Pelshval

Antropologiske betraktninger om pelshvaldrift

Month: November 2023

Frost

28.11.2023 /

Most of the year I’ll be complaining about the weather. It’s never right, as it were. Too mild in winter, too wet or too dry in summer. “Climate change,” I’ll sigh, pointedly nodding towards the window.

So now, I should rejoice and tell anybody who is willing to listen to me, that here where I live, the weather is for once just right, just the way it should be in late November: The temperature drops and drops, precipitation stops, the winds stall, fogs slither in and out, to and from goodness knows where, and all of nature seems to be holding its breath pending the arrival of loads of snow. Said arrival will without doubt be briefly prefaced by a marked rise of the mercury in the thermometer. Let us enjoy these days of climatic normality for all they are worth. We may or may not know such normality ever again.

In Gaza, the temperature is now 15 degrees. At 7 AM tomorrow the temperature will be 11 degrees. I’ve never been to Gaza, so I cannot tell you whether or not the cool 11 degrees are normal for this time of year. But I’m sure of one thing: Climate change will not enter into the equations to be solved by the displaced survivors of the ongoing genocide in Gaza, wherever they catch a couple of hours’ sleep now and then.

Here in Europe we have suffered due to the sanctions war against Russia (which deprived continental Europe of NLG) from lack of energy to heat our dwellings in winter. In Norway, we had always had more than enough hydro-electric power until our energy was commodified and put on the stock market (and sold to poor continental Europe) at which point we could no longer afford to buy our own electricity. We had to adapt to a drop of indoor temperatures from 23º C. I have managed to adapt to 20.5 º by wearing thermal underwear and woollen sweaters. I can cope with 18º by being in constant activity, cleaning house, etc. But at 16º… Let me tell you that at 16 degrees, I wish I were dead.

Of course, some of us can adapt. Some of us are made of tougher stuff. But 11 degrees without a roof over your head! When I am frozen stiff, I take a hot bath. I can still afford to take a hot bath a couple of times a week. But for the barely surviving people of Gaza, I assume there is no such thing as a bath, let alone a hot bath or a big warm towel and clean underwear.

I dare not even think of what it must be like to have to pee for a woman in Gaza, not to mention to menstruate! Good God what humiliations they must endure! And bowel movements for men and women; where do they go? There must be an unbelievable stench everywhere.

And the dead! Oh Lord, the dead! Not only the thousands and thousands who are known; also those who are simply “missing”, decomposing under the ruins of the bombed buildings.

I have never been to Gaza, never been to the West Bank, far less to Israel. Having written what I have written I will probably never be allowed anywhere near occupied Palestine. (Not that I shall ever humiliate myself or the Palestinians by asking for Israeli permission!)

But I must ask Israelis: You maintain that we, those of us who criticise you, do not understand your “plight”. But have you even tried to imagine what life has been like for the population you maintain is trying to eradicate you?

Mary had a little lamb

24.11.2023 /

I used to love The Guardian. You could find discussions about just about anything there, views right left and centre, philosophical musings, analyses of books, films and even a magnificent series in which Andras Schiff presented each and every one of Beethoven’s piano sonatas. It was a site that continued where school education left off, a newspaper that kept us informed and on our toes. You would, not least, also find plenty of articles analysing USA’s miscellaneous wars and implanted dictators.

Alas, The Guardian I knew is no more. But the Guardian is not alone in abdicating as a joyfully dissenting source of analysis. Everywhere I turn to look – Le Monde, the New York Times, El Pais – all once proud publishers of the Wikileaks documents that exposed US crimes against humanity in Iraq – are now servile minions. Since dissent is no longer recognised, as such, but is redefined as “conspiracy theory”, I shall refrain from suggesting whose minions those formerly great newspapers have become.

To my knowledge, not one of them has mentioned even the abstract of the Schulenburg report, item 3 of which reads:

Contrary to Western interpretations, Ukraine and Russia agreed at the time [March 2022] that the planned NATO expansion was the reason for the war. They therefore focused their peace negotiations on Ukraine’s neutrality and its renunciation of NATO membership. In return, Ukraine would have retained its territorial integrity except for Crimea.

https://michael-von-der-schulenburg.com/how-the-chance-was-lost-for-a-peace-settlement-of-the-ukraine-war/

The report quotes the Washington Post, from April 5 2022:

For some in NATO, it’s better for Ukrainians to keep fighting and dying than to achieve a peace that comes too soon or at too high a price for Kiev and the rest of Europe. Zelensky, [they] said, should “keep fighting until Russia is completely defeated.”

https://michael-von-der-schulenburg.com/how-the-chance-was-lost-for-a-peace-settlement-of-the-ukraine-war/

Looking back, the hubris of the USA and the European NATO states has been mind-boggling. Not only has the war NOT saved Ukraine; it has NOT weakened Russia, which was, of course, the purpose of extending NATO to Ukrainian soil.

That the mainstream press is too pusillanimous now to disclose that there actually was a peace settlement ready to be signed by both parties at the very outset of the war, would have shocked me two years ago. No more. If you follow Glenn Greenwald’s tireless razor-sharp analysis of how civil liberties in the USA have been eroded year by year by decade, you will know not only that Dog does what Master commands: (As a dog owner, I can tell you a lot about how to make your dog happily obey you.) Glenn Greenwald also tells you how and why legions of intelligent, highly educated journalists are bamboozled into systematically peddling untruths.

What Glenn Greenwald does not tell you is how that same Dog versus Master relationship applies also here in Europe. Take, for instance, the UK, where the Guardian, presumably at somebody’s orders, recently removed – physically erased, stamped out – Bin Laden’s historic 2002 “Letter to America”, which in the wake of the ongoing genocide, has attracted enormous interest.

It is true that the letter seems disagreeably dogmatic and religiously authoritarian. I had to resort to self-discipline to even get past the first paragraphs. But once you do get through them, you are served a whole litany of accusations against our way of life that are thought-provoking. I put to you that “thought” is healthy, i.e. not “bad”, noxious or harmful…. (I find I need to stress the point under the assumption that the Guardian now appears to disapprove of “thought”.)

Although Bin Laden’s Letter to America (or here) is anything but an enjoyable read, much of his criticism of the USA is distressingly on the mark. It should have been published on the first page of every Western newspaper as soon as it was addressed to the US population in 2002. Had US voters been able to read that letter back then, they might have demanded a change to their country’s destructive foreign policy, hence also to the growing (and well-deserved) hatred against the West.

Allow me to quote an old nursery rhyme:

Mary had a little lamb,
Little lamb, little lamb.
Mary had a little lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow.

And everywhere that Mary went,
Mary went, Mary went,
Everywhere that Mary went,
The lamb was sure to go.

“Why does the lamb love Mary so?
Mary so, Mary so?
Why does the lamb love Mary so?”
The eager children cry.

“Why, Mary loves the lamb, you know,
Lamb, you know, lamb, you know,
Mary loves the lamb, you know,”
The teacher did reply.

It’s actually a US American nursery rhyme. I sometimes find myself humming to myself.

Everywhere the US went,
the US went, the US went
Everywhere the US went,
doom was sure to go.

In any case, it is safe to say that I no longer seek wisdom from any of the above-mentioned formerly outstanding newspapers, although I am sure they still provide interesting reviews about films and books. Somehow, in view of what sort of future is in store for us, I no longer care for their reviews.

I do, still, however care very much about the mess superpowers are making of the world. At the moment, the USA is still the hegemon, albeit a hegemon in its death-throes, hence all the more desperate and very dangerous. You may not agree with me that US hegemony is in its “death throes”. If so, I can only hope that you are mistaken and that I am not, because nothing good ever seems to come of US interventions.

It is quite possible, even probable, that if and when the USA is incapacitated, I shall be more critical of China and Russia. Obviously, they, too, want to exploit foreign lands for natural resources and cheep labour, but so far they are making a point of promising far better returns for the countries in which they “invest” than the collective west ever did.

I think the moral of this story is multi-polar: If there are three or more Masters, Dog can at all times obey the one who gives the most juicy reward.

Transparency

20.11.2023 /

A former president whom I dislike – I forget which of them it was, because I dislike them all – used to refer to presidents that he disliked as “mad dogs”. Now the difference between a human and a canine mad dog is that you can put the latter on a leash or out of its misery, but you definitely cannot do so with presidents, though I wish you could. Actually, I do not generally approve of the death penalty, but when it comes to certain top dogs … I say no more.

Because as mad dogs go, those who drag their country into a needless war are just about as despicable as the lowliest creatures on earth although, of course, those who commit a genocide – one of which we are currently witnessing – really take the cake.

Leaving aside the genocide (about which I have no words, just tears), we have now all been apprised that the Ukraine war could have been avoided. Or rather… have we? Have you read about the Schulenburg report in your daily paper? Have you heard of the Schulenburg report on the news? I bet you haven’t because the Schulenburg report is terribly embarrassing for the US and for that country’s abject satellites in NATO. And no, I did not hear about it or read about it in my own country’s news outlets, of course, but in the alternative media.

One example of “alternative media” is Conter which claims it “provides anti-establishment news and analysis in Scotland”. Among the questions raised by Conter is precisely: why has the general population so little a say about the wars engaged in or supported by their nation, to their – the general population’s – detriment. The British government firmly supports Israel’s ongoing genocide, while the huge demonstration that the home secretary wanted to see banned included placards that cried “NOT IN OUR NAME!” She called it an example of “hate marches … [in] the rising tide of racism, intimidation and terrorist glorification threatening community cohesion”.

I put to you, that the tide that is rising, particularly in the UK – apart from suppression of information and free speech – is poverty. I’m sure you know about that, too.

One of the most tragic aspects of British politics is the unbelievable hijacking of the Labour Party, cf. Al Jazeera’s The Labour Files. Protesters on the streets and the growing ranks of increasingly poor Britons have nobody to speak for them, only a bunch of mad dogs at the top.

So when Boris Johnson effectively put a final stop to the peace deal reached between Russia and Ukraine in March 2022, the British population had no idea. They still don’t. They had no idea that the USA and NATO with Boris Johnson as a temporary figurehead were going to cost so many lives and the destruction of an entire country. Will Boris Johnson ever be held accountable by Ukraine, by the Britons? Will Biden and all the other presidents I don’t like be held accountable for the innumerable wars they have authorised? (not Trump, I admit.)

Will anybody ever be held accountable for the de-industrialisation of Germany as a result of the destruction of the Nordstream pipeline? (You may think the rising tide of poverty was due to Brexit. Alas, see the fate of the rest of EU in the Arte documentary Working but Poor.)

At the top of the EU pyramid is the slender figure of blond Ursula, always humbly dressed and coiffed, a Saint Ursula as it were, a symbol of western rule of law and transparency.

“Transparency” is a byword for what “we” stand for, and as such, it is a stroke of marketing genius. Transparency is something we associate with gleaming crystal, gems and – yes – “us” and what “we” stand for: truth, and honest endeavour. What a wonderful piece of work “we” are, almost reminiscent of Fabergé, we, the beautiful, pure egalitarian Democracies.

However, most of us now know that nothing is less transparent than the machinations of the EU bureaucracy except, of course other bureaucracies, most of which are designed to keep the top-dogs-that-be at the top. Unfortunately, as things stand, that is all we know.

We don’t know how to change this state of affairs.

Impotence

16.11.2023 /

Joe Biden and Israel have turned international law into toilet paper. Hamas knew, of course, that Israel would bomb the Shifa hospital, which is why they were NOT hiding there. Anyway, there is nothing more to be added.

Nothing. No further monstrosity can outdo what has been done. The ink in my pen has run dry. The voice in my throat rendered a mere croak.

I urge you, therefore, to turn to those who still have a voice.

In the article linked to below, Chris Hedges writes:

We are not hated for our values. We are hated because we have no values. We are hated because rules only apply to others. Not to us. We are hated because we have arrogated to ourselves the right to carry out indiscriminate slaughter.

We are hated because we are heartless and cruel. We are hated because we are hypocrites, talking about protecting civilians, the rule of law and humanitarianism while extinguishing the lives of hundreds of people in Gaza a day, including 160 children.

Chris Hedges: Pinnacle of Horror

Patrick Lawrence writes about Israel’s ongoing information war and what all these information wars are doing to us:

It is a fine thing that fewer and fewer people are taken in by the psyops and propaganda blitzes of the national security state, the corporate media, and ruthless — indeed Hitleresque, I shall say it — regimes such as Israel’s.

But to live in a world in which one believes nothing of what is said is its own kind of misery. It is effectively a surrender of all public discourse and public space altogether to the malign, the indecent, the inhumane, the degraded and degrading. The truth, and along with it logical thinking and plain decency, become “alternative.”

Indeed! Take a look at the footage Patrick Lawrence includes in his article of the colossal demonstration in London last week and his linked article examining Hamas’ attack on October 7.

The Dog and I – part II

10.11.2023 /

About four months ago I stumbled across an add that ran approximately so: “Please take this dog. She needs family. I can’t keep her.” It had evidently been written by a foreigner.

Now, I had no intention of getting a dog. The problem was that the picture of the dog in question looked very much like the dog I used to have and sorely miss. It haunted me.

Two and a half months later, a new add turned up about the same dog. “Please take dog. Urgent.” So I drove a couple of hours down to a godforsaken village. As I approached the area where the owner and I had agreed to meet, I saw the dog from far away: Shivering in her cage in the back of a carpenter’s van, she had hardly any hair and was so emaciated that she was practically transparent.

“She stopped eating about three weeks ago,” said the owner, an immigrant who explained that he had been evicted and … and… “and winter coming.”

Winter was certainly coming and the dog was nearly naked, terrified and starving. So I took the poor creature and hurried home to feed it.

***

Now that she has been wolfing down giant helpings of healthy nourishment three times a day for three week, she looks more like an oversized white rat than a dog, not at all like the pictures taken of her some four months ago. But she has the sweetest temper.

Except that she hates and is terrified of all other humans and dogs. At the sight of them, she trembles and howls and growls and barks furiously and would rather be run over by a car than be within ten feet of them. Believe me, for a dog owner such terror is no paltry matter. The world is full of humans and dogs. And cars.

***

Every day I drive her down to a beautiful park by the fjord where dog owners walk their charges. I spend an hour there in the hope that she will eventually learn to like somebody other than me.

As we arrived today, a young man with a tall, majestic husky was leaving. He had the dog on a short lead. Their path was perpendicular to ours. I stopped at a safe distance while my dog strained backwards at the leash. The young man glanced briefly at us and I apologised: “She’s terrified of all dogs.” He gave us a closer look. “I see that.”

And then he smiled the most radiant smile and, rather than leaving as he intended, approached with his dog – slowly, calmly, speaking soothingly all the while. We were transfixed, my dog and I, by his quiet voice and beautiful smile. His dog was as serene and beautiful as its owner. When they had reached us, the man asked what my dog’s name was. I told him. He crouched and called her softly. To my astonishment she actually went to him, then approached the husky who stood absolutely still, while she sniffed at each of its long legs, then stretched up towards its face. Watching him bend down to meet her upturned face, I found the word “noble” leapt to mind.

Overwhelmed at the sight of my dog’s miraculously trusting not only another human but also a large dog, I recounted the sad tale of the terrified starving and freezing dog in the cage. Again the radiant smile: “My parents,” he exclaimed with a markedly foreign accent “used to say that whoever looks after a suffering dog will find a place in Paradise”.

Having never before been told I might end up in Paradise, I found I was strangely pleased to hear that. And the warm smile … He could have been Jesus, I mused after we had parted – only he didn’t have blond hair. He was darkish: Middle East, perhaps?

Middle East! Eureka: I was wearing my warm Palestinian scarf. That was why his face had lit up when he gave us that first closer look. “Well, my friend,” I thought, “I hope you, too, find a place in Paradise, but please enjoy many rewarding years first.”

Meanwhile, back in the real world, I wish I could sign, I wish all of us could sign:

Chris Hedges’ letter to the children of Gaza

The dog and I

03.11.2023 /

I have a dog. I’ve almost always had a dog. Big dog, small dog – no matter – I’m rather good at training dogs. Dogs, you see, are basically quite like humans. You tell a dog to “sit”, and the dog will sit. You tell the dog not to sniff the neighbour’s shoes – “the neighbour kicks”, you say – and it will not sniff the neighbour’s shoes. You tell the dog to bite the neighbour, and it’ll bite the neighbour.

The News tells us humans that Putin wants to conquer all of Europe, and we docilely repeat to each other that Putin wants to conquer all of Europe. “Egad!” we say, “have you heard? Putin wants to….” The News tells us that Hamas is fighting a holy Jihad against Jews and Christians, and we, of course, docile as we are, treat Hamas accordingly: as monsters.

In much of our Western world, being “good”, “upright”, “just” means considering everybody else morally inferior. Our norms, our values, our holy cows are of course the norms, the values and the holy cows that all of humankind must adhere to and venerate. Their norms, values and holy cows are inferior and must be annihilated, by force if necessary. Rule of law, you know. Just like dogs. (“My rules, you fool!”) Headline: “Big husky kills toy poodle”. From the big dog’s point of view, the toy poodle was superfluous. The world can do without. (The philosophical range of a big dog is no greater than that of a small dog.)

You also find vociferous small dogs baring their teeth, yapping their heads off at big dogs. Why do they do it, I wonder? As a warning, I guess: “I may be small, but believe me, I can bite!” And because they have a big human at their side: “You touch a hair on my head, and my human will report you to the police and have you killed, so there!” Indeed, if I pick up that little nuisance of a toy-sized dog next door that barks hysterically every five minutes – pick it up by the scruff of its neck and shake it till its teeth rattle, I’ll be reported to the police.

And some dogs bite, just as some humans. Big dogs, small dogs. Their philosophical range isn’t much greater than that of your average human: They believe what they’re told to believe. Each dog is convinced that its master is the best of all masters. So do most humans. If the master tells the dog that the neighbour kicks, the dog will believe the neighbour kicks. The statement “my master’s enemies, are my enemies.” applies to dogs and humans alike, though most humans don’t seem to realise that they have masters. “We just listen to the News,” humans say, “we just consider the facts“.

Morally, however, most dogs are far superior to the people at the top of the human food chain. Being at the top of the human food chain essentially means being willing to employ every underhanded trick in the book, crossing every red line – you know, those famous red lines that humans, as opposed to dogs, seem unable to remember – to stay there. Humans at the top of the food chain are geared only to stay at the top of the food chain, whereas the rest of us normally want to go about our business in peace. We don’t want to kick our neighbours, but we try to defend ourselves if our neighbours kick us.

Humans at the top of the food chain unleash considerable resources to distort narratives that expose the venality of their actions. The News has repeatedly told us that Hamas are monsters. Yes, Hamas committed horrendous crimes against humanity on October 8, but if you beat a creature long enough, hard enough, viciously enough, that creature – be it lion, kitten, dog, human or mother nature itself – will rise like a tsunami to kill you.

The News did not alert us to how the Palestinians have been treated worse than dogs for decades and decades and decades. The News did not tell us that Hamas wanted peace for the Palestinian people, peace and dignity.

This was Hamas in 2017:

28. Hamas believes in, and adheres to, managing its Palestinian relations on the basis of pluralism, democracy, national partnership, acceptance of the other and the adoption of dialogue. The aim is to bolster the unity of ranks and joint action for the purpose of accomplishing national goals and fulfilling the aspirations of the Palestinian people.

29. The PLO is a national framework for the Palestinian people inside and outside of Palestine. It should therefore be preserved, developed and rebuilt on democratic foundations so as to secure the participation of all the constituents and forces of the Palestinian people, in a manner that safeguards Palestinian rights.

30. Hamas stresses the necessity of building Palestinian national institutions on sound democratic principles, foremost among them are free and fair elections. Such process should be on the basis of national partnership and in accordance with a clear programme and a clear strategy that adhere to the rights, including the right of resistance, and which fulfil the aspirations of the Palestinian people.

31. Hamas affirms that the role of the Palestinian Authority should be to serve the Palestinian people and safeguard their security, their rights and their national project.

My emphasis,

Say what you will, but this is not the Hamas “the News” told us about. This is not the “facts” we have been repeating with deference ever since we graduated from nursery school. “The News” obeyed its masters and failed the rest of us. The damage done by “the News” that obeyed its masters can never be undone.

FIE ON THE NEWS

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