Welcome to Saturday's Potluck - 11-20-21

Submitted by studentofearth on Sat, 11/20/2021 - 5:15am

“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”
Pablo Picasso

Some good news in India
Modi caves on farm laws in major policy defeat

In a major policy reversal, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced that three controversial farm laws that thousands of farmers have been protesting against for over a year will soon be repealed.
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The lightning rod legislation, which was passed in September last year, sought to deregulate the agriculture sector to allow farmers to sell their produce and products outside of government-regulated markets where they are guaranteed a minimum price.

However, farmers feared the laws would reduce the prices they receive and favor big corporations over small growers. Modi’s government had earlier said repealing the laws was out of the question, while protracted negotiations to amend the laws ultimately failed.
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Farmers organizations say more than 700 farmers died during the protests.

Samyukt Kisan Morcha, a farm body leading the protest, welcomed the PM’s decision but said they would wait for the announcement to take effect through due parliamentary procedures. “If it happens, it will be a historic victory of the year-long farmers’ struggle in India,” it said.

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Some thoughts from May 2020 by Eric Li alumni of University of California, Berkeley and Stanford University, and founder one of China's largest news and opinions medias Guancha.cn.

On China, Hong Kong and Taiwan and China's Peaceful Rise (18.12)

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1y3o6JqbT8]

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part 6 of a presentation series by Nathan Rich. Diplomatic communication from China to England, British merchant activity and British forces activity just prior to the first Opium war. England is trying to have China be the aggressor in the Opium wars and fire the first shots.

Chinese History: 20,291 Opium Chests Destroyed (1839)(25.17)
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGkkrmbIdco&list=PLo4_KHAgJYFypZFLczc5xf...

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Singapore PM Lee Warns of U.S.-China Miscalculation Over Taiwan (45.26) Nov 18, 2021
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGiAln3Wi7s]

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What is on your mind today? (Responses to Covid questions and dialog to be conducted at The Dose diary)

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Submitted by QMS on Sat, 11/20/2021 - 7:23am
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The interview with Singapore's Prime Minister Lee is a very good perspective on many affairs, both in the east and the west. Thank you for posting this. The PM is intelligent and articulate. Qualities sadly missing in The POTUS Biden.

Enjoy your smorgasbord!

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question everything

Submitted by studentofearth on Sat, 11/20/2021 - 4:49pm
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@QMS It was complex interview on many worldwide concerns. The youtube write up implied it was simply about Taiwan and China.

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Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.

Submitted by randtntx on Sat, 11/20/2021 - 8:26am

to support the small, family-owned farms in India. I hope these new policies make that possible. I've been aware of this ongoing battle through the work of Vandana Shiva. She has been alerting the world about the terrible consequences of big ag and big chemical companies in our food production for a long time.

This video talks about how sustainable ag is actually a better way to go. Three cheers for grandmothers.

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Submitted by studentofearth on Sat, 11/20/2021 - 4:46pm
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@randtntx

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Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.

Submitted by randtntx on Sat, 11/20/2021 - 6:47pm

@studentofearth , I think she is.

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Submitted by Lookout on Sat, 11/20/2021 - 9:09am
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We have to fight capitalist Ag here too. Chris talked with an author about fighting big Ag.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gvJsZ-_DfM]

On the show, Chris Hedges discusses the struggle against industrial agriculture with author Daniel J. O'Connell.

The San Joaquin Valley in California is the most agriculturally productive farmland in the United States, but it is also plagued by high levels of poverty and water pollution as well as the serious health risks that come with constant exposure to pesticides. These huge corporate farms in California, established over the last century, became the model for modern agribusiness designed to exploit a transient labor force, bankrupt, and seize small family farms, exhaust the soil, and drain the aquifers and reservoirs. These agribusiness use their economic might to buy elected officials, deform the court system to legalize their assault on the land and silence criticism in academia and the press. They are largely unregulated and unaccountable. The disastrous consequences for family farms and farmworkers, plagued by extreme poverty, a retreat into often lethal addictions to blunt the pain of dislocation and suicides, however, is only part of the destruction wrought by these industrial farms. These agribusinesses have, as the authors Daniel J. O’Connell and Scott J. Peters argue in their book In the Struggle: Scholars and the Fight Against Industrial Agribusiness in California, eroded the bedrock of democracy itself. The authors look at the fight by eight scholars who foresaw and fought the agribusinesses, most of whom were attacked, censored, and marginalized for their critiques.

Daniel J. O'Connell and Scott J. Peters' new book is In the Struggle: Scholars and the Fight Against Industrial Agribusiness in California.

Thanks for the OT. Y'all have a good one!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Submitted by NYCVG on Sat, 11/20/2021 - 11:04am

@Lookout even made the NY Times! Good news for the lower classes is not always reported.

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NYCVG

Submitted by studentofearth on Sat, 11/20/2021 - 5:06pm
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@Lookout In the process of attempting to grab a larger share of water from older water right holders. Sob story of implying the dollar value of their crops is more valuable to society and a few select family farms are being hurt. My neighbor and I have had several conversations this summer with him sympathizing how they need more water. I remind him it is our water they want and he changes his tune for a while.

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Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.

Submitted by NYCVG on Sat, 11/20/2021 - 11:11am

Thanks for the round up of truly important World news.

Apparently Prince Charles and Camilla are touring Egypt. First visit there since 2006.

Egypt was ruled by Britain as a quasi-colony from the mid 1800's until the 1950's when the Suez Crisis happened. It was kind of part of the British colonial empire that has been shrinking during the 20th and 21st centuries.

Most recently, Barbados said Bye Bye to Britain.

Fingers crossed that in my waning years I get to see Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales achieve Independence.

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NYCVG

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Sat, 11/20/2021 - 12:01pm
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bread in process (second raise at the moment) hassling with ailments and can't wait to hear what Eric Li has to say about things. Meanwhile, I guess the theme for the week is:

be well and have a good one

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --