politics for the 99%

Published on Political Violence @ a Glance, by Tijen Demirel-Pegg, April 20, 2016.

The killings of Michael Brown in Ferguson and Eric Garner in New York – and the subsequent failure to indict the police officers that killed them in 2014 – generated massive outrage across the United States. While large-scale protests were held in a number of cities, leaving pundits to wonder if Black Lives Matter was turning into a new civil rights movement, an unexpected event happened: two police officers were shot to death in New York on December 20, 2014, by a man who was allegedly outraged by the Brown and Garner cases. The momentum for the Black Lives Matter movement in New York City was derailed as the police killings generated a backlash effect against the demonstrations … //

… Sometimes, however, protests can also demobilize due to an unexpected event. We generally assume that both opposition campaigns and governments have control over protest dynamics. Nonetheless, protest campaigns are complex events which are often shaped by a host of factors that are not necessarily under the actors’ control.

In a recent International Interactions article, I show that communal violence in Assam, India, was a critical event that led to the collapse of what had been a widely supported protest campaign. More specifically, ethnic Assamese lethally attacked immigrant Muslims in rural areas during controversial elections that the campaign leaders had boycotted. Protest campaigns in ethnically divided societies are particularly combustible as they have the potential to trigger unintended or unorchestrated communal violence … //

… (full text).

Links:

Soros Warns of 2008-Like Debt Growth in China, How Risky are Its Banks? on naked capitalism, by Yves Smith, April 21, 2016;

on Geopolitical Analysis, by K.N. Pandita:
The ‘Great Game’ Reborn in the Indian Ocean: A Tale of Two Ports, April 21, 2016;
Reality about fighting nuclear terror, April 13, 2016;
PM’s visit to Saudi Arabia, March 28, 2016;
Is ISIS Closing in on Europe? March 25, 2016;
Nuclear Security Summit and South Asia, March 15, 2016;
From seat of learning to cesspool of sedition, Feb 24, 2016;

We Can’t Save the Economy Unless We Fix Our Debt Addiction, on Counterpunch, by MICHAEL HUDSON, April 21, 2016;

High Corruption, Hillary Clinton in the Hindu Kush, on Counterpunch, by Rob Hager, April 20, 2016;

US want to get rid of the Workers’ Party in Brazil – Analyst, on teleSUR engnlish, April 20, 2016;

The BRICS, a hegemonic, but not Anti-Capitalist Project, on teleSUR engnlish, by François Houtart, April 20, 2016;

How European Union Fiscal Rules Subverted Democracy and Institutionalize Neoliberalism, on naked capitalism, by Yves Smith, April 20, 2016;

Robert Reich: Why Is One of Sanders’ Most Important Proposals Being Ignored? on naked capitalism, by Yves Smith, April 20, 2016;

Breaking Free from Corporate Shackled Democracy, on Dissident Voice, by Nozomi Hayase, April 19, 2016;

Ce que retient la nuit, dans Libération.fr, par Luc Peillon, Emmanuèle Peyret, Virginie Ballet et Amandine Cailhol, le 15 avril 2016;

Has Saudi Arabia trampled on Malaysia’s sovereign status? on malaysiakini, pa JD Lovrenciear, le 15 avril 2016;

travail Travailler oui, l’un contre l’autre, non…, dans Libération, par Luc Peillon, le 15 avril 2016;

EDITORIAL: Fragile, dans Libération.fr, par Laurent Joffrin, le 15 avril 2016: Une protestation? Oui. Un mouvement social? Certes, même si le nombre de participants reste limité. Mais surtout un laboratoire. Non pas un laboratoire d’experts patentés, de chercheurs professionnels. Un laboratoire populaire. C’est l’aspect le plus intéressant de Nuit debout, symptôme fragile mais éminemment positif de la réhabilitation de la politique hors de la politique traditionnelle …;

More Public Pensions Dropping Hedge Funds, on Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute, April 14, 2016;

1MDB scandal: Switzerland believes monies diverted from state fund to 2 public UAE officials, on International Business Times, by Rachel Middleton, April 14, 2016;

Five ways MPs’ real income is concealed, on euronews, by Chris Harris, April 14, 2016;

See again: The Occupied Mentality Syndrome, Saudi Arabia on the American Chessboard, on Dissident Voice, by B.J. Sabri: part one, July 21, 2003; part two, July 22, 2003; part three, July 24, 2003; part four, July 26, 2003;

… and this – nordic folk music:

• The Land of Eternal Winter, 5.51 min, uploaded by Antti Martikainen;
• Viking Pagan Folk Song – Yggdrasill, 4.39 min, uploaded by Jacob Isenhower;
• Viking Song, 3.50 min, uploaded by randomstaff100;
• Mix Nordic Ambient Music, 139,52 min, uploaded by moonasha.