Halo Halo / Tiny tips
Halo Halo
Socialists are wrong! Who says so? Apart from everyone who shills for the capitalist class, the pope, that’s who. In particular, pope Leo XIII. You may have missed his papal encyclical Rerum Novarum.
Well, it was over one hundred and thirty years ago.
Leo writes of a ‘great mistake’ embraced by the socialist-leaning labor movements, which is the notion that ‘class is naturally hostile to class’ and ‘wealthy and the working men are intended by nature to live in mutual conflict.’ This view, he asserts, is ‘so false … that the direct contrary is the truth.’ ‘It [is] ordained by nature that these two classes should dwell in harmony and agreement, so as to maintain the balance of the body politic,’ Leo claims. ‘Each needs the other: capital cannot do without labor, nor labor without capital.’
By ‘nature’ did he mean the sky deity? Which one, Zeus, Ra, Varuna, Yahweh? Apologies to all of the sky deities who didn’t get a mention here but the list is too long to include them all. Early priests had discovered that propagating the myth that unpleasant fictional beings could be mean enough to ruin the lives of the populace unless sacrifices were made through wealth accruing to their self-styled intermediaries, the priest class. Popes continue to deceive the gullible in similar ways.
Leo must have spat out his wafer and choked on the altar wine when The Communist Manifesto came out in 1848. Pope of the day Pius IX wasted no time in composing a retort.
Pius’s 1849 Nostis et nobiscum calls socialism and communism an ‘iniquitous plot’ and ‘perverted teachings’: ‘The special goal of their proponents is to introduce to the people the pernicious fictions by misapplying the terms “liberty” and “equality.” The final goal teachings, whether of Communism or Socialism, is to excite by continuous disturbances workers and others, especially those of the lower class, whom they have deceived by their lies and deluded by the promise of a happier condition. They are preparing them for plundering, stealing, and usurping first the Church’s and then everyone’s property. After this they will profane all law, human and divine, to destroy divine worship and to subvert the entire ordering of civil societies.’
As Jimmy Cricket used to say, and there’s more. ‘The crafty enemies of the Church and human society attempt to seduce the people in many ways. One of their chief methods is the misuse of the new technique of book-production. They are wholly absorbed in the ceaseless daily publication and proliferation of impious pamphlets, newspapers and leaflets which are full of lies, calumnies and seduction.’ Keep the masses in ignorance! Guess Pius IX would have hated social media.
From 1560 to 1966 the Catholic Church had an Index of Forbidden Books, Index Librorum Prohibitorum. The sheep who allowed the church to regulate even their sex lives were forbidden to print or read publications from this list.
Other totalitarian regimes who thought likewise spring to mind.
DC
‘I cried deep inside of my heart’, said Nisa, now 32, recounting her first contract wedding. ‘Who wants to sleep with an old man? I did this purely for the money, so my parents can eat and my siblings can go to school.’ With her encouragement, her sister also became a contract bride, bringing in a dowry of $3,000 for her first marriage because she was a virgin. Nisa estimated that she herself has been in 20 contract marriages (‘Sex tourism in Indonesia sells itself as Islamic temporary marriage’ (Los Angeles Times).
‘Interestingly, some of these people were supporters of the communist regime only a few years ago. There are of course others who are still convinced by CCP propaganda, who believe that China is the safest place in the world and that everywhere else is in chaos’, Cui adds. He attributes China’s economic development to “the hard work of the people” who are exploited by Party leaders. As an example of the lack of political rights, he cites the fact that the regime has taken away the freedom and wealth of nouveau riche figures like Xu Jiayin and Jack Ma. He cites the words of late Premier Li Keqiang, who made public in 2020 that some 600 million Chinese live on less than US$140 a month (Equal Times).
As for national liberation, all one can say is that with friends like Hamas, Palestinians do not need enemies. Rather than freedom, the so-called ‘Islamic Resistance’ has nothing to offer them but poverty and bloodshed. Hamas’s position is crystal clear. ‘These are necessary sacrifices’, military commander Yahya Sinwar said of the mass. destruction in Gaza in a communication with fellow Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar (Daniel Lazere).
‘While Ukraine presses on with its incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, its troops are still losing precious ground along the country’s eastern front – a grim erosion that military commanders blame in part on poorly trained recruits drawn from a recent mobilization drive, as well as Russia’s clear superiority in ammunition and air power. “Some people don’t want to shoot. They see the enemy in the firing position in trenches but don’t open fire. … That is why our men are dying,” said a frustrated battalion commander in Ukraine’s 47th Brigade’ (Libcom).
Ahn Chang-ho, who opposes anti-discrimination laws, also rejects the theory of evolution and wants creationism lessons in schools. A former judge nominated to lead South Korea’s human rights body has sparked outrage with his comments against the LGBTQ community and the theory of evolution, with observers citing him as proof of the country’s flawed system for official appointments. Ahn Chang-ho, 67, is under scrutiny for his statements in parliament suggesting that homosexuality is a tool used by communists to incite revolution (MSN).
In a healthy ecosystem, the various sets of animal…get along with each other without the need of any system of authority or dominance—indeed, without overriding structure or organization of any kind soever (Counterpunch).
(These links are provided for information and don’t necessarily represent our point of view.)