The west (secretly) loves China, but for all the wrong reasons

Read this.

It’s always been a myth that western elites hate everything about China’s system. Many of them love the worst parts of that system - the surveillance, the censorship, the central control.

But whereas China seems to use that control to build infrastructure etc (not saying that’s necessarily all a good thing), the west will use it to ensure the continuation of our violent hegemony over the world and its resources. (I mean, it already does, but it’ll get even worse).

The Coronavirus crisis provides an opportunity to manufacture consent for this agenda.

Coronavirus: Famine risk

Coronavirus: World risks 'biblical' famines due to pandemic - UN.

Why are so many at risk? Because their countries have been bought up by western corporations, following wars and covert coups, forcing them to produce mono-crops for export to rich countries, rather than diverse foods for themselves, leaving them reliant on the global market to survive?

What are rich countries doing right now to prevent a famine in these countries that we’ve subjugated and plundered? Cancelling some debt, as some western leaders are finally now proposing, will help, but it won’t be enough. A massive coordinated effort is needed. But that’s unlikely to happen, thanks to the neoliberal self-interest that led to the subjugation and plunder of these lands in the first place.

Instead, such is the chaos and insanity of capitalism, the west continues to bomb and economically sanction some of these countries.

Coronavirus: Neoliberal fail

If Corbyn was PM and had overseen 20,000-40,000 deaths, the media would probably be demanding a military coup to oust him.

This idea, that I've seen many espousing, that the media has been too critical of Boris Johnson & co is absolutely nuts! The media has been awful.

Whatever party was in government, I’d want a decent media to hold them to account. That’s meant to be their job. But sadly our media is extremely politicized - in favour of neoliberalism - the ideology that has taken over everything these last four decades.

The government has been so terrible in responding to this crisis largely because of that ideology. Tories, especially, are neoliberal ideologues. They think the market always knows best, and they hate the state, (unless it’s being used to wage war/bail out banks/cut tax for the rich!). The kind of state intervention needed for a crisis like this, on the side of working people, is completely out of their comfort zone.

The 10 years of austerity we just had was all about destroying the state, even more than has already been done by successive governments since Thatcher. It’s led to an NHS that’s more overstretched than it otherwise could have been, and it led to reports that said we were unprepared for a pandemic, being ignored, because ‘there’s no money’. Which is nonsense - what there’s been none of is the political will to distribute resources appropriately. Because the market is meant to do that, (it does the opposite).

Thanks to these years of neoliberalism, even the most competent people in government right now probably wouldn’t have been able to handle the crisis particularly well. But for sure, socialists would’ve done a far less awful job!

Why do we need 5G?

Why do we need 5G? Aren’t there more pressing concerns in the world? Like mass poverty and hunger?

We’re spending $trillions rolling out even faster internet for some, whilst most of the world doesn’t even have access to 1G...?!

As for potential health risks... is there any truth in it? Or is it all ‘conspiracy theory’? Read here.

What to make of Bill Gates?

Bill Gates uses his power to advance neoliberal economics and industrial agriculture, thus helping to fuel poverty and destroy the natural environment, which in turn fuels the creation of new diseases, and damages our health as we are all increasingly forced to eat chemical-ridden, mass produced food.

He, and other billionaires, have a disastrous influence on the world.

I find it extremely dangerous that he is one of the biggest donors to the World Health Organization. ‪This will surely help ensure that it focuses on health issues without looking at what is the root cause of many of those health issues - the neoliberal, corporate imperialism, that Gates & co impose on the world.‬

Gates has said that he wants to reduce unsustainable population growth in poor regions of the world. But that poverty and population growth - people reproduce more, when they are desperate - is fueled by the corporate imperialism that Bill Gates' foundation pushes.

And why is that population growth so unsustainable? Because the corporations destroy the livelihoods of locals; stealing their farmland and replacing it with environmentally devastating industrial agriculture, to produce unhealthy food to export to rich countries.

But now he supposedly wants to help all these people by vaccinating them all against diseases (that he helps to fuel)?

I'm not going to pretend to know what goes through the mind of Bill Gates, and what his motivations are. Is he some kind of evil mastermind desperate to advance his power and control the world with AI? Or is he just lost, ignorant, in denial? Whatever the case, the more power his ilk have, the less hope there is of real change. They'll keep us focussed on the symptoms when we need to be focussing on the underlying disease: neoliberal globalization, aka corporate imperialism.

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This new article by The Grayzone is probably the best left-wing critique of Gates I've read.

See here for the influence that Gates has over the media. 

See here for his influence in agriculture. 

Also watch this - The malaria business: Big pharma vs natural medicine. 

Can localisation unite us, and save the planet?

Watch this.

I love pretty much everything Helena Norberg-Hodge has to say.

I think localisation has the potential to unite people of all political persuasions.

Another great talk here, by Jason Hickel, at the same event. It seems imperative that we end neoliberal, growth-dependent globalization. Hickel argues against the idea of 'green growth'.

It seems that the environmental movement has to a large extent been co-opted by capitalism in recent decades, resulting in a story being promoted that the current system can continue pretty much as is, but with green energy sources, (that potentially aren't even very green). Watch Michael Moore's latest film for more on this.

And you can watch Helena's film, The Economics Of Happiness, here.

CIA: Global Gestapo?

The CIA's targeting of multi-award winning journalist, Julian Assange, for exposing corruption and war criminality, is undeniably fascistic. 

And is this anything new?

Soon after its inception, the CIA recruited literal Nazis!

“Honest and idealist… enjoys good food and wine… unprejudiced mind…”

That’s how a 1952 CIA assessment described Nazi ideologue Emil Augsburg, an officer at the infamous Wannsee Institute, the SS think tank involved in planning the Final Solution.

Read here.

Coronavirus crash: More bail outs for the rich and austerity for everyone else?

Unless we demand otherwise, it seems likely that this is what will happen in the coming months/years, following the economic crash, that was coming anyway, but has happened sooner thanks to the Coronavirus crisis:

Tax-dodging billionaires, (who became billionaires by exploiting taxpayers), will be bailed out, by taxpayers.

Then, having bailed out those billionaires, taxpayers will get (yet more) austerity.

Socialism for the super rich. Exploitative, dystopian nightmare for the working class.

Stop Demonizing China

Bar their historical territories (Hong Kong/Taiwan etc), can someone please show me some evidence that the Chinese are intent on imposing their internal system onto other countries? I’ve not seen any as yet. The threat is within.

Of course, every government can be criticized, but it seems an objective truth to me that China has so far been remarkably peaceful for a rising power. They haven't been waging wars, installing puppet dictatorships, etc, as the US has done - they've been building and innovating. There are of course major downsides to any such development, and personally I am wary of globalization in general, but it is undeniably true that they are developing in a FAR less destructive manner than the west, what with all our bloody colonization, and imperialism that continues to this day.

Truth is that western capitalists cannot accept the competition (how ironic! It is a myth that free market capitalism is pro-competition. It's pro-monopoly). The west has been trying to takeover the entire world, dominating all the resources, for centuries now, and a rising China is a massive threat to that. Another irony here is that western elites actually assisted with China's rise, by outsourcing manufacturing over there, in their never-ending quest for greater profit margins.

It is my view that China’s rise as a superpower should, in some ways at least, be seen as a positive for the world, as it gives poor countries bargaining power, making them less easy to exploit. And, though we may not like many things about China's internal system, the presence on the world stage of a power that clearly is focussed on lifting people out of poverty, is another huge plus. This pressures western capitalist governments to change their ways, and give more concessions to workers, just as the presence of the Soviet Union did.

Let’s not assist in the demonisation of China, which serves only to escalate tensions between nuclear powers, in the desperate hope that China will fall so that the exploitation of those poor countries can continue unhindered. Nuclear war seems more likely than that. Watch this film.

In the coming years, it needs to be the top priority of everyone who wants a peaceful world to oppose US aggression towards China. The west is demonizing China just as it has demonized every other disobedient nation before waging war on those nations. This should terrify us all.

This can be done without giving any opinion re China's internal system, but I thought I would keep a list here of all the positive/interesting stories about China, just to counter the incessant demonization (this does not mean that I am an admirer, overall, of their way of doing things - I really see that as their business! - but it is to humanize them, and highlight the truth that they are most definitely not the uniquely nefarious 'regime' that they will now be increasingly presented as.

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The American Dream Is Alive and Well—in China

Lessons from China: Ensuring no one goes hungry during coronavirus lockdowns.

China Leads Global Renewable Investment With $126.6 Billion.

China Is Bankrolling Green Energy Projects Around the World.

NASA Says Earth Is Greener Today Than 20 Years Ago Thanks To China, India.

How China Took Charge of the Electric Bus Revolution.

China renegotiated $50billion in loans to developing countries.

Africa: Lest We Forget, China Trained African Freedom Fighters.

10 massive projects the Chinese are funding in Africa.

China's Role in Efforts to Eradicate Poverty.

An advocate for China describes why the pandemic has increased his trust in Xi, the party, and Beijing.

Should America Aspire To Be More Like China?

"If somebody in the West says China is just a capitalist country. Well you're entitled to an ill-informed opinion."

Is China capitalist?

Keeping an eye on Keir

I thought I'd start a list highlighting Keir's record before and since becoming Labour leader:


Keir has been a member of the Trilateral Commission, an alliance of US/European/Japanese imperialists whose purpose is to advance the hegemony of western corporations and prevent democracy.

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As head of the Crown Prosecution Service, Keir met with then head of MI5, Sir Jonathan Evans, for informal social drinks in April 2013, the year after Starmer decided not to prosecute MI5 for its role in torture.

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Keir was also head of the CPS during the most crucial phase of the case of journalist, Julian Assange. It was Keir's CPS that advised Swedish prosecutors not to come to the UK and question Assange re allegations of sexual assault, thus preventing him from clearing his name, and prolonging his effective imprisonment in the Ecuadorian Embassy.

A spokesman for Starmer recently confirmed that he supports the fascist imprisonment of journalists who expose the state’s war crimes. (Even during a pandemic, when that journalist has a lung condition).

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Keir's chief advisor is a former private healthcare lobbyist. He has refused to respond to questions about this.

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Following the leak of a Labour report that exposed racism and sabotage from the 'centrist' Blairites, hindering Labour's chances of winning the 2017 election, Keir has seemed more interested in going after the whistleblower, than addressing the very serious content of the leak.

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Keir says he cares deeply about tackling anti-semitism, but he has said nothing of the fact that this leak strongly suggests that those saboteurs were purposely preventing investigations into allegations of antisemitism (to make the party seem unbothered by them). You would think that anyone who wants to tackle antisemitism, would be outraged by this.

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Keir has appointed Rachel Reeves as shadow minister. Reeves, along with many other MPs, likes to praise 1930s MP, Nancy Astor, who was a Nazi sympathizer.

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During the leadership campaign, Keir created an artificial gap between 'receiving' and 'accepting' donations, thus meaning he wouldn't have to reveal his donors until after the election.

Here is a list of Keir's donors. All anti-socialists who have opposed Corbyn/the democratic will of the membership.

At least one of the donors is a pro-Israel lobbyist.

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Keir said that he'd like 'anyone but Trump' to become next President of the US, when surely any socialist would be supporting Bernie Sanders, a lifelong socialist who supports healthcare for all, over someone like Joe Biden.

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He has appointed Wayne David as shadow minister for Middle East. David has supported all the Neocon oil wars that the US/UK have waged in that region.

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Keir ignored Stop The War Coalition.

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The new Labour leadership has rejected the idea of introducing a universal basic income during the Covid-19 crisis.

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Keir has already quietly ‘watered down’ Corbyn’s coronavirus response. Corbyn pledged to suspend rent payments. Keir pledges to defer them. A dreadful policy.

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Keir Starmer labelled 'spineless' after bizarrely praising the government’s 'amazing' coronavirus response.

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Keir sides with Modi on Kashmir.

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Starmer has chosen factional opponents of the Labour Left to lead the inquiry into the leaked report.

Set up to Fail? Labour’s Not so Independent Inquiry

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Labour’s new deputy director of communications is one of the names in the leaked Labour report.

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Starmer blames Corbyn for Labour’s election defeat. Read here. And here. Corbyn isn't blameless, but much of the blame lies with those who pushed for Labour to back a second referendum, and that includes Keir.

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Starmer breaks campaign promise to maintain Labour’s left policies

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“Cancelling rent is un-Labour”

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New "stitch up" claims over investigation into leaked Labour report.

Simon Mills, financial official, who's quoted as calling Karie Murphy a "fuck wit", is entrusted with signing off its recommendations.

A senior lawyer has already said the investigation is not remotely 'independent'.

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Keir Starmer picks favourite for Labour general secretary - ally who worked under Blair

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Exclusive: the dossier of concerns Starmer ignored to push through his new general secretary

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Five questions for Keir Starmer

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Keir Starmer: Riots and Spycops

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Why are young people leaving the Labour Party?

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Labour has sought to avoid being dragged into the debate over trans rights

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Keir banishes final trace of Corbynism (aka socialism)

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Keir attacks Black Lives Matter, and gains praise from Nigel Farage for doing so

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Keir refuses to even comment on Rachel Reeves praise of a Nazi-supporter

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With no regard for democracy, Keir wins battle to reduce left-wing presence at the NEC

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Keir says nothing about UK recognizing Guaido as Venezuelan leader, and stealing Venezuelan gold. Does he care at all about international law?

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Lisa Nandy calls for monument to war criminal, Tony Blair!

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Lara McNeill asks Keir Starmer if he will uphold same zero tolerance approach on antisemitism to Rachel Reeves' praise for Nancy Astor

He said "I'm not going to discuss that"

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Keir calls to freeze welfare sanctions, rather than to abolish them.

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Labour not demanding green transition.

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Keir welcomes support from racist thug, Jeremy Clarkson.

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Labour ditch plans for wealth tax. Labour sources: “we want to stimulate growth...and growth doesn’t happen through tax rises”. Neoliberal Labour is well and truly back.

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Labour is losing black members.

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'Labour no longer stands with black people, so I'm leaving'. 

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As well as supporting the persecution of journalist Julian Assange, Keir Starmer now wants to start banning media outlets.

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Not a single question from Keir Starmer at #PMQs about the Tories voting against protecting the NHS from future trade deals on Monday.

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Today’s settlement is a misuse of Labour Party funds to settle a case it was advised we would win in court. The leaked report on how anti-semitism was handled tells a very different story about what happened. - Len McCluskey

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Keir says nothing about a newspaper suggesting Corbyn should be killed.

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Keir ditches plans for a wealth tax

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Keir has done nothing in response to Blairite Labour MP, Barry Sheerman, tweeting an antisemitic trope. He has also conflated Israel with Jewish people, and put out racist tweets like this in the past. 

It is clear than antisemitism is just a weapon agains the left to people like Keir. 

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'Starmer has just called for Russia Today’s broadcasting license to be revoked. This is days after he called for the UK to “go further” on China & issues sanction against it. The “opposition” is pushing for more extreme measures than a Tory govt'

Not only does he support the persecution of journalists like Julian Assange, he also wants to ban entire media outlets. Totalitarian. 

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Starmer attends Labour Friends of Israel bash on day of International Day of Solidarity with Palestine. 

Anti-China media bias across the board

Compare the framing of these headlines.

Only in China do they cover things up. Superior westerners would never do such a thing! Our authorities/media never lie about or deny anything, do they? Lol!

The anti-China bias is constant and across the board, most extreme in the far-right press, but present in the liberal press too.

The uncomfortable truth is that Chinese authorities have been far better at recognizing and responding to the Covid threat than we have. But the toxic propaganda machine that is western media, will struggle to ever accept that.

We're the ones in denial, about what neoliberalism has done to our societies.

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In other news, the Presidential race in the US now looks like it's going to be a fight between who can be most aggressive towards China. No chance of peace between east and west any time soon. Capitalism continuing to push us towards total destruction.

Jewish Labour Movement furious that we now know why antisemitism wasn't dealt with properly?!

'The "Jewish Labour Movement" is threatening legal action to suppress a report about institutional bias within the Labour Party that caused Jewish members complaints about AS within the party to be unaddressed' - David Graeber

You'd think JLM would be pleased that we now know why the antisemitism allegations in Labour weren't dealt with properly? You'd think they'd be furious about that, rather than about the leaked report that exposed it?

It's almost like this never had anything to do with dealing with the small number of antisemitism cases within Labour, and everything to do with getting rid of a socialist activist for Palestinian rights. It's almost like the "Jewish Labour Movement" cares about protecting the interests of Israel, not about fighting antisemitism.

Truth is that the "Jewish Labour Movement" was refounded to fight Corbyn.

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In other news, we now know that new Labour leader, Keir Starmer, received a £50k donation from a pro-Israel lobbyist.

With massive help from the mainstream media, lobbyists for Israel have truly achieved their mission.

Modern day 'liberalism' is a cult

In 2017, Obama pushed for neoliberal Tom Perez to become head of the DNC, instead of the left-wing, pro-Medicare For All candidate, Keith Ellison.

And, during this year’s primary, he conspired behind the scenes to ensure that neoliberal Joe Biden would defeat the pro-Medicare For All candidate, Bernie Sanders.

But somehow people still like this man? I give up!

Do liberals no longer even believe in the right to healthcare? Or are they just caught up in a massive cult, unable to see fault in their leaders?

Liberals life in fantasy land as the world goes to shit

This is very true:

“the modern day liberal capitalist 'centrist' lives in a bizarre fantasy world where the generations-old struggle for some fairness and equality never existed; where all of the advantages won through socialism just somehow materialized out of nowhere”.

Read this post.

Is the UK government secretly sticking with a policy of herd immunity?

So in the UK right now, you might get fined for going to the park, but meanwhile, the government is...

- allowing flights to arrive into the country, including from virus hotspots, with no health checks for passengers.

- not doing sufficient testing.

- keeping many non-essential businesses open.

My impression is that the government has been trying to make everyone feel as though there is a lockdown and that the plan is to eliminate the virus, when in reality they’re still secretly sticking with the herd immunity strategy.

Anyone else thinking this?

Perhaps it’s too late now, and herd immunity/letting the virus spread, slowly, is the least bad option...?

My view re Labour antisemitism row

My interpretation of events:

There was a problem, amongst a tiny number of Labour members, of antisemitic conspiracy theorising. This was and is mostly as a result of ignorance - a lack of knowledge re historical antisemitic conspiracy theories: the Rothschilds, etc.

Once you realize how messed up the current system is, and are in a state of shock/distrust in authorities, such theories are all over the internet and offer a tempting, quick explanation for everything. Blame everything on the evil Rothschilds! I think most who're drawn in by such theories have no idea that they're antisemitic. Personally, I didn't know anything about the Rothchilds until a few years ago. I did not even know that they were/are Jewish. Education is needed.

There are also a lot of people who blame Jewish people for the actions of Israel. Some of these people will have been attracted to a Labour Party led by someone who was pledging to oppose Israel's crimes. Again, education is needed.

The neoliberals, eager to bring down a socialist (and anti-racist!) leader, exploited the problem  (which involved just 0.08% of members); by exaggerating the numbers, conflating antisemitism with anti-Zionism/criticism of Israeli war crimes and expansion, and by hindering investigations, making the leadership look unbothered.

With their allies in the media, they created the absurd myth that Labour was 'institutionally antisemitic'. (2017 Yougov poll actually showed a decline in antisemitic attitudes in Labour). A McCarthyite atmosphere ensued, whereby it became antisemitic just to refute that absurd myth.

Much of the left stupidly went along with this campaign by the racist neoliberals; those who happily weaponize Jewish suffering in their quest for power; those who've waged multiple oil wars against Arab states. Resulting in the smearing/expulsion of many Palestine activists, anti-imperialists, socialists - including many Jews. This was the goal.

We should have united against it.

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Evidence to back up the above:

The below is my experience of self-styled whistleblower Sam Matthews' commitment to and competence in dealing with cases of antisemitism in the Labour Party. 

Home Affairs Committee: Antisemitism in the UK. 

YOUGOV POLLS SHOW ANTI-SEMITISM IN LABOUR HAS ACTUALLY REDUCED DRAMATICALLY SINCE JEREMY CORBYN BECAME LEADER.

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Evidence to discredit the EHRC report:

The only non-white member of the EHRC is a Tory donor.

Two former commissioners on the EHRC, who were the only Black and Muslim commissioners at the time, say being “too vocal about race” cost them reappointment.

Keir Stamer has a choice to make

Amongst other things in this leaked report, it’s been revealed that senior Labour staffers:

- were devastated by Labour's surprisingly good result in the 2017 election; one saying "this is the opposite of what I have been working towards for the last two years".
- joked about having Jeremy Corbyn “taken out and shot”
- wished for a young activist to “die in a fire”
- mocked Diane Abbott when she was crying about racist death threats
- ridiculed Dawn Butler for complaining about racism

Labour lost the 2017 election by 2,200 votes.

They’d have won with ease, had it not been for these vicious, arrogant 'centrist' Blairites and their media chums, who spent their time undermining the party. They destroyed our chance for a better world. 😡

If Keir Starmer doesn’t reprimand these people, we’ll know for sure which side he is on.

He‘s got to choose between the grassroots and the Blairite hacks. Between the left, and the nasty, neoliberal careerists. It’s clearer now more than ever that unity with such people is not a possibility. What will he do?

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Update: It seems Keir cares more about the fact that this was leaked, than about the contents of the leak.

Blood-soaked imperialist, Henry Kissinger - the ultimate 'liberal centrist'?

'You have to organize the consuming countries into a common approach to access the energy' - Henry Kissinger.

In other words: The plunderers must unite to ensure power over the plundered. There are the 'consuming countries, and there are the poor countries that are there to be consumed.

This man is a blood-soaked imperialist, and he’s quite open about it. Yet he is a guru to most ‘liberal’ leaders in the west - including successive American Presidents.

Are the voters who support these 'liberal' leaders ignorant of this, or are they fully on board with that imperialism too?

Labour Party vs Jeremy Corbyn. The truth comes out.

Now that extreme ‘centrists’, and corporate media, have achieved their objective of toppling the uncorrupt peace activist, Jeremy Corbyn - via their despicable weaponization of antisemitism, amongst other tactics - the truth will slowly come out. Read here.

After Labour members overwhelmingly chose Corbyn as their leader in 2015, the right-wing of the party, which has been in control for decades, was furious. As illustrated in this new dossier, these people view Corbyn's brand of anti-war, pro-worker politics with utter contempt. They even 'joke' about violently attacking him and his supporters.

These anti-democratic, self-described 'moderate centrists', assisted by their chums in the mainstream media, sought to undermine his leadership at every opportunity.

A major aspect of this campaign to undermine the party involved weaponising the issue of antisemitism. There was and is a minor problem of antisemitic incidents in Labour (around 0.08% of the membership), as there is in every party, and in wider society. Whilst Corbyn and team wanted to address the issue, the anti-Corbyn, anti-worker 'centrists' deceptively inflated the problem; and they constantly conflated anti-Zionism/criticism of the Israeli regime, with antisemitism; to set in motion a McCarthyite witch-hunt, in their effort to rid the party of Corbyn, socialists in general, (and pro-Palestine activists).

They sabotaged party efforts to address the real antisemitism cases, in their effort to make the party under Corbyn look unbothered by the problem, and ‘institutionally antisemitic’.

Without this constant effort by much of the PLP, and the media, to smear and undermine the party and leadership, I think we can be pretty sure that Labour would have won the 2017 election with ease, given that they were so close to winning despite it. Imagine how much better the party would have done had it been united; had those 'centrist' Tories-in-disguise accepted the will of the Labour membership, and united behind Corbyn.

But these right-wing wreckers never had any intention of doing that. Like most, they are career politicians, and they are ideologically opposed to Corbyn's politics; to peace, justice, solidarity, and democracy. And they have won. They have got what they wanted - Corbyn toppled, and the continuation of a system that is impoverishing humanity and destroying the planet.

Jeremy Corbyn was not the enemy. I hope it’s clearer after all this who is.

The rise of China is good for poor countries

China’s rise as a superpower gives poor countries bargaining power, making them less easy to exploit.

This should be welcomed.

We need to ensure that we are not being useful idiots for the western elites who hate having that competition. We need to not parrot their propaganda.

Everyone and every country can be criticized, of course, but let’s not assist in the demonisation of China, which serves only to escalate tensions between nuclear powers, in the desperate hope that China will fall so that the exploitation of those poor countries can continue unhindered.

Nuclear war seems more likely than that.

Let’s be sensible.

Coronavirus is Neoliberalism’s Chernobyl

Nearly 1000 people are dying every day at the moment from the Coronavirus, but the BBC is mainly focussed on letting us know that Boris Johnson, who also had the disease, is ‘in good spirits’.

They’re usually so keen to report on negative stories, in other countries at least. I guess it is different when it is our own government that is culpable.

I realise it’s important to be positive right now, but it’s also massively important that we are made aware of why the U.K. in particular is suffering so badly from this virus.

Why was this 2016 report, that revealed how unprepared we are for a pandemic, ignored?

Why is it that our governments have spent £billions on war and nuclear weapons rather than on things that benefit people+planet? Why have they given tax cuts to corporations? Why have they allowed billionaires to keep their profits in tax havens? Why have we had a decade of cuts to public services? Why has the NHS been partly privatised, dismantled, and underfunded, leaving it in a poor state to cope with a crisis?

Neoliberalism!

Coronavirus is neoliberalism’s Chernobyl.

Time to wake up.

How will those at the top exploit the Coronavirus crisis?

The main thing concerning me right now, besides all the awful loss of life, is that these Coronavirus lockdowns are getting people used to living in a police state, and elites will jump on this opportunity to massively increase their power over us; internet censorship, mass surveillance, etc.

And I'm scared for struggling small businesses. Are they going to be eaten up by the bigger corporations that have the finances to survive such a loss in trade? Are we going to come out of this crisis with even more of a monopolized corporate tyranny than we had before?

Now is really not the time to have neoliberals in government! They will likely allow all of the above.

We needed Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders in power during this period more than ever.

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Read this.

Watch this.

Will the powers that be use the Coronavirus to expand their power over us?

After 9/11, we should have reflected re how that attack came about: imperialism in the 1980s - supporting the Mujahideen in Afghanistan, from which sprung al Qaeda.

Instead, we allowed the powers that be to crack down on civil liberties and to wage yet more wars, that killed millions of people.

We should have stopped the war and the plunder. We should have organized to take away the power of the 0.1%.

But instead, we allowed those elite few to wage more war and to expand their power over us and the world.

Please let's not allow them to use the Coronavirus to do similar.

Bill Gates is everything that is wrong with the world

Read this article.

Some excerpts...

His foundation has given money to groups that push for industry-friendly government policies and regulation, including the Drug Information Association (directed by Big Pharma) and the International Life Sciences Institute (funded by Big Ag). He has also funded nonprofit think tanks and advocacy groups that want to limit the role of government or direct its resources toward helping business interests, like the American Enterprise Institute ($6.8 million), the American Farm Bureau Foundation ($300,000), the American Legislative Exchange Council ($220,000), and organizations associated with the US Chamber of Commerce ($15.5 million).

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The Gates Foundation has been a strong and consistent supporter of intellectual property rights, including for the pharmaceutical companies with which it works closely. These patent protections are widely criticized for making lifesaving drugs prohibitively expensive, particularly in the developing world.

“He uses his philanthropy to advance a pro-patent agenda on pharmaceutical drugs, even in countries that are really poor,” says longtime Gates critic James Love, the director of the nonprofit Knowledge Ecology International. “Gates is sort of the right wing of the public-health movement. He’s always trying to push things in a pro-corporate direction. He’s a big defender of the big drug companies. He’s undermining a lot of things that are really necessary to make drugs affordable to people that are really poor.

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In the absence of outside scrutiny, this private foundation has had far-reaching effects on public policy, pushing privately run charter schools into states where courts and voters have rejected them, using earmarked funds to direct the World Health Organization to work on the foundation’s global health agenda, and subsidizing Merck’s and Bayer’s entry into developing countries. Gates, who routinely appears on the Forbes list of the world’s most powerful people, has proved that philanthropy can buy political influence.

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Also, watch this.

And read this.

And this.

Now that Jeremy Corbyn has gone, nobody cares about antisemitism

Here is a cartoon in George Osbourne’s Evening Standard of the Jewish Labour MP, Ed Miliband, with a hooked nose.

But nobody cares.

Also, Keir Starmer has just given a shadow cabinet position to Rachel Reeves, who has heeped praise on Nancy Astor - a British MP in the 1930s who liked the Nazis and saw Hitler as a solution to the ‘world problem’ of Jewish people.

Again, nobody cares.

Jeremy Corbyn was victim of the most vicious, deranged smear campaign ever. A campaign by those who do not give a damn about stopping racism - THEY are the racists - to smear a committed anti-racist activist, as racist, because he dared to value the lives of Palestinians, and other non-white/western folks.

Keir Starmer banishes the anti-imperialists

All hope of making Labour a party of peace is dead for now.

Unsurprisingly, the new leader, Keir Starmer,  has purged the few anti-imperialists/internationalists/socialists from the shadow cabinet. (Except Rebecca Long Bailey).

He has appointed Lisa Nandy, who think its antisemitic to oppose war crimes, as shadow foreign secretary.

He has appointed Wayne David, who has supported all the Neocon oil wars, as shadow minister for Middle East!

So much for unity. So much for his supposed socialism.

Corbyn was far too nice, sadly. We needed to banish the neoliberal US Empire loyalists when we had the chance.

It’s also just shit strategy electorally. Labour was FAR more successful under Corbyn, than Miliband. But this all seems very much like Miliband 2.0. to me.

Also, once again the antisemitism accusation against Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party has again been exposed for the disgusting, dangerous smear campaign that it always was: Keir Starmer has appointed Rachel Reeves to the cabinet, who has praised a former MP, and Nazi sympathizer - Nancy Astor -who saw Hitler as a solution to the 'world problem' of Jewish people. But the media is silent!

Recipe for a long life?

Short film about life on a remote Greek island, which has one of the highest life expectancies in the world.

Main takeaways:

- Stay as far away from western ‘culture’ (careerism/individualism/processed food) as possible.
- Eat mostly local and plant-based diet.
- Drink lots of wine.

Sounds good!

Pity most don’t have time/can’t afford to do any of this. Such is capitalism with its monopoly, exploitation and inequality.

Thank You, Jeremy Corbyn

Jeremy Corbyn has devoted his life to fighting for other people; for the oppressed, the exploited, the marginalized, always putting himself on the frontline, be it to oppose Apartheid in South Africa, the fascist National Front, the invasion of Iraq, the persecution of Palestinians, austerity, etc.

He is an extremely rare kind of politician: uncorrupted, informed, honest, dedicated to helping humanity; an internationalist who values all life equally; who bravely speaks out against all the bloody criminality that Britain, under American leadership, wreaks all over the world. And he unashamedly opposes the underlying disease at the root of our problems - free market capitalism.

In my view, he's probably the greatest missed opportunity in British history, and I'm sure all those around the world impacted by British/corporate imperialism would agree.

Is he infallible and was he perfect as a leader? Of course bloody not! But his principles and his commitment to them made him a million times better than any other UK leader, that I’m aware of.

He has always kept fighting, despite constant abuse from our rotten establishment/media, and thus, much of the public - he has even been physically assaulted. It seems that this is the price you pay for seeking peace and justice in this twisted society. He is immensely courageous, but gets little appreciation for it, (in the mainstream, at least).

Despite failing to get into government, it is surely undeniable that he and the movement he led these last few years has shifted the debate in our politics significantly, with the Tories’ latest budget seemingly abandoning a decade of totally unnecessary and deathly austerity, and now pledging to invest in the country even more than Labour was planning - but of course, facing none of the same ire from the media for doing so.

Many of the ideas that seemed so radical to many just a few years ago, like ending austerity, taking essential utilities/services back into public ownership, major state intervention in the economy, embarking on a green revolution, etc, are now mainstream, and this is surely a massive achievement.

But Corbyn will get little credit for this. That the ounce of civility we have in society comes from the activism of 'radical' socialists, must remain under wraps. Can’t have everyone figuring out that it is pressure from socialists, not capitalism, that helps us to progress! And we definitely can’t have everyone figuring out how much saner things could be (see Finland) if those nasty leftists actually gained power! So they must remain demonized.

The establishment will also try and wipe from history that in 2017, Corbyn-led Labour achieved its biggest vote increase since 1945, taking back many of the voters lost during warmonger Blair's tenure, and coming within 2,200 votes of forming a government. And of course, the vicious propaganda against Corbyn and the movement, will barely be acknowledged by the mainstream pundits who waged that vicious campaign. Nor will the fact that the 2019 election was very much a Brexit election, or that it was the Blairite-demanded policy of backing a second referendum that was the biggest reason for Labour's huge loss.

He really exposed how rotten our system is, particularly the media that upholds that system; Across the board, from the Mail to the BBC to the Guardian, mainstream journalists went on the attack, all to prevent a mild-mannered social justice activist - who wanted to begin making the UK about as 'radical' as Scandinavia - from reaching power. Those who consider themselves 'centrist liberals' have been well and truly exposed as the imperialists and free market extremists, that they've gradually become in recent decades as they've submitted to Thatcherite ideology.

Had Labour succeeded with Corbyn, we could have begun taking power away from the elite few; we could have started redirecting our resources away from for-profit wars and ecocide, towards creating a peaceful, sustainable future for all. We could have opposed American-led thuggery/imperialism on the world stage and stood up for human rights. We could have had a PM who was one of literally a handful of politicians who has opposed the austerity/NHS privatization that has left us poorly resourced to cope with the Coronavirus. Having a socialist leading the sixth largest global economy could have been revolutionary for the world.

I hope that perhaps as a result of having a truly progressive opposition party these last few years, that we’re now a step closer to making the above a reality, as many eyes have been opened to the idea that another future is possible. But the extreme 'centrist' Blairites, having consistently undermined the party since Corbyn took over - thus playing a major role in making the party unelectable - now feel emboldened, and the likely new leader, Keir Starmer, seems very weak.

On a personal note, I got deeply interested in politics around the same time as Jeremy became leader; having been made aware of the west’s monstrous intervention in Syria, which set me off on a distressing but ultimately enlightening journey of learning; about the system that we live in. Most of our politicians either support that system, are ignorant to it, or aren’t brave enough to oppose it. My journey of discovery was made much less distressing knowing that we had a political leader who was both informed and brave enough to have spent his life opposing it. It gave me hope.

Anyway, I just wanted to say... thank you Jeremy Corbyn! The world is a slightly less terrible place only thanks to people like you!