#socialcohesion — Public Fediverse posts

Militants, rebels, terrorists or resistance fighters?
#syria #uyghur #xinjiang #han #china #ccp #socialcohesion #terrorism
https://pulitzercenter.org/stories/foreign-fighters-who-helped-topple-assad-and-why-china-worries-about-them

We hear a lot about China's persecution of Uyghurs and almost nothing about Uyghur terrorists but here's a nugget from 2019. As always, one man's terrorism is another man's resistance. Or is it? #terrorism #uyghur #xinjiang #china #ccp #socialcohesion https://www.internationalaffairs.org.au/australianoutlook/chinese-uyghurs-international-terrorists-or-terrorised-minority/

The new uncomfortable normality
No Worries? Australian attitudes to national security, risk and resilience (report): National security starts at the front door – not at the territorial borders.

"For most Australians, the 18-month research project revealed, national security starts at their front door – not at the territorial borders of the island continent. It showed they are worried the country is not prepared for the demands of a volatile 21st century in a polluted information ecosystem, where the rules-based international order is crumbling, economic precarity has become uncomfortably normal and trust is more fragile." >>
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/mar/29/surging-anxiety-australia-national-security-patriotism-ntwnfb

Report: No Worries? Australian attitudes to national security, risk and resilience >>
https://nsc.anu.edu.au/research/no-worries-australian-attitudes-national-security-risk-and-resilience

#PublicAnxiety #anxiety #Australia #worries #trust #precarity #inequality #polycrisis #instability #safety #stability #participation #SocialIntegration #FarRight #SocialCohesion #belonging #HyperIndIvidualisation #UncomfortableNormality #climate #NationalSecurity #war

Social cohesion and gritted-teeth tolerance

"In 2022, for the first time in decades, the government commissioned a review of multiculturalism, Towards Fairness. It found Australia had muddled on, but squandered its world-leading status and recommended the government create a minister, a permanent commission and department for multiculturalism. Labor MP Dr Anne Aly was appointed multicultural affairs minister in 2025."

She delivered a powerful speech last November:

"Aly declared it was time to end “the conditional form of multiculturalism, that kind of gritted-teeth tolerance that,

'You are welcome here as long as your food tastes good,

your celebrations are colourful, and

your music is present to the ears.’"

"But any questioning, any speaking out, any disruptive participation in any practice of citizenship will not be tolerated. Instead, acts of citizenship afforded to the broader community are viewed as acts of defiance when performed by the other and are met with cries of, ‘Go back to where you came from,’ and ‘Love Australia or leave it.’ " >>
https://www.theguardian.com/society/ng-interactive/2026/mar/23/social-cohesion-meaning-has-lost-feelgood-vibe

Full speech: Reimagining Multiculturalism in Australia, The Hon Dr Anne Aly MP, Minister for Small Business, Minister for International Development, and Minister for Multicultural Affairs 2025 >>
https://ministers.treasury.gov.au/ministers/anne-aly-2025

#SocialCohesion #ethnonationalism #Anglosphere #SettlerSociety #mainstream #belonging #diversity #IndigenousPeoples #CALD #hate #racism #silencing #culture #entertainment #SongAndDance #ScarilyDiverse #representation #participation #Australia #culture

'Difficult' women

"Grace Tame reacts to PM's comment labelling her 'difficult'."

Tame: "'Difficult' is the misogynist's code for a woman who won't comply. History tends to call her 'courageous'.''
>>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-26/federal-politics-live-blog-chalmers-inflation/106388618
#Misogyny #WitchHunts #GenderedViolence #resistanceMovement #Socialcohesion #leaders #bystanders #Australia #DifficultWomen

Image: Francisco Goya, Witches' Flight, 1798
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witches%27_Flight

Human #wellbeing on a #FinitePlanet towards 2100: new study shows humanity at a crossroads

A new paper by members of Earth4All’s scientific advisory team published today in Global Sustainability models two starkly different futures for humanity this century: one defined by escalating crises compounded by rising social tension, the other by a bold transformation towards wellbeing for all. The findings emphasise the importance of considering wellbeing and social cohesion when studying how planetary risks, inequality and social tensions interact.

4 July 2025

Excerpt: "Boost social cohesion and wellbeing for successful climate action

"A key innovation of the study is the introduction of two novel indices: social tension and wellbeing. This enabled the researchers to model not just the complex interactions between economic and #environmental factors in the two scenarios, but also include social feedback loops capturing trust, public investment, and political capacity. The modelling results suggests that rising #inequality and environmental degradation fuel social tensions, which in turn reduce governments’ capacity to implement the long-term policies needed to address existential risks linked to climate change and other planetary boundaries.

" 'By integrating a social tension index and a wellbeing index, we have been able to highlight the importance of social dynamics in climate scenarios,' explained co-author #NathalieSpittler of #BOKUUniversity. 'Achieving climate goals is not just a question of technological and economic developments. If wellbeing declines and social tensions rise, this creates a negative feedback loop where the very conditions needed for transformational change become harder to achieve.'

"Conversely, the study suggests that actions to reduce inequality and increase #SocialCohesion and wellbeing are key if governments want to implement policy shifts on #climate and other global issues."

Read more [includes link to the paper]:
https://earth4all.life/news/human-wellbeing-on-a-finite-planet-towards-2100-new-study-shows-humanity-at-a-crossroads/

#SolarPunkSunday #Earth4All #ClimateChange #BuildingCommunity #BuildResilience #GiantLeap #GiantLeapScenario #LtG #LimitsToGrowth #StabilizedWorld

* The White Nationalist Agenda, the "missing white voter" and hate mongering
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-01/stephen-miller-donald-trumps-immigration-policy-architect/106272938

* "Jean Guerrero, Hate Monger, a book that investigated the making of Miller. Miller has been seen as a link between the white nationalist agenda and the Trump White House."
https://www.npr.org/2020/08/24/905403716/hatemonger-paints-trump-advisor-stephen-miller-as-a-case-study-in-radicalization

* The Apparatus of Whiteness, Linda Martín Alcoff »Cultural Racism« (2/3) Adorno Lecture >>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhUu9nCzxvs
#hate #immigration #WhiteRage #Whiteness #settlersociety #EthnoNationalism #TheWest #modernity #whitesupremacists #CulturalRacism #EthnoEssentialism #SocialCohesion #SocialFabric

On those who warn against 'divisiveness'

In a time of acrimony and unrest, politicians urge social cohesion and decry those who stoke division. They label protesters troublemakers and haters. They bring in new regulations making it more difficult for ordinary people to publicly criticise the injustices of the status quo and to organise against them in a coherent and effective manner (i.e. #CriminalisationOfDissent).

But real social cohesion can only be built on mutual respect across differences in combination with a sense of shared responsibility for common goods. Respect requires trust. Trust requires honesty and a sustained commitment to working towards shared goals. And so when those who demonise protesters for 'divisiveness' have themselves demonstrated a sustained commitment to dishonesty in service of merely private goods, or goods for a limited group at the expense of those outside it, then it is the accusers who are guilty of their own complaint.

To be established and maintained, social divisions and exclusion always require both the propagation of falsehood and the use of violence to suppress the truth. Thus, to speak frankly about actually existing injustices is not to be divisive, but to hold open the only path towards any kind of genuine social peace.
#divisive #SocialCohesion