US Authoritarianism

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/17805513

…

While Americans have long clashed over our country’s cruel and bigoted past, Germans have undertaken one of the most thoroughgoing efforts of any nation on the planet to reckon with their history. Germany, perhaps more than any other country, has attempted to pull out by the roots its homegrown variant of the reactionary spirit — the tendency of opponents of social change to choose hierarchy over democracy, trying to constrain or even topple democracy to protect hierarchies of wealth and status.

The Nazis were born out of disgust with post-World War I Weimar democracy, led by men furious about both the new government’s weakness and acceptance of the Jewish minority into German society. After Nazism brought Germany to ruin, preventing a reactionary resurgence became one of the central goals of the country’s subsequent leaders.

So it’s all the more extraordinary that in the past few years, Germany’s far right has been on the rise.

In 2015, at the peak of the global refugee crisis, German chancellor Angela Merkel announced an open-door policy for those fleeing violence in Syria and elsewhere. In response, the Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) party, a Euroskeptic faction without a single seat in Parliament, morphed into a virulently xenophobic force calling for Germany to slam Merkel’s open door shut.

…

But its rise illustrates something vitally important: That Germany, of all countries, could fail to prevent a surge in reactionary antidemocratic politics suggests there’s something eternal and enduring about the reactionary spirit. And there is something about our current time period that makes it especially likely to flourish — not just in Germany, but around the world.

The Link https://www.wnyc.org/story/teacher-was-disciplined-after-shared-access-brooklyn-public-library-now-shes-speaking-out-against-banning-books/

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/17647063

Eric Garner Murdered by NYPD (2014)

Thu Jul 17, 2014

Image: Eric Garner and his wife, Esaw, during a family vacation in 2011 [New York Times]

On this day in 2014, Eric Garner was murdered by the NYPD, choked to death after police suspected him of selling loose cigarettes. Garner said "I can't breathe" 11 times before dying. The man who filmed his death was poisoned in prison.

Eric Garner (1970 - 2014) was a former horticulturist at the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, father of six, and grandfather of three. On July 17th, 2014, was approached by Justin D'Amico, a plainclothes officer, in front of a beauty supply store in Tompkinsville, Staten Island. D'Amico suspected Garner of selling loose cigarettes.

Garner stated "Every time you see me, you want to mess with me. I'm tired of it. It stops today...I'm minding my business, officer, I'm minding my business. Please just leave me alone. I told you the last time, please just leave me alone."

After refusing to be handcuffed, 29-year old officer Daniel Pantaleo put Garner in an ultimately fatal chokehold. Despite Garner stating "I can't breathe" eleven times before losing consciousness, the several officers on scene did not come to his aid.

Ramsey Orta, a member of Copwatch, filmed the incident. Following a campaign of police harassment after the video went viral, he was arrested on weapons charges.

Before being imprisoned in Rikers, Orta claims a cop told him he'd be better off killing himself before being jailed. While in prison, Orta was poisoned by prison staff and at one point only ate food that his wife brought him. In May 2020, Orta was released from Groveland Correctional Facility.

Garner's death was protested internationally and became one of many police killings protested within the Black Lives Matter movement. Some perpetrators of violence against police have cited Garner's murder as a motive.

A grand jury elected to not indict Pantaleo on December 3rd, 2014. After the decision, Garner's widow was asked whether she accepted Pantaleo's condolences. She replied: "Hell, no! The time for remorse would have been when my husband was yelling to breathe...No, I don't accept his apology. No, I could care less about his condolences...He's still working. He's still getting a paycheck. He's still feeding his kids, when my husband is six feet under and I'm looking for a way to feed my kids now."

An NYPD disciplinary hearing regarding Pantaleo's treatment of Garner was held in the summer of 2019, and Pantaleo was fired on August 19th, more than five years after the murder took place.

• Date: 2014-07-17
• Learn More: www.blackpast.org, en.wikipedia.org, www.vanityfair.com.
• Tags: #Protests.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Caring deeply about my message exactly every 4 years is truly inspiring

https://www.axios.com/2024/07/16/biden-dnc-vote-nomination-states-2024-election

... designed to capture bin Laden? (Spoiler: it was unsuccessful)

The Tuskegee Syphilis Study, officially titled “The Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male,” was a study conducted by the United States Public Health Service (PHS) from 1932 to 1972. It involved nearly 600 impoverished African-American in Tuskegee, Alabama, with the aim of observing the effects of untreated syphilis on the human body. The men were not informed about the true nature of the experiment and were deceived by the researchers.

The unethical nature of the study came to light in 1972 when it was exposed by a whistleblower, Peter Buxtun. The study had a lasting impact on public health efforts and contributed to a deep-seated mistrust within the African American community towards medical professionals and government health initiatives.

… sure seems restricted to bodily harm to elites.