We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.
Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]
|
Although I make my living (sometimes and poorly) doing internet infrastructure, my true home is in the art’s scene. It may be hard for those who have not live the life of the artist to understand the world of the actor, the musician, the fine artist… but no matter how long or how well I program machines, that is my true home.
The entry into the arts world is not an easy one, and not one for those who are weak of heart or who do not truly love their art for its’ own sake. I’ve paid my dues over decades and it lets me move freely in the arts world, and most particularly in that global brotherhood of musicians. There is an assurance in knowing you could be dropped anywhere in the world and inside of an evening get yourself sorted for a place to crash and pointers to where the craic is.
I’ve been out on such a night and have decided I should compose several short stories rather than write one long and disjointed article.
Due to the format, you are reading the introduction last… so just pretend you started here.
As Sandline International proved in Sierra Leon once when they dramatically improved the security situation before their good work was largely undone by the amoral drones in the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, private military organisations can be a valuable and stabilizing factor in many parts of the world. It is interesting that there are progressive elements in the British government who see this. Not surprisingly many socialist Labour MPs are horrified at the thought of non-state owned military formations even existing, as if somehow only being a state makes the use of force moral. Yet if the 20th century showed anything, it is that nations are far more likely to use force to murder their own citizens than to fight foreign wars. Third world armies in particular are notorious for endemic human rights abuses and rather than protecting the societies that fund them, in fact pose the primary threat to them.
Highly professional modern mercenary outfits could give many small nations the best of both worlds: first world capabilities without third world problems. Also the hiring nation is not forced into being a neo-colonial supplicant that results from accepting British, American or (particularly) French military ‘assistance’. Similarly for countries like Britain or the US to contract out certain military operations is not just a return to practices that were common in the 19th century but give more ‘casualty sensitive’ nations like the US a good way to bring stability without making worthy objectives hostage to opportunist politicians looking to boost their exposure with every returning flag draped coffin. Companies like Sandline and Executive Outcomes are almost certainly the face of low intensity warfare in the future regardless of short term opposition because they make such eminent sense.
Over on the Von Mises Institute site, there is a superb critique by Ralph Raico of the final installment of Robert Skidelsky‘s airbrushed biography, John Maynard Keynes: Fighting for Britain, 1937-1946 (New York: Viking Press, 2001). Raico makes it clear the extent to which dishonesty and revisionism have characterised this and other hagiographies of Keynes
It is now clear that [Robert Skidelsky] refuses to confront these shameful comments of his hero. So, for all practical purposes, Keynes’s fawning words on Stalinism have been thrown down an Orwellian memory hole, rarely if ever to reappear in the literature.
[…]
But if Keynes was such a model champion of the free society, how can we account for his peculiar comments, in 1933, endorsing, though with reservations, the social “experiments” that were going on at the time in Italy, Germany, and Russia? And what about his strange introduction to the 1936 German translation of General Theory, where he writes that his approach to economic policy is much better suited to a totalitarian state such as that run by the Nazis than, for instance, to Britain?
Read the whole review. Highly recommended.
Let me commend to you an admirable article by Dinesh D’Souza in the U.S. technology and investment publication Red Herring, on how technology helped abolish slavery and emancipate women, called Technology and Moral Progress:
Of course there are many people in the West who harbor deep anxieties about technology, even as they concede, and enjoy, its conveniences. The biggest concern is that technology will undermine cherished values like privacy, individuality, community, and human dignity. The critics say that technological progress does not produce moral progress.
We can’t just call these critics technophobes or Luddites. We have to meet their argument head on and show that technology doesn’t just make our lives easier; it also strengthens our core values. Thus, technological progress can generate moral progress.
D’Souza makes many valid points and Red Herring is well worth a regular read for those interested in what is going on in tech but who don’t want frivolity. The link to their site can be found in the sidebar.
As there was quite a lot of interest last time I showed one of these, here is the latest one.
This is a snapshot of where Samizdata visitors came. Also in the last 72 hours we have had e-mails from Brazil, USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Germany, Israel and Australia.
Liberties depend on the silence of the law
– Hobbes (Leviathan)
Like all self respecting cabals of sinister globalist illuminati, we have a motley widespread and close-knit network of voyeurs spies reporting back to us with prurient valuable information… one of them has managed to get a snapshot of a well known bellicose blogger. We need assistance positively identifying her however.
We are watching you
Slobodan Milosevic Is the Scapegoat in a Show Trial by Marko Lopusina and Andre Huzsvai is nothing less than lies on the scale that the Nazi holocaust never happened. Marko Lopusina and Andre Huzsvai are not ‘presenting an interpretation’ when they make remarks like:
Were allegations of Milosevic’s “war crimes” in Bosnia and Croatia true, he would have been indicted in 1995, instead of rubbing elbows with U.S. politicos at the Dayton peace talks. Were Washington serious about toppling him, it could have done so in 1996 by supporting the Serb opposition movement, Zajedno.
“War crimes” in Bosnia and Croatia? What were they then, a mass suicide? And the idea that Zajedno would have toppled Milosevic in 1996 is preposterous. Lopusina and Huzsvai are deluded fantasist apologists for a mass murderer. If they wish to sue me for defaming them I will be happy to give them my address and see these two sacks of shit in court.
Natalija was going to write a first hand account of why these two pieces of crap are wrong but was so distressed by it that she decided to just ignore these cretins. The editors of the L.A. Times should hang their heads in shame for allowing this travesty of the facts to touch the pages of their publication. Shameful and disgraceful.
The L.A. Times belongs nowhere except in the bottom of cat litter trays. Kudos to Matt Welch for heaping righteous disdain on these people and for Brian Hoffman‘s letter to Matt.
Coming soon to the L.A. Times: the serialisation of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion
Of all people, the Germans have gone and stuck the boot into the fledgling Euro. By rejecting warnings from the European Commission about their swelling budget deficit, they have done just a little more to hasten the decline of the Euro to the status of Monopoly money
The warnings in question arise as a result of the Germans breaching the Stability and Growth Pact drawn up in 1997 (mostly by the Germans, ironically) and which limited Eurozone countries to a ceiling on their budget deficits of 3 percent of GDP. Clearly an intended shackle on high-spending governments, it was seen as a bitter pill that had to be swallowed if the Euro was going to attract investment and prove a success
But, it appears, that the success of the Euro is as nothing when compared to the prospect of losing an election. Germany’s economy is deep in recession, unemployment is already at 4.5 million and rising and Gerhard Schroder knows that unless he can dole out the largesse before the next election then his name will be added to that growing list
The German deficit is already at 2.7 percent and will assuredly go over the 3 percent barrier in the next few months. The German government have told the Commission to go and take a flying f*ck but has promised to reduce its deficit to zero by 2004 (and if anyone believes that, then I have a bridge in Sarajevo to sell them)
The ‘Stability Pact’ balloon is going up, filled with all the hot-air about ‘reform’
Still, I couldn’t be happier. If Gerhard Schroder has done his bit to hasten the demise of the Euro then my Valentine Card is already on its way to Berlin to tell him that he has a not-so-secret admirer in London
The Scottish Parliament has just done what unfettered democratic institutions do: make the prejudices of the majority into laws backed by violence to suppress minority view points. They have now banned fox hunting in Scotland, refusing even to compensate the people who will lose their livelihoods as a result. On the later point I am actually glad as the immoral viscousness of this statist intrusion is made all the more stark to see.
Until people start to respond in kind and impose a physical cost on such actions by the state, and on supporters of such actions, it is unlikely much will change. Given the complete lack of viable political opposition to the socialist Labour and National Socialist SNP in Scotland, it is horrifying that only Sinn Fein, a grotesque organisation whose objectives are antithetical to liberty, provides the only viable model for friends of liberty who wish to oppose the increasingly repressive intrusions of the state.
[ Sabina Kupershmidt points out that behind the gloss of smiling athletes, China remains under the control of a brutal and totalitarian communist regime which forbids even non-political free association that does not have the state as the core of its focus]
The Chinese government has been persecuting the spiritual group Falun Gong (also called Falun Dafa) since July 22,1999. So far, the ban has resulted in the arrest of 100,000 peaceful Chinese citizens. Tens of thousands are languishing in labor camps having received long sentences (6-10 years) without trial. 1,000 have been put into mental hospitals. 360 are confirmed dead as a result of torture by Chinese police and/or prison camp personnel, although the true number may be much higher (probably more than 1,600). The deaths are often dismissed by the same officials as ‘suicides’ and the bodies are quickly burned, presumably to hide evidence of torture.
Why is China afraid of Falun Gong, a group which has never made any political statements? An official government report in early 1999 showed that 70 million Chinese citizens, including members of the Communist Party and government officials participated in the movement. The true number of practitioners is probably closer to 100 million. The Chinese government, like any other totalitarian government does not like grass-roots movements and could not tolerate so many adherents to a system of belief not centred on the state. Persecution and harassment of practitioners ensued which in turn resulted in a spontaneous gathering of 10,000 practitioners who quietly protested outside the central government compound, Zhongnanhai, in Beijing (April 1999). This led to a complete ban on Falun Gong in July of 1999 and since then practitioners have been arrested and brutally tortured. I don’t want to relate the many horror stories of their mistreatment but you can check on-line for more information.
I will try to explain what Falun Gong is all about, since I myself practice it. It is basically a method to improve body, mind and spirit through meditative exercises and through a lifestyle attuned to the three principles of “Truth, Compassion and Forbearance”. Everything is voluntary and free, including all reading materials and all teachings (which can be downloaded from the web). Every practitioner to whom I’ve ever spoken reports great improvements in health, which is also my experience. There are no politics involved anywhere.
From February 7th-9th, I attended a protest organized by the “Western US Falun Gong” group at the Winter Olympics intended to draw attention to the Chinese mistreatment of Falun Gong. According to my own estimates, about 1,500 people showed up for the march through downtown Salt Lake City on Thursday (the best-attended event). Most of the participants were Chinese, although some Western practitioners were also there. We first had group practice in a downtown SLC park, then the march and a press conference. In the afternoon we passed out informational brochures downtown, seeking to engage people in discussions about the situation in China. In the evening we held a candle-light vigil in the park until 10 pm. On Friday, the day of the opening ceremonies, we again spent the whole day outdoors, mostly on a hillside close to the Olympic Stadium holding banners and sitting in meditation. After nightfall, we again held a candlelight vigil. To my relief, we had indoor activities on Saturday. I found the schedule physically demanding. After all, we spent 12 hours a day for two days in cold weather and in the snow. We didn’t even take lunch or dinner indoors which might have warmed us up. Also, we did not stay in hotels (there were no hotel rooms available in Salt Lake City) but in a few rented houses; consequently, most of us slept on the floor and were rather sleep-deprived. The age range of participants was 3 years old to mid-80 years old, but the majority of practitioners seemed to be ladies well over 50. A lot were over 60. These folks traveled from all over the US to sit in the snow in Salt Lake City and meditate. Many of them don’t even speak English. I hope there were enough beds for the elderly folks, although where I stayed the first night, there was a man from Durham, NC, who looked close to 70, sleeping on the floor in the kitchen. Many of the same tireless people had participated in a protest against Chinese repression at the World Economic Forum in New York City on the preceding weekend. Quite a lot of them have experienced imprisonment and harassment in China due to their practice of Falun Gong. One of the 80+ year old ladies I saw, once traveled from her present home in California to Beijing in order to appeal to the government about the persecution, knowing full well that she would be arrested. And she did in fact get arrested. Now, she’s back in the US, willing to spend many hours in the cold weather, hoping to attract our attention to the situation in China.
I also saw two Western practitioners, both young men, who had traveled to China last November. They had met up on Tiananmen Square with 36 Western Falun Gong practitioners, unfurled a banner that read “Falun Gong is good. Truth Compassion and Forbearance”, started meditation, and promptly got arrested and some got beaten up badly by police. I was very moved by a college student from San Francisco who explained how worried his parents were when he told them of his plans to make his appeal on Tiananmen Square. He argued with them that if men of principle had not stood up for their beliefs throughout history, the world would be an awful place (I’m paraphrasing; he said it better than that). Fortunately, his parents supported him afterwards.
Please take time to tell your Senators, Congressman and Congresswoman not to neglect the human rights situation in China. President Bush is going to China this week; please write him an e-mail to direct his attention to this situation (president@whitehouse.gov). We have granted China many economic privileges during the last year. We feel that we need China in our corner, especially when our own country is under attack. Do you remember that our own country supported the Taliban 15 years ago? We understand that the situation is very complex and needs to be considered from many angles, however, it never pays to support evil. You can also sign a petition in favor of Falun Gong.
Sabina Kupershmidt
|
Who Are We? The Samizdata people are a bunch of sinister and heavily armed globalist illuminati who seek to infect the entire world with the values of personal liberty and several property. Amongst our many crimes is a sense of humour and the intermittent use of British spelling.
We are also a varied group made up of social individualists, classical liberals, whigs, libertarians, extropians, futurists, ‘Porcupines’, Karl Popper fetishists, recovering neo-conservatives, crazed Ayn Rand worshipers, over-caffeinated Virginia Postrel devotees, witty Frédéric Bastiat wannabes, cypherpunks, minarchists, kritarchists and wild-eyed anarcho-capitalists from Britain, North America, Australia and Europe.
|
You know who you are. I will miss you at my party tonight and I will miss your party on the 23
Recent Comments