Yanis Varoufakis on postcapitalism: Another Now #9 | DiEM25 TV

DiEM25

Tonight, it’s just Yanis Varoufakis, talking about post-capitalism, his new book, and answering your burning questions. The coronavirus crisis is revealing that the powers that be of the European Union have learned nothing from the Eurocrisis.

They are currently betraying the interests of the majority of Europeans in the same way that they have done so in 2010 — by failing to mobilize existing money and public financial instruments in the interests of the many.

With their current decisions, they are jeopardizing public health, public goods and the interests of Europeans. Every day at 20:00 CEST switch on the television from the future! We call it TV because we like retro-futurism.

But it’s much more than TV. In times of global pandemics, DiEM25 is launching a special online and completely free program to understand the current crisis and offer tools and hope to get out of it stronger and more united in building the World After Coronavirus. Everyone will be able to join and pose questions, suggest next topics and next guests!

Africa & Major Disease Outbreaks – Research at Boston University

This resources guide is intended to guide users to interdisciplinary research on disease outbreaks or on communicable disease challenges in Africa. It directs users to some current COVID-19 resources, but recognizes that there is much value to be gained by examining the broader public health landscape of African nations as well as past outbreaks of diseases.

From recorded time to present, the African continent has been dealing with outbreaks and diseases which were responsible for deaths of millions of its inhabitants or devastating impact on the economies of African countries. Some of these outbreaks and health challenges such as malaria, ebola, cholera and measles etc..are still occurring.and continue to threaten public health security in Africa. On the bright side, the experience of dealing with epidemics in its recent past, gives the continent significant advantage through community mobilization and the lessons learned in controlling and containing viruses such as Ebola can inform the fight against this novel coronavirus.

…(read more).

Top U.S. & World Headlines — June 8, 2020

Democracy Now!

Jun 8, 2020

The Immoral Majority: Why Evangelicals Chose Political Power over Christian Values: Howe, Ben

Evangelicals are losing the culture war. What if it’s their fault?

In 2016, writer and filmmaker Ben Howe found himself disillusioned with the religious movement he’d always called home. In the pursuit of electoral victory, many American evangelicals embraced moral relativism and toxic partisanship.

Whatever happened to the Moral Majority, who headed to Washington in the ’80s to plant the flag of Christian values? Where were the Christian leaders that emerged from that movement and led the charge against Bill Clinton for his deception and unfaithfulness? Was all that a sham? Or have they just lost sight of why they wanted to win in the first place? From the 1980s scandals till today, evangelicals have often been caricatured as a congregation of judgmental and prudish rubes taken in by thundering pastors consumed with greed and lust for power. Did the critics have a point?

In The Immoral Majority, Howe—still a believer and still deeply conservative—analyzes and debunks the intellectual dishonesty and manipulative rhetoric which evangelical leaders use to convince Christians to toe the Republican Party line. He walks us through the history of the Christian Right, as well as the events of the last three decades which led to the current state of the conservative movement at large.

As long as evangelicals prioritize power over persuasion, Howe argues, their pews will be empty and their national influence will dwindle. If evangelicals hope to avoid cultural irrelevance going forward, it will mean valuing the eternal over the ephemeral, humility over ego, and resisting the seduction of political power, no matter the cost. The Immoral Majority demonstrates how the Religious Right is choosing the profits of this world at the cost of its soul—and why it’s not too late to change course.

See related:

• “Rubbish and Racism: Problems of Boundary in an Ecosystem”
  and
• While Angels Weep… Doing Theology on a Small Planet

Unholy: Why White Evangelicals Worship at the Altar of Donald Trump: Posner, Sarah

A “masterful and meticulous”* feat of reportage that explains one of the central mysteries of the Trump era: the unholy marriage of Trump and the evangelicals, as officiated by the alt-right.

*Jane Mayer, author of Dark Money

Why did so many evangelicals turn out to vote for Donald Trump, a serial philanderer with questionable conservative credentials who seems to defy Christian values with his every utterance? To a reporter like Sarah Posner, who has been covering the religious right for decades, the answer turns out to be far more intuitive than one might think.

In this taut inquiry, Posner digs deep into the radical history of the religious right to reveal how issues of race and xenophobia have always been at the movement’s core, and how religion often cloaked anxieties about perceived threats to a white, Christian America. Fueled by an antidemocratic impulse, and united by this narrative of reverse victimization, the religious right and the alt-right support a common agenda–and are actively using the erosion of democratic norms to roll back civil rights advances, stock the judiciary with hard-right judges, defang and deregulate federal agencies, and undermine the credibility of the free press. Increasingly, this formidable bloc is also forging ties with European far right groups, giving momentum to a truly global movement.

Revelatory and engrossing, Unholy offers a deeper understanding of the ideological underpinnings and forces influencing the course of Republican politics. This is a book that must be read by anyone who cares about the future of American democracy.

See related:

• “Rubbish and Racism: Problems of Boundary in an Ecosystem”
  and
• While Angels Weep… Doing Theology on a Small Planet

 

 

Why White Evangelicals Stick With The President | Morning Joe | MSNBC

MSNBC

Jun 3, 2020

Ben Howe and Sarah Posner discuss why white evangelicals continue to stick with the president. Aired on 06/03/2020.

See related:

• Unholy: Why White Evangelicals Worship at the Altar of Donald Trump: Sarah Posner
• The Immoral Majority: Why Evangelicals Chose Political Power over Christian Values: Ben Howe

and

• “Rubbish and Racism: Problems of Boundary in an Ecosystem”

 

Defund the Police: Linda Sarsour & Mychal Denzel Smith on What Meaningful Change Would Look Like

Democracy Now!

Jun 8, 2020

Amid growing calls in New York City for police accountability, Mayor Bill de Blasio has pledged to shift some of the city’s funding for police and reallocate it to social services. We get response from Linda Sarsour, longtime Palestinian American Muslim organizer and co-founder of Until Freedom, which along with others has led the push to institute meaningful change. We also speak with author Mychal Denzel Smith, who notes that “one thing that’s come of this global pandemic of COVID-19 is an understanding of what constitutes essential, what do we actually need. And police have shown that they are inessential.”

Minneapolis City Council Vows to Dismantle Police Dept. After Mass Protests & Grassroots Organizing

Democracy Now!

Jun 8, 2020

After nearly two weeks of historic protests, the Minneapolis City Council has announced it will move to dismantle the city’s police department in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd. “We’ve got to create a system of public safety that works for everybody,” says Councilmember Jeremiah Ellison.

The End of Policing: Alex Vitale on How Cops & Their Unions Cover Up Inequality, Exploitation

Democracy Now!

Jun 8, 2020

Professor Alex Vitale argues the answer to police violence is not “reform.” It’s defunding. The author of “The End of Policing” says the movement to defund the police is part of “a long story about the use of police and prisons to manage problems of inequality and exploitation.” He asks, “Why are we using police to paper over problems of economic exploitation?” He also discusses the role of police unions. “They become, in many cities, the locus, the institutional hub, for a whole set of right-wing ‘thin blue line’ politics that believe that policing is not only effective but it’s the most desirable way to solve our problems. And embedded in this is a deep racism that says that certain populations can only be managed through constant threats of coercion.”

“The Time Is Now”: Tens of Thousands in NYC March for Justice, Peace & an End to Racist Police

Democracy Now!

Jun 8, 2020

As hundreds of thousands took to the streets nationwide and around the world to call for police accountability and demand Black lives matter in the wake of the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, Democracy Now! spoke to some of the people who joined the historic protests Saturday in New York City.