Young Master Smeet
Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Well, that’s a bit shabby:
“Zoë Garbett will be joining the London Assembly today, after Siân Berry stepped aside for the councillor in Hackney and recent Mayoral candidate. ”
So, they put their mayoral candidate 4th on the list (maybe they were being hopeful), but now Berry (who will, I think be taking a crack at Brighton in the GE) has stepped down and allowed Garbett in as 4th on the list.
Barnet & Camden 1639 (1%)
Labour 70,749 43.2%
Conservative 51,606 31.5%
Green 18,405 11.2%
Liberal Democrats 12,335 7.5%
Reform UK 7,703 4.7%
Socialist (GB) 1,639 1.0%So, our results are about par, a bit down on our best in Lambeth…
Walter Benjamin’s definition:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aestheticization_of_politics“Fascism attempts to organize the newly proletarianized masses without affecting the property structure which the masses strive to eliminate. Fascism sees its salvation in giving these masses not their right, but instead a chance to express themselves. The masses have a right to change property relations; Fascism seeks to give them an expression while preserving property.”
I think this includes the notion of fascism as mobilised dictatorship: fascists aren’t content to just rule, but also to ensure that everyone is involved, you cannot be a quiet bystander.
Indeed, there were specific historical instances for the Hitler & Mussolini regimes. But we have an ideologically fascist government in Italy right now, but the historic circumstance of Italy now means they can’t just sweep away democracy (or that they have no interest in doing so). I think there is a real chance that the front national will have the next presidency of France, but I think they are unlikely to behave in office much different than Trump did in the states.
To discuss this meaningfully, we need a working definition of fascism that distinguishes from conservatism, authoritarianism, militarism and nationalism – things we have seen in government many times over.
Voted: they only cursorily checked my ID (just to make sure there was a photo there at all), then handed my ID to a supervisor. I made a wee fuss, but she explained they were just tallying use of council issued ID.
I forgot my stickers, so had to spoil my ballot long hand.
Missed this:
City Hall election: "send a message that you want a world of common ownership and democratic control"
Socialist Party of Great Britain candidate Bill Martin on their London Assembly platformhttps://t.co/VEkT9AZOG3
— BarnetPost (@BarnetPost) April 28, 2024
Old English, possibly wrong but:
Medmicheleras gewrites [Moderator’s note]
We habbaþ þine cwíþingas “Berniciphobias” aræddon.
We habbaþ afundon þa ne bið naht ma to us to donne.
[We have read your complaint of “Berniciaphobia”. We have found there is no further action].Just as a note, with all four Ridings getting Mayors plus Teesside, that could be a useful bloc for Yorkshire to start making some noise on the national stage. That is an area with an equivalent population to Scotland: I’m sure there’ll be no playing areas off against each other…
Let’s just say we have form:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilgrimage_of_Grace
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrying_of_the_NorthKind of telling that there is not even a token ‘left’ mayoral candidate, and all the rightward ones are CEOs of one sort or another.
It is also a master class in political leaflet design: Khan’s section is colourful with close to zero argument, he’s relying on being a known factor: Hall’s is too wordy and woeful. Michli and Campbell are great from a design POV.
The SDP candidate is strange, a clear cut through message is that she’s against woke: the current SDP pitch is socially conservative, but economically interventionist, she is quiet about the second part.
It’s amazing how many candidates call London a cess pit.
Not sure we could bullet point the way they do, but it’d be interesting to try, I suppose it would be:
Abolish the state
Abolish the need for money
For common ownership and democratic control.The Guardian has an IDF response to the story:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/03/israel-defence-forces-response-to-claims-about-use-of-lavender-ai-database-in-gaza“The “system” your questions refer to is not a system, but simply a database whose purpose is to cross-reference intelligence sources, in order to produce up-to-date layers of information on the military operatives of terrorist organizations. This is not a list of confirmed military operatives eligible to attack.”
So, they admit Lavender exists, but maintain that its contents/output was subject to further verification, this is important because:
“According to international humanitarian law, a person who is identified as a member of an organized armed group (like the Hamas’ military wing), or a person who directly participates in hostilities, is considered a lawful target. This legal rule is reflected in the policy of all law-abiding countries, including the IDF’s legal practice and policy, which did not change during the course of the war.”
and ” In accordance with the rules of international law, the assessment of the proportionality of a strike is conducted by the commanders on the basis of all the information available to them before the strike, and naturally not on the basis of its results in hindsight.”
The point is, you can make such calculations very quickly, and apply a lower than usual bar.
“The IDF outright rejects the claim regarding any policy to kill tens of thousands of people in their homes.”
Again, note the precise formulation, it has a policy to kill Hamas militants, and a procedure that locates them in their homes, that is not a policy to kill them in their home.
