This has to be watched.
I may be relieved today, but this is a CNN anchor making clear just how much this really matters, and just how oppressive the world he has lived in has really been:
Congratulations America.
Van Jones is all of us right now!
He is every woman, man and child that fought for a greater America.pic.twitter.com/ISPA8sFShc— Rula Jebreal (@rulajebreal) November 7, 2020
And let's not for a moment forget how oppressive a world we live in at present in the U.K.
We have a country that oppresses the immigrant, any person of colour, children, those on low or no pay, the north, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, those from the EU, single parents - and so women - and so many more.
We too live in a country where government by fear is the mechanism of choice for those currently in office.
More than anything else I hope for the freedom from fear, because that is how we will know we live in a better world.
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Tell us, how does the government oppress all the people you mention? It seems like a lot of people. Who don’t they oppress in fact?
If you can’t spot the oppression you are part f the problem
An oppressor, in fact
Who don’t they oppress? You, no doubt. Let me guess. Middle class, comfortable, homeowner, believing all you have is the result of your own virtue.
Richard,
Aren’t you a middle class, comfortable homeowner?
You have a very interesting definition of oppression. One which only some who has never been oppressed can only have.
You are right – I am a middle class homeowner
But I recall my grandmother living in a rented property with no bathroom and a tin bath that hung on the kitchen door
I am all too well aware of where I came from
And if you think anyone who grew up in the 60s and 70s wit the surname Murphy did not experience discrimination, think again
It was not cool to be Irish then, I can assure you
In other words, your assumptions are wrong
So in comparison to my Grandmother, yours had untold riches.
I also know where I come from, and I would guess that people of my background suffer a lot more discrimination than people like yourself.
We have some difference though. Go live in Muqdisho where I grow up, and see how much you like it there, and see what real oppression looks like. The UK government may be many things but they are not fascists and they are not oppressors.
With respect, I disagree
And that’s the close of this discussion
We will need a change of government first, because when people are fearful they become more right wing.
Hence, right wing newspapers tend to focus on dangers.
If anybody cannot see who has been oppressed by the British Empire, they are choosing to be blind. What planet are you on, Sheila?
Samir, there is no doubt that people of colour from the less developed regions of the world have suffered far more privations than anyone brought up in the West can imagine. However, many groups were ” othered” by the British in the relatively recent past. The Irish have been a target for the Brits since Cromwell, and much anti Irish/Catholic LEGISLATION, is still on the Statute Book. People in Britain are permitted to march in the street proclaiming their hatred for Catholics with uniformed bands and a police escort. You’d have much to say I’d there were similar anti Sikh, Hindu, or Jewish “celebrations.”
I know I knock ’em a lot, but I love the Americans for this sort of stuff.
I grew up thinking that America was a place where everyone was more or less like Ayn Rand and Gordon Gecko.
In the 1990’s at University as a mature student one of my best lecturers was an American lesbian who was obviously Left wing. I was then introduced to Left wing writing from America – social analysis and new ideas that were genuinely progressive but also excellent in argument, erudition and modernity. I also learnt that some states are more progressive than others.
It was a real education and made me see that America was a much more complex country than I thought and then of course I got more curious – why was the Left so suppressed? Why was basic human decency so denied in this society and everyone made to look like a competitor, who was meant to screw others to be dominant?
According to Adam Curtis, Ayn Rand’s anti human nature , hyper-individualist tripe sells more more than the bible.
If we could only unleash that OTHER potential – the potential shown by this Afro-American crying on TV. What a different world we might have? What a beacon!! Of an America FINALLY living up to the promise of its forefathers.
I hope that he is not still crying after 4 years of Biden and Democrats. We shall see.
I too would define myself as middle class, comfortable, homeowner and believing that everything I have is partly due to my own effort but also much due to good luck at being born in the right place at the right time and having caring parents. But that does not mean that I’m unaware of the bad luck, discrimination and yes oppression experienced by many others that in the USA is completely unnecessary and a blot on their reputation. So lets hope the next 4 years can reverse course as we are all in danger of retreating into our own good fortune and damning those left outside.
This is the best summation of the Trump period – the enduring Trump period – that I have read yet. It’s Varoufakis at his best – cutting through the bullshit.
This makes uneasy ready for any progressive and really kicks the likes of Starmer, Biden, the French Left – you name it – right up the arse. For God’s sake wake up! Or get out of the way!
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/nov/08/hoping-for-a-return-to-normal-after-trump-thats-the-last-thing-we-need
This morning I heard Matt Hancock eulogizing the private equity firm dealing with the vaccine who spends so much money money on PR.
There is an alternative to that. Hancock seemed to me to be protecting the rights of these people to profit from our woes.
I entirely agree – tacking to the old centre is the last thing we need
We need consensus by all means – but around the old centre, no way