Note: CONTENT WARNING - some of this content is about upsetting, disturbing or triggering events & attitudes. Seek competent help - including professional - if you need it. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that linked
articles may contains names and/or images of deceased people. READER CAUTION IS RECOMMENDED! For
anyone distressed by anything in this post, or for any other reason considering
seeking support, resources are available in Australia here, here, and here. In other nations, you will have to do an Internet search using terms such as “mental health support - <your nation>” (which, for instance, may lead to this, this, and this, in the USA, or this, this, and this, in France [biased towards English-language - my apologies]), or perhaps try https://www.befrienders.org/.
I’m going to be blunter than I have been in a long time:
the US presidential election result - and that was caused by EVERY PERSON WHO ABSTAINED OR VOTED FOR THE WINNER, EVEN IF THEY ARE NOW REGRETTING THEIR CHOICE - means this world is facing several years of calamity, and quite possibly disastrous wars.
Tr_ mp is making statements that can reasonably be interpreted as advocating for invasion of sovereign nations - and that is something the USA has a largely dreadful history (and some good) on as it is, let alone when it has someone unstable as its chosen leader.
The rest of world is now being forced to grow up, and face up to the neoliberal rot of the last few decades - the sort of rot that people like Robert Reich have been warning against for decades - and the reality of tolerating violent despots like Putin - whose tyranny and rapacious imperialism the Ukrainians are, as Timothy Snyder is so eloquently pointing out , FIGHTING AGAINST ON BEHALF OF THE WHOLE WORLD.
And then there are the mass atrocities in Africa (I particularly note Sudan and the DRC) and Palestine (and note that the ICJ and ICC have made preliminary decisions [see here, here, here, and here] which carry weight and should be heeded) that the world is ignoring - those in particular are litmus tests of decency, and there are police and authority figures around the world who, as with Israel, are going to realise one day just how wrong they were ...
There are, incidentally, many people in Israel and Jewish people elsewhere who are opposing what is being done in Palestine.
But there are political figures and parties and influential organisations who are acquiescing to the vile evil of anticipatory compliance or the curse of centrism - and will never recover from the damage they are doing.
Some, concerningly, appear to have possibly pressured justice systems ...
On the other hand, some are meeting the challenges of these times by standing up and fighting back - telling truth, refusing to comply or give in to bullying, and defending human rights and democracy as best they can.
And on that, I have settled on my views about pardons for people Tr_ mp has threatened:
those warriors will be needed on the battlefield, not in jail: PROTECT THEM AND THEIR CAPABILITY TO FIGHT BY PARDONING - AND ACCEPT THOSE WHO LEAVE RATHER THAN BE PART OF EVIL
I have come to this partly through writing a poem, “I need ...”:
I need ...
my Fierceness
my Warrior Spirit.
Too long and too oft
have I gentled and
gentled been,
but war is on us
and deeds fell and foul are nigh
and needs must be fought,
and I must Fierce again be.
Let us all fight for freedom and human rights, democracy and decency, as BPM fiercely (but non-violently) as is needed.
Ukraine and Syria have been physically fighting for freedom this week.
Ukraine is facing an ongoing acute shortage of frontline troops, connected to its key decision to limit recruits to those who are at least 25 (which possibly also contributes to its effectiveness). Also, another Russian oil tanker has sunk - revealing issues including that oil & gas is still being exported to Europe despite sanctions! ... as a power cable between Finland and Estonia is destroyed - with a Chinese ship coming under suspicion ... and further attacks on undersea infrastructure leading to the Finnish coastguard boarding (arresting?) a Russian oil tanker.
And as an opinion is expressed that Syria has been liberated from Russia (with this turning Putin’s dream of world domination into a nightmare of increased vulnerability ... and remnants of the former Assad regime are still fighting - see also this, on Assad’s chemical weapons attacks in Damascus) and Iran, but still faces challenges from Turkey, Israel and the enmity of the west, Syria’s new interim cabinet starts to take shape as some factions agree to disarm and join the new government and an announcement is made that the State will control all weapons, but there have been protests by Christians after a Christmas tree was burned.
Hong Kong police have issued bounties against pro-democracy activists who fled overseas ...
In the USA the incoming regime - which is haemorrhaging political capital - is waging a campaign against dissent, particularly in/by the press, and there are concerns about Australia’s fundamental right to protest (noting that they have delivered the eight-hour workday, voting rights for women, native title rights and marriage equality — among many other achievements).
The incoming regime’s radical right base is also conducting a racist war with the radical right tech bro influence.
More positively, the US Senate has approved a funding plan that does not include the incoming regime’s demand to raise (in reversal of their previous attitudes, possibly marking an awareness of the economic damage they are about to cause) the debt limit. This is a noticeable rejection of M_ sk’s concerning, and possibly deceptive, influence - leading to a suppression of free speech retaliation by him on social media. And South Korea will impeach the acting President if he continues to obstruct impeachment of the former President who attempted a coup.
The Israel-Palestine war has seen Sweden very unhappily ending UNWRA funding to increase humanitarian aid to Gaza through other UN and international organisations as a result of Israel’s decision to ban UNRWA’s operations, which UN officials have described as the backbone of Gaza's aid response, from January, 2024, with Sweden stating specifically that it “in no way” supported Israel’s law, had repeatedly expressed its criticism, and stated that “Israel must do much more to ensure humanitarian access to Gaza” (only 3% of aid is getting through). There has also been police (mis)using counterterrorism tactics to suppress pro-Palestinian student protests ... and concerns about “moral blindness”.
A former Islamist from Saudi Arabia who is now Islamophobic (with a history of making threats and about whom warnings had been made - and a member of a radical right organisation endorsed by M_ sk) has driven a car into German Christmas market (in a way aimed at causing maximum casualties), after which Germany’s President called for unity.
The leader of a recent antisemitic rally in my home city has surrendered to police.
Worst of all is that Tr_ mp has threatened to make things worse for ALL Palestinians if the hostages are not released by his inauguration ...
In other international news, Myanmar rebels have claimed control over another major military headquarters.
In human rights news, women in the Côte d'Ivoire are acting against femicide by urging ‘protect us alive, not dead’; some local Councils in my home state will regress to observing/celebrating Invasion Day; appalling violence by WA transit police against an Indigenous teenager based on the transit police’s failure to understand free use provisions; more than 3,000 Indigenous (mostly forcibly removed as part of cultural eradication and assimilation) students died at US boarding schools between 1828 and 1970 - triple the previously reported deaths; after a long running battle, confirmation of the obvious with the NT government’s duty to provide safe drinking water to its tenants being confirmed (as a former Water Engineer, how is that even a question??!!!); concerns that the UAE’s backing of new business projects may come with risks to the rights of workers and environmental protections; advocates have condemned as ‘unconscionable’ the denial of water before a mentally ill man’s death in a NSW prison (this would surely be basis for charges?); Australian doctors are concerned that antidepressants are being overprescribing to mask toxic social conditions; an elderly activist was due to spend Christmas in prison because prison authorities could not find an electronic tag to fit her, and ignored the alternatives.
Albania has banned one social media platform for a year after fatal stabbing of teenager last month, Việt Nam is enforcing strict (“draconian”) social media regulations, and an expert who helped create it warns against the risks of machine learning (aka "AI") - as the world agrees to a cybercrime convention.
On the resistance to the reign of Tr_ mp 2.Ø:
- everything in my candles with the label (Blogger version of hashtags) #PsychicABetterWorld - Viva La Résistance à Tr_ mp! (may all resistance be non-violent and BPM properly informed of and responsive to legitimate grievances that led to this situation);
- “Tr_ mp Gets Rude Awakening from International Events” https://youtu.be/dMpm7yMzMjM This contains startling information on attitudes and propaganda from inside Russia
- “Dems Finally Reveal Plot to Stop The Steal on American Voters” https://youtu.be/CtBIZuhLtns Despite the title, this video is largely about the last half century of plotting by the radical right to restrict, weaken, or even overthrow democracy through actions affecting the US Supreme Court
- “M_ g_ OBSESSES Over Transgender Athletes While IGNORING Real Problems” https://youtu.be/6wHXZ65fyYE An excellent perspective and commentary on the distraction from health “insurance” on the basis of an utterly ludicrous escalation of numbers (10 out of 510,000???)
- “The Big Picture: How we got into this mess, and how we get out of it” https://robertreich.substack.com/p/the-big-picture-how-we-got-into-this “Capitalism is compatible with democracy only if democracy is the dominant partner. It was dominant from 1933 until 1980. Then hyper-capitalism took over, and finally gave us Tr_ mp”
Here are some llinks that might of interest or value:
- “Here’s what I learned in medical school – beyond the curriculum” https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/dec/24/heres-what-i-learned-in-medical-school-beyond-the-curriculum “Studying medicine is not an identity – and self-care should be considered a matter of medical ethics rather than an indulgence” and “medicine is uncertain, but kindness is constant”
- “The Ego-Legacy Complex: On Ancient Monuments and Modern Malaise” https://www.joanwestenberg.com/the-ego-legacy-complex-on-ancient-monuments-and-modern-malaise/ An interesting perspective and suggestion on how to get better (longer lasting) infrastructure
- “Sudanese women filmmakers defy war with stories of resilience” https://www.rfi.fr/en/africa/20241225-sudanese-women-filmmakers-defy-war-with-stories-of-resilience “Far from the frontlines of Sudan's devastating war, a new generation of amateur women filmmakers is gathering in the formerly sleepy city of Port Sudan to explore the untold stories of their troubled country”
- this week’s “afterlife report” by the Zammits:
https://victorzammit.com/December27th2024/
- also from YouTube:
- on neurodivergence:
- “What you NEED to know to help an Autistic Adult after breakdown | Do’s and Dont’s” https://youtu.be/JKHfs9Qtuwk?si=AkARpJ2FJCwrsSU2
- “Autistic Not Alien | Autism is a DISORDER?” https://youtu.be/jw0VW_3e7b8
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Note that I am cutting back on aspects of my posts - see here.
(Gnwmythr is pronounced new-MYTH-ear)
Remember: we generally need to be more human being rather than human doing, to mind our Mӕgan, and to acknowledge that all misgendering is an act of active transphobia/transmisia that puts trans+ lives at risk & accept that all insistence on the use of “trans” as a descriptor comes with commensurate use of “cis” as a descriptor to prevent “othering” (just as binary gendered [men’s and women’s] sporting teams are either both given the gender descriptor, or neither)..jpg)
