Monday, December 29, 2025
everything in this country is rooted in racism
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Venezuela has a democratically elected GOVERNMENT, not a “regime “; Yankee go home !
https://www.midwesternmarx.com/articles/wsj-calls-for-war-against-venezuela-by-charles-mckelvey
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12/18/2025 WSJ calls for war against Venezuela By: Charles McKelvey 0 COMMENTS <
Picture The Wall Street Journal, founded in 1889, is the largest newspaper in the United States with respect to print circulation, and the second largest (after The New York Times) in digital circulation, with 4.15 million digital subscribers. It is considered a “newspaper of record,” defined in Wikipedia as “a major national newspaper with large circulation whose editorial and news-gathering functions are considered authoritative and independent.”
Picture Front page of the first issue of The Wall Street Journal on July 8, 1889. Source: Wikipedia.
In “The High Stakes in Venezuela: Trump chose this showdown with Maduro, and only one will win,” published by The Editorial Board on December 1, 2025, the newspaper of record reveals a win-lose mentality in international relations which is out of sync with the demands of the current historic moment. It begins with the assertion, “President Trump is in a high-stakes showdown with Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro. . .. One of the two presidents is going to lose, and it will be Mr. Trump if Mr. Maduro isn’t ousted one way or another.” Warming to the task at hand, the editorial further asserts, “If Mr. Trump withdraws his Caribbean flotilla with Mr. Maduro still in power, the Venezuelan strongman will have won. The world will see that he was able to stand up to American power in the Yankee’s backyard.”
The editorial acknowledges that the Trump administration has maintained that its assembling of naval forces in the Caribbean has the purpose of fighting drug cartels, but the editorial considers this claim to be nothing more than “political cover.” It maintains that you do not need a large military mobilization “to blow up drug boats,” thus not anticipating the national security strategy released by the administration on December 3, which emphasized a reorientation of US national security policy toward the Western Hemisphere.
The editorial notes that if Maduro refuses to step down and find refuge in another country, “The President may have to take direct military action to oust the dictator” [sic]. It argues that, despite domestic political risks, “deposing Mr. Maduro is in the U.S. national interest given how he has spread refugees and mayhem in the region” [sic]. It maintains that deposing Maduro should not be considered an American coup, because “Venezuelans voted overwhelmingly to elect the opposition in the 2024 presidential race, but Mr. Maduro refused to cede power. Deposing him in favor of the elected president would restore democracy” [double sic].
For the esteemed members of The Editorial Board of the newspaper of record, the US government must not let Maduro win. “If Mr. Maduro refuses to leave, and Mr. Trump shrinks from acting to depose him, Mr. Trump and the credibility of the U.S. will be the losers. Mr. Trump chose this showdown, and it will cost America and the region dearly if Mr. Maduro emerges triumphant.”
§ Considerations on democracy in Venezuela As the reader will discern, the premise of the WSJ Editorial is that Maduro is a dictator maintained in power through fraudulent means. Let us look at the facts.
Nicolás Maduro was re-elected President of Venezuela on July 28, 2024, receiving 51.2% of the vote, defeating the far-right candidate Edmundo González, who received 44.2%. Maduro was the candidate of a coalition of thirteen political organizations known as the Simón Bolívar Great Patriotic Pole as well as the leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela. Eight other candidates—including candidates of the right, center-right, and center-left—received 4.6% of the votes cast. A total of 21,620,705 citizens voted—a voter participation rate of 59%—in more than fifteen thousand voting districts distributed throughout the country. In total, ten presidential candidates, thirty political parties, and 1300 international and national observers participated in the 2024 presidential elections, according to the president of the National Electoral Council.
Maduro was born on November 23, 1962, in Caracas, Venezuela, and he was politically active in the 1980s in the Socialist League. From 1991 to 1998, he worked as a bus driver, and he founded the Caracas Metro Union. During that period, he met and became a fervent supporter of Hugo Chávez, and he became active in the Bolivarian Revolutionary Movement. He was among the new deputies elected in the electoral triumph of the Bolivarian Revolution in 1998. He held various positions in the National Assembly between 2000 and 2006. In 2006, he was named Minister of Foreign Affairs, and in that capacity, he became known in the international arena for his excellent discourses in defense of the Bolivarian Revolution. He was named Vice-President in 2012, and he was publicly named by Chávez to be his successor shortly prior to his death in 2013. Maduro subsequently won presidential elections in 2013, with 50.61% of the vote; and in 2018, with 78.84%.
Elections in Venezuela are managed by the National Electoral Council, an independent branch of government established by the Bolivarian Revolution. The electoral system is characterized by a high-level of citizen access to voting booths and clear identification of voters, in which voters cast both an electronic vote and a printed paper ballot, enabling cross-checking of the vote count. Verification of the electoral total is conducted automatically in 54% of the voting locations, which are chosen at random.
The latest of several US plans for the destabilization of the Venezuelan political system came to light two days before the 2024 elections, when suggestions were put forth of alleged fraud, preparing the terrain for the non-recognition of the results and for violence by fascist gangs, financed by Venezuelans from Miami and Spain, according to Granma journalist Francisco Arias Fernández. The plan included the non-recognition of the electoral results following the announcement of Maduro’s victory, with the complicity of the US-controlled Organization of American States and US allies in the region. The far-right leader, María Corina Machado, who benefits from foreign media coverage and foreign financial support, planned to relocate to Argentina, where she was to set up a command post as the coup d’état was unfolding, seeking political-diplomatic support with telephone calls to different countries. The plan anticipated the support of the major media, and Arias Fernández specifically mentions The New York Times, CNN, AP, Voice of America, Euronews, BBC, the German DW and the Spanish newspapers El País and El Mundo.
True to the plan, the opposition claimed electoral fraud on July 29. Marina Corina Machado announced that she had in her possession electoral records that showed that González had received 70% of the vote, but she did not release the information she claimed to have. In this unsubstantiated claim of electoral fraud, the opposition in Venezuela had the backing of the Western media, as the plan anticipated. The Washington Post, for example, published on July 30 a one-sided article giving credence to the opposition claims of fraud, citing protestors on the streets on July 29. It made no mention of the reports of international observers. Similarly, an article in The New York Times, “Venezuela’s Election Was Deeply Flawed,” was written with the prevailing Western ethnocentric narrative which assumes that nations seeking independence from US direction are authoritarian, ignoring the historical struggles of said nations against US imperialism and US control of the natural resources and the economies of their countries.
On Monday, July 29, protests expressing dissatisfaction with the results were held. The opposition claimed that they were spontaneous demonstrations by the people in protest of supposed electoral fraud. However, the Venezuelan news outlet Telesur reported that some demonstrators, many with criminal antecedents, had been paid $150. There were reports of violence, including setting fire to hospitals, pharmacies and radio stations, blocking roads, and derailing buses carrying international election observers.
Telesur reported, with videos provided by on-the-scene reporters, that the streets where the demonstrations had been held were calm and normal by midnight. Beginning on Tuesday, July 30, crowds began to appear in support of Maduro and the electoral process.
Venezuelan analyst Luigino Bracci explained that elections in Venezuela are automated. When a citizen casts a vote in a voting machine, the machine prints a receipt, which the voter places in a box. Thus, there is a double system of counting, in which the machine keeps track of each vote and prints a tally of the votes, and at the same time, polling station members and political party observers verify that the machine report of the vote tally is consistent with the tally of the printed receipts. The machine reports the results to one of two tallying centers of the National Electoral Council (CNE for its initials in Spanish).
Bracci noted that for the last twenty years, CNE has been publishing the results of each polling station on its website, making the votes transparent, and enabling observers representing the political parties to verify the results with their polling station observations. This publication of results usually occurs a few hours after the first electoral bulletin is released. However, the results could not be verified in this way with respect to the July 28 presidential elections, because there had been a cyberattack against the data transmission system of CNE, a fact that was announced by the president of CNE, Elvis Amoroso, when he announced the election results at 12:13 a.m. on July 29. He noted that the cyberattack was slowing down the transfer of information to the tallying centers.
After the CNE announcement, President Maduro went to the Electoral Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice to request an investigation and to request that all candidates and the National Electoral Council be summoned and be requested to submit all necessary records and documents. Maduro also promised that the tally sheets of his party’s witnesses would be presented. Maduro declared that he was seeking the protection of the Supreme Court from false accusations of electoral fraud by the extreme Right opposition, which had contracted fascist and criminal gangs to engage in violent actions in a destabilization strategy supported by the US government.
In accordance with the request of the President, the Electoral Chamber of the Supreme Court, authorized by the Constitution to rule on such questions, summoned the ten candidates to appear, and nine of them did so on August 2. Edmundo González, on whose behalf accusations of fraud had been made beginning on July 29, was the only one of the ten candidates who did not appear before the Court.
The opposition claim of fraud raised the possibility of someone secretly manipulating the machines to reprint tally sheets with numbers favorable to the government. Víctor Theoktisto, a computer science professor at Simón Bolívar University who had served as an advisor in the development of the nation’s automated electoral system, noted that the automated electoral system is designed with numerous security checks, such that any manipulated or modified tally sheet would have a QR code or “hash” different from the unique code of the original, which could be discerned through investigation. For this reason, the question of fraud ought to be resolved through the Supreme Court, with all parties presenting what they have, as the CNE was doing in accordance with Maduro’s request. The opposition ought to present their evidence and their case to the Court, Theoktisto asserted. “The fact that González did not appear before the Electoral Chamber last Friday raises many questions. If they have the evidence, why not challenge the elections before the appropriate body? Are they willing to have their election evidence verified? . . . The opposition must challenge the results before the [Supreme Court], not in public opinion or international media.”
Theoktisto further noted that hacking technologies exist that could slow down the CNE process by disrupting connections, although they could not change the actual tallies. He further observed that the attacks on the CNE Website were so numerous that they likely involved hacking sources outside the country, with some level of support from local actors. He noted that “a governmental actor is indispensable” for an attack of this scale, and he believed that a hostile government was involved. But all such questions need to be investigated, he stressed.
After July 30, the Western media withdrew from the terrain, posting few articles after that date. And the Biden administration began making contradictory statements, retreating from recognition of the opposition candidate as the winner of the elections and as the true head of state in Venezuela. Meanwhile, the Maduro government was in full control in Venezuela, with the National Electoral Commission proceeding with a full review of the ballots, in accordance with the Venezuelan constitution and the request of the Maduro government; with successful and peaceful public events in support of the government; and with the attorney general’s office proceeding with legal action against those who violated laws in seeking to promote destabilization, some of whom are in hiding.
On August 22, 2024, the Electoral Chamber of the Venezuelan Supreme Tribunal of Justice, designed by the Constitution to adjudicate electoral questions, ratified Nicolas Maduro as the winner of the July 28 presidential elections. In a press conference attended by government officials, diplomatic representatives, and members of the press, Supreme Court magistrate Caryslia Rodríguez began by reaffirming the jurisdiction of the Electoral Chamber of the Supreme Court on the question, noting that recent electoral processes in Brazil, Mexico, and the United States were ultimately settled by judicial rulings. Rodríguez proceeded at the press conference to read the verdict of the Court. It stated that a team of national and international experts had conducted a review, with the highest technical standards, of the voting records that had been submitted by the electoral parties and candidates.
The verdict asserted that the investigation found that the voting records fully coincided with the data of the tallying centers of the National Electoral Council, which had declared Maduro the winner with fifty-two percent of the vote, as against forty-three percent for Edmundo González. The verdict further mandated the National Electoral Council to publish the final results in the National Gazette before the August 28 deadline established by Venezuelan electoral procedures. Magistrate Rodríguez also asserted that opposition candidate Edmundo González was in contempt of court for not appearing in response to the Court’s summons and for not submitting requested evidence. She also called upon Attorney General Tarek William Saab to launch investigations for possible criminal conduct, including the usurpation of state functions, forging documents, and instigating violence.
The Bolivarian Revolution was convoked by Hugo Chávez on February 4, 1992, when he led approximately 100 military officers in an attempted coup d´état, with the intention of overthrowing the government and convening a constituent assembly. The coup failed, and he was imprisoned. Upon his release in 1994, he resigned from the military and formed the Bolivarian Fifth Republic Movement, again with the intention of convening a constitutional assembly, but now seeking to attain power through the electoral process. Traveling throughout the country and meeting with the people during the presidential electoral campaign, he was elected President of Venezuela in 1998, and he assumed the presidency on February 2, 1999. He immediately issued a decree convoking a Constitutional Assembly. Elections for a new constitution were held, and a new Constitution was approved, establishing the Fifth Republic. Chávez was elected to two six-year terms as president under the new Constitution. He died of cancer in 2013, before completing his second term.
Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías was born in Sabaneta, a rural village of Venezuela, on July 28, 1954. His father was a schoolteacher who earned his teaching diploma by studying part-time. Although his mother and father lived nearby, he was principally reared by his grandmother, a peasant woman who was half indigenous. In 1971, at the age of 17, Chávez entered the Military Academy of Venezuela, and he earned a commission as a Second Lieutenant in 1975. His study during his years in the military academy established the foundation for his revolutionary formation. He read the writings of Simón Bolívar, Mao Zedong, and Che Guevara, and he developed a perspective that he described as a synthesis of Bolivarianism and Maoism. He investigated these themes further in a master´s program in political science at Simón Bolívar University. He continuously read books of historical, political, social, and literary significance during his military and political careers.
Central to Chávez’s political rise was his call for effective state control of the state-owned petroleum company (Petróleos de Venezuela, Sociedad Anónima, or PDVSA). The company had been nationalized in 1976 during the era of “petroleum nationalism” in Venezuela, but the nationalization did not have the results that its advocates had hoped. Prior to the nationalization, foreign companies had appointed Venezuelans as managers, seeking to ensure political stability. Since the Venezuelan managers previously had been socialized into the norms and values of the international petroleum companies, the transition to Venezuelan state ownership had little effect on the dynamics of the nation’s petroleum industry. PDVSA adapted to the neocolonial world-system, exploiting petroleum in accordance with the norms and interests of the international petroleum industry. Like the foreign-owned oil companies in other neocolonized countries, PDVSA sought to reduce payments to the Venezuelan state. Accordingly, PDVSA adopted a strategy of channeling surpluses to investments in production and sales, including the purchase of refineries and distributorships in other countries. By transferring surpluses out of the country, the PDVSA evaded payments to the Venezuelan state.
The government of Hugo Chávez sought to reduce the autonomy of PDVSA and to incorporate its resources into a project of national development. The Chávez government appointed new directors of PDVSA, replacing the directors appointed by previous governments, provoking a great conflict with the established order.
But the conflict had favorable results for Venezuela. With the new leadership of PDVSA, the state income from petroleum increased significantly, and the new funds were directed toward various social projects in education, health, and housing as well as to wage increases, financial assistance to those in need, and the elimination of foreign debt.
The governments of Chávez and Maduro have conducted more than thirty national elections, either nationwide referendums, presidential elections, or elections to the national legislature, and the Chavistas have won all but two of them. This impressive process prompted former President Jimmy Carter to declare that Venezuela has one of the best elections in the world.
However, the numerous elections have been conducted in accordance with the rules and procedures of representative democracy, in which success depends on the mobilization of resources, especially financial resources. Therefore, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela has sought to supplement elections developed according to the norms of representative democracy with the creation of Communal Councils throughout the country. Communal Councils are formed by the people through open assemblies, encompassing approximately 100 families in urban areas and thirty families in rural areas. The communal councils seek to identify and implement local priorities and projects with respect to housing, health, water, or electricity, with the full and equal participation of all citizens over the age of fifteen, and with the support of a financial unit and an oversight unit. The long-term goal is the integration of the Communal Councils with the structures of representative democracy, thus establishing “true participatory democracy” based on the concept of people’s power from the grassroots.
§ Further considerations on The Wall Street Journal As is evident, the Editorial Board of The Wall Street Journal accepts as Truth what is merely one side of a political conflict in Venezuela. If that side had any validity, we would have seen beginning in August the taking of the streets by the people in opposition to the Maduro government, providing internal support to the aggressive actions of the USA toward the government of Venezuela. But exactly the opposite has occurred. The government of Maduro since August has been able to mobilize the people in a great national exercise of self-defense, preparing the nation and the people for what is perceived as a pending military invasion. The Editorial Board of The Wall Street Journal appears to know little of political processes in Venezuela. If it does know, it chooses not to report. So, the esteemed members of the Editorial Board are guilty of either ethnocentrism or corruption. In addition, in taking as given a paradigm of win-lose competition in international affairs, the members of the Editorial Board either do not know of, or decide not to report on, the alternative paradigm of win-win cooperation, which has emerged from the Global South during the first quarter of the twenty-first century, and which points to a possible resolution of the structural contradictions of the world-system. This constitutes a profound failure in moral duty, unworthy of the high office which they hold and the sacred duty to the people which it implies.
§ Further considerations on Venezuela and Cuba Venezuela and Cuba have both committed the crime of breaking with the structures of the neocolonial world order, Cuba with its agrarian reform of 1959 and nationalizations of 1960, and Venezuela with its effective control under Chávez of the state-owned petroleum company. As punishment, Cuba and Venezuela are accused of being authoritarian, when in fact they have developed structures of people’s democracy that are more advanced than the structures of representative democracy.
Neither Cuba nor Venezuela should be sanctioned for seeking transformations of the national manifestations of the structures of the neocolonial world-system, because it is their right as sovereign nations to choose their own road to economic development.
§ No to regime-change war in Venezuela
VENEZUELA is a democratically elected GOVERNMENT , not a REGIME <
It can be argued that the United Sates of America, as the regional power of the Western Hemisphere, has the right to control the seas of the region, in order to fight back against criminal cartels invading its national territory; and it has the right to impose tariffs or refuse trade with any nations in the region that align with a non-Hemispheric power, enabling its control of strategic assets that are vital to US national security, such as key sea lanes. But the United States does not have the right to decide who the leaders of Venezuela will be. Only the people of Venezuela have that right.<
This principle of the sovereignty of the people was proclaimed by the American Declaration of Independence. And the people of the United Sates, through an anti-establishment people’s movement called into being by Donald Trump in 2016, has risen—in response to the betrayal of the nation by the elite and the political establishment and the post-modern confusion of the professional class—to reaffirm the principles of the American Republic and to declare the rejection by the people of regime-change wars.
12/18/2025 WSJ calls for war against Venezuela By: Charles McKelvey 0 COMMENTS <
Picture The Wall Street Journal, founded in 1889, is the largest newspaper in the United States with respect to print circulation, and the second largest (after The New York Times) in digital circulation, with 4.15 million digital subscribers. It is considered a “newspaper of record,” defined in Wikipedia as “a major national newspaper with large circulation whose editorial and news-gathering functions are considered authoritative and independent.”
Picture Front page of the first issue of The Wall Street Journal on July 8, 1889. Source: Wikipedia.
In “The High Stakes in Venezuela: Trump chose this showdown with Maduro, and only one will win,” published by The Editorial Board on December 1, 2025, the newspaper of record reveals a win-lose mentality in international relations which is out of sync with the demands of the current historic moment. It begins with the assertion, “President Trump is in a high-stakes showdown with Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro. . .. One of the two presidents is going to lose, and it will be Mr. Trump if Mr. Maduro isn’t ousted one way or another.” Warming to the task at hand, the editorial further asserts, “If Mr. Trump withdraws his Caribbean flotilla with Mr. Maduro still in power, the Venezuelan strongman will have won. The world will see that he was able to stand up to American power in the Yankee’s backyard.”
The editorial acknowledges that the Trump administration has maintained that its assembling of naval forces in the Caribbean has the purpose of fighting drug cartels, but the editorial considers this claim to be nothing more than “political cover.” It maintains that you do not need a large military mobilization “to blow up drug boats,” thus not anticipating the national security strategy released by the administration on December 3, which emphasized a reorientation of US national security policy toward the Western Hemisphere.
The editorial notes that if Maduro refuses to step down and find refuge in another country, “The President may have to take direct military action to oust the dictator” [sic]. It argues that, despite domestic political risks, “deposing Mr. Maduro is in the U.S. national interest given how he has spread refugees and mayhem in the region” [sic]. It maintains that deposing Maduro should not be considered an American coup, because “Venezuelans voted overwhelmingly to elect the opposition in the 2024 presidential race, but Mr. Maduro refused to cede power. Deposing him in favor of the elected president would restore democracy” [double sic].
For the esteemed members of The Editorial Board of the newspaper of record, the US government must not let Maduro win. “If Mr. Maduro refuses to leave, and Mr. Trump shrinks from acting to depose him, Mr. Trump and the credibility of the U.S. will be the losers. Mr. Trump chose this showdown, and it will cost America and the region dearly if Mr. Maduro emerges triumphant.”
§ Considerations on democracy in Venezuela As the reader will discern, the premise of the WSJ Editorial is that Maduro is a dictator maintained in power through fraudulent means. Let us look at the facts.
Nicolás Maduro was re-elected President of Venezuela on July 28, 2024, receiving 51.2% of the vote, defeating the far-right candidate Edmundo González, who received 44.2%. Maduro was the candidate of a coalition of thirteen political organizations known as the Simón Bolívar Great Patriotic Pole as well as the leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela. Eight other candidates—including candidates of the right, center-right, and center-left—received 4.6% of the votes cast. A total of 21,620,705 citizens voted—a voter participation rate of 59%—in more than fifteen thousand voting districts distributed throughout the country. In total, ten presidential candidates, thirty political parties, and 1300 international and national observers participated in the 2024 presidential elections, according to the president of the National Electoral Council.
Maduro was born on November 23, 1962, in Caracas, Venezuela, and he was politically active in the 1980s in the Socialist League. From 1991 to 1998, he worked as a bus driver, and he founded the Caracas Metro Union. During that period, he met and became a fervent supporter of Hugo Chávez, and he became active in the Bolivarian Revolutionary Movement. He was among the new deputies elected in the electoral triumph of the Bolivarian Revolution in 1998. He held various positions in the National Assembly between 2000 and 2006. In 2006, he was named Minister of Foreign Affairs, and in that capacity, he became known in the international arena for his excellent discourses in defense of the Bolivarian Revolution. He was named Vice-President in 2012, and he was publicly named by Chávez to be his successor shortly prior to his death in 2013. Maduro subsequently won presidential elections in 2013, with 50.61% of the vote; and in 2018, with 78.84%.
Elections in Venezuela are managed by the National Electoral Council, an independent branch of government established by the Bolivarian Revolution. The electoral system is characterized by a high-level of citizen access to voting booths and clear identification of voters, in which voters cast both an electronic vote and a printed paper ballot, enabling cross-checking of the vote count. Verification of the electoral total is conducted automatically in 54% of the voting locations, which are chosen at random.
The latest of several US plans for the destabilization of the Venezuelan political system came to light two days before the 2024 elections, when suggestions were put forth of alleged fraud, preparing the terrain for the non-recognition of the results and for violence by fascist gangs, financed by Venezuelans from Miami and Spain, according to Granma journalist Francisco Arias Fernández. The plan included the non-recognition of the electoral results following the announcement of Maduro’s victory, with the complicity of the US-controlled Organization of American States and US allies in the region. The far-right leader, María Corina Machado, who benefits from foreign media coverage and foreign financial support, planned to relocate to Argentina, where she was to set up a command post as the coup d’état was unfolding, seeking political-diplomatic support with telephone calls to different countries. The plan anticipated the support of the major media, and Arias Fernández specifically mentions The New York Times, CNN, AP, Voice of America, Euronews, BBC, the German DW and the Spanish newspapers El País and El Mundo.
True to the plan, the opposition claimed electoral fraud on July 29. Marina Corina Machado announced that she had in her possession electoral records that showed that González had received 70% of the vote, but she did not release the information she claimed to have. In this unsubstantiated claim of electoral fraud, the opposition in Venezuela had the backing of the Western media, as the plan anticipated. The Washington Post, for example, published on July 30 a one-sided article giving credence to the opposition claims of fraud, citing protestors on the streets on July 29. It made no mention of the reports of international observers. Similarly, an article in The New York Times, “Venezuela’s Election Was Deeply Flawed,” was written with the prevailing Western ethnocentric narrative which assumes that nations seeking independence from US direction are authoritarian, ignoring the historical struggles of said nations against US imperialism and US control of the natural resources and the economies of their countries.
On Monday, July 29, protests expressing dissatisfaction with the results were held. The opposition claimed that they were spontaneous demonstrations by the people in protest of supposed electoral fraud. However, the Venezuelan news outlet Telesur reported that some demonstrators, many with criminal antecedents, had been paid $150. There were reports of violence, including setting fire to hospitals, pharmacies and radio stations, blocking roads, and derailing buses carrying international election observers.
Telesur reported, with videos provided by on-the-scene reporters, that the streets where the demonstrations had been held were calm and normal by midnight. Beginning on Tuesday, July 30, crowds began to appear in support of Maduro and the electoral process.
Venezuelan analyst Luigino Bracci explained that elections in Venezuela are automated. When a citizen casts a vote in a voting machine, the machine prints a receipt, which the voter places in a box. Thus, there is a double system of counting, in which the machine keeps track of each vote and prints a tally of the votes, and at the same time, polling station members and political party observers verify that the machine report of the vote tally is consistent with the tally of the printed receipts. The machine reports the results to one of two tallying centers of the National Electoral Council (CNE for its initials in Spanish).
Bracci noted that for the last twenty years, CNE has been publishing the results of each polling station on its website, making the votes transparent, and enabling observers representing the political parties to verify the results with their polling station observations. This publication of results usually occurs a few hours after the first electoral bulletin is released. However, the results could not be verified in this way with respect to the July 28 presidential elections, because there had been a cyberattack against the data transmission system of CNE, a fact that was announced by the president of CNE, Elvis Amoroso, when he announced the election results at 12:13 a.m. on July 29. He noted that the cyberattack was slowing down the transfer of information to the tallying centers.
After the CNE announcement, President Maduro went to the Electoral Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice to request an investigation and to request that all candidates and the National Electoral Council be summoned and be requested to submit all necessary records and documents. Maduro also promised that the tally sheets of his party’s witnesses would be presented. Maduro declared that he was seeking the protection of the Supreme Court from false accusations of electoral fraud by the extreme Right opposition, which had contracted fascist and criminal gangs to engage in violent actions in a destabilization strategy supported by the US government.
In accordance with the request of the President, the Electoral Chamber of the Supreme Court, authorized by the Constitution to rule on such questions, summoned the ten candidates to appear, and nine of them did so on August 2. Edmundo González, on whose behalf accusations of fraud had been made beginning on July 29, was the only one of the ten candidates who did not appear before the Court.
The opposition claim of fraud raised the possibility of someone secretly manipulating the machines to reprint tally sheets with numbers favorable to the government. Víctor Theoktisto, a computer science professor at Simón Bolívar University who had served as an advisor in the development of the nation’s automated electoral system, noted that the automated electoral system is designed with numerous security checks, such that any manipulated or modified tally sheet would have a QR code or “hash” different from the unique code of the original, which could be discerned through investigation. For this reason, the question of fraud ought to be resolved through the Supreme Court, with all parties presenting what they have, as the CNE was doing in accordance with Maduro’s request. The opposition ought to present their evidence and their case to the Court, Theoktisto asserted. “The fact that González did not appear before the Electoral Chamber last Friday raises many questions. If they have the evidence, why not challenge the elections before the appropriate body? Are they willing to have their election evidence verified? . . . The opposition must challenge the results before the [Supreme Court], not in public opinion or international media.”
Theoktisto further noted that hacking technologies exist that could slow down the CNE process by disrupting connections, although they could not change the actual tallies. He further observed that the attacks on the CNE Website were so numerous that they likely involved hacking sources outside the country, with some level of support from local actors. He noted that “a governmental actor is indispensable” for an attack of this scale, and he believed that a hostile government was involved. But all such questions need to be investigated, he stressed.
After July 30, the Western media withdrew from the terrain, posting few articles after that date. And the Biden administration began making contradictory statements, retreating from recognition of the opposition candidate as the winner of the elections and as the true head of state in Venezuela. Meanwhile, the Maduro government was in full control in Venezuela, with the National Electoral Commission proceeding with a full review of the ballots, in accordance with the Venezuelan constitution and the request of the Maduro government; with successful and peaceful public events in support of the government; and with the attorney general’s office proceeding with legal action against those who violated laws in seeking to promote destabilization, some of whom are in hiding.
On August 22, 2024, the Electoral Chamber of the Venezuelan Supreme Tribunal of Justice, designed by the Constitution to adjudicate electoral questions, ratified Nicolas Maduro as the winner of the July 28 presidential elections. In a press conference attended by government officials, diplomatic representatives, and members of the press, Supreme Court magistrate Caryslia Rodríguez began by reaffirming the jurisdiction of the Electoral Chamber of the Supreme Court on the question, noting that recent electoral processes in Brazil, Mexico, and the United States were ultimately settled by judicial rulings. Rodríguez proceeded at the press conference to read the verdict of the Court. It stated that a team of national and international experts had conducted a review, with the highest technical standards, of the voting records that had been submitted by the electoral parties and candidates.
The verdict asserted that the investigation found that the voting records fully coincided with the data of the tallying centers of the National Electoral Council, which had declared Maduro the winner with fifty-two percent of the vote, as against forty-three percent for Edmundo González. The verdict further mandated the National Electoral Council to publish the final results in the National Gazette before the August 28 deadline established by Venezuelan electoral procedures. Magistrate Rodríguez also asserted that opposition candidate Edmundo González was in contempt of court for not appearing in response to the Court’s summons and for not submitting requested evidence. She also called upon Attorney General Tarek William Saab to launch investigations for possible criminal conduct, including the usurpation of state functions, forging documents, and instigating violence.
The Bolivarian Revolution was convoked by Hugo Chávez on February 4, 1992, when he led approximately 100 military officers in an attempted coup d´état, with the intention of overthrowing the government and convening a constituent assembly. The coup failed, and he was imprisoned. Upon his release in 1994, he resigned from the military and formed the Bolivarian Fifth Republic Movement, again with the intention of convening a constitutional assembly, but now seeking to attain power through the electoral process. Traveling throughout the country and meeting with the people during the presidential electoral campaign, he was elected President of Venezuela in 1998, and he assumed the presidency on February 2, 1999. He immediately issued a decree convoking a Constitutional Assembly. Elections for a new constitution were held, and a new Constitution was approved, establishing the Fifth Republic. Chávez was elected to two six-year terms as president under the new Constitution. He died of cancer in 2013, before completing his second term.
Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías was born in Sabaneta, a rural village of Venezuela, on July 28, 1954. His father was a schoolteacher who earned his teaching diploma by studying part-time. Although his mother and father lived nearby, he was principally reared by his grandmother, a peasant woman who was half indigenous. In 1971, at the age of 17, Chávez entered the Military Academy of Venezuela, and he earned a commission as a Second Lieutenant in 1975. His study during his years in the military academy established the foundation for his revolutionary formation. He read the writings of Simón Bolívar, Mao Zedong, and Che Guevara, and he developed a perspective that he described as a synthesis of Bolivarianism and Maoism. He investigated these themes further in a master´s program in political science at Simón Bolívar University. He continuously read books of historical, political, social, and literary significance during his military and political careers.
Central to Chávez’s political rise was his call for effective state control of the state-owned petroleum company (Petróleos de Venezuela, Sociedad Anónima, or PDVSA). The company had been nationalized in 1976 during the era of “petroleum nationalism” in Venezuela, but the nationalization did not have the results that its advocates had hoped. Prior to the nationalization, foreign companies had appointed Venezuelans as managers, seeking to ensure political stability. Since the Venezuelan managers previously had been socialized into the norms and values of the international petroleum companies, the transition to Venezuelan state ownership had little effect on the dynamics of the nation’s petroleum industry. PDVSA adapted to the neocolonial world-system, exploiting petroleum in accordance with the norms and interests of the international petroleum industry. Like the foreign-owned oil companies in other neocolonized countries, PDVSA sought to reduce payments to the Venezuelan state. Accordingly, PDVSA adopted a strategy of channeling surpluses to investments in production and sales, including the purchase of refineries and distributorships in other countries. By transferring surpluses out of the country, the PDVSA evaded payments to the Venezuelan state.
The government of Hugo Chávez sought to reduce the autonomy of PDVSA and to incorporate its resources into a project of national development. The Chávez government appointed new directors of PDVSA, replacing the directors appointed by previous governments, provoking a great conflict with the established order.
But the conflict had favorable results for Venezuela. With the new leadership of PDVSA, the state income from petroleum increased significantly, and the new funds were directed toward various social projects in education, health, and housing as well as to wage increases, financial assistance to those in need, and the elimination of foreign debt.
The governments of Chávez and Maduro have conducted more than thirty national elections, either nationwide referendums, presidential elections, or elections to the national legislature, and the Chavistas have won all but two of them. This impressive process prompted former President Jimmy Carter to declare that Venezuela has one of the best elections in the world.
However, the numerous elections have been conducted in accordance with the rules and procedures of representative democracy, in which success depends on the mobilization of resources, especially financial resources. Therefore, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela has sought to supplement elections developed according to the norms of representative democracy with the creation of Communal Councils throughout the country. Communal Councils are formed by the people through open assemblies, encompassing approximately 100 families in urban areas and thirty families in rural areas. The communal councils seek to identify and implement local priorities and projects with respect to housing, health, water, or electricity, with the full and equal participation of all citizens over the age of fifteen, and with the support of a financial unit and an oversight unit. The long-term goal is the integration of the Communal Councils with the structures of representative democracy, thus establishing “true participatory democracy” based on the concept of people’s power from the grassroots.
§ Further considerations on The Wall Street Journal As is evident, the Editorial Board of The Wall Street Journal accepts as Truth what is merely one side of a political conflict in Venezuela. If that side had any validity, we would have seen beginning in August the taking of the streets by the people in opposition to the Maduro government, providing internal support to the aggressive actions of the USA toward the government of Venezuela. But exactly the opposite has occurred. The government of Maduro since August has been able to mobilize the people in a great national exercise of self-defense, preparing the nation and the people for what is perceived as a pending military invasion. The Editorial Board of The Wall Street Journal appears to know little of political processes in Venezuela. If it does know, it chooses not to report. So, the esteemed members of the Editorial Board are guilty of either ethnocentrism or corruption. In addition, in taking as given a paradigm of win-lose competition in international affairs, the members of the Editorial Board either do not know of, or decide not to report on, the alternative paradigm of win-win cooperation, which has emerged from the Global South during the first quarter of the twenty-first century, and which points to a possible resolution of the structural contradictions of the world-system. This constitutes a profound failure in moral duty, unworthy of the high office which they hold and the sacred duty to the people which it implies.
§ Further considerations on Venezuela and Cuba Venezuela and Cuba have both committed the crime of breaking with the structures of the neocolonial world order, Cuba with its agrarian reform of 1959 and nationalizations of 1960, and Venezuela with its effective control under Chávez of the state-owned petroleum company. As punishment, Cuba and Venezuela are accused of being authoritarian, when in fact they have developed structures of people’s democracy that are more advanced than the structures of representative democracy.
Neither Cuba nor Venezuela should be sanctioned for seeking transformations of the national manifestations of the structures of the neocolonial world-system, because it is their right as sovereign nations to choose their own road to economic development.
§ No to regime-change war in Venezuela
VENEZUELA is a democratically elected GOVERNMENT , not a REGIME <
It can be argued that the United Sates of America, as the regional power of the Western Hemisphere, has the right to control the seas of the region, in order to fight back against criminal cartels invading its national territory; and it has the right to impose tariffs or refuse trade with any nations in the region that align with a non-Hemispheric power, enabling its control of strategic assets that are vital to US national security, such as key sea lanes. But the United States does not have the right to decide who the leaders of Venezuela will be. Only the people of Venezuela have that right.<
This principle of the sovereignty of the people was proclaimed by the American Declaration of Independence. And the people of the United Sates, through an anti-establishment people’s movement called into being by Donald Trump in 2016, has risen—in response to the betrayal of the nation by the elite and the political establishment and the post-modern confusion of the professional class—to reaffirm the principles of the American Republic and to declare the rejection by the people of regime-change wars.
White People Will Destroy Their Own Lives For Racism
<
https://youtu.be/BtNLwlRxiio
http://take10charles.blogspot.com/2025/12/red-yellow-brown-black-and-white-unite.html<
WHEN RACISM IS YOUR PRIORITY It’s amazing how white people will destroy their own lives for racism White America's reaction to Barack Obama's presidency reveals the persistent racism driving American politics. After Obama's 2008 election, the Tea Party emerged, transforming from economic protests into racist opposition against the first Black president. When voters reelected Obama in 2012, white America responded by electing Donald Trump in 2016, despite Trump's racist campaign rhetoric and complete lack of qualifications. The pattern continued in 2024 when voters chose Trump over Kamala Harris, even after his indictments, felony convictions, fraud findings, and the January 6 insurrection. <
White voters consistently claim economic concerns while supporting the most racist, tr misogynistic candidate possible. Black women voted 92% against Trump, understanding what white America refuses to acknowledge. Racism remains so powerful that white voters willingly destroy their own economic interests to prevent Black and Brown Americans from achieving equality. The Republican war against public education created generations of voters who prioritize racism over democracy, healthcare, and their own wellbeing. <
From the Affordable Care Act backlash to MAGA rallies, white America demonstrates that racism trumps rational self-interest every time. Trump's victories prove that large portions of white voters would rather elect a convicted felon than see people of color succeed. This ongoing backlash against Obama's presidency continues shaping American politics, with racism remaining the dominant factor in how white America votes. <
Timestamps: 0:01 America's ongoing struggle with racism and white voter reactions<
0:41 Barack Obama's 2008 election triggered white America's racist new frontlash <
1:17 Tea Party emergence transformed from economics to open racism
2:09 Obama's 2012 reelection intensified conservative white anger
2:59 Choosing Obama over McCain and Romney despite their flaws
3:27 White America elected Trump as direct response to Obama presidency
4:48 Joe Biden's 2020 victory and Trump's election conspiracy schemes
5:18 Kamala Harris faced racism and misogyny in 2024 campaign
6:57 White voters destroy their own lives to prevent Black progress
8:22 Republican war on education created nation of racist voters
<
UNDERSTANDING TRUMP SUPPORTERS LBJ President Lyndon Baines Johnson who had been a racist Senator from Texas was once asked why white poor and middle class Republicans vote against their own interest, this was his response:<
"If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't know you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him someone to look down on and he'll empty his pockets for you." <
STRUCTURAL RACISM HAS ALWAYS BEEN A PRE-EXISITING CONDITION
https://youtu.be/BtNLwlRxiio
http://take10charles.blogspot.com/2025/12/red-yellow-brown-black-and-white-unite.html<
WHEN RACISM IS YOUR PRIORITY It’s amazing how white people will destroy their own lives for racism White America's reaction to Barack Obama's presidency reveals the persistent racism driving American politics. After Obama's 2008 election, the Tea Party emerged, transforming from economic protests into racist opposition against the first Black president. When voters reelected Obama in 2012, white America responded by electing Donald Trump in 2016, despite Trump's racist campaign rhetoric and complete lack of qualifications. The pattern continued in 2024 when voters chose Trump over Kamala Harris, even after his indictments, felony convictions, fraud findings, and the January 6 insurrection. <
White voters consistently claim economic concerns while supporting the most racist, tr misogynistic candidate possible. Black women voted 92% against Trump, understanding what white America refuses to acknowledge. Racism remains so powerful that white voters willingly destroy their own economic interests to prevent Black and Brown Americans from achieving equality. The Republican war against public education created generations of voters who prioritize racism over democracy, healthcare, and their own wellbeing. <
From the Affordable Care Act backlash to MAGA rallies, white America demonstrates that racism trumps rational self-interest every time. Trump's victories prove that large portions of white voters would rather elect a convicted felon than see people of color succeed. This ongoing backlash against Obama's presidency continues shaping American politics, with racism remaining the dominant factor in how white America votes. <
Timestamps: 0:01 America's ongoing struggle with racism and white voter reactions<
0:41 Barack Obama's 2008 election triggered white America's racist new frontlash <
1:17 Tea Party emergence transformed from economics to open racism
2:09 Obama's 2012 reelection intensified conservative white anger
2:59 Choosing Obama over McCain and Romney despite their flaws
3:27 White America elected Trump as direct response to Obama presidency
4:48 Joe Biden's 2020 victory and Trump's election conspiracy schemes
5:18 Kamala Harris faced racism and misogyny in 2024 campaign
6:57 White voters destroy their own lives to prevent Black progress
8:22 Republican war on education created nation of racist voters
<
UNDERSTANDING TRUMP SUPPORTERS LBJ President Lyndon Baines Johnson who had been a racist Senator from Texas was once asked why white poor and middle class Republicans vote against their own interest, this was his response:<
"If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't know you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him someone to look down on and he'll empty his pockets for you." <
STRUCTURAL RACISM HAS ALWAYS BEEN A PRE-EXISITING CONDITION
2024-25 white race riot incited by the Republican Prez
Donald Trump in his own words - the year in racism and misogyny
Melissa Hellmann
6
<
https://l.smartnews.com/p-6ROcohnq/FhGOeL
Donald Trump's actions and incendiary remarks in the first year of his second presidential term have left many women, people of col- or and their allies in a tailspin. Shortly after re-entering office, he released executive orders that attacked diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts, and transgender rights. His January orders that called for an end to DEl and affirmative action led to thou- sands of cuts in the private and public sectors - and shake-ups within the journalism indus-try. One directive that banned access to gen-der-affirming care for youth under the age of 19 sent families into a flurry as they scrambled to ensure that their trans kids continued to receive treatment. Another executive order directed his vice-president, JD Vance, to prohibit federal spending on Smithsonian programs or exhibits that focused on race. He also worked to suppress Indigenous history by again changing the name of the mountain Denali in the Athabascan language to Mount McKinley.Along with his federal policies, Trump also shared racist, xenophobic and sexist comments during speeches, press meetings and on his social media platform, Truth Social, throughout the year. Here's Trump - in his own words — as year two of his second term looms.<
On Race And we just clean out that whole thing ... I don't know, something has to happen, but it's literally a demolition site right now. Almost everything's demolished, and people are dying there, so l'd rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing in a different location where I think they could maybe live in peace for a change. - Suggesting Palestinian displacement onboard<
Suggesting Palestinian displacement onboard Air Force One, 25 January 2025 Related: 'Loyalty over all': Trump was once known for constantly switching out his staff. Not any more Then it's a group within the FAA - another story - determined that the workforce was too white, that they had concerted efforts to get the administration to change that and to change it im-mediately. This was in the Obama administra-tion, just prior to my getting there. And we took care of African Americans, Hispanic Americans. We took care of everybody at levels that nobody has ever seen before. It's one of the reasons / won. But they actually came out with a directive: too white. And we want the people that are com-petent. - Speaking about the role of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the fatal American Air- lines crash with a US army Black Hawk helicopter at a press briefing, 30 January 2025 ... Somalia, which is barely a country. They have Somalia, which is barely a country. They have no, they have no anything. They just run around killing each other. There's no structure... Somebody would say, 'Oh that's not politically cor-rect.' I don't care. I don't want them in our coun-try. Their country is no good for a reason. Their country stinks and we don't want them in our country... We're going to go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country. Ilhan Omar is garbage. She's garbage. Her friends are garbage. These aren't people that work. These aren't people that say, 'Let's go, come on, let's make this place great.' These are people that do nothing but complain.<
— On Somalia and Somali American congresswoman Ihan Omar, at a 2 December 2025 cabinet meeting I love this Ilhan Omar, whatever the hell her name is, with the little turban. I love her. She comes in, does nothing but bitch - she's always complaining. She comes from a country where love this lihan Umar, whatever the hell ner name is, with the little turban. I love her. She comes in, does nothing but bitch - she's always complaining. She comes from a country where / mean, it's considered about the worst country in the world, right? They have no military. They have no nothing. They have no parliament. They don't know what the hell the word parliament means. They have nothing. They have no police. They police themselves. They kill each other all the time ... She married her brother in order to get in. Therefore, she's here illegally. She should get the hell out. Throw her the hell out. - On Omar at an economic rally in Pennsylvania,
Why is it we only take people from shithole countries, right? Why can't we have some people from Norway, Sweden, just a few? ... From Denmark. Do you mind sending us a few people?
Send us some nice people. Do you mind? But we always take people from Somalia, places that are a disaster, right? Filthy, dirty, disgusting, ridden with crime. The only thing they're good at is going after ships. - Economic rally in Pennsylvania, 9 December <
She brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way. She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart... Apart from her inappropriate statements, the service was a very boring and uninspiring one. She is not very good at her job! - Truth Social, 22 January 2025, on Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde's inaugural sermon Quiet. Quiet, piggy. - On Air Force One, 14 November 2025, when Bloomberg White House correspondent Catherine Lucey tried to ask about the Jeffrey Epstein files It's not the question that I mind; it's your atti-tude. I think you are a terrible reporter. It's the way you ask these questions ... You're a terrible person and a terrible reporter. - In the Oval Office, 18 November 2025, to ABC News chief White House correspondent Mary Because they let him in. Are you stupid? Are you a stupid person? Because they came in on a plane, along with thousands of other people that shouldn't be here, and you're just asking questions because you're a stupid person. - At Mar-a-Lago, 27 November 2025, to CBS News chief White House correspondent Nancy Cordes You're the most obnoxious reporter in the whole place. Let me just tell you, you are an obnoxious, a terrible, actually a terrible reporter and it's always the same thing with you. - To ABC news reporter Rachel Scott in the White House press corp, 8 December 2025 Marjorie is not AMERICA FIRST or MAGA, because nobody could have changed her views so fast, and her new views are those of a very dumb person. - Truth Social, 8 December 2025,
https://l.smartnews.com/p-6ROcohnq/FhGOeL
Donald Trump's actions and incendiary remarks in the first year of his second presidential term have left many women, people of col- or and their allies in a tailspin. Shortly after re-entering office, he released executive orders that attacked diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts, and transgender rights. His January orders that called for an end to DEl and affirmative action led to thou- sands of cuts in the private and public sectors - and shake-ups within the journalism indus-try. One directive that banned access to gen-der-affirming care for youth under the age of 19 sent families into a flurry as they scrambled to ensure that their trans kids continued to receive treatment. Another executive order directed his vice-president, JD Vance, to prohibit federal spending on Smithsonian programs or exhibits that focused on race. He also worked to suppress Indigenous history by again changing the name of the mountain Denali in the Athabascan language to Mount McKinley.Along with his federal policies, Trump also shared racist, xenophobic and sexist comments during speeches, press meetings and on his social media platform, Truth Social, throughout the year. Here's Trump - in his own words — as year two of his second term looms.<
On Race And we just clean out that whole thing ... I don't know, something has to happen, but it's literally a demolition site right now. Almost everything's demolished, and people are dying there, so l'd rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing in a different location where I think they could maybe live in peace for a change. - Suggesting Palestinian displacement onboard<
Suggesting Palestinian displacement onboard Air Force One, 25 January 2025 Related: 'Loyalty over all': Trump was once known for constantly switching out his staff. Not any more Then it's a group within the FAA - another story - determined that the workforce was too white, that they had concerted efforts to get the administration to change that and to change it im-mediately. This was in the Obama administra-tion, just prior to my getting there. And we took care of African Americans, Hispanic Americans. We took care of everybody at levels that nobody has ever seen before. It's one of the reasons / won. But they actually came out with a directive: too white. And we want the people that are com-petent. - Speaking about the role of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the fatal American Air- lines crash with a US army Black Hawk helicopter at a press briefing, 30 January 2025 ... Somalia, which is barely a country. They have Somalia, which is barely a country. They have no, they have no anything. They just run around killing each other. There's no structure... Somebody would say, 'Oh that's not politically cor-rect.' I don't care. I don't want them in our coun-try. Their country is no good for a reason. Their country stinks and we don't want them in our country... We're going to go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country. Ilhan Omar is garbage. She's garbage. Her friends are garbage. These aren't people that work. These aren't people that say, 'Let's go, come on, let's make this place great.' These are people that do nothing but complain.<
— On Somalia and Somali American congresswoman Ihan Omar, at a 2 December 2025 cabinet meeting I love this Ilhan Omar, whatever the hell her name is, with the little turban. I love her. She comes in, does nothing but bitch - she's always complaining. She comes from a country where love this lihan Umar, whatever the hell ner name is, with the little turban. I love her. She comes in, does nothing but bitch - she's always complaining. She comes from a country where / mean, it's considered about the worst country in the world, right? They have no military. They have no nothing. They have no parliament. They don't know what the hell the word parliament means. They have nothing. They have no police. They police themselves. They kill each other all the time ... She married her brother in order to get in. Therefore, she's here illegally. She should get the hell out. Throw her the hell out. - On Omar at an economic rally in Pennsylvania,
Why is it we only take people from shithole countries, right? Why can't we have some people from Norway, Sweden, just a few? ... From Denmark. Do you mind sending us a few people?
Send us some nice people. Do you mind? But we always take people from Somalia, places that are a disaster, right? Filthy, dirty, disgusting, ridden with crime. The only thing they're good at is going after ships. - Economic rally in Pennsylvania, 9 December <
She brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way. She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart... Apart from her inappropriate statements, the service was a very boring and uninspiring one. She is not very good at her job! - Truth Social, 22 January 2025, on Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde's inaugural sermon Quiet. Quiet, piggy. - On Air Force One, 14 November 2025, when Bloomberg White House correspondent Catherine Lucey tried to ask about the Jeffrey Epstein files It's not the question that I mind; it's your atti-tude. I think you are a terrible reporter. It's the way you ask these questions ... You're a terrible person and a terrible reporter. - In the Oval Office, 18 November 2025, to ABC News chief White House correspondent Mary Because they let him in. Are you stupid? Are you a stupid person? Because they came in on a plane, along with thousands of other people that shouldn't be here, and you're just asking questions because you're a stupid person. - At Mar-a-Lago, 27 November 2025, to CBS News chief White House correspondent Nancy Cordes You're the most obnoxious reporter in the whole place. Let me just tell you, you are an obnoxious, a terrible, actually a terrible reporter and it's always the same thing with you. - To ABC news reporter Rachel Scott in the White House press corp, 8 December 2025 Marjorie is not AMERICA FIRST or MAGA, because nobody could have changed her views so fast, and her new views are those of a very dumb person. - Truth Social, 8 December 2025,
COMMUNISM IS AN INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM THAT EVOLVES OUT OF THE CAPITALIST WORLDWIDEWEB OF LABOR , PROLETARIAN INTERNATIONALISM OUT OF GLOBAL CAPITALISM (IMPERIALISM, MONOPOLY,FINANCE CAPITALISM)
"
the entanglement of all peoples in the net of the world market, and with this, the international character of the capitalistic regime. "
<
WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE IN PROLETARIAN INTERNATIONALISM <
http://take10charles.blogspot.com/2025/12/httpsyoutu.html <
BRICS AND SHANGHAI COOPERATION ORGANIZATION AND 21ST CENTURY SILK ROAD ARE THE 21ST CENTURY INTERNATIONAL IN THE TRADITION OF THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL LED BY ENGELS AND MARX ; AND THE TRADITION OF THE THIRD INTERNATIONAL LED BY THE BOLSHEVIKS OF THE GREAT OCTOBER REVOLUTION ; AND THE REVOLUTIONARY ANTHEM , THE INTERNATIONALE <
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZnvlxkVNuU
"The Internationale" is the iconic, widely translated anthem of the global socialist, communist, and anarchist movements, representing working-class solidarity and revolution, with lyrics by Eugène Pottier (1871) and music by Pierre De Geyter (1888), and famously served as the national anthem of the Soviet Union (1918-1944). It calls for the oppressed to rise, overthrow their masters, and build a new, equitable world, embodying the struggle against capitalism and for freedom. o<
The video above explains the origins and purpose of The Internationale Song /Anthem <
Arise ye pris’ners of starvation Arise ye wretched of the earth For justice thunders condemnation A better world’s in birth! No more tradition’s chains shall bind us Arise, ye slaves, no more in thrall; The earth shall rise on new foundations We have been naught we shall be all. <
Refrain: ’Tis the final conflict Let each stand in his place The International Union Shall be the human race.
We want no condescending saviors To rule us from their judgement hall We workers ask not for their favors Let us consult for all. To make the theif disgorge his booty To free the spirit from its cell We must ourselves decide our duty We must decide and do it well.
The law oppresses us and tricks us, The wage slave system drains our blood; The rich are free from obligation, The laws the poor delude. Too long we’ve languished in subjection, Equality has other laws; "No rights", says she "without their duties, No claims on equals without cause."
Behold them seated in their glory The kings of mine and rail and soil! What have you read in all their story, But how they plundered toil? Fruits of the workers’ toil are buried In strongholds of the idle few In working for their restitution The men will only claim their due.
We toilers from all fields united Join hand in hand with all who work; The earth belongs to us, the workers, No room here for the shirk. How many on our flesh have fattened! But if the norsome birds of prey Shall vanish from the sky some morning The blessed sunlight then will stay.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_International <
The International Workingmen's Association (IWA), commonly known as the First International, was a political international which aimed to unite a variety of left-wing political groups and trade union organizations based on the working class and class struggle. It was founded on 28 September 1864 at a workers' meeting in St Martin's Hall, London, and its first congress was held in 1866 in Geneva.<
The IWA's history was characterized by internal conflicts between different socialist and anarchist factions. The initial ideological struggle was between the communists or Marxists, centred around Karl Marx on the General Council, and the mutualists or followers of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon. The communists successfully displaced the mutualists as the dominant ideological trend at the Brussels Congress in 1868. The rise of Mikhail Bakunin's collectivist anarchist faction in the late 1860s led to a more intense conflict over the role of the state and political action in achieving socialism. The organization reached its peak following the Paris Commune of 1871, which was celebrated and defended by the International in Marx's influential address, The Civil War in France. The bloody suppression of the Commune, however, led to a period of harsh government repression against the IWA. <
The internal divisions culminated in a definitive split at the Hague Congress in 1872, where Bakunin and his ally James Guillaume were expelled. In a strategic move to prevent the organization from falling under the control of other factions, the congress voted to transfer the seat of the General Council to New York City. This decision effectively marked the end of the IWA as a mass European movement. The New York-based General Council officially disbanded the original International in 1876. The anarchist wing formed a rival International at St. Imier, but it also dissolved by the late 1870s. Although it was short-lived, the First International was a highly significant event in the history of the labour movement. It helped establish the theoretical foundations of the main currents of socialism, communism, and anarchism, and its experience was crucial for the development of mass-based national social democratic parties that formed the Second International in 1889. <
The Third International, or Comintern (Communist International), was a Moscow-based organization founded by Lenin in 1919 to promote world revolution and spread communism, succeeding the defunct First (Marx's) and Second (Socialist) Internationals. It united communist parties globally, serving as a central body to guide revolutionary action and counter capitalist powers, but was dissolved by Stalin in 1943 to appease Allies during World War II. & Key Aspects: • Founding: Established in Moscow in March 1919 by Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks following the success of the Russian Ask anything < Q what was the third international ? Founding: Established in Moscow in March 1919 by Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks following the success of the Russian Revolution. o • Purpose: To foster worldwide proletarian revolution, learn from past socialist failures, and establish a global communist party. & • Structure: Comprised communist parties from over 50 countries, with the Russian Communist Party playing a dominant role, WHICH WAS A GOOD THING ; ALL HAIL THE BOLSHEVIKS. o • Ideology: Promoted revolutionary socialism, Marxism-Leninism, and later Stalinism, aiming to overthrow capitalism. a • Dissolution: Disbanded by Stalin in 1943 to improve relations with the US and UK during WWil, eventually succeeded by the Cominform. o Predecessors: A < Q what was the third internatior Dissolution: Disbanded by Stalin in 1943 to improve relations with the US and UK during WWil, eventually succeeded by the Cominform. ® Predecessors: 1. First International (1864): International Workingmen's Association, organized by Marx and Engels, focused on labor rights. 2. Second International (1889): A socialist body that fractured over support for national governments during World War I. o Communist International - Wikipedia The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern <
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch32.htm
As soon as this process of transformation has sufficiently decomposed the old society from top to bottom, as soon as the labourers are turned into proletarians, their means of labour into capital, as soon as the capitalist mode of production stands on its own feet, then the further socialisation of labour and further transformation of the land and other means of production into socially exploited and, therefore, common means of production, as well as the further expropriation of private proprietors, takes a new form. That which is now to be expropriated is no longer the labourer working for himself, but the capitalist exploiting many labourers. This expropriation is accomplished by the action of the immanent laws of capitalistic production itself, by the centralisation of capital. One capitalist always kills many. Hand in hand with this centralisation, or this expropriation of many capitalists by few, develop, on an ever-extending scale, the cooperative form of the labour process, the conscious technical application of science, the methodical cultivation of the soil, the transformation of the instruments of labour into instruments of labour only usable in common, the economising of all means of production by their use as means of production of combined, socialised labour, the entanglement of all peoples in the net of the world market, and with this, the international character of the capitalistic regime. Along with the constantly diminishing number of the magnates of capital, who usurp and monopolise all advantages of this process of transformation, grows the mass of misery, oppression, slavery, degradation, exploitation; but with this too grows the revolt of the working class, a class always increasing in numbers, and disciplined, united, organised by the very mechanism of the process of capitalist production itself. The monopoly of capital becomes a fetter upon the mode of production, which has sprung up and flourished along with, and under it. Centralisation of the means of production and socialisation of labour at last reach a point where they become incompatible with their capitalist integument. This integument is burst asunder. The knell of capitalist private property sounds. The expropriators are expropriated.<
The capitalist mode of appropriation, the result of the capitalist mode of production, produces capitalist private property. This is the first negation of individual private property, as founded on the labour of the proprietor. But capitalist production begets, with the inexorability of a law of Nature, its own negation. It is the negation of negation. This does not re-establish private property for the producer, but gives him individual property based on the acquisition of the capitalist era: i.e., on cooperation and the possession in common of the land and of the means of production.<
The transformation of scattered private property, arising from individual labour, into capitalist private property is, naturally, a process, incomparably more protracted, violent, and difficult, than the transformation of capitalistic private property, already practically resting on socialised production, into socialised property. In the former case, we had the expropriation of the mass of the people by a few usurpers; in the latter, we have the expropriation of a few usurpers by the mass of the people. [2]
Footnotes
1. “Nous sommes dans une condition tout-à-fait nouvelle de la societé... nous tendons a séparer toute espèce de propriété d’avec toute espèce de travail.” [We are in a situation which is entirely new for society ... we are striving to separate every kind of property from every kind of labour] (Sismondi: “Nouveaux Principes d’Econ. Polit.” t.II, p.434.)
2. The advance of industry, whose involuntary promoter is the bourgeoisie, replaces the isolation of the labourers, due to competition, by their revolutionary combination, due to association. The development of Modern Industry, therefore, cuts from under its feet the very foundation on which the bourgeoisie produces and appropriates products. What the bourgeoisie, therefore, produces, above all, are its own grave-diggers. Its fall and the victory of the proletariat are equally inevitable.... Of all the classes that stand face-to-face with the bourgeoisie today, the proletariat alone is a really revolutionary class. The other classes perish and disappear in the face of Modern Industry, the proletariat is its special and essential product.... The lower middle classes, the small manufacturers, the shopkeepers, the artisan, the peasant, all these fight against the bourgeoisie, to save from extinction their existence as fractions of the middle class... they are reactionary, for they try to roll back the wheel of history. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, “Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei,” London, 1848, pp. 9, 11. <
http://take10charles.blogspot.com/2025/12/this-is-brilliant.html <
COMMUNISM IS AN INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM THAT EVOLVES OUT OF THE CAPITALIST WORLDWIDEWEB OF LABOR, PROLETARIAN INTERNATIONALISM OUT OF GLOBAL CAPITALISM (IMPERIALISM, MONOPOLY, FINANCE CAPITALISM) W5 -+11 The statement you provided encapsulates core tenets of Marxist and Leninist theory, which hold that communism and proletarian internationalism are necessary outcomes of global capitalist development and imperialism. *
Key Concepts • Global Capitalism as a "Worldwide Web of Labor": Marxist theory posits that capitalism inherently transcends national borders,
Key Concepts
• Global Capitalism as a "Worldwide Web of Labor": Marxist theory posits that capitalism inherently transcends national borders, creating a single, integrated world economy.
This global system internationalizes capital and the working class (the proletariat), organizing production on a worldwide scale and fostering universal class interests among workers regardless of nationality.
• Imperialism as the "Highest Stage of Capitalism": Building on Marx, Lenin argued that capitalism in its advanced stage necessarily develops into imperialism, characterized by monopoly, finance capital, and the division and exploitation of the world by a handful of powerful states. This creates an inherent antagonism between imperialist and oppressed nations, as well as an international split within the working class.
• Proletarian Internationalism: As a response to the global nature of capitalist exploitation
international split within the working class. • Proletarian Internationalism: As a response to the global nature of capitalist exploitation and imperialism, proletarian internationalism is the principle of solidarity and cooperation among the working class across national boundaries. It advocates for the unity of workers globally in their shared struggle against the international capitalist system, encapsulated in the famous call: "Workers of the world, unite!" . • Communism as an International System: According to this theory, a communist revolution cannot be merely a local or national event; it must be a global process. Successtul proletarian internationalism and a series of simultaneous or successive revolutions in various nations are seen as leading to "world communism," a stateless, classless society where the means of production are commonly owned and organized to meet human needs rather than generate profit.<
In summary, the theory argues that the very simultaneous or successive revolutions in various nations are seen as leading to "world communism," a stateless, classless society where the means of production are commonly owned and organized to meet human needs rather than generate profit. o In summary, the theory argues that the very forces unleashed by global capitalism and imperialism lay the groundwork for the international working class to unite and ultimately replace the system with world communism.
Proletarian internationalism - ... Despite this, the Soviet Union continued to foster international tie... w Wikipedia AMTERINACHOMAKEN<
http://take10charles.blogspot.com/2025/12/this-is-brilliant.html
WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE IN PROLETARIAN INTERNATIONALISM <
http://take10charles.blogspot.com/2025/12/httpsyoutu.html <
BRICS AND SHANGHAI COOPERATION ORGANIZATION AND 21ST CENTURY SILK ROAD ARE THE 21ST CENTURY INTERNATIONAL IN THE TRADITION OF THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL LED BY ENGELS AND MARX ; AND THE TRADITION OF THE THIRD INTERNATIONAL LED BY THE BOLSHEVIKS OF THE GREAT OCTOBER REVOLUTION ; AND THE REVOLUTIONARY ANTHEM , THE INTERNATIONALE <
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZnvlxkVNuU
"The Internationale" is the iconic, widely translated anthem of the global socialist, communist, and anarchist movements, representing working-class solidarity and revolution, with lyrics by Eugène Pottier (1871) and music by Pierre De Geyter (1888), and famously served as the national anthem of the Soviet Union (1918-1944). It calls for the oppressed to rise, overthrow their masters, and build a new, equitable world, embodying the struggle against capitalism and for freedom. o<
The video above explains the origins and purpose of The Internationale Song /Anthem <
Arise ye pris’ners of starvation Arise ye wretched of the earth For justice thunders condemnation A better world’s in birth! No more tradition’s chains shall bind us Arise, ye slaves, no more in thrall; The earth shall rise on new foundations We have been naught we shall be all. <
Refrain: ’Tis the final conflict Let each stand in his place The International Union Shall be the human race.
We want no condescending saviors To rule us from their judgement hall We workers ask not for their favors Let us consult for all. To make the theif disgorge his booty To free the spirit from its cell We must ourselves decide our duty We must decide and do it well.
The law oppresses us and tricks us, The wage slave system drains our blood; The rich are free from obligation, The laws the poor delude. Too long we’ve languished in subjection, Equality has other laws; "No rights", says she "without their duties, No claims on equals without cause."
Behold them seated in their glory The kings of mine and rail and soil! What have you read in all their story, But how they plundered toil? Fruits of the workers’ toil are buried In strongholds of the idle few In working for their restitution The men will only claim their due.
We toilers from all fields united Join hand in hand with all who work; The earth belongs to us, the workers, No room here for the shirk. How many on our flesh have fattened! But if the norsome birds of prey Shall vanish from the sky some morning The blessed sunlight then will stay.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_International <
The International Workingmen's Association (IWA), commonly known as the First International, was a political international which aimed to unite a variety of left-wing political groups and trade union organizations based on the working class and class struggle. It was founded on 28 September 1864 at a workers' meeting in St Martin's Hall, London, and its first congress was held in 1866 in Geneva.<
The IWA's history was characterized by internal conflicts between different socialist and anarchist factions. The initial ideological struggle was between the communists or Marxists, centred around Karl Marx on the General Council, and the mutualists or followers of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon. The communists successfully displaced the mutualists as the dominant ideological trend at the Brussels Congress in 1868. The rise of Mikhail Bakunin's collectivist anarchist faction in the late 1860s led to a more intense conflict over the role of the state and political action in achieving socialism. The organization reached its peak following the Paris Commune of 1871, which was celebrated and defended by the International in Marx's influential address, The Civil War in France. The bloody suppression of the Commune, however, led to a period of harsh government repression against the IWA. <
The internal divisions culminated in a definitive split at the Hague Congress in 1872, where Bakunin and his ally James Guillaume were expelled. In a strategic move to prevent the organization from falling under the control of other factions, the congress voted to transfer the seat of the General Council to New York City. This decision effectively marked the end of the IWA as a mass European movement. The New York-based General Council officially disbanded the original International in 1876. The anarchist wing formed a rival International at St. Imier, but it also dissolved by the late 1870s. Although it was short-lived, the First International was a highly significant event in the history of the labour movement. It helped establish the theoretical foundations of the main currents of socialism, communism, and anarchism, and its experience was crucial for the development of mass-based national social democratic parties that formed the Second International in 1889. <
The Third International, or Comintern (Communist International), was a Moscow-based organization founded by Lenin in 1919 to promote world revolution and spread communism, succeeding the defunct First (Marx's) and Second (Socialist) Internationals. It united communist parties globally, serving as a central body to guide revolutionary action and counter capitalist powers, but was dissolved by Stalin in 1943 to appease Allies during World War II. & Key Aspects: • Founding: Established in Moscow in March 1919 by Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks following the success of the Russian Ask anything < Q what was the third international ? Founding: Established in Moscow in March 1919 by Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks following the success of the Russian Revolution. o • Purpose: To foster worldwide proletarian revolution, learn from past socialist failures, and establish a global communist party. & • Structure: Comprised communist parties from over 50 countries, with the Russian Communist Party playing a dominant role, WHICH WAS A GOOD THING ; ALL HAIL THE BOLSHEVIKS. o • Ideology: Promoted revolutionary socialism, Marxism-Leninism, and later Stalinism, aiming to overthrow capitalism. a • Dissolution: Disbanded by Stalin in 1943 to improve relations with the US and UK during WWil, eventually succeeded by the Cominform. o Predecessors: A < Q what was the third internatior Dissolution: Disbanded by Stalin in 1943 to improve relations with the US and UK during WWil, eventually succeeded by the Cominform. ® Predecessors: 1. First International (1864): International Workingmen's Association, organized by Marx and Engels, focused on labor rights. 2. Second International (1889): A socialist body that fractured over support for national governments during World War I. o Communist International - Wikipedia The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern <
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch32.htm
As soon as this process of transformation has sufficiently decomposed the old society from top to bottom, as soon as the labourers are turned into proletarians, their means of labour into capital, as soon as the capitalist mode of production stands on its own feet, then the further socialisation of labour and further transformation of the land and other means of production into socially exploited and, therefore, common means of production, as well as the further expropriation of private proprietors, takes a new form. That which is now to be expropriated is no longer the labourer working for himself, but the capitalist exploiting many labourers. This expropriation is accomplished by the action of the immanent laws of capitalistic production itself, by the centralisation of capital. One capitalist always kills many. Hand in hand with this centralisation, or this expropriation of many capitalists by few, develop, on an ever-extending scale, the cooperative form of the labour process, the conscious technical application of science, the methodical cultivation of the soil, the transformation of the instruments of labour into instruments of labour only usable in common, the economising of all means of production by their use as means of production of combined, socialised labour, the entanglement of all peoples in the net of the world market, and with this, the international character of the capitalistic regime. Along with the constantly diminishing number of the magnates of capital, who usurp and monopolise all advantages of this process of transformation, grows the mass of misery, oppression, slavery, degradation, exploitation; but with this too grows the revolt of the working class, a class always increasing in numbers, and disciplined, united, organised by the very mechanism of the process of capitalist production itself. The monopoly of capital becomes a fetter upon the mode of production, which has sprung up and flourished along with, and under it. Centralisation of the means of production and socialisation of labour at last reach a point where they become incompatible with their capitalist integument. This integument is burst asunder. The knell of capitalist private property sounds. The expropriators are expropriated.<
The capitalist mode of appropriation, the result of the capitalist mode of production, produces capitalist private property. This is the first negation of individual private property, as founded on the labour of the proprietor. But capitalist production begets, with the inexorability of a law of Nature, its own negation. It is the negation of negation. This does not re-establish private property for the producer, but gives him individual property based on the acquisition of the capitalist era: i.e., on cooperation and the possession in common of the land and of the means of production.<
The transformation of scattered private property, arising from individual labour, into capitalist private property is, naturally, a process, incomparably more protracted, violent, and difficult, than the transformation of capitalistic private property, already practically resting on socialised production, into socialised property. In the former case, we had the expropriation of the mass of the people by a few usurpers; in the latter, we have the expropriation of a few usurpers by the mass of the people. [2]
Footnotes
1. “Nous sommes dans une condition tout-à-fait nouvelle de la societé... nous tendons a séparer toute espèce de propriété d’avec toute espèce de travail.” [We are in a situation which is entirely new for society ... we are striving to separate every kind of property from every kind of labour] (Sismondi: “Nouveaux Principes d’Econ. Polit.” t.II, p.434.)
2. The advance of industry, whose involuntary promoter is the bourgeoisie, replaces the isolation of the labourers, due to competition, by their revolutionary combination, due to association. The development of Modern Industry, therefore, cuts from under its feet the very foundation on which the bourgeoisie produces and appropriates products. What the bourgeoisie, therefore, produces, above all, are its own grave-diggers. Its fall and the victory of the proletariat are equally inevitable.... Of all the classes that stand face-to-face with the bourgeoisie today, the proletariat alone is a really revolutionary class. The other classes perish and disappear in the face of Modern Industry, the proletariat is its special and essential product.... The lower middle classes, the small manufacturers, the shopkeepers, the artisan, the peasant, all these fight against the bourgeoisie, to save from extinction their existence as fractions of the middle class... they are reactionary, for they try to roll back the wheel of history. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, “Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei,” London, 1848, pp. 9, 11. <
http://take10charles.blogspot.com/2025/12/this-is-brilliant.html <
COMMUNISM IS AN INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM THAT EVOLVES OUT OF THE CAPITALIST WORLDWIDEWEB OF LABOR, PROLETARIAN INTERNATIONALISM OUT OF GLOBAL CAPITALISM (IMPERIALISM, MONOPOLY, FINANCE CAPITALISM) W5 -+11 The statement you provided encapsulates core tenets of Marxist and Leninist theory, which hold that communism and proletarian internationalism are necessary outcomes of global capitalist development and imperialism. *
Key Concepts • Global Capitalism as a "Worldwide Web of Labor": Marxist theory posits that capitalism inherently transcends national borders,
Key Concepts
• Global Capitalism as a "Worldwide Web of Labor": Marxist theory posits that capitalism inherently transcends national borders, creating a single, integrated world economy.
This global system internationalizes capital and the working class (the proletariat), organizing production on a worldwide scale and fostering universal class interests among workers regardless of nationality.
• Imperialism as the "Highest Stage of Capitalism": Building on Marx, Lenin argued that capitalism in its advanced stage necessarily develops into imperialism, characterized by monopoly, finance capital, and the division and exploitation of the world by a handful of powerful states. This creates an inherent antagonism between imperialist and oppressed nations, as well as an international split within the working class.
• Proletarian Internationalism: As a response to the global nature of capitalist exploitation
international split within the working class. • Proletarian Internationalism: As a response to the global nature of capitalist exploitation and imperialism, proletarian internationalism is the principle of solidarity and cooperation among the working class across national boundaries. It advocates for the unity of workers globally in their shared struggle against the international capitalist system, encapsulated in the famous call: "Workers of the world, unite!" . • Communism as an International System: According to this theory, a communist revolution cannot be merely a local or national event; it must be a global process. Successtul proletarian internationalism and a series of simultaneous or successive revolutions in various nations are seen as leading to "world communism," a stateless, classless society where the means of production are commonly owned and organized to meet human needs rather than generate profit.<
In summary, the theory argues that the very simultaneous or successive revolutions in various nations are seen as leading to "world communism," a stateless, classless society where the means of production are commonly owned and organized to meet human needs rather than generate profit. o In summary, the theory argues that the very forces unleashed by global capitalism and imperialism lay the groundwork for the international working class to unite and ultimately replace the system with world communism.
Proletarian internationalism - ... Despite this, the Soviet Union continued to foster international tie... w Wikipedia AMTERINACHOMAKEN<
http://take10charles.blogspot.com/2025/12/this-is-brilliant.html
CNN reporter issues Grand Ole Party Prez Donald Trump humiliating blow as he lists his 25 'top lies of 2025' Charl Wright
<
https://l.smartnews.com/p-6RqvxMKB/EjMEfy
https://l.smartnews.com/p-6RqvxMKB/EjMEfy
<
“Were it not for that painful national exposure to racist brutality, we wouldn’t have gotten the Civil Rights Act or the Voting Rights Act.” <
CB: Both of which have been effectively killed by the Republicans ; just like MLK was <
"But sometimes a nation needs a nightmare before it can fully awaken to long-simmering crises. POLL: Do you feel Democrats can regain control of Congress in 2026? Martin Luther King Jr. mobilized the nation against racial injustice by making sure almost everyone in the United States saw its horrors — on the nightly news, watching peaceful Black people getting clubbed and arrested for exercising their rights. Were it not for that painful national exposure to racist brutality, we wouldn't have gotten the Civil Rights Act or the Voting Rights Act."<
https://l.smartnews.com/p-6RBf5tNC/XBdoy0
“Were it not for that painful national exposure to racist brutality, we wouldn’t have gotten the Civil Rights Act or the Voting Rights Act.” <
CB: Both of which have been effectively killed by the Republicans ; just like MLK was <
"But sometimes a nation needs a nightmare before it can fully awaken to long-simmering crises. POLL: Do you feel Democrats can regain control of Congress in 2026? Martin Luther King Jr. mobilized the nation against racial injustice by making sure almost everyone in the United States saw its horrors — on the nightly news, watching peaceful Black people getting clubbed and arrested for exercising their rights. Were it not for that painful national exposure to racist brutality, we wouldn't have gotten the Civil Rights Act or the Voting Rights Act."<
https://l.smartnews.com/p-6RBf5tNC/XBdoy0
Sunday, December 28, 2025
Everything racist Trump is doing in Africa at China and Venezuela is fulfilling his appeal to white supremacist MAGA.
>Everything racist Trump is doing in Africa at China and Venezuela is fulfilling his appeal to white supremacist MAGA.
<
Everything racist Trump is doing in Africa is fulfilling his appeal to MAGA. South African fake genocide lie , Somali deportations visa bans for many African countries. It’s all talking to MAGA
Attack on Venezuela is racist appeal to MAGA. .<
MAGA Reacts After Donald Trump's Nigeria Strikes Mandy Taheri 1 day ago Make America Great Again (MAGA) supporters are backing President Donald Trump's strikes reportedly against the Islamic State (ISIS) group in northwestern Nigeria on Christmas Day, who Trump said (lied) was "targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians." <
TRADE WAR ON CHINA IS APPEAL TO RACIST MAGA BASE <
http://take10charles.blogspot.com/2024/12/trump-playing-racist-trump-card.html
http://take10charles.blogspot.com/2025/12/httpsyoutu_29.html
Everything racist Trump is doing in Africa is fulfilling his appeal to MAGA. South African fake genocide lie , Somali deportations visa bans for many African countries. It’s all talking to MAGA
Attack on Venezuela is racist appeal to MAGA. .<
MAGA Reacts After Donald Trump's Nigeria Strikes Mandy Taheri 1 day ago Make America Great Again (MAGA) supporters are backing President Donald Trump's strikes reportedly against the Islamic State (ISIS) group in northwestern Nigeria on Christmas Day, who Trump said (lied) was "targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians." <
TRADE WAR ON CHINA IS APPEAL TO RACIST MAGA BASE <
http://take10charles.blogspot.com/2024/12/trump-playing-racist-trump-card.html
http://take10charles.blogspot.com/2025/12/httpsyoutu_29.html
Friday, December 26, 2025
<
https://youtu.be/KjQQ6EwIcVo?si=Sk2TVJWOPiNTFZnp
Israel & Trump are preparing for war with Iran and Venezuela in 2026, but as Prof. Mohammad Marandi notes, this will end in a WW3 disaster of epic proportions. Watch the video until the end to find out how the plans for the warmongers in Washington & Tel Aviv are already falling apart, and why they'll fail if they ever get off the ground. <
know if Christmas is ahead Christ if he 13:56 was among us today on you know on the 13:59 streets someone to be seen he would be 14:01 with the Palestinians. he would be at 14:02 the forefront of the resistance. And 14:04 that's what we have to do regardless of 14:06 what uh you know how things look. That's 14:09 where we have to stand. And if we're 14:10 standing in the right place and if we're 14:12 doing the right thing, that's that's the <
going to get worse for them. standing in the right place and if we're 14:12 doing the right thing, that's that's the 14:14 best thing. That's that should make us 14:16 optimistic because the most important 14:18 thing at the end of the day is what you 14:19 do. It's how what stance you take. Are 14:24 you going to be quiet? Are you going to 14:25 be complicit? Or are you going to take a 14:28 stance? that the stronger your position, 14:31 the more steadfast you are, the more<
And people are seeing that uh the issue is not race, it's not religion. The issue is uh 15:03 hegemony and the powerful few who are the ruling class who are willing to sacrifice everyone for domination whether they are Zionists or neocons or well which are basically one and the 15:18 same or you know oligarchs in the United States. uh they don't care about the<
same or you know oligarchs in the United 15:21 States. uh they don't care about the 15:24 rest of humanity and they'll try to 15:25 divide us. They'll turn Muslim against 15:28 Christian. You know, right now, you 15:31 know, the antagonism that you see this 15:33 new big wave of anti-Muslim sentiment 15:36 being promoted in the West, right? The 15:39 West has been supporting ISIS, the West 15:42 has been supporting al-Qaeda, the West 15:43 has been supporting Techidi ideology,
https://youtu.be/KjQQ6EwIcVo?si=Sk2TVJWOPiNTFZnp
Israel & Trump are preparing for war with Iran and Venezuela in 2026, but as Prof. Mohammad Marandi notes, this will end in a WW3 disaster of epic proportions. Watch the video until the end to find out how the plans for the warmongers in Washington & Tel Aviv are already falling apart, and why they'll fail if they ever get off the ground. <
know if Christmas is ahead Christ if he 13:56 was among us today on you know on the 13:59 streets someone to be seen he would be 14:01 with the Palestinians. he would be at 14:02 the forefront of the resistance. And 14:04 that's what we have to do regardless of 14:06 what uh you know how things look. That's 14:09 where we have to stand. And if we're 14:10 standing in the right place and if we're 14:12 doing the right thing, that's that's the <
going to get worse for them. standing in the right place and if we're 14:12 doing the right thing, that's that's the 14:14 best thing. That's that should make us 14:16 optimistic because the most important 14:18 thing at the end of the day is what you 14:19 do. It's how what stance you take. Are 14:24 you going to be quiet? Are you going to 14:25 be complicit? Or are you going to take a 14:28 stance? that the stronger your position, 14:31 the more steadfast you are, the more<
And people are seeing that uh the issue is not race, it's not religion. The issue is uh 15:03 hegemony and the powerful few who are the ruling class who are willing to sacrifice everyone for domination whether they are Zionists or neocons or well which are basically one and the 15:18 same or you know oligarchs in the United States. uh they don't care about the<
same or you know oligarchs in the United 15:21 States. uh they don't care about the 15:24 rest of humanity and they'll try to 15:25 divide us. They'll turn Muslim against 15:28 Christian. You know, right now, you 15:31 know, the antagonism that you see this 15:33 new big wave of anti-Muslim sentiment 15:36 being promoted in the West, right? The 15:39 West has been supporting ISIS, the West 15:42 has been supporting al-Qaeda, the West 15:43 has been supporting Techidi ideology,
>China doesn't want to beat America—it wants to make America irrelevant.
<
https://youtu.be/hpi5K16EX-8?si=Rrt-TQyt25oyhC3D
China doesn't want to beat America—it wants to make America irrelevant.<
In this deep dive, economist Keyu Jin reveals the three-layer strategy China is using to reshape global power: rewriting the rules, extending the timeline, and exhausting opponents. While the West focuses on "winning," China is playing a completely different game-one designed to make victory itself obsolete.
You'll discover:
• Why "Who will win?" is the wrong question • The invisible game happening beneath trade wars and military tensions • How the "exhaustion machine" works through military overstretch, economic fragmentation, alliance fatigue, and domestic polarization • Why this strategy might actually succeed-and what could stop it This isn't propaganda. It's strategic analysis you won't find in mainstream media. Whether you're anThis isn't propaganda. It's strategic analysis you won't find in mainstream media. Whether you're an investor, policy analyst, or just trying to understand the most important geopolitical shift of our time, this changes everything.
What's your take? Drop a comment below. And if this challenged your thinking, subscribe for weekly deep dives into the real forces shaping our world.
Disclaimer: This is an educational fan-made channel and is not affiliated with Keyu Jin or any individual. The images and voices you hear on this channel are generated using artificial intelligence (Al) for creative and entertainment purposes. This content is intended solely for educational and informational purposes. #ChinaStrategy, #USChinaRelations, #Geopolitics,<
http://take10charles.blogspot.com/2025/12/this-is-brilliant.html<
https://youtu.be/Nk4xmU1UE-k?si=lm-4Ms6PAKxzKIj9
https://youtu.be/hpi5K16EX-8?si=Rrt-TQyt25oyhC3D
China doesn't want to beat America—it wants to make America irrelevant.<
In this deep dive, economist Keyu Jin reveals the three-layer strategy China is using to reshape global power: rewriting the rules, extending the timeline, and exhausting opponents. While the West focuses on "winning," China is playing a completely different game-one designed to make victory itself obsolete.
You'll discover:
• Why "Who will win?" is the wrong question • The invisible game happening beneath trade wars and military tensions • How the "exhaustion machine" works through military overstretch, economic fragmentation, alliance fatigue, and domestic polarization • Why this strategy might actually succeed-and what could stop it This isn't propaganda. It's strategic analysis you won't find in mainstream media. Whether you're anThis isn't propaganda. It's strategic analysis you won't find in mainstream media. Whether you're an investor, policy analyst, or just trying to understand the most important geopolitical shift of our time, this changes everything.
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Disclaimer: This is an educational fan-made channel and is not affiliated with Keyu Jin or any individual. The images and voices you hear on this channel are generated using artificial intelligence (Al) for creative and entertainment purposes. This content is intended solely for educational and informational purposes. #ChinaStrategy, #USChinaRelations, #Geopolitics,<
http://take10charles.blogspot.com/2025/12/this-is-brilliant.html<
https://youtu.be/Nk4xmU1UE-k?si=lm-4Ms6PAKxzKIj9
a movement-building strategy for all workers
a movement-building strategy for all workers<
PETALUMA, CA - Farmworkers, domestic workers and their supporters marched to call for passage of the Registry Bill, which would allow undocumented people to gain legal immigration status. Beside the banner was Alfredo (Lelo) Juarez, a farmworker organizer from Washington State, who was later detained by immigration agents and imprisoned in the notorious Tacoma Detention Center.<
The night Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor of New York City he called his triumph "the victory of the Bangladeshi aunty who knocked on door after door until her feet throbbed and her knuckles ached. ... of the Gambian uncle who finally saw himself and his struggle in a campaign for the city that he calls home." Countering arguments that defending immigrants is an election loser, incompatible with fighting for jobs and living standards of all workers, Mamdani answered, "Dreaming demands solidarity ... A life of dignity should not be reserved for a fortunate few. ... We can be free and we can be fed."
"We can be fed" is a call, not just for municipal grocery stores, but for attacking the corporate domination that keeps workers hungry and angry. To win an election, he says, candidates have to defend workers' class interests. But he combines this with "We can be free," which means ending raids and detentions. But divided families also hear a call, and white workers with German or Italian surnames should remember it from Ellis Island more than a century ago. On Angel Island in the San Francisco Bay those held in detention by racist anti-Chinese restrictions heard it too. It was a call to bring families together here, in the U.S.
Mamdani's embrace of immigrants recognizes a basic reality. Modern migration is the product of the exploitation of immigrant-sending countries, and the wars that are both a legacy of colonialism and an effort to keep a neocolonial system in place. Enforced debt, low wages and resource extraction produce displacement and migration, but also make countries attractive to investors. They relocate production, taking advantage of the vast gulf created in the standard of living between the global south and the global north.
This system criminalizes all people who are displaced, migrants certainly, but also the unemployed and homeless who lose jobs in rich countries. Workers are pitted against each other, and political defenders of the system use this competition to keep them from changing it.
Militarism is the enforcer, whether ICE on the border and in immigrant communities, or armed intervention abroad and the threat of it. Immigrant workers suffer as a result, but so do workers in general. Huge budgets for ICE and "defense" soak up money for meeting social needs.
Immigrant communities and unions call instead for a freedom agenda, for family reunification and legal status for people already here, for labor rights for immigrant workers and ending mass detentions and deportations. Migrants who depend on work in the U.S. want to make legal migration possible, but without being forced into corporate guestworker visa programs. Those communities also seek political and social change at home, and an end to treaties like NAFTA, so that migration becomes voluntary, not a choice forced by hunger and poverty.
During the Cold War Chicano and Asian American communities endured the greatest wave of deportation in history (1.1 million in 1954) and the largest recruitment of braceros (450,000 in 1955). Because the left had been expelled from most U.S. unions as the Cold War began, the dominant rightwing ideology in many unions was hostility to immigrants. Eventually, that led to the support by the AFL-CIO for the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act.
That law included a limited legalization for some undocumented people, but it also included poison pills that provoked fierce opposition by a new wave of leftwing unionists and immigrant community activists. The law's worst feature, employer sanctions, made it a crime for an employer to hire a worker without papers, and for that person to work. The AFL-CIO then supported the bill, asserting that if undocumented immigrants couldn't legally work, they wouldn't come, and those here would leave.
Activists like Mike Garcia, became a national leader of the janitors' union, warned it would be used to make immigrant workers vulnerable to retaliation, and it did. When Garcia's union organized janitors cleaning buildings for Apple, Hewlett-Packard and other tech companies in the early 1990's many were fired. Similar examples multiplied. Making immigrant workers more vulnerable only made organizing harder. Workers' standard of living did not go up.
Labor opposition to the law grew and in many unions immigrant workers became organizers and officers. Finally in 1999, the AFL-CIO convention in Los Angeles called for repealing sanctions, for another immigration amnesty, and for ending guestworker programs. Many immigrant communities began looking at unions as defenders, and union organizing among immigrants mushroomed. And despite raids and firings under both Democratic and Republican administrations, the political alliance of immigrants with the communities around them has become an engine for social change.
In Los Angeles' civil rights upsurge of the 60s, the student and anti-war movements among Chicanos became a bedrock for workplace organizing. Many leaders from the left - from Bert Corona to Maria Elena Durazo - fought to get the labor movement to accept the growing movements of undocumented workers. Political change, they argued, comes through their alliance with African American and white workers.
When Governor Pete Wilson won his 1994 campaign on an extreme anti-immigrant platform the cost was high. Hundreds of thousands of immigrants became naturalized citizens, and with their native-born children they became voters. Non-citizen union members went door to door urging support for political candidates they couldn't vote for themselves, as they've done in every election since..
Their alliance was sometimes difficult, but together they transformed Los Angeles' city politics. The bastion of the open shop has become one of the country's most progressive city governments, with an African American mayor from the left and four DSA members on the city council.
The basic political dynamics underlying change in other California cities are similar. The most powerful union in San Francisco today is Unitehere Local 2, where a Chinese and Latino majority of hotel workers share power with smaller numbers of Black and white members. Their enemies today are the Silicon Valley billionaires like Peter Theil, who spend vast amounts of money on municipal elections. Many of the groups doing the fighting are based in immigrant communities, working in broad labor formations like Jobs with Justice that ally them with unions and workers across the board.
This is not a simple-minded argument that changing demographics is destiny. Immigrant radicalism has changed this country's politics throughout its history. And while California has always had a working class with a large percentage of immigrants, most states have a history of immigration as well. In the midwest and south similar alliances are becoming more important politically. The current raid regime is driving support for them, rather than the hostility and division Trump and Steven Miller hope for.
In Omaha, Nebraska, and many small meatpacking towns, the number of Mexican immigrants has increased substantially in the last three decades. ICE raided one company, Glen Valley Foods, earlier this year, and threatens to build the Cornhusker Clink, while the state is building its own detention center.
Last year Margo Juarez, born and brought up in Omaha, was elected to Nebraska's unicameral State Senate, its first Latina, representing the historic South Omaha barrio. After the Glen Valley raid she visited the detainees in detention, and emerged in tears after talking with women who had decided to self-deport to Mexico, leaving their U.S.-born children behind. She then made an unannounced attempt to inspect the Cornhusker Clink, and slammed Governor Jim PIllen and U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts for supporting ICE's raids.
Juarez is a Democrat, but in 2024 Dan Osborn, a strike leader who jettisoned the Democratic Party in 2024, almost beat Republican Deb Fischer for Senator as an Independent. Now he's running against Ricketts, attacking the corporate money behind him, but also appealing to anti-immigrant voters with an ad offering to help Trump build the border wall. Even in conservative Nebraska, however, the room for this kind of campaign is shrinking. In rural meatpacking towns immigrants are now sometimes the majority, and their children will soon be voters.
Meanwhile the UFCW has mounted organizing drives whose success depends on uniting meatpacking workers across the lines of race and nationality. Nebraska was once a stronghold of the CIO's radical Packinghouse Workers, and could rediscover its radical roots in a new era. Campaigning by telling immigrants that they are not part of Nebraska's working class, is a strategy that puts a progressive future in jeopardy, not one that brings it closer.
In rural North Carolina the same tables are turning. The huge Smithfield slaughterhouse in Tar Heel was organized a decade ago after a battle of almost two decades. That victory began to seem possible when immigrant Mexican workers stopped the lines and marched in one of the huge May Day rallies of 2006. African American workers, seeing their action, then shut the plant to demand a holiday for Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday. Many Mexicans were driven from the slaughterhouse in mass firings and raids, but that in-plant alliance and broad community support finally won a union contract.
This fall, when notorious Border Patrol head Greg Bovino terrorized Charlotte's streets with bands of militarized agents, community activists formed a broad network to monitor their movement, calling their immigrant-protective effort "bless your heart." As Alain Stephens of The Intercept recounted, when the Border Patrol moved into Appalachia, agents were met with organized hostility in Harlan County, famous in labor history for its militant coal strikes. In rural Boone, after they picked up workers at two Mexican restaurants, 150 local people held signs saying "Time to Melt the ICE!"
ICE has announced it will continue targeting Southern communities, with raids in Mississippi and Louisiana called Swamp Sweep, and in New Orleans, called Operation Catahoula Crunch. Here too they've met community opposition. Even in conservative areas the raid regime is closing the political space for campaign formulas attacking corporations and restricting immigration.
Bernie Sanders slammed the Democrats after the 2024 election, accusing them of abandoning the working class, and many workers know the sorry history. Bush negotiated NAFTA, but Clinton signed it. Obama campaigned on opposing NAFTA while telling Canada he had no intention of changing it. Nevertheless, Democratic Party centrists still argue that candidates in 2026 should attack Trump and corporate economic policies, but call for restrictions on immigration and more immigration enforcement.
This was the tactic used by Biden and Harris. Centrist Democrats and Republicans negotiated an immigration bill in 2023, and then campaigned against Trump from the right, attacking him for telling Republicans in Congress not to vote for it. That bill would have made it much harder to apply for asylum. It proposed $3 billion for adding more detention centers to the 200 existing ones run, for profit by private companies like the Geo Group (formerly the union-busting Wackenhut security company).
A recent NYT article by Christopher Flavelle, "How Biden Ignored Warnings and Lost Americans' Faith in Immigration," argues that these measures weren't anti-immigrant enough. The proposal responded to a media-driven frenzy (in which the NYT participated) that constantly referred to an immigration "crisis," that called the border "broken," and treated migrants as criminals. Political operatives in Washington then took polls, announcing that the public wanted draconian enforcement, and advised candidates that going against this tide would lead to election losses.
In the end, faced with a choice between Biden/Harris' and Trump's rhetoric demonizing migrants, many voters, workers included, opted for the real thing. The strategy cost the votes of large numbers of Latinos, Asian Americans and immigrant rights and labor activists. As a strategy for Democrats it was a bust, and demobilized the party when Trump used the hysteria to justify even greater immigration terror. Over half the people who voted for Trump cited immigration as their top issues, but only 3% of Harris voters did, according to a Navigator post-election survey.
Politically self-interested polls by media are a trap for progressives, because fighting for social change requires an organizer's methods. When unions start an organizing drive, they don't poll workers to find out if a majority supports the boss. Fear of the boss often affects the majority. The organizer's job is to help people lose that fear, find those workers who want to fight and build a majority organization to fight with.
Workers are constantly bombarded by false ideas about immigration and immigrants, that hold immigrants responsible for everything from poverty and lost jobs to crime. They then hear appeals to support anti-immigrant enforcement. Just as unions do in organizing drives, progressives have to fight on the terrain of ideas, telling the truth about the causes of migration, plant closures and poverty. To organize for political change, workers have to be convinced to support the rights and welfare of all working people, not just some.
NYC's election was not a poll. It was a radical education in what's possible, what workers really want and who the working class really is. It was an education about capitalism that workers need. As Education Director for the AFL-CIO, after John Sweeney dumped the cold warriors in 1995, Bill Fletcher tried to meet that need. He developed a program, Common Sense Economics, that unions could use to develop a deep understanding, and language for communicating it in the workplace.
Working class communities need a political education program. Instead, centrists would tell them there's not enough to go around, and to vote for politicians who will make sure they get their share, against other workers. But the future is with Steve Tesfagiorgis, who helped lead Teamsters Local 320 to a contract at the University of Minnesota. "There are more than 600 African immigrant workers at the University," he says. "Every one of us came to this country afraid. We were told to work hard and keep our heads down. Teamsters for a Democratic Union showed us we can fight back. No one is coming to save us. If we want respect, we need to fight for it ourselves."
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Migrant farmworkers, domestic workers and their supporters march through San Francisco's Mission District to call for passage of the Registry Bill, which would allow undocumented people to gain legal immigration status. The march was organized by the Northern California Coalition for Just Immigration Reform.
IN CAMPS, UNDER TREES AND EVICTED
Farmworkers and people living close to the line in Northern California
An exhibition of photographs by David Bacon
September 13 - December 15
Peter J. Shields Library, UC Davis First Floor 100 North West Quad, Davis, CA 95616 Shield Library Parking: UCD Parking Lot 10 EN CAMPAMENTOS, BAJO LOS ÁRBOLES Y DESALOJADOS
Trabajadores agrícolas y personas que viven cerca de la línea en el norte de California
Una exposición de fotografías de David Bacon
13 de septiembre - 15 de diciembre Biblioteca Peter J. Shields, UC Davis Primer piso 100 North West Quad, Davis, CA 95616
Estacionamiento de la Biblioteca Shield: Estacionamiento UCD Lote 10
"The Military Response to Sanctuary Cities and Immigrants' Right to Work Letters and Politics: Mitch Jeserich interviews David Bacon: KPFA, June 10, 2025 https://kpfa.org/episode/letters-and-politics-june-10-2025/
Immigrant Workers and the Recent History of Immigration Raids A presentation by David Bacon at the UCLA Latin American Institute, with photographs and transcript. 3/11/25 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FlsyWTBWs
David Bacon @photos4justice on the daily lives and ongoing struggles (both personal and political) of farmworkers - interview -Against the Grain with C.S. Soong
https://x.com/radioagainst/status/1848820503898710137
Pushing Forward: Organizing in a Post Trump Reelection US November 22, 2024 by A Public Affair https://www.wortfm.org/pushing-forward-organizing-in-a-post-trump-reelection-us/ On today’s two part show, Esty Dinur speaks with photojournalist David Bacon who has a long history of documenting and fighting for immigrant rights.
BOOKS - LIBROS
More Than a Wall / Mas que un muro El Colegio de la Frontera Norte https://david-bacon-photography.square.site/product/more-than-a-wall-mas-que-un-muro/1?cp=true&sa=true&sbp=false&q=false
In the Fields of the North / En los campos del norte University of California Press / Colegio de la Frontera Norte ucpress.edu/9780520296077 En Mexico: https://www.colef.mx The Right to Stay Home: How US Policy Drives Mexican Migration (Beacon Press, 2013) http://www.beacon.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=2328
El Derecho a Quedarse en Casa (Critica - Planeta de Libros) http://www.planetadelibros.com.mx/el-derecho-a-quedarse-en-casa-libro-205607.html
Illegal People -- How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants (Beacon Press, 2008) Recipient: C.L.R. James Award, best book of 2007-2008 http://www.beacon.org/Illegal-People-P780.aspx
Communities Without Borders (Cornell University/ILR Press, 2006) https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9780801473074/communities-without-borders/#bookTabs=1
The Children of NAFTA, Labor Wars on the U.S./Mexico Border (University of California, 2004) https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520244726/the-children-of-nafta
Hijos de Libre Comercio (El Viejo Topo) http://www.tienda.elviejotopo.com/prestashop/capitalismo/1080-hijos-del-libre-comercio-deslocalizaciones-y-precariedad-9788496356368.html WORK AND SOCIAL JUSTICE: The David Bacon Archive exhibition at Stanford Libraries https://exhibits.stanford.edu/bacon/browse For a catalog: (https://web.stanford.edu/dept/spec_coll/NonVendorPubOrderform2017.pdf) THE REALITY CHECK - David Bacon blog http://davidbaconrealitycheck.blogspot.com For more articles and images, see http://dbacon.igc.org and https://www.flickr.com/photos/56646659@N05/albums BROOKE ANDERSON PODCAST #8 That's How the Light Gets In 🔗 LISTEN: https://linktr.ee/thatshowthelightgetsinpodcast (or anywhere you get your podcasts) MAS QUE UN MURO Cinco Entrivistas sobre la exposicion en el Museo Nacional de las Culturas del Mundo, CDMX: Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eix0HEStpc Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO4IIBPs06U Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHtY-fgtsjs Part 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xm_MNrEX2Mw Part 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpwSuBbgAQs Pacific Media Workers Guild, CWA Local 39521, adopted a resolution supporting the Labor Call for a Ceasefire in Gaza: https://mediaworkers.org/guild-joins-calls-for-immediate-ceasefire-in-gaza/ WHEN WE SPOKE OUT AGAINST WAR Unearthing the history of protest against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan Photographs © by David Bacon https://www.flickr.com/photos/56646659@N05/52759801492/in/album-72177720306862427/ unsubscribe from this list Copyright © 2025 David Bacon Photographs and Stories, All rights reserved. you're on this list because of your interest in david bacon's photographs and stories Our mailing address is: David Bacon Photographs and Stories address on request Oakland, Ca 94601
PETALUMA, CA - Farmworkers, domestic workers and their supporters marched to call for passage of the Registry Bill, which would allow undocumented people to gain legal immigration status. Beside the banner was Alfredo (Lelo) Juarez, a farmworker organizer from Washington State, who was later detained by immigration agents and imprisoned in the notorious Tacoma Detention Center.<
The night Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor of New York City he called his triumph "the victory of the Bangladeshi aunty who knocked on door after door until her feet throbbed and her knuckles ached. ... of the Gambian uncle who finally saw himself and his struggle in a campaign for the city that he calls home." Countering arguments that defending immigrants is an election loser, incompatible with fighting for jobs and living standards of all workers, Mamdani answered, "Dreaming demands solidarity ... A life of dignity should not be reserved for a fortunate few. ... We can be free and we can be fed."
"We can be fed" is a call, not just for municipal grocery stores, but for attacking the corporate domination that keeps workers hungry and angry. To win an election, he says, candidates have to defend workers' class interests. But he combines this with "We can be free," which means ending raids and detentions. But divided families also hear a call, and white workers with German or Italian surnames should remember it from Ellis Island more than a century ago. On Angel Island in the San Francisco Bay those held in detention by racist anti-Chinese restrictions heard it too. It was a call to bring families together here, in the U.S.
Mamdani's embrace of immigrants recognizes a basic reality. Modern migration is the product of the exploitation of immigrant-sending countries, and the wars that are both a legacy of colonialism and an effort to keep a neocolonial system in place. Enforced debt, low wages and resource extraction produce displacement and migration, but also make countries attractive to investors. They relocate production, taking advantage of the vast gulf created in the standard of living between the global south and the global north.
This system criminalizes all people who are displaced, migrants certainly, but also the unemployed and homeless who lose jobs in rich countries. Workers are pitted against each other, and political defenders of the system use this competition to keep them from changing it.
Militarism is the enforcer, whether ICE on the border and in immigrant communities, or armed intervention abroad and the threat of it. Immigrant workers suffer as a result, but so do workers in general. Huge budgets for ICE and "defense" soak up money for meeting social needs.
Immigrant communities and unions call instead for a freedom agenda, for family reunification and legal status for people already here, for labor rights for immigrant workers and ending mass detentions and deportations. Migrants who depend on work in the U.S. want to make legal migration possible, but without being forced into corporate guestworker visa programs. Those communities also seek political and social change at home, and an end to treaties like NAFTA, so that migration becomes voluntary, not a choice forced by hunger and poverty.
During the Cold War Chicano and Asian American communities endured the greatest wave of deportation in history (1.1 million in 1954) and the largest recruitment of braceros (450,000 in 1955). Because the left had been expelled from most U.S. unions as the Cold War began, the dominant rightwing ideology in many unions was hostility to immigrants. Eventually, that led to the support by the AFL-CIO for the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act.
That law included a limited legalization for some undocumented people, but it also included poison pills that provoked fierce opposition by a new wave of leftwing unionists and immigrant community activists. The law's worst feature, employer sanctions, made it a crime for an employer to hire a worker without papers, and for that person to work. The AFL-CIO then supported the bill, asserting that if undocumented immigrants couldn't legally work, they wouldn't come, and those here would leave.
Activists like Mike Garcia, became a national leader of the janitors' union, warned it would be used to make immigrant workers vulnerable to retaliation, and it did. When Garcia's union organized janitors cleaning buildings for Apple, Hewlett-Packard and other tech companies in the early 1990's many were fired. Similar examples multiplied. Making immigrant workers more vulnerable only made organizing harder. Workers' standard of living did not go up.
Labor opposition to the law grew and in many unions immigrant workers became organizers and officers. Finally in 1999, the AFL-CIO convention in Los Angeles called for repealing sanctions, for another immigration amnesty, and for ending guestworker programs. Many immigrant communities began looking at unions as defenders, and union organizing among immigrants mushroomed. And despite raids and firings under both Democratic and Republican administrations, the political alliance of immigrants with the communities around them has become an engine for social change.
In Los Angeles' civil rights upsurge of the 60s, the student and anti-war movements among Chicanos became a bedrock for workplace organizing. Many leaders from the left - from Bert Corona to Maria Elena Durazo - fought to get the labor movement to accept the growing movements of undocumented workers. Political change, they argued, comes through their alliance with African American and white workers.
When Governor Pete Wilson won his 1994 campaign on an extreme anti-immigrant platform the cost was high. Hundreds of thousands of immigrants became naturalized citizens, and with their native-born children they became voters. Non-citizen union members went door to door urging support for political candidates they couldn't vote for themselves, as they've done in every election since..
Their alliance was sometimes difficult, but together they transformed Los Angeles' city politics. The bastion of the open shop has become one of the country's most progressive city governments, with an African American mayor from the left and four DSA members on the city council.
The basic political dynamics underlying change in other California cities are similar. The most powerful union in San Francisco today is Unitehere Local 2, where a Chinese and Latino majority of hotel workers share power with smaller numbers of Black and white members. Their enemies today are the Silicon Valley billionaires like Peter Theil, who spend vast amounts of money on municipal elections. Many of the groups doing the fighting are based in immigrant communities, working in broad labor formations like Jobs with Justice that ally them with unions and workers across the board.
This is not a simple-minded argument that changing demographics is destiny. Immigrant radicalism has changed this country's politics throughout its history. And while California has always had a working class with a large percentage of immigrants, most states have a history of immigration as well. In the midwest and south similar alliances are becoming more important politically. The current raid regime is driving support for them, rather than the hostility and division Trump and Steven Miller hope for.
In Omaha, Nebraska, and many small meatpacking towns, the number of Mexican immigrants has increased substantially in the last three decades. ICE raided one company, Glen Valley Foods, earlier this year, and threatens to build the Cornhusker Clink, while the state is building its own detention center.
Last year Margo Juarez, born and brought up in Omaha, was elected to Nebraska's unicameral State Senate, its first Latina, representing the historic South Omaha barrio. After the Glen Valley raid she visited the detainees in detention, and emerged in tears after talking with women who had decided to self-deport to Mexico, leaving their U.S.-born children behind. She then made an unannounced attempt to inspect the Cornhusker Clink, and slammed Governor Jim PIllen and U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts for supporting ICE's raids.
Juarez is a Democrat, but in 2024 Dan Osborn, a strike leader who jettisoned the Democratic Party in 2024, almost beat Republican Deb Fischer for Senator as an Independent. Now he's running against Ricketts, attacking the corporate money behind him, but also appealing to anti-immigrant voters with an ad offering to help Trump build the border wall. Even in conservative Nebraska, however, the room for this kind of campaign is shrinking. In rural meatpacking towns immigrants are now sometimes the majority, and their children will soon be voters.
Meanwhile the UFCW has mounted organizing drives whose success depends on uniting meatpacking workers across the lines of race and nationality. Nebraska was once a stronghold of the CIO's radical Packinghouse Workers, and could rediscover its radical roots in a new era. Campaigning by telling immigrants that they are not part of Nebraska's working class, is a strategy that puts a progressive future in jeopardy, not one that brings it closer.
In rural North Carolina the same tables are turning. The huge Smithfield slaughterhouse in Tar Heel was organized a decade ago after a battle of almost two decades. That victory began to seem possible when immigrant Mexican workers stopped the lines and marched in one of the huge May Day rallies of 2006. African American workers, seeing their action, then shut the plant to demand a holiday for Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday. Many Mexicans were driven from the slaughterhouse in mass firings and raids, but that in-plant alliance and broad community support finally won a union contract.
This fall, when notorious Border Patrol head Greg Bovino terrorized Charlotte's streets with bands of militarized agents, community activists formed a broad network to monitor their movement, calling their immigrant-protective effort "bless your heart." As Alain Stephens of The Intercept recounted, when the Border Patrol moved into Appalachia, agents were met with organized hostility in Harlan County, famous in labor history for its militant coal strikes. In rural Boone, after they picked up workers at two Mexican restaurants, 150 local people held signs saying "Time to Melt the ICE!"
ICE has announced it will continue targeting Southern communities, with raids in Mississippi and Louisiana called Swamp Sweep, and in New Orleans, called Operation Catahoula Crunch. Here too they've met community opposition. Even in conservative areas the raid regime is closing the political space for campaign formulas attacking corporations and restricting immigration.
Bernie Sanders slammed the Democrats after the 2024 election, accusing them of abandoning the working class, and many workers know the sorry history. Bush negotiated NAFTA, but Clinton signed it. Obama campaigned on opposing NAFTA while telling Canada he had no intention of changing it. Nevertheless, Democratic Party centrists still argue that candidates in 2026 should attack Trump and corporate economic policies, but call for restrictions on immigration and more immigration enforcement.
This was the tactic used by Biden and Harris. Centrist Democrats and Republicans negotiated an immigration bill in 2023, and then campaigned against Trump from the right, attacking him for telling Republicans in Congress not to vote for it. That bill would have made it much harder to apply for asylum. It proposed $3 billion for adding more detention centers to the 200 existing ones run, for profit by private companies like the Geo Group (formerly the union-busting Wackenhut security company).
A recent NYT article by Christopher Flavelle, "How Biden Ignored Warnings and Lost Americans' Faith in Immigration," argues that these measures weren't anti-immigrant enough. The proposal responded to a media-driven frenzy (in which the NYT participated) that constantly referred to an immigration "crisis," that called the border "broken," and treated migrants as criminals. Political operatives in Washington then took polls, announcing that the public wanted draconian enforcement, and advised candidates that going against this tide would lead to election losses.
In the end, faced with a choice between Biden/Harris' and Trump's rhetoric demonizing migrants, many voters, workers included, opted for the real thing. The strategy cost the votes of large numbers of Latinos, Asian Americans and immigrant rights and labor activists. As a strategy for Democrats it was a bust, and demobilized the party when Trump used the hysteria to justify even greater immigration terror. Over half the people who voted for Trump cited immigration as their top issues, but only 3% of Harris voters did, according to a Navigator post-election survey.
Politically self-interested polls by media are a trap for progressives, because fighting for social change requires an organizer's methods. When unions start an organizing drive, they don't poll workers to find out if a majority supports the boss. Fear of the boss often affects the majority. The organizer's job is to help people lose that fear, find those workers who want to fight and build a majority organization to fight with.
Workers are constantly bombarded by false ideas about immigration and immigrants, that hold immigrants responsible for everything from poverty and lost jobs to crime. They then hear appeals to support anti-immigrant enforcement. Just as unions do in organizing drives, progressives have to fight on the terrain of ideas, telling the truth about the causes of migration, plant closures and poverty. To organize for political change, workers have to be convinced to support the rights and welfare of all working people, not just some.
NYC's election was not a poll. It was a radical education in what's possible, what workers really want and who the working class really is. It was an education about capitalism that workers need. As Education Director for the AFL-CIO, after John Sweeney dumped the cold warriors in 1995, Bill Fletcher tried to meet that need. He developed a program, Common Sense Economics, that unions could use to develop a deep understanding, and language for communicating it in the workplace.
Working class communities need a political education program. Instead, centrists would tell them there's not enough to go around, and to vote for politicians who will make sure they get their share, against other workers. But the future is with Steve Tesfagiorgis, who helped lead Teamsters Local 320 to a contract at the University of Minnesota. "There are more than 600 African immigrant workers at the University," he says. "Every one of us came to this country afraid. We were told to work hard and keep our heads down. Teamsters for a Democratic Union showed us we can fight back. No one is coming to save us. If we want respect, we need to fight for it ourselves."
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Migrant farmworkers, domestic workers and their supporters march through San Francisco's Mission District to call for passage of the Registry Bill, which would allow undocumented people to gain legal immigration status. The march was organized by the Northern California Coalition for Just Immigration Reform.
IN CAMPS, UNDER TREES AND EVICTED
Farmworkers and people living close to the line in Northern California
An exhibition of photographs by David Bacon
September 13 - December 15
Peter J. Shields Library, UC Davis First Floor 100 North West Quad, Davis, CA 95616 Shield Library Parking: UCD Parking Lot 10 EN CAMPAMENTOS, BAJO LOS ÁRBOLES Y DESALOJADOS
Trabajadores agrícolas y personas que viven cerca de la línea en el norte de California
Una exposición de fotografías de David Bacon
13 de septiembre - 15 de diciembre Biblioteca Peter J. Shields, UC Davis Primer piso 100 North West Quad, Davis, CA 95616
Estacionamiento de la Biblioteca Shield: Estacionamiento UCD Lote 10
"The Military Response to Sanctuary Cities and Immigrants' Right to Work Letters and Politics: Mitch Jeserich interviews David Bacon: KPFA, June 10, 2025 https://kpfa.org/episode/letters-and-politics-june-10-2025/
Immigrant Workers and the Recent History of Immigration Raids A presentation by David Bacon at the UCLA Latin American Institute, with photographs and transcript. 3/11/25 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FlsyWTBWs
David Bacon @photos4justice on the daily lives and ongoing struggles (both personal and political) of farmworkers - interview -Against the Grain with C.S. Soong
https://x.com/radioagainst/status/1848820503898710137
Pushing Forward: Organizing in a Post Trump Reelection US November 22, 2024 by A Public Affair https://www.wortfm.org/pushing-forward-organizing-in-a-post-trump-reelection-us/ On today’s two part show, Esty Dinur speaks with photojournalist David Bacon who has a long history of documenting and fighting for immigrant rights.
BOOKS - LIBROS
More Than a Wall / Mas que un muro El Colegio de la Frontera Norte https://david-bacon-photography.square.site/product/more-than-a-wall-mas-que-un-muro/1?cp=true&sa=true&sbp=false&q=false
In the Fields of the North / En los campos del norte University of California Press / Colegio de la Frontera Norte ucpress.edu/9780520296077 En Mexico: https://www.colef.mx The Right to Stay Home: How US Policy Drives Mexican Migration (Beacon Press, 2013) http://www.beacon.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=2328
El Derecho a Quedarse en Casa (Critica - Planeta de Libros) http://www.planetadelibros.com.mx/el-derecho-a-quedarse-en-casa-libro-205607.html
Illegal People -- How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants (Beacon Press, 2008) Recipient: C.L.R. James Award, best book of 2007-2008 http://www.beacon.org/Illegal-People-P780.aspx
Communities Without Borders (Cornell University/ILR Press, 2006) https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9780801473074/communities-without-borders/#bookTabs=1
The Children of NAFTA, Labor Wars on the U.S./Mexico Border (University of California, 2004) https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520244726/the-children-of-nafta
Hijos de Libre Comercio (El Viejo Topo) http://www.tienda.elviejotopo.com/prestashop/capitalismo/1080-hijos-del-libre-comercio-deslocalizaciones-y-precariedad-9788496356368.html WORK AND SOCIAL JUSTICE: The David Bacon Archive exhibition at Stanford Libraries https://exhibits.stanford.edu/bacon/browse For a catalog: (https://web.stanford.edu/dept/spec_coll/NonVendorPubOrderform2017.pdf) THE REALITY CHECK - David Bacon blog http://davidbaconrealitycheck.blogspot.com For more articles and images, see http://dbacon.igc.org and https://www.flickr.com/photos/56646659@N05/albums BROOKE ANDERSON PODCAST #8 That's How the Light Gets In 🔗 LISTEN: https://linktr.ee/thatshowthelightgetsinpodcast (or anywhere you get your podcasts) MAS QUE UN MURO Cinco Entrivistas sobre la exposicion en el Museo Nacional de las Culturas del Mundo, CDMX: Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eix0HEStpc Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO4IIBPs06U Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHtY-fgtsjs Part 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xm_MNrEX2Mw Part 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpwSuBbgAQs Pacific Media Workers Guild, CWA Local 39521, adopted a resolution supporting the Labor Call for a Ceasefire in Gaza: https://mediaworkers.org/guild-joins-calls-for-immediate-ceasefire-in-gaza/ WHEN WE SPOKE OUT AGAINST WAR Unearthing the history of protest against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan Photographs © by David Bacon https://www.flickr.com/photos/56646659@N05/52759801492/in/album-72177720306862427/ unsubscribe from this list Copyright © 2025 David Bacon Photographs and Stories, All rights reserved. you're on this list because of your interest in david bacon's photographs and stories Our mailing address is: David Bacon Photographs and Stories address on request Oakland, Ca 94601
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DSIEPKjDu0o/?igsh=MTUwMXloMnhoNmc3cg==<
Definitely Dr. Cress. Fear of loss of white majority population and wealth superiority in America underlies and determines some main Republican Party positions today ; and laws through American history. Republicans don’t want _white_ women to have abortions.. They don’t want _white_ people to be homosexual, because they’ll have less white children. Residential segregation is because they’re hoisted on their own petard of the “one -drop-rule .” Mixed matings add to the Colored populations. underlies opposition to Brown mass migration Oppose civil rights and affirmative action to appeal to white supremacy in the white working class , middle and lower . Historically 2nd Amendment was to arm white workers as police over enslaved Africans .
Definitely Dr. Cress. Fear of loss of white majority population and wealth superiority in America underlies and determines some main Republican Party positions today ; and laws through American history. Republicans don’t want _white_ women to have abortions.. They don’t want _white_ people to be homosexual, because they’ll have less white children. Residential segregation is because they’re hoisted on their own petard of the “one -drop-rule .” Mixed matings add to the Colored populations. underlies opposition to Brown mass migration Oppose civil rights and affirmative action to appeal to white supremacy in the white working class , middle and lower . Historically 2nd Amendment was to arm white workers as police over enslaved Africans .
Wednesday, December 24, 2025
More division in the Grand ole party; soon and very soon the party will be over.
The Republican Prez calls for Georgia GOP Gov.
Brian Kemp's arrest as he revives 2020 election fraud conspiracy<
More division in the Grand ole party; soon and very soon the party will be over. Delivered <
Nick Fuentes Lashes Out at JD Vance After Veep Went Ballistic Over Controversial Podcaster's Racist Remarks About Wife Usha — 'I Know They Literally Eat Cow S---'<
Trump loyalist turns on president Marisa Laudadio President Donald Trump’s newest AI-focused executive order claims America is “in a race with adversaries for supremacy within [AI]” and “to win, United States AI companies must be free to innovate without cumbersome regulation.” By: Doug Mills – Pool via CNP / MEGA One of Donald Trump’s most vocal longtime allies is publicly breaking with the president — and the fight is over artificial intelligence. The clash erupted after Trump recently signed a sweeping executive order aimed at stopping states from enforcing their own AI rules. The White House claims it’s necessary to keep the U.S. competitive. But former Trump strategist and advisor Steve Bannon isn’t buying it — and he’s accusing powerful tech insiders of steering Trump straight into political trouble. Bannon unloads Steve Bannon served as CEO of President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign before becoming White House chief strategist in Trump’s first administration. By: Ron Sachs – CNP / MEGA Bannon blasted the executive order as “entirely unenforceable,” framing Trump’s move as both legally shaky and politically dangerous. “After two humiliating face plants on must-[pass] legislation now we attempt an entirely unenforceable EO,” Bannon wrote on the social media platform GETTR, adding that “tech bros [are] doing upmost to turn POTUS MAGA base away from him while they line their pockets.” In a text message to Axios, Bannon went further, accusing venture capitalist David Sacks — who advises Trump on AI and cryptocurrency — of misleading the president. “David Sacks having face-planted twice on jamming AI Amnesty into must-pass legislation now completely misleads the president on preemption,” Bannon wrote.
More division in the Grand ole party; soon and very soon the party will be over. Delivered <
Nick Fuentes Lashes Out at JD Vance After Veep Went Ballistic Over Controversial Podcaster's Racist Remarks About Wife Usha — 'I Know They Literally Eat Cow S---'<
Trump loyalist turns on president Marisa Laudadio President Donald Trump’s newest AI-focused executive order claims America is “in a race with adversaries for supremacy within [AI]” and “to win, United States AI companies must be free to innovate without cumbersome regulation.” By: Doug Mills – Pool via CNP / MEGA One of Donald Trump’s most vocal longtime allies is publicly breaking with the president — and the fight is over artificial intelligence. The clash erupted after Trump recently signed a sweeping executive order aimed at stopping states from enforcing their own AI rules. The White House claims it’s necessary to keep the U.S. competitive. But former Trump strategist and advisor Steve Bannon isn’t buying it — and he’s accusing powerful tech insiders of steering Trump straight into political trouble. Bannon unloads Steve Bannon served as CEO of President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign before becoming White House chief strategist in Trump’s first administration. By: Ron Sachs – CNP / MEGA Bannon blasted the executive order as “entirely unenforceable,” framing Trump’s move as both legally shaky and politically dangerous. “After two humiliating face plants on must-[pass] legislation now we attempt an entirely unenforceable EO,” Bannon wrote on the social media platform GETTR, adding that “tech bros [are] doing upmost to turn POTUS MAGA base away from him while they line their pockets.” In a text message to Axios, Bannon went further, accusing venture capitalist David Sacks — who advises Trump on AI and cryptocurrency — of misleading the president. “David Sacks having face-planted twice on jamming AI Amnesty into must-pass legislation now completely misleads the president on preemption,” Bannon wrote.
Traore is a geologist Yes, Captain Ibrahim Traoré of Burkina Faso is a trained geologist; he earned a bachelor's degree in science and geology from the University of Ouagadougou in 2009 before joining the military, and his geology background is often mentioned alongside his military career and political leadership. Education: He graduated with a bachelor's in science and geology from the University of Ouagadougou in 2009. Military & Leadership: After university, he joined the armed forces, serving in peacekeeping missions and eventually leading a coup to become the interim president,
Burkino Faso Drilled 1,000 Meters for Water... And Changed a Nation!
Dec20 2025
Imagine a country where children walked miles under a scorching sun just to fetch a single drop of water. Burkina Faso faced decades of drought, failing wells, and collapsing dams, leaving millions struggling to survive. But in 2025, everything changed. President Ibrahim Traoré launched an unprecedented water project: ultra-deep we... more
struggling to survive. But in 2025, everything changed. President Ibrahim Traoré launched an unprecedented water project: ultra-deep wells reaching nearly 1,000 meters, powered by solar energy and protected by local communities. This is not just about water-it's about dignity, self-reliance, and hope. Villages now thrive, girls attend school, crops flourish, and communities rebuild. This is a story of courage, innovation, and a nation refusing to beg. Watch till the end to see how Burkina Faso transformed its future with one bold vision. Don't forget to like, share, and subscribe for more inspiring stories from Africa and beyond! ~
Traore knows as it has been proven by cutting edge science and top geologists a , there is actually more freshwater underneath the surface of the Earth, than in all the rivers and lakes above the Earth. This is a man who is guided by ancient wisdom. B2 @nusratakhtarhashmi • 12h ago GOOD LUCK PRESIDENT TROUYE YOU WERE SENT FOR A PURPOSE THE SON OF AFRICA ALL WAS THERE BUT HIDDEN YOU HELPED YOUR COUNTRY TO FIND IT ALL I PRAY<
https://youtu.be/yqXJsr-QlPc?si=7eZP-JLbkhGcC1y6<
struggling to survive. But in 2025, everything changed. President Ibrahim Traoré launched an unprecedented water project: ultra-deep wells reaching nearly 1,000 meters, powered by solar energy and protected by local communities. This is not just about water-it's about dignity, self-reliance, and hope. Villages now thrive, girls attend school, crops flourish, and communities rebuild. This is a story of courage, innovation, and a nation refusing to beg. Watch till the end to see how Burkina Faso transformed its future with one bold vision. Don't forget to like, share, and subscribe for more inspiring stories from Africa and beyond! ~
Traore knows as it has been proven by cutting edge science and top geologists a , there is actually more freshwater underneath the surface of the Earth, than in all the rivers and lakes above the Earth. This is a man who is guided by ancient wisdom. B2 @nusratakhtarhashmi • 12h ago GOOD LUCK PRESIDENT TROUYE YOU WERE SENT FOR A PURPOSE THE SON OF AFRICA ALL WAS THERE BUT HIDDEN YOU HELPED YOUR COUNTRY TO FIND IT ALL I PRAY<
https://youtu.be/yqXJsr-QlPc?si=7eZP-JLbkhGcC1y6<
I think implicit cognition ( intuition ) process -motion occurs in your unconscious. Then it presents just its conclusion to your conscious. It present to your conscious as words , a voice only you can hear .
An explicit cognition ( logic) process - motion occurs in brain neurons of the conscious. It is also words that only you can hear .
Unconscious is all memories, records of perceptions from the past .
Perceptions cause recall of memories very rapidly, memories of past perceptions of the same type as the current perception , thus immediate perceptions are familiar, not strange . We have continuous de ja vu , actually. <
Intuition is part of the scientific method . An intuition becomes a hypothesis to be tested in practice to see if it is true . Darwin got an intuition of natural selection. He formed a hypothesis. It was then tested by Darwin and others in objective reality, proven true and became a Natural Law . <
It’s important to demystify intuition. It’s not mysterious. It’s logical. It comes from experiences recorded in memory in the unconscious wherein the memories in words go through a logical process unconsciously. Then the conclusion is presented to the conscious by the unconscious as a finished product. Everybody has it . <
I bet if you think about it you think logically more than intuitively. Much of logical thinking is trivial and “automatic “, spontaneous. When you cook , the order of combining ingredients is logical not intuitive. When you go to work or anywhere, the route you take is according to a logical sequence not intuition ; on and on . Vast majority of your thinking through the day follows logical algorithms, not sudden insights as to what to do. When you write , most of what you say is logical not intuitive. Same with when you talk . <
I’d say all these are more consciously logical than intuitive: “Things like yoga, being in nature, meditation and basically doing anything that includes "raising your vibration" aka doing things to improve psychological and physiological well-being like facing your shadows and bringing them to the light, observing your subconscious mind, finding the path to love, and basically doing anything that makes your spirit or mind feel lighter and more connected to love and truth. “ Doing yoga is logical , not intuitive. All the above follow logical steps , not sudden insights. All the above you write is logical , not intuitive thinking. <
When you think and write about your personal history and relationships you are being mostly logical , not intuitive.<
Also, intuitional thinking that apprehends truth is logical ; the logical processes goes on in your unconscious. Intuitions are only valuable if they are checked logically to be logical ; checked after they first occur to you. <
I thought of an “evolution “ of my model of the conscious and unconscious . Much perception - seeing , hearing , etc.- is seemingly done directly by the unconscious. Before I was thinking all perception is done by the conscious and then passed to the unconscious to be recorded as memory and to cause recall of memories of the type of thing being perceived. But it would seem that perceptions are immediately apprehended by the unconscious. Reflexive thinking ( as mentioned above) is caused/triggered by perceptions immediately apprehended by the unconscious. <
Basically, and your discussion of your life struggles would seem to confirm this , unfortunately we live in a hyper competitive society , so you cannot trust most people with your most sensitive thoughts . So, you cloth publicized thoughts in pseudonyms, in fiction or the puzzling language of typical poetry. That’s what should predominate in your blog . Basically you should write a bit mysteriously for much of what you write to the Crowd , because the Crowd is largely a Mob , sadly .
Yes you are right. unfortunately, you're right. Thank you for saying this because I needed it put to words by someone else not just in my own mind in a way and means even more to have you say it because I know you can see how I work and how the world works. I can see your wisdom. Just as you told me I was wise to think of writing my life story in science fiction/ fantasy genre that way the things it's saying can actually have the purpose it was meant for.
Intuition is part of the scientific method . An intuition becomes a hypothesis to be tested in practice to see if it is true . Darwin got an intuition of natural selection. He formed a hypothesis. It was then tested by Darwin and others in objective reality, proven true and became a Natural Law . <
It’s important to demystify intuition. It’s not mysterious. It’s logical. It comes from experiences recorded in memory in the unconscious wherein the memories in words go through a logical process unconsciously. Then the conclusion is presented to the conscious by the unconscious as a finished product. Everybody has it . <
I bet if you think about it you think logically more than intuitively. Much of logical thinking is trivial and “automatic “, spontaneous. When you cook , the order of combining ingredients is logical not intuitive. When you go to work or anywhere, the route you take is according to a logical sequence not intuition ; on and on . Vast majority of your thinking through the day follows logical algorithms, not sudden insights as to what to do. When you write , most of what you say is logical not intuitive. Same with when you talk . <
I’d say all these are more consciously logical than intuitive: “Things like yoga, being in nature, meditation and basically doing anything that includes "raising your vibration" aka doing things to improve psychological and physiological well-being like facing your shadows and bringing them to the light, observing your subconscious mind, finding the path to love, and basically doing anything that makes your spirit or mind feel lighter and more connected to love and truth. “ Doing yoga is logical , not intuitive. All the above follow logical steps , not sudden insights. All the above you write is logical , not intuitive thinking. <
When you think and write about your personal history and relationships you are being mostly logical , not intuitive.<
Also, intuitional thinking that apprehends truth is logical ; the logical processes goes on in your unconscious. Intuitions are only valuable if they are checked logically to be logical ; checked after they first occur to you. <
I thought of an “evolution “ of my model of the conscious and unconscious . Much perception - seeing , hearing , etc.- is seemingly done directly by the unconscious. Before I was thinking all perception is done by the conscious and then passed to the unconscious to be recorded as memory and to cause recall of memories of the type of thing being perceived. But it would seem that perceptions are immediately apprehended by the unconscious. Reflexive thinking ( as mentioned above) is caused/triggered by perceptions immediately apprehended by the unconscious. <
Basically, and your discussion of your life struggles would seem to confirm this , unfortunately we live in a hyper competitive society , so you cannot trust most people with your most sensitive thoughts . So, you cloth publicized thoughts in pseudonyms, in fiction or the puzzling language of typical poetry. That’s what should predominate in your blog . Basically you should write a bit mysteriously for much of what you write to the Crowd , because the Crowd is largely a Mob , sadly .
Yes you are right. unfortunately, you're right. Thank you for saying this because I needed it put to words by someone else not just in my own mind in a way and means even more to have you say it because I know you can see how I work and how the world works. I can see your wisdom. Just as you told me I was wise to think of writing my life story in science fiction/ fantasy genre that way the things it's saying can actually have the purpose it was meant for.
https://l.smartnews.com/p-6PUgIqWd/f3mvtN<
https://www.techexplorist.com/brain-secret-languages-shape-learning/100627/
The Brain's Secret Languages, and How They Shape Learning Neuroscientists tune in to the brain's hidden learning channels. Published: August 12, 2025 → Updated: August 12, 2025 By Amit<
You're learning a new dance move. At first, it's awkward, your feet go left when they should go right. But after a few tries... boom! You nailed it. Or maybe you're practicing a piano tune. The first time? Clumsy fingers. But after some repetition, your hands glide like magic.
Even tying your shoes was once a mystery. Now? You do it without thinking.<
So what's happening inside your brain? Let's meet your brain's "practice coach": The Basal Ganglia, an exceptional team of brain areas that help you learn and repeat movements until they become automatic. The basal ganglia are all about movement mastery, especially things you learn through practice.<
Deep in the midbrain, tucked below the cerebral cortex, the basal ganglia is your brain's backstage crew for motor control, reward, and emotion. It is also where some famous movement disorders, such as Parkinson's Disease, Huntington's Disease, and Tourette Syndrome, begin.
The big question is: Does the basal ganglia control all movements or just the ones we
https://www.techexplorist.com/brain-secret-languages-shape-learning/100627/
The Brain's Secret Languages, and How They Shape Learning Neuroscientists tune in to the brain's hidden learning channels. Published: August 12, 2025 → Updated: August 12, 2025 By Amit<
You're learning a new dance move. At first, it's awkward, your feet go left when they should go right. But after a few tries... boom! You nailed it. Or maybe you're practicing a piano tune. The first time? Clumsy fingers. But after some repetition, your hands glide like magic.
Even tying your shoes was once a mystery. Now? You do it without thinking.<
So what's happening inside your brain? Let's meet your brain's "practice coach": The Basal Ganglia, an exceptional team of brain areas that help you learn and repeat movements until they become automatic. The basal ganglia are all about movement mastery, especially things you learn through practice.<
Deep in the midbrain, tucked below the cerebral cortex, the basal ganglia is your brain's backstage crew for motor control, reward, and emotion. It is also where some famous movement disorders, such as Parkinson's Disease, Huntington's Disease, and Tourette Syndrome, begin.
The big question is: Does the basal ganglia control all movements or just the ones we
Tuesday, December 23, 2025
Jung’s Collective Unconscious is a People’s Customs/Culture/Symbolic Legacy . It is made conscious in language and all symbolic communication <
It is learned , not genetic . <
It is material ; in the brain neurons as Memory. It is Spirit, Soul - material spirit/soul in the form of words. Words are material . <
http://take10charles.blogspot.com/2026/01/us-has-cult-of-individuals-us-has-cult.html
It is learned , not genetic . <
It is material ; in the brain neurons as Memory. It is Spirit, Soul - material spirit/soul in the form of words. Words are material . <
http://take10charles.blogspot.com/2026/01/us-has-cult-of-individuals-us-has-cult.html
On Free Will vs Determinism , your philosophy as I’ve heard you pronounce it often is you want Freedom ; freedom to think for yourself in making yourself
So, you , _________ , don’t want to be limited in your destiny by a configuration of stars and planets on the day of your birth , lacking the Self-determining potential ; you would be forever without Freedom, Free Will ; you’re not Astro-body -determined. You are becoming more and more self-determining. <
Same limitation on you if you’re destined to live a reincarnated life . If you are reincarnated, your Free will is seriously not free. 🆓 <
http://take10charles.blogspot.com/2026/01/us-has-cult-of-individuals-us-has-cult.html
Same limitation on you if you’re destined to live a reincarnated life . If you are reincarnated, your Free will is seriously not free. 🆓 <
http://take10charles.blogspot.com/2026/01/us-has-cult-of-individuals-us-has-cult.html
Monday, December 22, 2025
Not in Our Genes : From the Ruling Class
Not in Our Genes (1984) by Lewontin, Rose, & Kamin offers a Marxist critique of biological determinism, arguing science is influenced by ideology (capitalism/New Right) to justify social inequality, not purely objective fact, focusing on IQ, sex, and mental health, advocating for holistic understanding and socialist change over reductionist genetics. ®<
Here's a chapter-by-chapter outline based on its themes: Part 1: The Rise of Determinism<
themes: Part 1: The Rise of Determinism • Chapters 1-3 (Introduction & History): Explore the historical emergence and political context of biological determinism (e.g., 1Q tests, sociobiology) and its role in justifying social hierarchies (class, race, gender).
• Chapters 4-7 (Case Studies): Apply this critique to specific areas, showing how science has been twisted to support existing power structures, examining IQ, sex differences, mental illness, and unrest through a deterministic lens. &
Part 2: Critiquing Reductionism
• Chapter 8 (Critique of Sociobiology): A direct attack on sociobiology (e.g., E.O. Wilson's ideas), arguing it's reductionist and ignores social factors.
• Chapter 9 (The Fallacy of Reductionism): Deconstructs the idea that complex human
Part 2: Critiquing Reductionism • Chapter 8 (Critique of Sociobiology): A direct attack on sociobiology (e.g., E.O. Wilson's ideas), arguing it's reductionist and ignores social factors. • Chapter 9 (The Fallacy of Reductionism): Deconstructs the idea that complex human behaviors can be reduced to simple biological causes, emphasizing the interaction of genes, environment, and society. o
Part 3: A Holistic Alternative • Chapter 10 (Conclusion & Socialist Solution): Proposes a holistic, dialectical approach to human sciences, linking scientific understanding to the political goal of creating a more equitable, socialist society, challenging the status quo. ®
Key Takeaways: • Biology vs. Society: Science is never value-free; biology and society constantly interact. Ask anything Q what is an outline of Not in Our Genes Key Takeaways: • Biology vs. Society: Science is never value-free; biology and society constantly interact. • Political Function of Science: Science often serves dominant ideologies (like capitalism) to maintain power. • Rejection of Genetic Determinism: Genes aren't destiny; human behavior is shaped by complex forces, not just DNA. • Call for Change: A critique of determinism is linked to a call for social justice and a socialist future. @ Book Review: Not in Our Genes - Anthrop 365 Jun 7, 2018 - Not in Our Genes explores the biopolitics of doing... anthropology365.com NOT IN OUR GENES BIOLOGY, IDEOLOCT, AND HUMAN NATURE N NC an R.C. LEWONTIN T CUSTEVEN
Here's a chapter-by-chapter outline based on its themes: Part 1: The Rise of Determinism<
themes: Part 1: The Rise of Determinism • Chapters 1-3 (Introduction & History): Explore the historical emergence and political context of biological determinism (e.g., 1Q tests, sociobiology) and its role in justifying social hierarchies (class, race, gender).
• Chapters 4-7 (Case Studies): Apply this critique to specific areas, showing how science has been twisted to support existing power structures, examining IQ, sex differences, mental illness, and unrest through a deterministic lens. &
Part 2: Critiquing Reductionism
• Chapter 8 (Critique of Sociobiology): A direct attack on sociobiology (e.g., E.O. Wilson's ideas), arguing it's reductionist and ignores social factors.
• Chapter 9 (The Fallacy of Reductionism): Deconstructs the idea that complex human
Part 2: Critiquing Reductionism • Chapter 8 (Critique of Sociobiology): A direct attack on sociobiology (e.g., E.O. Wilson's ideas), arguing it's reductionist and ignores social factors. • Chapter 9 (The Fallacy of Reductionism): Deconstructs the idea that complex human behaviors can be reduced to simple biological causes, emphasizing the interaction of genes, environment, and society. o
Part 3: A Holistic Alternative • Chapter 10 (Conclusion & Socialist Solution): Proposes a holistic, dialectical approach to human sciences, linking scientific understanding to the political goal of creating a more equitable, socialist society, challenging the status quo. ®
Key Takeaways: • Biology vs. Society: Science is never value-free; biology and society constantly interact. Ask anything Q what is an outline of Not in Our Genes Key Takeaways: • Biology vs. Society: Science is never value-free; biology and society constantly interact. • Political Function of Science: Science often serves dominant ideologies (like capitalism) to maintain power. • Rejection of Genetic Determinism: Genes aren't destiny; human behavior is shaped by complex forces, not just DNA. • Call for Change: A critique of determinism is linked to a call for social justice and a socialist future. @ Book Review: Not in Our Genes - Anthrop 365 Jun 7, 2018 - Not in Our Genes explores the biopolitics of doing... anthropology365.com NOT IN OUR GENES BIOLOGY, IDEOLOCT, AND HUMAN NATURE N NC an R.C. LEWONTIN T CUSTEVEN
Sunday, December 21, 2025
I’m Professor Charles Brown . This is anthropology 201, Urban Life and Culture ( CRN 63361).
<
Syllabus
Text : _Cities and Urban Life_ by Macionis and Parrillo. The text has several good characteristics. It has a number of different ways of looking at cities, giving all the main sociological theories , much data , facts , empirical evidence. It gives history and comparison of cities, the “roots and composition “; this is a scientific approach. Implicitly, cities are contrasted with the country , with rural areas , although there is little discussion and analysis of rural , sparsely populated areas . The discussion of populations moving to cities implies that people are coming to the cities from rural areas.
Aim and purpose of class
I presume all students live in Metro Detroit . My idealistic hope is that the class will teach some things about urban Southeast Michigan that will enhance and improve your daily life as a citizen and resident ! at home ,work, play , school . Perhaps it will develop your interest as a citizen, your civic engagement , your understanding of government and business by giving a bigger picture of your city , county and state . Maybe it will perk your intellectual- academic interest in the sociology-anthropology of cities and suburbs , even .
My urban biography
I have lived my whole life in cities ; never lived in the country and only visited rural areas briefly .
The text on page 21 , question 3 says “Why do the authors suggest that we must not simply analyze statistics , but must also “go and visit to the city if we are to fully comprehend urban life ? “ This seems to imply that the authors don’t live in the city , because they “visit” cities. Perhaps they are in small college towns , classical academic, “ivory towers.” Myself , and I expect everyone here , either lives in the Detroit metropolitan area , so we do more than visit, but witness city life daily . At any rate , we do the observation of city life that visits do , but even more than visitors. So, we can fulfill the authors’ suggestion that we observe directly, anecdotally urban life.
I was born in Philadelphia, lived in Washington, DC, was moved by my parents to Detroit in 1953 at the age 3, East Lansing , Michigan; back to Detroit ;high school in Philadelphia area ; college in Ann Arbor ; work in New Haven , Connecticut ; back to Detroit , where I have lived since 1984.
I did legal reasesrch for land recovery work for the Yurok Native Americans on a very rural reservstion in Northwest California for a few weeks in 1979.
I’ve also visited family often and lived for a summer in New York City . I visited Chicago often, Los Angeles a couple of times , San Francisco , Milwaukee, Cleveland, Atlanta, , Boston; Montreal, Paris, Rome, Switzerland, Madrid , Barcelona, London , Mexico City , Moscow and others . Flint and Lansing and most of Metro Detroit .
My main life career has been as an attorney for Detroit City Council. I’m retired from that now after about 25 years . However , my knowledge about cities and urban life comes especially from that career. In this class , I will be integrating my knowledge about the City of Detroit, County of Wayne and State of Michigan with the knowledge from the text.
( copy City Council journal table of contents).
I also worked as a Legal Services Attorney for the Low-Incomed . This gives me an understanding of urban poverty and economic struggles .
I’m an athlete and sports fan , so I’m familiar with recreation in baseball, basketball, football, hockey in urban life. Also , popular music and dance , concerts and karaoke. I visit the museums and parks , including Belle Isle .
A non- graded assignment for the class is for students to write their own residential and visiting biography .
Test # 1 - take home test - due in 3 weeks - Thursday, June 9.
Questions 1) page 1 of text :
1.2 “ Examine (Describe ) the four criteria for defining an urban area”
1.3 “Investigate ( Describe) the factors that lead to urban growth and development.”
1.5 “Enumerate the recent population percentage change of the 30 largest U.S. cities “ as reported in the text chapter 1. Note Detroit as a outlier with big population loss . Why has Detroit lost population in recent decades
Questions 2) page 53 of text :
3.3 Recount historical events that led to growth development and then shrinking of Detroit
3.5 Evaluate the development of the megalopol
Questions 3) page 85 of text 4.1 Differentiate sprawl from other forms of urban growth. Does Metro Detroit have sprawl ?
4.2 Discuss how growth in population and land development are complementary to each other .
Overlap of Anthropology and Sociology social scientific disciplines
This is an anthropology class. Anthropology is the science of human beings in all times and places including , theoretically , human life in modern capitalist cities . Sociology ( defined below) is also the science of human beings , overlapping anthropology’s subject matter . The text book is written by sociologists.
Wikipedia defines Sociology as follows : “ Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life.[1][2][3] It uses various methods of empirical investigationand critical analysis[4]: 3–5 to develop a body of knowledge about social order and social change.[4]: 32–40 While some sociologists conduct research that may be applied directly to social policy and welfare, others focus primarily on refining the theoretical understanding of social processes and phenomenological method. Subject matter can range from micro-level analyses of society (i.e. of individual interaction and agency) to macro-level analyses (i.e. of systems and the social structure).[5] Traditional focuses of sociology include social stratification, social class, social mobility, religion, secularization, law, sexuality, gender, and deviance. As all spheres of human activity are affected by the interplay between social structure and individual agency, sociology has gradually expanded its focus to other subjects and institutions, such as health and the institution of medicine; economy; military; punishment and systems of control; the Internet; education; social capital; and the role of social activity in the development of scientific knowledge. The range of social scientific methods has also expanded, as social researchers draw upon a variety of qualitative and quantitative techniques. The linguistic and cultural turns of the mid-20th century, especially, have led to increasingly interpretative, hermeneutic, and philosophicalapproaches towards the analysis of society. Conversely, the turn of the 21st century has seen the rise of new analytically, mathematically, and computationally rigorous techniques, such as agent-based modelling and social networkanalysis.[6][7] Social research has influence throughout various industries and sectors of life, such as among politicians, policy makers, and legislators; educators; planners; administrators; developers; business magnates and managers; social workers; non-governmental organizations; and non-profit organizations, as well as individuals interested in resolving social issues in general. As such, there is often a great deal of crossover between social research, market research, and other statistical fields.[8]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociology Anthropology is the study of human beings in all times and place; study that is historical , systematic and objective, that is to say scientific, based on logical consideration and testing of material evidence, and natural theories ;from 100's of thousands of years ago to the present; from Detroit tothe other ends of the Earth. This is in contrast with understanding humansbased on whims, superstition, untested intuition , uncritical faith or unquestioned authority or supernatural beings. It is an understanding of human societies and individuals biologically and historically, that is as they have changed and developed ,evolved ,over time and many generations of individual selves. It seeks to be truly holistic in approach and scope , looking for the _whole_ truth, nothing but the truth. It welcomes contributions to its understanding of people from all the other academic disciplines, natural sciences, social sciences and humanities. It even considers respectfully and sympathetically systems of thought and belief from cultures very different than our own. In fact , learning the culture or customs, beliefs , ideas, religions of foreign and other peoples is the original focus of anthropology in contrast to sociology, psychology and history , the other social sciences , and literature and the arts, which focus on Western and European society's ways of being. Many anthropologists today study American and European culture, with applied anthropology to practical problems "at home" a major section of the discipline today.
There is a sense in which sociology is the anthropology of capitalist societies .
Anthropology's special contribution to scientific understanding of humanity is the concept of _culture_, or the symbolic nature of human communication and social organization . Culture is behavior ruled by a mental system of shared customs, traditions, values, ideas and material products of a particular group of people. Culture and language , or symbolic communication , are unique and exclusive characteristics of human beings, the species Homo sapiens . No other animal species has them, despite the exaggerated claims of some primatologists for chimps and gorillas. Culture and language provided the human species with an enormous adaptive and Darwinian selective advantage in the hundreds of thousands of years that the human species came to be and inhabit the whole globe, again to a greater extent than any other animal species. This is because it made humans extremely socially interconnected both with living other humans so that human labor and methods of physical survival are very _social_, not individualistic; and perhaps more importantly, socially connected to dead generations of the species through , again, language and culture, as in ancestor "worship" ,myths, legends, stories, customs, historical accounts of past generations' experiences.
Text title is _Cities and Urban Life_ What is Life ? What is a city ? What is urban ?
Life here is , of course human life . Anthropology uses its unique concepts of _culture_ and language to define human life . Only humans have culture and language . Language is _symbolic _communication. Only we humans have symbolic communication or language or words . Culture is _behavior_ , activity , doing things guided by symbolic rules, pursuing values and ideals that are articulated in words .
For purposes of this class please think of a city as _human behavior or culture_ .
What is a city ? It is people doing things ; trillions of human acts in pursuit of their physical survival / self-preservation - getting enough to eat , enough sleep , air to breath , etc. , avoiding injury - and their cultural values and ideals ; acting to reproduce a next generation . A city is essentially human _activity_. Think of Buildings , roads , parks, commodities, goods , things _as products of human behavior-labor_ , in the present and from the past , from history .
Wikipedia defines “city “ as follows: “A city is a large human settlement.[1][2][a] It can be defined as a permanent and densely settled place with administratively defined boundaries whose members work primarily on non-agricultural tasks.[3] Cities generally have extensive systems for housing, transportation, sanitation, utilities, land use, production of goods, and communication. Their density facilitates interaction between people, government organisations and businesses, sometimes benefiting different parties in the process, such as improving efficiency of goods and service distribution. Historically, city-dwellers have been a small proportion of humanity overall, but following two centuries of unprecedented and rapid urbanization, more than half of the world population now lives in cities, which has had profound consequences for global sustainability.[4][5] Present-day cities usually form the core of larger metropolitan areas and urban areas—creating numerous commuters traveling towards city centres for employment, entertainment, and education. However, in a world of intensifying globalization, all cities are to varying degrees also connected globally beyond these regions. This increased influence means that cities also have significant influences on global issues, such as sustainable development, global warming, and global health. Because of these major influences on global issues, the international community has prioritized investment in sustainable citiesthrough Sustainable Development Goal 11. Due to the efficiency of transportation and the smaller land consumption, dense cities hold the potential to have a smaller ecological footprint per inhabitant than more sparsely populated areas.[6]Therefore, compact cities are often referred to as a crucial element of fighting climate change.[7]However, this concentration can also have significant negative consequences, such as forming urban heat islands, concentrating pollution, and stressing water supplies and other resources.
Other important traits of cities besides population include the capital status and relative continued occupation of the city. For example, country capitals such as Beijing, London, Mexico City, Moscow, Nairobi, New Delhi, Paris, Rome, Athens, Seoul, Singapore, Tokyo, Manila, and Washington, D.C. reflect the identity and apex of their respective nations.[8] Some historic capitals, such as Kyoto and Xi'an, maintain their reflection of cultural identity even without modern capital status. Religious holy sites offer another example of capital status within a religion, Jerusalem, Mecca, Varanasi, Ayodhya, Haridwar and Allahabad each hold significance.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City Wikipedia definition of “urban “ ( as opposed to "rural"; see definition of rural below ):
An urban area, or built-up area, is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs. In urbanism, the term contrasts to rural areas such as villages and hamlets; in urban sociology or urban anthropology it contrasts with natural environment. The creation of early predecessors of urban areas during the urban revolution led to the creation of human civilization with modern urban planning, which along with other human activities such as exploitation of natural resources led to a human impact on the environment. "Agglomeration effects" are in the list of the main consequences of increased rates of firm creation since. This is due to conditions created by a greater level of industrial activity in a given region. However, a favorable environment for human capital development would also be generated simultaneously.[1]
Greater Tokyo Area , Japan, the world's most populated urban area, with about 38 million inhabitants
The world's urban population in 1950 of just 746 million has increased to 3.9 billion in the decades since.[2] In 2009, the number of people living in urban areas (3.42 billion) surpassed the number living in rural areas (3.41 billion), and since then the world has become more urban than rural.[3]This was the first time that the majority of the world's population lived in a city.[4] In 2014 there were 7.3 billion people living on the planet,[5] of which the global urban population comprised 3.9 billion. The Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs at that time predicted the urban population would occupy 68% of the world population by 2050, with 90% of that growth coming from Africa and Asia.[6] Geographer Antonio Rangel is amongst the best researchers in this area.
The UN publishes data on cities, urban areas and rural areas, but relies almost entirely on national definitions of these areas. The UN principles and recommendations state that due to different characteristics of urban and rural areas across the globe, a global definition is not possible.[7] Urban areas are created and further developed by the process of urbanization. Urban areas are measured for various purposes, including analyzing population density and urban sprawl.
Unlike an urban area, a metropolitan areaincludes not only the urban area, but also satellite cities plus intervening rural land that is socio-economically connected to the urban corecity, typically by employment ties through commuting, with the urban core city being the primary labor market.
The concept of an "urban area" as used in economic statistics should not be confused with the concept of the "urban area" used in road safety statistics. This term was first created by Geographer Brian Manning The last concept is also known as "built-up area in road safety". According to the definition by the Office for National Statistics, "Built-up areas are defined as land which is 'irreversibly urban in character', meaning that they are characteristic of a town or city. They include areas of built-up land with a minimum of 20 hectares (200,000 m2; 49 acres). Any areas [separated by] less than 200 metres [of non-urban space] are linked to become a single built-up area.[8]
Wikipedia definition of RURAL:
"In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities.[1] Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are described as rural. Different countries have varying definitions of rural for statistical and administrative purposes.
In rural areas, because of their unique economic and social dynamics, and relationship to land-based industry such as agriculture, forestry and resource extraction, the economics are very different from cities and can be subject to boom and bust cycles and vulnerability to extreme weather or natural disasters, such as droughts. These dynamics alongside larger economic forces encouraging to urbanization have led to significant demographic declines, called rural flight, where economic incentives encourage younger populations to go to cities for education and access to jobs, leaving older, less educated and less wealthy populations in the rural areas. Slower economic development results in poorer services like healthcare and education and rural infrastructure. This cycle of poverty in some rural areas, means that three quarters of the global population in poverty live in rural areas according to the Food and Agricultural Organization.
Some communities have successfully encouraged economic development in rural areas, with some policies such as giving increased access to electricity or internet, proving very successful on encouraging economic activities in rural areas. Historically development policies have focused on larger extractive industries, such as mining and forestry. However, recent approaches more focused on sustainable development are more aware of economic diversification in these communities."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rural_area
Economic -Business determinist approach
My theorectical perspective is materialist or business-economics . That is , business decisions and competition are the dominate factors determining the day-to-day ,history , changes and developments of urban life .
Syllabus
Text : _Cities and Urban Life_ by Macionis and Parrillo. The text has several good characteristics. It has a number of different ways of looking at cities, giving all the main sociological theories , much data , facts , empirical evidence. It gives history and comparison of cities, the “roots and composition “; this is a scientific approach. Implicitly, cities are contrasted with the country , with rural areas , although there is little discussion and analysis of rural , sparsely populated areas . The discussion of populations moving to cities implies that people are coming to the cities from rural areas.
Aim and purpose of class
I presume all students live in Metro Detroit . My idealistic hope is that the class will teach some things about urban Southeast Michigan that will enhance and improve your daily life as a citizen and resident ! at home ,work, play , school . Perhaps it will develop your interest as a citizen, your civic engagement , your understanding of government and business by giving a bigger picture of your city , county and state . Maybe it will perk your intellectual- academic interest in the sociology-anthropology of cities and suburbs , even .
My urban biography
I have lived my whole life in cities ; never lived in the country and only visited rural areas briefly .
The text on page 21 , question 3 says “Why do the authors suggest that we must not simply analyze statistics , but must also “go and visit to the city if we are to fully comprehend urban life ? “ This seems to imply that the authors don’t live in the city , because they “visit” cities. Perhaps they are in small college towns , classical academic, “ivory towers.” Myself , and I expect everyone here , either lives in the Detroit metropolitan area , so we do more than visit, but witness city life daily . At any rate , we do the observation of city life that visits do , but even more than visitors. So, we can fulfill the authors’ suggestion that we observe directly, anecdotally urban life.
I was born in Philadelphia, lived in Washington, DC, was moved by my parents to Detroit in 1953 at the age 3, East Lansing , Michigan; back to Detroit ;high school in Philadelphia area ; college in Ann Arbor ; work in New Haven , Connecticut ; back to Detroit , where I have lived since 1984.
I did legal reasesrch for land recovery work for the Yurok Native Americans on a very rural reservstion in Northwest California for a few weeks in 1979.
I’ve also visited family often and lived for a summer in New York City . I visited Chicago often, Los Angeles a couple of times , San Francisco , Milwaukee, Cleveland, Atlanta, , Boston; Montreal, Paris, Rome, Switzerland, Madrid , Barcelona, London , Mexico City , Moscow and others . Flint and Lansing and most of Metro Detroit .
My main life career has been as an attorney for Detroit City Council. I’m retired from that now after about 25 years . However , my knowledge about cities and urban life comes especially from that career. In this class , I will be integrating my knowledge about the City of Detroit, County of Wayne and State of Michigan with the knowledge from the text.
( copy City Council journal table of contents).
I also worked as a Legal Services Attorney for the Low-Incomed . This gives me an understanding of urban poverty and economic struggles .
I’m an athlete and sports fan , so I’m familiar with recreation in baseball, basketball, football, hockey in urban life. Also , popular music and dance , concerts and karaoke. I visit the museums and parks , including Belle Isle .
A non- graded assignment for the class is for students to write their own residential and visiting biography .
Test # 1 - take home test - due in 3 weeks - Thursday, June 9.
Questions 1) page 1 of text :
1.2 “ Examine (Describe ) the four criteria for defining an urban area”
1.3 “Investigate ( Describe) the factors that lead to urban growth and development.”
1.5 “Enumerate the recent population percentage change of the 30 largest U.S. cities “ as reported in the text chapter 1. Note Detroit as a outlier with big population loss . Why has Detroit lost population in recent decades
Questions 2) page 53 of text :
3.3 Recount historical events that led to growth development and then shrinking of Detroit
3.5 Evaluate the development of the megalopol
Questions 3) page 85 of text 4.1 Differentiate sprawl from other forms of urban growth. Does Metro Detroit have sprawl ?
4.2 Discuss how growth in population and land development are complementary to each other .
Overlap of Anthropology and Sociology social scientific disciplines
This is an anthropology class. Anthropology is the science of human beings in all times and places including , theoretically , human life in modern capitalist cities . Sociology ( defined below) is also the science of human beings , overlapping anthropology’s subject matter . The text book is written by sociologists.
Wikipedia defines Sociology as follows : “ Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life.[1][2][3] It uses various methods of empirical investigationand critical analysis[4]: 3–5 to develop a body of knowledge about social order and social change.[4]: 32–40 While some sociologists conduct research that may be applied directly to social policy and welfare, others focus primarily on refining the theoretical understanding of social processes and phenomenological method. Subject matter can range from micro-level analyses of society (i.e. of individual interaction and agency) to macro-level analyses (i.e. of systems and the social structure).[5] Traditional focuses of sociology include social stratification, social class, social mobility, religion, secularization, law, sexuality, gender, and deviance. As all spheres of human activity are affected by the interplay between social structure and individual agency, sociology has gradually expanded its focus to other subjects and institutions, such as health and the institution of medicine; economy; military; punishment and systems of control; the Internet; education; social capital; and the role of social activity in the development of scientific knowledge. The range of social scientific methods has also expanded, as social researchers draw upon a variety of qualitative and quantitative techniques. The linguistic and cultural turns of the mid-20th century, especially, have led to increasingly interpretative, hermeneutic, and philosophicalapproaches towards the analysis of society. Conversely, the turn of the 21st century has seen the rise of new analytically, mathematically, and computationally rigorous techniques, such as agent-based modelling and social networkanalysis.[6][7] Social research has influence throughout various industries and sectors of life, such as among politicians, policy makers, and legislators; educators; planners; administrators; developers; business magnates and managers; social workers; non-governmental organizations; and non-profit organizations, as well as individuals interested in resolving social issues in general. As such, there is often a great deal of crossover between social research, market research, and other statistical fields.[8]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociology Anthropology is the study of human beings in all times and place; study that is historical , systematic and objective, that is to say scientific, based on logical consideration and testing of material evidence, and natural theories ;from 100's of thousands of years ago to the present; from Detroit tothe other ends of the Earth. This is in contrast with understanding humansbased on whims, superstition, untested intuition , uncritical faith or unquestioned authority or supernatural beings. It is an understanding of human societies and individuals biologically and historically, that is as they have changed and developed ,evolved ,over time and many generations of individual selves. It seeks to be truly holistic in approach and scope , looking for the _whole_ truth, nothing but the truth. It welcomes contributions to its understanding of people from all the other academic disciplines, natural sciences, social sciences and humanities. It even considers respectfully and sympathetically systems of thought and belief from cultures very different than our own. In fact , learning the culture or customs, beliefs , ideas, religions of foreign and other peoples is the original focus of anthropology in contrast to sociology, psychology and history , the other social sciences , and literature and the arts, which focus on Western and European society's ways of being. Many anthropologists today study American and European culture, with applied anthropology to practical problems "at home" a major section of the discipline today.
There is a sense in which sociology is the anthropology of capitalist societies .
Anthropology's special contribution to scientific understanding of humanity is the concept of _culture_, or the symbolic nature of human communication and social organization . Culture is behavior ruled by a mental system of shared customs, traditions, values, ideas and material products of a particular group of people. Culture and language , or symbolic communication , are unique and exclusive characteristics of human beings, the species Homo sapiens . No other animal species has them, despite the exaggerated claims of some primatologists for chimps and gorillas. Culture and language provided the human species with an enormous adaptive and Darwinian selective advantage in the hundreds of thousands of years that the human species came to be and inhabit the whole globe, again to a greater extent than any other animal species. This is because it made humans extremely socially interconnected both with living other humans so that human labor and methods of physical survival are very _social_, not individualistic; and perhaps more importantly, socially connected to dead generations of the species through , again, language and culture, as in ancestor "worship" ,myths, legends, stories, customs, historical accounts of past generations' experiences.
Text title is _Cities and Urban Life_ What is Life ? What is a city ? What is urban ?
Life here is , of course human life . Anthropology uses its unique concepts of _culture_ and language to define human life . Only humans have culture and language . Language is _symbolic _communication. Only we humans have symbolic communication or language or words . Culture is _behavior_ , activity , doing things guided by symbolic rules, pursuing values and ideals that are articulated in words .
For purposes of this class please think of a city as _human behavior or culture_ .
What is a city ? It is people doing things ; trillions of human acts in pursuit of their physical survival / self-preservation - getting enough to eat , enough sleep , air to breath , etc. , avoiding injury - and their cultural values and ideals ; acting to reproduce a next generation . A city is essentially human _activity_. Think of Buildings , roads , parks, commodities, goods , things _as products of human behavior-labor_ , in the present and from the past , from history .
Wikipedia defines “city “ as follows: “A city is a large human settlement.[1][2][a] It can be defined as a permanent and densely settled place with administratively defined boundaries whose members work primarily on non-agricultural tasks.[3] Cities generally have extensive systems for housing, transportation, sanitation, utilities, land use, production of goods, and communication. Their density facilitates interaction between people, government organisations and businesses, sometimes benefiting different parties in the process, such as improving efficiency of goods and service distribution. Historically, city-dwellers have been a small proportion of humanity overall, but following two centuries of unprecedented and rapid urbanization, more than half of the world population now lives in cities, which has had profound consequences for global sustainability.[4][5] Present-day cities usually form the core of larger metropolitan areas and urban areas—creating numerous commuters traveling towards city centres for employment, entertainment, and education. However, in a world of intensifying globalization, all cities are to varying degrees also connected globally beyond these regions. This increased influence means that cities also have significant influences on global issues, such as sustainable development, global warming, and global health. Because of these major influences on global issues, the international community has prioritized investment in sustainable citiesthrough Sustainable Development Goal 11. Due to the efficiency of transportation and the smaller land consumption, dense cities hold the potential to have a smaller ecological footprint per inhabitant than more sparsely populated areas.[6]Therefore, compact cities are often referred to as a crucial element of fighting climate change.[7]However, this concentration can also have significant negative consequences, such as forming urban heat islands, concentrating pollution, and stressing water supplies and other resources.
Other important traits of cities besides population include the capital status and relative continued occupation of the city. For example, country capitals such as Beijing, London, Mexico City, Moscow, Nairobi, New Delhi, Paris, Rome, Athens, Seoul, Singapore, Tokyo, Manila, and Washington, D.C. reflect the identity and apex of their respective nations.[8] Some historic capitals, such as Kyoto and Xi'an, maintain their reflection of cultural identity even without modern capital status. Religious holy sites offer another example of capital status within a religion, Jerusalem, Mecca, Varanasi, Ayodhya, Haridwar and Allahabad each hold significance.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City Wikipedia definition of “urban “ ( as opposed to "rural"; see definition of rural below ):
An urban area, or built-up area, is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs. In urbanism, the term contrasts to rural areas such as villages and hamlets; in urban sociology or urban anthropology it contrasts with natural environment. The creation of early predecessors of urban areas during the urban revolution led to the creation of human civilization with modern urban planning, which along with other human activities such as exploitation of natural resources led to a human impact on the environment. "Agglomeration effects" are in the list of the main consequences of increased rates of firm creation since. This is due to conditions created by a greater level of industrial activity in a given region. However, a favorable environment for human capital development would also be generated simultaneously.[1]
Greater Tokyo Area , Japan, the world's most populated urban area, with about 38 million inhabitants
The world's urban population in 1950 of just 746 million has increased to 3.9 billion in the decades since.[2] In 2009, the number of people living in urban areas (3.42 billion) surpassed the number living in rural areas (3.41 billion), and since then the world has become more urban than rural.[3]This was the first time that the majority of the world's population lived in a city.[4] In 2014 there were 7.3 billion people living on the planet,[5] of which the global urban population comprised 3.9 billion. The Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs at that time predicted the urban population would occupy 68% of the world population by 2050, with 90% of that growth coming from Africa and Asia.[6] Geographer Antonio Rangel is amongst the best researchers in this area.
The UN publishes data on cities, urban areas and rural areas, but relies almost entirely on national definitions of these areas. The UN principles and recommendations state that due to different characteristics of urban and rural areas across the globe, a global definition is not possible.[7] Urban areas are created and further developed by the process of urbanization. Urban areas are measured for various purposes, including analyzing population density and urban sprawl.
Unlike an urban area, a metropolitan areaincludes not only the urban area, but also satellite cities plus intervening rural land that is socio-economically connected to the urban corecity, typically by employment ties through commuting, with the urban core city being the primary labor market.
The concept of an "urban area" as used in economic statistics should not be confused with the concept of the "urban area" used in road safety statistics. This term was first created by Geographer Brian Manning The last concept is also known as "built-up area in road safety". According to the definition by the Office for National Statistics, "Built-up areas are defined as land which is 'irreversibly urban in character', meaning that they are characteristic of a town or city. They include areas of built-up land with a minimum of 20 hectares (200,000 m2; 49 acres). Any areas [separated by] less than 200 metres [of non-urban space] are linked to become a single built-up area.[8]
Wikipedia definition of RURAL:
"In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities.[1] Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are described as rural. Different countries have varying definitions of rural for statistical and administrative purposes.
In rural areas, because of their unique economic and social dynamics, and relationship to land-based industry such as agriculture, forestry and resource extraction, the economics are very different from cities and can be subject to boom and bust cycles and vulnerability to extreme weather or natural disasters, such as droughts. These dynamics alongside larger economic forces encouraging to urbanization have led to significant demographic declines, called rural flight, where economic incentives encourage younger populations to go to cities for education and access to jobs, leaving older, less educated and less wealthy populations in the rural areas. Slower economic development results in poorer services like healthcare and education and rural infrastructure. This cycle of poverty in some rural areas, means that three quarters of the global population in poverty live in rural areas according to the Food and Agricultural Organization.
Some communities have successfully encouraged economic development in rural areas, with some policies such as giving increased access to electricity or internet, proving very successful on encouraging economic activities in rural areas. Historically development policies have focused on larger extractive industries, such as mining and forestry. However, recent approaches more focused on sustainable development are more aware of economic diversification in these communities."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rural_area
Economic -Business determinist approach
My theorectical perspective is materialist or business-economics . That is , business decisions and competition are the dominate factors determining the day-to-day ,history , changes and developments of urban life .