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‘Why this race? Running forever behind development? Why don’t we think more about the very notion of developing? For whom, for what? For growth rates? What is development? What does it mean to develop a country by increasing the number of poor people?’  A very interesting interview with geographer Habib Ayeb. I cannot digest though his assertion that the solution would be a return to the agricultural economy and that small farmers could feed humanity. I find it weird. Food Sovereignty and the Environment
Imperialist values "Throughout the 20th century and into the 21st, through the crucial decades of state formation as the Gulf monarchs entrenched their rule, Washington and London provided the regimes with security guarantees, arms and training for their security forces. This empowered the Saudis and their fellow royals to jail and torture dissidents, crush all challengers and shut down any possibility of political change, most recently in  Bahrain in 2011 . Such violence has always been central to western power in the world. The Gulf monarchs have merely acted as our subcontractors."  —David Wearing Support from the UK has enabled the world's worst humanitarian disaster
Bourgeois values In "normal" times they justify exploitation, plunder, murder and complicity in murder, austerity, Islamophobia and xenophobia. They propagate mediocrity, commodification, celebrity culture and miseducation. When the shit hits the fan, they call for "national unity".
"When you see how quickly anti-Arab, anti-Muslim, anti-foreigner stereotypes can reappear, there is a colonial impregnation that goes back a long way and is still very strong. It remains in the collective unconscious. It takes the form of a certainty, incredible to me, that our world is superior to any other. It is clear that the West, i.e. the last expansionist powers, considers itself – and is considered by the majority of its population – as the panacea of modern civilization. In reality, it is an imperialist and unequal construction, creating irreparable disparities. There is a blind violence in equating the ne plus ultra of civilization with something that in certain respects is monstrous. 
When we talk about violence, we must keep two criteria in mind. First, that violence is rarely good and should be avoided. That’s a moral judgment, which I accept. If objectives can be achieved without resort to violence, that’s much better. I’m definite that violence is not something I
"And as polling shows, public attitudes on migration are softening markedly." Are they? Labour must make a principled case for free movement
Germany's relentless campaign to silence pro-Palestinian voices See also “Germany is a big supporter of denying Palestinians their right of return