General Discussion Thread - Juche 114, Week 36

something very mexican (and i imagine it happens in latin america too) is to put cross memorials where people died, so youre walking randomly on a sidewalk and you may find a cross memorial there where someone got ran over or crashed the car lol.

Tried making a thread for the first time in months and it kept saying invalid URL

I have 2 new interviews lined up this week. Wish me luck comrades! How is everyone this week?

Comrades, New Update on Indonesian Protests, as of right now the situation is calm and conducive, War Criminal prabowo Is still a Moron Btw. Oh and also a Demand been trending Online calld 17+8.

Demands :

-Short-term demands

•To the President: Pull the Armed Forces out of the civil law enforcement and ensure no criminalization of protesters Create an independent investigation commission on the cases of Affan Kurniawan, Umar Amarudin, and other victims of police brutality during the 28-30 August protest with clear mandate and transparency

•To the People's Representative Council Freeze the pay raise and perks to the representatives and cancelation of new facilities (including pensions) Transparency of publication of funds Demand the Honorary Body of the People's Representatives Council to probe into scandalous representatives

•To the Chairperson of Political Parties Sacking and sanction to unethical cadres in the People's Representatives Council that were responsible for the unrest Announce the commitment of political parties to side with the people during crisis Involve every cadres for public dialogue with students and civil organizations

•To the Police Forces Free all detained protesters End to police brutality and adherence to standard operating procedure on demonstration Arrest and bring all officers and commanders who was involved in human rights violations to justice

•To the Armed Forces Return to barracks and cease the involvement in civil law enforcement Uphold internal discipline to prevent armed forces meddling with police affairs Public commitment of armed forces not to enter civilian space during democratic crises •To the Ministers in the economic sector Ensure reasonable wages to every workforces nationwide Take emergency measures to prevent mass layoffs and protect every contract laborers Open dialogue with labor unions

-Long-term demands

•Total cleansing and reform to the People's Representatives Council Conduct independent audits and have the results publicized to the people. Increase the standards of preconditions to qualify as a member of parliament (i.e. no prior corruption cases) and standardize a KPI for evaluating every member. Remove any special privileges: Life pensions, special transportation and escorts, and taxes covered by the State Budget.

•Political parties reform and strengthen the executive watch Political parties must publish their first financial statements within this year, and DPR must ensure that the Opposition must function as it was supposed to.

•Draft fairer tax reform plan Reconsider the balance of transferring the State Budget from the central government to local governments. Repeal plans to increase taxes that may burden the people and draft a plan for a fairer tax reform. •Pass and uphold the Asset Seizure Draft Bill House of Representatives must pass the Asset Seizure Draft Bill within this year to demonstrate serious commitments to fight corruption in conjunction with strengthening the Corruption Eradication Commission and the Corruption Eradication Act

•Leadership and systemic reform to the police forces to achieve more professional and humanist policing DPR must reform the Police Act. The police must decentralize their functions: public enforcement, security, traffic control within 12 months for starters.

•Return the armed forces to the barracks without exception The government must revoke the mandate bestowed to the Indonesian National Armed Forces in civilian projects such as in large scale farming (food estate) within this year, and DPR must start to revise the Armed Forces Act

•Strengthen the National Commission on Human Rights and independent watchdogs DPR must revise the National Commission of Human Rights Act to broaden their responsibilities on freedom of speech. President must empower Ombudsman and Kompolnas

•Review policies from the economic and labor sectors Seriously review national strategic projects (PSN) and economic priorities by protecting the rights of indigenous people and the environment. Reevaluate the Omnibus Law on Job Creation that burdens the people especially workers, and audit the governance of Danantara and state owned enterprises.

What is Your Opinions Comrades ?

i gotta get a job man

Belgium will recognize the state of Palestine soon and will take measures against Israel

While not perfect, it goes to show that getting out in the street helps

I hope you all have a nice week :D

Today is the first day of my apprenticeship. I feel too old to be doing this but I needed to start fresh in terms of work.

I haven't worked 40 hour weeks in years, it just hasn't been feasible for me in terms of mental health. Unfortunately there's no other way to do the apprenticeship. I really worry that I won't have enough time in the day between work, family, household, hobbies, and self-care.

Hello! It's nice going stargazing

That moment when a zionist gets attacked by the very fascists he courts during their protest kek

Just planted my spuds. Accepting well wishes and good vibes for the season to come.

I decided to look on Walmartipedia to see what trouble Butch Hartman has been causing lately. He is working at an explicitly Christian network titled Great American Pure Flix. I went to the search function and entered this:

‘Armenian’

Results:

We're sorry. We are having trouble finding a match to your search.

…

Okay, so much for finding a film on the Meds Yeghern. How about the Shoah? Many Evangelicals at least pretend to care about the Shoah, and some of the victims were either Judeo-Christians or at least legally ‘Jewish’. We’ll have a higher chance finding something therein.

‘Holocaust’

Results:

We're sorry. We are having trouble finding a match to your search.

Let’s try again.

‘Shoah’

Results:

We're sorry. We are having trouble finding a match to your search.

Okay, we can’t go wrong with this next one!

‘Nazi’

Results:

Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon

Sabina: Tortured for Christ

Hey, we got something! Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon has nothing to do with Christianity, but that other one should. Let’s look it up.

https://www.sabinamovie.com/

Sabina: Tortured for Christ, the Nazi Years is the story of how G-d’s love transformed an ambitious, worldly atheist into one of the greatest Christian women of the 20th century. The film opens with Sabina Wurmbrand risking her life to show Christ’s love to three Nazi soldiers. Why would a Christian from a Jewish background risk her life to help her enemies — members of the army that killed her entire family? Experience a true story of biblical love and forgiveness that has inspired millions around the world.

I quickly notice that this website is heavily targeted at churches. This would explain the film’s limited reach or niche appeal. The website features brief biographies on Sabina and her husband Richard, ‘who suffered under Nazi and Communist oppression’. Remember: merely suffering under Fascist oppression = Snoozeville. But suffering under Fascism and a people’s republic? Jackpot!

Anyway, I did some more research and was disturbed by what I found:

Voice of the Martyrs' founder Richard Wurmbrand has his own story in Jesus Freaks, though it's not clear who authored it. I was surprised to read that his first infraction—the act that supposedly put a target on his back and led to his arrest and torture by the Communist government—was kind of in opposition to other Christians.

It was a year after the Communists had seized power in Romania. The government had invited all religious leaders to attend a congress at the Parliament building over 4,000 attended. First, they chose Joseph Stalin as honorary president of the congress. Then the speeches began. It was absurd and horrible. Communism was dedicated to the destruction of religion, as had already been shown in Russia.

Yet bishops and pastors arose and declared that Communism and Christianity were fundamentally the same and could coexist. Out of fear, these men of G-d were filling the air with flattery and lies.

It was as if they spat in Jesus Christ's face.

Sabina Wurmbrand could stand it no longer. She whispered to her husband, "Richard, stand up and wash away this shame from the face of Christ."

Richard knew what would happen. "If I speak, you will lose your husband."

Sabina replied, "I do not wish to have a coward for a husband."

Pastor Wurmbrand took the stage. To everyone's surprise, he began to preach. Immediately, a great silence fell on the hall.

"Delegates, it is our duty not to praise earthly powers that come and go, but to glorify G-d the Creator and Christ the Savior, who died for us on the cross." […] The atmosphere began to change. The audience began to applaud. He was saying what they had all wanted to say, but were afraid to.

The book's introduction claims that "Our culture understands heroism. But we don't understand martyrs." It's true, there is something compelling about sacrifice, particularly if it is selfless. But this seems like an odd dichotomy—heroism versus martyrdom—for a book so hagiographically valorizing martyrs to set up.

"I do not wish to have a coward for a husband," Wurmbrand's wife prompts. These ideas of cowardice and bravery flatten the martyr just as the role of evil persecutor flattens the enemy, preventing any cooperation or coexistence.

Later in the story, after describing the tortures he faced while under arrest, Wurmbrand says that it was important for him to learn to pity and love his torturers—in fact, that he was divinely inspired to do so. "Only love can change the communist and the terrorist," he says.

But when I look at these stories, I don't see any love. I see loopholes, ways out—ways to politicize faith without saying it, and ways for aggressors to feel like victims.

If his tale about the SRR’s authorities torturing him is true (and who knows, maybe it is true) then I am unhappy that that happened. That being said, it was also unacceptable for him to tell his tale of oppression as if it were solely his Christianity that was to blame and not his anticommunism. I find that framing to be dishonest or at least highly misleading. Also, his wife sounded mean. ‘I do not wish to have a coward for a husband’…? Was that really the type of attitude that he needed from his wife of all people?

Here is some more information on Voice of the Martyrs:

VOM clearly distinguishes itself from its secular counterparts by working exclusively on behalf of Christians. Addressing the audience at Calvary Chapel in 2012, VOM board member Mark Shumaker explained, “We don’t let ourselves get off track by helping people who aren’t persecuted Christians.”

This is one of the many reasons that Christian conservatives get on my nerves: they (almost) always prioritise the others in their sect first and foremost; everybody who turns down the offer to join their sect—even if they do it as politely as possible—can literally go to Hell. There is very little biblical basis for this principle; we therefore cannot reductively blame it on ‘religion’, but this phenomenon’s prevalence despite its lack of biblical support remains an important reason that I tend to keep my expectations low when I hear ‘Christian’. No offense to @mathemachristian@hexbear.net.

okay there is nothing cringier than having NFL games outside the US and still having to play the US national anthem. why the hell they're waving american flags in brazil? why is mr beast hosting this?

Think I'm done with Dutch football. It has been hijacked by neonazi's and there is no left wing club like we have in Belgium with Standard and Union for example. They can all go fuck themselves.

Contemplating becoming a sailor man

Is there any advantagea for an EU state citizen to have their kids in the US for citizenship? I can only think of downsides tbh, don't rich people literally give away their US citizenship because of tax issues? Idk seems stupid to me?

Recently saw Ne Zha 2 and have started listening to Kneecap. Can confirm both are great and highly recommend.