For your consideration; first, via RT.com Jan. 3, 2021:
“China, France, Russia, the UK, and the US have released a joint statement affirming their opposition to using their nuclear arsenals for offensive purposes. They also promised to work together on nuclear disarmament.
“We affirm that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought,” read the statement released on Monday. “As nuclear use would have far-reaching consequences, we also affirm that nuclear weapons – for as long as they continue to exist – should serve defensive purposes, deter aggression, and prevent war.”
Let Them Eat Cake: a Journey into Edward Said’s Humanism
The title is an essay by Ted Steinberg published on September 6, 2019 at counterpunch. He’s kindly given me permission to reprint it all, given that I’d told him that not only is it one of the best pieces (a dual hero journey) I’ve read in a long time, but it really should be read all of a piece. Had I needed to retell some it, surely I’d have made a hash of it. It’s chock-full of the many epiphanies both he and Edward Said had experienced along their roads less traveled.
Mr. Stinberg uses plain-speak, non-academic language throughout, perhaps because the vignette begins with himself at age 13, and he weaves ‘the cake’ motif as a central touchstone throughout the progression, and along the way discovers that the indigenous in Israel had been airbrushed out of history in his Hebrew school. I hope you’ll think it’s a brilliant as I do, and appreciate it even half as much.
As a side note, I’ve struggled not to bold or italicize any text I’d wanted to draw emphasize, and it’s been hard (smile). Enjoy!
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Posted in resistance under oppression, social commentary/prediction