#imperialist — Public Fediverse posts

@CakesOfPan

Libraries hold a special place in my heart, for reasons both intellectual and sentimental.

Librarians are guardians of knowledge, champions of freedom, and friends of the people. They are community members, dedicated to helping connect poor people with relevant information, so they can improve their minds, educate themselves, and access job resources.

After I became a #whistleblower in 2023, and was made #homeless , this notion was challenged.

Librarians would block my access, call the police, and have me arrested. If you find this hard to believe, please see my whistleblower website. The PDF linked, has an appendix giving the “receipts” ( documents to corroborate my account ).

http://whistleblower.lovestoblog.com/

I had applied to be a board member of the libraries in Hawai’i after attending their meetings, and saw some corruption there.

Scroll to the bottom of this page, and see the photo of the board members. How many native Hawai’ian faces do you see? Any Japanese or brown folks?

https://folkhawaii.com/about-us/

Their former Director of Membership, Bobby Gebbia, lied in court, before the judge and cameras, saying I was a board member, though I was not granted a membership.

In Hawai’i, librarians appear to be part of the occupying forces, whitewashing colonialism, insidiously taking over and erasing the true history of Hawai’i, which I heard from talking to local old timers.

250 years ago, Hawai’i had not heard of Jesus, and had its own deities, ( Goddess Pele, the creator, Kaneloa, etc. )
Then Captain James Cook invaded, and 90% of the natives were wiped out.

Then Samson Dole attacked with soldiers, threw out the natives, turned their land into plantations, and turned the natives into day laborers on the plantation, on their own land.

Contrary to popular belief, Hawai’i is not a part of the USA, but a belligerently occupied territory,

1887-1897: Hawaiʻi Rebelled against the USA.

Hawaiʻian people did not choose to be part of the USA.
King David Kalākaua was forced to sign what is called the "Bayonet Constitution". Queen Liliuokalani asserted that Kalākaua's life was threatened: "He signed that constitution under absolute compulsion."

https://youtu.be/j8DxdibHibU

Now Hawai’i is full of churches, their own gods are vanishing from memory, thanks to the “librarians”. There’s poverty, a drug epidemic, and seething discontent on the streets. Hawai’ian people are heavily overpoliced, thrown into jail without cause, and denied #justice in the #courts of the occupiers ( #USA ).

All this is hidden from the casual tourist, content to visit a golf course on the sacred land, that has been bulldozed, and be served drinks by little brown people ( usually from the Marshall Islands, Hawai’i locals have mostly left for minimum wage jobs in mainland America ).

Billionaires, like Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison, Jeff Bezos, and Oprah Winfrey, “own” huge chunks of the land.

Chinese billionaire, Eva Liu, has controlled the Punalu’u Black Sand beach, with a sweetheart deal ( $1 ), and is proposing erasing this natural landmark, spawning site of the endangered Saddleback Turtles, and building resorts there, in the name of “development”.

In 2022, the Hawai’ian people had a setback in court.
( Hawaiian Kingdom v. #Biden ; December 14, 2022 )

Librarians have been instrumental, in manipulating minds, and pushing through these insidious #imperialist agendas, and disenfranchising and displacing the local people.

#Earth #environment
#library #libraries #librarian #librarians #liberty #hawaii
#bigisland #imperialism #colonialism #capitalism
#rebel #rebellion #revolution #HumanRights #Equalrights

Wednesday, September 10, 2025

https://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2025/09/wednesday-september-10-2025/

Thursday, August 21, 2025

5 days of diplomacy, 5 days of deadly Russian attacks on Ukraine — Russia is turning occupied Ukraine into a giant military base — Today’s drone strike sparks blaze at oil refinery in Russia’s Rostov Oblast — [vlog/video] The ground drone revolution in Ukraine (Robots are Here) … and more

https://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2025/08/thursday-august-21-2025/

Nguyễn Thị Bình is a granddaughter of the Nationalist leader Phan Chu Trinh. She grew up in a land that had been under French rule since 1858. The country’s resources were plundered, & the people exploited as cheap labour & reduced to grinding poverty. So determined were the French to maintain their colonial hold at any cost, they collaborated in power-sharing with Japanese #fascist #occupiers who brought horror & starvation from 1940-1945.

Despite this, led by the #VietMinh Front, people of Vietnam triumphed in the #AugustRevolution of 1945 & the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam (DRV) was declared on September 2nd. Democratic elections took place in January 1946 but French troops, with the open support of the US & Britain, attacked the new Viet Minh administration in the south of the country & the #WarOfResistance against #France began.

Binh studied French at Lycée Sisowath in Cambodia & worked as a teacher during the #French #colonisation of Vietnam. She joined #VietnamCommunistParty in 1948. Upon joining, she immediately began work as a #grassroots #AntiColonial organiser. From 1945-1951, she took part in intellectual protest movements against French #colonists. She was arrested & jailed between 1951-1953 in #Saigon by the French #colonial authority in Vietnam. She was repeatedly interrogated under torture & sentenced to death but was reprieved & released in very poor health in 1954.

Upon release from prison, Binh went north to work in #Hanoi for the National #WomensUnion. Her job took her to many localities where she witnessed first-hand the impact of #colonialism & the French War on ordinary people & especially women & children.

1954 was a year of victory for the Vietnamese army. The defeated French were forced to sign the #GenevaAccords recognising the independence, sovereignty & unity of Vietnam. The country was temporarily split in two at the 17th parallel, with the French moving to the south from which they would withdraw, while the Viet Minh went to the north. A general election for the government of a united country was to follow within 2 years.

But it never happened. The #USA came centre stage to ensure that the Accords were never implemented. Driven by strategic interests in the region, it made sure that Vietnam stayed divided – preventing an election that would have swept Ho Chi Minh to power with 80% support, while bankrolling & controlling the reactionary #regime of Diem-Nhu south of the 17th parallel. This regime violently suppressed all opposition, executing of thousands of Viet Minh supporters & condemning hundreds of thousands to concentration camps and prisons.

In response, the NLF (for liberation of South Vietnam & unification) was formed in 1960. Nguyen Thi Chau Sa was assigned to the Foreign Affairs Section of its Re-unification Committee & given the name Nguyen Thi Binh (Peace). From 1962 onwards, her high-profile diplomatic work, took her across the world. She represented the aspirations of the people of Vietnam in every country & forum she visited, while the world’s strongest #imperialist power made all-out war on her small country.

During the #VietnamWar, she became a member of the #Vietcong Central Committee and a vice-chairperson of the South Vietnamese #WomensLiberation Association. In 1969 she was appointed foreign minister of the Provisional #Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam. A fluent French speaker, Bình played a major role in the #ParisPeaceAccords - an agreement that was supposed to end the war & restore peace in Vietnam.

She was expected to be replaced by a male Vietcong representative after preliminary talks, but became one of the group's most visible international public figures. During this time, she was famous for representing Vietnamese women with her elegant & gracious style, and was referred to by the media as "Madame Bình". She was also referred to as the "Viet Cong Queen" by Western media.

After the war, she was appointed Minister of Education of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam from 1982-1986; the first female minister ever in the history of Vietnam. Binh was a member of the Central Committee of Vietnam's Communist Party from 1987-1992. She was the Deputy Chair of the Party's Central Foreign Affairs Commission & Chair of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs Committee. The National Assembly elected her twice to position of Vice President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam for the terms 1992–1997 & 1997–2002.

Bình has authored several op-eds, including a one on the state newspaper Nhân Dân in which she voiced concerns that the current personnel policy of the Communist Party of Vietnam have allowed some "incompetent and opportunistic" individuals to enter the party's apparatus. She also criticized the Party's focus on increasing membership at the expense of "quality."

From March 2009-2014, she served as a member of the support committee of #RussellTribunal on #Palestine.

Madame Bình became a source of inspiration & namesake for Madame Binh Graphics Collective, a #RadicalLeft all-women poster, printmaking, & street art collective based in NYC from 1970s-1980s.
Many Americans in the #AntiWar movement were proud to wear T-shirts printed with the portrait of "Madame Binh". By then, she had become a symbol for female soldiers of the legitimacy of Vietnam's efforts.

Madame Bình has been awarded many prestigious awards & honours, including the Order of Ho Chi Minh & Resistance Order (First Class). In 2021, President of Vietnam Nguyễn Xuân Phúc awarded her the 75-year Party Membership Commemorative Medal.
To commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam, the Government of Vietnam commissioned the official portraits for 12 former foreign ministers from 1945-2020. Nguyễn Thị Bình was included among them as the only South Vietnamese foreign minister & the only woman.

Ref: Nguyen Thi Binh". Northeastern Dictionary of Women's Biography (3rd ed.). Boston: Northeastern University Press. 1999. ISBN 978-1-55553-421-9

Ref: Triantafillou, Eric (3 May 2012). "Graphic Uprising". The Brooklyn Rail. 

Ref: https://www.russelltribunalonpalestine.com/en/about-rtop/patrons.html

Ref: Hy V. Luong (2003), Postwar Vietnam: dynamics of a transforming society, Rowman & Littlefield, ISBN 0847698653

#AsianMastodon #Vietnam #VietnameseRevolutionaries #ColonialResistance #Communist #VietnameseHistory #AsianHistory #SouthEastAsia #Viet #Geopolitics #USWarOnVietnam #LongLiveVietnam #VietnameseSovereignty #LearnHistory #TootSEA #WomenOfTheResistance #Changemakers #Feminist #TrailblazingWomen #WomenWhoChangeTheWorld #VietCongWomen #DebunkingUSLies

Nguyễn Thị Bình is a granddaughter of the Nationalist leader Phan Chu Trinh. She grew up in a land that had been under French rule since 1858. The country’s resources were plundered, & the people exploited as cheap labour & reduced to grinding poverty. So determined were the French to maintain their colonial hold at any cost, they collaborated in power-sharing with Japanese #fascist #occupiers who brought horror & starvation from 1940-1945.

Despite this, led by the #VietMinh Front, people of Vietnam triumphed in the #AugustRevolution of 1945 & the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam (DRV) was declared on September 2nd. Democratic elections took place in January 1946 but French troops, with the open support of the US & Britain, attacked the new Viet Minh administration in the south of the country & the #WarOfResistance against #France began.

Binh studied French at Lycée Sisowath in Cambodia & worked as a teacher during the #French #colonisation of Vietnam. She joined #VietnamCommunistParty in 1948. Upon joining, she immediately began work as a #grassroots #AntiColonial organiser. From 1945-1951, she took part in intellectual protest movements against French #colonists. She was arrested & jailed between 1951-1953 in #Saigon by the French #colonial authority in Vietnam. She was repeatedly interrogated under torture & sentenced to death but was reprieved & released in very poor health in 1954.

Upon release from prison, Binh went north to work in #Hanoi for the National #WomensUnion. Her job took her to many localities where she witnessed first-hand the impact of #colonialism & the French War on ordinary people & especially women & children.

1954 was a year of victory for the Vietnamese army. The defeated French were forced to sign the #GenevaAccords recognising the independence, sovereignty & unity of Vietnam. The country was temporarily split in two at the 17th parallel, with the French moving to the south from which they would withdraw, while the Viet Minh went to the north. A general election for the government of a united country was to follow within 2 years.

But it never happened. The #USA came centre stage to ensure that the Accords were never implemented. Driven by strategic interests in the region, it made sure that Vietnam stayed divided – preventing an election that would have swept Ho Chi Minh to power with 80% support, while bankrolling & controlling the reactionary #regime of Diem-Nhu south of the 17th parallel. This regime violently suppressed all opposition, executing of thousands of Viet Minh supporters & condemning hundreds of thousands to concentration camps and prisons.

In response, the NLF (for liberation of South Vietnam & unification) was formed in 1960. Nguyen Thi Chau Sa was assigned to the Foreign Affairs Section of its Re-unification Committee & given the name Nguyen Thi Binh (Peace). From 1962 onwards, her high-profile diplomatic work, took her across the world. She represented the aspirations of the people of Vietnam in every country & forum she visited, while the world’s strongest #imperialist power made all-out war on her small country.

During the #VietnamWar, she became a member of the #Vietcong Central Committee and a vice-chairperson of the South Vietnamese #WomensLiberation Association. In 1969 she was appointed foreign minister of the Provisional #Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam. A fluent French speaker, Bình played a major role in the #ParisPeaceAccords - an agreement that was supposed to end the war & restore peace in Vietnam.

She was expected to be replaced by a male Vietcong representative after preliminary talks, but became one of the group's most visible international public figures. During this time, she was famous for representing Vietnamese women with her elegant & gracious style, and was referred to by the media as "Madame Bình". She was also referred to as the "Viet Cong Queen" by Western media.

After the war, she was appointed Minister of Education of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam from 1982-1986; the first female minister ever in the history of Vietnam. Binh was a member of the Central Committee of Vietnam's Communist Party from 1987-1992. She was the Deputy Chair of the Party's Central Foreign Affairs Commission & Chair of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs Committee. The National Assembly elected her twice to position of Vice President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam for the terms 1992–1997 & 1997–2002.

Bình has authored several op-eds, including a one on the state newspaper Nhân Dân in which she voiced concerns that the current personnel policy of the Communist Party of Vietnam have allowed some "incompetent and opportunistic" individuals to enter the party's apparatus. She also criticized the Party's focus on increasing membership at the expense of "quality."

From March 2009-2014, she served as a member of the support committee of #RussellTribunal on #Palestine.

Madame Bình became a source of inspiration & namesake for Madame Binh Graphics Collective, a #RadicalLeft all-women poster, printmaking, & street art collective based in NYC from 1970s-1980s.
Many Americans in the #AntiWar movement were proud to wear T-shirts printed with the portrait of "Madame Binh". By then, she had become a symbol for female soldiers of the legitimacy of Vietnam's efforts.

Madame Bình has been awarded many prestigious awards & honours, including the Order of Ho Chi Minh & Resistance Order (First Class). In 2021, President of Vietnam Nguyễn Xuân Phúc awarded her the 75-year Party Membership Commemorative Medal.
To commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam, the Government of Vietnam commissioned the official portraits for 12 former foreign ministers from 1945-2020. Nguyễn Thị Bình was included among them as the only South Vietnamese foreign minister & the only woman.

Ref: Nguyen Thi Binh". Northeastern Dictionary of Women's Biography (3rd ed.). Boston: Northeastern University Press. 1999. ISBN 978-1-55553-421-9

Ref: Triantafillou, Eric (3 May 2012). "Graphic Uprising". The Brooklyn Rail. 

Ref: https://www.russelltribunalonpalestine.com/en/about-rtop/patrons.html

Ref: Hy V. Luong (2003), Postwar Vietnam: dynamics of a transforming society, Rowman & Littlefield, ISBN 0847698653

#AsianMastodon #Vietnam #VietnameseRevolutionaries #ColonialResistance #Communist #VietnameseHistory #AsianHistory #SouthEastAsia #Viet #Geopolitics #USWarOnVietnam #LongLiveVietnam #VietnameseSovereignty #LearnHistory #TootSEA #WomenOfTheResistance #Changemakers #Feminist #TrailblazingWomen #WomenWhoChangeTheWorld #VietCongWomen #DebunkingUSLies

Nguyễn Thị Bình is a granddaughter of the Nationalist leader Phan Chu Trinh. She grew up in a land that had been under French rule since 1858. The country’s resources were plundered, & the people exploited as cheap labour & reduced to grinding poverty. So determined were the French to maintain their colonial hold at any cost, they collaborated in power-sharing with Japanese #fascist #occupiers who brought horror & starvation from 1940-1945.

Despite this, led by the #VietMinh Front, people of Vietnam triumphed in the #AugustRevolution of 1945 & the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam (DRV) was declared on September 2nd. Democratic elections took place in January 1946 but French troops, with the open support of the US & Britain, attacked the new Viet Minh administration in the south of the country & the #WarOfResistance against #France began.

Binh studied French at Lycée Sisowath in Cambodia & worked as a teacher during the #French #colonisation of Vietnam. She joined #VietnamCommunistParty in 1948. Upon joining, she immediately began work as a #grassroots #AntiColonial organiser. From 1945-1951, she took part in intellectual protest movements against French #colonists. She was arrested & jailed between 1951-1953 in #Saigon by the French #colonial authority in Vietnam. She was repeatedly interrogated under torture & sentenced to death but was reprieved & released in very poor health in 1954.

Upon release from prison, Binh went north to work in #Hanoi for the National #WomensUnion. Her job took her to many localities where she witnessed first-hand the impact of #colonialism & the French War on ordinary people & especially women & children.

1954 was a year of victory for the Vietnamese army. The defeated French were forced to sign the #GenevaAccords recognising the independence, sovereignty & unity of Vietnam. The country was temporarily split in two at the 17th parallel, with the French moving to the south from which they would withdraw, while the Viet Minh went to the north. A general election for the government of a united country was to follow within 2 years.

But it never happened. The #USA came centre stage to ensure that the Accords were never implemented. Driven by strategic interests in the region, it made sure that Vietnam stayed divided – preventing an election that would have swept Ho Chi Minh to power with 80% support, while bankrolling & controlling the reactionary #regime of Diem-Nhu south of the 17th parallel. This regime violently suppressed all opposition, executing of thousands of Viet Minh supporters & condemning hundreds of thousands to concentration camps and prisons.

In response, the NLF (for liberation of South Vietnam & unification) was formed in 1960. Nguyen Thi Chau Sa was assigned to the Foreign Affairs Section of its Re-unification Committee & given the name Nguyen Thi Binh (Peace). From 1962 onwards, her high-profile diplomatic work, took her across the world. She represented the aspirations of the people of Vietnam in every country & forum she visited, while the world’s strongest #imperialist power made all-out war on her small country.

During the #VietnamWar, she became a member of the #Vietcong Central Committee and a vice-chairperson of the South Vietnamese #WomensLiberation Association. In 1969 she was appointed foreign minister of the Provisional #Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam. A fluent French speaker, Bình played a major role in the #ParisPeaceAccords - an agreement that was supposed to end the war & restore peace in Vietnam.

She was expected to be replaced by a male Vietcong representative after preliminary talks, but became one of the group's most visible international public figures. During this time, she was famous for representing Vietnamese women with her elegant & gracious style, and was referred to by the media as "Madame Bình". She was also referred to as the "Viet Cong Queen" by Western media.

After the war, she was appointed Minister of Education of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam from 1982-1986; the first female minister ever in the history of Vietnam. Binh was a member of the Central Committee of Vietnam's Communist Party from 1987-1992. She was the Deputy Chair of the Party's Central Foreign Affairs Commission & Chair of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs Committee. The National Assembly elected her twice to position of Vice President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam for the terms 1992–1997 & 1997–2002.

Bình has authored several op-eds, including a one on the state newspaper Nhân Dân in which she voiced concerns that the current personnel policy of the Communist Party of Vietnam have allowed some "incompetent and opportunistic" individuals to enter the party's apparatus. She also criticized the Party's focus on increasing membership at the expense of "quality."

From March 2009-2014, she served as a member of the support committee of #RussellTribunal on #Palestine.

Madame Bình became a source of inspiration & namesake for Madame Binh Graphics Collective, a #RadicalLeft all-women poster, printmaking, & street art collective based in NYC from 1970s-1980s.
Many Americans in the #AntiWar movement were proud to wear T-shirts printed with the portrait of "Madame Binh". By then, she had become a symbol for female soldiers of the legitimacy of Vietnam's efforts.

Madame Bình has been awarded many prestigious awards & honours, including the Order of Ho Chi Minh & Resistance Order (First Class). In 2021, President of Vietnam Nguyễn Xuân Phúc awarded her the 75-year Party Membership Commemorative Medal.
To commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam, the Government of Vietnam commissioned the official portraits for 12 former foreign ministers from 1945-2020. Nguyễn Thị Bình was included among them as the only South Vietnamese foreign minister & the only woman.

Ref: Nguyen Thi Binh". Northeastern Dictionary of Women's Biography (3rd ed.). Boston: Northeastern University Press. 1999. ISBN 978-1-55553-421-9

Ref: Triantafillou, Eric (3 May 2012). "Graphic Uprising". The Brooklyn Rail. 

Ref: https://www.russelltribunalonpalestine.com/en/about-rtop/patrons.html

Ref: Hy V. Luong (2003), Postwar Vietnam: dynamics of a transforming society, Rowman & Littlefield, ISBN 0847698653

#AsianMastodon #Vietnam #VietnameseRevolutionaries #ColonialResistance #Communist #VietnameseHistory #AsianHistory #SouthEastAsia #Viet #Geopolitics #USWarOnVietnam #LongLiveVietnam #VietnameseSovereignty #LearnHistory #TootSEA #WomenOfTheResistance #Changemakers #Feminist #TrailblazingWomen #WomenWhoChangeTheWorld #VietCongWomen #DebunkingUSLies

Nguyễn Thị Bình is a granddaughter of the Nationalist leader Phan Chu Trinh. She grew up in a land that had been under French rule since 1858. The country’s resources were plundered, & the people exploited as cheap labour & reduced to grinding poverty. So determined were the French to maintain their colonial hold at any cost, they collaborated in power-sharing with Japanese #fascist #occupiers who brought horror & starvation from 1940-1945.

Despite this, led by the #VietMinh Front, people of Vietnam triumphed in the #AugustRevolution of 1945 & the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam (DRV) was declared on September 2nd. Democratic elections took place in January 1946 but French troops, with the open support of the US & Britain, attacked the new Viet Minh administration in the south of the country & the #WarOfResistance against #France began.

Binh studied French at Lycée Sisowath in Cambodia & worked as a teacher during the #French #colonisation of Vietnam. She joined #VietnamCommunistParty in 1948. Upon joining, she immediately began work as a #grassroots #AntiColonial organiser. From 1945-1951, she took part in intellectual protest movements against French #colonists. She was arrested & jailed between 1951-1953 in #Saigon by the French #colonial authority in Vietnam. She was repeatedly interrogated under torture & sentenced to death but was reprieved & released in very poor health in 1954.

Upon release from prison, Binh went north to work in #Hanoi for the National #WomensUnion. Her job took her to many localities where she witnessed first-hand the impact of #colonialism & the French War on ordinary people & especially women & children.

1954 was a year of victory for the Vietnamese army. The defeated French were forced to sign the #GenevaAccords recognising the independence, sovereignty & unity of Vietnam. The country was temporarily split in two at the 17th parallel, with the French moving to the south from which they would withdraw, while the Viet Minh went to the north. A general election for the government of a united country was to follow within 2 years.

But it never happened. The #USA came centre stage to ensure that the Accords were never implemented. Driven by strategic interests in the region, it made sure that Vietnam stayed divided – preventing an election that would have swept Ho Chi Minh to power with 80% support, while bankrolling & controlling the reactionary #regime of Diem-Nhu south of the 17th parallel. This regime violently suppressed all opposition, executing of thousands of Viet Minh supporters & condemning hundreds of thousands to concentration camps and prisons.

In response, the NLF (for liberation of South Vietnam & unification) was formed in 1960. Nguyen Thi Chau Sa was assigned to the Foreign Affairs Section of its Re-unification Committee & given the name Nguyen Thi Binh (Peace). From 1962 onwards, her high-profile diplomatic work, took her across the world. She represented the aspirations of the people of Vietnam in every country & forum she visited, while the world’s strongest #imperialist power made all-out war on her small country.

During the #VietnamWar, she became a member of the #Vietcong Central Committee and a vice-chairperson of the South Vietnamese #WomensLiberation Association. In 1969 she was appointed foreign minister of the Provisional #Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam. A fluent French speaker, Bình played a major role in the #ParisPeaceAccords - an agreement that was supposed to end the war & restore peace in Vietnam.

She was expected to be replaced by a male Vietcong representative after preliminary talks, but became one of the group's most visible international public figures. During this time, she was famous for representing Vietnamese women with her elegant & gracious style, and was referred to by the media as "Madame Bình". She was also referred to as the "Viet Cong Queen" by Western media.

After the war, she was appointed Minister of Education of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam from 1982-1986; the first female minister ever in the history of Vietnam. Binh was a member of the Central Committee of Vietnam's Communist Party from 1987-1992. She was the Deputy Chair of the Party's Central Foreign Affairs Commission & Chair of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs Committee. The National Assembly elected her twice to position of Vice President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam for the terms 1992–1997 & 1997–2002.

Bình has authored several op-eds, including a one on the state newspaper Nhân Dân in which she voiced concerns that the current personnel policy of the Communist Party of Vietnam have allowed some "incompetent and opportunistic" individuals to enter the party's apparatus. She also criticized the Party's focus on increasing membership at the expense of "quality."

From March 2009-2014, she served as a member of the support committee of #RussellTribunal on #Palestine.

Madame Bình became a source of inspiration & namesake for Madame Binh Graphics Collective, a #RadicalLeft all-women poster, printmaking, & street art collective based in NYC from 1970s-1980s.
Many Americans in the #AntiWar movement were proud to wear T-shirts printed with the portrait of "Madame Binh". By then, she had become a symbol for female soldiers of the legitimacy of Vietnam's efforts.

Madame Bình has been awarded many prestigious awards & honours, including the Order of Ho Chi Minh & Resistance Order (First Class). In 2021, President of Vietnam Nguyễn Xuân Phúc awarded her the 75-year Party Membership Commemorative Medal.
To commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam, the Government of Vietnam commissioned the official portraits for 12 former foreign ministers from 1945-2020. Nguyễn Thị Bình was included among them as the only South Vietnamese foreign minister & the only woman.

Ref: Nguyen Thi Binh". Northeastern Dictionary of Women's Biography (3rd ed.). Boston: Northeastern University Press. 1999. ISBN 978-1-55553-421-9

Ref: Triantafillou, Eric (3 May 2012). "Graphic Uprising". The Brooklyn Rail. 

Ref: https://www.russelltribunalonpalestine.com/en/about-rtop/patrons.html

Ref: Hy V. Luong (2003), Postwar Vietnam: dynamics of a transforming society, Rowman & Littlefield, ISBN 0847698653

#AsianMastodon #Vietnam #VietnameseRevolutionaries #ColonialResistance #Communist #VietnameseHistory #AsianHistory #SouthEastAsia #Viet #Geopolitics #USWarOnVietnam #LongLiveVietnam #VietnameseSovereignty #LearnHistory #TootSEA #WomenOfTheResistance #Changemakers #Feminist #TrailblazingWomen #WomenWhoChangeTheWorld #VietCongWomen #DebunkingUSLies

Nguyễn Thị Bình is a granddaughter of the Nationalist leader Phan Chu Trinh. She grew up in a land that had been under French rule since 1858. The country’s resources were plundered, & the people exploited as cheap labour & reduced to grinding poverty. So determined were the French to maintain their colonial hold at any cost, they collaborated in power-sharing with Japanese #fascist #occupiers who brought horror & starvation from 1940-1945.

Despite this, led by the #VietMinh Front, people of Vietnam triumphed in the #AugustRevolution of 1945 & the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam (DRV) was declared on September 2nd. Democratic elections took place in January 1946 but French troops, with the open support of the US & Britain, attacked the new Viet Minh administration in the south of the country & the #WarOfResistance against #France began.

Binh studied French at Lycée Sisowath in Cambodia & worked as a teacher during the #French #colonisation of Vietnam. She joined #VietnamCommunistParty in 1948. Upon joining, she immediately began work as a #grassroots #AntiColonial organiser. From 1945-1951, she took part in intellectual protest movements against French #colonists. She was arrested & jailed between 1951-1953 in #Saigon by the French #colonial authority in Vietnam. She was repeatedly interrogated under torture & sentenced to death but was reprieved & released in very poor health in 1954.

Upon release from prison, Binh went north to work in #Hanoi for the National #WomensUnion. Her job took her to many localities where she witnessed first-hand the impact of #colonialism & the French War on ordinary people & especially women & children.

1954 was a year of victory for the Vietnamese army. The defeated French were forced to sign the #GenevaAccords recognising the independence, sovereignty & unity of Vietnam. The country was temporarily split in two at the 17th parallel, with the French moving to the south from which they would withdraw, while the Viet Minh went to the north. A general election for the government of a united country was to follow within 2 years.

But it never happened. The #USA came centre stage to ensure that the Accords were never implemented. Driven by strategic interests in the region, it made sure that Vietnam stayed divided – preventing an election that would have swept Ho Chi Minh to power with 80% support, while bankrolling & controlling the reactionary #regime of Diem-Nhu south of the 17th parallel. This regime violently suppressed all opposition, executing of thousands of Viet Minh supporters & condemning hundreds of thousands to concentration camps and prisons.

In response, the NLF (for liberation of South Vietnam & unification) was formed in 1960. Nguyen Thi Chau Sa was assigned to the Foreign Affairs Section of its Re-unification Committee & given the name Nguyen Thi Binh (Peace). From 1962 onwards, her high-profile diplomatic work, took her across the world. She represented the aspirations of the people of Vietnam in every country & forum she visited, while the world’s strongest #imperialist power made all-out war on her small country.

During the #VietnamWar, she became a member of the #Vietcong Central Committee and a vice-chairperson of the South Vietnamese #WomensLiberation Association. In 1969 she was appointed foreign minister of the Provisional #Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam. A fluent French speaker, Bình played a major role in the #ParisPeaceAccords - an agreement that was supposed to end the war & restore peace in Vietnam.

She was expected to be replaced by a male Vietcong representative after preliminary talks, but became one of the group's most visible international public figures. During this time, she was famous for representing Vietnamese women with her elegant & gracious style, and was referred to by the media as "Madame Bình". She was also referred to as the "Viet Cong Queen" by Western media.

After the war, she was appointed Minister of Education of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam from 1982-1986; the first female minister ever in the history of Vietnam. Binh was a member of the Central Committee of Vietnam's Communist Party from 1987-1992. She was the Deputy Chair of the Party's Central Foreign Affairs Commission & Chair of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs Committee. The National Assembly elected her twice to position of Vice President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam for the terms 1992–1997 & 1997–2002.

Bình has authored several op-eds, including a one on the state newspaper Nhân Dân in which she voiced concerns that the current personnel policy of the Communist Party of Vietnam have allowed some "incompetent and opportunistic" individuals to enter the party's apparatus. She also criticized the Party's focus on increasing membership at the expense of "quality."

From March 2009-2014, she served as a member of the support committee of #RussellTribunal on #Palestine.

Madame Bình became a source of inspiration & namesake for Madame Binh Graphics Collective, a #RadicalLeft all-women poster, printmaking, & street art collective based in NYC from 1970s-1980s.
Many Americans in the #AntiWar movement were proud to wear T-shirts printed with the portrait of "Madame Binh". By then, she had become a symbol for female soldiers of the legitimacy of Vietnam's efforts.

Madame Bình has been awarded many prestigious awards & honours, including the Order of Ho Chi Minh & Resistance Order (First Class). In 2021, President of Vietnam Nguyễn Xuân Phúc awarded her the 75-year Party Membership Commemorative Medal.
To commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam, the Government of Vietnam commissioned the official portraits for 12 former foreign ministers from 1945-2020. Nguyễn Thị Bình was included among them as the only South Vietnamese foreign minister & the only woman.

Ref: Nguyen Thi Binh". Northeastern Dictionary of Women's Biography (3rd ed.). Boston: Northeastern University Press. 1999. ISBN 978-1-55553-421-9

Ref: Triantafillou, Eric (3 May 2012). "Graphic Uprising". The Brooklyn Rail. 

Ref: https://www.russelltribunalonpalestine.com/en/about-rtop/patrons.html

Ref: Hy V. Luong (2003), Postwar Vietnam: dynamics of a transforming society, Rowman & Littlefield, ISBN 0847698653

#AsianMastodon #Vietnam #VietnameseRevolutionaries #ColonialResistance #Communist #VietnameseHistory #AsianHistory #SouthEastAsia #Viet #Geopolitics #USWarOnVietnam #LongLiveVietnam #VietnameseSovereignty #LearnHistory #TootSEA #WomenOfTheResistance #Changemakers #Feminist #TrailblazingWomen #WomenWhoChangeTheWorld #VietCongWomen #DebunkingUSLies

The most common form of #RacialGaslighting that #AsianWomen must endure is that their hyper-sexualized #subjugation is a harmless compliment. High right-swipe rates of #Asian women by men of all races on dating apps are perceived as privilege, when it's #RacialFetishization. #racism & #sexism ; byproducts of violent & #imperialist #WesternHistory.

#Immigration of Asian women was #outlawed in #PageActOf1875 - #Chinese women #RaciallyProfiled as dirty prostitutes.

https://www.thelexingtonline.com/blog/2021/9/25/fetishization-asian-women

Stuck in the Filter – September’s Angry Misses

By Kenstrosity

Fall is upon us at last. Here at my station, located far far away from AMG HQ due to my various injustices against the Score Counter, taste, and metal credibility over the past five years of writership, I monitor our minions’ progress scouring the headquarters’ overtaxed filtration system. As the leaves and cool mists infiltrate the guts of the machine to mingle with the stagnant refuse which lines the chutes and coats our poor, unfortunate laborers, I use my remote-controlled cattle-prod-equipped drone to motivate and maintain pace. We have a deadline to reach after all!

Ah, who am I kidding?! Deadlines are for poseurs, and we are well-known specialists of the late post. I just like torturing my subjects until they cough up the goods. And cough up they always do! So now, please, sit, and enjoy the spoils of not my labor, the best of the pretty good from September 2023!

Kenstrosity’s Mildewed Masses

King’s Rot // At the Gates of Adversarial Darkness [September 22nd, 2023 – Hypnotic Dirge Records]

It’s been a fairly mediocre year for standard black metal in the House ov Ken. Most of the time, the good stuff hybridized with other things like death metal (Úlfúð), psychedelia (DHG), or power metal (Moonlight Sorcery). Alberta, Canada’s King’s Rot doesn’t quite change that, but they make a valiant effort of it with their sophomore outing, At the Gates of Adversarial Darkness. Its production marks a good start, perfectly straddling the fence between murky rawness and sparkling clarity. This in turn bolsters the quality of the music, which straddles the fence between melodicism and wretchedness. I’m most engaged whenever King’s Rot kick into high gear, evoking bands like Vimur and Imperialist, except this material prefers to revel in the hellish flames of the underworld rather than the coronas of distant stars (“Blazing Winds of Torment,” “At the Gates of Adversarial Darkness,” “Last Dance for the Eternal Flame”). However, they could use more of that perilous verve and swagger in those areas where the band take their sweet time building up to a blistering fury (as with the Cloak-esque “Twilight Breath Incantation” and “Obscure Awakenings”) in order to keep my interest rabid from start to finish. In sum, you could do much worse than At the Gates of Adversarial Darkness for your fiery, but chilling black metal fix.

Aortha // Monolit [September 8th, 2023 – Self Release]

How many vocalists is too many vocalists? International supergroup Aortha bring a new scope and scale to the question with their groovy heavy/thrash/power metal project by employing six individuals for mic duty (Exhorder‘s Kyle Thomas, Adamantia’s Diego Valdez, Voivod‘s Denis Belanger Snake, ex-Temperance’s Alessia Scolletti, Laurenne/Louhimo’s Netta Laurenne, ex-Scar Symmetry‘s Christian Älvestam). Supported by Jacob Umansky on bass, Hannes Grossman on drums, and Predrag Glogovac on guitars, Aortha’s debut LP Monolit boasts insane levels of groove, hook, and swagger. Bangers like “Those That Should Not Exist,” “Last of Our Kind,” “Forging the Locus” and “Divine Future” are guaranteed to kick your ass and take your lunch money, while every vocalist gets their chance to spit in your face (although it can be difficult to pick out who is who with 100% accuracy). It’s nearly impossible not to bob my head along with these tunes, as transitions constantly reveal a new trick up the group’s sleeve, whether that be another ripping verse hook (“Keep the Dream”), a sharp riff that has no business being as fun or interesting as it is (“Last of Our Kind”), or some fancy percussive work that one would expect from the world’s most sought-after drummer. It might be cheesy in places, ESL is everywhere, and some songs can feel a little long after repeat spins (“When All Around You is Madness”), but Monolit remains one of my most fun, compelling, and deceivingly cohesive surprises this year. You owe it to yourselves to try it!

Dolphin Whisperer’s Trench Treasures

SATSURIKU ROBOT // NO THRASH METAL, NO LIFE! [September 8th, 2023 – WormHoleDeath]

No Thrash Metal, No Life!—demanding and straightforward. It’s easy to imagine that the untested Japanese act would have constructed this outing as an homage to the blue-collar hammer-on, hammer-off tunes we all love so dearly.1 And to a certain extent the opening riffs to the Slayer-touched “THRASH NEVER DIE” and the Sodom-grooving “MAD THRASHER” have a normalcy to them. However, that basic appearance dissolves rapidly against a cranked-out, clangy-ass snare and a vocalist who’s channeling both a cat in heat and a pig greased for the chase. Honestly, I have no idea what the fuck he’s doing. On tracks like “殺戮ロボット – SATSURIKU ROBOT ” and “CARRY ON” he drops character for brief moments while channeling a punky bellow akin to fellow countrymen SEX MACHINEGUNS, which gives a little respite to his madness. For the most part though, he squirts and squeals with a rabid conviction while his bandmates do their best to churn out solid sing-along gang shouts amidst mighty solos (“ROBOT IN THE PANDEMIC,” “NO THRASH METAL, NO LIFE!”). Similar to the out-of-place nature of the hokey, nursery rhyme infusions you hear in a Macabre album, much of what SATSURIKU ROBOT accomplishes throughout this thoughtful mess of a debut should not work, but it does and it’s catchy as hell. Though I don’t think these folks could pull it off twice with as much shock value, but that matters little when you can enjoy this sneakily not-thrash ode to thrash. So what’re you waiting for? NO THRASH METAL, NO LIFE!!!

Vibora // Zaldi Beltza [September 29th, 2023 – Zegema Beach Records]

Anthemic, throat-ripping, cathartic as a cold bath with the curtains drawn—Zaldi Beltza (The Black Horse) is the skramz you need in your life. With a bass overdriven for noise rock and a scrapped mic that reminds me of regionally-adjacent sadbois Tenue or ragers Crossed,2 Vibora’s brand of screeching metalcore comes with highlights that swing effortlessly between tough guy throw-downs and major swing crescendos (“Eraikin Zurie,” “Le Fleur”). Though Vibora drops tempo for a few melancholy post-hardcore romps (“DANA,” “La Casa, 20”), the burn through Zaldi Beltza’s nine tracks in twenty-three minutes never feels too long drawn on its less aggressive elements. Appropriate levels of hissing amp feedback and nut-shaking bass (“La Casa, 8,” “Ez Ziguten Maitatzen Irakatsi”) ensure that these Basque core-kiddies never stray too far from a forward-moving path. I gotta level with you though, this is true screamo, and if you’re not accustomed to the fuzz-filtered, nasally, digging yelp that typically accompanies this world, Vibora doesn’t do anything to change that. But Zaldi Beltza, in its close-to-roots expression of bright-chord Daïtro-flavored post-hardcore with extra hardcore delivers a modern sad-ggression that’s building a movement of its own.

Thus Spoke’s Tarnished Trinkets

Ash Prison // Future Torn [September 22nd 2023 – Sentient Ruin Laboratories]

Ash Prison are basically everything you want blackened industrial music to be—or at least they’re everything I want it to be. This weird, warpy, wacky work sees resonant, electrified bass wrap around jittery tempos, accompanied by echoing, snarling croaks, and a plethora of other strange sounds. You’ve taken the pill the shifty guy by the club toilets gave you, that you probably shouldn’t have, and now the gothic electronica is warping around you, and the walls are starting to melt. The come up was a bit aggressive (“Archangel”), but at the same time, incredibly, weirdly danceable, in a jagged sort of way, as is much of Future Torn. And the way groovy, boppy beats slide in out of the noise (“Death Reborn,” “No Return,” “Collapse”) is almost as unsettling as the heavier, actually scary stuff. This mood swing happens whiplash from song to song, “Voidhead,” “Black Horizon,” and “Weep in my Shadow” each smash onto the scene with fast, clipped tempos and a lot of static and distortion. And then there’s “Scorn,” whose skipping, echoing voice sample and scarily low hum create a spine-chillingly powerful sense of dread before the beat picks up to turn it into a mad, unhinged bop. This album terrifies me, and I love it. Why not give it a try?

Steel Druhm’s Seasonal Slashing:

Lord of Shadows // Echoes of Yore [September 1st, 2023 – Meuse Music Records]

Lord of Shadows is the work of one Mike Lamb, and on the debut full-length Echoes of Yore, the multi-instrumentalist tackles the Peaceville sound made famous in the 90s by My Dying Bride and Anathema. And to make sure you know he’s deadly serious about his passion project, he recruited none other than My Dying Bride’s Aaron Stainthorpe to handle vocals for him, alongside Heike Langhans (Remina, Light Field Reverie, ex-Draconian). Over 42 minutes, Lamb and guests paint the night pitch black with effective Gothic doom loaded with drama, pathos, and despondency. The man knows his chosen genre well and appoints it with a captivating array of forlorn riffs, weeping pianos, ethereal female vocals, and booming death croaks. The songsmithing is above average and the lengthy compositions keep you in thrall as they suck all the joy from your downtrodden soul. Cuts like “Faith of Thy Beloved” and “At the End of Our Eclipse” will win you over to the morose cause, and the nine-minute “Through Memories, I Gave Her Life” will carry you off to sadboi glory. Is it derivative of its source material? Naturally, but the adroit blend of My Dying Bride and female-forward Gothic doom like Draconian works well. With Winter banging at the door, this is the optimal time of year for what Lord of Shadows are selling, so stock up now! DOOM!

#2023 #Adamantia #Aortha #AshPrison #AtTheGatesOfAdversarialDarkness #BlackMetal #CanadianMetal #Cloak #Crossed #Daïtro #DHG #EchoesOfYore #Exhorder #FutureTorn #HeavyMetal #HypnoticDirgeRecords #Imperialist #Industrial #IndustrialMetal #KingSRot #LaurenneLouhimo #LordOfShadows #Macabre #MelodicBlackMetal #Metalcore #Monolit #MoonlightSorcery #NoThrashMetalNoLife #PowerMetal #SatsurikuRobot #ScarSymmetry #Screamo #SelfReleased #SentientRuinLaboratories #Sep23 #Slayer #Sodom #StuckInTheFilter #Temperance #Tenue #ThrashMetal #Úlfúð #VIbora #Vimur #Voivod #WormHoleDeath #ZaldiBeltza #ZegemaBeachRecords

Stuck in the Filter – September’s Angry Misses

By Kenstrosity

Fall is upon us at last. Here at my station, located far far away from AMG HQ due to my various injustices against the Score Counter, taste, and metal credibility over the past five years of writership, I monitor our minions’ progress scouring the headquarters’ overtaxed filtration system. As the leaves and cool mists infiltrate the guts of the machine to mingle with the stagnant refuse which lines the chutes and coats our poor, unfortunate laborers, I use my remote-controlled cattle-prod-equipped drone to motivate and maintain pace. We have a deadline to reach after all!

Ah, who am I kidding?! Deadlines are for poseurs, and we are well-known specialists of the late post. I just like torturing my subjects until they cough up the goods. And cough up they always do! So now, please, sit, and enjoy the spoils of not my labor, the best of the pretty good from September 2023!

Kenstrosity’s Mildewed Masses

King’s Rot // At the Gates of Adversarial Darkness [September 22nd, 2023 – Hypnotic Dirge Records]

It’s been a fairly mediocre year for standard black metal in the House ov Ken. Most of the time, the good stuff hybridized with other things like death metal (Úlfúð), psychedelia (DHG), or power metal (Moonlight Sorcery). Alberta, Canada’s King’s Rot doesn’t quite change that, but they make a valiant effort of it with their sophomore outing, At the Gates of Adversarial Darkness. Its production marks a good start, perfectly straddling the fence between murky rawness and sparkling clarity. This in turn bolsters the quality of the music, which straddles the fence between melodicism and wretchedness. I’m most engaged whenever King’s Rot kick into high gear, evoking bands like Vimur and Imperialist, except this material prefers to revel in the hellish flames of the underworld rather than the coronas of distant stars (“Blazing Winds of Torment,” “At the Gates of Adversarial Darkness,” “Last Dance for the Eternal Flame”). However, they could use more of that perilous verve and swagger in those areas where the band take their sweet time building up to a blistering fury (as with the Cloak-esque “Twilight Breath Incantation” and “Obscure Awakenings”) in order to keep my interest rabid from start to finish. In sum, you could do much worse than At the Gates of Adversarial Darkness for your fiery, but chilling black metal fix.

Aortha // Monolit [September 8th, 2023 – Self Release]

How many vocalists is too many vocalists? International supergroup Aortha bring a new scope and scale to the question with their groovy heavy/thrash/power metal project by employing six individuals for mic duty (Exhorder‘s Kyle Thomas, Adamantia’s Diego Valdez, Voivod‘s Denis Belanger Snake, ex-Temperance’s Alessia Scolletti, Laurenne/Louhimo’s Netta Laurenne, ex-Scar Symmetry‘s Christian Älvestam). Supported by Jacob Umansky on bass, Hannes Grossman on drums, and Predrag Glogovac on guitars, Aortha’s debut LP Monolit boasts insane levels of groove, hook, and swagger. Bangers like “Those That Should Not Exist,” “Last of Our Kind,” “Forging the Locus” and “Divine Future” are guaranteed to kick your ass and take your lunch money, while every vocalist gets their chance to spit in your face (although it can be difficult to pick out who is who with 100% accuracy). It’s nearly impossible not to bob my head along with these tunes, as transitions constantly reveal a new trick up the group’s sleeve, whether that be another ripping verse hook (“Keep the Dream”), a sharp riff that has no business being as fun or interesting as it is (“Last of Our Kind”), or some fancy percussive work that one would expect from the world’s most sought-after drummer. It might be cheesy in places, ESL is everywhere, and some songs can feel a little long after repeat spins (“When All Around You is Madness”), but Monolit remains one of my most fun, compelling, and deceivingly cohesive surprises this year. You owe it to yourselves to try it!

Dolphin Whisperer’s Trench Treasures

SATSURIKU ROBOT // NO THRASH METAL, NO LIFE! [September 8th, 2023 – WormHoleDeath]

No Thrash Metal, No Life!—demanding and straightforward. It’s easy to imagine that the untested Japanese act would have constructed this outing as an homage to the blue-collar hammer-on, hammer-off tunes we all love so dearly.1 And to a certain extent the opening riffs to the Slayer-touched “THRASH NEVER DIE” and the Sodom-grooving “MAD THRASHER” have a normalcy to them. However, that basic appearance dissolves rapidly against a cranked-out, clangy-ass snare and a vocalist who’s channeling both a cat in heat and a pig greased for the chase. Honestly, I have no idea what the fuck he’s doing. On tracks like “殺戮ロボット – SATSURIKU ROBOT ” and “CARRY ON” he drops character for brief moments while channeling a punky bellow akin to fellow countrymen SEX MACHINEGUNS, which gives a little respite to his madness. For the most part though, he squirts and squeals with a rabid conviction while his bandmates do their best to churn out solid sing-along gang shouts amidst mighty solos (“ROBOT IN THE PANDEMIC,” “NO THRASH METAL, NO LIFE!”). Similar to the out-of-place nature of the hokey, nursery rhyme infusions you hear in a Macabre album, much of what SATSURIKU ROBOT accomplishes throughout this thoughtful mess of a debut should not work, but it does and it’s catchy as hell. Though I don’t think these folks could pull it off twice with as much shock value, but that matters little when you can enjoy this sneakily not-thrash ode to thrash. So what’re you waiting for? NO THRASH METAL, NO LIFE!!!

Vibora // Zaldi Beltza [September 29th, 2023 – Zegema Beach Records]

Anthemic, throat-ripping, cathartic as a cold bath with the curtains drawn—Zaldi Beltza (The Black Horse) is the skramz you need in your life. With a bass overdriven for noise rock and a scrapped mic that reminds me of regionally-adjacent sadbois Tenue or ragers Crossed,2 Vibora’s brand of screeching metalcore comes with highlights that swing effortlessly between tough guy throw-downs and major swing crescendos (“Eraikin Zurie,” “Le Fleur”). Though Vibora drops tempo for a few melancholy post-hardcore romps (“DANA,” “La Casa, 20”), the burn through Zaldi Beltza’s nine tracks in twenty-three minutes never feels too long drawn on its less aggressive elements. Appropriate levels of hissing amp feedback and nut-shaking bass (“La Casa, 8,” “Ez Ziguten Maitatzen Irakatsi”) ensure that these Basque core-kiddies never stray too far from a forward-moving path. I gotta level with you though, this is true screamo, and if you’re not accustomed to the fuzz-filtered, nasally, digging yelp that typically accompanies this world, Vibora doesn’t do anything to change that. But Zaldi Beltza, in its close-to-roots expression of bright-chord Daïtro-flavored post-hardcore with extra hardcore delivers a modern sad-ggression that’s building a movement of its own.

Thus Spoke’s Tarnished Trinkets

Ash Prison // Future Torn [September 22nd 2023 – Sentient Ruin Laboratories]

Ash Prison are basically everything you want blackened industrial music to be—or at least they’re everything I want it to be. This weird, warpy, wacky work sees resonant, electrified bass wrap around jittery tempos, accompanied by echoing, snarling croaks, and a plethora of other strange sounds. You’ve taken the pill the shifty guy by the club toilets gave you, that you probably shouldn’t have, and now the gothic electronica is warping around you, and the walls are starting to melt. The come up was a bit aggressive (“Archangel”), but at the same time, incredibly, weirdly danceable, in a jagged sort of way, as is much of Future Torn. And the way groovy, boppy beats slide in out of the noise (“Death Reborn,” “No Return,” “Collapse”) is almost as unsettling as the heavier, actually scary stuff. This mood swing happens whiplash from song to song, “Voidhead,” “Black Horizon,” and “Weep in my Shadow” each smash onto the scene with fast, clipped tempos and a lot of static and distortion. And then there’s “Scorn,” whose skipping, echoing voice sample and scarily low hum create a spine-chillingly powerful sense of dread before the beat picks up to turn it into a mad, unhinged bop. This album terrifies me, and I love it. Why not give it a try?

Steel Druhm’s Seasonal Slashing:

Lord of Shadows // Echoes of Yore [September 1st, 2023 – Meuse Music Records]

Lord of Shadows is the work of one Mike Lamb, and on the debut full-length Echoes of Yore, the multi-instrumentalist tackles the Peaceville sound made famous in the 90s by My Dying Bride and Anathema. And to make sure you know he’s deadly serious about his passion project, he recruited none other than My Dying Bride’s Aaron Stainthorpe to handle vocals for him, alongside Heike Langhans (Remina, Light Field Reverie, ex-Draconian). Over 42 minutes, Lamb and guests paint the night pitch black with effective Gothic doom loaded with drama, pathos, and despondency. The man knows his chosen genre well and appoints it with a captivating array of forlorn riffs, weeping pianos, ethereal female vocals, and booming death croaks. The songsmithing is above average and the lengthy compositions keep you in thrall as they suck all the joy from your downtrodden soul. Cuts like “Faith of Thy Beloved” and “At the End of Our Eclipse” will win you over to the morose cause, and the nine-minute “Through Memories, I Gave Her Life” will carry you off to sadboi glory. Is it derivative of its source material? Naturally, but the adroit blend of My Dying Bride and female-forward Gothic doom like Draconian works well. With Winter banging at the door, this is the optimal time of year for what Lord of Shadows are selling, so stock up now! DOOM!

#2023 #Adamantia #Aortha #AshPrison #AtTheGatesOfAdversarialDarkness #BlackMetal #CanadianMetal #Cloak #Crossed #Daïtro #DHG #EchoesOfYore #Exhorder #FutureTorn #HeavyMetal #HypnoticDirgeRecords #Imperialist #Industrial #IndustrialMetal #KingSRot #LaurenneLouhimo #LordOfShadows #Macabre #MelodicBlackMetal #Metalcore #Monolit #MoonlightSorcery #NoThrashMetalNoLife #PowerMetal #SatsurikuRobot #ScarSymmetry #Screamo #SelfReleased #SentientRuinLaboratories #Sep23 #Slayer #Sodom #StuckInTheFilter #Temperance #Tenue #ThrashMetal #Úlfúð #VIbora #Vimur #Voivod #WormHoleDeath #ZaldiBeltza #ZegemaBeachRecords

1933: Cuba

"In 1898, the same year the U.S. annexed Hawaii, its victory in the Spanish-American War also gave it control of Guam, Puerto Rico and the Philippines as U.S. territories, as well as an excuse to begin a military occupation of Cuba. After President Theodore Roosevelt asserted America's right to intervene militarily in Latin America in 1904-5, the U.S. began to do so more frequently in the #CaribbeanBasin countries, including the #DominicanRepublic, #Nicaragua, #Mexico, #Haiti, #Honduras—and Cuba.

"After recognizing Cuba as an independent nation in 1902, the U.S. withdrew its military from the country with the caveat that it would still intervene militarily to protect American interests in the future. Over the next three decades, the U.S. frequently invaded Cuba and other Caribbean countries in the so-called “#BananaWars,” to help quash #abor strikes and revolutions that threatened U.S.-owned sugar, fruit and coffee businesses.

"In 1933, it backed military leader Fulgencio Batista’s coup to overthrow the Cuban government. After Fidel Castro violently ousted Batista and established the Western hemisphere’s first communist regime, President John F. Kennedy attempted to overthrow Castro’s government in the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion. This failed coup not only represented America’s ongoing #imperialist attitude toward its southern neighbors; it also showcased a newer interventionist arm: the #CIA."

https://www.history.com/news/us-overthrow-foreign-governments

#HumanRights
#Covert
#Corporatism
#Corporatocracy
#Corruption
#Capitalism
#Colonialism