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Category: government

  • Vietnamese online news outlet to go dark after government inspection report

    An online news site operated by a Vietnamese NGO will be suspended for three months as of Friday in accordance with a government decision as the publication focuses on “overcoming and thoroughly correcting shortcomings” to implement a government press directive.  

    The Ministry of Information and Communications concluded in an inspection report that Zing News, also known as Zing News Online Knowledge magazine, had to stop its online service, though the publication did not cite a specific reason in a notice to its readers on Thursday.

    The site, which covers economic, culture and political news in Vietnam, is run by the Vietnam Publishing Association, an entity that does not receive funding from the government or the Vietnamese Communist Party, but still must obey its orders. 

    Zing’s announcement said it would focus on implementing a prime ministerial decision issued on April 3, 2019, for a master plan on press development and management nationwide through 2025. 

    The government’s plan states that “the press is a means of information, a tool for propaganda, and a weapon” that is “important ideological fuel” for the party and the state. It also calls for continuous efforts to complete legislation for the government’s management and organization of the media and to eliminate the “overlapping situation” by reducing the number of newspapers.  

    Though Zing did not state what the shortcomings are, it said it would continue to innovate content to ensure the implementation of the principles and purposes specified in its license and to promote an identity of “prestige information, impressive images” that better serves readers.

    Vietnam ranks near the bottom of Reporters Without Borders’ 2023 Press Freedom Index – 178 out of 180 nations – for quashing dissent, controlling the public’s access to social media and prosecuting journalists on contentious charges, such as “distributing anti-state propaganda” and “abusing democratic freedoms.”  

    As of May 2022, Vietnam had 815 news outlets, including 138 newspapers and 677 magazines, of which 29 operate only in electronic format, according to the Ministry of Information and Communications.

    To implement the government’s plan, the online Tri Tri online newspaper (Zing.vn) of the Vietnam Publishing Association converted to an e-magazine model on April 1, 2020.

    In 2022, the government suspended publication of two other websites for three months, Vietnam Law newspaper and the e-magazine Vietnam Business and Border Trade Journal.

    The ministry determined that Vietnam Law Newspaper had 13 violations and was fined 325 million dong (US$13,720). The other publication, operated under the auspices of the Vietnam Association of Border Traders, was fined 70 million dong (US$2,960) for an administrative violation.

    Translated by Anna Vu for RFA Vietnamese. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Vietnamese.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • MY COUNTRY IS BEING TORN APART

    Six years ago, eminent leaders of Indigenous Australians met at Uluru to draft and agree upon a Statement from the Heart. This led them to make a courteous request for a Referendum to be held to approve the establishment of a Voice that would enable them to make proposals to Parliament without having any legislative …

    Continue reading MY COUNTRY IS BEING TORN APART

    The post MY COUNTRY IS BEING TORN APART appeared first on Everald Compton.

    This post was originally published on My Articles – Everald Compton.

  • Cambodian activists commemorate outspoken government critic on the anniversary of his murder

    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Radio Free Asia.

  • ‘Has the Government Reduced its Commitment to Fight Climate Change?’ | BBC Question Time


    This content originally appeared on Just Stop Oil and was authored by Just Stop Oil.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Hong Kong government ‘spends millions’ to advance Beijing’s interests in Washington

    The Hong Kong government has paid millions of dollars to political lobbyists in Washington in recent years in a little-known overseas influence operation that aims to get U.S. politicians doing Beijing’s bidding, according to a new report from a Hong Kong activist group.

    “Heavyweights and the well-connected in Washington … play an active role in advancing Beijing’s interests on American soil,” according to a new report from the Hong Kong Democracy Council.

    The group has set up an influence and lobbying database to provide a detailed breakdown of lobbying activities sponsored by the Hong Kong government, and by extension, the Chinese government.

    The database, drawn from publicly available filings under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA, lists over 1,000 interactions between U.S. government officials and Hong Kong government-funded lobbyists, the council said in a summary of the July 5 report published on its website.

    The council also called on Congress to pass a bill currently in the pipeline that would revoke the diplomatic privileges of the Hong Kong government’s representative offices in the United States, the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices.

    The report found that China, “which has a well-documented history of orchestrating foreign-influence campaigns, has been ramping up efforts to sway U.S. politics, media, and society,” spending more than US$292 million over the past six years on its American influence operations.

    Key role

    It said the government-linked Hong Kong Trade Development Council, which is registered in the United States as both an agent of a foreign government and a foreign principal directing lobbying efforts, plays a key role in those operations, playing “an important role as a financial facilitator of the [Hong Kong] government’s overseas political activities.”

    Contacts between American officials and agents of foreign governments, including those that use lobbying firms, are reported under legislation governing foreign agents, and the listings show that officials from both the Trade Development Council and the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices have been active in lobbying activities in recent years.

    “Throughout the 2019 protests and in the years following, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council has continued to act as a conduit for [Hong Kong] government funds, appearing as the foreign principal for every single one of the more than 400 reported interactions between [Hong Kong] government lobbyists and American politicians and government

    officials,” the Hong Kong Democracy Council report found.

    One of the Hong Kong government lobby’s key aims during the protests was to prevent the passage of the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, which rewrote U.S. policy towards the city, the report said.

    Such lobbying attempts were “in direct conflict with the overwhelming democratic aspirations of Hong Kongers in both Hong Kong and the United States,” it said.

    Lobbyists hired by the body report to the Washington Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, the report said, citing its contract with lobbying firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.

    Tapping into influential network

    And while those who lobby for the Hong Kong pro-democracy camp are typically refugees and exiles who lack funding, and who may not yet even enjoy secure immigration status, the government is able to tap into a network of wealth and privilege at the heart of American political life.

    “People who lobby on behalf of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government are basically well-connected, wealthy and powerful people who move in government circles in Washington,” Hong Kong Democracy Council researcher Mason Wong told Radio Free Asia. “Many are former members of Congress and former officials from both parties.”

    “There’s a broad, bipartisan network of well-connected elite people who are helping the Hong Kong government with its advocacy work and extending Chinese Communist Party interests on U.S. soil,” he said.

    According to the report, that network includes the Sing Tao media group, which is registered as the non-government client of a foreign power under FARA.

    “A questionable entity like Sing Tao advances Beijing’s interests in multifaceted ways, far beyond taking advantage of the American free press — as do the likes of China Central Television and Russia Today — to shape public opinion,” the report said in a case study summarizing reports that the media group is part of Beijing’s secretive United Front influence and outreach operations in the United States.

    Yet the group is the single largest spender among FARA-registered entities from Hong Kong, according to the report.

    “Little information is available on what exactly it does, or what the specific nature of its work as a ‘foreign agent’ entails,” it said.

    ‘Serious problem’

    Hong Kong Democracy Council executive director Anna Kwok, who is among eight overseas activists listed on Monday as wanted by the city’s national security police, who have offered a bounty of H.K.$1 million for information leading to her arrest and prosecution, said she finds a certain irony in the fact that she has been accused of “colluding with a foreign power” under the national security law.

    “What I find ironic here is that the Hong Kong government was accusing me just a few days ago of collusion with foreign forces,” but if you actually look into it, you will see that they’re actually working very hard themselves to be in contact with foreign forces, to work with them, and to win their support,” Kwok said.

    According to Wong, who wrote the report, people might be forgiven for thinking that when Hong Kong’s economic and trade representatives in Washington contact local politicians, they want to discuss trade and economic ties.

    “But when they meet up with American congressmen and women, they don’t want to talk about trade, but about the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act,” he said. “It’s a white glove operation for the Chinese Communist Party … countering groups that advocate democracy and human rights for Hong Kongers in the United States.”

    “It’s a very serious problem.”

    ‘Disguised’

    Current affairs commentator Sang Pu agreed.

    “These are [Chinese Communist Party] United Front operations disguised as trade and economic relations,” he said. “They want to expand these operations using state-run enterprises or quasi-government organizations.”

    “It’s not just the Trade Development Council; any organization with the word ‘development’ in its name is worthy of attention,” Sang said, citing the Arts Development Council and Hong Kong Tourism Board, which has “development” in its Chinese name, as examples.

    “It’s not the same as pre-1997: these quasi-government organizations have become the mouthpieces of the party-state,” he said.

    Ja Ian Chong, assistant politics professor at the National University of Singapore, said that while political lobbying is legal in the United States, people may not always be aware of the provenance of some of the lobbying that goes on.

    “People who aren’t familiar with Hong Kong’s situation could treat these official organizations, for example, regional and city governments, and are actually sent to lobby for the Hong Kong government,” Chong said. 

    “They may think they have little to do with the Chinese central government.”

    Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Hoi Man Wu for RFA Cantonese, Chen Zifei for RFA Mandarin.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Forget toilet paper — try no food, fuel or medicine. Why Canberra needs to act on fuel security

    Fuel storage tanks aren’t “sexy” like subs and jets but it is high time the Federal government spent as much attention to them as, say, a nuclear submarine. Rex Patrick explains why. 

    This post was originally published on Michael West.

  • A Vice-Regal Stitch-up? How the great, the good and the consultants fell in with Governor-General Hurley’s fave charity

    When the Governor-General’s man knocks, you open the door. Simple. Jommy Tee shines a light on the many avenues of influence used in the making of the $18m taxpayer-funded Australian Future Leaders Foundation. 

    This post was originally published on Michael West.

  • Ask Who Benefits: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix

    Listen to a reading of this article (reading by Tim Foley):

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    It is the Republican Party’s job to expand the US military, rob and oppress the working class, serve US plutocrats, facilitate ecocidal capitalism, and foment division among the electorate. It is the Democratic Party’s job to do these same things while blaming it on Republicans.

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    One of the weirdest things to happen last year was the entire western political/media class deciding to start pretending Ukrainian Nazis aren’t Nazis based on literally nothing whatsoever, just because it’s convenient, and a substantial portion of the population playing along.

    This is still happening, by the way.

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    Part of the problem is that westerners live in a pre-revolutionary society that we’ve been duped into believing is a post-revolutionary society. We self-righteously look down at our noses at other nations and pity their lack of freedom and political sophistication, when in actuality we’re all deeply enslaved and the global south is the only place where anything real has been happening politically.

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    The Wall Street Journal has a new article out about how US war veterans are no longer recommending their kids join the military, which is cutting the war machine off from an important recruitment “pipeline” because the children of military families make up the majority of military recruits.

    I’ve seen a lot of right wingers sharing the article with comments to the effect of “hurr hurr, that’s what you get for having a woke military,” but they plainly didn’t read the article, because it lists many factual and entirely valid reasons why military families have stopped steering this new generation toward military careers, and none of them have anything to do with “wokeness”. Here are some excerpts:

    • “After the patriotic boost to recruiting that followed 9/11, the U.S. military has endured 20 years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan with no decisive victories, scandals over shoddy military housing and healthcare, poor pay for lower ranks that forces many military families to turn to food stamps, and rising rates of post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide.”
    • “Deeper problems soldiers report include moldy barracks, harassment, lack of adequate child care and not enough support for mental health issues such as suicide.”
    • “Families or those who live off base can find expenses outstrip income. More than 20,000 active-duty troops are on SNAP benefits, otherwise known as food stamps, according to federal data.”

    Recruiters are struggling to meet their goals, partly due to veterans not recommending their kids enlist because it’s a shitty job no loving parent would wish upon their children, and partly because the US war machine can’t compete with Carl’s Jr.

    One recruiter is quoted as saying “To be honest with you it’s Wendy’s, it’s Carl’s Jr., it’s every single job that a young person can go up against because now they are offering the same incentives that we are offering, so that’s our competition right now.”

    I view these as positive developments. Hopefully everyone stops enlisting in the world’s most murderous military.

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    Everyone got mad at the Boy Scouts of America because they groomed boys for sexual molestation when they were supposed to be grooming them to murder impoverished foreigners in the US military.

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    Ask who benefits from the continued emphasis on electoral systems that never succeed in bringing about real change.

    Ask who benefits from the continued emphasis on culture wars over class war.

    Ask who benefits from people being continually herded into two mainstream political factions which both support empire, oligarchy and authoritarianism.

    Ask who benefits from the mass media continually focusing on the misdeeds of nations their government doesn’t like while ignoring their own government’s abuses of the needful, the marginalized and the disobedient.

    Ask who benefits from ordinary people being too busy getting the bills paid to learn about what’s going on in the world.

    Ask who benefits from those who ask these questions being labeled crackpots and conspiracy theorists.

    Ask who benefits from the widespread assumption that how things are is the only way they can be.

    Ask who benefits from the widespread assumption that the status quo is inevitable and resistance is futile.

    Ask who benefits from your beliefs about what’s possible and what’s impossible.

    Ask who benefits from each of your beliefs about the world.

    Ask who benefits from each of your beliefs about humankind.

    Ask who benefits from each of your beliefs about yourself and how you should be.

    Ask who benefits from these beliefs not just among the powerful, but among the people you know in your own life. Who put that belief in your mind, and why might they have done so?

    Any time you are presented with a narrative about how things are in a way that asks you to believe it, question who would benefit from that belief, whether it’s a large-scale narrative about the world, or a small-scale narrative about yourself and your own life.

    _________________

    All my work is free to bootleg and use in any way, shape or form; republish it, translate it, use it on merchandise; whatever you want. My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, throwing some money into my tip jar on Patreon, Paypal, or Substack, buying an issue of my monthly zine, and following me on Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud or YouTube. If you want to read more you can buy my books. The best way to make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list on Substack, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. For more info on who I am, where I stand, and what I’m trying to do with this platform, click here. All works co-authored with my husband Tim Foley.

    Bitcoin donations:1Ac7PCQXoQoLA9Sh8fhAgiU3PHA2EX5Zm2

    Featured image via Adobe Stock.

    This post was originally published on Caitlin Johnstone.

  • Labor’s Solar Rorts unveiled – replete with colour spreadsheet!

    Every properly organised taxpayer funded rort has a spreadsheet. And this one does too. With new FOI documents to hand, Rex Patrick looks at how ‘Solar Rorts’ came about.

    This post was originally published on Michael West.

  • Gladys Berejiklian was not unlucky in love. She stuffed up something far more precious.

    Gladys Berejiklian, ICAC

    Forget the notion of ‘poor Gladys’. Anti-corruption body, ICAC, has done its job in finding NSW’s former premier engaged in serious corrupt conduct, writes former NSW Minister Michael Yabsley.  

  • Gladys Berejiklian was not unlucky in love. She stuffed up something far more precious.

    Gladys Berejiklian, ICAC

    Forget the notion of ‘poor Gladys’. Anti-corruption body, ICAC, has done its job in finding NSW’s former premier engaged in serious corrupt conduct, writes former NSW Minister Michael Yabsley.  

  • Archipela-no-go: global soccer, then Coldplay, fall foul of rising homophobia, anti-Israel sentiment in Indonesia

    Indonesia’s supposed core belief in diversity is being tested by religious-led homophobia and anti-semitism.  It comes as President Joko Widodo is due in Australia — and his country of 600 ethnicities readies for presidential elections next year, writes Duncan Graham

    This post was originally published on Michael West.

  • Cheats never prosper! Or do they PwC and KPMG?

    PwC, KPMG
    Ethical accountants are groaning in the wake of the PwC scandal which has thrashed the reputation of the profession. While most accountants abide by ethical standards, the Big 4 have dragged the profession into the mud. Wally the Chartered Accountant reports.

    This post was originally published on Michael West.

  • Labor shows ambition on political donations reform. But influence of big money untamed

    An influential parliamentary committee this week handed down its first major report into electoral reform. But, as Zacharias Szumer reports, there’s still a long way to go.

    This post was originally published on Michael West.

  • Elections Are Like A Toy Steering Wheel For Babies: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix

    Listen to a reading of this article (reading by Tim Foley):

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    Voting in a western “democracy” is like that bit in the opening intro of The Simpsons when Marge is driving with the baby and the baby has a toy steering wheel. The baby thinks she’s driving the car but it’s just a fake toy to keep her busy and let her feel like she’s participating.

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    All the worst atrocities in human history have been perpetrated or permitted by the government of the people who perpetrated them. None of the world’s most evil people are in prison. The law isn’t there to protect you from bad people, it’s there to protect bad people from you.

    That’s why you should always, always, always be distrustful of all efforts to extend the law and expand government power over you. It’s not happening because your government wants to help you. Your government is not your friend.

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    Republicans push war with China while sometimes acting as skeptics on Russia warmongering, Democrats push war with Russia while sometimes acting as skeptics on China warmongering. This creates the illusion of opposition while giving the war machine everything it wants.

    Which happens to be the job of the two-party system: creating the illusion of having a democratic choice between two opposing parties while ensuring that both parties advance the same overall agendas.

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    The best advice I can offer about US-China tensions is to ignore the words and watch the actions. Ignore what officials say about wanting peace and supporting the One China policy, and just watch all the US war machinery that’s being rapidly added to the areas surrounding China.

    The US empire is better at international narrative manipulation than any power structure that has ever existed in human history, but what they can’t spin away is the concrete maneuverings of solid pieces of war machinery, because they are physical realities and not narratives.

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    Trump’s recent comments about taking Venezuela’s oil are another good illustration of the real reason major factions of the imperial blob dislike Trump. It’s not because he’s “anti-war” or “fighting the Deep State” (he isn’t) — it’s because he’s a sloppy empire manager who makes the machine look as ugly as it is and can’t be trusted to keep the quiet parts quiet.

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    Gotta hand it to the empire for successfully duping rightists into believing anti-communism is somehow an anti-establishment position and not the exact same pro-establishment position that was propagandized into their parents, their grandparents, and their great-grandparents.

    “Oh you’re an anti-establishment rebel are you? What does that look like in practice?”

    ‘Hating communism, being mean to people whose sexuality is different from mine, and voting Republican.’

    “Ah. So pretty much just being a conservative and supporting the establishment, then?”

    ❖

    It’s actually kind of adorable how the Pentagon has gotten so comfortable sucking out funds for killing Russians that it’s now at a point where it just goes “Oh hey look, we just found a few billion dollars lying around on the ground! Oh well, might as well throw it at Ukraine!”

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    Many people who are suspicious of our ruling power structures hold an assumption that our world is being micromanaged by a shadowy cabal of elite “Them”s whose sinister plans dictate every major event in our world, but it really doesn’t work like that. Conspiracies among the powerful happen of course, but most of the ugly things we see are more the result of a blind confluence of mutually reinforcing forces like capitalism, the US empire’s push for unipolar hegemony, war profiteering, and partisan politics.

    It’d probably actually be better for us if the world really was being tightly controlled by a small cabal of elites instead of being blindly driven by a convergence of unthinking power interests, because at least such a cabal wouldn’t be imperiling their own lives by pushing nuclear brinkmanship and environmental destruction like a bunch of idiots.

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    Inner work is a social responsibility for everyone who is capable of it. Humanity’s evolutionary and historical heritage has left us all full of trauma and dysfunction, and if you’ve got the time and resources to help clear your share of that from our species you really should. I’m not saying you have to spend years in the Himalayas, or even go to therapy if that’s not where it’s at for you, but you ought to do something to bring consciousness and healing to your inner processes rather than just letting unconscious conditioning pilot your whole life.

    It also happens that working on yourself and clearing your unconscious bullshit will make you a lot happier and lead to much wiser decisions and a much better life. So there’s really no reason you should keep coasting along and still be the same person ten years from now that you are today.

    _______________

    All my work is free to bootleg and use in any way, shape or form; republish it, translate it, use it on merchandise; whatever you want. My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, throwing some money into my tip jar on Patreon, Paypal, or Substack, buying an issue of my monthly zine, and following me on Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud or YouTube. If you want to read more you can buy my books. The best way to make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list on Substack, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. For more info on who I am, where I stand, and what I’m trying to do with this platform, click here. All works co-authored with my husband Tim Foley.

    Bitcoin donations:1Ac7PCQXoQoLA9Sh8fhAgiU3PHA2EX5Zm2

    This post was originally published on Caitlin Johnstone.

  • Afghanistan war crimes: investigating the generals is the only way to end cover-up calls

    Australia’s military leaders need to be held to account for command failures in Afghanistan. It’s no surprise that calls of a cover-up are growing louder, writes defence whistleblower David McBride. 

    This post was originally published on Michael West.

  • Premier pay rates: are we getting value for money?

    Dan Andrews got a pay rise this week, making him the country’s highest paid premier or chief minister. But that’s not the whole story, as James Fitzgerald-Sice reports

    This post was originally published on Michael West.

  • Revealed: Peter Costello’s Future Fund has $280m punt on the pokies, lotteries and online gambling

    Australia’s sovereign wealth fund manages more than $200 billion of taxpayer’s funds but does so with a notorious penchant for secrecy. This third instalment in a series from Rex Patrick and Philip Dorling shines a spotlight on the Future Fund’s surprising gambling stake. 

    This post was originally published on Michael West.

  • Kenyan government minister Moses Kuria insults, threatens Nation Media Group

    Nairobi, June 21, 2023—In response to Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for Trade and Industry Moses Kuria’s derogatory remarks and threats of economic sanctions against the privately owned Nation Media Group, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement:

    “The vile insults and threats that Kenya’s trade minister Moses Kuria hurled at the Nation Media Group over the last few days undermine the dignity of the minister’s taxpayer-funded office and expose a disturbing disregard for constitutionally protected freedoms of the press,” said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Angela Quintal, from New York. “Kuria should retract his threats, and the government should guarantee media outlets do not face retaliatory economic sanctions for their reporting.”

    In a video posted on Twitter on June 18, Kuria threatened to fire government officials who advertised with the Nation Media Group, a corporation that owns a number of local and regional newspapers and broadcasters. The following day, he posted pictures of advertisements in the company’s newspapers and said the ads were “not good.”

    In a series of tweets between June 18 and June 20, Kuria called the company’s employees “prostitutes,” accused its journalists of corruption and bias, and promised to publish the names of “Nation Media Group writers who have confessed to being coerced to write anti government stories” in a “scheme” by editors, management, and “a former president.”

    The actions came after Nation Media Group’s print publications and its broadcaster NTV carried reports alleging government officials’ involvement in a corrupt scheme to import duty-free cooking oil that cost taxpayers billions of shillings. 

    On Wednesday, June 21, Kuria told journalists he would not apologize for his comments and said, “There is no one who is more pro-media than me.” 

    Also on Wednesday, the High Court in Nairobi issued an injunction against Kuria, barring him from insulting or vilifying the media, pending the hearing of a petition alleging the minister had breached values of governance and leadership as outlined by the Kenyan constitution. The case is expected to be heard on July 24.

    This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

  • Jacqui Lambie calls “cover-up” as military brass escape unscathed from “criminal behaviour” in Afghanistan

    The existence of “criminal behaviour” within the ranks of the Australian Defence Force’s elite troops has yet to have any consequences further up the chain of command. Senator Jacqui Lambie calls it a cover-up. Lisa-Jane Roberts reports.  

    This post was originally published on Michael West.

  • Housing Crisis: forsake the Future Fund Albo, you’ve already found a better build

    Budget 2023 Housing
    With Anthony Albanese’s signature housing policy delayed for months in the Senate, investment consultant Harry Chemay examines what’s wrong with its approach — and what’s right with another Labor policy

    This post was originally published on Michael West.

  • ‘Rogue heroes’: body cameras alone won’t fix the likes of Ben Roberts-Smith

    ADF, Ben Roberts-Smith

    The nation’s elite soldiers will be soon have a new piece of kit to help stamp out Ben Roberts-Smith-style rogue elements. But, as Lisa-Jane Roberts writes, the culture of the SAS has deep roots and is unlikely to be fixed by technology. 

  • Our Systems Reward Dysfunction And Destruction: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix

    Listen to a reading of this article (reading by Tim Foley):

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    Our civilization is sick because all its systems ensure that human behavior is driven by profit, and health isn’t profitable. Nobody gets rich from everyone staying healthy all the time. The gears of capitalism will still keep turning if its populace is made shallow and dull by bad education and crappy art made for profit. Billionaires aren’t made by leaving forests and oceans unmolested, consuming less, mining less, drilling less, using less energy. The economy doesn’t soar when the world is at peace and nations are working together in harmony.

    If you programmed an advanced AI to arrange human behavior solely around extracting the maximum amount of profit possible using existing technologies, its world wouldn’t look a whole lot different from the real one. We’re being guided by unthinking, unfeeling systems that don’t care about the good of our minds, our hearts, our health, or our biosphere, which will sacrifice all of the above to accomplish the one goal we’ve set them to accomplish.

    It’s just a dogshit way to run a civilization. It doesn’t work. It’s left us with a dying world full of crazy morons hurtling toward nuclear armageddon on multiple fronts. Our systems have failed as spectacularly as anything can fail.

    It’s simple really: we settled for capitalism as the status quo system because it’s an efficient way to churn out a lot of stuff and create a lot of wealth, but now we’re churning out too much stuff too quickly and society is enslaved by the wealthy. So now new systems are needed.

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    So much of modern political life consists of the ruling class tricking the public into trading away things the ruling class values in exchange for things the ruling class does not value. Trading revolution for the feeling of being revolutionary. Trading actual freedom and democracy for the story of having freedom and democracy. Trading away the civil rights our rulers actually care about like unrestricted speech and freedom from surveillance in exchange for culture wars about racism and transphobia. Trading real labor for imaginary money. In every way possible we’re being duped into trading away real power for empty narrative fluff.

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    One part of the problem is that in this mind-controlled dystopia people are prevented from knowing how deeply evil their government is, so the idea of their government surveilling them and regulating their speech and their access to information doesn’t scare them like it should.

    This is why it annoys me when people say “Stop talking about the problems, we need to talk about solutions!” It’s like mate, we’re so far from ever being able to implement solutions — we haven’t even gotten to a point where a significant number of people know the problems exist. Step one is spreading awareness of the problems and their sources, because nobody’s going to turn and fight an enemy who they still believe is their friend. Systemic solutions are pretty far down the track from that point.

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    It’s a pretty well-established fact by now that free will doesn’t exist nearly to the extent that most religions, philosophies and judicial systems pretend it does. Our minds are very hackable and propaganda is very effective. If you don’t get this, you don’t understand the problem.

    Do a deep dive into cognitive biases and how they operate. Look into the research which shows our brains know what decisions we’re going to make several seconds before the conscious mind thinks we’re making them. You’re going to tell me these are organisms with free agency?

    In order to understand what we’re up against you have to understand psychological manipulation, how effective it is, and why it works, because mass-scale psychological manipulation is the primary force preventing the public from turning against our rulers in our own interest.

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    It seems like a lot of the inertia and self-defeating hopelessness that people have about fighting the machine comes from knowing the political awakenings of the sixties fizzled out, but I don’t think that would be the case if people understood just how much hard work the machine had to put into making them fizzle.

    I mean, we all get that the death of activist movements didn’t just happen on its own, right? We all know about COINTELPRO? Known instances where one out of every six activists was actually a federal infiltrator? The roll-out of the most sophisticated propaganda machine that has ever existed?

    The amount of energy the western empire has poured into killing all leftist and antiwar movement is staggering, but people just think the acid wore off and the hippies turned into yuppies and the Reagan administration happened on its own. It didn’t. They had to work hard at that.

    The revolution didn’t organically fizzle out, it was actively strangled to death. And what’s left in its place is this defeatist attitude where people want a healthy society but believe it can’t be attained, so it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. We COINTELPRO ourselves now.

    People think we can’t use the power of our numbers to force the emergence of a healthy society, and we don’t deserve one because we dropped the ball. But we didn’t knowingly drop the ball, we were manipulated out of it. And the manipulators had to work very, very hard to do so. Those movements died out because the machine understood very clearly that it needed to stomp them out with extreme aggression and knew exactly what it needed to do to accomplish this, while ordinary people did not. It’s not a fair fight if only one party knows it’s a fight.

    The machine won one battle and everyone’s acting like they won the war. They didn’t. We can absolutely pick up the fight again, and we can overwhelm them with our numbers. If we had any idea how hard they had to work to win that one battle, this would be clear to everybody.

    __________________

    My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, throwing some money into my tip jar on Patreon, Paypal, or Substack, buying an issue of my monthly zine, and following me on Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud or YouTube. If you want to read more you can buy my books. The best way to make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list for at my website or on Substack, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. Everyone, racist platforms excluded, has my permission to republish, use or translate any part of this work (or anything else I’ve written) in any way they like free of charge. For more info on who I am, where I stand, and what I’m trying to do with this platform, click here. All works co-authored with my husband Tim Foley.

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    Featured image via Adobe Stock.

    This post was originally published on Caitlin Johnstone.

  • New government hotline in Laos is unpopular as callers fear retribution

    Laos’ Ministry of Home Affairs has launched a hotline that citizens can call for government assistance, but many are afraid to use it because callers must reveal personal information.

    After dialing 1526 to report an issue, callers must also provide their names, phone numbers and addresses so that police or officials can contact them if they require more information.

    “If they call asking authorities to solve a particular problem, the police can call them back easily after the issue is investigated and solved,” a related government official, who like all sources in this report requested anonymity for security reasons, told RFA’s Lao Service. 

    The official said since the hotline was launched on June 1, many have called asking for the ministry to solve problems and others have called to comment on the work of the ministry, but she was not at liberty to discuss how many people have called or what any of their requests were.

    The Lao government has been using hotlines for public engagement since 2016. The country’s National Assembly also has an open hotline where people can raise issues for it to address.

    But several Lao residents said they were reluctant to use the new hotline because they doubt the ministry can do anything to solve the problem, and they do not want to get in trouble for reporting problems.

    “If you ask for help from the government in a one-party country, and ask them too many times, it’s not good for you,” a resident said. “You have to reveal all your personal information so everybody is afraid to call.”

    Another resident said he was not interested in using them because hotlines in the past were ineffective in solving problems.

    A third villager said that usually nobody answers government hotlines so it is useless to call them.

    A Lao resident who identified as a Christian said that Christians have used hotlines once in a while to inform the ministry when they are harassed by local authorities. 

    Sometimes officials come to try to solve the problem but most of the time the complaints are ignored, the person said.

    “The good part of using the hotline is that we can inform the ministry of problems that we are concerned about and need them solved,” the Christian said. “However, many problems are still not solved … they always say they are still working on it”

    A Lao intellectual told RFA that most people do not trust government hotlines because they are afraid of retribution. For example, if they were to reveal government corruption, the responsible officials could use the power of their positions to punish them.

    Translated by Sidney Khotpanya. Edited by Eugene Whong.

    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Lao.

  • Myanmar’s shadow government creates guerilla militia in Yangon

    Myanmar’s shadow government has established an armed battalion in the country’s largest city of Yangon, intended to strengthen opposition to the junta and strategically formulate the fall of military rule, shadow government officials told Radio Free Asia.

    Defense officials from the National Unity Government, or NUG, announced on June 1 that Public Defense Force 5101, or PDF 5101, is operating under its Yangon Region Military Command. 

    Yangon and its surrounding areas are the second strongest power base for the military junta behind the capital Naypyidaw, to the north.

    In the aftermath of the military coup on Feb.1, 2021, armed citizens opposed to military rule began banding together to form PDFs–guerilla-style militia groups–to fight back against the junta. Many of these affiliated themselves with the NUG after it was formed by remnants of Myanmar’s democratically elected government.    

    Claiming a PDF in Yangon is a stepping stone towards a stronger resistance toward the junta, Naing Htoo Aung, secretary of the  NUG’s Ministry of Defense, told RFA’s Burmese Service. He said it aims to combine existing urban guerrilla attack strategies with traditional combat tactics to shorten the response time to junta military threats in Yangon.

    “After regiments like this have been established, we will be able to organize stronger, more united and more traditional battles that can formulate more strategic attacks at the military junta,” said Naing Htoo Aung.

    ENG_BUR_NUGRegiment_06132023_02.jpg
    A hospital staffer cleans a stretcher stained with blood from a protester killed during a crackdown by Myanmar military during a demonstration against the military coup at a hospital in Yangon, March 30, 2021. Credit: AFP

    Following the NUG’s announcement, junta personnel took to the Yangon streets, saying to residents through loudspeakers that they should not harbor members of PDFs in their homes, not to rent their homes ot PDF members, and to report to authorities any suspicious activity, Yangon residents told RFA.

    Wake up call

    The establishment of the PDF in Yangon is a wake up call to the junta, Sayar Kyaung, leader of the anti-junta Yangon UG [Urban Guerilla] Association, a coalition of guerilla groups from the city. But the announcement will cause the junta to come after groups like the UG association.

    “Since Yangon is under the control of the enemy, they search very thoroughly, inspect and arrest more people in the area, making things harder for us.”

    RFA attempted to contact the junta’s spokesperson Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun for comment, but he did not answer phone calls. 

    The NUG’s announcement is likely false according to Thien Tun Oo, the executive director of the Thayninga Institute for Strategic Studies, a group of former military officers said.

    “In my opinion, it’s more like a propaganda attempt,” he said. “It cannot be practical for them to do anything in the Yangon region under the current situation.”

    More violence expected

    Anti-junta forces shot and killed about 600 junta military personnel in and around Yangon during the month of May, including officers ranked as high as majors, the NUG’s Yangon Regional Military Sub-division announced on June 3. 

    On June 5, six people were injured in an explosion at the office of the chief of Internal Revenue Department in Yangon, and on On June 6, three bombs exploded near the city’s Insein Prison.

    The NUG’s declaration of a newly formed armed battalion will likely cause more violence between the two sides, Sai Kyi Zin Soe, a political analyst, told RFA.

    “There can be more deadly incidents leading to escalating anxiety among the people,” he said. “I think that those who are already hiding from the military forces will have narrower freedom to move about and fewer choices of accommodation with more difficult livelihood opportunities.”

    ENG_BUR_NUGRegiment_06132023_01.jpg
    Smoke rises over Tamwe township in Yangon on March 27, 2021 as Myanmar security forces continue their crackdown on protesters against the military coup. Credit: AFP

    According to NUG data, there are more than 300 PDF groups in 250 townships nationwide. 

    The junta has therefore attempted to take a page out of the PDF playbook and has organized citizen militias loyal to the junta.

    Dialogue will, however, be the only way to avoid more fighting and casualties, Ye Tun, a political analyst, told RFA.

    “There have been escalating anxieties, feelings of insecurity and personal vendettas among the people lately. This is a very bad consequence of politics in Myanmar,” he said. “We need to be very careful not to let things like this happen.”

    According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, 3,659 pro-democracy activists and civilians have been killed since the military coup, and 23,337 people have been arrested as of Wednesday.

    A junta statement issued April 9, reported that from the coup through March 16, 2023, a total of 4,645 civilians were killed by PDF forces. 

    RFA could not independently verify the data from either organization, but if both statements are accurate, a total of 8,304 people have died on both sides since the coup.

    Translated by Myo Min Aung. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Burmese.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • ‘It’s time for my government to take action’: A conversation with a youth plaintiff in Held v. Montana

    Hello, and welcome to Part 2 of our series on personal action in the face of climate change. (Check out Part 1 here, looking at why individual action is a fraught concept, and how individuals are amplifying impact via life milestones.)

    Today’s story, from news and politics fellow Akielly Hu, shares the perspective of one young person who witnessed the effects of climate change on the places she loved and decided to take what some might call a drastic measure — suing her state government.

    Illustration of gavel with starburst behind it

    The vision

    “We’ve tried the quiet way before and there haven’t been any changes in 60 years. Now it’s time to think bigger, speak louder.”

    Claire Vlases, one of 16 young people suing the state of Montana

    The spotlight

    On Monday, a trial began for the climate lawsuit Held v. Montana at a state district court in Helena. In March 2020, 16 youth plaintiffs filed suit against the state, alleging that by enacting policies that promote fossil fuel production, the state government violated their constitutional right to a healthy environment. (Montana is one of three states that has established a right to a “clean and healthful” environment in its state constitution.)

    The case is not the first time young people have taken legal action to demand that their government take the climate crisis seriously. The plaintiffs in Montana, organized by a nonprofit law firm called Our Children’s Trust, are joining a growing cadre of citizens suing their governments for their failure to act on climate change. Many of these cases — from Canada to Mexico to South Africa — identify citizens’ constitutional rights to life, security, or a healthy environment, and aim to hold governments accountable for protecting those enshrined rights.

    But the Montana case will make history as the first constitutional climate case to go to trial in the U.S. (A federal case, Juliana v. United States, also organized by Our Children’s Trust, will soon become the second.)

    From June 12–23, the youth plaintiffs will testify in court, sharing stories of how climate change has affected their personal lives and why they’re asking the court to declare Montana’s fossil fuel policies unconstitutional.

    [Read more about the arguments in the case]

    “In some ways, our generation feels a lot of pressure, kind of a burden, to make something happen because it’s our lives that are at risk,” Rikki Held, the named plaintiff in the case, told the Montana Free Press. She added that she and her fellow plaintiffs were compelled to take action out of both a love for their home state and a desire to hold it accountable. “Montana is a big emitter of fossil fuels and is contributing to climate change. I know it’s a broader global issue, but you can’t not take responsibility.”

    Another plaintiff, Claire Vlases, echoes those sentiments. Growing up in Bozeman, she spent much of her time outdoors, teaching ski lessons, cycling through Glacier National Park, and running on her high school’s cross-country team. But melting snowpack, receding glaciers, and extreme heat and smoke disrupted her favorite activities, sparking newfound awareness of the severity of the climate crisis.

    Vlases, now 20 years old and studying computer science at Claremont McKenna College in California, says she’s been feeling the weight of preparing for the trial. “If Montana as a state is able to recognize its unconstitutional promotion of fossil fuels and hopefully down the line actually change that,” she says, “that would be a huge motivating factor for young people across the state to not feel like all hope is lost when it comes to environmental protection.”

    Grist spoke to and emailed with Vlases ahead of the trial about what it’s been like preparing for the case, what she hopes it will achieve, and what she’s learned about the role individuals can play in influencing policy-level change. Her comments have been edited for length and clarity.

    . . .

    Q. What inspired you to get involved with this lawsuit?

    A. I grew up in Bozeman, and growing up here, I just loved the environment and had a passion for nature. When I was in middle school, I raised a bunch of money for solar panels for my middle school. And since then, I developed a taste for climate activism.

    In high school, I learned about kids that are suing the federal government for promoting fossil fuels unconstitutionally. I was in awe of their actions, so when I heard about something similar happening in my home state of Montana, I reached out to the organization to see if I could become involved. I went through an interview process before officially becoming a plaintiff in the case.

    Q. What have you experienced during the last three years leading up to trial? How has your life changed?

    A. The last three years have been a whirlwind of activism, learning, and personal growth.

    Waiting for the lawsuit to reach trial has been both agonizing and invigorating. There have been moments of frustration, as we faced delays, legal hurdles, and the slow pace of the judicial system. However, each passing day fueled my determination to see justice served. The support from fellow activists, friends, and even strangers has been a source of strength during the long wait.

    This journey has transformed my life in profound ways. I’ve become more resilient, learning to navigate the complex world of bureaucracy and courtroom procedures. I’ve connected with experts, scientists, and fellow activists, broadening my knowledge and network. But above all, I’ve witnessed the power of unity and collective action, as our movement gained momentum and captured the attention of the media and the public.

    Q. Most people don’t get a chance to directly challenge their government’s policies on climate change. Would you describe this as an empowering experience?

    A. Definitely. I joined the lawsuit when I was 17, so I couldn’t vote yet. When I was in high school, I helped found the Solar Club and we wrote a couple of different bills to try and get solar legislation passed in Montana. But it was never very successful — they never even made it out of committee. So it’s really empowering to be a young person and actually get an opportunity to challenge our government through the judicial branch.

    Q. How would you describe the importance of taking personal action when it comes to climate change?

    A. I think it’s important to find something that you’re passionate about. For me, it’s protecting the environment and taking a stance on it. A lot of people, especially young people, don’t think that there’s much of an opportunity there. But if there is a community that is supportive enough of your endeavors, there’s a lot that you can do as a person.

    Individual action goes hand-in-hand with government action. That’s one huge reason why I’m on this lawsuit, because I’ve done as much as I think I can do as one person. Now I believe it’s time for my government to take action, too.

    Q. Have you heard from any other young people who have been inspired by what you and your fellow plaintiffs are doing?

    A. It’s hard to know for sure. I do get emails every couple of months from people asking me about my work, but mostly that’s for my solar panel stuff.

    In high school, when I finished the solar panel project, people reached out to me a lot and there were solar clubs made in other schools. I think it’s a lot easier to see change happening for young people, by young people, in your own community. If it’s your neighbor or your friend, then it’s a lot more motivating to try it yourself. And so I hope young Montanans can see the work that we’re doing on this lawsuit and find that a motivating factor for them.

    Q. It’s interesting that the center of this case is Montana’s constitutional right to a healthy environment. Would you say that’s a source of pride or empowerment for you and other climate advocates in the state?

    A. It’s hugely empowering that there even is an Article IX in our constitution. I think everyone in Montana, no matter their politics, lives here because of the natural landscape and what Montana offers us. I find it hugely inspiring that our government is willing to recognize that that is a crucial part of being Montanan.

    But I find it really unsettling that even though we have that recognition in our constitution, there are laws in place that aren’t following that. Calling attention to the article in this lawsuit and to the laws that are unconstitutional means that we’re able to actually recognize what’s really important — what Montanans really value — and then act on it.

    Q. Will you be testifying at the trial?

    A. Yes, I think so.

    Q. How are you feeling about it?

    A. I feel excited to be able to voice my opinions and that I have an opportunity to be heard. It’s hard to think that your opinions can actually make change. So I’m really looking forward to that.

    Also, I’m a little nervous. I’ve never done that before. But I hope that what I say matters to the people listening.

    I was talking to my sister today so that she could ask some questions so I could get in the right mindset for this interview. And she was like, “Why would you sue? I feel like that’s really drastic.” I was thinking about that a little bit. And I think taking a drastic measure of action is the only way that we’re going to get heard. I think young people across the state are interested in knowing what we can actually do, and what lengths people will go to feel heard. And we’re excited to see the result of the trial.

    Q. What’s next for you after this trial and after college? Do you see climate work being part of your future?

    A. I’m not sure where I want to go with my career. I hope to use my computer science [background] for environmental work. But I’ll continue to be an environmentalist and speak out against anything that I believe is unconstitutional for the rest of my life.

    — Akielly Hu

    More exposure

    See for yourself

    What are some ways you’ve stood up for your own right to a clean and healthy environment — whether legally protected or not? Reply to this email to tell us how you’ve raised your voice, called out injustice, or otherwise held the powers that be accountable for protecting people and ecosystems.

    A parting shot

    This photo shows a stand of living and dead whitebark pine trees at a research and restoration site near the Snowbowl ski area outside Missoula, Montana. Whitebark pines have been particularly threatened by climate-related perils, including greater wildfire risk and pest outbreaks. (Earlier this year, we covered a climate plan developed by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes on the Flathead Reservation in Montana, which included restoring whitebark pine populations.)

    An aerial view of a mountainside dotted with trees, some green and some gray.

    This story was originally published by Grist with the headline ‘It’s time for my government to take action’: A conversation with a youth plaintiff in Held v. Montana on Jun 14, 2023.


    This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Akielly Hu.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Government won’t claim it ‘did everything right’ during the pandemic


    This content originally appeared on openDemocracy RSS and was authored by Anita Mureithi, Ruby Lott-Lavigna.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • The Government is Careering over a Climate Cliff Edge” Caroline Lucas | 13 June 2023 | Just Stop Oil


    This content originally appeared on Just Stop Oil and was authored by Just Stop Oil.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • The Government is Careering over a Climate Cliff Edge” Caroline Lucas | 13 June 2023 | Just Stop Oil


    This content originally appeared on Just Stop Oil and was authored by Just Stop Oil.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • US government, activists demand release of jailed 19-year-old Uyghur student

    The U.S. government and human rights activists have called for the immediate release of a 19-year-old Uyghur university student serving jail time in Xinjiang for “advocating extremism” following her sentencing in March. 

    Kamile Wayit, a preschool education major at a university in China’s Henan province, was detained in December 2022 for posting a video on a social media app about November’s “white paper” protests across China, in which people held up blank sheets of paper to complain about COVID-19 restrictions and the lack of free speech.

    Wayit was one of dozens of young people around China detained in relation to the protests, which were sparked by a fatal lockdown fire in an apartment building in Xinjiang’s regional capital Urumqi that killed about 40 Uyghurs. 

    Authorities apprehended Wayit while she was on winter break at her home in Atush, capital of Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture in Xinjiang, her brother, Kewser Wayit, told Radio Free Asia in a January report.

    A subsequent report by RFA in April cited a state security agent who said Wayit was being detained pending an investigation into her communication with her brother, an engineer who lives in the United States, in addition to her social media post.

    Earlier in June, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson told The Economist magazine that authorities sentenced Wayit on March 25, but did not state the length of her sentence.

    Pressing for her release

    Wayit’s arrest has attracted international attention with the U.S. government, rights activists, scholars, professors and students demanding that Chinese authorities provide information on her case and release her. 

    “We are concerned by the PRC [People’s Republic of China] government’s continued detention of Kamile Wayit,” said a U.S. State Department spokesperson responding to an inquiry by Radio Free Asia on June 9. 

    “We call on the People’s Republic of China to ensure respect for her human rights and fundamental freedoms, including all fair trial guarantees, and to immediately and unconditionally release all unjustly detained persons,” the spokesperson said.

    Maya Mitalipova, a Uyghur activist and director of the Human Stem Cell Laboratory at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told RFA that she will advocate for Wayit until she is released.

    “I will not be silent and will be speaking on behalf of Kamile until she is free,” Mitalipova said. “I will meet with U.S. government officials at the State Department and pressure the Chinese government to free Kamile.”  

    When RFA contacted the Prosecutor’s Office in Kezilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture, an employee declined to provide information on Wayit’s sentence because the case has to do with national security.

    “Even Kamile Wayit’s family has no right to inquire about her case,” the staffer said, adding that family members must wait until they receive the final trial decision from the court.

    State security staff previously told RFA that the families of those accused of committing a crime receive notice between seven to 37 days for regular criminal cases, during which time the Prosecutor’s Office will approve the arrest request. 

    The Public Security Bureau then reviews the arrest order, which takes two months. But there is no such rule on cases related to state security charges. 

    In the meantime, Wayit’s family says it is concerned about her mental health because she has experienced constant nightmares since 2017 when her father was taken to a “re-education” camp for two years. She also suffers from an eye disorder for which she was supposed to have surgery in Beijing this summer.

    Translated by RFA Uyghur and RFA Mandarin. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Shohret Hoshur for RFA Uyghur and by RFA Mandarin.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.