Bagginski
Well-Known Member
Hydrogen, fertilizer? N?
I think you mean nitrogen?
Right wing nuts worldwide.
- Thread starter hanimmal
- Start date
I think you mean nitrogen?
DIY-HP-LED
Well-Known Member
For nitrogen-based fertilizers, the largest product group, the process starts by mixing nitrogen from the air with hydrogen from natural gas at high temperature and pressure to create ammonia. Approximately 60% of the natural gas is used as raw material, with the remainder employed to power the synthesis process.
How fertilizers are made - Fertilizers Europe
Sativied
Well-Known Member
Yes and the hydrogen used is gray (most still anyway), as in produced with natural gas. Before the war only Russia, China and a couple of ME countries were larger N fertilizer exporters, so the war in Ukraine and the increased gas prices did directly affect it. DIY is not wrong about the greedflation nonetheless.
Yes. Among others by Yara Sluiskil and OCI Nitrogen, two of the top 10 polluters in NL.
cannabineer
Ursus marijanus
Haber-Bosch is the big industrial nitrogen-fixing process. Nitrogen and hydrogen enter.
OldMedUser
Well-Known Member
I used to deliver anhydrous ammonia, NH3, to the farmers applying it to their fields. Nasty, nasty shit.
Most are using dry forms of nitrogen now like ammonium nitrate but every spring and fall I see ammonia wagons hitched behind cultivators out in the fields around here.
Most are using dry forms of nitrogen now like ammonium nitrate but every spring and fall I see ammonia wagons hitched behind cultivators out in the fields around here.
Sativied
Well-Known Member
Mass protests against Germany's far right gain new momentum – DW – 01/21/2024
Across Germany, more than 1.4 million people rallied against the far-right Alternative for Germany party over the weekend, according to organizers. In Munich, the demonstration had to be cut short because of overcrowding. In Berlin, protesters gathered outside the parliament.
www.dw.com
1.4mil across Germany. That percentage of the population would be 6mil in the US.
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Sativied
Well-Known Member
ok longer version…
“Asked whether he thought the protests would encourage people to stop voting for the AfD, Abaci was hopeful. “There is a core group of AfD voters who vote for this party out of conviction, but there are of course also voters who have voted for AfD out of protest.
“But now is the time for them to wake up and realize that we are not dealing with a protest party, but with a right-wing extremist party. Our rally could help these people to finally wake up.””
That didn’t happen elsewhere, the list of EU nations not in the same boat is getting shorter. I was thinking I don’t hear much about problems in Ireland, but both the good and the bad takes a while longer to reach the island behind the island:
https://www.euronews.com/2023/12/01/what-is-fueling-the-spread-of-far-right-politics-in-ireland (tldr: freedom party fueling anti-immigrant sentiments)
When Trump said “grab ‘m by the pussy” it didn’t end his support, nor did his increasingly outrageous lies and dangerous plans. Shifting the overton window… All the far right parties in the EU claim the anti-left position on important matters such as the climate, immigration process, economy, and farmers… Posing as a protest party. As anti-establishment, anti ‘party cartels’. And that works.
Daddy wants to kill all the jews, np, they still support you. You’re a fascist but willing to put that on ice till you gained more power, they still support you. Want to close mosques, burn Korans, shoot moroccan trouble making kids in their knees, don’t worry, they still support you. Based on a neo nazi party, make deals with Russia to spread their propaganda, it’s all good. As long as you oppose the plans of the left.
“Asked whether he thought the protests would encourage people to stop voting for the AfD, Abaci was hopeful. “There is a core group of AfD voters who vote for this party out of conviction, but there are of course also voters who have voted for AfD out of protest.
“But now is the time for them to wake up and realize that we are not dealing with a protest party, but with a right-wing extremist party. Our rally could help these people to finally wake up.””
That didn’t happen elsewhere, the list of EU nations not in the same boat is getting shorter. I was thinking I don’t hear much about problems in Ireland, but both the good and the bad takes a while longer to reach the island behind the island:
https://www.euronews.com/2023/12/01/what-is-fueling-the-spread-of-far-right-politics-in-ireland (tldr: freedom party fueling anti-immigrant sentiments)
When Trump said “grab ‘m by the pussy” it didn’t end his support, nor did his increasingly outrageous lies and dangerous plans. Shifting the overton window… All the far right parties in the EU claim the anti-left position on important matters such as the climate, immigration process, economy, and farmers… Posing as a protest party. As anti-establishment, anti ‘party cartels’. And that works.
Daddy wants to kill all the jews, np, they still support you. You’re a fascist but willing to put that on ice till you gained more power, they still support you. Want to close mosques, burn Korans, shoot moroccan trouble making kids in their knees, don’t worry, they still support you. Based on a neo nazi party, make deals with Russia to spread their propaganda, it’s all good. As long as you oppose the plans of the left.
+
And guess who was also at the Endlösung meeting… members of the “christian“ democrats. Nazis and christians uniting on the back of farmers. If free will exists, I have zero confidence the masses will use it wisely. Sure looks like something deterministic is at play and things will escalate before people ‘wake up’ again.
Sativied
Well-Known Member
The freedom party that won elections in NL is still trying to form a cabinet, withdrew a few plans like banning islam. Kinda how Meloni in Italy supposedly has a fascism on/off switch. Recent polls show the freedom nazis in NL are up a lot after winning recent election (almost a third instead of quarter of all votes). Not because another 5% of the population suddenly turned nazi, but because the established parties are pushing back on forming a coalition (not nearly enough though). As a protest, “Let him do it, give him a chance, it’s his turn”. If Le Pen in France ever wins, that’s why. Play the long game. Lump the rest together as ‘the left’, who always end up forming coalitions and work with other parties (how it should be), “they’re all the same“.
The senate in NL just approved the “spreading law”, meaning national government can force provinces to provide housing for immigrants. Something the nazi party and the 3 parties it’s negotiating with for a coalition in the house, very much opposed and have called for sending it back to the house first (because of the unplanned elections). The more responsible senate said fu.
Speaking of Italy:
The senate in NL just approved the “spreading law”, meaning national government can force provinces to provide housing for immigrants. Something the nazi party and the 3 parties it’s negotiating with for a coalition in the house, very much opposed and have called for sending it back to the house first (because of the unplanned elections). The more responsible senate said fu.
Speaking of Italy:
DIY-HP-LED
Well-Known Member
If technological changes in the next decade disrupt rural economies expect more trouble and the racists will be driving cheap Chinese cars made in Eastern Europe by mostly robots. It is the influx of human migration and economic disruption that fuel a lot of this shit, add on the internet that has largely replaced a curated hierarchical information system with a networked one where any moron with a cellphone can have a TV studio and brainwash tens of thousands of other morons with bullshit and you have the current situation.
Human nature being what it is a segment of the population is always xenophobic and eager to protect their culture. During our evolution culture, religion and language were everything, they were our technology too and we survive as social groups not as individuals and this drove our development and behaviors, it is easy to get into the tribal mode, go to any football game. It is why "culture wars" work so well with propaganda.
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Sativied
Well-Known Member
Yes, that’s the type. Or an F1 race. Not my people…
When the orange attire is not enough:
DIY-HP-LED
Well-Known Member
From 2 years ago...
A New Study Shows Us the Single Biggest Motivation for the Jan. 6 Rioters | Amanpour and Company
A new study on the January 6 Capitol insurrection finds that of the nearly 400 rioters arrested or charged, 93% are white and 86% are male. Michel Martin speaks to the study’s principal investigator, Professor Robert Pape, to discuss these findings and some surprising revelations about the attackers and their motives.
Originally aired on May 6, 2021.
OldMedUser
Well-Known Member
I needed a wing nut with locking threads but only had large plain ones so drilled one out just a tiny bit smaller that the size of a 1/4" open top acorn nut with a nylon locking ring in it. Then drove the nut into the hole in the wing nut to make one that will stay in position for my added thread tensioner to my rod wrapping unit. Without it the wing nut will either loosen or tighten as thread is pulled from the bobbin under tension while wrapping guides on a rod. Works like a hot-damn!Ever notice some wing nuts are more stubborn to change, now you know why.
The original locking knob for one spool of thread and my DIY one. My neighbour had 3 different conical springs and the one on the right was the best. Not as heavy gauge as the original but taller so it tightens down just as well.
All set up and ready to wrap. For the smaller spools I just put a larger nut on the threaded rod so the locking knob doesn't have to be screwed on as far. That unit slides onto the wrapper with a tapered slot to hold it in place while using.
Just came up with that earlier this evening after thinking about how to make something like it for a few weeks since getting the springs and a 3' piece of 1/4" ready-rod to put a long piece in and add an extra spool.
Bet I could beat tRumps ass in any cognitive test he wants to take and so could Biden!
Sativied
Well-Known Member
https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/can-the-german-people-stop-the-afds-far-right-rise-a-72fecc92-7da1-4a82-9ae9-f85111675462 (26min read)
Just an excerpt:
Re: last paragraph, Greece ‘today’, however:
www.aljazeera.com
www.aljazeera.com
Just an excerpt:
Re: last paragraph, Greece ‘today’, however:
‘Very worrying’: Three far-right parties enter Greek parliament
Greece becomes the only European country with three far-right parties in its legislature after this week’s elections.
Greece after Golden Dawn: ‘We didn’t finish with the far-right’
Far-right strands are organising, but experts say they don’t yet pose the same threat as Golden Dawn.
Sativied
Well-Known Member
In today's "EU's Dance with Far-Right"
Portugal, land of port and ocean beaches and a funny way of speaking Spanish. And, home of the fastest growing far-right party in Europe and aside from a couple of countries in the east, fastest growing immigrant population. Don't know anyone from Portugal, never been there. To my bubble, Portugal is mostly a less popular holiday destination as an alternative to Spain and France. So this is just what I get from the news and the algorithm.
Elections in 5 weeks, on March 10, for the unicameral parliament. Early because their PM resigned after his chief of staff was arrested:
"The corruption probe is focused on allegations of improper behaviour around the development of lithium mining and hydrogen projects in the country, and Costa’s chief of staff, Vitor Escaria, was arrested on Tuesday as police conducted raids on several public buildings and additional properties."
Chega (meaning Enough!), established in 2019 by André Ventura. 1 seat in 2019, 12 seats (7.1% of votes) in 2022. Atm polling at 21%
www.reuters.com
Chega's points:
- EU aside from a few basic principles, bad. Especially addressing climate change, bad.
- abortion bad
- LGBTQ+ bad
- immigrants very bad, here to repopulate
- islam very bad
- established parties bad, elite and corrupt (looks to be true to an extend),
- Portugal best nation ever
- Romani people: uneducated criminal subhuman trailer trash. Roma are gypsies originally from India. See ceramic frog story.
- Pedophiles should be chemically castrated or get the death penalty (hey, all far-right parties in EU have one or two good points...)
Pretty much the hallmarks of EU populist rhetoric.
No chance they'll get a majority on their own, but while it was already assumed they could 'help' the right to a majority, causing Portugal to switch from to the right, they are heading to a point where it's going to be hard to exclude them.
"However, the PSD leader Luis Montenegro has previously ruled out an agreement with Chega,"
Ok, center-right liberal conservatives who call themselves social democratic, basically the party that holds the key to the gates. Show me one example of modern far-right parties in EU entering majority coalitions and cabinets while not previously having been ruled out. The cooperation is always unprecedented. No left or right party ever was like yeah that sounds like people we can work with. Same trend as elsewhere in EU, if center-right/right doesn't work with far-right they will have to continue working with the left, and with that become more left and with that lose more to the far-right.
In NL it's liberal conservatives + (former) christian democrats holding those keys, currently still discussing if they should form a government with far-right. The situation is eerily similar. In Sweden, it's Moderates, Christian Democrats and Liberals who formed a government with Sweden Democrats (far-right with neo-nazi roots). More examples of this trend and dilemma in future episodes.
In 2019 Chega, waiting for approval still, created a coalition for Europeans election, Basta!, with the People's Monarchist Party and, there they are again, "Christian Democrats".
Oversimplified, take labor vs torries. Split labor in various levels of left/progressive, torries in varies levels of right/conservatives. And what you end up with is politics in Europe.
Portugal takes a special position in EU when it comes to immigration. Their economy relies on cheap labor, while many educated people go for higher paying wages up north. To facilitate that, they offer work permits and residency and indirectly the quickest route to an EU citizenship. That in turns leads to even lower wages, employers abusing people who will work for near to nothing, for 5 years, as long as they get to access to that route. Previous decade they had a similar problem as Japan, a declining population. Last year the number of citizenship requests increased 37% and the number of immigrants in Portugal rose with 70% in just 5 years. It's easier there to convince dumb xenophobes of repopulation theories.
Are they fascists... well, experts say they work within a democratic framework. I say all the far-right in EU that puts so much effort in polarization and lumping anything from right to left together into corrupt left elite establishment and are unreasonably anti-immigration (putting it mildly) have the ambition to change things to a less democractic situation (again putting it mildly).
Let's not forget, it's only been 50 years, and thus not underestimate the potential impact:
simple.wikipedia.org
"[PM and dictator of Portugal] started and led the Estado Novo (New State), the authoritarian, right-wing government that ruled Portugal from 1932 to 1974. "
Portugal, land of port and ocean beaches and a funny way of speaking Spanish. And, home of the fastest growing far-right party in Europe and aside from a couple of countries in the east, fastest growing immigrant population. Don't know anyone from Portugal, never been there. To my bubble, Portugal is mostly a less popular holiday destination as an alternative to Spain and France. So this is just what I get from the news and the algorithm.
Elections in 5 weeks, on March 10, for the unicameral parliament. Early because their PM resigned after his chief of staff was arrested:
"The corruption probe is focused on allegations of improper behaviour around the development of lithium mining and hydrogen projects in the country, and Costa’s chief of staff, Vitor Escaria, was arrested on Tuesday as police conducted raids on several public buildings and additional properties."
Chega (meaning Enough!), established in 2019 by André Ventura. 1 seat in 2019, 12 seats (7.1% of votes) in 2022. Atm polling at 21%
Portugal's far-right closes in on mainstream parties before March election
Portugal's far-right Chega party jumped to 21% of voting intentions in a new opinion poll ahead of a March 10 snap election, closing in on the mainstream centre-left and centre-right parties, whose support has stagnated.
Chega's points:
- EU aside from a few basic principles, bad. Especially addressing climate change, bad.
- abortion bad
- LGBTQ+ bad
- immigrants very bad, here to repopulate
- islam very bad
- established parties bad, elite and corrupt (looks to be true to an extend),
- Portugal best nation ever
- Romani people: uneducated criminal subhuman trailer trash. Roma are gypsies originally from India. See ceramic frog story.
- Pedophiles should be chemically castrated or get the death penalty (hey, all far-right parties in EU have one or two good points...)
Pretty much the hallmarks of EU populist rhetoric.
No chance they'll get a majority on their own, but while it was already assumed they could 'help' the right to a majority, causing Portugal to switch from to the right, they are heading to a point where it's going to be hard to exclude them.
"However, the PSD leader Luis Montenegro has previously ruled out an agreement with Chega,"
Ok, center-right liberal conservatives who call themselves social democratic, basically the party that holds the key to the gates. Show me one example of modern far-right parties in EU entering majority coalitions and cabinets while not previously having been ruled out. The cooperation is always unprecedented. No left or right party ever was like yeah that sounds like people we can work with. Same trend as elsewhere in EU, if center-right/right doesn't work with far-right they will have to continue working with the left, and with that become more left and with that lose more to the far-right.
In NL it's liberal conservatives + (former) christian democrats holding those keys, currently still discussing if they should form a government with far-right. The situation is eerily similar. In Sweden, it's Moderates, Christian Democrats and Liberals who formed a government with Sweden Democrats (far-right with neo-nazi roots). More examples of this trend and dilemma in future episodes.
In 2019 Chega, waiting for approval still, created a coalition for Europeans election, Basta!, with the People's Monarchist Party and, there they are again, "Christian Democrats".
Oversimplified, take labor vs torries. Split labor in various levels of left/progressive, torries in varies levels of right/conservatives. And what you end up with is politics in Europe.
Portugal takes a special position in EU when it comes to immigration. Their economy relies on cheap labor, while many educated people go for higher paying wages up north. To facilitate that, they offer work permits and residency and indirectly the quickest route to an EU citizenship. That in turns leads to even lower wages, employers abusing people who will work for near to nothing, for 5 years, as long as they get to access to that route. Previous decade they had a similar problem as Japan, a declining population. Last year the number of citizenship requests increased 37% and the number of immigrants in Portugal rose with 70% in just 5 years. It's easier there to convince dumb xenophobes of repopulation theories.
Are they fascists... well, experts say they work within a democratic framework. I say all the far-right in EU that puts so much effort in polarization and lumping anything from right to left together into corrupt left elite establishment and are unreasonably anti-immigration (putting it mildly) have the ambition to change things to a less democractic situation (again putting it mildly).
Let's not forget, it's only been 50 years, and thus not underestimate the potential impact:
António de Oliveira Salazar - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
simple.wikipedia.org
"[PM and dictator of Portugal] started and led the Estado Novo (New State), the authoritarian, right-wing government that ruled Portugal from 1932 to 1974. "
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Sativied
Well-Known Member
Switzerland, a particularly interesting case. Not in the EU, well, aside from physically being surrounded by it.
Swiss People’s Party, similar (right-wing anti-immigration populist conservative semi-farmer party) but not necessarily typical. Big winners in Oct 2023 elections.
“Switzerland has long been considered a laboratory for partisan trends in Europe. As election results here are less influenced by the dynamics of government and opposition than it is the case elsewhere, they reflect more closely the social shifts in the electorates and their attitudes. Thus, the transformation of the political system in Switzerland in recent decades has been trendsetting for Europe.
In Switzerland, the system became fragmented and polarised earlier than elsewhere: The rise of the radical right Swiss People’s Party (SVP) came long before the rise of other new far-right parties such as the PVV in the Netherlands, the Sweden Democrats or the AfD in Germany. It has been the strongest party in the country for 24 years and has replaced the established centre-right parties”
www.swissinfo.ch
Doesn’t make me any less concerned. Increasing anti-semitism, as well as debates to ban nazi symbolism and salutes, since covid pandemic, which many Swiss believe was another problem caused by Jews. Just like the black death…
“in 1348, a Jewish doctor confessed under torture that Jewish conspirators had brewed a poison and sent it to the Jewish diaspora with instructions to poison local wells. The authorities sent transcripts of what became known as the Lausanne confession to Fribourg, Bern and Strasbourg – from where it spread throughout the German Empire. Cities compared their experiences of expulsion and extermination of the Jews – and wherever the news reached, house searches, torture and the destruction of all local Jews ensued. In 1348, the Swiss cities of Bern, Burgdorf, Solothurn, Schaffhausen, Zurich, St Gallen and Rheinfelden killed or expelled their Jewish populations. “
“Communities that dragged their feet, such as Aarau and Winterthur, were advised by other cities in 1349 to also execute their Jews – which they then did. In Basel, […] 1349, the council ordered that all Jews be removed from the city and burnt hundreds of them in a specially built wooden house on an island in the Rhine. “
Essentially late medieval equivalent of gas chambers…
Swiss People’s Party, similar (right-wing anti-immigration populist conservative semi-farmer party) but not necessarily typical. Big winners in Oct 2023 elections.
“Switzerland has long been considered a laboratory for partisan trends in Europe. As election results here are less influenced by the dynamics of government and opposition than it is the case elsewhere, they reflect more closely the social shifts in the electorates and their attitudes. Thus, the transformation of the political system in Switzerland in recent decades has been trendsetting for Europe.
In Switzerland, the system became fragmented and polarised earlier than elsewhere: The rise of the radical right Swiss People’s Party (SVP) came long before the rise of other new far-right parties such as the PVV in the Netherlands, the Sweden Democrats or the AfD in Germany. It has been the strongest party in the country for 24 years and has replaced the established centre-right parties”
Is the Swiss People’s Party far-right? - SWI swissinfo.ch
Why do the foreign media describe the Swiss People's Party as far-right, while the Swiss media do not?
www.swissinfo.ch
Doesn’t make me any less concerned. Increasing anti-semitism, as well as debates to ban nazi symbolism and salutes, since covid pandemic, which many Swiss believe was another problem caused by Jews. Just like the black death…
“in 1348, a Jewish doctor confessed under torture that Jewish conspirators had brewed a poison and sent it to the Jewish diaspora with instructions to poison local wells. The authorities sent transcripts of what became known as the Lausanne confession to Fribourg, Bern and Strasbourg – from where it spread throughout the German Empire. Cities compared their experiences of expulsion and extermination of the Jews – and wherever the news reached, house searches, torture and the destruction of all local Jews ensued. In 1348, the Swiss cities of Bern, Burgdorf, Solothurn, Schaffhausen, Zurich, St Gallen and Rheinfelden killed or expelled their Jewish populations. “
“Communities that dragged their feet, such as Aarau and Winterthur, were advised by other cities in 1349 to also execute their Jews – which they then did. In Basel, […] 1349, the council ordered that all Jews be removed from the city and burnt hundreds of them in a specially built wooden house on an island in the Rhine. “
Essentially late medieval equivalent of gas chambers…
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Fogdog
Well-Known Member
A great read, thanks for this. My mind jumped to the anti-fascist counter demonstrations we had in Portland and elsewhere during the summer of 2020 that drew criticism from Trump's MAGA administration and most media organizations. From some reports, Trump was counting on the same backlash that Nixon benefitted from during the election of 1968, when protests against the Vietnam war and civil rights protests erupted after MLK was assassinated. Yet, as in the antifascist counter demonstrations in Greece, US fascism lost support and the election in 2020, despite or maybe due to those protests.https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/can-the-german-people-stop-the-afds-far-right-rise-a-72fecc92-7da1-4a82-9ae9-f85111675462 (26min read)
Just an excerpt:
View attachment 5367326
View attachment 5367327
View attachment 5367328
Re: last paragraph, Greece ‘today’, however:
‘Very worrying’: Three far-right parties enter Greek parliament
Greece becomes the only European country with three far-right parties in its legislature after this week’s elections.
Greece after Golden Dawn: ‘We didn’t finish with the far-right’
Far-right strands are organising, but experts say they don’t yet pose the same threat as Golden Dawn.
I found this passage from the second article you posted that described police favoring fascists over counter-fascist protesters interesting because we saw the same thing happen in Portland at anti fascist protests during Trump's reign:
On the appointed evening, a sense of chaos erupted in some parts of the Greek capital.
At two different metro stations in Athens, hundreds of antifascist demonstrators were held in static positions by rows of riot police.
At the small marble memorial for the Golden Dawn, supporters passed by rows of police, and left flowers or took selfies.
A political cartoon posted in a local newspaper in 2017 depicted Portland's counter protesters as dupes for reacting to fascist demonstrations. It was a common message at the time. "Just let the fascists do their thing and march through the streets. Resisting them will only make things worse. " I didn't think that was true at the time and in hindsight, especially with the description you provided of what happened in Greece, maybe I was right.
How Portland Stopped the Proud Boys
Portland, Oregon, witnessed early versions of the Proud Boys events that culminated in the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021; years of anti-fascist organizing and the belated intervention of law enforcement halted their activities in the city
newlinesmag.com
The similarities between what happened in Greece and in Portland are surprising. For example, the rise in tension and intensity of counter protests in both Greece and Portland began after acts of murder perpetrated by right wing terrorists.
In Greece, an anti fascist rapper was assassinated. In Portland, this happened:
.
The left-wing response to these rallies escalated after May 2017, when former Patriot Prayer marcher and white supremacist Jeremy Christian stabbed two men to death on a train. The attack started with Christian hurling racial epithets at two teenage girls, one of whom was a Somali Muslim wearing a hijab.
To Portland’s anti-fascists, the attack was evidence of everything they’d been saying for months: Patriot Prayer rallies were breeding grounds for racist violence. More people started donning black hoodies and crafting makeshift weapons. (“Black bloc,” initially a tactic to protect activists’ identity by wearing identical all-black outfits, became something of a uniform for Portland’s anti-fascists.)
We aren't through with the rise of fascism. Not in the US and from what you report to us, not in Europe. What the article you posted and what was said at the conclusion of the newlines magazine article that I posted says are similar:
Historically, fascists win when they decide to go for it, to throttle democracies, believing that no one is organized enough to fight them. They take advantage of the fact that most people fear confrontation and that the police tend to tolerate their activism. In Portland, people stood up and opted to call their bluff.
Diligent research, nonviolent organizing and the eventual acquiescence of the state and federal government to enforce the law against right-wing agitators were all factors in the success we see now. But none of it would have happened if an awful lot of people hadn’t shown up, for five years straight, ready to fight.
If the rest of America wants to get through the present crisis, they might learn something from that.
If true, the next few years are going to suck. Fascism won't just age out. It must be confronted. And apparently, our police aren't the ones who will do that.
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cannabineer
Ursus marijanus
A small tangent:A great read, thanks for this. My mind jumped to the anti-fascist counter demonstrations we had in Portland and elsewhere during the summer of 2020 that drew criticism from Trump's MAGA administration and most media organizations. From some reports, Trump was counting on the same backlash that Nixon benefitted from during the election of 1968, when protests against the Vietnam war and civil rights protests erupted after MLK was assassinated. Yet, as in the antifascist counter demonstrations in Greece, US fascism lost support and the election in 2020, despite or maybe due to those protests.
I found this passage from the second article you posted that described police that favoring fascists over counter-fascist protesters interesting because we saw the same thing happen in Portland at anti fascist protests during Trump's reign:
On the appointed evening, a sense of chaos erupted in some parts of the Greek capital.
At two different metro stations in Athens, hundreds of antifascist demonstrators were held in static positions by rows of riot police.
At the small marble memorial for the Golden Dawn, supporters passed by rows of police, and left flowers or took selfies.
A political cartoon posted in a local newspaper in 2017 depicted Portland's counter protesters as dupes for reacting to fascist demonstrations. It was a common message at the time. "Just let the fascists do their thing and march through the streets. Resisting them will only make things worse. " I didn't think that was true at the time and in hindsight, especially with the description you provided of what happened in Greece, maybe I was right.
How Portland Stopped the Proud Boys
Portland, Oregon, witnessed early versions of the Proud Boys events that culminated in the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021; years of anti-fascist organizing and the belated intervention of law enforcement halted their activities in the city
The similarities between what happened in Greece and in Portland are surprising. For example, the rise in tension and intensity of counter protests in both Greece and Portland began after acts of murder perpetrated by right wing terrorists.
In Greece, an anti fascist rapper was assassinated. In Portland, this happened:
.
The left-wing response to these rallies escalated after May 2017, when former Patriot Prayer marcher and white supremacist Jeremy Christian stabbed two men to death on a train. The attack started with Christian hurling racial epithets at two teenage girls, one of whom was a Somali Muslim wearing a hijab.
To Portland’s anti-fascists, the attack was evidence of everything they’d been saying for months: Patriot Prayer rallies were breeding grounds for racist violence. More people started donning black hoodies and crafting makeshift weapons. (“Black bloc,” initially a tactic to protect activists’ identity by wearing identical all-black outfits, became something of a uniform for Portland’s anti-fascists.)
We aren't through with the rise of fascism. Not in the US and from what you report to us, not in Europe. What the article you posted and what was said at the conclusion of the newlines magazine article that I posted says are similar:
Historically, fascists win when they decide to go for it, to throttle democracies, believing that no one is organized enough to fight them. They take advantage of the fact that most people fear confrontation and that the police tend to tolerate their activism. In Portland, people stood up and opted to call their bluff.
Diligent research, nonviolent organizing and the eventual acquiescence of the state and federal government to enforce the law against right-wing agitators were all factors in the success we see now. But none of it would have happened if an awful lot of people hadn’t shown up, for five years straight, ready to fight.
If the rest of America wants to get through the present crisis, they might learn something from that.
If true, the next few years are going to suck. Fascism won't just age out. It must be confronted. And apparently, our police aren't the ones who will do that.
counterprotest etc. are one word. The spell check algorithm actively works to make them two words — wrongly.
We must all defy that stupid algorithm when it serves up bull shit (!) like that. (What counter was being protested?)
I powerfully dislike when a consequence of lazy programming penetrates our culture that deeply and successfully. Language has rules, and dispensing with them “because the machine said so” is at the least ugly.
