Tag Archives: unrest

Oh Troubles Keep Away from My Ecuador

19 Friday Jun 2015

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Ecuador, International Development, Politics, South America

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“My Ecuador” is likely to remain virtual and experienced through Windows.

However, for my correspondent, Ecuador is home, and when he writes in relation to, ” . . . the soldiers try to occupy the strategic places, highways, bridges, airports, refineries, power generation stations, generating dams . . .” and says “we will close the office now and  . . . try to buy food in the supermarket, store, and black market . . . .” I’m inclined to believe him.

But he’s just one source.

The closest corroborations in the news:

Lee, Brianna.  “Ecuador’s Correa Withdraws Controversial Tax Bills After Days of Protests.”  International Business Times, June 16, 2015.

Morla, Rebeca.  “Down with Correa!  Ecuadorians Want Off the Socialist Train: Five Days of Street Protests, More to Come.”  The Canal: Blog of the Panama Post, June 15, 2015.

Scherffus, Liz.  “The opposition says they will continue protesting until the proposed inheritance tax is off the table.”  Telesur, June 17, 2015.

As has happened in other spaces in relation to the post-Soviet neo-feudalism, reliance on oil revenues and the tumble in wellhead rates has turned out a big kick in the seat of the pants.

It appears that what has brought Ecuadorans out into the streets en masse is not primal hunger and resentment of the capitalist yankee running dog pig — China’s deep into the state these days — but the fearsome will to bequeath hard-earned private gains to progeny without fear of plundering by the state!

According to my source, some military appears to have mobilized, but the arguments and resolution of economic issues to come may play behind the increasingly pale phantom of the bankrupt Soviet, the revanche neo-feudalism in place in Moscow today, and the teetering of the Maduro regime in Venezuela.  Clearly, the authoritarian experiments dressed up in socialist talk have failed their states.

The shame is the same: some affected states, Ecuador among them, are simply rich in cultural charm, labor, and natural resources but burdened by leadership that fails to grow the kind of internal economy that might make short work of living comfortably on the land while producing the craft-for-export industries certain to at least help fill in the shortfalls from the gross export of mineral wealth.

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Baltimore – Recognizing “Shut it down!” And Shutting It Off

27 Monday Apr 2015

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Political Psychology, Politics, United States of America

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When the Ferguson riots broke August 9, 2014, the New Old Now Old Far Out and Lost Left got busy churning out “false flag” accusations involving New Establishment elements for incitement.  In related search, “DHS Is Employing Agent Provocateurs and are Behind the . . .”; “Ferguson Witness: Government is Planting Provocateurs in . . .”; “Busted! ‘Agent Provocateur’ Caught Red Handed in Ferguson!”  With such as those, BackChannels would happily invoke its mouthy “Paranoid Delusional Narcissistic Reflection of Motivation” and remind that the old KGB proved adept at “false flag” manipulation of the Russian constituency with, among other episodes, the “Moscow Apartment Bombings”, today relentlessly examined and rehashed by Miami University scholar Karen Dawisha in her book Putin’s Kleptocracy (listed in the “Russian Section”).

The injury and death of Freddie Gray will receive — is receiving — the scrutiny deserved regardless of the public press “for justice” (without injustice proven but certainly suspected) and the spillover into violence.

This is what promotes that violence:

Malik Shabazz, president of Black Lawyers for Justice, a Washington, D.C.-based group that called for the demonstration and advertised it on social media, told the crowd that he would release them in an hour, adding: “Shut it down if you want to! Shut it down!”

Stolberg, Sheryl Gay and Stephen Babcock.  “Scenes of Chaos in Baltimore as Thousands Protest Freddie Gray’s Death.”  International New York Times, April 25, 2015.

Shut what down?

Shut “it” down!

A city, a society, a long fought quest for equality and justice frequently achieved.

Yesterday in WND, conservative journalist Aaron Klein noted of Shabazz, “Not a single news media outlet quoted above informed its readers of that which a simple Google search of “Malik Shabazz” reveals. As highlighted on his Wikipedia page, until October 2013, Shabazz notoriously served as the national chairman of the New Black Panther Party.”

Klein goes on to note in relation to Shabazz episodes involving voter intimidation (“using such phrases as ‘white devil’ and ‘You’re about to be ruled by the black man, cracker'”), anti-Semitic invective, and incitement.

Earlier today, The Baltimore Sun noted the notables in attendance at Freddie Gray’s funeral, and BackChannels would suggest all of a different mein — and with Dick Gregory present, some of a different era — than Shabazz.

Shut “It” down?

Violence and looting overtook much of West Baltimore on Monday, seriously injuring several police officers and leaving a store and several vehicles in flames.

Dance, Scott.  “Riots erupt across West Baltimore, downtown.”  The Baltimore Sun, April 27, 2015.

Shutting Not Much Down, But Some appears to be continuing into the evening.

With generations of of the Left to Far Left in town, one’s ears may tune to the rhetoric to come: will it be accusing, ad hominem, venomous?  Will it be responsible, encouraging inquiry, open observation, and discussion?  In what part either?

Shut it down?

That kind of talk, yes.

Cited and Other Reference

Dance, Scott.  “Riots erupt across West Baltimore, downtown.”  The Baltimore Sun, April 27, 2015.

Klein, Aaron.  “Media Fail to Identity Leader of Baltimore Riots: Ex-New Black Panther chairman a notorious racist.”  WND, April 26, 2015.

Marbella, Jean and Jonathan Pitts.  “Friends, family bid farewell to Freddie Gray.” Baltimore Sun, April 27, 2015.

Schwartzman, Paul and Dana Hedgpeth.  “‘Another life gone’: Hundreds gather for Freddie Gray funeral in Baltimore.”  The Washington Post, April 27, 2015.

Stolberg, Sheryl Gay and Stephen Babcock.  “Scenes of Chaos in Baltimore as Thousands Protest Freddie Gray’s Death.”  International New York Times, April 25, 2015.

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Where the Writer Engages Egypt’s Long Day

30 Sunday Jun 2013

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Egypt, Middle East, Regions

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AP’s caption:  “Thousands of opponents of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi gathered in Cairo’s Tahrir Square and outside the presidential palace on Sunday morning ahead of planned mass protests aimed at forcing the president out of office. (June 30)”

The previous post remains “live” — I’m updating it as I get around the web with various hash tags and search terms, a most up-to-date experience this one, considering how revolutionary watching Vietnam footage on television’s evening news was about 50 years ago (gasp!  I cannot be that old).

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FNS – Egypt – Two Days Ahead of Planned Demonstrations

28 Friday Jun 2013

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Egypt, Middle East, Regions

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“As The Washington Post’s Abigail Hauslohner wrote from Cairo, many there are convinced it will spiral into violence. She wrote, “All of Egypt seemed to be bracing for horrors that may come as opposition protesters prepare to call for Morsi’s downfall in mass demonstrations Sunday, the one-year anniversary of his taking office.”  http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/06/28/video-appears-to-show-worsening-violence-in-egypt-ahead-of-sundays-protests/

“Washington also warned American nationals against all but essential travel to Egypt, and said non-emergency diplomatic staff could leave the country.”  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23092817

“While the protests in Cairo remained peaceful, deadly clashes erupted in the port city of Alexandria, where protesters set fire to the Brotherhood’s headquarters. Security officials said that one victim was a United States citizen, a man who was stabbed to death near the headquarters.”  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/29/world/middleeast/egypt-tensions.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

“(Reuters) – Two people, one an American, were killed when protesters stormed an office of Egypt’s ruling Muslim Brotherhood in Alexandria on Friday, adding to growing tension ahead of mass rallies aimed at unseating the Islamist president.”  http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/28/us-egypt-protests-idUSBRE95Q0NO20130628

From last month: ““Sometimes when we watch them sleep, we just cry,” said the 40-year-old, who now works mucking out stables.  “We see there is no food and we don’t know what to do.”   http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/05/18001075-there-is-no-food-post-revolutionary-economic-turmoil-dashes-hopes-in-egypt?lite

A more recently published (mid-June) glimpse of Egypt’s economic scenario: “Moreover, the same plan states that 21.4 percent of the 27.3 million strong workforce are temporary workers, and at least 46.5 percent of those employees work in the unofficial sector without contracts. Furthermore, 67 percent has no health insurance. No wonder – rising employment, widespread poverty (with 25 percent living under the poverty line), and poor working conditions were all factors behind the January 2011 revolution that toppled the Mubarak regime.”  http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/06/2013615122844106819.html

Turkish Unrest — Staggering Denial

23 Sunday Jun 2013

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology

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“The game is the same, the symbols are the same, the banners are the same, Twitter and Facebook are being used the same way, and the international media reacts the same; they are being operated from the same centre.”

President Erdogan as quoted recently by journalist Tom Porter (“Turkey Protests: Fresh Unrest as Police and Protesters Clash,” International Business Times, June 23, 2013).

The above clip, “Turkish Protests: riot police crackdown as thousands of protesters flood . . .” posted to YouTube on June 22, 2013.

While Turkey’s President Erdogan has the majority numbers to do as he may wish with his state, he seems unaware that it has been his own behavior, not a Facebook or Twitter conspiracy, that has inspired a determined Turkish minority resistance to the further erosion of balanced and fair governance.

Erdogan’s aggressive reshaping of the legacy Ataturk military (e.g., “Turkeys Top Four Generals Resign After Erdogan Tension,” Business Week, July 29, 2011), his  mauling of the press (e.g., Gutman, Roy, “Turkey’s journalists say press freedom has declined under Erdogan’s rule,” McClatchy, May 13, 2013), and his unvarnished narcissism coupled with Islamist fervor (e.g., Hacaoglu, Selcan, “Erdogan Fights Ataturk Secularism With Islam Fervor Once Denied”, Bloomberg Businessweek, November 15, 2012) have laid the groundwork, and we may expect amplification and escalation of hostilities between the forces of the modern and the medieval in Turkey’s body politic.

From the Bloomberg piece cited:

“Erdogan in September repeated a vow to boycott Tusiad, the business federation that groups Koc, Sabanci and Turkey’s other biggest companies. His ministers are more likely to show up at meetings hosted by its rival Musiad, a pro-Islamic business group whose members are typically smaller and more likely to be from outside Istanbul.”

Patronage bolsters and controls the economies of every autocratic Muslim state: why should Erdogan’s Turkey prove an exception?

As the malignant narcissists looks out for himself foremost, whips up the adoration of his mob — the more “narcissistic supply” the better the dictator feels about himself — and goes about the nefarious business of seeking to control all on behalf of his own glorification, expect this form of conflict — first, the cleaving of the state into two camps; then action against minority interests, including minority human rights — to broaden and intensify.

Most damning:

Addressing the young people who participated en mass in the Gezi Park protests, Erdoğan said they had all been cheated by the interest rate lobby. “You have been used as soldiers by the interest lobbies in a plot that you could not become aware of,” he said.

Hurriyet Daily News.  “Turkish PM likens the ongoing protest wave in Turkey to Brazil demonstrations.”  June 22, 2013.

What “interest rate lobby” would that be, President Erdogan?

Through the mouth, the strong hand reveals its weak heart.