Post No. 1,936 - Interesting reading, and on Uganda, Burma, and from the news

On psychic, spiritual and related matters, including interesting reading: 

• "On Bullying In the Occult And Pagan Communities"; 
• "The Presence of the Gods" ("there are more possibilities than the Christian God or no Gods"); 
• "The Morrigan Didn’t Call You Up Just To Smack You Down"; 
• the problem of artificial barriers such as tribalism in Paganism; 
• "Visualisation – Eyes Wide Open"; 
• and I'll end with one of the best articles I've read in a long time: "Resisting Politely". Here's some quotes from it:
  "I’m not hearing the ethics of non-violence. I’m certainly not hearing a winning strategy. I’m hearing “this is stressful and I don’t want to have to deal with it.” . . . And also “I’m middle-class enough / white enough / straight enough that this won’t affect me so I don’t have to think about it.” . . . Freedom has never been won by asking nicely"
  Well worth reading, thinking about, and acting on!
  

(Mægan)

 

On Uganda this week:

• Museveni is continuing his stay in, and abuse of, power - including appointing EIGHTY Ministers to Cabinet; 
• "uproar" over proposed fines for lockdown breaches; 
• calls to prioritise protecting health workers, and to compensate the families of those who have died;

On Burma this week:

• the protests and killing continue - the junta's thugs have murdered 25 people during a raid on a town, medical staff are being attacked,

 

From the news this week:

• on the climate crisis and the environment:
  "Barrier Reef: Ley stunned by 22 years of warnings";   more on the legal case at the UN by Torres Strait islanders against Australia;   "Australia could add billions to its economy, create thousands of jobs and clean our energy grid by making batteries here, instead of shipping the raw minerals to China";   more shareholder activism in the oil industry;    a massive discrepancy in export financing towards fossils over renewables;   a Canadian forest is now so stressed that it is emitting carbon;   concerns a controversial coal mine may be permanently affecting groundwater and wetlands may lead to legal action;   more economic loss from our climate stupidity;   "blue-green algae" in the Murray Darling;   the importance of proper detailing for home battery systems;   tackling plastic pollution on Christmas Island;   concerns over lead dust from the rebuilding of a building in France;   deforestation in Argentina;   Uganda is helping farmers grow trees;   micro-forests as a bulwark against the climate crisis;  
  
  
  (responsibility)
  
  
  
• on international relations including war:
  moves towards another ceasefire in Tigray;   Afghanistan continues to fall - sometimes without any fighting;   an opinion that the defeat in Afghanistan shows the USA did not learn the lessons of Viêt Nám;    Belarus has been warned by the USA over its closure of the border with Ukraine;   a warning that the 'Afghanistan chaos will suck in neighbouring countries';   armed protests by women in Afghanistan;   Ethiopia has resumed filling the Nile dam;   Iran has resumed producing enriched uranium;   China is creating a second and distinctly separate Internet;   the USA snuck out of a key base in Afghanistan in the middle of the night without telling local forces - allowing looting and destroying decades of goodwill in hours;   Taiwan's continuing struggle to survive;   China is boosting its nuclear capabilities;   a statement of the obvious: regime change in China is not an option (like almost all other dictatorships and authoritarian states);   "UN Security Council backs AU bid to broker Ethiopia dam deal";   North Korea's "wacky" exterior masks a calculating regime that has mastered "bait and switch" international politics and is committed to survival at all costs (even if that means an unending war - and Korea, not Afghanistan, is the USA's longest war), and is being revealed by defectors who share and tell a common story;  
  
  
  (BPM group leadership)
  
   
• on the COVID-19 pandemic:
  anti-vax and COVID-denying nuts are at it again - including trying to kill vaccination workers in Kashmir;   the delta variant makes children vulnerable;   COVID deaths are "about equal to the number of people killed in battle in all of the world's wars since 1982";   inconsistency, lack of transparency and possibility of illegality of bans on citizens leaving;   lack of diversity data in Australia except for my home state;   unlike other nations, which have released substantial parts of their vaccine contracts, we're keeping ours entirely secret on the basis of absurd claims of national secrecy ... ;   a regional vaccine diplomacy battle in the Pacific;   more stupidity from our PM;   application of lessons from other pandemics to this pandemics;   "famine death toll outpaces COVID-19 fatalities . . . Cutting new military spending by less than 20% would end global hunger";   "a tsunami of disability is coming as a result of ‘long COVID’";   a controversial billionaire has been caught out peddling misinformation about COVID matters - again;   after all the harmful, unnecessary, and unfounded (IMO) China bashing, the lab theory of COVID's origins has been found to be "unlikely" (can we get on with dealing with the pandemic and other possible future zoonotic diseases now, rather than indulging in misdirection / seeking political brownie points?);  
  
  
  (Berkana - healing & compassion)
  
  
  
• on genocides and other human rights issues:
  "Palestinian security forces assault at least 5 journalists covering protests";   China has shut down a Chinese ride sharing service for illegally collecting users data;   a criticism of "the High Court’s "surrender" to the Morrison-Dutton immigration detention regime";   hundreds of refugees have been rescued in the Mediterranean;   new research into torture in eastern Ukraine;   Burma's junta is stopping multinational executives from leaving;   aid in Syria is at risk from Russia in the UN;   new counterterror laws threaten rights in Senegal;   another mass abduction from a school in Nigeria;   "a US-trained former Honduran army intelligence officer who was the president of an internationally-financed hydroelectric company has been found guilty over the assassination of the indigenous environmentalist Berta Cáceres";   Belgium will return artworks stolen from the DRC during the colonial era;   China has the capability to use a prenatal test taken by millions of pregnant women globally to collect genetic data;   "in a first for the US, New York declares gun violence a disaster emergency";   concerns over the extent of consent for psychotropic drugs in NSW aged nursing homes;   Tibetan monks have been charged in secret Chinese trials with unknown offences;   an employment law centre has warned the end of JobKeeper sparked a rush of dubious layoffs and pay cuts;   Burkina Faso & Ghana (protests against violence calling for action);   even as it acts against those rescuing refugees from shipwrecks, Italy will investigate Libya for allegedly attempting to make a shipwreck ... ;   risk of a generation of lost students from abductions in Nigeria;   online Islamophobia in Europe;   dozens of protestors have been killed in eSwatini;   privacy concerns over the UAE's science fiction style anti-COVID devices;   the neochristian church in Canada;   a call to focus on relief in Tigray;  
   
• from Human Rights Watch:
  COVID keeps killing, rich countries keep prioritizing pharma profits over human lives,  fighting for justice in Kyrgyzstan, hate drives back an attempt at inclusion in Russia, a flood of desperate messages from Afghanistan's women, anti-censorship blogger missing in China, Vietnamese novelist wrongly prosecuted, is the EU finally getting tough on authoritarian member Hungary?, take action to stop abuse in sports!, US-funded abuses led to failure in Afghanistan, political opposition criminalised by Kazakhstan's authorities, Turkey and Kyrgyzstan apparently colluding to break international law, China's harsh sentences of Tibetan monks, EU moves to block funds to member Hungary over corruption, Cyprus pressuring to shutter local human rights group, a victory for a transgender rights in Russia thanks to European Court of Human Rights, Dutch crime reporter shot and fighting for his life, demonstrations for equality in Georgia after anti-LGBT attacks, new conflict looms in Ethiopia’s Tigray province while hundreds of thousands of displaced people face famine, another search and rescue vessel detained by Italian port authorities, torture in eastern Ukraine, homophobic protests stop Pride march in Georgia, Hungarian judge forced to quit for questioning legality of country’s asylum law, Hungary’s Victor Orbán listed as "predator of press freedom", few Afghan women optimistic about the country’s future, justice at last for murdered Honduran environmental activist; the UN Human Rights Council should address abuses in Tigray; UK's project to detain asylum seekers offshore is harmful and expensive; a letter to Brazilian governors on the Amazon; ten years of South Sudan independence; Haiti's stability at risk; a call to protect athletes' rights; SOS Mediterannée's Ocean Viking found a place to disembark 572 people rescued at sea, including 183 minors;
  
  
  
  
  
• on democracy:
  Haiti's President has been assassinated - but with no signs of a coup;   a sadly apt bit of satire (language warning);   a witness against Assange has admitted that he lied in his testimony, which could have implications for the case against Assange;   the neolibs have been sacrificing the unemployed as a buffer against inflation;   an opinion that "Australia’s Morrison government is imitating features of fascism";   "we need a national integrity commission now";   an Indigenous Mapuche woman has been selected to take the lead in "drafting Chile's post-Pinochet constitution";   allegations of corruption in Brazil;   it is getting harder for my home state to ignore the problems of gambling;   the risk of neglecting young Australians;   Australia continues to be out of step with the rest of the world on criminal responsibility;   "South Sudan's 10 years as an independent country have been marked by pervasive insecurity, a catastrophic humanitarian crisis and endemic corruption";   after having reached an out-of-court settlement, an MP is trying to have the defence used successfully against him removed from the public court record;   "wage dynamics in Australia have been changed by foreign labour";
  
  
  (democracy)
  
  
  
• on LGBTIQ+ matters:
  violent homophobia in Georgia has been followed by a pro-LGBT rally by thousands;   religious homophobia in NSW and Vic and Spain ;   transphobia in Vic;  
  
  
• on racism:
  " 'racist' facial recognition sparks ethical concerns in Russia";   Indigenous land owners will no longer perform welcome to country ceremonies for a controversial mining company that has destroyed Indigenous sites;   calls for a public holiday for NAIDOC week;   "racism is costing the Australian economy billions";   "Territorians are top of the class in Australia for awareness of their local Aboriginal and Torres Strait ties";   a doula (midwife) programme on Yolngu country in the NT;   racist and heavy handed policing;   patronising white tech-heads should stop telling Africans what to do with agriculture;   "denial of evolution is a form of white supremacy";  
  
  
• on sexism and misogyny:
  inappropriate touching by a conservative male MP;   "the preselection of a man [, the only male in a field of five,]  accused of fat-shaming to succeed ... [a] Nationals candidate for [a] seat ... has led the chair of the local branch to resign";   sexism in sizing spacesuits;   misogyny by a middle-aged white male sport commentator;   more revelations of past sexual assaults in Parliament;  
  
  
• on ableism:
  the national neolibs have been told by their own advisor not to implement changes to the NDIS in their current form;  
  
  
• on animal rights: 
  a campaign for greater transparency on farms may go to the High Court;   Canada's recent heat wave probably killed one billion animals;  
  
  
• on other matters:
  a massive ransomware attack;   the harm of open plan offices has now been measured;   why people hide being depressed from loved ones;