nostr:npub1dmd4g3qzwf3r7sj7fh2ppm5m8f8ux9gqw5k7ya0nuvu682jan37qssv9wt
> We closer to having a perfect voting system now than we are to being able to have a functional internet voting system
I agree with everything you say here. But I also note that the one problem that underlies all of these is centralisation of all political power in one body. Which makes it a juicy target for adversaries. Radical devolution of most decision-making to the smallest practical scale would spread the risk considerably.
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> Chlöe Swarbrick is the most impressive MP in Parliament right now
Totally agree. If I was in her electorate she'd definitely get my electorate vote. It's not her time yet, but she could make an excellent co-leader.
nostr:npub1kqwc8ltrehuhp2kmsg6uzl6ucjgxml6rymch9qqrdfpsrzrhvufqc76v2r
nostr:npub1yvdz02lsfv8rtp4d6atwnvuxr9f25z89396aevfxra6qrepkh83q2luxj9
> its unfair to claim that the Greens can do no more than prop up Labour
Even though that's all they can be observed to have done for 6 years and especially in the last 3?
> when they've never had more than a small percentage of votes
Doesn't look like that's going to change in this election and I see no reason to expect it will, outside of wishful thinking.
nostr:npub1kqwc8ltrehuhp2kmsg6uzl6ucjgxml6rymch9qqrdfpsrzrhvufqc76v2r
#listening to the Alice in Chains album Dirt. Back in the 1990s I was really into Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, but I never really gave AiC their due. TBH I think they were a bit subtle for me.
Anyway, I got into AiC in a big way over after listening to their full albums on The Grunge podcast a couple of years ago. Those vocal harmonies, wow! Now I see them as one of the most underappreciated bands of the 90s.
#music #grunge #AliceInChains
nostr:npub1gyjcnfjfys9e406kzgjggqujr2xpe5g32608s528y75vpptf5fusf0kull
Am I wrong? Are you going to arguing that surviving rape is worse than being maimed or killed by cluster bomblets? Or are getting aggressive and rude because you don't have a counter-argument?
nostr:npub1gyjcnfjfys9e406kzgjggqujr2xpe5g32608s528y75vpptf5fusf0kull
> Then you rely on fascist Russian propaganda to decide when to be selectively outraged
... or I don't watch the corporate media news much and sometimes take a while to catch up with things?
You're making a *lot* of unwarranted assumptions here, and in danger of crossing the line from strident to rude. Fair warning, people who are rude here get muted for a week.
nostr:npub1gyjcnfjfys9e406kzgjggqujr2xpe5g32608s528y75vpptf5fusf0kull
> you are not effected either way
And you are?
nostr:npub1gyjcnfjfys9e406kzgjggqujr2xpe5g32608s528y75vpptf5fusf0kull
> it’s the Ukrainian use of cluster munitions you are outraged while the Russians have been using them all along
It's the first I've heard of cluster bombs being involved in the conflict. I'm equally horrified whoever uses them. The unexploded munitions they scatter will not discriminate between Ukrainian and Russian children in the decades to come.
I've been opposed to cluster bombs since the US used them in their post-911 imperial invasions in the Middle East.
nostr:npub1gyjcnfjfys9e406kzgjggqujr2xpe5g32608s528y75vpptf5fusf0kull
> Equating the use of cluster muntions to rape?
Equating them would be wrong, since cluster bombs are much worse than rape. Being raped (by itself) doesn't remove people's limbs, or kill them.
The point of the examples is that the presence of an invading aggressor doesn't make ethical considerations go away.
> It is not criminal for the Ukranians to use cluster munitions
See:
nostr:npub143rjlhmkm2ae64vvprv0wewaty2qhmyf8vr98j49pv5hv5jqv6ts89k2c8
> Those areas are already heavily mined etc. and not safe for civilians for years
This too is a war crime. I didn't realise anyone still made or used landmines.
> Russian army is currently killing civilians in Ukraine... and cluster bombs does help with that
How?
> I might change my mind if I saw at least one Ukrainian being against using them
Ukrainians don't make international law, and are hardly in the position right now to think objectively about long term consequences.
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nostr:npub143rjlhmkm2ae64vvprv0wewaty2qhmyf8vr98j49pv5hv5jqv6ts89k2c8
> how is it war crime then if Ukraine uses them?... Neither Ukraine or Russia have agreed to not to use them
There are conflicting opinions on this. But there is a longstanding body of international law criminalising munitions that are known to cause harm to civilians, eg landmines. I agree with the contention that cluster bombs breach such laws:
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/cluster-bombs-ukraine-biden-congress/
nostr:npub1x0g4kmver43ydq5wv8suva2yzy6svjg5glly9gen9l3pf63xnmeq6swd39
> If you are interested in Cooperative Economics or Mutualism, I'm very much looking forward to read from you!
Have you come across anyone from the social.coop server yet? It's a fediverse server where decisions are made democratically using a Loomio group. In other words, a platform cooperative Speaking of which, are you familiar with:
Huh. I never thought about it before, but this is a very pithy description of corporate social media DataFarms:
"The spectacle is not an aggregate of images but a social relation among people, mediated by images."
Guy Record, 'The Society of the Spectacle'
Quoted in:
https://libcom.org/article/review-whatever-happened-situationists
#situationists #spectacle #DataFarms
nostr:npub19y8xknr5twkrg2aeu6dyt9rhk5eg6punm4kl4q07pp0av8aa47esmvwxgj
> one of our (euro, other) legendary lisp heads has a toot calling for coop people
Link please?
nostr:npub1z4ppnl4myf7dr30t6lhdah3d7apdtsa5skwj0lttjl08flyn97rs0z4u3u
nostr:npub143rjlhmkm2ae64vvprv0wewaty2qhmyf8vr98j49pv5hv5jqv6ts89k2c8
> Biden is not using them
Biden supplied them.
> It's not war crime to use them in your own country against invading army
I don't think you understand the phrase "war crime".
> Maybe Russian army should f off from Ukraine so that no weapons would be needed
Well of course, but this is entirely beside the point.
nostr:npub1gyjcnfjfys9e406kzgjggqujr2xpe5g32608s528y75vpptf5fusf0kull
> The Ukrainians are in an existential fight for their own homeland against imperial aggression. They can use the weapons of their choosing on their own territory.
I was commenting on Biden's morality, not theirs.
But you're OK with Ukrainians using nukes? Biological weapons? Is rape OK now for the Ukrainian army as long as the victims are Russian military personnel? Is it OK for them to ignore the Geneva Convention too and target Russian civilians?
See:
nostr:npub1q2h6ut5lx79j7ckuuz4g4hlz8h72uv537tr7n2fy56kq8epf8zxsekk2s5
> It’s fair since Russia is using them
Oh, of course. That's why it was OK for the Allies to set up Concentration Camps and gas chambers for German prisoners of war. My mistake : /
> We need to assure that they win this war, and quickly
Cluster bombs don't help with this. They just leave huge piles of unexploded ordinance lying around, which will be killing both Russian and Ukrainian civilians - especially curious children - for decades to come.
That's Biden's legacy.
nostr:npub1q2h6ut5lx79j7ckuuz4g4hlz8h72uv537tr7n2fy56kq8epf8zxsekk2s5
> It’s fair since Russia is using them
Oh, of course. That's why it was OK for the Allies to set up Concentration Camps and gas chambers for German prisoners of war. My mistake : ?
nostr:npub1x3vpz479r3ys5fqtyw7nvrmzumas00r96wexspk9a5flkrryhdmsxzdv48
> not to mention drones, that never seems to come up...the war crimes committed with them is horrific
True, but hardly news. Obama was assassinating people with drones a decade ago.
nostr:npub1z4ppnl4myf7dr30t6lhdah3d7apdtsa5skwj0lttjl08flyn97rs0z4u3u
> how does the general assistance in contract bit work
TBH I don't think there's a useful generic answer to that question. It depends on the country, the workplace and the trade union in question. My best advice would be to call the local branch of the union you're thinking of joining - or a pro-union activist group that shares your values - and ask them lots of these curly questions. They're generally happy to help.
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