the unbalanced evolution of homo sapiens

Manifestations and riots have become commonplace in France; here’s a selection of the most resonant demonstrations in the country: from protests against labor reforms in 2016 to recent march against President Macron’s economic policy. March 2018 Some 200,000 protesters marched nationwide against President Emmanuel Macron’s economic measures, including 49,000 in Paris alone. Riot police clashed with masked and hooded youths; the police had to use water cannons to quell the resistance. As a result of the strike, public services were disrupted, flights and trains canceled, schools closed. December 2017 Hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators took to the streets of Paris to protest US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and begin preparations to relocate the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to the city a day ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the capital. July 2017 Par

Upon Harold Martin’s arrest in 2016, an Obama administration official said his case was being kept under wraps “to keep this guy from becoming another NSA martyr.” The tactic seems to be have paid dividends. by Whitney Webb Part 4 - Drawing the curtains Given the complexity of this case as well as the fact that it is said to have been the largest breach of U.S. government data in history, it is shocking that Martin has received so little public attention. A likely explanation for the lack of media coverage is that the government wants it that way. Indeed, after news of Martin’s arrest broke, an Obama administration official told the press that Martin’s arrest and the case against him was being kept under wraps to prevent him from becoming “ another NSA martyr. ” Not only that, but many in the corporate press have been openly hostile to alleged whistleblowers of late, particularly to Reality Winner. However, another reason for the lack of pu

The last thing Saudi Arabia and its Western allies want is a self-sustaining, economically viable, militarily strong, and anti-imperialist Yemen at the bottom of the Arabian Peninsula, controlling the Red Sea and its strategic waterways. Yemen’s geographic placement in regards to the flow of world capital cannot be stressed enough. by Randi Nord Part 8 - Challenging the international isolation and skewed media coverage Saudi Arabia has failed nearly all of its political and military objectives in Yemen. There is, however, one goal Riyadh has achieved: isolating Yemen from the international community. In the rare event that mainstream media covers Yemen, the content is so filled with lies and blame-shifting as to distract from Riyadh’s, Abu Dhabi’s, and Washington’s war crimes. Between the media blackout, travel restrictions, ban on foreign journalists entering the country, and financial blackmail in the United Nations, Yemen’s suffering is

globinfo freexchange On the 15th black anniversary of the US invasion in Iraq decided by the war criminals who lied straight to the face of the whole world in order to justify the invasion, Donald Trump has chosen one of the most warmongering, hawkish neocons to replace McMaster in the position of national security adviser. From Huffington Post : Trump announced Thursday that [John] Bolton would replace his outgoing adviser, H.R. McMaster, early next month. Bolton is seen as one of the most controversial and dangerous figures in U.S. diplomacy and is a fierce war hawk who has long advocated for a preemptive military strike against North Korea and the dismantling of the Iran nuclear deal. “ This news is hard to process, ” Van Jackson, a senior lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand, said in an email. “ What I can say at the moment is that Bolton isn’t just a run-of-the-mill hawk; he’s a kind of warmonger. H

Search engine and advertising monolith Google continued to press its offensive against alternative media this week with an announcement unveiling a new $300 million project called the Google News Initiative. The initiative encompasses a range of new projects announced by the tech giant, which has long been accused of enjoying a monopoly position and of siphoning off digital advertising revenue from traditional news publishers. Google sees it differently, however, and asserted in a press statement announcing the initiative that it “paid $12.6 billion to partners” while driving “10 billion clicks a month to publishers’ websites for free.” The company is now promising to continue working “with publishers to elevate accurate, quality content and stem the flow of misinformation and disinformation.” The move will likely drive the stake further into the heart of independent media while merging Silicon Valley with mainstream publishers traded on Wall Street and

by Grace Blakeley Globalisation and automation: these are the trends reshaping our world, or so we are told. According to the consultancy McKinsey, 80% of jobs could technically be automated by 2050. Globalisation will bring the Global South closer to the Global North. Together, they will create a world in which an ever greater number of human beings compete for a shrinking number of jobs. But there’s a fatal flaw in this narrative: it doesn’t make any sense. ‘ Globalisation’ can’t do anything – it is not an actor; it does not have agency. The same goes for ‘automation’ – whilst robots may one day become autonomous beings, as things stand they still have to be programmed by people. Hence the absurdity of claiming that ‘the robots are taking our jobs’. Robots don’t have the capacity to ‘take’ anything. Capitalists, on the other hand, most certainly do. Globalisation and automation are both examples of what linguists call ‘nominalisations’: no

globinfo freexchange Στο πολύ ενδιαφέρον του άρθρο Colonizing the Western Mind , ο Jason Hirthler αναφέρεται στον Ιταλό φιλόσοφο Αντόνιο Γκράμσι ο οποίος εισήγαγε την έννοια της πολιτισμικής ηγεμονίας. Ο Γκράμσι πρότεινε ότι οι κυρίαρχες ιδεολογίες της άρχουσας τάξης έχουν διεισδύσει σε τέτοιο βαθμό στη λαϊκή συνείδηση, που οι εργατικές τάξεις συχνά υποστηρίζουν ηγέτες και ιδέες που είναι αντίθετες με τα ίδια τους τα συμφέροντα. Η πρόταση του Γκράμσι απεικονίζεται στη γνωστή σκηνή της δημοφιλούς ταινίας επιστημονικής φαντασίας The Matrix , στην οποία ο Μορφέας εξηγεί στον Νίο, τι είναι το Matrix:            Το Matrix είναι ένα σύστημα Νίο. Αυτό το σύστημα είναι ο εχθρός μας. Αλλά όταν είσαι μέσα τι βλέπεις γύρω σου; Επιχειρηματίες, δασκάλους, δικηγόρους, μαραγκούς. Τα μυαλά των ανθρώπων που προσπαθούμε να σώσουμε. Αλλά μέχρι να το κάνουμε, αυτοί οι άνθρωποι είναι μέρος του συστήματος και αυτό τους κάνει εχθρούς μας. Πρέπει να καταλάβεις ότι οι περισ

της Αγγελικής Δημοπούλου Το Facebook βρίσκεται αντιμέτωπο με τη μεγαλύτερη κρίση στη σύντομη αλλά εντυπωσιακή ιστορία του. Το σκάνδαλο είναι αναμφισβήτητο. Μια ιδιωτική εταιρεία (Cambridge Analytica) που δούλευε για τον Ντόναλντ Τραμπ συγκέντρωσε τα προφίλ και τα στοιχεία τουλάχιστον 50 εκατομμυρίων χρηστών του κοινωνικού μέσου, τα οποία στη συνέχεια χρησιμοποίησε για να τους κατευθύνει πολιτικά μέσω της πλατφόρμας. Το χειρότερο είναι πως το Facebook δεν φαίνεται ικανό να δώσει καμία απάντηση για το θέμα. Και ουδείς γνωρίζει αν το δημοφιλέστερο μέσο κοινωνικής δικτύωσης θα μπορέσει να επιβιώσει από αυτή την κρίση. Οι ομοσπονδιακές ρυθμιστικές αρχές και οι εισαγγελείς στις ΗΠΑ ξεκινούν έρευνες εναντίον του Facebook. Οι πολιτικοί τόσο στις ΗΠΑ, όσο και στην Ευρώπη ζητούν από τον Μαρκ Ζάκεμπεργκ να καταθέσει σε ειδικές επιτροπές. Θα κληθεί να απαντήσει σε ερωτήσεις και στο ευρωκοινοβούλιο. Οι επενδυτές τραβούν τα λεφτά τους από το Facebook, η αξία του δικτύου έχ

The House Intelligence Committee has voted to formally end its Russia probe. Lawmakers found no evidence of collusion between associates of President Donald Trump and Russia. The committee also voted to release the report, which was authored by Republicans. It will first be sent to the intelligence community so that classified material can be redacted, but is expected to be made public within weeks. The report recommends a crackdown on administrative leaks including the introduction of “mandatory polygraphs” for officials who have top secret security clearance. It also accuses former Obama administration intelligence director James Clapper of providing “inconsistent testimony” regarding his contacts with the media. In a summary of its findings, the committee said that some Trump associates had “ill-advised” contact with WikiLeaks but concluded that there was “no evidence of collusion between President Donald Trump’s associates and the Kremlin.” The

Police scuffled with protesters in Paris and fired teargas and water cannons in the western city of Nantes on Thursday during strikes across France in a challenge to President Emmanuel Macron’s economic reforms. Train conductors, teachers, and air traffic controllers walked out to join more than 150 mostly peaceful marches in cities and towns. This is the first time public sector workers have joined rail staff in protests since Macron came to office in May. Sixty percent of fast trains, 75 percent of inter-city trains, and 30 percent of flights to and from Paris airports were cancelled because of the strike, Reuters reported. https://www.rt.com/newsline/422042-protests-france-reforms-macron/