{"id":10437,"date":"2013-04-21T20:34:35","date_gmt":"2013-04-22T04:34:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/?p=10437"},"modified":"2013-04-21T20:58:16","modified_gmt":"2013-04-22T04:58:16","slug":"rouge-forum-dispatch-mysticism-nationalism-kill-everywhere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/rouge-forum-dispatch-mysticism-nationalism-kill-everywhere\/","title":{"rendered":"Rouge Forum Dispatch: Mysticism + Nationalism Kill–Everywhere"},"content":{"rendered":"

We Say Fight Back!<\/span><\/strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n

To such heights of evil are people driven by religion. (Lucretius)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cPeacefully they will die, peacefully they will expire in Thy name, and beyond the grave they will find nothing but death. But we shall keep the secret, and for their happiness we shall allure them with the reward of heaven and eternity.\u201d
\n\u2015 Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Grand Inquisitor <\/strong><\/p>\n

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“To end the domination of capital, make war impossible, wipe out state boundaries, transform the whole world into one cooperative commonwealth, and bring about real human brotherhood and freedom.” Aims of the Third (Moscow) International as stated in the Manifesto.<\/em> <\/strong>It is that or the domination of barbarism.<\/p>\n

WaPo Brief: Chechnya in 4 Minutes (nationalism marries mysticism) <\/strong>www.washingtonpost.com\/video\/thefold\/chechnya-200-years-of-background-in-four-minutes\/2013\/04\/19\/0518f0ba-a927-11e2-b029-8fb7e977ef71_video.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Over Half of Gitmo Prisoners on Hunger Strike <\/strong>The number of inmates taking part in the Guantanamo Bay hunger strike has reached 84, which is just over a half of the prison\u2019s population, US military officials have stated, as reported by AP news agency. \u00a0http:\/\/rt.com\/usa\/guantanamo-strike-prisoners-inmates-162\/\\<\/p>\n

Anon Threatens Internet blackout in Response to CISPA Passage<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Trying Rios Mott <\/strong>Over the past month, survivors of massacres committed 30 years ago have testified how soldiers rampaged through Mayan villages, killing those who did not flee and destroying houses and crops. Women who had been raped covered their faces with shawls as they testified. Men who had been children at the time described seeing their parents or siblings killed. General R\u00edos Montt, 86, seized power in 1982 and ruled Guatemala for 17 months during a time when the army intensified its scorched-earth operations in the Mayan highlands to flush out leftist guerrillas.
\nA United Nations truth commission formed after the 1996 peace accord found that the state had committed \u201cacts of genocide\u201d against certain groups of Mayans, including the Mayan-Ixil. \u00a0 www.nytimes.com\/2013\/04\/20\/world\/americas\/judge-rejects-annulment-of-ex-dictators-guatemala-trial.html?ref=global-home<\/a><\/p>\n

The Little Red Schoolhouse<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

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In the Capitalist UC System, California Students get Jobbed <\/strong>The chances of in-state high school seniors gaining admission to the University of California worsened this year, as more of them applied and the number accepted dropped 2.2%, according to data released Thursday. Meanwhile, the ranks of out-of-staters and international students who were offered a UC spot continued to increase.
\nA record 99,132 Californians sought to become UC freshmen in the fall and 60,089, or 60.6%, were admitted by at least one of the system’s nine undergraduate campuses. That acceptance rate was the lowest ever \u2014 down from more than 70% five years ago.
\nUC officials contend that this year’s drop is a result of continuing financial constraints on the system and an effort to prevent overcrowding, because more students than anticipated enrolled for the current freshman class. Even though 1,354 fewer Californians were admitted for the 2013-14 school year, administrators said their goal was to enroll about 33,500 state freshmen, the same as last fall. \u00a0http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/news\/local\/la-me-uc-admissions-20130419,0,252956.story<\/p>\n

New York Times Loves the Common Core, as they Loved the Iraq + AFPak Wars <\/strong>New York City parents are understandably nervous about tough new state tests that were rolled out last week. And some parents whose children have already taken the tests are outraged. They shouldn\u2019t be: the tests, which measure math and English skills, are an essential part of rigorous education reforms known as Common Core that seek to improve reasoning skills and have been adopted by 45 states. \u00a0The city says that it provided adequate advance notice of the tests and that last year more than 90 percent of New York teachers said they understood the Common Core material. The outreach program could have been more aggressive. But with that proviso, New York deserves enormous credit for being one of the first states to carry out what is clearly the most important education reform in the country\u2019s history.
\nThe Common Core standards were the product of a heavily researched, bipartisan effort pioneered by the National Governors Association in collaboration with the Council of Chief State School Officers. The effort arose from a broad recognition that the United States was losing ground to many of its competitors abroad because the learning standards as applied in most states were pathetically weak. The problem came to light when students who sailed through weak state tests did significantly worse on the rigorous federally backed test known as the National Assessment of Educational Progress. \u00a0 www.nytimes.com\/2013\/04\/21\/opinion\/sunday\/moving-ahead-with-common-core.html<\/a><\/p>\n

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A Reminder on Why the Common Core <\/strong> the Council of Foreign Relations, led by war-hawk Condoleeza Rice (\u201cWe don\u2019t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud,\u201d) issued its Education Task Force Report, demonstrating in clear terms that the education agenda is a war agenda: class and empire\u2019s wars.
\n\u201cHuman capital will determine power in the current century, and the failure to produce that capital will undermine America\u2019s security\u2026Large, undereducated swaths of the population damage the ability of the United States to physically defend itself, protect its secure information, conduct diplomacy, and grow its economy.\u201d
\nIn the midst of World War I, a general demanded that the schools become \u201chuman munition factories.\u201d That capitalist schools serve a capitalist state is key to grasping the war project at hand. \u00a0 www.counterpunch.org\/2013\/03\/28\/detroit-and-the-international-war-of-the-rich-on-the-poor\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Hawaii Teachers build the Scaffold that Will Hang Them (Ya Can’t teach a Sneetch) <\/strong>Gov. Neil Abercrombie wasted no time in signing off on the new contract public schoolteachers ratified last night.
\nAt a news conference this morning, the governor and officials with the state Department of Education and the Hawaii State Teachers Association made the four-year deal official. It now heads to the Legislature for funding approvals.
\nAbercrombie told reporters he believes the contract, which will tie teachers\u2019 pay raises in part to student performance, should be celebrated as one of the most progressive contracts in the country.
\nNinety-five percent of teachers voting voted to ratify the deal, which includes annual pay increases and reduced medical premiums for teachers, and ends a two-year labor dispute with the state. \u00a0http:\/\/www.staradvertiser.com\/news\/breaking\/20130418_Abercrombie_HSTA_sign_contract_after_teachers_ratify_deal.html<\/p>\n

Michigan Governor Snyder’s Secret Plan to Voucherize Capitalist Schooling <\/strong> Gov. Rick Snyder on Friday defended his administration’s involvement in a secret project that is trying to develop a cheaper way to deliver public education through a voucher-like funding system.
\nThe education reform advisory team’s existence had been secret until The Detroit News reported Friday about a months-long “skunk works” project to design a new “value school” that costs $5,000 per child annually to operate \u2014 $2,000 less than the state’s minimum per-pupil funding. The group includes employees of software companies, charter school advocates and five state employees.From The Detroit News: www.detroitnews.com\/article\/20130420\/SCHOOLS\/304200345#ixzz2R9TbeS7C<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

National Black Education Agenda on the Common Core <\/strong>Neither the assumptions of \u201cA Nation at Risk\u201d nor the soon to be implemented\u201cCommon Standards,\u201d both of which assume an American student population
\nembodied with a similar history of freedom and cultural neutrality, is sufficient to educate students of African descent whose ancestors in the United States bore the scars of physical and mental chains of enslavement and who themselves, whether they recognize it or not, are still victimized by a white supremacist culture and
\nschool curriculum.<\/p>\n

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No other race came to America in chains to be suppressed and vilified by Americans of European descent who are presently accorded unearned special privileges because of their skin color and heritage. Although the new standards claim that no specific curriculum materials are being\u00a0advocated, in several areas that specify common standards in English Language Arts,and Literacy in History\/Social Studies, Mathematics, Science, and Technical
\nSubjects, grades kindergarten through the 12th grade and college, the \u201csample\u201d of\u00a0illustrative texts rarely contains any books or writings by Black authors, and, for that matter, of any writings by Hispanic\/Latino, Native American or Asian writers! The\u201cillustrative\u201d texts for student reading in grades K5 contain no readings identifiable as written by or about authors of color. Yet, as the Common Core State Standards make clear these are only\u00a0recommendations, not required readings. States are free to choose their own texts and materials. The State of Texas, for example, has already decided to remove such illustrious Americans as President Thomas Jefferson and Justice Thurgood Marshall from its textbooks and curriculum. The frequent suggestion in \u2018The Standards\u2019 that students be paired for diversity is an \u00a0implementation deception in schools that are primarily or all of one racial group or where some students are separated into elite \u201cgifted\u201d or \u201cadvanced placement\u201d <\/strong> www.scribd.com\/doc\/136909345\/NBEA-CommonCore-Critique42013<\/a><\/p>\n

College Prez Describes Loss of 500,000 student positions in CA as “slack in Demand” <\/strong>Over the last four years, we have lost 469,000 students statewide, and enrollment demand is slowing down. This “forced change\u201d due to financial contraction has deeply affected the CCC system. We need to embrace the reduced mission of the CCC\u2019s, focusing on success, not just access. One way to address this mission is to work towards increasing unit load, rather than increasing students. This approach supports student success, as we know that full-time students achieve educational goals at a higher rate than part-time students. Finally, we need to continue to work more as a system and not lose the momentum we currently have in addressing student success (SB 1440, SB 1456, etc).
\nPotentially, this \u201cslack in demand\u201d will allow CCC\u2019s some catch-up time to address areas neglected over the past four years, such as maintenance. While the economic outlook is moderately good, fixed costs will continue to accelerate (STRS, PERS, health benefits, and deferred maintenance). We need to plan for these. \u00a0http:\/\/www.swccd.edu\/index.aspx?page=2276<\/p>\n

The International Hot War of the Rich on the Poor<\/span><\/strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n

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Perpetual War Against Exactly What????<\/strong> The U.S., in other words, is probably in less danger from external enemies than at any moment in the last century. There is no other imperial power on the planet capable of, or desirous of, taking on American power directly, including China. It\u2019s true that, on September 11, 2001, 19 hijackers with box cutters produced a remarkable, apocalyptic, and devastating TV show in which almost 3,000 people died. When those giant towers in downtown New York collapsed, it certainly had the look of nuclear disaster (and in those first days, the media was filled was nuclear-style references), but it wasn\u2019t actually an apocalyptic event.
\nThe enemy was still nearly nonexistent. The act cost bin Laden only an estimated $400,000-$500,000, though it would lead to a series of trillion-dollar wars. It was a nightmarish event that had a malign Wizard of Oz quality to it: a tiny man producing giant effects. It in no way endangered the state. In fact, it would actually strengthen many of its powers. It put a hit on the economy, but a passing one. It was a spectacular and spectacularly gruesome act of terror by a small, murderous organization then capable of mounting a major operation somewhere on Earth only once every couple of years. It was meant to spread fear, but nothing more.
\nWhen the towers came down and you could suddenly see to the horizon, it was still, in historical terms, remarkably enemy-less. And yet 9\/11 was experienced here as a Pearl Harbor moment — a sneak attack by a terrifying enemy meant to disable the country. The next day, newspaper headlines were filled with variations on \u201cA Pearl Harbor of the Twenty-First Century.\u201d If it was a repeat of December 7, 1941, however, it lacked an imperial Japan or any other state to declare war on, although one of the weakest partial states on the planet, the Taliban’s Afghanistan, would end up filling the bill adequately enough for Americans. \u00a0http:\/\/www.tomdispatch.com\/post\/175687\/tomgram%3A_engelhardt%2C_the_cathedral_of_the_enemy\/?utm_source=TomDispatch&utm_campaign=c39779f5df-TD_Engelhardt4_14_2013&utm_medium=email#more<\/p>\n

US Troops Plunge Toward Syria–Jihaddists, we got your back <\/strong>The US will deploy 200 troops to Jordan in the coming weeks in a bid to support that country\u2019s defenses, Washington says, as the Syrian crisis escalates.
\nThe Wednesday statement came from US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel in Congress. He said the deployment will assist the efforts to contain violence on the Syrian border, as well as set the groundwork for combating any perceived threats of chemical weapons use in Syria. \u00a0 rt.com\/news\/jordan-us-troops-syria-028\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Afghan Opium Crop Doing Just fine <\/strong>For the third year in a row, opium cultivation has increased across Afghanistan, reversing earlier drops stemming from a decade-long international and Afghan government effort to combat the drug trade, according to a United Nations report released on Monday. \u00a0The report\u2019s findings raised concerns among international law enforcement officials that if the trend continued, opium would be the country\u2019s major economic activity after the departure of foreign military forces in 2014, leading to the specter of what one referred to as \u201cthe world\u2019s first true narco-state.\u201d
\nAfghanistan is already the world\u2019s largest producer of opium, and last year accounted for 75 percent of the world\u2019s heroin supply. \u201cThe assumption is it will reach again to 90 percent this year,\u201d said Jean-Luc Lemahieu, the United Nations\u2019 top counternarcotics official here.<\/p>\n

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US Pouring Money on Syrian Jihadists <\/strong> Secretary of State John Kerry announced Sunday morning that the United States would double its aid to the Syrian opposition, providing $123 million in fresh assistance. \u00a0http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2013\/04\/21\/world\/middleeast\/kerry-says-us-to-double-aid-to-the-opposition-in-syria.html?ref=global-home<\/p>\n

The World American Hysterics Made in Pakistan <\/strong>Electioneering has taken a dark twist in northwest Pakistan, where a concerted campaign of Taliban attacks against the main secular party is violently reshaping the democratic landscape before parliamentary elections scheduled for May 11.
\nIn the past 10 days, militants have carried out four bombings and one grenade attack against Mr. Khan\u2019s Awami National Party, which has governed Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province since 2008, and whose secular ideology is repugnant to the Taliban\u2019s vision of imposing an Islamic caliphate in Pakistan.
\nIn the worst attack, last Tuesday, a suicide bomber killed 19 people and wounded dozens in central Peshawar, narrowly missing the former railways minister, Ghulam Ahmed Bilour. www.nytimes.com\/2013\/04\/22\/world\/asia\/pakistani-taliban-violently-reshape-the-ballot.html?ref=global-home&_r=0<\/a><\/p>\n

Pakistan’s Gangster Musharraf Back under Arrest <\/strong> Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was arrested and placed in police custody Friday, a day after commandos whisked him away from an Islamabad courthouse where he faces charges of illegally detaining dozens of judges while in power.
\nMusharraf, who only a few weeks ago presented himself as a patriotic savior returning to his homeland from self-imposed exile, was being held at police headquarters at least until his next court appearance, which was expected within 48 hours. It was not known whether he would be moved back to his Islamabad residence under house arrest or to a jail cell to await trial. \u00a0http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/news\/nationworld\/world\/la-fg-pakistan-musharraf-20130420,0,2015585.story<\/p>\n

Ally Karzai Says US Drones Kill A Dozen Children and More <\/strong> The spokesman for President Hamid Karzai said Thursday that the C.I.A. was responsible for calling in an airstrike on April 7 that left 17 Afghan civilians dead, 12 of them children, and that the secret Afghan militias that the agency controls behaved as if they were \u201cresponsible to no one.\u201d \u00a0http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2013\/04\/19\/world\/asia\/after-airstrike-afghan-points-to-cia-and-secret-militias.html?emc=tnt&tntemail1=y<\/p>\n

The International Economic War of the Rich on the Poor<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Klare on Resource Shock <\/strong>Brace yourself. You may not be able to tell yet, but according to global experts and the U.S. intelligence community, the earth is already shifting under you. Whether you know it or not, you\u2019re on a new planet, a resource-shock world of a sort humanity has never before experienced.
\nTwo nightmare scenarios — a global scarcity of vital resources and the onset of extreme climate change — are already beginning to converge and in the coming decades are likely to produce a tidal wave of unrest, rebellion, competition, and conflict. Just what this tsunami of disaster will look like may, as yet, be hard to discern, but experts warn of \u201cwater wars\u201d over contested river systems, global food riots sparked by soaring prices for life\u2019s basics, mass migrations of climate refugees (with resulting anti-migrant violence), and the breakdown of social order or the collapse of states. At first, such mayhem is likely to arise largely in Africa, Central Asia, and other areas of the underdeveloped South, but in time all regions of the planet will be affected.
\nTo appreciate the power of this encroaching catastrophe, it\u2019s necessary to examine each of the forces that are combining to produce this future cataclysm.
\nResource Shortages and Resource Wars
\nStart with one simple given: the prospect of future scarcities of vital natural resources, including energy, water, land, food, and critical minerals. This in itself would guarantee social unrest, geopolitical friction, and war. www.tomdispatch.com\/post\/175690\/tomgram%3A_michael_klare%2C_the_coming_global_explosion\/?utm_source=TomDispatch&utm_campaign=2d2291faa3-TD_Klare4_21_2013&utm_medium=email#more<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Emergence of Fascism as a Popular Mass Movement<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Gitmo is Killing Me <\/strong>ONE man here weighs just 77 pounds. Another, 98. Last thing I knew, I weighed 132, but that was a month ago.
\nI\u2019ve been on a hunger strike since Feb. 10 and have lost well over 30 pounds. I will not eat until they restore my dignity.
\nI\u2019ve been detained at Guant\u00e1namo for 11 years and three months. I have never been charged with any crime. I have never received a trial.
\nI could have been home years ago \u2014 no one seriously thinks I am a threat \u2014 but still I am here. Years ago the military said I was a \u201cguard\u201d for Osama bin Laden, but this was nonsense, like something out of the American movies I used to watch. They don\u2019t even seem to believe it anymore. But they don\u2019t seem to care how long I sit here, either. …<\/strong>I will agree to whatever it takes in order to be free. I am now 35. All I want is to see my family again and to start a family of my own. \u00a0The situation is desperate now. All of the detainees here are suffering deeply. At least 40 people here are on a hunger strike. People are fainting with exhaustion every day. I have vomited blood. \u00a0And there is no end in sight to our imprisonment. Denying ourselves food and risking death every day is the choice we have made.
\nI just hope that because of the pain we are suffering, the eyes of the world will once again look to Guant\u00e1namo before it is too late.
\nSamir Naji al Hasan Moqbel, a prisoner at Guant\u00e1namo Bay since 2002, told this story, through an Arabic interpreter, to his lawyers at the legal charity Reprieve in an unclassified telephone call. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/strong> www.nytimes.com\/2013\/04\/15\/opinion\/hunger-striking-at-guantanamo-bay.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Military decrees media access to Manning’s hearing is a privilege, not a right <\/strong>www.bradleymanning.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n