• Europe’s Terminal Decline Is Now IRREVERSIBLE | Dr. Ulrike Guérot

    via https://diasp.eu/p/17674209

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_vVPQ6PZY8

    Neutralities Studies || Interviews - 1h - 02.06.2025

    #Ideology and manic war- #narratives have eaten up the European leadership and the technocratic apparatus the continent is built on. The very institutions that were supposed to function as guardians of civil and democratic rights are now being weaponised against those ends. And the people committing these violations are doing so while yelling that the OUTSIDE is full of authoritarians.

    Today I’m talking again to Professor Ulrike Guérot, (...)

    • (Today I’m talking again to Professor Ulrike Guérot) ... one of Germany‘s most famous and outspoken political scientists. We‘ve talked before among other things about her political persecution at home in #Germany but today we want to focus on her new book, called „Zeiten Wenden” - or - “Changing Times: Schematics about the intellectual situation of the Present” in wich she explores and says good bye to reason, #democracy and #Europe as we used to know it.

    • https://europeanpeaceproject.eu/fr

      https://europeanpeaceproject.eu/manifest-frans

      Projet européen pour la paix – Le Manifeste

      Aujourd’hui, le 9 mai 2025 – exactement 80 ans après la fin de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, qui a coûté la vie à 60 millions de personnes, dont 27 millions de citoyens soviétiques, nous, les citoyens européens, élevons la voix ! Nous avons honte de nos gouvernements et de l’UE qui n’ont pas retenu les leçons du XXe siècle. L’UE, autrefois conçue comme un projet de paix, a été pervertie et a ainsi trahi l’essence même de l’Europe ! Nous, les citoyens européens, prenons donc aujourd’hui, le 9 mai, notre destin et notre histoire en main. Nous déclarons l’échec de l’UE. Nous entamons une diplomatie citoyenne et refusons la guerre planifiée contre la Russie ! Nous reconnaissons la coresponsabilité de « l’Occident », des gouvernements européens et de l’UE dans ce conflit.

      Nous, citoyens d’Europe, nous opposons avec le European Peace Project à l’hypocrisie éhontée et aux mensonges diffusés aujourd’hui – Journée de l’Europe – lors des cérémonies officielles et sur les chaînes publiques.

      Nous tendons la main aux citoyennes et citoyens d’Ukraine et de Russie. Vous faites partie de la famille européenne et nous sommes convaincus qu’ensemble, nous pouvons organiser une cohabitation pacifique sur notre continent.

      Nous avons devant les yeux les images des cimetières militaires – de Volgograd à Riga et à la Lorraine. Nous voyons les tombes fraîches que cette guerre insensée a laissées en Ukraine et en Russie. Alors que la plupart des gouvernements de l’UE et des responsables de la guerre harcèlent et refoulent ce que la guerre signifie pour la population, nous avons appris la leçon du siècle dernier : l’Europe, c’est « plus jamais la guerre » !

      Nous nous souvenons des efforts de construction européenne du siècle dernier et des promesses de 1989 après la révolution pacifique. Nous demandons la création d’un Office européen de la jeunesse et de la Russie sur le modèle de l’Office franco-allemand de la jeunesse de 1963, qui a mis fin à « l’hostilité héréditaire » entre l’Allemagne et la France. Nous exigeons la fin des sanctions et la reconstruction du gazoduc Nord Stream II. Nous refusons de gaspiller l’argent de nos impôts dans l’armement et la militarisation, au détriment de l’État social et des infrastructures. Dans le cadre d’une conférence de paix de l’OSCE, nous demandons la création d’une architecture de sécurité européenne avec la Russie et non contre elle, comme le stipule la Charte de Paris de 1990. Nous demandons une Europe neutre, émancipée des États-Unis et jouant un rôle de médiateur dans un monde multipolaire. Notre Europe est post-coloniale et post-impériale.

      Nous, citoyens européens, déclarons par la présente que cette guerre est terminée ! Nous ne participerons pas à ces jeux de guerre. Nous ne ferons pas de nos hommes et de nos fils des soldats, de nos filles des infirmières à l’hôpital et de nos pays des champs de bataille.

      Nous proposons d’envoyer immédiatement une délégation de citoyens européens à Kiev et à Moscou afin d’entamer le dialogue. Nous ne resterons pas là à regarder notre avenir et celui de nos enfants être sacrifiés sur l’autel de la politique de puissance.

      Vive l’Europe, vive la paix, vive la liberté

      *

      #Europe vs. #EU / #CE

  • West Losing Propaganda War, Elite Scare REVEALED | Michel Collon

    via https://diasp.eu/p/17673644

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN2LxocYkCo

    Neutrality Studies: Interview with Michel Collon - 2025-05-17 - 1h

    The West’s #narrative is full of cracks, and European elites know it. And they are scared. Scared of the change that will come once they can’t dominate the journalistic space anymore. That’s why they are cracking down on social and digital media, as well as foreign news outlets.

  • Free Palestine 𓂆 from the river to the sea sur X :
    https://x.com/MuznaShihabi/status/1927341143974351280

    Non, le problème ce n’est pas Netanyahu.

    Et non, Israël n’a pas « basculé » dans l’extrême droite.

    Ce que beaucoup qualifient de dérive est en réalité une continuité. Netanyahu n’a pas trahi l’esprit d’Israël.

    Il l’a accompli. Depuis 1948, un système a été mis en place ; exproprier, enfermer, fragmenter, effacer.

    Un régime d’apartheid pensé, structuré, enseigné.

    Pas un accident de parcours. Une doctrine.

    Comme l’a montré Nurit Peled-Elhanan, les manuels scolaires israéliens n’accordent aux Palestiniens ni noms, ni visages, ni douleurs. Aucune histoire, aucun droit. Juste des ombres menaçantes. Des cibles.

    On prépare les massacres à l’école. Et le mythe du « glissement » est une stratégie d’aveuglement.

    Il rassure les consciences, détourne les regards, préserve le mythe d’un « bon #sionisme » trahi par ses extrêmes. Mais on ne tombe pas dans l’inhumanité.

    On y va. Pas à pas. Et souvent, sous applaudissements de l’occident. Il est temps d’appeler les choses par leur nom. L’injustice n’est pas nouvelle.

    Donnez le micro aux Palestiniens pour comprendre.

    #médias #narrative

  • Un livre pour ma vie - Yuval Noah #harari - Regarder le documentaire complet | ARTE
    https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/118865-008-A/un-livre-pour-ma-vie-yuval-noah-harari

    Yuval Noah Harari, historien, philosophe et auteur à succès, expose dans cet entretien sa perspective sur la dynamique entre la #science, la narration et le comportement humain. Il soutient que, bien que la science offre une compréhension du monde infiniment plus complexe et imaginative que la mythologie, son principal défi réside dans son incapacité à raconter des histoires captivantes. Or, les humains sont motivés à l’action par les récits, non par les faits seuls. Harari explique que les mythes qui façonnent les sociétés (sur l’immigration, les conflits, l’identité nationale ou religieuse) puisent souvent leur force dans des "drames biologiques" fondamentaux (rivalité tribale, peur de la perte parentale, dynamique familiale), compréhensibles même au niveau mammifère. Ces récits, bien (...)

    #biology #mythology #anthropology #storytelling #books #narrative #language #stories #imagination #evolution #bureaucracy #conspiracy #cognition #bias #management #organizations #complexity #reality #bestof

  • THE #ABC OF RACIST EUROPE

    The project consist on a children’s book and wall display installation that goes trough the alphabet creating an anti-racist narrative.

    The book addresses the connection between the migratory control system, colonialism and coloniality, while reinterpreting diverse words. The publication also narrates various struggles and resistances against racism.

    https://www.daniela-ortiz.com/en/copia-de-la-rebeli%C3%B3n-de-las-ra%C3%ADces

    #vocabulaire #mots #racisme #Europe #art_et_politique #alphabet #terminologie #narrative_anti-raciste #migrations #colonialisme #colonialité #résistance #Daniela_Ortiz #frontières

    ping @isskein @karine4

    @cede : tu peux me rappeler l’exemple que tu nous avais montré de l’alphabet raciste dans une école à Bâle ?

  • Je regarde France 24.

    Très lourde insistance sur les « civils tués par le Hamas ». Ce qui n’est pas impossible mais la moindre des choses est de parler au conditionnel et de préciser que la source est israélienne.

    Alors qu’un-e Palestinien-ne mort-e (le plus souvent on ne sait pas comment) n’est qu’éventuellement un civil (les sources sont palestiniennes) et souvent accessoirement (les sources israéliennes parlent de responsables palestiniens).

    Puis la chaîne parle d’un « élu israélien tué lors de combats contre le Hamas. » Est-il comptabilisé comme un civil par France 24 ? Est-ce un colon qui a volé les terres et les biens de Palestiniens, qu’il a préalablement éventuellement assassiné ?

    #narrative

  • Effective Data Visualizations Should Focus on #narrative, Not Numbers
    https://nightingaledvs.com/effective-data-visualizations-should-focus-on-narrative-not-numbers

    Data visualization is an incredibly powerful tool — but too often, it’s underutilized or simply misused by brands and other organizations. That’s not just because people..

    #Business_Intelligence #communication #data_storytelling #Data_Visualization #How_To

  • If This is a Wage-Price Spiral, Why Are #Profits Soaring? - Center for Economic and Policy Research
    https://cepr.net/if-this-is-a-wage-price-spiral-why-are-profits-soaring

    That’s the question millions are asking, even if economic reporters are not. The classic story of a wage price spiral is that workers demand higher pay, employers are then forced to pass on higher wages in higher prices, which then leads workers to demand higher pay, repeat.

    We are seeing many stories telling us that this is the world we now face. A big problem with that story is the profit share of GDP has actually risen sharply in the last two quarters from already high levels.

    #salaires #narrative

  • The Asylum Story: Narrative Capital and International Protection

    Obtaining international protection relies upon an ability to successfully navigate the host country’s asylum regime. In #France, the #récit_de_vie, or asylum story, is critical to this process. An asylum seeker must craft their story with the cultural expectations of the assessor in mind. The shaping of the asylum story can be seen as an act of political protest.

    The role of the asylum story within the asylum procedure

    Within a context of increasing securitization of Europe’s borders, the consequences of differentiated rights tied to immigration status have profound impacts. The label of “refugee” confers rights and the chance to restart one’s life. In order to obtain this label, a narrative of the person’s history is required: the asylum story. It must explain the reasons and mechanisms of individualized persecution in the asylum seeker’s country of origin or residence, and the current and sustained fears of this persecution continuing should they return. In France, the Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless People (OFPRA)
    is responsible for determining whether or not the person will be granted protection, either through refugee status or subsidiary protection.

    This essay examines the construction of these stories based on participant observation conducted within an association supporting exiles in Nice called Habitat et Citoyenneté (“Housing and Citizenship”, hereafter H&C).

    One of H&C’s activities is supporting asylum seekers throughout the asylum process, including the writing of the story and preparation of additional testimony for appeals in the event of a rejection. Over time, H&C has increasingly specialized in supporting women seeking asylum, many of whom have suffered gender-based and sexual violence. These women’s voices struggle to be heard within the asylum regime as it currently operates, their traumas cross-examined during an interview with an OFPRA protection officer. Consequently, an understanding of what makes a “good” asylum story is critical. Nicole and Nadia, members of H&C who play multiple roles within the association, help to develop the effective use of “narrative capital” whereby they support the rendering of the exiles’ experiences into comprehensive and compelling narratives.
    Creating the narrative while struggling against a tide of disbelief

    The experience of asylum seekers in Nice illustrates the “culture of disbelief” (Kelly 2012) endemic within the asylum system. In 2019, OFPRA reported a 75% refusal rate.

    Rejection letters frequently allege that stories are “not detailed enough,” “vague,” “unconvincing,” or “too similar” to other seekers’ experiences. These perfunctory refusals of protection are an assault in and of themselves. Women receiving such rejections at H&C were distressed to learn their deepest traumas had been labelled as undeserving.

    While preparing appeals, many women remembered the asylum interviews as being akin to interrogations. During their interviews, protection officers would “double-back” on aspects of the story to “check” the consistency of the narrative, jumping around within the chronology and asking the same question repeatedly with different phrasing in an attempt to confuse or trick the asylum seeker into “revealing” some supposed falsehood. This practice is evident when reading the transcripts of OFPRA interviews sent with rejection letters. Indeed, the “testing” of the asylum seeker’s veracity is frequently applied to the apparent emotiveness of their descriptions: the interviewer may not believe the account if it is not “accompanied by suitable emotional expression” (Shuman and Bohmer 2004). Grace, recently granted protective status, advised her compatriots to express themselves to their fullest capability: she herself had attempted to demonstrate the truth of her experiences through the scars she bore on her body, ironically embarrassing the officer who had himself demanded the intangible “proof” of her experience.

    A problematic reality is that the asylum seeker may be prevented from producing narrative coherency owing to the effects of prolonged stress and the traumatic resonance of memories themselves (Puumala, Ylikomi and Ristimäki 2018). At H&C, exiles needed to build trust in order to be able to narrate their histories within the non-judgemental and supportive environment provided by the association. Omu, a softly spoken Nigerian woman who survived human trafficking and brutal sexual violence, took many months before she was able to speak to Nadia about her experiences at the offices of H&C. When she did so, her discomfort in revisiting that time in her life meant she responded minimally to any question asked. Trauma’s manifestations are not well understood even among specialists. Therefore, production of “appropriately convincing” traumatic histories is moot: the evaluative methodologies are highly subjective, and indeed characterization of such narratives as “successful” does not consider the person’s reality or lived experience. Moreover, language barriers, social stereotypes, cultural misconceptions and expected ways of telling the truth combine to impact the evaluation of the applicant’s case.

    Asylum seekers are expected to demonstrate suffering and to perform their “victimhood,” which affects mental well-being: the individual claiming asylum may not frame themselves as passive or a victim within their narrative, and concentrating on trauma may impede their attempts to reconstruct a dignified sense of self (Shuman and Bohmer 2004). This can be seen in the case of Bimpe: as she was preparing her appeal testimony, she expressed hope in the fact that she was busy reconstructing her life, having found employment and a new community in Nice; however, the de facto obligation to embody an “ideal-type” victim meant she was counselled to focus upon the tragedy of her experiences, rather than her continuing strength in survival.
    Narrative inequality and the disparity of provision

    Standards of reception provided for asylum seekers vary immensely, resulting in an inequality of access to supportive services and thereby the chance of obtaining status. Governmental reception centers have extremely limited capacity: in 2019, roughly a third of the potential population

    were housed and receiving long-term and ongoing social support. Asylum seekers who find themselves outside these structures rely upon networks of associations working to provide an alternative means of support.

    Such associations attempt to counterbalance prevailing narrative inequalities arising due to provisional disparities, including access to translation services. Nicole is engaged in the bulk of asylum-story support, which involves sculpting applications to clarify ambiguities, influence the chronological aspect of the narration, and exhort the asylum seeker to detail their emotional reactions (Burki 2015). When Bimpe arrived at H&C only a few days ahead of her appeal, the goal was to develop a detailed narrative of what led her to flee her country of origin, including dates and geographical markers to ground the story in place and time, as well as addressing the “missing details” of her initial testimony.

    Asylum seekers must be allowed to take ownership in the telling of their stories. Space for negotiation with regard to content and flow is brought about through trust. Ideally, this occurs through having sufficient time to prepare the narrative: time allows the person to feel comfortable opening up, and offers potential to go back and check on details and unravel areas that may be cloaked in confusion. Nicole underlines the importance of time and trust as fundamental in her work supporting women with their stories. Moreover, once such trust has been built, “risky” elements that may threaten the reception of the narrative can be identified collaboratively. For example, mention of financial difficulties in the country of origin risks reducing the asylum seeker’s experience to a stereotyped image where economics are involved (see: the widely maligned figure of the “economic migrant”).

    Thus, the asylum story is successful only insofar as the seeker has developed a strong narrative capital and crafted their experience with the cultural expectations of the assessor in mind. In today’s reality of “asylum crisis” where policy developments are increasingly repressive and designed to recognize as few refugees as possible, the giving of advice and molding of the asylum story can be seen as an act of political protest.

    Bibliography

    Burki, M. F. 2015. Asylum seekers in narrative action: an exploration into the process of narration within the framework of asylum from the perspective of the claimants, doctoral dissertation, Université de Neuchâtel (Switzerland).
    Kelly, T. 2012. “Sympathy and suspicion: torture, asylum, and humanity”, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 753–768.
    Puumala, E., Ylikomi, R. and Ristimäki, H. L. 2018. “Giving an account of persecution: The dynamic formation of asylum narratives”, Journal of Refugee Studies, vol. 31, no. 2, pp. 197–215.
    Shuman, A. and Bohmer, C. 2004. “Representing trauma: political asylum narrative”, Journal of American Folklore, pp. 394–414.

    https://metropolitics.org/The-Asylum-Story-Narrative-Capital-and-International-Protection.html
    #asile #migrations #audition #narrative #récit #OFPRA #France #capital_narratif #crédibilité #cohérence #vraisemblance #véracité #émotions #corps #traces_corporelles #preuves #trauma #traumatisme #stress #victimisation #confiance #stéréotypes

    ping @isskein @karine4 @_kg_ @i_s_

  • Manifested Stories. An Alternative Narrative to the Urban-Frontier Myth

    Rebecca Pryor traces the history of the revitalization of the Bronx River, illustrating an alternative narrative to the urban-frontier myth—one that centers Black and Brown communities and is community-generated.

    At the beginning of the film The Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019), which takes place in the not-so-distant future, a curbside preacher asks passersby why San Francisco is only now cleaning the Bay when residents have lived by its toxicity for decades. The cleanup is not for us, he yells, our neighborhood is “the final frontier for manifest destiny.”

    The preacher’s reference to manifest destiny is the urban-frontier myth at work. Originally theorized by geographer Neil Smith, this myth shows how American frontier language (“frontier,” “pioneer,” and “Wild West”) is used to justify gentrification and displacement. Smith names the myth to pinpoint what’s lurking behind the language: “the gentrification frontier is advanced not so much through the actions of intrepid pioneers as through the actions of collective owners of capital. Where such urban pioneers go bravely forth, banks, real-estate developers, small-scale and large-scale lenders, retail corporations, the state, have generally gone before” (Smith 1996). Through frontier language, gentrification is understood as rugged individualism instead of a phenomenon rooted in social, political and economic forces.

    The myth of the urban frontier reveals the power that stories have over place. The American frontier has always relied on complex justification narratives of white-settler colonialism—taking land and continuing to live on it requires stories about hate, fear, obsession and erasure (Tuck and Yang 2012). The same is true for the story created by urban-frontier language—longtime Black and Brown residents are erased, neighborhoods are devalued and then “discovered” through gentrification. But this is not the only kind of story. Another kind of story, what I am calling an “alternative narrative,” centers Black and Brown communities and can begin to appropriate urban spaces through collective land stewardship.

    Alternative narratives are formed by community-generated stories of place that manifest spatially. Whereas the frontier myth reflects a belief system that justifies erasure and individual profit, alternative narratives encourage the opposite—solidarity and collective ownership. One such alternative narrative is the story that environmental justice leaders created around the Bronx River.
    The Bronx River story

    The revitalization of the Bronx River has all the seeds of a great story. Those involved have mythical accounts of hauling cars out of the water and building parks from trash heaps. Many will talk about the importance of collective power and unexpected partnerships. Several say that they were lost until they “found” the river.

    Also, it’s a river. Rivers and most American waterways are uniquely common spaces. Unlike public parks and plazas, waterways are not owned by a city, state, or federal agency; they are governed by English Common Law, which secures the water as a public highway. The law creates spaces that, in some ways, can remain outside the context of American land ownership.

    The Bronx River story has three acts: the Upper River, the Lower River, and their unification. Act I begins in 1974 when Bronx resident Ruth Anderberg fell in love with a northern portion of the upper river, which runs from West Farms Square to 233rd Street. Once she realized that this was the same river as the one covered in trash at West Farms, she began a public cleanup project, enlisting police chiefs, local residents and friendly crane operators. Filled with everything from cars to pianos, the river was part archaeological site, part landfill. Anderberg’s efforts eventually turned into the Bronx River Restoration Group, a nonprofit that led restoration efforts and a youth workforce program until the late 1990s (DeVillo 2015).

    Act II’s star, the Lower River, which runs from West Farms Square to Soundview, was overshadowed by the catastrophic impacts of government disinvestment in the South Bronx (Gonzalez 2006). One interviewee who lived in the Bronx in the 1970s said that, “as a teenager, I was ashamed of living in the Bronx […] we became the symbol of urban decay, we became everything that can go wrong in a city.” Media and popular culture, like the 1981 blockbuster hit Fort Apache, perpetuated the urban-frontier myth, showing the South Bronx as both terrifying and alluring, rather than as a neighborhood neglected by the government.

    In the following decades, community-based organizations like Banana Kelly and The Point CDC spearheaded community investment and provided critical social services. Vacant lots became community gardens and a movement of community reliance grew. The river, however, remained cut off by industrial lots.

    Act III opens with city and federal investment in the river. The Parks Commissioner dubbed 2000 the “Year of the Bronx River” and committed federally allocated restoration funds to the river’s revitalization. NYC Parks seed grants helped develop two community-designed parks, connecting the South Bronx to its waterfront. Once there was waterfront access to the Lower River, organizations from both sections formed the Bronx River Alliance. From early on, the Alliance led creative community events to bring attention to the river.

    Today, the Bronx River is a physical manifestation of community power. The same interviewee who had said she was ashamed of the Bronx as a teenager described “finding” the Bronx River decades later with her children. “You have to teach new people who come here who might think the river is dirty,” she said. “You have to show them the restoration efforts. This river is used for community building. This river is about community.”
    A visual story: community design and power

    The parks conceived by Bronx residents and activists reflect a story of collective power and appropriation of space. Concrete Plant Park (CPP), a waterfront park designed by community members, reflects how the alternative narrative is also ingrained in its design choices.

    In the early 2000s, Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice (YMPJ) used NYC Parks’ $10,000 seed grant to create a youth-led park design for an abandoned concrete plant. As part of their design process, they visited a waterfront park in Westchester County (immediately north of New York City). They saw that the park in this whiter and wealthier community invited people to the water’s edge with green space, whereas most of the parks in the Bronx had asphalt. Their design choices reflected a choice to honor their history and look towards the future. They incorporated passive recreation, a boat launch, and the retention of the concrete plant structures as a reminder of their past. As one interviewee from YMPJ described his experience of CPP, “the concrete plant acts as a visual story for the park: the story of repurposing, the story of community power, the story of what could be done.”

    The concrete plant relics, park design, and ongoing community-led programming are a visual representation of an alternative narrative about how to claim space. This is not a simple story. CPP was not only metaphorically appropriated; the site was removed from city auction and transferred to the Parks Department as a permanent park. And CPP was not created by a design survey and a neighborhood campaign alone—the transformation of CPP has taken over 20 years and is the result of community advocacy, citywide partnerships, and federally secured funding. Similar representations of community power and creative partnerships are found in parks throughout the lower portion of the river, from #Starlight_Park to #Hunts_Point_Riverside_Park.

    Interconnected transformations: people and place

    Interviewees born and raised in the Bronx consistently spoke about the transformation of themselves and the Bronx River as part of the same story. As urbanist David Harvey states, “the right to the city is far more than the individual liberty to access urban resources: it is a right to change ourselves by changing the city” (Harvey 2008).

    An interviewee in her late twenties said, “I didn’t know anything about the Bronx River growing up, except that my grandfather’s brother died on it in the late ’70s. For me and my family, it was like, you don’t go to that place, it’s dangerous.” During college, she wanted to leave the Bronx in order to study the environment, but she became involved with the Bronx River Alliance and its stewardship efforts. When she took her grandfather to see the river, she said that “he was so amazed by the transformation. And I think part of this whole transition in me has been about changing the perception of those who are close to me who have always said, ‘No, you don’t go there.’”

    There are a couple of layers to this anecdote. First, this interviewee is young in the context of the Bronx River story. Without the previous decades of work spent appropriating space and establishing stewardship institutions, she may have left the Bronx to feel professionally fulfilled. Second, the story grew in a way that made room for her. It shifted from the manifestation of a frontier narrative placed on the Bronx—one of fear, danger, and otherness—to an alternative narrative that was generated by the people who lived there.
    A search for justice stories

    After the preacher in The Last Black Man in San Francisco questions the intended beneficiary of the Bay’s environmental cleanup, we watch as our protagonists, two young Black male San Franciscan friends, try to lay claim to their childhood home and, ultimately, to their narrative of belonging in San Francisco. The movie starts by satirizing the all-too-common story of green gentrification, where the cleanup of a toxic site is the harbinger of neighborhood displacement, and ends by illustrating the lonely battle of a Black man attempting to prove home ownership through his story alone.

    The Bronx River story, so far, is different. The river’s restoration was fueled by the incumbent community and its ongoing grassroots revitalization reaffirms their presence. Anchor institutions have helped to employ residents and keep them in the borough, if they want to stay there. Countless collaborative partnerships at the federal, city, and local level have enabled the transformation of the river. The Bronx River story is also not over. New waterfront developments are cropping up along the river as market-rate housing blooms in nearby gentrifying neighborhoods. Banana Kelly, The Point CDC, and Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice are now part of a coalition of groups challenging the city’s rezoning of the Southern Boulevard in the South Bronx. What happens next is the cliffhanger.

    https://metropolitics.org/Manifested-Stories.html

    #Bronx_river #Bronx #renaturation #revitalisation #rivière #gentrification #USA #Etat-Unis #narrative #récit #USA #Etats-Unis

  • Americans insist the atom bomb ended the war in Japan — ignoring its human cost - The Washington Post
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/americans-insist-the-atom-bomb-ended-the-war-in-japan--ignoring-its-human-cost/2020/08/06/2095f314-d76f-11ea-aff6-220dd3a14741_story.html

    Stimson failed to mention, for example, that U.S. officials had debated dropping their demand that Japan’s surrender include the removal of the emperor, which Stimson himself had recognized as a possible way to bring Japan to an earlier capitulation. Stimson also omitted the most critical military development in August 1945: the Soviet Union’s entry into the war against Japan, which would have forced Tokyo to fight on two fronts, altered Allied strategies and probably ended the war before any land invasion. Through his military authority and strategic reasoning, Stimson forged a singular atomic bomb narrative with such moral certitude that it has superseded all others and fundamentally shaped American memory and perception ever since: The atomic bombings ended the war and saved more than 1 million American lives.

    #narrative #nucléaire #etats-unis #mensonges #crimes #massacres #civils #victimes_civiles

  • Particule X17 — Wikipédia
    https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Particule_X17

    En 2015, Krasznahorkay et ses collègues de l’ATOMKI postulèrent l’existence d’un nouveau boson d’une masse de 17 MeV, seulement 3’ fois plus lourds qu’un électron7. Dans le cadre de leurs recherches sur la matière noire, l’équipe hongroise bombarda du lithium 7 avec des protons ce qui créa un atome de beryllium 8 instable qui se désintégra rapidement en paires d’électrons et de positrons. La désintégration et le rejet de particule se fit avec un angle de 140° entre l’électron et le positron avec un dégagement d’énergie de 17MeV qui indique qu’une petite partie du beryllium 8 se transforme en énergie sous la forme d’une nouvelle particule. L’expérience fut depuis reproduite plusieurs fois par Krasznahorkay et par une autre équipe américaine8.

  • Refugee stories could do more harm than good

    The pressure of storytelling can leave refugees feeling tokenised and disempowered.

    Ever since I was forced to leave Syria five years ago, I have been sharing my personal story in the hope of raising awareness about the human rights violations in my home country. My experience of storytelling has been both positive and disappointing. On the one hand, it has enabled me to make connections with several supportive individuals who made me feel welcome. But on the other hand, the way that refugees are expected to share and curate their stories can do more harm than good.

    Last year, I was approached by a prominent TV news network to discuss US airstrikes in Syria. I saw the invitation as an opportunity to share my academic perspective as the topic was closely related to what I was researching as part of my doctoral degree at the time. The interview proceeded with personal questions focused on my life in Syria. As I was not being asked about the airstrikes, I requested to share my view and they agreed.

    A few days later, the reporter emailed with me the news clip of their coverage of the strikes. The clip started with a brief summary of what happened. I was then featured for a few seconds, half in tears and conspicuously traumatised while mentioning the loss of my brother and father. The clip then continued with a white Australian observer who gave his “objective” and scholarly analysis of the situation. While the journalist apologised for the “heavy editing”, this humiliating experience taught me that despite my background as a citizen journalist and an academic, for some I will forever be a traumatised Syrian refugee whose primary role is to evoke sympathy and tears.

    Many organisations that work with refugees and asylum seekers also fall into this trap. While most of these organisations are well-meaning and do not directly coerce refugees to share their stories, there is often an expectation that refugees owe the wider public their stories. Thus, the expectation of sharing one’s story can transform into an obligation. I realised this when I politely declined an invitation to share my story from an institution that supported me in the past. Instead of the usual understanding response, a senior staff member at the institution said he was “very disappointed” that I could not save a few minutes of my time to help with their outreach work given what they have done for me.

    Although refugees are free to choose the content of their stories, there is an expectation that they should include some details about their past in order to “move the audience” and inspire sympathy. In preparation for refugee events, some organisers send a list of prompt questions to refugee speakers about their life in their home country, their reasons for leaving, the challenges they have faced and how they have overcome them. There is an implicit narrative logic to the questions: ‘tragedy’ to ‘success’, ‘hell’ to ‘paradise’.

    “The curated form of storytelling prevalent nowadays tends to marginalise or oversimplify.”

    Some might claim that sharing refugee stories helps to raise awareness about important issues and generate positive social change by inspiring people and helping them better relate to the experiences of refugees and asylum seekers. Of course, personal stories contribute to achieving these goals. However, the curated form of storytelling prevalent nowadays tends to marginalise or oversimplify the complex context surrounding these stories.

    While many refugees inspire others with their perseverance and resilience, their trauma and their stories should not be packaged in order to inspire. Refugees are not objects or vehicles of inspiration and sympathy. By repeatedly requesting refugees to share stories of why they have sought refuge, we essentialise their identities. People with disabilities face similar objectification when people treat their very existence and ability to lead their lives as inspiring.

    The whole paradigm of using stories to raise awareness and change hearts and minds warrants further research. In my experience, the main audience of refugee narratives are people who support refugees already and tend to perceive these stories as a powerful demonstration of resilience and contribution to society. But we should be aware that the fetishisation of success stories can ignore the painful reality that for many refugees, surviving and adapting to a new life outside of their home country is often overwhelming, difficult and painful.

    “Empowering refugees does not have to come through emphasising their heartbreaking stories.”

    It is critical that refugees and the institutions that work closely with them are cognisant of the potential risks of sharing painful details of refugee stories. Because many refugees may feel obliged to accept requests of their supporters, being aware of the power imbalance is critical. People also need to recognise that refugees and asylum seekers have agency, and respect their right to determine how and when they share their stories. Empowering refugees does not have to come through emphasising their heartbreaking stories. Resisting the urge to ask refugees about their past life in their home country can be difficult, especially given their unique first-hand accounts. And while many refugees do not mind sharing their perspectives, we need to be careful not to trigger painful memories.

    Once they are resettled, most refugees try to move on with their lives, focus on their families, establish new careers and contribute to the society that has taken them in. How many stories do we hear about the challenges of young people adapting to a completely new education system? The difficulty of finding employment? The joy of discovery in a new country? If we are genuinely interested in supporting refugees, then we should focus on stories about their present and future, not just their past.

    https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/refugee-stories-could-do-more-harm-good
    #témoignage #storytelling #réfugiés #migrations #empowerment #disempowerment #personnification #humiliation #victimisation #obligation #émotions #narrative #dépolitisation #essentialisation #histoires #risques #présent #passé

    ping @karine4

  • How Britain stole $45 trillion from India | Colonialism | Al Jazeera
    https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/britain-stole-45-trillion-india-181206124830851.html

    There is a story that is commonly told in Britain that the #colonisation of India - as horrible as it may have been - was not of any major economic benefit to Britain itself. If anything, the administration of India was a cost to Britain. So the fact that the empire was sustained for so long - the story goes - was a gesture of Britain’s benevolence.

    New research by the renowned economist Utsa Patnaik - just published by Columbia University Press - deals a crushing blow to this #narrative. Drawing on nearly two centuries of detailed data on tax and trade, Patnaik calculated that Britain drained a total of nearly $45 trillion from India during the period 1765 to 1938.

    #colonisation #Inde #Grande_bretagne#civilisés#voleurs

  • Hanna La Rouge
    http://www.davduf.net/hanna-la-rouge

    Hanna La Rouge n’est ni un jeu ni une enquête. C’est votre mission, et la première fiction historique en temps réel réalisée par Anita Hugi, co-écrite par David Dufresne et illustrée par Anja Kofmel. Grève générale, novembre 1918 : plongez dans l’Europe Moderne Année Zéro. Vous êtes l’archiviste d’une banque suisse, chargé de détruire les traces de la Grande Grève de 1918. Vous allez suivre l’histoire d’Hanna, une manifestante de l’époque. Allez-vous obtempérer ? Irez-vous sur les routes d’Europe à la (...)

    #PhoneStories

    / Une, #Documentaire, #Narrative_Boutique, #Akufen

  • What Empire Loyalists Are Really Saying When They Bash Julian Assange – Caitlin Johnstone
    https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2018/11/02/what-empire-loyalists-are-really-saying-when-they-bash-julian-assa

    So when you see some political writer yukking it up about Julian Assange and kitty litter, what they are really saying is, “Hey! Look at me! You can count on me to advance whatever #narratives get passed down from on high! I’ll cheer on all the wars! I’ll play up the misdeeds of our great nation’s rivals and ignore the misdeeds of our allies! I’ll literally spit on Assange if you’ll give my career a boost!”

    They are saying, “I support everything the media-controlling oligarchs support, and I hate everything they hate. I will be a reliable mouthpiece of the ruling class regardless of who is elected in our fake elections to our fake official government. I will say all the right things. I will protect what you need protected. I will hide what you want hidden. I understand what you want me to do without your explicitly telling me to do it. I’ve got what you need. I have no principles. Look, I’m even joining in the dog pile against a political prisoner who can’t defend himself.”

    #opportunisme #MSM

  • Sanders Hears the Plight of Workers, but His Amazon Bill is Misguided | Op-Eds & Columns | CEPR
    http://cepr.net/publications/op-eds-columns/sanders-hears-the-plight-of-workers-but-his-amazon-bill-is-misguided

    “Pay-go” rules — rules that say new programs need to be paid for with tax hikes or cuts in other programs — prevented Democrats the last time they were the majority party in Congress from implementing policies to help workers and communities devastated by the offshoring of manufacturing or the collapse of the housing bubble regain their economic footing.

    They should not once again buy into the false #narrative that taxes need to be raised before government can spend. There are limits to spending on programs, of course, but these are not set by tax revenue. They are set instead by available resources — workers, equipment, natural resources that can be put to work.

    When resources are fully employed, further attempts by companies to expand production or government to expand programs will translate into inflation rather than higher GDP.

    At that point, tax increases to reduce demand and bring spending in line with resource capabilities are in order. Rolling back Trump administration tax cuts that benefit the wealthiest would be a good place to start.

    #économie