and he polls at roughly 2 % support with the Russian people .
• Despite this , and in the middle of an alleged “ pandemic ” , Vladimir Putin deems the man a threat and orders him killed .
• The State apparatus responsible for unnecessary and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to use novichok to poison him .
• This decision is taken in spite of the facts that a ) Novichok totally and utterly failed to work in their alleged murder of the Skripals and b ) It has already been widely publicly associated with Russia .
• Rather unsurprisingly , the novichok which didn ’ t kill its alleged target last time , doesn ’ t kill its alleged target this time either .
• Compounding their poor decision making , the Russians not only perform an emergency landing and take Navalny @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
• Despite Navalny being helpless and comatose in a Russian hospital , the powerful state-backed assassination team make no further attempts on his life .
• In fact , seemingly determined to under no circumstances successfully kill their intended victim , the Russian government , allow him to leave the country and get medical help from one of the countries which previously accused them of using novichok .
• To absolutely no one ’ s surprise , the Germans claim to have detected novichok in Navalny ’ s system .
• Vladimir @ @ @ @ @ @ @ blamed for the attempted murder .
If all this seems unlikely to you , don ’ t worry Luke Harding is here to explain it all .
He doesn ’ t have any evidence , of course .
Instead we get sentences like this one [ our emphasis ] : However , never let it be said that Luke isn ’ t aware of the contradictions in his story : But he has an answer for this : You see , Putin wants everyone to know he did it , so he ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Kremlin ’ s denials are being done with “ a wink and smile ” .
This must be some new meaning of the word “ logical ” I wasn ’ t previously aware of .
One wonders what the Russians would have done if the novichok had worked as intended , and killed Navalny before he could get to a hospital .
They couldn ’ t send him to Berlin then , so who announces the novichok was there ?
Do they do it themselves ?
Oh well , at least now people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ isn ’ t the rapidly crumbling Covid narrative .

“Maybe the Russians failed on purpose because they want to scare us.”
Navalny Novichok Poisoning: The (Very Unlikely) Story So Far
Kit Knightly
For those of you who haven’t been following the news – Russian politician (or “opposition figure”, as he is universally referred to in the Western press) Alexei Navalny was taken ill two weeks ago. It is now being reported he was “poisoned” with “novichok”.
Here’s a quick rundown of the official story as it currently stands (bearing in mind that, as with most “official stories” it will likely be subject to instant, contradictory and retroactive changes in the coming weeks):
Alexei Navalny has never held any elected office, his political party doesn’t have a single MP in the Duma, and he polls at roughly 2% support with the Russian people.
Despite this, and in the middle of an alleged “pandemic”, Vladimir Putin deems the man a threat and orders him killed.
The State apparatus responsible for unnecessary and seemingly arbitrary acts of political murder decide to use novichok to poison him.
This decision is taken in spite of the facts that a) Novichok totally and utterly failed to work in their alleged murder of the Skripals and b) It has already been widely publicly associated with Russia.
Novichok totally and utterly failed to work in their alleged murder of the Skripals and It has already been widely publicly associated with Russia. Rather unsurprisingly, the novichok which didn’t kill its alleged target last time, doesn’t kill its alleged target this time either.
Compounding their poor decision making, the Russians perform an emergency landing and take Navalny straight to a hospital for emergency medical care.
Despite Navalny being helpless and comatose in a Russian hospital, the powerful state-backed assassination team make no further attempts on his life.
In fact, seemingly determined to under no circumstances successfully kill their intended victim, the Russian government, allow him to leave the country and get medical help from one of the countries which previously accused them of using novichok.
To absolutely no one’s surprise, the Germans claim to have detected novichok in Navalny’s system.
Vladimir Putin and the Russian government are immediately blamed for the attempted murder.
If all this seems unlikely to you, don’t worry Luke Harding is here to explain it all.
He doesn’t have any evidence, of course. Instead we get sentences like this one [our emphasis]:
Over the past decade Moscow has produced and stockpiled small quantities, western intelligence agencies believe.
However, never let it be said that Luke isn’t aware of the contradictions in his story:
One other unresolved question is why Moscow granted permission for Navalny to be treated abroad, knowing that sooner or later the novichok inside his body would be detected.
But he has an answer for this:
The logical conclusion: Moscow wants the world to know.
You see, Putin wants everyone to know he did it, so he’s making it obvious. And the Kremlin’s denials are being done with “a wink and smile”. This must be some new meaning of the word “logical” I wasn’t previously aware of.
One wonders what the Russians would have done if the novichok had worked as intended, and killed Navalny before he could get to a hospital.
They couldn’t send him to Berlin then, so who announces the novichok was there? Do they do it themselves?
Oh well, at least now people will have something to talk about that isn’t the rapidly crumbling Covid narrative.


New Normal Gleichschaltung

On March 21 , 1933 , the Nazi-controlled Reichstag passed a law making it a crime to speak out against the government .
The “ Regulations of the Reich President for Defense from Treacherous Attacks against the Government of the National Uprising ” made even the slightest expression of dissent from Nazi ideology a criminal offense .
This new law , among other totalitarian measures , was part of a process known as Gleichschaltung…the process of achieving rigid and total ideological coordination and uniformity in politics , culture , and private communication by forcibly repressing ( or eliminating ) independence @ @ @ @ @ @ @ GloboCap hasn ’ t done anything that heavy-handed in the course of rolling out the New Normal totalitarianism , but that ’ s mainly because they do not have to .
When you control the vast majority of the global corporate media , you don ’ t need to pass a lot of ham-fisted laws banning all dissent from your totalitarian ideology .
This isn ’ t the 1930s , after all .
Over the last ninety years , the arts of propaganda , disinformation , and perception management have advanced to a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have imagined .
The skill with which GloboCap and the corporate media delegitimized the anti-New Normal demonstrations in Berlin , London , and other cities last weekend is a perfect example of the state of those arts .
I ’ ll focus on Berlin , as that ’ s where I live , and the so-called “ Storming of the Reichstag ” incident , but it works pretty much the same way everywhere .
I believe there was a curious incident involving a person with a fascist flag in London , and that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ David Icke to be the movement ’ s figurehead .
In Berlin , in the days leading up to the protests , government officials and corporate media propagandists did what officials and propagandists do … they relentlessly repeated their official narrative , namely , that anyone protesting the New Normal ( or doubting the official Coronavirus narrative ) is a “ violent neo-Nazi extremist , ” or “ conspiracy theorist , ” or some other form of existential “ threat to democracy.
” This official narrative was originally disseminated following the August 1 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which took the authorities by surprise .
Tens or hundreds of thousands of people ( depending on whose narrative you believe ) gathered in the city to protest the New Normal and its increasingly absurd “ emergency measures.
” The German media , CNN , The New York Times , and other “ respectable news outlets ” uniformly condemned them as “ neo-Nazis , ” or insinuated that they were “ neo-Nazi-sympathizers.
” Despite the finding of Germany ’ s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution that only “ individual members @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the August 1 protest , and that “ far-right extremists had no formative influence on the demos , ” both the German and international corporate media pumped out story after story about the ultra-violent neo-Nazi hordes that were about to descend on Berlin , again !
Der Tagespiegel , a major German newspaper , reported that the demo was being “ infiltrated by Nazis.
” Die Tagesschau , the German BBC , shrieked that “ neo-Nazis are mobilizing !
” RBB , another public broadcaster , reported that the “ traveling circus of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ city !
( N.B .
Any reference to any kind of “ deniers ” in Germany evokes Holocaust deniers , i.e.
, Nazis ) .
Ver.di , the German journalists union , warned their members that they were expecting reporters to suffer “ double-digit physical attacks.
” And these are just a few of countless examples .
The American and UK corporate media also did their Gleichschaltung duty , disseminating the official “ Nazis are Coming !
” narrative .
( I don ’ t need to do the citations , do I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Antifa joined in the chorus .
On Wednesday , three days before the demo , having successfully whipped the New Normal masses up into a state of wide-eyed panic over the imminent neo-Nazi invasion , the Berlin government banned the protests .
The New Normal masses celebrated .
A few concerns about…you know , democracy , were perfunctorily voiced , but they were quickly silenced when Interior Senator Andreas Geisel explained that abrogating the people ’ s constitutional right to freedom of assembly , and freedom of speech , and to petition their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a totalitarian act , but was purely a matter of “ protecting the public health.
” Then , in a particularly Orwellian twist , although the protest itself had now been banned , the Berlin government decided to approve a “ counter-protest ” against the banned protest .
I ’ m not quite sure how that was supposed to work .
The night before the demo , an administrative court overturned the protest ban .
It didn ’ t really matter , as the authorities knew they couldn ’ t stop the demo @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was just part of the show ( and the Gleichschaltung process the show was part of ) , meant to emphasize the existential threat posed by the bloodthirsty Nazi legion that was on its way to sack the city .
On Saturday , hundreds of thousands of protesters ( the overwhelming majority of whom were not neo-Nazis , or Nazi-sympathizers , or any other kind of monsters ) poured into the streets of central Berlin .
The police surrounded them , trapping them on the avenues , closed off the side streets so @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and , once again , tried to ban the protest on the grounds that they weren ’ t “ social distancing.
” Everyone sat down in the street .
Cops stalked around in their masks and body armor , sweating heavily , and occasionally pushing people .
Lawyers made phone calls .
It was very hot .
This went on for quite a while .
Eventually , the court instructed the police to let the demonstration go ahead .
And the rest is history … except that it isn ’ t .
According @ @ @ @ @ @ @ no hundreds of thousands of protesters .
There were “ tens of thousands , ” and they were all “ neo-Nazis , ” and “ Nazi-sympathizers , ” and “ Coronavirus deniers , ” and “ stark-raving mad conspiracy theorists.
” In any event , hundreds of thousands of protesters made their way down Unter den Linden , through the iconic Brandenburg Gate , and onward to the main demonstration , filling the Straße des 17 .
Juni from the Brandenburg Gate to the Siegessäule .
By now , I assume you ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you haven ’ t .
It ’ s actually fairly hard to find any photos in the media that give you any real perspective .
And , finally , we have come to the main event … which , of course , was not this enormous gathering of totally non-violent , non-Nazi people peacefully protesting the New Normal totalitarianism , nor the speech of Robert F. Kennedy , Jr. No , the “ story , ” the official main event , was the “ Storming of the Reichstag building by Nazis.
” I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ part .
Here ’ s an excerpt from his recent blog post : How do you manage to delegitimize a peaceful mass protest against the corona measures in such a way that the media report not about a protest by hundreds of thousands , but about the “ storming ” of the Reichstag ?
Quite simply : you approve an application by a group of Reichsbürger to assemble directly in front of the Reichstag ( N.B .
the official applicant for this assembly was Ex-NPD-member Rüdiger Hoffmann ) and station only three policemen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the large police presence everywhere in the area .
Then you let a crazy Q-Anon-chick scream into the microphone that “ Donald Trump has declared freedom , ” that “ the police have laid down their weapons , ” and that “ everyone should now occupy the steps of the Reichstag , ” and , presto , you have the images you need to dominate the coverage…a mob of a few dozen people with Reichsbürger flags “ storming the Reichstag.
” Never mind the fact that the massive demonstration at the Siegesäule ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Querdenken 711 had absolutely nothing to do with this incident , which was carried out by a right-wing-extremist splinter group .
The demonstration had already been delegitimized as a protest staged by Reichsbürger extremists and tin-foil-hat lunatics in the days leading up to it , and now the visual confirmation was provided .
In a video of the lead-up to the “ Reichstag storming ” incident , Tamara K. , a natural health practitioner , and pretty obviously a far-right wacko , is the “ crazy Q-Anon-chick ” in question .
You can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ there are no more police here , ” which the video confirms .
Or rather , the few police that were there had left the building completely unguarded and pulled back to well behind this assembly of obviously far-right-extremist-type clowns ( who , remember , had been granted official permission to stage their assembly at the steps of the Reichstag ) .
This , despite the days and weeks of warnings of a “ neo-Nazi invasion ” from government officials and the corporate media .
Anyway , once the Reichstag steps were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Reichsflagge were in the right positions ( approximately four minutes into the video ) , the police finally arrived to mount their defense .
It was touch-and-go there for a while , but at the end of the day , democracy triumphed .
Naturally , there were plenty of journalists on hand to capture this historic drama and broadcast it all around the world .
And there you have it , the official narrative , which Saskia Esken , SPD co-leader , succinctly squeezed into a tweet : Oh , and yesterday , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I saw that the Berlin Senate had passed a new regulation requiring the participants of any future protests to all wear masks…so I take back what I wrote in the beginning .
It looks like GloboCap , or at least its German branch , has some ham-fisted totalitarianism left in it .
I ’ ll keep you posted on the Gleichschaltung process , and the advance of the New Normal totalitarianism , generally .
In the meantime , remember , this is just about a virus !
And the Nazis really are coming @ @ @ @ @ @ @ powerful tool to bring about real , lasting change in society…oh , yeah , and the chocolate ration has been increased !
CJ Hopkins is an award-winning American playwright , novelist and political satirist based in Berlin .
His plays are published by Bloomsbury Publishing and Broadway Play Publishing , Inc. His dystopian novel , Zone 23 , is published by Snoggsworthy , Swaine & Cormorant .
Volume I of his Consent Factory Essays is published by Consent Factory Publishing , a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amalgamated Content , Inc .
He can be @ @ @ @ @ @

CJ Hopkins
On March 21, 1933, the Nazi-controlled Reichstag passed a law making it a crime to speak out against the government. The “Regulations of the Reich President for Defense from Treacherous Attacks against the Government of the National Uprising” made even the slightest expression of dissent from Nazi ideology a criminal offense.
This new law, among other totalitarian measures, was part of a process known as Gleichschaltung…the process of achieving rigid and total ideological coordination and uniformity in politics, culture, and private communication by forcibly repressing (or eliminating) independence and freedom of thought and expression.
GloboCap hasn’t done anything that heavy-handed in the course of rolling out the New Normal totalitarianism, but that’s mainly because they do not have to.
When you control the vast majority of the global corporate media, you don’t need to pass a lot of ham-fisted laws banning all dissent from your totalitarian ideology. This isn’t the 1930s, after all.
Over the last ninety years, the arts of propaganda, disinformation, and perception management have advanced to a point that even Goebbels couldn’t have imagined.
The skill with which GloboCap and the corporate media delegitimized the anti-New Normal demonstrations in Berlin, London, and other cities last weekend is a perfect example of the state of those arts.
I’ll focus on Berlin, as that’s where I live, and the so-called “Storming of the Reichstag” incident, but it works pretty much the same way everywhere. I believe there was a curious incident involving a person with a fascist flag in London, and that the UK media have now officially chosen David Icke to be the movement’s figurehead.
In Berlin, in the days leading up to the protests, government officials and corporate media propagandists did what officials and propagandists do … they relentlessly repeated their official narrative, namely, that anyone protesting the New Normal (or doubting the official Coronavirus narrative) is a “violent neo-Nazi extremist,” or “conspiracy theorist,” or some other form of existential “threat to democracy.”
This official narrative was originally disseminated following the August 1 protest in Berlin, the scale of which took the authorities by surprise. Tens or hundreds of thousands of people (depending on whose narrative you believe) gathered in the city to protest the New Normal and its increasingly absurd “emergency measures.”
The German media, CNN, The New York Times, and other “respectable news outlets” uniformly condemned them as “neo-Nazis,” or insinuated that they were “neo-Nazi-sympathizers.”
Despite the finding of Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution that only “individual members of far-right-groups” had taken part in the August 1 protest, and that “far-right extremists had no formative influence on the demos,” both the German and international corporate media pumped out story after story about the ultra-violent neo-Nazi hordes that were about to descend on Berlin, again!
Der Tagespiegel, a major German newspaper, reported that the demo was being “infiltrated by Nazis.” Die Tagesschau, the German BBC, shrieked that “neo-Nazis are mobilizing!”
RBB, another public broadcaster, reported that the “traveling circus of Corona-deniers” was heading straight for the city! (N.B. Any reference to any kind of “deniers” in Germany evokes Holocaust deniers, i.e., Nazis). Ver.di, the German journalists union, warned their members that they were expecting reporters to suffer “double-digit physical attacks.” And these are just a few of countless examples.
The American and UK corporate media also did their Gleichschaltung duty, disseminating the official “Nazis are Coming!” narrative. (I don’t need to do the citations, do I?) And, of course, Antifa joined in the chorus.
On Wednesday, three days before the demo, having successfully whipped the New Normal masses up into a state of wide-eyed panic over the imminent neo-Nazi invasion, the Berlin government banned the protests. The New Normal masses celebrated.
A few concerns about…you know, democracy, were perfunctorily voiced, but they were quickly silenced when Interior Senator Andreas Geisel explained that abrogating the people’s constitutional right to freedom of assembly, and freedom of speech, and to petition their government, was not in any way a totalitarian act, but was purely a matter of “protecting the public health.”
For good measure, Geisel also added:
I’m not willing to accept a second time that Berlin is being abused as a stage for Corona deniers, Reichsbürger, and right-wing extremists.”
Then, in a particularly Orwellian twist, although the protest itself had now been banned, the Berlin government decided to approve a “counter-protest” against the banned protest. I’m not quite sure how that was supposed to work.
The night before the demo, an administrative court overturned the protest ban. It didn’t really matter, as the authorities knew they couldn’t stop the demo in any event. Banning the protest was just part of the show (and the Gleichschaltung process the show was part of), meant to emphasize the existential threat posed by the bloodthirsty Nazi legion that was on its way to sack the city.
On Saturday, hundreds of thousands of protesters (the overwhelming majority of whom were not neo-Nazis, or Nazi-sympathizers, or any other kind of monsters) poured into the streets of central Berlin. The police surrounded them, trapping them on the avenues, closed off the side streets so they couldn’t get out, and, once again, tried to ban the protest on the grounds that they weren’t “social distancing.” Everyone sat down in the street.
Cops stalked around in their masks and body armor, sweating heavily, and occasionally pushing people. Lawyers made phone calls. It was very hot. This went on for quite a while.
Eventually, the court instructed the police to let the demonstration go ahead. And the rest is history … except that it isn’t. According to the official narrative, there were no hundreds of thousands of protesters. There were “tens of thousands,” and they were all “neo-Nazis,” and “Nazi-sympathizers,” and “Coronavirus deniers,” and “stark-raving mad conspiracy theorists.”
(Full disclosure: I was there with them, and, yes, indeed, there were some neo-Nazis among the hundreds of thousands in the streets, but, just like at the August 1 protest, these far-right boneheads were a small minority and not at all welcomed by the majority of the participants, no more than the Trotskyists and anti-Semites were welcomed at the 2003 anti-war protests before the US invasion of Iraq, although, yes, they were definitely there.)
In any event, hundreds of thousands of protesters made their way down Unter den Linden, through the iconic Brandenburg Gate, and onward to the main demonstration, filling the Straße des 17. Juni from the Brandenburg Gate to the Siegessäule. By now, I assume you’ve seen the pictures. Or maybe you haven’t. It’s actually fairly hard to find any photos in the media that give you any real perspective.
And, finally, we have come to the main event … which, of course, was not this enormous gathering of totally non-violent, non-Nazi people peacefully protesting the New Normal totalitarianism, nor the speech of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. No, the “story,” the official main event, was the “Storming of the Reichstag building by Nazis.”
I’ll let Mathias Bröckers handle this part. Here’s an excerpt from his recent blog post:
Storming of Reichstag Averted – Democracy Saved! How do you manage to delegitimize a peaceful mass protest against the corona measures in such a way that the media report not about a protest by hundreds of thousands, but about the “storming” of the Reichstag? Quite simply: you approve an application by a group of Reichsbürger to assemble directly in front of the Reichstag (N.B. the official applicant for this assembly was Ex-NPD-member Rüdiger Hoffmann) and station only three policemen in front of the west entrance despite the large police presence everywhere in the area. Then you let a crazy Q-Anon-chick scream into the microphone that “Donald Trump has declared freedom,” that “the police have laid down their weapons,” and that “everyone should now occupy the steps of the Reichstag,” and, presto, you have the images you need to dominate the coverage…a mob of a few dozen people with Reichsbürger flags “storming the Reichstag.” Never mind the fact that the massive demonstration at the Siegesäule (i.e., Victory Column) organized by Querdenken 711 had absolutely nothing to do with this incident, which was carried out by a right-wing-extremist splinter group. The demonstration had already been delegitimized as a protest staged by Reichsbürger extremists and tin-foil-hat lunatics in the days leading up to it, and now the visual confirmation was provided.
In a video of the lead-up to the “Reichstag storming” incident, Tamara K., a natural health practitioner, and pretty obviously a far-right wacko, is the “crazy Q-Anon-chick” in question. You can clearly hear her advising the crowd that “there are no more police here,” which the video confirms.
Or rather, the few police that were there had left the building completely unguarded and pulled back to well behind this assembly of obviously far-right-extremist-type clowns (who, remember, had been granted official permission to stage their assembly at the steps of the Reichstag). This, despite the days and weeks of warnings of a “neo-Nazi invasion” from government officials and the corporate media.
Go ahead, call me a “conspiracy theorist.”
Anyway, once the Reichstag steps were thoroughly occupied by far-right loonies and the Reichsflagge were in the right positions (approximately four minutes into the video), the police finally arrived to mount their defense. It was touch-and-go there for a while, but at the end of the day, democracy triumphed.
Naturally, there were plenty of journalists on hand to capture this historic drama and broadcast it all around the world.
And there you have it, the official narrative, which Saskia Esken, SPD co-leader, succinctly squeezed into a tweet:
Tens of thousands of far-right radicals, Reichsbürger, QAnon followers, Holocaust deniers, anti-Semitic conspiracy theorists, and esoterics, who declare the media, science, and politicians ‘guilty’ and openly call for the storming of the Reichstag and a coup d’état. That is the 29 August Berlin demonstration.“
Oh, and yesterday, as I was writing this column, I saw that the Berlin Senate had passed a new regulation requiring the participants of any future protests to all wear masks…so I take back what I wrote in the beginning. It looks like GloboCap, or at least its German branch, has some ham-fisted totalitarianism left in it.
I’ll keep you posted on the Gleichschaltung process, and the advance of the New Normal totalitarianism, generally. In the meantime, remember, this is just about a virus! And the Nazis really are coming this time!
And looting is a powerful tool to bring about real, lasting change in society…oh, yeah, and the chocolate ration has been increased!
CJ Hopkins is an award-winning American playwright, novelist and political satirist based in Berlin. His plays are published by Bloomsbury Publishing and Broadway Play Publishing, Inc. His dystopian novel, Zone 23, is published by Snoggsworthy, Swaine & Cormorant. Volume I of his Consent Factory Essays is published by Consent Factory Publishing, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amalgamated Content, Inc. He can be reached at cjhopkins.com or consentfactory.org.


offguardian--2020-09-03--Let’s not fall into the empire’s trap

Let’s not fall into the empire’s trap

I ’ m sorry , those who know me know that I ’ m strongly anti-racist and have previously written ( positively ) about the American Black Lives Matter ( BLM ) movement , but things that have happened in the last two years have dramatically changed the perspective .
It is obvious that the United States is a racist country , but what is happening today is unfortunately not a genuinely popular revolt but rather a manipulation of events to resolve the current power conflict within the American elite .
I am sure that neither Malcolm X nor Martin @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of protest , not because they would accept at all the discrimination and violence against blacks and minorities in the United States , but because the protests are developing in a sectarian sense to divide the impoverished population of the United States and provoke a civil war .
This is not what those two great leaders wanted .
What do I care as an anti-racist that they throw away a statue of Columbus ( who incidentally was not the worst of the conquerors ) when in fact these groups , if their commitment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the currently prevailing system of racism and colonialism through which the US oppresses the rest of the world ?
If they are anti-racists and anti-colonialists , they should demand an end to the funding of the Zionist State of Israel , or an end to the colonization of Puerto Rico , or of the blockades of Cuba and Venezuela , or the lifting of the evil Nica Act , or , for example , the dismantling of the colonial structure of the Organization of American States , a living example of US colonialism @ @ @ @ @ @ @ routinely does such infamous things as the shameful coup d ’ état against the democratically elected indigenous government of Evo Morales Ayma in Bolivia .
Don ’ t think that we in Africa , Asia and Latin America have forgotten the 500 or 600 years of European colonialism .
But that same colonialism is now killing us today , not centuries ago .
It is today that we must stop the genocide .
You can not be antiracist without demanding the end of a world economic order that feeds on human flesh and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the United States , Canada and Western Europe .
If one is serious about the problem of racism , one must necessarily be anti-imperialist .
One can not be anti-racist and accept living in the shadow of imperialism , simply because it is only within that oppressive and inhuman structure that racism makes sense .
Everything else is just excuses , empty talk trying to mask the true nature of power relations in the world .
Any seriously anti-racist movement must necessarily be politically independent from imperial interests , and if it is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of necessity , avoid at all costs falling into the trap of sectarianism .
In contrast , Black Lives Matter receives ( and willingly accepts ) the full support of the Democratic Party , whose spiritual leader Hillary Clinton should be held accountable for the crimes against humanity committed by the United States against , among many others , the people of Libya .
Where they used the racist card to destroy the only society with a true welfare state in North Africa .
The only country that made a serious proposal for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by creating their own regional currency and by using its enormous oil and gas resources for the benefit of the African and Palestinian peoples .
If they were anti-racists , they should be holding Joe Biden accountable , since he as well as his son were involved in the US coup in Ukraine , which incidentally was carried out with fascist groups trained by…the US .
Do you remember last February 5 , when Nancy Pelosi , head of the Democratic caucus , tore up Donald Trump ’ s State of the Union @ @ @ @ @ @ @ part of that speech by Donald Trump in which Nancy Pelosi applauded the whole time : It was when Trump presented the anti-Venezuelan imperial puppet Juan Guaidó in the Senate , and when he dedicated himself to attacking countries like Cuba and Nicaragua by vindicating the racist and colonialist ideology of the Monroe Doctrine .
It is impossible behind all this not to see the support that BLM demonstrations receive from the Soros Open Society Foundation , the Ford Foundation , Silicon Valley , Hollywood , CNN , etc .
Since when has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and anti-colonialist ?
All of them are the US power elite , Wall Street , the military-industrial complex ( General Collin Powell , the same one who lied about the Iraq war , spoke last week at the Democratic Convention ) , media power ( from Hollywood to Netflix ) , Big Pharma that wants to put everyone in quarantine…these are the sectors that today , all of a sudden , have become “ anti-colonialists ” .
Isn ’ t that at all suspicious ?
This is not merely a tactical alliance within @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in practice become a political device in the Democrats ’ electoral strategy .
The slogan of “ anyone but Trump ” is a stupid one .
Donald Trump , for all his millions , and his support for the National Rifle Association , and with all its reactionary values , is in fact not in command in the United States .
Indeed , Trump is a thorn in the side of the American ( and Western , and racist ) power elite who , before being patriotic , are imperialist and globalist .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ nationalist like Donald Trump , no matter how reactionary , is the wrong guy to lead the empire politically , and that ’ s why they want him out of power .
And that ’ s why they inflame the street with Black Lives Matter , helping to create an increasingly paranoid , divisive environment in the US , where there is less and less talk of social and economic rights for all and almost only talk of blacks versus whites or of wearing a mask or not .
What the US power @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the table of the current world order ( which no longer suits them ) and replace it with the direct rule of multinational corporations and the mass surveillance of all humanity .
They know very well that they can not rescue the dollar , and that is why they want to destroy the world economy in order to remain masters and lords of the resulting ruins .
That is the real plan .
Neither Malcolm X nor Martin Luther King would be supporting this .
Malcolm X proposed that black communities should arm @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by building their own black power .
He would have laughed at anyone who proposed some kind of insurrection to take away the power of the white man .
He wasn ’ t interested in that , he was interested in the power of black people .
And Martin Luther King , on the other hand , would not have supported this either because of two things : Firstly , because he was a pacifist , and secondly ( and I think more importantly ) because he wanted a great broad popular coalition @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a more just society .
But it ’ s not a popular coalition that they ’ re building in America , but the plague of the division between “ blacks ” and “ Nazis , ” between the “ good guys ” who want to throw Trump out and the “ evil and ignorant ” , the “ deplorables ” as Hillary Clinton called them , who support him .
It may come as a surprise to some , and for that reason it ’ s worth stressing , because CNN does not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also go to the demonstrations in support of President Trump , not necessarily because they are “ Nazis ” or “ racists ” or “ illiterate ” , but because they need to go out and work to earn their living , just like our people here in Nicaragua , while a series of fanatical politicians in the States of the Union want to keep them locked up with the quarantine .
These fanatical Democrat politicians want to lead the United States into a civil war , one tailored to imperialist interests .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ rest of the world into it as well .
Who can be so naive as to believe that the Democratic elites , with the support of the Republican old guard , won ’ t go to war with China tomorrow ?
It is not “ crazy Trump ” threatening humanity , it is the empire preparing the destruction of the world .
Let ’ s not fall into the trap they are setting for us .
You can read the original Spanish-language version of this article here .

Jorge Capelán
I’m sorry, those who know me know that I’m strongly anti-racist and have previously written (positively) about the American Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, but things that have happened in the last two years have dramatically changed the perspective.
It is obvious that the United States is a racist country, but what is happening today is unfortunately not a genuinely popular revolt but rather a manipulation of events to resolve the current power conflict within the American elite.
I am sure that neither Malcolm X nor Martin Luther King would have supported this kind of protest, not because they would accept at all the discrimination and violence against blacks and minorities in the United States, but because the protests are developing in a sectarian sense to divide the impoverished population of the United States and provoke a civil war.
This is not what those two great leaders wanted.
What do I care as an anti-racist that they throw away a statue of Columbus (who incidentally was not the worst of the conquerors) when in fact these groups, if their commitment was really serious, should be fighting the currently prevailing system of racism and colonialism through which the US oppresses the rest of the world?
If they are anti-racists and anti-colonialists, they should demand an end to the funding of the Zionist State of Israel, or an end to the colonization of Puerto Rico, or of the blockades of Cuba and Venezuela, or the lifting of the evil Nica Act, or, for example, the dismantling of the colonial structure of the Organization of American States, a living example of US colonialism and Atlanticism in our day, which routinely does such infamous things as the shameful coup d’état against the democratically elected indigenous government of Evo Morales Ayma in Bolivia.
Don’t think that we in Africa, Asia and Latin America have forgotten the 500 or 600 years of European colonialism. But that same colonialism is now killing us today, not centuries ago. It is today that we must stop the genocide.
You can not be antiracist without demanding the end of a world economic order that feeds on human flesh and is the basis of the economies of the United States, Canada and Western Europe.
If one is serious about the problem of racism, one must necessarily be anti-imperialist. One cannot be anti-racist and accept living in the shadow of imperialism, simply because it is only within that oppressive and inhuman structure that racism makes sense.
Everything else is just excuses, empty talk trying to mask the true nature of power relations in the world. Any seriously anti-racist movement must necessarily be politically independent from imperial interests, and if it is a well-informed movement it must also, of necessity, avoid at all costs falling into the trap of sectarianism.
In contrast, Black Lives Matter receives (and willingly accepts) the full support of the Democratic Party, whose spiritual leader Hillary Clinton should be held accountable for the crimes against humanity committed by the United States against, among many others, the people of Libya. Where they used the racist card to destroy the only society with a true welfare state in North Africa. The only country that made a serious proposal for the economic independence of the African continent by creating their own regional currency and by using its enormous oil and gas resources for the benefit of the African and Palestinian peoples.
If they were anti-racists, they should be holding Joe Biden accountable, since he as well as his son were involved in the US coup in Ukraine, which incidentally was carried out with fascist groups trained by…the US. Do you remember last February 5, when Nancy Pelosi, head of the Democratic caucus, tore up Donald Trump’s State of the Union address?
Well, there was a part of that speech by Donald Trump in which Nancy Pelosi applauded the whole time: It was when Trump presented the anti-Venezuelan imperial puppet Juan Guaidó in the Senate, and when he dedicated himself to attacking countries like Cuba and Nicaragua by vindicating the racist and colonialist ideology of the Monroe Doctrine.
It is impossible behind all this not to see the support that BLM demonstrations receive from the Soros Open Society Foundation, the Ford Foundation, Silicon Valley, Hollywood, CNN, etc. Since when has the avowed zionist Mark Zuckerberg been anti-racist and anti-colonialist?
All of them are the US power elite, Wall Street, the military-industrial complex (General Collin Powell, the same one who lied about the Iraq war, spoke last week at the Democratic Convention), media power (from Hollywood to Netflix), Big Pharma that wants to put everyone in quarantine…these are the sectors that today, all of a sudden, have become “anti-colonialists”. Isn’t that at all suspicious?
This is not merely a tactical alliance within a process of struggle. BLM has in practice become a political device in the Democrats’ electoral strategy.
The slogan of “anyone but Trump” is a stupid one. Donald Trump, for all his millions, and his support for the National Rifle Association, and with all its reactionary values, is in fact not in command in the United States.
Indeed, Trump is a thorn in the side of the American (and Western, and racist) power elite who, before being patriotic, are imperialist and globalist. That’s why for them a nationalist like Donald Trump, no matter how reactionary, is the wrong guy to lead the empire politically, and that’s why they want him out of power.
And that’s why they inflame the street with Black Lives Matter, helping to create an increasingly paranoid, divisive environment in the US, where there is less and less talk of social and economic rights for all and almost only talk of blacks versus whites or of wearing a mask or not.
What the US power elite wants to do is kick over the table of the current world order (which no longer suits them) and replace it with the direct rule of multinational corporations and the mass surveillance of all humanity.
They know very well that they cannot rescue the dollar, and that is why they want to destroy the world economy in order to remain masters and lords of the resulting ruins. That is the real plan.
Neither Malcolm X nor Martin Luther King would be supporting this.
Malcolm X proposed that black communities should arm themselves to defend themselves and become independent by building their own black power. He would have laughed at anyone who proposed some kind of insurrection to take away the power of the white man. He wasn’t interested in that, he was interested in the power of black people.
And Martin Luther King, on the other hand, would not have supported this either because of two things: Firstly, because he was a pacifist, and secondly (and I think more importantly) because he wanted a great broad popular coalition of black and white people to build a more just society.
But it’s not a popular coalition that they’re building in America, but the plague of the division between “blacks” and “Nazis,” between the “good guys” who want to throw Trump out and the “evil and ignorant”, the “deplorables” as Hillary Clinton called them, who support him.
It may come as a surprise to some, and for that reason it’s worth stressing, because CNN does not show it: Black and Latino people also go to the demonstrations in support of President Trump, not necessarily because they are “Nazis” or “racists” or “illiterate”, but because they need to go out and work to earn their living, just like our people here in Nicaragua, while a series of fanatical politicians in the States of the Union want to keep them locked up with the quarantine.
These fanatical Democrat politicians want to lead the United States into a civil war, one tailored to imperialist interests. And they are trying to drag the rest of the world into it as well. Who can be so naive as to believe that the Democratic elites, with the support of the Republican old guard, won’t go to war with China tomorrow? It is not “crazy Trump” threatening humanity, it is the empire preparing the destruction of the world.
Let’s not fall into the trap they are setting for us.
You can read the original Spanish-language version of this article here.


Hancock’s Half-Hour

A brand new TV show has just been announced called Hancock ’ s Half-Hour .
Over the course of 30 minutes the main character , Hapless Hancock , playing the part of the Health Secretary , will highlight all the government ’ s absurd policies and fake facts and figures surrounding the covid situation .
Some of the highlights of the show have already been leaked .
One of the stories featured will be that of the Seagull on Brighton beach who is believed to be covid positive .
In an interview , a public health official claims that the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ resident called Bob witnessed the bird regurgitating some chips it had stolen from a couple of pensioners sitting on a bench .
This combined with the fact that another witness said it had beady eyes was enough to convince the authorities of its covid positive status .
As a result of this spike in cases , Brighton beach has been sealed off , The Golden Cod chip shop where the pensioners purchased the chips has been demolished , the bench on which they sat has been removed and the surrounding area has been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ placed in quarantine for six months and anybody returning from Brighton in the last few days have been told to put a cardboard box over their head whilst self-isolating for fourteen days .
As a precautionary measure all purchases of potato products in and around the South coast region have been banned with a prison term of three months and confiscation of their deep fat fryer for anyone that defies the new law .
The head of the local police force was quoted as saying , “ We will enforce the law with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to realise that cooking or consuming chips at this time could kill someone.
” The seagull at the centre of the storm was not captured but authorities did manage to fit it with a track and trace ankle bracelet before it escaped .
It is hoped that all the birds it comes into contact with will be able to be traced and locked into special nightingale aviaries that have been specifically set up for this purpose .
Hapless Hancock was quick to point out that although the new facilities are called nightingale aviaries @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
As a result of this terrifying event , all local bird owners are now required to ensure their pets have beak coverings when they can not social distance from other birds .
Canaries , cockatoos , parrots and budgies are all subject to the new law but mynah birds are exempt as it was thought that putting a mask over their beak and preventing them from speaking for any period of time would cause them too much anxiety .
In the first show it is also believed Hapless Hancock will announce new @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of corona virus .
According to the latest science , the virus can now make its way into a person ’ s system via the skin , hair and ears and so it will become mandatory to wear full body coverings when indoors .
Recommended coverings are hazmat suits , suits of armour , circa 16th Century or a beekeeper ’ s outfit purchased from a reputable supplier .
In the event that you do not own any of these , a home-made body covering will suffice and can be made out of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ toilet rolls or bits of coal .
To help with designing your own body covering , a new billion-pound website has been set up by the Department of Health and Social Care .
As well as full body coverings the latest expert advice is that a kipper placed strategically in one ’ s underwear should help prevent the spread of the virus .
A study carried out by Poppycock University in Cambridge has shown that the viral load of the virus is inversely proportional to the size of fish used but it is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ species have been used but without success .
Members of the public visiting their local fishmongers will be reminded to stay at least 10 salmon lengths apart at all times .
As new cases and fatalities are falling every day it is thought that the corona virus has mutated to become craftier due to a hitherto unknown gene called the sneaky gene .
It is now believed by experts to have changed its modus operandi and is causing a completely different set of symptoms .
These new list of symptoms will be revealed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ include , ‘ looking slightly bewildered , walking with an odd gait , looking at other people in a funny manner and talking with a strange accent.
’ The police are due to organise a press conference in the next few days where they will be encouraging the public to report anybody showing any of these signs to the authorities , emphasising it is now everyone ’ s public duty to spy on their neighbours and be wary of anyone new in the area , particularly if they have a limp and sound @ @ @ @ @ @ @ incentive , a new scheme is to be introduced called , ‘ Squeal for a meal , ’ whereby any member of the public that grasses on another for acting oddly will get a voucher for a free meal at any local restaurant .
The programme will also feature the new virus behaviour modelling expert , Madame Zaza , who will predict the course of the virus by various methods including reading tea leaves whilst blindfolded , counting how many natterjack toads will gather on the trunk of a fallen oak tree before @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a piece of cheese to go mouldy in an enclosed environment and seeing how many boiled sweets she can suck in an hour whilst wearing a Mickey Mouse mask .
Madame Zaza ’ s essential work will be sponsored by Mint Imperial college , London .
The latest science says these are the most accurate ways of predicting the behaviour of the virus as opposed to the previous method of thinking of a number , subtracting it from the average height of a giant sequoia tree , multiplying it by the distance between @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time of a lunar eclipse and then adding a squillion to get the final figure .
This , of course , was the method employed by Fiddler Ferguson , the professor guilty of fiddling with the figures whilst he fiddled with his mistress .
The programme will also cater for the musically minded as it will feature BoJo the clown , doing a cover version of the Fun Boy Three ’ s hit , The Lunatics Have Taken Over the Asylum , on a dither .
( A dither is another form of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ those who haven ’ t got a clue what they are doing ) .
Accompanying him will be the Health Secretary and the Chief Medical Officer .
It is thought The Glum Boy Three will have a regular slot on the programme .
Despite all the measures that will be highlighted in the show , a leaked document from the cabinet office has predicted that the only way to truly eradicate the virus is by culling the entire population so that it has no more potential hosts .
To this end , another @ @ @ @ @ @ @ commit suicide to avoid catching covid .
It will be called , ‘ Check Out to Help Out.
’ It is envisaged that there will be a large uptake as many members of the public desperately want to stay covid safe .
However , if demand does not meet the required level , the scheme will become mandatory .
Those unwilling to comply will be effectively water-boarded into submission by being forced to wear a dirty , homemade facemask during a heavy rainstorm .

Stephen McMurray
A brand new TV show has just been announced called Hancock’s Half-Hour. Over the course of 30 minutes the main character, Hapless Hancock, playing the part of the Health Secretary, will highlight all the government’s absurd policies and fake facts and figures surrounding the covid situation.
Some of the highlights of the show have already been leaked. One of the stories featured will be that of the Seagull on Brighton beach who is believed to be covid positive. In an interview, a public health official claims that the seagull definitely has covid as a local resident called Bob witnessed the bird regurgitating some chips it had stolen from a couple of pensioners sitting on a bench. This combined with the fact that another witness said it had beady eyes was enough to convince the authorities of its covid positive status.
As a result of this spike in cases, Brighton beach has been sealed off, The Golden Cod chip shop where the pensioners purchased the chips has been demolished, the bench on which they sat has been removed and the surrounding area has been carpet-bombed.
The pensioners themselves have been placed in quarantine for six months and anybody returning from Brighton in the last few days have been told to put a cardboard box over their head whilst self-isolating for fourteen days.
As a precautionary measure all purchases of potato products in and around the South coast region have been banned with a prison term of three months and confiscation of their deep fat fryer for anyone that defies the new law. The head of the local police force was quoted as saying, “We will enforce the law with the utmost vigour. People have got to realise that cooking or consuming chips at this time could kill someone.”
The seagull at the centre of the storm was not captured but authorities did manage to fit it with a track and trace ankle bracelet before it escaped. It is hoped that all the birds it comes into contact with will be able to be traced and locked into special nightingale aviaries that have been specifically set up for this purpose. Hapless Hancock was quick to point out that although the new facilities are called nightingale aviaries all species of birds can be accommodated.
As a result of this terrifying event, all local bird owners are now required to ensure their pets have beak coverings when they cannot social distance from other birds. Canaries, cockatoos, parrots and budgies are all subject to the new law but mynah birds are exempt as it was thought that putting a mask over their beak and preventing them from speaking for any period of time would cause them too much anxiety.
In the first show it is also believed Hapless Hancock will announce new, stricter measures to prevent the spread of corona virus. According to the latest science, the virus can now make its way into a person’s system via the skin, hair and ears and so it will become mandatory to wear full body coverings when indoors. Recommended coverings are hazmat suits, suits of armour, circa 16th Century or a beekeeper’s outfit purchased from a reputable supplier. In the event that you do not own any of these, a home-made body covering will suffice and can be made out of any household material including old rags, toilet rolls or bits of coal. To help with designing your own body covering, a new billion-pound website has been set up by the Department of Health and Social Care.
As well as full body coverings the latest expert advice is that a kipper placed strategically in one’s underwear should help prevent the spread of the virus. A study carried out by Poppycock University in Cambridge has shown that the viral load of the virus is inversely proportional to the size of fish used but it is only true for kippers. Other piscine species have been used but without success. Members of the public visiting their local fishmongers will be reminded to stay at least 10 salmon lengths apart at all times.
As new cases and fatalities are falling every day it is thought that the corona virus has mutated to become craftier due to a hitherto unknown gene called the sneaky gene. It is now believed by experts to have changed its modus operandi and is causing a completely different set of symptoms. These new list of symptoms will be revealed on the show but are known to include, ‘looking slightly bewildered, walking with an odd gait, looking at other people in a funny manner and talking with a strange accent.’
The police are due to organise a press conference in the next few days where they will be encouraging the public to report anybody showing any of these signs to the authorities, emphasising it is now everyone’s public duty to spy on their neighbours and be wary of anyone new in the area, particularly if they have a limp and sound a little bit foreign.
As an incentive, a new scheme is to be introduced called, ‘Squeal for a meal,’ whereby any member of the public that grasses on another for acting oddly will get a voucher for a free meal at any local restaurant.
The programme will also feature the new virus behaviour modelling expert, Madame Zaza, who will predict the course of the virus by various methods including reading tea leaves whilst blindfolded, counting how many natterjack toads will gather on the trunk of a fallen oak tree before sunset, recording how long it takes a piece of cheese to go mouldy in an enclosed environment and seeing how many boiled sweets she can suck in an hour whilst wearing a Mickey Mouse mask. Madame Zaza’s essential work will be sponsored by Mint Imperial college, London.
The latest science says these are the most accurate ways of predicting the behaviour of the virus as opposed to the previous method of thinking of a number, subtracting it from the average height of a giant sequoia tree, multiplying it by the distance between the moon and the earth at the time of a lunar eclipse and then adding a squillion to get the final figure.
This, of course, was the method employed by Fiddler Ferguson, the professor guilty of fiddling with the figures whilst he fiddled with his mistress.
The programme will also cater for the musically minded as it will feature BoJo the clown, doing a cover version of the Fun Boy Three’s hit, The Lunatics Have Taken Over the Asylum, on a dither. (A dither is another form of the zither but is used solely by those who haven’t got a clue what they are doing). Accompanying him will be the Health Secretary and the Chief Medical Officer. It is thought The Glum Boy Three will have a regular slot on the programme.
Despite all the measures that will be highlighted in the show, a leaked document from the cabinet office has predicted that the only way to truly eradicate the virus is by culling the entire population so that it has no more potential hosts. To this end, another scheme is being advised where you can commit suicide to avoid catching covid. It will be called, ‘Check Out to Help Out.’
It is envisaged that there will be a large uptake as many members of the public desperately want to stay covid safe. However, if demand does not meet the required level, the scheme will become mandatory. Those unwilling to comply will be effectively water-boarded into submission by being forced to wear a dirty, homemade facemask during a heavy rainstorm.
Happy viewing.