The French Presidential Elections of 2017. Be polite with each other please...

[omzdog]

Those CEOs that include a variety of cultures and nations are largely propped up by Western politicians or politicians who have a mostly Western backing.
The fact that their is a mixture of identity in the culture is irrelevant.
Im citing this to give you evidence of colonialism that is still happening and quite alive as you asked.

 

[Dystopian]

Yes its certainly not another global power, maybe lets say China, who has actually been buying up resources in war torn countries in Africa. Why bring them up when its easier to bring up Corporations that you can't even source.

 

[omzdog]

By in large, the Western corporations are acting as operators in the case of China.
I.E. China doesn't directly 'take' Africa's resources because it has no historical ties in doing so.
This of course is a technicality as China's demand for the resources still outweighs any moral standing of whose hands are doing the whipping.
Also China is known to do infrastructure building that the Western Corporations mostly don't get their hands dirty with.
I admit that is incredibly difficult to source the corporations that take part in the practices by heart, but I'll find sources for you or at least allow you draw a conclusion from such sources if push me.

 

[Untitled.]

The real upper class in places like Kenya is actually Chinese businessmen and Indian engineers. That is at least somewhat indicative of where the money to build infrastructure in said countries comes from. Of course, building infrastructure is great. Almost as great as establishing schools and giving people a way to write. But then, these things are exactly what colonial powers do, because they obviously get something in exchange. I mean, there's a ****load of railways in colonized areas built by western nations/companies, for instance.

 

[omzdog]

I speak as a linguist and my perspective is distorted but I'd have preferred if Africans developed a natural writing system, rather than the Franco-English hodgepodge of today.
I acknowledge that means a lot of things and even implies that Africans had or have the ability to do so, but that's just my personal preference.
I guess what I'm saying is that the stated benefits of colonialism were nothing more than trinkets.
But I am a selfish being and know nothing about what I was given to me before birth to even express ideas like this to.

 

[Úlfheðinn]

I agree with what you said about politicians, but talking about the poor just seems like a shoddy attempt to bring up irrelevant theories of class warfare. No one is saying it's poor people's fault, unless you're talking about the immigrants, which are objectively a detriment to their host countries in a number of ways.

It was just a joke (bringing up the poor), but blaming poor people is a great tactic (really you just need to blame anyone other than those in charge and it works). My broader point though is just that most people have either willingly or by virtue of not protesting/complaining enough agreed with the current system of "Politicians do stupid ****, the rest of us foot the bill."

So sure, maybe the average French person didn't ask for France to colonize a bunch of places, but that's a bit of a moot point given how things work.

However, I'd also disagree, it's still a very common argument to blame the less fortunate, such as poor people (at least in the United States) for problems affecting the nation at large. Now of course, few people will still say "it's the poor people's fault" but there's still an element of that line of thought lurking beneath some fancy rhetoric.

 

[Almalexia]

I guess it's White's people's eternal duty to apologise and try to make up for the colonialism and bad things our ancestors did over 100 years ago.

It's the politicians who do the terrorist funding and war-mongering, and then apparently it's our duty to suffer the consequences of their mistake. I've an idea, we should send the politicians to volunteer at refugee camps and have their salary go to charities that help the Middle East instead.

Ive never understood the help the ex colonies idea.

Are they a effective buffer to radical islamic states?

Worked in Mali.

 

[BenKenobi]

Ive never understood the help the ex colonies idea.

Because there is a moral obligation to do it. Kipling even wrote a poem about it.

 

[Dystopian]

By in large, the Western corporations are acting as operators in the case of China.
I.E. China doesn't directly 'take' Africa's resources because it has no historical ties in doing so.
This of course is a technicality as China's demand for the resources still outweighs any moral standing of whose hands are doing the whipping.
Also China is known to do infrastructure building that the Western Corporations mostly don't get their hands dirty with.
I admit that is incredibly difficult to source the corporations that take part in the practices by heart, but I'll find sources for you or at least allow you draw a conclusion from such sources if push me.

Again I know its easy to make baseless claims which we are all guilty of doing but when you are making a serious argument its better to source them. Which western corporations act as Chinas operators? I was under the impression they were Chinese business groups who were doing the resource and mineral scavenging. Even if China "doesn't have historical ties" to Africa, which there is an argument to make since China does export a ton of product to Africa as it does to many poor nations, doesn't mean it wouldn't be in her interest now.

 

[wyrda78]

However, I'd also disagree, it's still a very common argument to blame the less fortunate, such as poor people (at least in the United States) for problems affecting the nation at large. Now of course, few people will still say "it's the poor people's fault" but there's still an element of that line of thought lurking beneath some fancy rhetoric.

I've never seen people blaming the poor for anything in that way. I think the "less fortunate" pose problems to our society which should be addressed, but they are hardly the sole cause of major issues. I've only ever seen left-wingers accuse other people of blaming the poor, while then making "the rich" or "the corporations" the scapegoats, and perpetuating Marxist ideas that politics is a struggle of poor people vs rich people and business, i.e. the bourgeois. So it's the same thing really except with a different target.

 

[Uesugi Kenshin]

Someone threw flour on François Fillon during his meeting. This candidate is the moderate right representative and is involved in both a corruption and an embezzlement scandal.

 

[Almalexia]

Is he okay?

 

[Uesugi Kenshin]

Is he okay?

Yes. His only concern was instead "J'espère  que la farine était française au moins..." Litterally: "I hope the flour was made in France at least..."

 

[omzdog]

So I hear Jean-Luc Mélenchon's pulling surprising numbers with a recent surge and has a Sander's style platform even though he decided to run as an independent.
I hope he makes it to the run-off, I really do.

 

[kurczak]

Sanders is like tea party compared to Melenchon. He openly admires Chavez and Castro. What could possibly go wrong.

 

[omzdog]

Sanders openly admires Chavez and Castro so they are comparable on that front.

 

[kurczak]

Sources? The closest he came afaik was acknowledging that Cuba actually has decent healthcare and education, but other than that it is a third world dictatorship. Don't recall him saying anything positive about Chavez.

Talking about today's Sanders, not some bizarre interviews from '72 or something.

 

[omzdog]

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/272485-sanders-defends-past-praise-of-fidel-castro
There is an unhealthy spin on calling his 80's interview 'praise' but he didn't reject his remarks.

Only thing I could find pertaining to Venezuela was:
https://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/must-read/close-the-gaps-disparities-that-threaten-america
This is his website, at the end he mentions Venezuela as a model for America to follow.
Though I admit he never praised Chavez directly and am mistaken about that.

 

[crodio]

does he admire Chávez in a romantic way or does he actually want to implement some weird petrorepublic in France?
as always, i want melenchan and Lepenis to make it to the second round, for maximum mementum.

 

[Almalexia]

The next person who applies even the concept of a meme to real world politics is going to get a mean ****ing *****slap, I swear to God.