Roland Barthes
-
Posts
189 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by Roland Barthes
-
-
Well, they're not a country. They're a mindset, a concept, a philosophy. That's pretty hard to destroy. They use the internet. It's hard to find anyone who would be up for censoring the web/information. That's a slippery slope. That's why they will always be in existence.
You can find everything about them on Twitter. Journalists have precise plans Isis shared on the darknet they post on Twitter since hackers from around the world keep hacking and tracking them.
-
When are they not preparing to strike tho? IS has always wanted a war.
It baffles me that such a well documented terrorist group still manage to do things like that. It feels like there is no world coordination to stop them and some powers that be that benefit from it all.
-
The fact we cannot have a civilized talk about this among (majorly) EU citizens shows how utopic the EU is.
Here in France statistics show that the disastrous way the EU and each country members deals with illegal immigration have pushed first generations immigrants and their children to vote for Le Pen. The portuguese are one of the biggest community in France and latest polls show that 90% (90% !) of first and second generation portuguese living in France, under 35, are voting for Le Pen. When you talk to legal migrants about new migrants, they are the most racist and xenophobic persons because they feel they are now targeted by politics because of them and want to distance themselves from them.
The EU did not have a plan for refugees, the US did not get involved. It took months of people dying in the mediterranean sea and crossing borders by foot before Merkel finally took upon herself to make a decision, nobody in the EU wanted to take the blame for welcoming refugees and waited for someone to speak first so they wouldn't upset voters.
What's going in Calais and in the center of Paris is terrible. Every country from the EU rejects responsability on its neighbour, hoping migrants are just passing and won't stay. We all know they want to go to England because they speak english, already have family there and social aid is better organized.
It's the hot potato every country within EU is passing one another. This lead to brits voting the Brexit (even is some just voted against Cameron austerity policy).
Some people made (make) a fortune with oil and gas by fucking up the situation in the middle east, making special armed groups, throwing money and weapons at them so they can control the access to oil and gas. FOR YEARS, some of them are the same ones who fucked up the economy for their own benefit too (bank of america.....), same ones who lobby against laws trying to regulate world pollution....we all know the biggest countries on earth are involved in an economic war against each others to control oil (China& Russia and allies like Turkey VS The USA and allies namely) and locals in the middle east just like people around the world are just pawns in their crazy chess game of power and ego. We are just collateral damages.
These people fucked up the world and did everything they could to bring down the EU, to not let it be a force in itself.
It's baffling how some EU members are rejoicing at seeing the brits leave and even wanting them to leave asap while common brits are still knocked out by the Brexit. When i see that, it's hard for me to believe in unity. It's like people enjoy the misery of others. I had laready witnessed that with Greece. Truth is, it's coming up for every country within the EU because it's like dominos.
-
Counter terrorism specialists are warning people of other attacks being planned by Isis in the week leading to the Eid Al Adha celebration marking the end of Ramadan.
Isis just wants a war, they expect the far right wing to strike back.
French secret services are warning about it (it's in french sorry)
Some of their leaders have been jailed this week for things they did 2 years ago but there are dormant agents just like with islamists.
-
Marine Le Pen hails how 'Britain gave the Europeans lesson in democracy"
- Marine Le Pen said the choice for Britain to leave was a 'historic moment'
- National Front leader said the vote was a 'dazzling lesson in democracy'
- Said EU debate was 'at the heart of the next French presidential elections'
She said: 'That which no-one dared to dream about a few months back is now a reality which is clear to everyone: yes, it's possible to leave the EU.
'The British people have given to the Europeans, and also the world, a dazzling lesson in democracy.'
Piggy looks like somebody is holding a gun in front of her, it makes me want to scream : SHOOT ! SHOOT !
-
Is it wrong that earlier today I was just thinking gee isn't it about time for another terror attack and now here we are.
Nope, i guess we all ask ourselves this nowadays since they are all so back to back.
-
Turkey has blocked Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
-
It's very hard to get infos as per usual with Erdogan....reports are contradictory but all are nonetheless terrible. AFP talks about 32 dead and 88 wounded.
Sr. US counter-terror official says “very likely” attack was work of 35 ISIS terrorists sent to Turkey ahead of Ramadan - @BraddJaffy
-
-
How come self proclamed muslims can kill people during Ramadan ?
A turkish journalist i follow on Twitter just tweeted that usually Isis never claim any terrorist attack in Turkey even when they are the culprits.
This morning PKK injured 6 people in a terrorist attack in the south.
-
50 declared dead now.
-
Have we really come this far?
scary isn't it ?
Even Paris Gay Pride has been completly shortened, they first wanted to cancel it then push it back to september now it's on july 2nd on the docks of La Seine, a very small perimeter.
Yet they can protect all the football supporters we have here for the euro or a free Muse* concert at the Eiffel Tower tonight (*what year are we ? 2002 ?)
-
Cameron is having a press conference in Brussels right now....blaming everyone but himself....letting his successor deal with the shit.
No face till the end.
Cameron: EU leaders 'very sad that we have have chosen to leave'Posted at 23:33David Cameron is holding a press conference following his meeting with other EU leaders in Brussels.
He says this will be his last European Council summit. He says while such meetings are "long and frustrating and difficult", they bring together nations who were "not so long ago in conflict".
The PM says other EU leaders respect the UK referendum result but "are very sad that we have have chosen to leave this institution".
Mr Cameron adds that, "until Britain leaves it is a full paying member of this institution" and that triggering article 50 soon "was not the mood of the meeting".
I find it weird The Queen (the other one not Madonna) has not said a thing or made sure her opinion found its way in the media....(you know the famous sources close to)
-
(It was announced today that militaries with machine guns will be posted and patrolling on french beaches all summer long)
-
I'm really really tired. I can't even get angry or sad because i'm too tired by all these back to back bullshits. I'm just numb.
-
28 dead says AFP now.
-
At this pace we will end up with a whole section dedicated to terrorist attacks.
It's awful. The world has gone completly mad. I have no words. It's scary.
Turkey airport attack: 10 killed in explosions at Istanbul AtatürkPolice opened fire on two suspects who then blew themselves up outside security checkpoint at international terminal, Turkish officials say
Tuesday 28 June 2016 20.34 BST Last modified on Tuesday 28 June 201621.58 BSTAt least ten people have been killed, and 60 injured in an attack on Turkey’s largest airport, Istanbul Atatürk, according to the country’s justice minister.
Two suspects blew themselves up outside the security checkpoint at the entry to the international terminal, after police opened fire on them, according to another Turkish official.
A spokesperson for the Istanbul police told the Guardian that “a bomb exploded at the airport and there are many casualties”, adding that the exact number is not yet known.
Preliminary reports suggested that at least ten people were killed in the attack, justice minister Bekir Bozdağ told parliament in Ankara. Bozdağ also mentioned reports of a separate blast at the entrance to the airport station, but offered no further details.
“I harshly condemn those who executed this terrorist attack, and those who gave the orders for it,” he said. He added that he had information concerning the terrorist group responsible for the attack, but that he would not share it until it was confirmed.
The state-run Anadolu Agency reported that 60 people were wounded in the attack, six of them seriously.
The police spokesperson said that one person, “maybe a terrorist”, opened fire at police guarding the outside of the airport in order to gain access to the international terminal before detonating a bomb, “maybe a suicide bomb”.
State-run TRT television said an explosion hit a control point at the international terminal of the airport.
A witness told broadcaster CNN Turk that gunfire was also heard from the car park at the airport. Taxis and ambulances were ferrying wounded people from the airport.
Bozdağ said that the attackers used AK-47 assault rifles in their initial attack. A picture of what appears to be an AK-47 rifle on the floor was being circulated on social media on Tuesday night, as well as what appeared to be security footage of the explosion itself.
One taxi driver, named as Fatih, told CNNTurk: “I was going from the domestic to the international terminal, then there was suddenly a fireball and I saw people covered in blood.”
Police barred access to the airport, and some flights have been diverted away from Istanbul. Videos shown by TRT showed travelers being evacuated to safety.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Tuesday’s blasts, and Turkish authorities issued a broadcast ban on the attack. Turkish media report that all flight traffic has been stopped and that police have blocked all the roads leading from and to the airport.
Turkey has been on high security alert after a string of terrorist attacks.
Two deadly bombings in Istanbul earlier this year were blamed on Islamic State jihadis. In early June a car suicide bomb killed twelve people in the central Vezneciler district of Istanbul in an attack claimed by radical Kurdish militants.
-
As if banks would let England sink. Too much money at stake....especially theirs.
-
Absolutely.. They have been talking about immigration giving way to ideas of xenophobia, racism and intolerance. For example no one is actually taking the global warming issue seriously but this is also coming from the public so to speak. People in general want to stay ignorant on the issue. Same as immigration. If knowledge is power what's stopping these people to get some facts before going to vote.. If people don't believe in globalisation what's even the point in discussing anything? They ll stay ignorant because they want to. We can all blame the government and parliament and everything else in between but we also have to take responsibility for our own actions and decisions. People have allowed this racist/ anti immigration sentiment to sweep across the nation and its about time these people open their hearts and minds to a different world.. I take satisfaction from knowing the new generations and younger people voted In... Goes to show what the ancient, bitter, old and ignorant people can do for their country. I wonder how many of them suffer of dementia..now would you give a vote to a mentally unstable person? Are crazy people in an asylum allowed to vote?
Of course they are allowed to. That's democracy.
It's too simplicistic to say old people with dementia voted out. They are from another generation, a generation that was against Europe. As you grow old you have more fears, you start thinking things were better in the past blah blah blah because they don't understand the world they live in ; internet, gay marriage, non white people being born brit citizens....they also look at their pension checks and the little they get compared to the lies spread in the media that migrants and people on benefit get make them mad. This election showed a clash not only of classes but of generations as well.
A french economist came up a few years ago with the idea that the younger you were, the more time you have to live the more your vote should count with a points system. But it was unrealistic, it's already a nightmare to organize an election the way they are and it costs a fortune as well.
people vote left, get fucked and then vote right as retaliation, they get fucked again and vote far right, get fucked again and vote far left and on and on until they become suspicious of politics and don't vote anymore.
We live in a world where we get so much informations, all the time and yet people are misinformed. Most of the time the media don't work as an informant but they give their readers what they want to sell more. It's a monster that feeds itself in the end.
The first signs of this debacle came the moment left parties abandonned the lower class and opened an avenue to populism the far right took advantage of.
In France and in England after years of political austerity and debacles, people start seeing politicians from the right and the left as part of the establishment they come from the same elitist schools, wealth etc...the lower class don't see themselves in these people, technocrats and scholars. That's why most far right leaders have been working for years on erasing their backgrounds and started talking and dressing like comon people, pointing out they did not go to these elitist schools, that they come from the people blah blah (Marine Le Pen almost makes people forget she comes from money) : we have these populist characters that appeared in England like Boris Johnson, Beppe Grillo in Italy or Trump in the US. All playing the card of the regular guy against the establishment. Populists. They know they can get their votes from the people the left abandonned. Instead of pulling them up, they look for the worst in them (racism, homophobia....) and exploit it.
If we were to bar racists from voting it would only give them more power because they could say "Look, the establishment is trying to shut you up. They are against you exactly like we told you and you suspected". It would only fuel what they are already telling people. They manipulate the masses by making them suspicious of politics and democracy. When you say we should bar racists from voting you don't realize it but you only are playing their games because that's what they want. They want to show people that our system is not right and against them.
-
I don't support the left as obviously I don't support the right. I don't believe in politics. I think it's a game of money and power where socially speaking no one really cares about the people.. Especially the one with little next to nothing. I should know that myself as I come from and still live in a council estate. Politics doesn't phase me..but I do believe when your country calls you for a vote you either get informed the best way you can or you just stay out of it. And yes I still stand by the idea that a racist shouldn't have any decision making.. Same for an homophobe or a sexist or whoever is not intelligent enough to understand we are all one! No one would give the atomic bomb to Isis... So if you're part of any hate group or proved to have those extreme hateful ideas their rights shouldn't be taken into consideration.. I'm certainly open to try and change their views at any cost but I would never EVER take them into consideration.. Hate has to be eradicated. Those people haven't got the best interest for their country so why even entertain them? EU nationals were not allowed to vote in this referendum.. And they live her and they work and pay taxes but the government refused to give them a vote... So it's okay to give the vote to racists bit not to working tax paying EU nationals?
I get what you're saying but it would anti democratic to bar people from voting based one their views. It goes against the very principle of democracy and voting.
What happenned in England and what's happenning all over Europe and the United States (pretty sure the campaign will turn into a racist circus...it already has) is that immigration became the key subject in every campaign, pushing everything else under the rug. That's a big victory for the far right wing in itself because they take hostage the debate and direct it.
How W. Bush managed to be reelected and go to war ? By manipulating fears. That's what politicians, especially from the right do. They build an enemy they say they will protect the people against.
This way they have a field day fucking up the economy once they diverted the attention on immigration. Racism and xenophobia are basic human traits that are easy to manipulate.
As long as people are occupied with foreigners, gays etc....they don't put their nose in the economy. That's why the media owned by racist pigs feed them with infotainment and racist stories. As long as people have their brains stuck on the latest from some reality tv stars and celebrities they can judge or foreigners they can blame, they don't have time to look into the real reasons why their lives are being fucked up. And the economy is not a person, the market is not a person, these are disembodied entities they can't point their fingers at and they need someone to blame for their misery.
-
At the end of last year with journalist friends we unearthed Marion Le Pen old video where she was crying when a journalist asked her about the economy. She couldn't remember the lines they made her learn by heart and started crying then left.
Since i was the one who put the video back online i had access to the comments and private messages of her supporters. At first i was mocking them then i had two discussions via Youtube Private Messaging with a man and a woman, they told me about their lives, how desperate they were. It was awful, i felt sorry for them. Their lives were miserable and without hope. They told me they weren't racist but wanted to vote for the Le Pen family because nobody was paying attention to them. The left and far left have abandonned the lower class. This happenned in England too. They are at fault. Tony Blair and new labour turned their backs on the poor the same way Le Parti Socialiste did in France. What the far right is doing all over Europe and in every western countries is listening to these people, lying to them like the devil to get their votes because they won't do shit for them but they give them the impression that they are listening to them something traditional left parties have totally stopped doing. This created resentment, anger and frustration they express by voting for the far right. They do this to be heard. That explains why now some are saying they voted for Brexit but don't want it now. They went to the polling stations to punish Cameron without thinking further about the consequences.
-
Churchill said "Many forms of government have been tried and will be tried in this world of sin and woe.
No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is
the worst form of government, except for all the others that have been tried from time to time."meaning democracy is not perfect but it's still the best alternative we have.
You can't deny anyone's right to vote based on IQ or political stances. The word democracy comes from the greek word demos = people. Democracy = power of the people.
Of course racism is an awful thing but you can't deny a racist person the right to vote. This person could tell you, you shouldn't be allowed to vote because you're not racist and don't understand anything, that you are the stupid one.
If we start sying who is allowed to vote and who isn't then why stop at racism ? This could open the doors to barring women, non white people, gays etc....from voting.
The only thing we can do and should be doing is making racist political organizations and parties illegal. But since they are clever they know what they can say and can't to not be prosecuted.
Not allowing racists to vote is also saying that leftists are more intelligent. I can tell you that's not the case. I left many organizations from the left and far left because now too many have crossed the line from disagreeing with Israel racist and fascist governement ( not only they are against palestinians but also against non white jews. They want Gaza to put arab jews and black jews there, separated from white jews. They even sterilized ethiopian women who were jews and wanted to migrate in Israel so that's why i'm saying the israeli governement is racist and fascist) to being overtly antisemitic. I joined these organizations to fight islamophobia, homophobia etc....and i found myself with people being unashamed to be overtly antisemitic (and some homophobes too).
We are living in sad times. WWII was 80 years ago, people forgot or don't try to know.
What we should do too is not barring people we think are not intelligent enough to vote (who are we to decide ????) but forcing people who don't vote (but complain after) to vote. Every poll and election should have at least an 80 % turnout or the poll/election should be cancelled. Some countries make it mandatory to vote. Even though i think it goes against everyone's freedom, i'm starting to think that it's not so bad when there's a crucial poll/election like this one.
-
fo us in spain, to be in the EU was like joining a club of rich and democratic countries.Everything was going to better for us, at least for my generation, thye´ve been selling us that for decades since 1986.Maybe even before, but I was too young to remember something.Even when people weren´t interested in the european elections, or when we didn´t agree with something they have decided, to be in the unhiuon was seen as something really good, at least in the media.The euro making everything way more expensive has been the only real big complain about EU,some people were complaining about the TTIP´s negotiation, some people were not happy with other countries enereing the union or trying to enter the union(turkie especially)... but nothing serious. It´s funny, Iñm sure most of the people inj spain doesn´t know who the president is, maybe that´s why we always blame merkel? at least there is a person, a face, a name, to be blamed for all our problems.
somebody has pointed it somewhere, a lot of our politicians have been blaming for a lot of bad things, as if they couldn´t do anything to avoid anything, as when you blame the bad weather...
Thing is Spain, Portugal, Italy and even France lied about their accounts to join. The m$most notorious case being Greece. We are now struggling to balance our debt regarding what is expected from us in Brussels. Germany managed to stay afloat by creating super shitty jobs paid with peanuts.On paper it gives the impression of a country responding to the EU commission rules but in reality people are struggling.
What the EU and the euro did is making us poorer with unrealistic economic goals to achieve for each country especially under a world crisis. Bankers and multinationals are making huge profits on our debts so they have no interest in us getting out of debt hence these unrealistic goals put upon us to keep us under the floating line. It's just what banks do with their clients, they love it when we are in debt so they can make money on interests.
Greece was a huge warning sign we didn't take seriously because the xenophobic cliche of lazy greeks was fed to us. But the domino effect is on, even though they are pouring money to stop the process it's only temporary. Somebody is making huge profits thanks to the EU but it's not european citizens nor their governments. A great idea has been perverted by wolves. 5 years ago, a publication i work for did an investigation in Brussels, lobbies and multinationals all have a key member of the commission in their pockets, they even have special agents working in Brussels whose sole mission is to lobby for them, bribery is a common thing. How come huge multinationals like Amazon and Apple managed to not pay taxes while making huge indecent profits ? Countries like Monaco, Jersey, Luxembourg, Lichtenstein or even Switzerland also pervert the system with their tax evasion policies while being geographically in the center of the EU. A lot of money disappear and thats the money they squeeze out of people with austerity poilicies.
We all thought that would be a great thing. We were sold the idea of a United States of Europe since childhood. It really changed things in some countries, it helped them to build roads (well they were "forced" to to respond to the EU standards), raised their profiles but when iit was time to pay they didn't have the money so they had toask for a credit and another one and another one and another one....One could blame the governments of these countries if they weren't lied to. Portugal was hit full force by this, especially since Barroso was the president of the commission, somebody who not only plunged the country into debts with huge deficits from investments but he also forced the Lisbon treaty on other countries (including France).
-
I love really cliché French accents. My friend Juliette has the greatest French accent imaginable. She said she was embarrassed of it and I was like are you kidding!? Do you have a French accent or an international school accent when you speak English? France has been through a lot of shit these last few years to be honest. Obviously the recent attacks in Paris, that guy who was shot in Nice because he was gay, the Marine Le Pen nonsense...I think you guys need a break.
See what Political adjacencies do to FAMILY?! :-( To me it sounds like your opinion is fairly balanced which is quite refreshing tbh.
I have an american accent because i've been to the US regularly since i was 14 (both my sisters are american citizens) and lived there for 2 years. When i lived in London i had a hard time with cockney accent. My first week working in a restaurant i almost cried every day because i sometimes did not understand a damn word. But people were always amazed i did not have a french accent, which i can do on purpose though.I even worked as an interpreter for 8 years (i started in NYC).
Last time i was in London (4 years ago) i absolutely hated what it had become. I was amazed that everywhere i went to from the moment i left the station, i heard people speak french
but that's not what bothered me. I used to live in the west end, in the nice part of Earl's Court (redcliff sq) and work in South Ken so i was already used to see rich people flash their wealth but last time it was everywhere. I found everything to be very expensive. My London have all moved out of town because of this. They started moving to the east end 10 years ago, around Hoxton and in the following further in the east as rent and gentrification was chasing them out.I was with a friend who is a club promoter in Paris and we went to London to see how were the parties (and to show him where i used to live). We were crushed to see how expensive it was to go out to party. Most of the people in clubs were rich kids posing. No fun at all. A far cry from whay i had known and loved about London. It's something i witnessed in New York too. And the city....i remember telling him after we had lunch in a pub in the city district that the next Patrick Bateman would be british.
What i loved about London was how mixed it was, it gave the city some kind of energy but now it's only super mega rich people and that put the city to sleep. It's too clean, too "american" for my taste. It broke my heart because just like with New York i felt like i was robbed of something that made me and no longer exists. Paris is going through the same process, the gay quarter Le Marais, is slowly turning into Bond Street, bars are been chased out and replaced by LVMH stores.
What made cities like Paris, London and New york so great was how mixed they were, not only because of immigration but also because of the different social classes living there.
Madonna could never make it today in New York the way she did 40 years ago. She couldn't afford to live there and all the people that surrounded her, artists basically, couldn't either. It's shame because these are the people who made New York.
As for Europe, to me it's meaningless without the UK, just like it would be meaningless without Germany. The idea of creating a unified Europe came after WWII to put an end to centuries of wars and invasions, to have a common goal. We are a family, like brothers and sisters but with different personalities that clash sometimes like it happens in families.
I did not have the time to interview people about Brexit because i'm so enthralled in the aftermath of the floods at my mother's and having to deal with insurance and all that my work is seriously impacted. I've been asked by my editor but i don't have enough time.
I am close to the french green party, i know several key members but the party itself has gone to shit because of egos and scandals (rape) that it's now an empty shell.A close friend ran for the 8th district of Paris under Melenchon (far left) but i can't stand the man. His ego and bad attitude are repulsive.
I no longer trust socialists because they are now more center right than left.
I'm pretty sure if you ask people about Europe they would agree that it's great theorically but they'll admit it's now fucked up.
Nationalism and populism is really strong in every western country now and especially in Europe so i doubt people would feel Europe. There's a huge identity crisis in countries around Europe. They probably want an EU with countries like UK, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Danemark, Netherlands....because they have money and they feel they are on the same level of wealth but ask them about Greece, small eastern countries etc...even Spain or Portugal and they'll tell you that they think they are pulling them down. Remain campaigners should have ointed out all the benefits the UK got from joining the EU because this seems all but forgotten to only remember the shitty things they got out of it. Same thing in every country in the EU. Like Karbatal said in Spain and in Portugal they are more against Merkel and her austerity policy than they are against the EU. Cameron asked for more austerity in the UK but the EU commission told him to be measured.
Thing is the way the EU works is so complicated and opaque that it's easy for governments to tell their fellow countrymen that the bullshit they put in place were in fact forced on them by the EU so this way they don't take the blame and since it's hard to understand how the EU commission works which makes people suspicious, it worked perfectly but in Cameron's case backfired in his face.
What Cameron did is beyond amateur, like he does not know his own country and the struggles of common brits outside of London. How poverty has spread in the north and small towns on the coasts. How removed they feel with shitty public services. Populist media just seized their exasperation and used it for their own agendas. Of course people with small pensions and on benefit will go mad if they are told again and again that migrants live large with large amounts of money being given to them (even though it's not totally true and more complicated than that). They feel left out. It's easy to play them. People who are going to run the country are the ones who wanted out but not for the same reasons the lower class wanted out. It's business as usual and personal interests. They just wanted their votes but they won't be doing anyhting for them because if this was their intetions they would have done something before and not let all these cities go to shit. Of course they are not going to put the money in the NHS, they are going to sell the NHS to private corporations like Goldman Sachs (the culprits for the economic crisis) because that's what they always did before and now they have full control to go further that road.
Immigration is at the forefront of every elections in Europe. During the 2012 presidential election in France it completly took over the debate, a very racist and ugly campaign. Next year it will be even worst.
The way the EU dealt with migrants, completly unorganized, unprepared and amateur will only fuel xenophobia and racism.
The head of the french special services just resigned and said that we are on the verge of a civil war because of far right extremist groups getting organized. They focused their attention so much on islamists that they did not pay enough attention to these fascists organizations getting more and more powerful and infiltrating the Police and the Army.
BREXIT vote aftermath
in Politics and World Events
Posted
Regarding the commonwealth my elder sister lives in the bvi's and she told me the airpot was built on EU fundings. It's a tax haven. The airport used to be this old Ikea store like where you used to go through customs on the tarmac, now it's this huge airport, too big for such a tiny island and it's operating at lost.