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Richard Stallman's Political Notes

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Richard Falk's criticism of US policy

mercredi 19 avril 2017 à 02:00

This 2013 article by Richard Falk has been cited as an example of "antisemitism".

There is nothing antisemitic in that article. It criticizes US policy towards the Muslim world and towards Israel, and it mentions the extent of political influence that Israel exercises on US politics (through its lobbying arm, AIPAC, whose conference was recently protested by many American Jews). But there is nothing in Falk's article that expresses any attitude about Jews.

Falk points out that various Israeli officials have also described the occupation as a policy of apartheid.

Falk condemns Palestinian war crimes, too, to the extent that the Palestinian Authority asked him to resign from his UN post.

Notwithstanding these facts, an organization called "UN Watch" cited Falk's article as supposed proof that Falk is antisemitic while calling for the UK to expel him.

Saboteur of civil rights in education

mercredi 19 avril 2017 à 02:00

The acting saboteur of civil rights in education is opposed to civil rights.

The problem US blacks confront goes deeper than the poverty that increasing numbers of them grow up in and spend their lives in. (After all, that's happening to whites, too.) They still experience the aftereffects of discriminatory law (first slavery, then segregation), which propagate from generation to generation. The US and various states owe compensation to the descendants of people who were victimized in that way, and the compensation has to be enough to undo the lasting harm.

As for education, ideally we would provide every child with a good education and a safe, unstressful environment to learn in. We don't have to use race as a rough approximation for having a disadvantage. What this requires is money, but we could get it easily if we defeat dooH niboR.

Wells Fargo's practice of cheating customers

mercredi 19 avril 2017 à 02:00

Activist nuns are pressuring for an investigation of the root causes of Wells Fargo bank's practice of cheating customers.

Rigidly idiotic US consular staff

mercredi 19 avril 2017 à 02:00

Rigidly idiotic US consular staff demanded an interview with a baby to see if it was a terrorist. The baby was unable, however, to answer their questions.

The callous practices of consulates, including unlimited delays, often ruins people's travel even when there is no particular suspicion.

Combining this with the practice of making airline tickets nonrefundable shafts people doubly. Most people cannot afford to buy new tickets if a visa delay stops them from traveling.

Bureaucratic rhetoric

mercredi 19 avril 2017 à 02:00

Analyzing bureaucratic rhetoric: the tricks used by United Airlines and thug departments everywhere to evade culpability for mistreating people.

This form of rhetoric is designed to create the impression that the abuse was the inevitable action of a system for which no one is responsible, so the victim did the abuse to perself.