The Boss is Back 3

October 16, 2021October 17, 2021 ~ The Koboi Project

In his latest film Annaatthe, Superstar Rajinikanth goes back to his rustic roots with his righteous thuggery – “So far you had only seen the good side of a villager. Now you will see his wrath.”…

https://www.onmanorama.com/entertainment /entertainment-news/2021/10/15/annaatthe-teaser-rajinikanth-back-with-thalaivar-swag.html

The Situation in Palestine

May 17, 2021May 17, 2021 ~ The Koboi Project

Michael Walker and the British communist commentator Ash Sarkar discuss Israel’s ongoing bombardment of Gaza in terms of Western geopolitical interests. They deconstruct the blatant media bias in covering the conflict, which they set in the context of Israel’s ongoing settler colonialism and apartheid. The critique is centered on Omar Badder’s analysis and questioning of the entry point for Western media reporting, which is as follows –

Status quo: occupation/ apartheid is violence against Palestinians
Then Israel escalates through evictions/beatings/ shootings
Then some Palestinians respond w/violence.
Then Israel “responds” w/massacres

“If you start reporting at #3. you are misleading your audience”

It’s Time to be Clear 3

January 9, 2021January 13, 2021 ~ The Koboi Project

While Trump has evoked some obscene human emotions in the USA, other world leaders like Putin, Oban, Erdogan, Bolsonaro and Modi have arguably been invoking the very same fascistic emotions in more sophisticated and impactful ways. Robert Paxton describes the “mobilizing passions” of Fascism thus –
• a sense of overwhelming crisis
• the subordination of the individual to the group
• a belief that one’s group’s victimhood
• a fear of the corrosive effects of liberalism, class conflict, and alien influences
• the need for a purer community
• the a natural leader capable of incarnating the group’s historical destiny;
• the superiority of the leader’s instincts over reason
• the beauty of violence and the efficacy of will
• the right to dominate others

I invite you to apply Paxton’s criteria to evaluate your own political environment and to assess the mobilizing strategies of the politicians involved.

http://libcom.org/files/Robert%20O.%20Paxton-The%20Anatomy%20of%20Fascism%20%20-Knopf%20(2004).pdfhttp://libcom.org/files/Robert%20O.%20Paxton-The%20Anatomy%20of%20Fascism%20%20-Knopf%20(2004).pdf

https://time.com/5908244/strongman-fascism-history/

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/jair-bolsonaro-brazil-election-results-president-fascism-far-right-fernando-haddad-a8606391.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/theworldpost/wp/2018/06/25/erdogan/

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/12/09/blood-and-soil-in-narendra-modis-india https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/jair-bolsonaro-brazil-election-results-president-fascism-far-right-fernando-haddad-a8606391.html