[Xmca-l] Re: USA & Chile social revolts

[HENRY SHONERD]

Hi Bill,
Especially enraging was this from Alice Springs News:

"The Gunner government lost the plot when it pulled its entire health staff out of Yuendumu for two weeks over safety concerns, instead of increasing measures for their protection – as much as it takes.”

There’s a powerful resonance between the oppression of aboriginal people on their own land (Australia) and the oppression of involuntary immigrants in a new land (Black people in the U.S.).

 I loved the rock group Yothu Yindi, which was a wonderful collaboration between an aboriginal musical group (the Swamp Jockies I just found on the internet) and the white rock group Midnight Oil. https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf-jHCdafZY__;!!Mih3wA!QApyRROvrydjfvfkDpfZructzelZVTlTIQl4CTVzl5t75erIvukcoZ2yBXh3Y8q4TTUmYQ$  <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf-jHCdafZY__;!!Mih3wA!QApyRROvrydjfvfkDpfZructzelZVTlTIQl4CTVzl5t75erIvukcoZ2yBXh3Y8q4TTUmYQ$ >. This music affects me in the same way as protest music of Latin America in the 60s and 70s. (e.g., La Era Está Pariendo Un Corazon.)https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsLKyYa2nfg__;!!Mih3wA!Sx6T1aJkuJkIFsrWYcKEMxD0ilGSe8A9e2o3PrKCWgaS3YoFJP3fP2hnL4nHw4dM-K7SFA$ <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsLKyYa2nfg__;!!Mih3wA!Sx6T1aJkuJkIFsrWYcKEMxD0ilGSe8A9e2o3PrKCWgaS3YoFJP3fP2hnL4nHw4dM-K7SFA$> It’s the emotional accompaniment to action, activism that is engaged. Perizhvanie. The Spinozan turn away from Descartesian thinking, Full-on engagement of conceptual thinking and social embodiment. We are all in this thing together.

Henry

> On May 31, 2020, at 3:41 AM, Bill Kerr <billkerr@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> hi David,
> I live in Australia, remote Alice Springs, but was looking for analysis of USA "I can't breathe" / "no peace, no justice" / "Black lives matter"/ "darkness falls in the USA" when your mail arrived. Last year in Yuendumu (290 km from Alice) an aboriginal man 19-year-old Kumunjayi Walker was killed by police. The officer has been charged for murder. More information here: https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.alicespringsnews.com.au/2019/11/15/67641/__;!!Mih3wA!QApyRROvrydjfvfkDpfZructzelZVTlTIQl4CTVzl5t75erIvukcoZ2yBXh3Y8po3lqsQA$  <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.alicespringsnews.com.au/2019/11/15/67641/__;!!Mih3wA!RlGhWpL4RcCfym6WMrGAIq723lwzTs5Onv8VNYfZIIYJiKAW82ie8fSsgf4Ti9gbQaESgg$>
> 
> I also thought of the parallel to the situation in Hong Kong, where the public supported the use of violence by democracy supporters as shown in Council elections on 24th November 2019
> 
> Also the parallel with the US moon launch July 20, 1969 (cf SpaceX) and the Vietnam war protests at that time.
> 
> Here is an interesting twitter post / video on the current situation in the US:
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://twitter.com/QasimRashid/status/1266602023526506498__;!!Mih3wA!QApyRROvrydjfvfkDpfZructzelZVTlTIQl4CTVzl5t75erIvukcoZ2yBXh3Y8ps7S5CSg$  <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://twitter.com/QasimRashid/status/1266602023526506498__;!!Mih3wA!RlGhWpL4RcCfym6WMrGAIq723lwzTs5Onv8VNYfZIIYJiKAW82ie8fSsgf4Ti9inW5M_cQ$>
> "Killer" Mike passionately pleads for protestors "not to burn your own house down"
> 
> Read the comments on this thread, some for, some against. A little way down someone has posted an old video from Malcom X, who argues, 
> "you don't get freedom peacefully, anyone who is depriving you of freedom isn't deserving of a peaceful approach"ill
> 
> Bill
> 
> On Sun, May 31, 2020 at 5:04 PM David Preiss <preiss.xmca@gmail.com <mailto:preiss.xmca@gmail.com>> wrote:
> Dear colleagues and friends of XMCA living int he USA,
> 
> The images from the unrest in the USA are strikingly similar to those we experienced during our own "estallido social" since last October. Our social revolt was literally quarantined with the arrival of COVID19, and yours started during it. These are very complex days everywhere without any doubt. 
> 
> The main issue we experienced here (previous to COVID19) was how to understand institutional and social violence and how to protect our democracy. Although the unrest in the USA was triggered by a new event of police brutality, the same underlying issues seem to foster the social protest. 
> 
> There are many themes that I see there that are strikingly similar to our situation, including the widespread crisis of legitimacy of the police forces, which relate to issues of race, social and gender inequality. Democracy is not working for a large majority of the population, and is neglecting many vulnerable communities while the rich get unethically richer. That a private company sent a rocket to the international space station the same day that 25 cities in the USA were under curfew summarizes all. In Chile, however, the social unrest was channeled in a wider social movement for social reform and ended up in an agreement to change our constitution, which was about to be voted but COVID19 happened.
> 
> I have started to work on a project on human rights and the police (not a topic that was in my mainstream area of research but to whom I arrived as a part of a social concern) and will certainly be very attentive to your thoughts on the matter as events unfold. The images of police brutality that are in social media are very similar to those we experienced here as well as those of opportunistic civil violence by infiltrators, looting and so on. I really hope the social protest there achieves some substantive change and it is not just marginalized or reduced to mere chaos. 
> 
> But first of all, besides entering an academic discussion, I just wanted to share with you all my full solidarity. These are very painful moments. We went through them. I understand how painful they are. I share your pain and grief.
> 
> David
> 
> 

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