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#MeToo movement rises
Meimei Xu, News Reporter|January 26, 2018|116 Views
When the New York Times first reported rape allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein on Oct. 5, 2017, many felt that a new era had begun. Then, on Oct. 15, actress Alyssa Milano wrote on Twitter, "If you've been sexually harassed or assaulted write 'me too' as a reply to this tweet." Within the first day of the tweet, over 200,000 people used the hashtag on Twitter, and over 12 million people posted, commented, or reacted to the campaign on Facebook. Within the first 48 hours, the number of tweets with #MeToo rose to nearly one million. By Oct. 24, the movement reached 85 countries. Spanish victims used #YoTambien. French victims used #balancetonporc. Victims in the Middle East and Africa used a direct Arabic translation of the words "Me Too." Italian victims used #QuellaVoltaChe.
Long before the hashtags, however, the "Me Too" campaign itself started with one woman. Tarana Burke, founder of Just Be Inc., a youth organization concerned with the health and wellbeing of young women of color, created the grassroots movement in 2007 to aid survivors in unprivileged places that lacked adequate resources for victims of sexual assault. Burke was named Time Magazine's Person of the Year as part of a group called the "Silence Breakers" – men and women, from actresses to dishwashers, all of whom had experienced sexual harassment or assault.
Since Weinstein's dismissal from the Weinstein Company, more than 50 high-profile men have been accused of sexual misconduct. In addition to producers, those accused include politicians, comedians, actors, executives, hosts, athletes, and chefs. Alabama judge Roy Moore lost his campaign for U.S. Senate after allegations of sexual assault. NBC's Today Show morning host Matt Lauer was fired from NBC after multiple accounts of sexual harassment in the workplace.
"For someone like Matt Lauer to have to face the music, that's huge," said AP English teacher Kristin Hunter. "I mean those are really powerful men that you couldn't really imagine in the past that you could bring down."
Alongside English teacher Mary Heald, Hunter taught the JanTerm Women Writers: Creating a Woman's Life.
Though many believe sexual harassment to be a common occurrence, the sheer number of participants in the #MeToo movement raises questions. Due to the sudden rise in cases of sexual assault, some doubt the legitimacy of the accusations. Nevertheless, says sophomore Payton Selby, one of the leaders of GEAR, the Gender Equality and Relations club, these cases should be taken with the utmost consideration.
"Whether or not it's true, any time any claim of sexual assault is brought up, it should be seen to be true and investigated to the fullest extent, because at risk of it being true and someone not believing them – that is an immeasurable injustice – to have someone live with rape and not have been believed," said Selby.
Selby, along with the other members and leaders of GEAR, has worked with victims of sex trafficking in collaboration with Atlanta-based nonprofit Wellspring Living. The members of GEAR made more than 50 bags with snacks, toiletries, journals, and handwritten letters for young women who survived or are at risk of sexual exploitation. For many of these women, says Selby, speaking up about their experiences alone is not an achievable reality.
"These women, we notice that they're so scared to break out of this system because they're scared they're not going to be believed," said Selby. "But imagine the impact they would have if all of them came together."
In addition to victims of sex trafficking, other survivors of sexual abuse who do not have the visibility of Hollywood stars find it difficult to safely participate in the "Me Too" campaign. Some do not have access to the Internet. Many risk losing a job, a livelihood, especially if their abusers employed them.
"Why now? What do they have to gain from doing this now?" asks Spanish and French teacher Manuela Kelly, who is also advisor to the Young Conservative Leaders group at Westminster. "This has been going on in Hollywood for years and #theyallknew, there just was no profit, nothing to gain by courageously standing up and saying something against these predators. Where have the seasoned actresses been all these years?"
To name a few, she mentions actresses like Meryl Streep, Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Ashley Judd.
Kelly has taught the Children's Human Rights JanTerm this year and in the past. In camps set up in Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon, Greece, Calais, and France, she says, refugee women fear for their safety.
"There are reported cases of women being raped and sexually abused in these camps. These women have no power. No voice. They rely only on the protection they can get from a male relative, or possibly from humanitarian organizations. There's no justice for them," said Kelly. "These women in Hollywood who have all the power and resources that a woman here in the United States could possibly have, for them to hold their tongue and only come out now, seems inconceivable and self-serving. I prefer to join Tarana Burke's movement. Since 2007, she has courageously spoken out for women in vulnerable situations, yet only now do most of us hear her name."
Most cases of sexual assault, such as Weinstein's three rape allegations and dozens of harassment accusations, came as a result of multiple incidents. If the victims spoke up earlier, Kelly believes, these repeated offenses could have been prevented. According to a Cosmopolitan survey conducted in 2015, one in three women between the ages of 18 to 34 have experienced sexual harassment at work, but 71 percent of women did not report the incident.
"The reason [the abusers] go from Victim A to Victim B to Victim C is because they are allowed to do so. Who allows these known predators, especially in these inner circles, to continue doing what they do? The women who stand on the sidelines and choose to keep silent. It benefits them to keep quiet," said Kelly.
But even for those with power, some believe, bringing to justice an abuser without the support of other women presents legal and social challenges. The results of a 2017 poll conducted by NBC News and the Wall Street Journal show that nearly half of employed women in the U.S. have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace. According to NPR, however, only 3 to 6 percent of sexual harassment cases go to trial in America. In addition to legal barriers, says Heald, social challenges limit women from speaking up publicly about their experiences.
"I mean there's so many labels that can be slapped on women who stand up for themselves; you're being difficult, you're being angry, you're being rigid, demanding, whiney," said Heald.
Nevertheless, both Kelly and Selby point to an important factor: the viral online movement can very easily overlook the needs of less visible women. Laws prohibiting sexual harassment at work do not exist in over one-third of countries around the world, according to a report by the WORLD Policy Analysis Center.
In support of women and men who lack the means to speak up for themselves, a new movement – "Time's Up" – emerged. The initiative's Legal Defense Fund, administered by women's rights legal organization National Women's Law Center, has raised over $16 million out of its $17-million goal. The fund, meant to provide victims of sexual harassment and assault with subsidized legal support, will work in partnership with the center's Legal Network for Gender Equity, a network of lawyers and public relations professionals around the country.
To bring awareness to the "Time's Up" initiative, stars attending the 75th Golden Globes Awards on Jan. 7 wore all black, including Burke, the original founder of "Me Too." Oprah Winfrey, during her acceptance of the Cecile B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement, made a speech about the "Me Too" movement. Her speech moved some to urge her to run for the 2020 presidential election, while others remained skeptical of her motives due to her previous friendship with Weinstein. Among several other men, actor Aziz Ansari, winner of a Golden Globe award for his series Master of None, wore a "Time's Up" pin on his lapel. On Jan. 13, however, the website Babe published an allegation of sexual harassment against the actor that described what the actor believed to have been a consensual situation.
"This creates a very damaging portrayal of these men who may not have done anything wrong, rather if the issues were addressed privately first, then they may be able to be resolved," said senior Alex Cann, one of the leaders of the Young Conservatives club.
The allegation left a storm of controversy over the legal definition of sexual harassment. On the official site of "Time's Up," a posting called "Know Your Rights" gives examples of different levels of inappropriate behavior and gives advice for determining if a certain behavior warrants legal action. As Cann believes, a distinction between differing levels of inappropriate behavior needs to be made.
"By claiming victims of molestation have suffered the same or similarly to those who may have been the brunt of tasteless jokes, that claim creates a society in which women are seen as so sensitive and overwhelmed almost to a point of degradation," said Cann. "All of these behaviors need to be eliminated, but equating all possibly offensive actions is not a healthy way to portray these issues to society."
But the different perceptions of Ansari's encounter, many believe, reveal certain established societal norms in our society that surround gender relations. Situations that muddle the boundary between harassment and plain discomfort, says GEAR faculty advisor Reanna Ursin, present an opportunity for men to reflect on how others perceive their actions and what appropriate behavior, at least in the workplace, should entail.
"I think we need to do some deep digging and searching about our gender norms, because these conversations about, 'Well, you shouldn't be angry at a guy for just trying to flirt or trying to steal a kiss or having flirtatious advances at work, and he shouldn't be penalized for that,' I think we really need to interrogate that, because that suggests that we think that's what men need to be doing all the time, as opposed to, 'How about you just go to work and do your job,'" said Ursin.
These gender norms, says Cann, come as a result of messages boys receive about the definition of manhood.
"Society today has created an expectation that men should always want and always have a sexual partner, and any lack thereof makes them less of a man," said Cann. "This also creates an objectification of women, enabling an extension and affirmation of this kind of behavior."
In addition, says Selby, we should reevaluate the role of dress codes in school and how they may contribute to the objectification of women.
"I think our dress code becomes more about female modesty and male professionalism, and I think if we looked at it as, 'how to be professional within each space,' that's how we should be evaluating it, not necessarily if you show a certain portion of your knee, you're no longer able to be respected in a space," said Selby.
"Young adults at Westminster who will enter the workforce will inevitably encounter tension surrounding gender relations in various work environments," says senior boys grade chair John Monahan. "Gender and its rights and responsibilities will make up a central component of the group. And when boys witness situations of harassment, it is their responsibility to speak up. I would like to flip the script and say they're being more of a man when they stand up for a woman in circumstances like that."
This spring, he will form a peer mentorship group for boys in the Upper School and rising freshmen. In addition to Monahan's group and GEAR, Circle of Women provides support for girls who lack the means to an education. Hunter and Heald's JanTerm, Creating a Woman's Life, examines the stories and scripts that have shaped women's lives over time, and the forces that silence or empower them. And it's this support from men and women alike, says Selby, that propels any type of positive change.
"Maybe it's a reality that in society, one single woman is not valid enough, right now, which is an issue," said Selby. "But it needs to be heard, and if the way to do that is to have everyone come together, then that is what needs to be done."
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We are addressing the poor health, quality of life, and wellbeing of poverty-stricken persons, in ethiopia, with lower- limb disabilities, who are subjected to using their hands to move, leading to contamination and infections/wounds and spread of disease.
According to WHO (2015), over 70 million people live with disabilities worldwide , most live in developing countries, especially in rural areas where health services are inadequate and hard to access (ILO, 2013). A case in point, Ethiopia has one of the biggest number of persons with disabilities in Africa, estimated at 15 million, (17.6% of population) (CBM, 2015) of which 23% have leg disabilities (DCDD 2017). Approximately 85 percent of people with disabilities live in poverty and can't afford existing solutions for mobility e.g wheel chairs or crutches. Infrastructure in rural areas are not adapted to their condition and available solutions have failed to identify the constraints of the environment. This problem is prevalent in many different countries as attested by UNLEASH talents and practitioners in disability management.
Our solution is to create a physical protective garment, and physical and digital platform where people with disabilities can co-create protective garments.
By Using local resources (repurposing rubber from discarded tires), community members can create durable protective garments, at little to no cost, by learning from the platform's community; thus creating a sustainable ecosystem. The garments will protect them from further physical injury while reducing the risk of infection and contamination.
engagement, while improving visibility and productivity of people with disabilities in Ethiopia.
While there are existing companies and organizations that have proposed and provided people with Lower-limb disability (LLD) solutions to improving mobility, most of these products are too expensive and scarce for the 95 percent of people living with disabilities in rural areas within Ethiopia. Currently, there are no sustainable solutions as many of these products are not locally produced, making them too costly to access and maintain and too difficult to scale. With our unique physical and digital platform, we will be providing people with practical and feasible knowledge, allowing them to create their own garments, engage with their community, and de-stigmatize disabilities.
Together, Project DIG (Designing Inclusive Garments), was created to meet the UN SDGs. 1000 talents, from around the world, were selected to participate in a two-week innovation lab in Denmark where participants would ideate, brainstorm, prototype, test, and pitch their solutions to a panel of judges from UNICEF, the Carlsberg Foundation, Prime Minister of Denmark, and so on.
Our project is designed to target a demographic group including, though not entirely limited to, the "technologically challenged" elderly population of New York City. We address the design issue of visually focused communication systems which cater to younger users who are familiar with or readily able to learn how to use technologically advanced digital devices and systems. Visual communication devices, such as smartphones, Skype, Facetime, and Google chat, often overwhelm older users due to their lack of modern technical knowledge. Most of the time, this leads the elderly to completely reject these methods of communication or become reliant on others to help them directly utilize these technologies. As such, we propose a methodological solution that will provide the elderly the ability to utilize visual communication systems on their own with relative ease.
Everyday tasks and chores pose further challenges for those with arthritis. One particular problem amongst people with arthritis, is that existing culinary utensils, specifically chopsticks, are extremely difficult to use.
This project stemmed from a personal experience. My grandfather suffers from severe arthritis and often complains about problems he has with zipping jackets, buttoning clothes, tying shoes, and using chopsticks!


The Office of the State Treasurer is responsible for the investment, cash management, and safekeeping of the State's general and restricted funds, as well as a portion of the assets of the South Carolina Retirement Systems. The Office also provides fiscal management services, including receipt and disbursement of all funds. The Office coordinates all banking services, manages the State's debt, administers the Unclaimed Property and College Savings Programs and works and communicates regularly with the three major bond rating firms to maintain high credit ratings that keep the State's borrowing cost low. The Office manages the excess funds of the State as well as the local governments and political subdivisions.
Available are the CD-ROMs of the State Treasurer's website, 2003.
This gives statistics on magistrate court surcharges for victims' services broken down by county and municipalities according to current month, fiscal year to date and total prior year.
This gives statistics on general sessions and family court surcharges for victims' services broken down by county and municipalities according to current month, fiscal year to date and total prior year.
This gives statistics on municipal court surcharges for victims' services broken down by county and municipalities according to current month, fiscal year to date and total prior year.


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Title: Are Anarchism and Democracy Opposed?
Subtitle: A Response to Crimethinc
Author: Wayne Price
Topics: anarchism, CrimethInc., democracy
Source: anarchistnews.org
Wayne Price
Are Anarchism and Democracy Opposed?
A Response to Crimethinc
Opposition to Existing Bourgeois Representative Democracies
II. Is Democracy Oppressive in Principle?
Have Anarchists Advocated Democracy?
Summary: Crimethinc has initiated a discussion about the relationship between anarchism and democracy. Their opinion is that anarchism must be opposed to democracy—not only to bourgeois representative democracy but also to direct, participatory, libertarian-socialist, democracy. I argue, instead, that there is a struggle over the meaning of "democracy," and that anarchism can and should be interpreted as the most radical, decentralized, and participatory extension of democracy.
Crimethinc, the "Ex-Workers' Collective," is organizing a discussion of the relationship between anarchism and democracy. They have published a series of essays, including "the flagship text in the series, From Democracy to Freedom." (Crimethinc 2016) and a supporting essay by Uri Gordon (2016). They are suggesting that local groups discuss their proposed readings and related questions.
Their view is that anarchism is not consistent with any concept of democracy. They reject not only capitalist representative democracy but even the direct democracy of libertarian socialist communes or workers' management of industry, accepting neither majority rule nor consensus. My contrary view of the matter was expressed in the title of my essay, "Anarchism as Extreme Democracy." (Price 2009) So I think it may advance the discussion if I express my opinion. I do not intend to go over their "flagship text" point-by-point, but to cover what I think are the major issues.
As they note, "democracy" has been almost the universal good word. It was once despised by the upper classes as meaning "mob rule." Now it is acclaimed in the imperial bourgeois states as it was recently in the "Communist" (totalitarian) People's Democracies, as well as by liberals, conservatives, social democrats, and many (but far from all) anarchists. "Such is the sway of the word democracy that no government or party dares to exist, or believes it can exist, without inscribing this word upon its banner…." (quoted in Draper 1977; 18) This was not said recently but in 1849 by the French historian and politician, Guizot.
In general, "democracy" is defined as the "rule or power of the people (the 'demos')." In his Politics, Aristotle classically defined "democracy" as a constitution in which "the free-born and poor control the government—being at the same time a majority." (quoted in Wood 1995; 220). Of course, Aristotle was not an anarchist. Nor was he a democrat.
Today's near-universal acceptance of "democracy" does not show that everyone is using the same meaning. There is a difference between the view of the officials who send out the police to suppress demonstrations, in order to "maintain democracy," and that of the demonstrators who chant, "This is what democracy looks like!" As Gordon writes, "…Democracy is an 'essentially contested' concept—its meaning is itself a political battleground." (2016; 1) For such terms, Draper writes, "…their meanings have become pawns in a social and ideological struggle. The interpretation of 'class struggle' becomes a weapon of class struggle, just as the meaning of 'democracy' becomes an arena for the struggle to determine what democracy shall mean." (Draper 1977; 18) (For a review of the historical struggles over the meaning of "democracy," see Part II of Democracy Against Capitalism, by the late Marxist historian, Ellen Meiksins Wood [1995].)
Unfortunately, Crimethinc has given up on this struggle over the meaning of "democracy." They interpret the "rule or power" or "government" of the "people" as meaning a state. Therefore they accept the dominant interpretation of "democracy" as referring to the existing bourgeois democracies, as opposed to being a standard by which these states may be judged (and found wanting). They recommend that anarchists and other libertarian socialists give up the claim that these states are not really democratic. They propose that revolutionaries stop using the ideal of democracy to fight against the system. They insist that the bourgeois theorists are right: democracy means a state—therefore it inevitably means oppression and exploitation.
Humans have governed themselves for tens of thousands of years in tribal assemblies and village councils, as David Graeber points out (as they quote him). This demonstrates, he argues, that people are capable of organizing themselves through direct democracy, without states (or markets or classes). While accepting the anthropological history, Crimethinc rejects Graeber's argument simply by denying that this long history should be called "democracy." It doesn't fit their definition in which democracy means a state.
Similarly, they assert, "This is not an argument against discussions, collectives, assemblies, networks, [or] federations…." (Crimethinc 2016; 1) Their goal, they write, is "to create mutually fulfilling collectivities at each level of society….These can take many forms, from housing cooperatives and neighborhood assemblies to international networks." (44) This may sound like a radical conception of democracy to most people, similar to Cindy Milstein's program (which they cite) of federated, directly-democratic, communities. Not to Crimethinc. "…When we engage in these practices, if we understand what we are doing as democracy—as a form of participatory government rather than as a collective practice of freedom—than sooner or later, we will recreate all the problems…." (1) So if people even think that what they are doing in a collective is "democratic," then they will recreate the state, because democracy (as Crimethinc defines it) is a form of "government," a term by which they mean "state." This is argument by definition. Other anarchists regard direct, participatory, democracy as precisely the "collective practice of freedom."
I will now focus on two major arguments against democracy as raised by Crimethinc and other anarchists. (I) "Democracy" is the ideology and political system of existing capitalist states. It is the mechanism by which factions of the ruling class work out their differences. It serves to bamboozle the masses into believing that they are free and have power over the government. Anarchists should expose this false ideology, it is argued, not support it.
(II) Anarchists oppose all forms of rule, not only rule by individual dictators or by minorities. They also oppose rule by the "people," or "the working class," or "the majority," it is argued. "…Force…is what democracy has in common with autocracy and every other form of rule. They share the institutions of coercion: the legal apparatus, the police, and the military…." (4) Therefore, democracy should be rejected in principle—even the most decentralized, participatory, and pluralist socialist-democracy.
I agree that all anarchists should be in revolutionary opposition to the existing states which label themselves "democracies." Even the most participatory and responsible states (which is not the United States) are still oppressive and exploitative, supporters of capitalism, patriarchy, racism, and other forms of domination. Bourgeois democracies are still "the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie." Workers and all the oppressed should aim to overturn and dismantle these states—and replace them with alternate institutions which embody the "collective practice of freedom." To this end, anarchists seek to expose the fraudulent nature of the pseudo-democratic ideology which these states use to fool the people.
a) However, a few comments may be added. For one, it is easier to live under a bourgeois democracy than under a dictatorship or totalitarian regime. Politically, it is easier to organize radical study groups, to publish anarchist literature, and to form radical organizations. It is easier for workers to form unions and for People of Color and immigrants to form community associations. These are limited but real advantages. This should not lead to anarchists' supporting the bourgeois-democratic state, but to anarchists supporting the limited advantages which the people have under the bourgeois-democratic state—as against fascist attack, for instance.
Crimethinc correctly quotes the great Italian anarchist, Errico Malatesta, as saying that (in his opinion) anarchists should not, in principle, support democracy any more than they support dictatorship. But Malatesta also believed that the capitalist democratic state was preferable to a dictatorship, if only because anarchists could use its ideology against it. "...The worst of democracies is always preferable, if only from the educational point of view, [to] the best of dictatorships.... Democracy is a lie, it...is, in reality, oligarchy, that is, government by the few to the advantage of a privileged class. But we can still fight it in the name of freedom and equality..." (Malatesta 1995; 77).
b) Of all class societies, capitalism has the greatest split between its state and its economy. While many states claim to be democratic, they make no such claim for their capitalist economies. That the corporations and firms are run top-down, as authoritarian institutions, is openly admitted. The rationalization for the capitalist economy is not "democracy" but "free enterprise." Therefore, to demand a democratic economy is not to reinforce the existing ideology but to challenge it at its root! Workers' management of industry, consumer cooperatives, self-governing agri-industrial communes, planning from the bottom-up, etc., are democratic concepts completely antithetical to the dominant ideology of capitalism.
c) In a text included on Crimethinc's reading list, Uri Gordon argues that "…anarchist invocations of democracy…[are] problematic because its rhetorical structure and audience targeting almost inevitably end up appealing to patriotic sentiments and national origin myths." (Gordon 2016; 1) He criticizes statements by Murray Bookchin and Cindy Milstein about positive aspects of the U.S. Revolution and New England town meetings.
Like all nations, our society has always been divided between oppressor and oppressed: between the bourgeoisie and the working class, white supremacy and People of Color, patriarchy and women, heteronormativity and LGBT people, and so on. As a result, its history is also divided, between the dominant discourse of the great White democratic imperial nation, and opposed, often hidden, traditions of the struggles of the oppressed. This is the history of radical mechanics and sailors during the Revolution, of American Indian resistance, of slave rebellions, of the abolitionists (Black and White), of the IWW, of workers' mass strikes in the '30s, of women's fights for their rights, of Stonewall and ACT-UP, etc., etc. That is the tradition of revolutionary democracy. It too is part of the "contested concept" of the meaning(s) of U.S. history. The reactionary meaning of the dominant history must be exposed, but should anarchists deny the revolutionary and libertarian traditions? These are the traditions of our class and of our people!
d) Crimethinc claims that the use of "democracy" reinforces the dominant discourse of the existing system. Instead they call for "freedom" (From Democracy to Freedom is the title of their "flagship" paper). But "freedom" is at least as much a code word for capitalism. Our society is supposedly a bastion of "freedom." The terrorists "hate us for our freedom," we are told. The economy is "free enterprise" with a "free market." We live in "the land of the free and the home of the brave," according to our national anthem. The non-Communist countries are the "free world" (including the dictatorships). When the French government criticized the U.S. attack on Iraq, right-wingers changed french fries to "freedom fries." Similarly for freedom's synonym "liberty." The Declaration of Independence promised "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." The Statue of Liberty sits in New York harbor. And so on. Just about every argument which Crimethinc uses against the term "democracy" can be used against "freedom" and "liberty." Just as much as "democracy," "freedom" is really a "contested concept," whose meaning is a "political battleground."
Certain anarchists reject democracy as an abstract principle. Just as they oppose monarchy (the rule of one) or oligarchy (the rule of a few), so—they argue—they must oppose the rule of the many, the people (democracy). By what right, they ask, does a majority, or even the whole population, tell a minority or even one person, what they must not do? As previously quoted, Crimethinc believes that even the best libertarian democracy must use force and coercion, leading to "the legal apparatus, the police, and the military." (4)
However, it is impossible to organize a society, even the freest, without some coercion—reduced to the minimum possible at the time. An anarchist revolution will take away the wealth and property of the capitalists—which the rich will regard as terribly coercive, no matter how nonviolently done. They may resist with counterrevolutionary armies! Also, after a revolution, there will still be demoralized anti-social people who have been hurt by the loveless society of capitalism. They will not immediately vanish. While anarchists do not believe in punishment or vengeance, they do believe in protecting people from anti-social actors (such as rapists). This too requires coercion.
For such reasons, anarchists and other revolutionary socialists have long advocated replacing the specialized layers of "police and military" with a popular militia, the armed workers and former oppressed, under leadership of popular councils—so long as this remains necessary. Crimethinc does not mention this.
More to the point, it is impossible to have an organized society (even one organized from the bottom-up) without collective decision-making. (I leave out personal decision-making, such as choosing a religion or having a sexual orientation, which are indeed none of the business of majorities.)
Crimethinc asks, "…If all those decisions were actually made by the people they impact, there would be no need for a means of enforcing them." (7) But what if there is disagreement among the people who are impacted by a collective decision?
Suppose there is a commune where a minority believes that a new road should be built. There is discussion in the commune. They win over a majority of the people but a (new) minority still does not want the new road. But either the road will be built or it won't. This is coercion, not by the police but by reality. If the resistant minority vetoes the road (under consensus) then they are coercing the majority to give up its desire. If the majority wins (in a community of majority-rule, with respect for the rights of minorities), then the minority must live with an unwanted road. They could leave their homes and friends, of course, but any new place they go will also have to decide on roads. Or they could stay. They might be in the majority on the next issue.
The goal of anarchism is not to have absolutely no coercion. It is to abolish the state (which is the institution of coercion under capitalism). The state is a bureaucratic-military socially-alienated machine. It has layers of professional police, prison guards, soldiers, politicians, lobbyists, judges, and bureaucrats, who stand above and over the rest of society. In "The State: Its Historic Role," Kropotkin writes, "…What [do] we wish to include by the term 'the State' [?]…..It not only includes the existence of a power situated above society, but also of a territorial concentration as well as the concentration in the hands of a few of many functions in the life of societies….A whole mechanism of legislation and of policing has to be developed in order to subject some classes to the domination of others."
(Kropotkin 2014; 254)
In place of the state mechanism, anarchists propose the self-organization of the people (meaning the former working class and oppressed). There will be federated and networked workplace councils and neighborhood assemblies, militia units and other popular associations. Collective decisions will be made—as much as possible—through dialogue and discussion and the use of cooperative intelligence. When everyone is involved in governing then there is no government. Anarchism is democracy without the state.
There is some dispute about whether anarchists historically were for or against the term "democracy." Gordon quotes Proudhon, Bakunin, Berkman, and Malatesta rejecting democracy. He concludes, "The association between anarchism and democracy makes its appearance only around the 1980s, through the writings of Murray Bookchin." (Gordon 2016; 2) This is untrue. For one, Paul Goodman, probably the most well-known U.S. anarchist of the 'sixties, presented his anarchism as consistent with an extension of the radical-liberal democratic tradition, including Jefferson and John Dewey.
Perhaps more accurately, Andrew Cornell writes of the 40s to the 70s, "During the years under consideration, anarchists developed a greater appreciation than their ideological predecessors for the practice of democracy as an ideal." (Cornell 2016; 17) This was due, he feels, to the influence on anarchists of the "1960s conceptual invention, participatory democracy" (same) and the feminist, anti-racist, anti-imperialist, and LGBT movements.
Actually, the record is more mixed than that. Of course all anarchists, from the start, have opposed bourgeois-democratic representative capitalist governments, often referring to them simply as "democracies." And anarchists have supported the rights of individuals and minorities to freedom in many areas (religion, sex, speech, art, life styles, etc.)—areas which do not require collective decision-making. At the same time, almost all anarchists have advocated group decision-making, at work or in communes, using terms such as "self-governing, self-managing, autogestion, self-rule, self-determination." What they have meant in practice has been usually indistinguishable from radical, participatory, democracy.
P.J. Proudhon (the first person to identify himself as an "anarchist") wrote both negative and positive things about "democracy." Iain McKay quotes him as writing, "We want the mines, canals, railroads handed over to democratically organized workers' associations…that vast federation of companies and societies woven into the common cloth of the democratic and social Republic." (quoted in McKay's "Introduction" to Kropotkin 2014; 8) Again, Proudhon advocated a system of federated communes, with mandated and recallable delegates. "The imperative mandate, permanent revocability, are the most immediate, undeniable, consequences of the electoral principle. It is the inevitable program for all democracy." (quoted in same; 9) This was a century before the 1980s and Murray Bookchin.
Crimethinc rejects "democracy" because they have worked out a definition which requires democracy to mean domination, coercion, government, and the state. Then they focus on the existing representative democracies under capitalism, using them as proof of the inevitable failures of even the best democracy.
Instead, I have focused on "democracy" as an historically contested term, pointing to the real-life struggle over its meaning (not just its definition). This is also true of "freedom," a term which Crimethinc favors, as it is for other terms (such as "anarchism" or "socialism"). Unfortunately, Crimethinc has given up on the struggle over "democracy," letting the capitalists have the final interpretation.
That is consistent with the general weakness of Crimethinc. They do not write about how the tiny minority which wants anarchist revolution can win over the big, (as yet) non-revolutionary, majority. Granted, before revolutionary anarchists really reach the majority, they must reach out to a layer of radicalizing and militant activists who are open to becoming anarchists in the next period. These people could cohere into organizations and networks. But to win them over, they must be persuaded that revolutionary anarchists have an analysis of the system, a program for changing it, a vision of a better society, and a way to reach the broad population. This will not happen if anarchists reject the popular concept "democracy" and the revolutionary democratic tradition. It requires a recognition that anarchism is democracy without the state.
Cornell, Andrew (2016). Unruly Equality: U.S. Anarchism in the 20th Century. Oakland: University of California Press.
Crimethinc (2016). "From Democracy to Freedom."
we.riseup.net
Draper, Hal (1977). Karl Marx's Theory of Revolution; Vol. I, State and Bureaucracy. NY/London: Monthly Review Press.
Gordon, Uri (2016). "Democracy the Patriotic Temptation."
www.crimethinc.com...
Kropotkin, Peter (2014). Direct Struggle Against Capital; A Peter Kropotkin Anthology (ed. Iain McKay). Oakland: AK Press.
Malatesta, Errico (1995). The Anarchist Revolution: Polemical Articles 1924-1931. (V. Richards, ed.) London: Freedom Press.
Price, Wayne (2009). "Anarchism as Extreme Democracy." The Utopian.
www.utopianmag.com
Wood, Ellen Meiksins (1995). Democracy Against Capitalism: Renewing Historical Materialism. NY: Cambridge University Press.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Protecting consumers from municipal ideologues | News, Sports, Jobs
Last month, seven environmental groups wrote a flawed letter to Philadelphia officials disparaging legislation I sponsored as counterintuitive to the city's decarbonization goals.
In October, six Democrats, including two from the southeast corner of the state, joined our House's 28 Republicans and lone independent in approving Senate Bill 275. It is a majority without a veto, for those who count.
Why? Because the objective of the bill is simple: it prevents more than 2,500 municipalities in Pennsylvania from prohibiting access to certain public services, such as natural gas or fuel oil. This will preserve consumers' access to affordable electricity, wherever they live, and prevent a chaotic patchwork of regulations that will ultimately undermine statewide environmental and energy policies.
It also reaffirms what many local and state officials, including the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, already understand to be true: municipalities do not have the power to restrict energy sources.
What the bill does not do is prevent the Philadelphia City Council from pursuing its goal of retrofitting all public buildings to reduce emissions by 50% over the next decade. It's not just about removing gas lines and oil tanks and installing heat pumps instead. Reducing electricity consumption – through improved windows, roofs and insulation – is also a crucial piece of the puzzle.
The aforementioned environmental groups have said that SB 275 will eliminate any hope that Philadelphia will achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Which raises the question of whether the only way to achieve decarbonization is to indiscriminately ban public services deemed "dirty" and "wrong," is that even a good plan? Isn't there an old adage warning of the danger of putting all your eggs in one basket?
Prohibit specific fuel sources for the purpose of "clean energy" makes no sense in Philadelphia and beyond. First, clean energy is a misnomer. There is simply no such thing. Even if tomorrow we shut down all the coal and gas power plants in the world and launched a frantic campaign to install wind and solar farms in their place, we would need to cover around 1.8 million square kilometers of land and coastline to replace lost capacity.
And we would need fossil fuels to produce all those solar panels and wind turbines. Just as we need oil and gas to create and distribute nearly every product we use every day, from the medicines we take to the clothes we wear to the packaging we use to store our food. To assume that banning fossil fuels will only impact emissions and electricity prices is to ignore the complex web that is our economy.
Moreover, the city does not exist in a vacuum. It is connected to an extensive 13-state power grid called PJM, which handles the safe and reliable flow of electricity for 65 million people from Chicago to Washington DC and many places in between.
PJM operators ensure its network of transmission lines and generation facilities operate in tandem every minute of the day, preventing system overloads that could trigger massive utility outages and inflict untold suffering. millions of people on its territory. So if demand for electricity increases in Philadelphia, but environmental policies have forced fossil fuel power plants out of business, there are fewer reliable energy sources to bear the burden.
A similar story unfolded in Texas in February when an unprecedented winter storm froze generators and rendered solar and wind farms useless, leaving up to 4 million Texans without power and water. More than 200 people died in the chaos. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the state grid operator, promised to winterize its system to strengthen it against future storms, but the damage was done. The rest of the nation should take note: a diverse and robust network is critical to preventing system-wide disasters.
Which brings me back to the idea of banning access to fossil fuels. If we are willing to sacrifice our food, clothing, housing, and transportation, it could eliminate some carbon emissions in the United States. Globally, U.S. emissions are about half of what China produces on an annual basis, according to 2018 figures. Japan – would also take our place.
Then there are emissions from sources we cannot always control: volcanic eruptions, livestock, forest fires. Or the damage caused by human activity like deforestation and degenerative agriculture. Even though the United States has found a solution to every unsustainable practice that critics say contributes to climate change, the rest of the world's major nations are not following suit.
So what do these bands really want from the city? They want officials to attack our carefully planned and managed electric grid, collapse our economy, and leave Pennsylvanians with higher electric bills, fewer jobs, and unreliable utilities. All with the goal of reducing carbon emissions that will be offset by the rest of the world, in perpetuity.
Protecting consumer energy choices means residents can sue "cleaner" sources of electricity if they want or can afford it, without punishing those who cannot. SB 275 is not about protecting special interests – what does a senator from Williamsport owe the Philadelphia Gas Company?
What matters to me is to promote a sound energy policy that does not leave others behind in the constant pursuit of ideological purity, no matter how impractical, impossible or harmful it is for the very people these politicians claim to help.
State Senator Gene Yaw of R-Loyalsock Township was elected to represent Bradford, Lycoming, Sullivan and Union counties and part of Susquehanna County. He is Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environmental Resources and Energy.
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Le Bishop Mountain Lookout est une tour de guet du comté de Fremont, dans l'Idaho, aux États-Unis. Situé à  d'altitude dans les montagnes Centennial, il est protégé au sein de la forêt nationale de Caribou-Targhee. Il est par ailleurs inscrit au Registre national des lieux historiques depuis le .

Liens externes

Tour de guet contre les incendies des Rocheuses
Tour de guet contre les incendies inscrite au Registre national des lieux historiques dans l'Idaho
Registre national des lieux historiques dans une forêt nationale dans l'Idaho
Registre national des lieux historiques en 1986
Comté de Fremont (Idaho)
Aermotor Windmill Company

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Voters in Alaska will be asked to vote on a reform of Alaska's Title 16 provision on November 6. The ballot measure, known as Stand for Salmon, reforms the process to permit natural resource and community development projects impacting anadromous fish habitat.
The current fish habitat permitting process is largely flexible and reliant on good biology. The process draws on the knowledge of field biologists to make sound decisions regarding habitat protection. The current system also allows for flexibility in permitting in order to protect resources on a project-specific and a stream-specific basis.
The proposed ballot measure would eliminate the scientific data requirement to specify anadromous habitat in regulation via the Anadromous Water Catalog, and replaces this with a statewide assumption that all habitats are important anadromous fish habitat.
While the intention of the ballot measure is to further protect fish habitat, there are serious unintended consequences for Alaska, the economy and for the development of projects that need to be permitted.
Negative impacts to rural infrastructure is one reason Doyon supports Stand for Alaska – Vote No on 1. If the ballot measure passes, the cost of infrastructure projects in rural Alaska will dramatically increase. Roads, transportation projects and airport development projects will be negatively impacted, and waste water treatment projects will be called into question. In the Doyon region, projects like the safety upgrades to the Taylor Highway at Eagle will depend on new and unknown regulatory standards, and improvements to the airport access roads in Nulato and Shagaluk would likely be further delayed.
The ballot measure also will have negative impacts to regional and village corporations. Doyon and Interior village corporations benefit from the development of natural resources by regional Native corporations through 7i and 7j payments, as directed by ANCSA. For example, NANA's Red Dog Mine has been in operation since 1989, and since mining has begun, NANA has distributed over $820 million to other regional and village corporations.
In 2017 alone, natural resource development on Native lands led to the sharing of over $230 million in revenues with regional and village corporations. These shared revenues from natural resource development would face uncertainty, as the grandfather clause written into the ballot measure is only in place, "until expiration or termination of the user's permit, authorization, license, or approval." This clauses leaves the continuation of these long-standing projects to an uncertain future.
Doyon believes the intention of the Stand for Salmon ballot measure is to protect fish habitat, but the unintended consequences lead Doyon to urge a no vote. The certainty provided by the current process protects fish habitat, and allows the use and development of ANCSA resources with habitat protections, and a no vote would retain this process.


Everything Reviewed....: The End of The My Mother Nature in 2010?
The End of The My Mother Nature in 2010?
Enjoying the acclimate are we? Yes for about 20 afterwards canicule so far it has active about in the UK every day. Temperatures accept plummeted to as low as -20 commodity in Scotland and -10 area I alive in West Yorkshire! Abiding for the aboriginal anniversary or so it was fun to accept snow awning the area and accomplish snowmen and accept snowball fights. Canicule off work, college, schools, uni accept been agreeable but now it is absolutely annoying.
So a catechism was airish to me and my accumulation of accompany afterwards a adamantine day arcade in Leeds for the acknowledgment to university. Afterwards bottomward and sliding about for two hours we absitively abundant was artlessly enough. Grabbing our laptops we sprung abruptness orders on Amazon and play.com and again clambered into the abutting coffee abode for abundant bare fixes. The catechism that was airish to me was a catechism my acquaintance had heard in a Science and Ambiance cardboard on the Internet: THE END OF THE WORLD SHALL COME IN 2010.Now.
Calm down! Don't alpha packing your accouterments and autograph an emergency account of abundant bare food afore you barricade yourself in your abode never to appear out; absolutely this is a brainless question. The apple is activity to end in 2012 (anyone who has apparent the blur 2012 shall accede with me here,) so we accept two years to wait. (phew.)She bound explained what the commodity had said: that due to the temperatures ascent the altitude was alteration too. Now the altitude is commodity we all should be afraid about but here, abnormally in the UK, we're not that bothered.
Why? Well it's the British mentality to acquisition commodity funny in alike the best acute situations. Absolutely the contempo arrival of adversity movies should accept afflicted out hearts (or loins?) No because we accept it isn't absolute and abiding it isn't but that's not to say it couldn't happen. I've approved my hardest to change my angle on the environment; I drive but my car is a hybrid; active partially on both agent and lithium ion batteries (which let me acquaint you are a PAIN sometimes abnormally in this algid snap,) I dont' leave appliciances on for best than needed, I alone use what's bare and so on, but commodity bigger is bare to about-face the mentality of the UK and absolutely the apple into action.
Look at the contempo cophenhagan meetings; what absolutely was accomplished? A lot of talking, nodding, accordant but was annihilation absolutely amazing brought out of the meetings? I don't anticipate so, at atomic annihilation thats activity to accomplish me and my accompany sit up andgo"Damn we are accident our ambiance and charge to change now. Let's go and save our communities!"Instead it's activity to go commodity forth the curve of"Damn we are accident our ambiance and charge to change now. Let's go and save our commmunbities!" But wait… Match of the Day is on and folllowed by that I'm off out so I'll do it…tomorrow…maybe…" See?
We charge commodity to advance us. Articles like the one my acquaintance was account is a key ecology affair that will not go away, anybody knows we are application up aggregate faster than the apple can re-supply us with it; so as we larboard the coffee abode and descended aback into our homes powered by deposit fuels I wondered; if we begin out the apple was absolutely activity to end in 2010, could we absolutely survive it? Could we absolutely anticipate it or absolute the accident quick abundant so that we as a chase could not alone abide but perserve our artlessly beauteous and amazing climate?
Could we end poverty, save the ambiance and claiming animal rights? Can we absolutely save the apple aloof by ourselves? Do we accept the government's abutment to do so?
Can it be now? I don't anticipate so.


QUETTA: A denunciation bill against Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain was approved in Balochistan Assembly on Saturday.
The resolution was expounded by Balochistan Home Minister Sarfaraz Ahmad Bugti and got favours from both government and political parties. The resolution denounced Altaf Hussain's speech delivered against the Pakistan Army.
Addressing to his activists gathered at Nine-Zero, Altaf on Friday morning censured the army. Taking immediate react, the army took serious notice, followed by leading government officials, ministers and even members of the opposition.
DG ISPR Major General Asim Bajwa had termed Altaf's remarks uncalled for the irresponsible. In a tweet, he termed MQM chief's speech 'disgusting,' stating that reference to the army or its leadership while reacting to arrest of crooks with suspected links to political parties will not be put up with.
In a statement released on Friday evening, Altaf explained that he never had in mind to belittle the government or any respected department and regretted that his speech had not been fully understood and was taken completely out of the context.


Iranian visa can be issued to the tourists who travel to Iran, their friends and family. It can be issued for one person or a group.
The visa is issued for 30 days and it could be extended, and is valid for 3 months. In order to get a Visa you should refer to your consulate and there is no need for referencing to Iran. But note that the application shouldn't be outside your country and that would waste your time and to be honest, it takes some time to get an Iranian visa.
As you plan to travel to Iran you should apply for visa a few weeks in advance and depending on your nationality you can contact Iranian embassy to be informed for the exact length of time.
At the end of the trip your visa preparation is by the travel agency. It should also be noted that citizens of six countries can get visa on arrival, these countries are: Macedonia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Singapore, Slovenia, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
US citizens must apply in advance for a pre-arranged tour, get a tour guide. Or introduce a relative who can take responsibility, so US citizens cannot travel to Iran individually.
Just make sure that you obtain the necessary information about Persian visa before traveling.


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Is China a security threat to the liberal international order?
August 2, 2021 by Arnaud Sobrero
People's Liberation Army's parade in 2015. Licensed under Creative Commons.
China has enjoyed tremendous economic growth over the last thirty years and is on course to remain a key growth engine for the world's economy. This economic success has enabled China to bolster its military and to take a more active role on the global stage. Leader of China's Communist Party since 2012, Xi Jinping has envisioned a new "Chinese dream" that would restore China's lost national greatness. This desire, coupled with global ambitions, has generated a large amount of anxiety in the Western world and Asia, where China's neighbors are wary of its intentions. That anxiety has translated into several security issues, which can be critically assessed through the lens of realism.
Offensive realism and China's intentions for regional hegemony
According to realists, the world is in a state of anarchy as there is no central authority. Furthermore, realism emphasizes that the main international actor is the state. Survival is a states' primary goal, and it can rely only on its security posture as cooperation in the international system is not assumed. Thus, realist state behavior is sometimes referred to as 'the security dilemma,' which leads to the capacity building of defense and offensive capabilities within each state, leading to further insecurity. As a subset of realism, offensive realism seeks to maximize the amount of power. For offensive realists, security trumps prosperity as the only safe position is dominance.
As such, offensive realism is a relevant lens to use when assessing China as a security threat, as there are multiple signs that China is seeking to challenge the current international order by becoming the global super power. Indeed, China aims to maximize its military might by building capabilities that translate into insecurity for its regional neighbors and the U.S.
Conversely, Mearsheimer argues, "if China continues to grow economically, it will attempt to dominate Asia." By 2035, Bloomberg Economics stated "China will have overtaken the U.S. to become the world's biggest economy". Some others argue that China faces domestic pressures such as slower economic growth rate and an aging population. But given China's demography, it is only a matter of time before China surpasses the U.S. both economically and militarily. Also, the U.S. is labeling China as the number one threat to its national security as China builds capabilities to dominate the U.S. and the rest of the world.
A key driver in China's desire to challenge the international order is nationalism. Chinese nationalism emphasizes the 'century humiliation' – a period of Western interventionism in China between 1839 and 1949. China's nationalist sentiment is seen especially through Xi Jingping's 'Chinese dream' to restore its rightful place as the natural leading world power and contributes to China's lingering anger and resentment toward Japan and the United States.
China's Offensive Capacity Building
In the last thirty years, China's defense spending has grown exponentially to reach $178 billion in 2020. This increase can be explained by the strong performance of its economy and its intention to expand its influence. However, the Chinese government has been inconsistent in reporting its defense budget and has been criticized for its lack of transparency. Some analysts estimate that an extra 33% should be added to get the right level of spending, raising the military expenditures to $230 billion. As the recent white paper about Japan's Defense highlights, this exponential growth, coupled with a lack of transparency, creates greater concern for states neighboring China. Thus, those conditions create some uncertainties regarding China's intentions and fuel an arms race as China's military developments continue to destabilize the balance of power in the region.
China has been steadily investing in offensive capabilities that will allow China to project its power. China is bolstering its "Anti-Access/Area-Denial" (A2/AD) capabilities with additional amphibious helicopter dock ships, anti-ship missiles, and its latest DF-17 hypersonic missile – the first system of its kind to be operational in the world. It has also developed some indigenous capabilities such as fifth generation fighter aircraft (i.e., the J-20 and J-35), comparable with the U.S. F-35 stealth aircraft. Furthermore, China plans to double its stockpile of nuclear warheads in the next decade. While its reserve will remain way below the current U.S. nuclear warhead stockpile (200 versus 3,800), which shows China's global power ambitions as it seeks to build the most extensive nuclear warhead stockpile in Asia.
Aligned with offensive realism, the development of a blue-water navy will allow China to globally project its power. While some may argue, this development is consistent with the rise of economic power, it is essential to note that the level of China's blue-water navy capability is in line with its hegemonic ambitions. China has now completed two aircraft carriers with a third in construction. Furthermore, Captain James E. Fanell – former Director of Intelligence and Information Operations for the U.S. Navy's Pacific Fleet – estimates that China will almost double its submarine fleet to reach 110 units by 2030. To address its global ambitions, China is building blue water capabilities faster than Washington can, which demonstrates China's determination to overtake the U.S. in that aspect. China's ambitious space program is another area of concern as it seeks to dominate both access and presence in outer space.
Power Competition? China's Power in the Asia Pacific
According to John Mearsheimer, China is devising its own version of the Monroe Doctrine, much as the U.S. did in the Caribbean and the Gulf, as well as Imperial Japan in the 1930s. To achieve global hegemony, China will seek to push the U.S. out of the Asia-Pacific region. This policy is in line with the offensive realism's school of thought and the type of military capabilities China is currently building. Indeed, a blue water navy would be instrumental in pushing China's territories' boundaries and transforming the South China Sea into a "Chinese lake."
One of the most strident security threats that China represents is its assertive and revisionist behavior in the South China Sea. In 2009, China claimed an area called the "nine-dash line," which extends way beyond China's territorial waters and overlaps with territories belonging to Vietnam, Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, and Taiwan. This area, where transits 80% of China's oil imports through the Strait of Malacca, bears strategic and geopolitical importance. Besides hosting significant oil and gas resources, it is an area of deep water where Chinese nuclear-powered attack and strategic submarines can navigate with stealth. Furthermore, China has been building airstrips and military bases in the South China Sea to strengthen its ability to project power, raising security tensions with its ASEAN neighbors.
Another severe security issue in the region is China's claim over Taiwan's sovereignty. China has launched a "gray zone" warfare, which entails a reunification with Taiwan without firing a single shot. China has been threatening Taiwan with almost daily multiple aircraft sorties toward Taiwan's airspace, amphibious landing exercises, naval patrols, cyber-attacks, and diplomatic isolation. China has been employing a similar strategy regarding its territorial dispute with Japan in the East China sea, prompting Tokyo to strengthen its Self-Defense Forces.
In addition to its regional revisionism, China has global ambitions with the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to expand its sphere of influence in the world. For example, China is gaining more influence at the United Nations, strengthening its ambition to challenge the international status quo. For example, China is leveraging the UN system to support its BRI under the guise of UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). In addition of leading four UN specialized agencies, China was seeking to gain control of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The move sparked some concerns amid multiple violations of property rights through a state-led campaign of cyber exploitation attacks.
In line with offensive realism, the U.S. has been engaged in a containment policy (i.e., Obama's pivot to Asia, 2012) and is building a coalition with their partners to check Beijing, as the U.S. does not tolerate a peer competitor. However, this containment policy could increase security competition between the U.S. and China, leading to further insecurity: the more the U.S. try to contain China, the more assertive China could become.
To conclude, offensive realism demonstrates that China is a significant security threat to the U.S. and its neighbors in Asia to the extent that it seeks to challenge the status quo by becoming a regional hegemon. While offensive realism shows a pessimistic view of China's rise, it is also a realistic one. Despite China's growth recent slowdown, it remains on track to become the leading power globally.
China's Defense budget's exponential growth, coupled with a lack of transparency, creates high-level anxiety about its real intentions: does China seek to preserve its survival or desire to become a hegemon? All signs point at the latter, generating significant levels of insecurity with the U.S. and its Asian neighbors.
Filed Under: Blog Article, Event, Feature Tagged With: Arnaud Sobrero, China, liberal school
Art, conflict, and the everyday – Traces of War launch event
April 18, 2016 by Strife Staff
By: Laurie Benson
Ribbons I, 2015. 6 bars made of various Siachen soldier's clothing, sponge and wood. Photo credit: Baptist Coelho, Project 88, Mumbai; LAMO, Leh.
Wednesday 13th April marked the launch of the Leverhulme Artist-in-Residence hosted by the Arts and Conflict Hub and Research Centre in International Relations, Department of War Studies, King's College London. The residency features the artist Baptist Coelho who introduced his artistic practice at the event. An exhibition entitled 'Traces of War' will be held in November 2016 at the Inigo Rooms. Co-curator Cécile Bourne-Farrell stressed that the exhibition is an exploratory process to 'recalibrate our vision', not by transcending, but engaging with the everyday experiences of war and its locations. This article explores certain themes prompted by the upcoming exhibition and discussions, namely in terms of commemoration, the everyday, and the role of artists and art in conflict.
Left to Right: Baptist Coelho, Vivienne Jabri, Cécile Bourne-Farrell. (Photo Credit: Xenia Zubova)
Council Room, King's College London, Strand Campus. (Photo Credit: Laurie Benson)
Baptist's presentation took the audience on a journey from locations in India and Pakistan, to the living rooms of ex-British soldiers, and memorial sites in Brighton. Since 2006 he has engaged with the India/Pakistan conflict though a project entitled Siachen Glacier, exploring the extreme conditions experienced by soldiers on the border-located glacier battlefield. Notable pieces have included Ribbons I (2015) and "I long to see some colour…" (2009) an installation piece in which empty photo frames in a soldier's rucksack suggest that what is not visible can still be present. From tales recounted to the artist embedded with the soldiers, the claustrophobic white landscapes of the glacier framed their reality day in, day out. So often saturated by the CNN-bannered news imagery or fluorescent aerial drone aesthetics, Baptist's work and its realisation in the gallery space also stresses the banal palettes of conflict.
"I long to see some colour…", 2009. Installation with soldier's nylon rucksack and 70 photo frames. Photo credit: Baptist Coelho; Project 88, Mumbai; Visual Arts Gallery, Delhi. Collection: The Lekha and Anupam Poddar Collection
Working in mixed-media, from installation and photography to video, his practice draws on different textures, archival maps, booklets, interviews, and recently, gauge bandages. His aesthetic engagement prompts the viewer to consider the co-presence of different narratives; of what gets counted or not. Conflict involves human lives, bodily disposition, struggle, and the day-to-day. Focusing on objects juxtaposed in a cold display cabinet, for example, alludes to the proximity and distance of conflict and its display. How and through what frames is conflict viewed? What does an audience expect to see? What are the ethical and political implications of visibility and what is naturalised?
The role of the artist in conflict and politics has long been theorised, contested, and marketed. Art has been drawn upon to illustrate the horrors of war by academics, critics, and philosophers alike. Picasso's Guernica is one of the most commonly cited examples. But perhaps what is also at stake is the practice, the doing. Artistic methods of researching and visualising intervene as much as they reveal; ways of working are potentially disruptive. They are also relational. Art is curated, exhibited, funded, viewed, and reviewed in contexts with audiences bringing their own frames of reference, expectations, and experiences in these processes of meaning-making. As Theodor Adorno reminds us, art works are both aesthetic and 'social fact'.
Memories and traces of the past surface in the present, from war memorials, literature, film, and art, to personal stories passed through generations, and community claims left unrecognised in (re)articulations of the nation. How and what gets commemorated- its performance and symbolic cache- are political, intersecting the private and public. Public sites, for example museums and their collections, are not neutral but institutional spaces with bordering practices that intersect personal histories and official narrative. Baptist stresses engaging with the archive as a central part of his artistic research. The archive is active, not a relic of the past, but rather history in the present. An upcoming art project will look at the commemoration in a Brighton community for an Indian soldier fighting under the British in World War One. The recent controversies over the statue of Cecil Rhodes exemplifies the ongoing question of how a nation deals with its colonial past and what, and whom, are considered to belong. Judith Butler speaks of the 'derealisation of loss', of the politics and hierarchy of human experience, but Baptist's work also suggests the possibility of thinking differently through and with art and its politics.
The exhibition supported by King's Cultural Programming entitled 'Traces of War' will be held in the Indigo Rooms, from 26th October to December 2016.It is being curated by Professor Vivienne Jabri, Department of War Studies, and Cécile Bourne-Farrell. The exhibition will feature work by prominent artists, Jananne Al-Ani and Shaun Gladwell as well as pieces by Baptist as-yet exhibited in the UK. The residency, featuring the artist Baptist Coelho, is being supported by the Leverhulme Trust and the Delfina Foundation.
Laurie Benson is a PhD Candidate in the Department of War Studies
For more information about the artist please check:
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/departments/warstudies/people/baptist/index.aspx
Additional Information & Media:
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/departments/warstudies/news/newsrecords/Baptist-Coelho-launch-marks-Traces-of-War-exhibition.aspx
Filed Under: Announcement, Event, Event Review Tagged With: Art, war
Sudden Justice: Debating drones with Chris Woods and Dr Jack McDonald, October 5
September 24, 2015 by Strife Staff
Strife and the Centre for Science and Security Studies (CSSS) are pleased to present award-winning author and investigative journalist Chris Woods, and Dr Jack McDonald of King's College London in a timely and lively debate to discuss the issue of drones.
Date: Monday, October 5, 2015
Location: K6.07 (King's Building, 6th floor), Strand campus. King's College London, WC2R 2LS. London, UK. Map here.
Drones have been a highly contentious topic for many years due to their infamous role in targeted killings, and have recently entered the spotlight in the UK after their involvement in the deaths of British jihadists, Reyaad Khan and Rahul Amin in early September. However, some argue that the use of drones helps reduce casualties in conflict and serve a useful purpose in today's security environment. Leading experts Chris Woods and Dr Jack McDonald will be discussing the key debates and implications surrounding the increasing use of drones in the UK and beyond.
All are welcome to attend. Hurst publishers will be in attendance with copies of Woods' recent book, "Sudden Justice" available for purchase.
Chris Woods is a widely-published investigative journalist who specialises in conflict and national security issues. A former senior BBC Panorama producer, he has authored some of the key investigations into covert US drone strikes and their true effects. He was recently awarded the Martha Gellhorn Journalism Prize for his work. He will be discussing the topic of his most recent book, "Sudden Justice: America's Secret Drone Wars" (Hurst, 2015).
Dr. Jack McDonald is a research associate and teaching fellow with CSSS at King's College London. His research covers the law and ethics of war, with a specific focus on novel technology. In particular, he is interested in the role of knowledge and information in the concept and conduct of war. His book "Known and Unknown Enemies: Targeted Killings and Contemporary Warfare" which focuses on the concept and practice of targeted killings will be published next year by Hurst & Co.
You can find an earlier review of "Sudden Death" by Strife's Harris Kuemmerle here, as well as a 5-part series that Strife previously published on drones here, including a contribution by Dr McDonald. Any enquiries can be forwarded to editors.strife@gmail.com.
Filed Under: Event
9 March 2015, Strife event: 'Frontline Ukraine: Crisis in the Borderlands', Presentation by Professor Richard Sakwa
March 7, 2015 by Strife Staff
Professor Richard Sakwa, University of Kent: 'Frontline Ukraine: Crisis in the Borderlands'. Event organised by Strife, with the participation of the BISA Russian and Eurasian Security Research Group.
WHEN: Monday, 9 March 6:00 – 7:30,
WHERE: Pyramid Room (K4U.04), King's Building, Strand Campus, King's College London, WC2R 2LS
DESCRIPTION: The ongoing crisis in Ukraine has brought the world to the brink of a new Cold War. Following the Russian expansion in Crimea and as the conflict in Eastern Ukraine rages on, relations between Vladimir Putin and the West have reached an all-time low. How did we get here?
In his latest book, Professor Richard Sakwa unpicks the context of conflicted Ukrainian identity and of Russo-Ukrainian relations and traces the path to the recent disturbances through the events which have forced Ukraine, a country internally divided between East and West, to choose between closer union with Europe or its historic ties with Russia.
In providing the first full account of the ongoing crisis, Sakwa analyses the origins and significance of the Euromaidan Protests, examines the controversial Russian military intervention and annexation of Crimea, reveals the extent of the catastrophe of the MH17 disaster and looks at possible ways forward following the October 2014 parliamentary elections. In doing so, he explains the origins, developments and global significance of the internal and external battle for Ukraine.
With all eyes focused on the region, Richard Sakwa unravels the myths and misunderstandings of the situation, providing an essential account of the struggle for Europe's contested borderlands.
Richard Sakwa is Professor of Russian and European politics at the University of Kent, where he also served for a number of years as the head of the Department of Politics and International Relations. He is one of the leading UK experts in Soviet and post-Soviet affairs and has written and edited a number of books and articles on the subject. Among his many accolades, Professor Sakwa is Associate Fellow of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, a member of the Advisory Boards of the Institute of Law and Public Policy in Moscow, a member of the Eurasian Political Studies Network and a member of Academy of Learned Societies for the Social Sciences. His current research interests include democratic development in Russia, the nature of post-Communism, and the variety of global challenges facing the former communist countries.
Richard Sakwa, Frontline Ukraine: Crisis in the Borderlands, Published by I.B.Tauris, December 2014. New from £18.99 (Hardback). ISBN: 9781784530648.
Filed Under: Announcement, Event Tagged With: book, discussion, Frontline Ukraine, presentation, Strife event, Ukraine
Strife/USFPRG Conference: Wednesday, March 4: 'A world in flux? Analysis and prospects for the US in global security'
On Wednesday, March 4, Strife and the United States Foreign Policy Research Group will hold their first conference, entitled 'A world in flux? Analysis and prospects for the US in global security'.
The conference will bring together a diverse range of practitioners and academics who will critically analyze the shifting state of security and investigate the diverse ways in which the United States, as the continuing dominant force in global affairs, has responded, and continues to respond, to these challenges. A selection of excellent papers from the conference will be included in a special spring edition of Strife Journal.
The conference will be held in the Pyramid Room (K4U.04) of the King's Building, King's College London (WC2R 2LS). The conference begins at 8:30 and finishes at 16:00. Attendance at the conference will be free and open to all.
The keynote speaker, Professor Inderjeet Parmar, will deliver his talk at 9:15. Professor Parmar is currently serving as President of the British International Studies Association (BISA) and last year was a Visiting Research Scholar at Empires Research Community, PIIRS, Princeton University, USA. He is also Principal Investigator and co-ordinator of the AHRC Research Network on the Presidency of Barack Obama. He has authored seven book on US policy, most recently "Barack Obama and the Myth of a Post-racial America" (2013) and "Foundations of the American Century" (2012).
For the full conference program click here.
Filed Under: Event Tagged With: Conference, USA


Texas offers many exemptions for consumers: Texas courts and prosecutors. Log in using your email address:. If you owe debt and reside in Texas, it is important to understand your rights and liabilities. It was an attempt to collect on a debt by coercion.
You can submit a complaint about payday loans with the CFPB online or by calling Do not include sensitive information like your name, contact information, account number, or social security number in this field. The content on this page provides general consumer information. It is not legal advice or regulatory guidance. The CFPB updates this information periodically. This information may include links or references to third-party resources or content.
We do not endorse the third-party or guarantee the accuracy of this third-party information. There may be other resources that also serve your needs. Learn how the CFPB can help you. A payday lender can only garnish your wages if it has a court order resulting from a lawsuit against you. Was this page helpful to you?
Additional comment optional Note: Your company may not even comply with voluntary wage assignments. It's a paperwork hassle for them. But if they do, revoking the assignment will stop it. Now we'll talk about real wage garnishment, which isn't so easy to stop. But it's not so easy to start, either. In most states, a court-ordered wage garnishment requires the loan company to actually sue you in court with a civil suit, so you'll get an official notice that you're required to appear in court.
The company has to win the suit another notice and then file a separate motion that they want to garnish your wages another notice. So this isn't something that will happen in a few days, probably not even within a few weeks, and you'll get plenty of warning. However, pay attention, because if the loan company goes through all those steps, once the garnishment starts, about the only thing that will stop it is either paying off the loan or declaring bankruptcy.
This is serious stuff. If you can't win the lawsuit, the time to fight a garnishment is when you first receive the notice about it. How you do it depends on state law, so check with a lawyer in your state, if you didn't already have a lawyer when they filed the civil suit.
Other laws affect whether they can garnish Social Security, pension or disability income usually they can't. Some states have more ways to avoid garnishment, like an exemption for the income of heads of household in Florida , while other states make garnishing wages easier for the loan company.
As of this writing, four states don't allow wage garnishment for payday loans or similar loans at all: I'm not a lawyer, so take everything you've read here with a grain of salt and ask a lawyer in your state for legal advice.
But if you haven't lost a lawsuit, and a loan company is taking money out of your paycheck or threatening to, it's probably a wage assignment, and you can make it stop. You'll still have to pay the loan back if you owe the money, but you can get your whole paycheck in the meantime. April 16 A payday loan company got sued for being too aggressive with this kind of thing.
Link to the article. April 17 Sounds like they were doing a voluntary wage assignment but trying to make it sound like an actual court-order garnishment to both the employer and the borrower. April 17 Student loans can just start garnishing your wages, and you can't stop them. April 17 Yep, student loans are different. They don't need to win a lawsuit; they can just skip right to the garnishment part. You can still object at a hearing, though. Most recent posts at bottom. Will I Go To Jail?
Garnish Wages in Florida? Wage Assignments When somebody takes out a payday loan where I work, there's a piece of paper they need to sign which says they agree to a wage assignment, if they don't pay the loan back.


Termites will eat the value of your home. They will literally digest the structural timber of your dream house and you won't even know about it until it's too late. Termites cause millions of dollars in damage to houses across Australia annually, and it's a major cause for concern. In fact, it's become common knowledge that termites cause more damage than natural disasters; that's ridiculous and rather disconcerting.
If you've just bought a home or are concerned about termites in your current home, it's best to contact the professionals who will put an effective termite management plan in place. Given the fact that termites live in large colonies, feed on wood and may play an important role in nature, they are a structural and financial hazard that needs to be eliminated. Here are a few tips that will prevent you from being victimised by termites.
If you store untreated wood for firewood or storage against the side of your home or in direct contact with the soil, it's best to get rid of it. Untreated timber is the perfect primary food source for termites who will move from the wood into your home at a moment's notice. Sleepers, hardwood timber furniture or untreated outdoor furniture attracts termites, which like a moist soil environment but will come above ground to attack timber. Replace if possible with treated wood and furniture to ensure the longevity of your property.
If you find that your home is infested with termites baiting could provide you with the ultimate protection, there are several baiting systems used by professionals however The Pest Guys recommend EXTERRA. These bait stations/traps are installed at points inside and around the perimeter of the building and are filled with timber and attractant that termites enjoy. No poisonous chemicals are required, however once termites are found in the traps, the traps are filled with non-toxic bait. The termites take the bait back to the colonies unknowingly spreading a growth regulator throughout the colony, which leads to complete colony elimination.
If you have wooden flooring in your home, and a concrete base around your property, you may think you're exempt from these tiny visitors, but you're not. Termites will burrow through moist soil then through cracks/joins or gaps in your concrete slab or brick walls, finding their way into your floorboards. Subfloor foundation homes are also at risk unless you keep the space between the floor and the foundation dry and cool and regularly inspected. Many homeowners keep fans in the cavity and switch them on intermittently to keep the space dry. Vents also ensure ventilation ensuring moisture and humidity build-up are kept to a minimum, which is another termite drawcard.
Unless your home was constructed with a termite prevention plan in place – now a requirement under Australian Standards in the protection of buildings from subterranean termites – you need to call in The Pest Guys for a termite protection plan. If you happen to find a termite colony on your property, do not set forth and conquer because you're just asking for bigger problems. The experts will determine the types of termites that are living in your home, recommend the best plan to get them out and the course of action to take to ensure no future reoccurrence of the problem.
Contact The Pest Guys today for a free onsite assessment of your property and a complete Perth termite inspection and protection plan. It's not just your property you're protecting; it's also the value of your home and the return on investment. Remember, there is no insurance that covers termite damage!!


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Home / Unlabelled / MAN IN COMMAND SAYS SURGICAL STRIKE WAS FARCE
MAN IN COMMAND SAYS SURGICAL STRIKE WAS FARCE
Surgical strike carried out on September 29th, 2016 was meant to be Prime Minister's moment of glory. Now it looks like a sham. The Indian Army also called it a great success. This operation was shrouded with controversy right from the day one when its video was leaked to the public.
First, there was an intense debate on whether the government should publish videos or photographic evidence of the strike after Pakistan claimed that no such strike had taken place. Similar demands, made by politicians such as Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, were dubbed "anti-national." They were projected by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and some news channels, as questioning the Indian Army itself. This was not as if this kind of operation never happened before, but they were not to be made public.
As part of the government's policy of "strategic restraint," the government allowed the army to deal with cross-border actions against Pakistan at an "operational, tactical level."One of the important national news paper "The Hindu" published a detailed account of "Operation Ginger," carried out in 2011. This "strike" was executed to avenge the killing and beheading of Indian soldiers.
During Operation Ginger, Indian soldiers meted out the same treatment to Pakistani personnel across the LoC. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's national security adviser, Shiv Shankar Menon, added his weight to these claims. Covert operations were not announced to the country because the primary goal was to pacify the LoC and cut down infiltration and ceasefire violations, not to manage public opinion at home.
By keeping operations covert rather than overt, it was made possible for the Pakistan Army to climb down and for a temporary peace to be re-established.
Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar, had reportedly decided to launch a surgical strike across the border while watching a television live debate and it sounds so ridiculous that it is incomprehensible to any sound bodied person.
BJP did not lose any time to take its political mileage as some of its leaders in UP started reminding all of us that prime minister's Modi's chest is "56 inches wide" and posters also appeared in UP celebrating the surgical strike, juxta positioning the prime minister's photo with the image of the silent soldier and some handy text threatening Pakistan.
In some of these, Prime Minister was also portrayed as Lord Ram and his Pakistani counterpart as the demon king Ravana.
Party president, Amit Shah, said, "We will go to the people with this issue—because every responsible party should motivate the army."
The then Defense Minister, Manohar Parikar, had compared the Indian Army to Hanuman (the powerful monkey god). In the epic Ramayana, Hanuman, who could move mountains, had to be made aware of his capabilities by Jambawan (the bear king) and he also planned a "victory rally" in his home state Goa; but following criticism, he postponed it.
NOW A SHAMEFUL TURN
Yesterday (7th December 2018), Lt General (retired) D S Hooda, who was the Northern Army Commander in September 2016 when Indian troops carried out surgical strikes on terror launch pads along the Line of Control in the wake of the Uri attack, said the "overhype" of the strikes did not help and "it is not good" when "military operations get politicized".
He was speaking in a seminar on the 'Role of Cross-Border Operations and Surgical Strikes' at the ongoing Military Literature Festival and he further added that, following the surgical strikes, there were accusations that the issue had been politicized, that there was an "attempt to keep a purely military operation in the political domain by selective leaks of videos, photographs etc".
He did not stop here and said, "Did the overhype help? I say, completely no. If you start having political resonance in military operations, it is not good. There was too much political banter, on both sides, and when military operations get politicized, that is not good."
On the possibility of the strikes impacting the thought process of decision-makers in future operations, the former Army Commander said "if you hype a successful operation, then even success has its burden". He further added that Indian army will think twice next time (what) if there are casualties because it has been so overhyped, and politicized.
Have we ever thought that what happens if it does not have the same level of success? It may impose some caution in future. If the country had done it quietly, it would have been much better. The strikes were purely tactical in nature with short-term goals and of no strategic value to deter the Pakistan Army from backing future terror attacks.
The retired general summed it up at the end that when his team was planning it, there was no thought in their mind that Pakistan would stop doing Uri-like incidents.
The conclusion of his talk is very clear and a very straight message has been sent about this government's Pakistan policy, "As we all know that the aim of the strikes could have been fulfilled through artillery fire. We had had massive artillery duels, but it was not helping.


The TEDxUND event is an independently organized event through Notre Dame, which recruits students, faculty and community members to share their passions. The speeches ranged from "What if 'Thank You' Were More Than Two Trite Words" to "Counter Radicalism of Youth" to "What if We Remade the Liberty Bell?" all centered around the theme of "what if?".
Notre Dame students had to enter a raffle to win tickets to one of two sessions. Molly Knapp, a freshman political science and spanish major, attended the second session of the TEDxUND 2015 talks. Like so many other fans of TED talks, she wanted to attend the conference because she was inspired and touched by speeches she saw online.
One of the goals of TED talks is to promote an open-minded and new way of thinking. Notre Dame's talks met this goal with a range of engaging topics.
The talk by alumnae Katie Mattie, '14, "What If Iron Man Was a Woman?" struck a chord when she expressed the importance of encouraging children to express their passions, despite society's label of certain activities as boyish or girlish. "What if A City Has to Rethink its Past to Understand its Future," Mayor Pete Buttigieg's speech, argued that reflections on the past and innovation for the future can and should coincide.


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