Today in Labor History, May 16: Romani Resistance Day, commemorating the Roma people who fought the fascists during World War II. The date was chosen due to a Holocaust survivor stating that on 16 May 1944, there was a rebellion of Roma detainees at the Auschwitz Birkenau concentration camp. However subsequent research by the Auschwitz Museum discovered that this date was most likely incorrect. It was actually in early April that a number of Roma prisoners refused orders from the SS to leave to work in Germany. Instead, a Polish prisoner was ordered to make a list of Roma able to work to be transported later. By 2 August 1944, those Roma able to work had been transported elsewhere, when the SS came to take the others to the gas chambers. The prisoners armed themselves with crowbars and fought back, but were eventually overcome and gassed. And just a few days ago, The European Committee for Social Rights (ECSR) unanimously concluded that Italy’s new fascism government was violating the European Social Charter as regards the housing rights of the Roma, 15,000 of whom are currently living in shanty towns on the margins of big cities such as Rome, Milan and Naples.
Today in Writing History May 16, 1906: Margaret Rey was born. Rey was an author an illustrator of children’s books. She cowrote the Curious George books with her husband H.A. Rey. Born in Germany to Jewish parents, she studied art at Bauhaus and later worked in advertising. In 1935, she fled Germany to escape the Nazis, moving to Rio de Janeiro. There she met H.A. Rey, also a German Jew who had fled the Nazis. Many of us remember the Curious George stories fondly. George was a monkey, who was kind of like an adorable little boy. Yet in every one of the stories, he does something naughty that disappoints his “daddy,” (The man in the Yellow Hat), and has to win back his affection doing something dangerous. In one story, he is exploited by a cook and must wash dishes without pay. In another, he is hired as a window washer on a skyscraper. Even his origin story is fraught, with the Yellow Hatted Man kidnapping him from his home in Africa. In this video clip, hear Werner Herzog’s creepy satire on the stories:
The pervasive indoctrination she had railed against simply did not exist. Children were not being sexualized, and she could find no examples of critical race theory, an advanced academic concept that examines systemic racism. She’d examined curriculum related to social-emotional learning, which has come under attack by Christian conservatives who say it encourages children to question gender roles and prioritizes feelings over biblical teachings. Instead, Gore found the materials taught children “how to be a good friend, a good human.”
"One of the marks of fascism—real-deal, capital-F fascism—is the propensity to view the less fortunate not as fellow sufferers in the journey of life, but as Untermenschen. Vermin to be removed. Or, as Johnny McEntee might put it, cleansed.
This is what America is in the process of choosing. And we’re not being hoodwinked. None of this stuff is being hidden behind a façade of civility and normalcy. This cruelty is the selling point."
While the #Louisiana legislators seem intent on allowing people to bring guns to Mardi Gras parades or to go drinking in the French Quarter, they are worried about their own safety: Senate Judiciary just passed a ban on guns in the Capitol Building.
Ma'ariv newspaper describes the situation as: There is a new prime minister in “Israel”.
They add that in practice, Benjamin Netanyahu has become the servant of his master, Itamar #BenGvir, and this raises the obvious question: To what extent has Netanyahu deteriorated?
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir appeared in front of the cameras a few days ago while leaving the Prime Minister’s Office, acting Prime Minister, and announced in an unambiguous tone: “I warned the Prime Minister that we will not enter #Rafah, nor will there is an illegal deal.
The Prime Minister heard the words, and promised that "Israel" would enter Rafah, and promised that the war would continue, and promised that there would be no illegal deal.
These words and tone of voice leave no room for doubt in the heart of every listener. There is a new prime minister in the State of #Israel.
This raises the obvious question: To what extent has Netanyahu deteriorated? It has reached the point where even a response from a prime minister, in order to preserve his dignity, is not uttered.
Netanyahu, despite thousands of disagreements, knows what the majority of the people want: the release of detainees, and he also knows what is important and useful to the people.
But he follows Ben Gvir and Bezalel #Smotrich, because that is what is good politically for Netanyahu for obvious reasons.
Seen the rubble, the buildings,
the mothers and the children
And all the men that you murdered,
and then we see how you spin it... https://yewtu.be/watch?v=fgDQyFeBBIo
"Here is a difficult truth: A part of the American political spectrum is not merely a passive recipient of the combined authoritarian narratives that come from Russia, China, and their ilk, but an active participant in creating and spreading them."
@wdlindsy I'm listening to this audiobook on youtube: a breakdown of Nazi Germany's 1920, 25 Point Program that became the mandate of the Third Reich.
It was a mixture of #fascism, #antiSemitism, and the "German Workers' Party" #socialism. The combination with, the fatal authoritarian doctrine, gave madman #Hitler unchecked power.
Today in Labor History May 6, 1933:, the German Student Union, organized by the Nazi Party, attacked the Institute of Sex Research in Berlin, destroying nearly everything inside, and looting everything else. Four days later, its extensive library was destroyed in a massive public book burning, along with books by leftists and Jews. The Institute was the first LGBTQ health center in the world. They provided gender affirming health care to trans patients and performed the first sexual reassignment surgeries. Dora "Dörchen" Richter (the first known person to undergo complete male-to-female sex reassignment surgery) may have been killed in this or a subsequent attack on the institute. Visitors to the Institute, prior to the Nazi raid, had included René Crevel, Christopher Isherwood, Harry Benjamin, Édouard Bourdet, Margaret Sanger, Francis Turville-Petre, André Gide and Jawaharlal Nehru. Magnus Hirshfield, the creator and director of the institute, who was both gay and Jewish, managed to escape, to France, where he died of a heart attack in 1935.
The Uzi is a military weapon @rato The image posted by @KarunaX is actually quite revealing. It illustrates the indoctrination of Israeli youth into a militaristic culture. What else their indoctrination involves, I shudder to think.
So..It’s time for a change…
Raise your voice to the air
It’s time for a change
Revolution is here
This is our song,
our rights now expressed
There’s power in our voice
There’s strength in our words
When the whole world is silent,
Our voice must be heard.
This is our song #Revolution is set
For the festival of the #oppressed https://yt.artemislena.eu/watch?v=9F_coLFmerg
The classified documents case will make use of a recording which indicates that #Trump had a highly sensitive document which he knew was NOT declassified.
The chain of evidence looks strong and while there is much news media spinning, a court of law is more rigorous environment where focus on fact is primary
I’m more than a little skeptical of polling. The ability to find a representative sample in the age of caller ID is pretty questionable in my view
That said when a poll shows 31% of Anericans are concerned by the rise of #Fascism, I pay attention. That notion would have been absurd 10 years ago, but this is where we are and the fact that a significant tranche of Americans have realized the threat is good news for #democracy
Will Nikki Haley do the right thing and endorse Joe Biden? ( thehill.com )