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Forget the last 10,000 years: they have been really, really, abnormal for most populations within our species

Forget the last 10,000 years: they hhave been really, really, abnormal for most populations within our species.

Helga Ingeborg Vierich

I lived among hunter-gatherers to learn some lessons from them. This is what they taught me….

For those of you interested in understanding human biological evolution, here is my advice: Forget the last 10,000 years: they hhave been really, really, abnormal for most populations within our species. They have demonstrated the extremes to which our minds and bodies can be taxed and pushed into adapting, but conditions for most humans have not been optimal for a long time, and are, alas, becoming less so. The levels of violence, deceit, hoarding, inter-group warfare, internal rebellion, frequent starvation, rates of infection, misery, and mental illness are, I suggest, indicative of a species on the very edge of its ability to cope.

The very fact that we all recognize how nice it is to not be poor, to have opportunities for interesting work, and that we find great joy in expanding our knowledge about the origins of the universe, of life, and of the way the life support system on the planet works, is not irrelevant. However, we all know perfectly well that MOST of humanity is living through incredible stress and insecurity.

What we need to acknowledge is that there is a terrible price paid, for that little scum of prosperity, happiness, and wonder, that only a few of us get, out of being part of a “civilization”.

Most of humanity pays that price but never gets much glimpse of the prosperity, the happiness, or the wonder. It never used to be this way. Maybe we did not know so much, but everyone knew at least some of whatever there was to know. That was fair. It was just. It feels to me that it would be right if this were true today — it should still be that way.

Israel does not have a right to self-defense for its occupation

So here’s a news flash: Israel actually does not have the right to defend itself in terms of the West Bank and Gaza. It has the right to protect its citizens, but it does not have the right to use overwhelming military force against people under its occupation.

Israel may take measures to protect its citizens—one of the most obvious would be to desist from putting them in harm’s way by planting settlements in the middle of occupied territory. It may also protect them using the police powers an occupier must have, powers which, it must be emphasized, are primarily in place to maintain law and order and protect the safety of those under occupation for whom Israel is ultimately responsible.

(https://www.informationclearinghouse.info/57679.htm)

The BIOT: A judicial vacuum now consuming Tamil refugees

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The BIOT: A judicial vacuum now consuming Tamil refugees 
In October 2021, a group of 89 Tamil asylum seekers hoping to claim asylum in Canada was intercepted while traversing the
Indian Ocean and brought to a joint UK-US military facility on Diego Garcia, the only inhabited island in the Chagos
Archipelago, otherwise known as the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT). Nine months on – and after 30 other arrivals
this April – these people are still stuck on the remote Indian Ocean atoll, and dozens have begun a hunger strike.
Despite supposedly landing on a British Overseas Territory, these asylum seekers have no clarity about their future, because, in
legal terms, the BIOT is a “grey hole”, likened by one academic to Britain’s own Guantánamo. Simply put, a range of international
treaties do not apply to this territory, which allows British and American authorities to keep them in limbo.

Horrific’: Israeli Forces Attack Mourners Carrying Casket of Shireen Abu Akleh

Horrific’: Israeli Forces Attack Mourners Carrying Casket of Shireen Abu Akleh

Israeli soldiers on Friday brutally beat Palestinian mourners carrying the coffin of longtime Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed earlier this week while covering an Israeli military raid on a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.
London-based artist Khadijah Said shared Al Jazeera’s footage of the assault by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), describing it as “one of the most horrifying things I’ve seen.” 
Nick Dearden, director of U.K.-based Global Justice Now, said that the IDF’s “horrific” attack—which included the use of stun grenades, tear gas, and batons—showed “an apartheid state in action” and “should be front-page news everywhere.”  https://bit.ly/39oi6Je

The Pale Blue Dot

 

THE SAGAN SERIES – The Pale Blue Dot

Published on Oct 21, 2013 • Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/thesaganseries

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