George Floyd/Black Lives Matter Protests

[WhiteRoseKillie]

10 hours ago, MixuFruit said:

I've passed through Middlesbrough once and on an otherwise sunny day in Weardale and North Yorkshire, that place was covered in black clouds. An entirely pointless town these days.

 

10 hours ago, Sergeant Wilson said:

I had to go through it on a train that had been diverted. The announcer said the usual next stop will be Middlesbrough. The train stopped at what I thought was a derelict station, obviously an old one, the new one will be just ahead, but no. That was it, derelict. Then it left and I was relieved I was heading to Bradford. Derelict and worse than Bradford.

 

10 hours ago, SweeperDee said:

Middlesbrough, and Teeside at large is one of the most miserable, backwards holes I’ve had the misfortune of spending more than a day in. Fucking bleak hellscape with locals who are your typical, idiotic, racist pieces of shite.

I attended a course at Holme House Prison a few years ago, and accommodation was at the Swallow Hotel in Stockton, which really is a boil on Middlesbrough's arse. Totally grey and desolate, like a low budget Nineteen Eighty Four set. As the hotel parking was the top two storeys of the Council multi-storey, we were warned not to leave any valuables on display when we parked, "like sweets or chewing gum".  The first place I ever saw a 99p Shop, "Because Every Penny Matters".

[Mr Waldo]

26 minutes ago, Detournement said:

This is moronic but I'll reply anyway. 

Historians have shown that GDP per capita was actually lower in India in 1947 than when the British arrived in the 18th century. Any development that actually occured was solely to aid Britain in plundering the sub continent's natural resources and labour. 

The same thing was true all over the Empire. It was a horrific experience for the colonised people. 

Moronic?  India did not exist in the 18th century. It is now the largest democracy in the world. Would that have happened if it wasn't for the British Empire?  Would they have fared better under the Spanish, French or Portuguese? Or even the Mughals who were collecting taxes of over 50%?

[Silvio Tattiescone]

2 hours ago, Granny Danger said:

I posted a couple of days back about the role of the police unions.  It looks like they will be one of the tougher nuts to crack.

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/08/politics/police-union-reform-protests/index.html

“They've become far too powerful. They form political action committees. They donate to district attorneys' race or state attorneys' race, state senators and representatives and so forth," Charles Ramsey, a former DC police chief and former Philadelphia police commissioner, said Sunday on CNN. "And then we wonder why you can't get anything done."

 

 

Decades of collective bargaining has resulted in police forces where department chiefs have little control, and the unions have set the terms for internal investigations. Even if an officer is formally punished, nuances in the contract often help officers prevail on appeal, Serpas said.

For instance, some police union agreements have outlined how long police leadership must wait to investigate an incident, how they can ask the police officers questions and what they can ask, and how quickly the department must complete an investigation. Taken together, it puts the disciplinary power in the hands of the unions, which are set up to protect police officers' jobs.

Sometimes, police officers of color face discrimination within their own departments, and police unions have been complicit in allowing these inequalities to fester and survive, experts tell CNN.

 

Isn't that true of unions in the UK too though? They finance and have influence in the Labour Party which gives them political influence not just in Westminster but most council offices all over the country. Whilst a lot of union power has been broken, it's still strong in things like the railways and education - it's notoriously difficult to fire bad teachers so I'm told. 

[Wee-Bey]

2 minutes ago, Detournement said:

All the European empires were a joint enterprise that worked together. 

Trying to say which ones were better or worse is like ranking serial killers by compassion for their victims. 

Classic British exceptionalism. We were the best colonists and the least worst slave traders.

[coprolite]

Just now, NewBornBairn said:

Isn't that true of unions in the UK too though? They finance and have influence in the Labour Party which gives them political influence not just in Westminster but most council offices all over the country. Whilst a lot of union power has been broken, it's still strong in things like the railways and education - it's notoriously difficult to fire bad teachers so I'm told. 

The uk police aren't allowed a union. 

[WhiteRoseKillie]

7 hours ago, Steve_Wilkos said:

Just to set something straight.

I was born in Middlesbrough and now live in Stockton-on-Tees. So, I am qualified to say that Teesside is packed with beautiful architecture and even more beautiful people.

..and the air is obviously still full of mind-altering chemicals.

[Silvio Tattiescone]

1 minute ago, coprolite said:

The uk police aren't allowed a union. 

Looks like that's a good thing then if it's been a factor in avoiding US-style policing and the harm that does to society.

[WhiteRoseKillie]

Two things that are really boiling my pis over the last couple of days:

1. The problem is systemic racism, not systematic racism.

2. No statues have been desecrated. The statues which have been targeted did not commemorate any sacred figure.

Language is important, and twisting, weaselly misuse like this in order to produce an inaccurate narrative should be called out, not repeated - endlessly, in the case of (1) above.

[coprolite]

1 minute ago, NewBornBairn said:

Looks like that's a good thing then if it's been a factor in avoiding US-style policing and the harm that does to society.

It does look like it might have had positive effects by keeping their power in check to a degree, but i don't think that's why they're not allowed one. It's just to stop them going on strike and leaving the streets to undesirables 

Quote

 

 

[heedthebaa]

7 hours ago, Steve_Wilkos said:

Just to set something straight.

I was born in Middlesbrough and now live in Stockton-on-Tees. So, I am qualified to say that Teesside is packed with beautiful architecture and even more beautiful people.

My granny lived on the Hardwick estate in Stockton, I can vouch for the people. If I had the choice of Monaco or Redcar, Redcar every time 

[Jacksgranda]

1 minute ago, coprolite said:

It does look like it might have had positive effects by keeping their power in check to a degree, but i don't think that's why they're not allowed one. It's just to stop them going on strike and leaving the streets to more undesirables 

 

 

[Detournement]

15 minutes ago, Mr Waldo said:

Moronic?  India did not exist in the 18th century. It is now the largest democracy in the world. Would that have happened if it wasn't for the British Empire?  Would they have fared better under the Spanish, French or Portuguese? Or even the Mughals who were collecting taxes of over 50%?

Yes your argument is moronic. Spend less time imagining counterfactuals and pointless differences between European empires and spend a bit more time reading up on what Empire actually entailed for colonial subjects. 

India may be the biggest democracy. It's also a quasi fascist extremely racist state which Britain played a big part in shaping due to entrenching caste laws and religious conflicts.

[Sergeant Wilson]

20 minutes ago, Mr Waldo said:

Moronic?  India did not exist in the 18th century. It is now the largest democracy in the world. Would that have happened if it wasn't for the British Empire?  Would they have fared better under the Spanish, French or Portuguese? Or even the Mughals who were collecting taxes of over 50%?

I dare say the Germans or Japanese might've had it a bit better organised if they'd got a chance.

[Genuine Hibs Fan]

I'm looking forward to @Jacksgranda and @Mr Waldo's presentation to the remaining indigenous peoples of North America, Australia and the Andaman Islands that they're sometimes deliberate, sometimes accidental, genocides weren't so bad as at least it wasn't those pesky Japanese, or Belgians. Or Germans. Or any of those foreign fuds. Start colonising again I say

[Jacksgranda]

2 minutes ago, Genuine Hibs Fan said:

I'm looking forward to @Jacksgranda and @Mr Waldo's presentation to the remaining indigenous peoples of North America, Australia and the Andaman Islands that they're sometimes deliberate, sometimes accidental, genocides weren't so bad as at least it wasn't those pesky Japanese, or Belgians. Or Germans. Or any of those foreign fuds. Start colonising again I say

[Dee Man]

https://www.thedailymash.co.uk/politics/politics-headlines/how-to-talk-bollocks-about-black-lives-matter-20200609197311?fbclid=IwAR2YZ0C9HxIybWcMSoUx-JLhiLRrtBwza2QT8VxTG4JyBjofRky9GtP3aUE

Edited June 9, 2020 by Dee Man

[Wee-Bey]

It's not even 9 am yet and we have union bashing and colonialism was good actually.

Should be a decent day on here.

[Silvio Tattiescone]

Should be more foot washing here 

 

[coprolite]

1 hour ago, Jacksgranda said:

I don't think the Dutch and Germans covered themselves in glory, either.

 

1 hour ago, Sergeant Wilson said:

I dare say the Germans or Japanese might've had it a bit better organised if they'd got a chance.

The Germans were shit at having an empire. Look at this:

Pathetic. And most of Namibia is an empty desert. 

[Billy Jean King]

..and are still doing it, and we* are not in the slightest bit bothered about it. Oh, we'll wring our hands and occasionally go full Lovejoy, but little real action is ever taken - possibly because a lot of modern slavery is state-sanctioned or even state-operated.
 Never mind the fruit-picking crisis, it will be interesting next year when our youngsters have to step up and fill the prostitute shortage when we crash out of Europe.
*UK Government, not YT personally.

Very true, slavery is very much alive and well in the UK and worldwide today yet it has not been mentioned once in the MSM or by anyone representing the BLM movement. It is something that they should genuinely be using to bring the cause into the 21st century. The trafficking of girls all over the world is clearly modern day slavery (and it happens in other areas to men too, enforced labour cases come to court frequently) yet it never seems to even register in the minds of those protesting today. You can't rewrite history as we keep hearing but they could use their energy more wisely in stopping slavery in the here and now.