Politics and Culture
Saying the quiet bit out loud:
Rockhill frames higher ed as a tactical site for “counter-hegemonic” work, cites his own Critical Theory Workshop, and then makes the end goal unmistakable.
“We need to go in a socialist direction” to build what he praises elsewhere as a socialist “intellectual apparatus” like the ones in Cuba and China, because that’s where he says you get the “real state power necessary to fully educate the people.”
Another day, another public struggle session. Yes, it’s South Korean culture once again corrupting the pure socialist youth of North Korea. From the Daily NK:
Pyongyang city police summoned downtown residents on Feb. 1 to a public struggle session in Sosong district, where authorities publicly convicted a man arrested in November for possessing and distributing South Korean videos, music, and television programs, a Daily NK source in Pyongyang said recently, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
City police launched an investigation into what authorities described as rapidly growing infiltration of reactionary thought and culture in Pyongyang in October of last year. During the probe, they arrested the man on Nov. 30. He was held and investigated for several months on charges of consuming South Korean TV programs, movies, and music via a NoteTel portable media player and of distributing such content on portable storage devices.
During the public trial, police said the man cleverly distributed USB drives and SD cards containing music files, assigning numbers to each South Korean singer’s name, and hid his illicit material at a third location to avoid detection.
Authorities were particularly critical of the man for distributing content primarily to young people, accusing him of “spiritually corrupting countless young people with horrible anti-Republic acts.” City police framed the offense not as a personal failing but as a serious crime against the socialist system, warning that individuals engaged in reactionary behavior continued to emerge despite sustained eradication efforts.
“The man at the struggle session was just skin and bones, perhaps because he’d undergone months of horrible questioning,” the source said. “He just stood there in handcuffs, his head bowed, throughout the entire session. And as soon as it ended, they put him in a vehicle again.”
It will not go well for him. It’s like Mao’s Cultural Revolution, with the poor shaven-headed victims paraded in front of the jeering crowd – except in North Korea it’s a permanent all-the-time anti-cultural revolution. The only culture allowed is Kim worship.
The source added that while several people had previously been caught violating the law on reactionary thought and culture, the resumption of harsh public struggle sessions has cast a pall over the city. “Tension hangs over Pyongyang,” the source said.
….How many are employed and in long term relationships. How many died and why.
The research team explicitly rejected this way forward saying the information would not help them. I don’t understand this. It’s a rich mine of information that will certainly indicate what areas require further research.
The only reason I can think that they do not wish to follow up with this cohort is that they know the outcomes of medicalising autistic and vulnerable children are going to be catastrophically bad and this scandal will finally be revealed in its true colours and horror.
The latest from Cafe Royal Books, with photographer Joan Piekny:
[Photos © Cafe Royal Books/Joan Piekny]
Glum faces.
A husband can face up to 15 days in jail if he seriously injures his wife with a stick, but the wife must prove her injuries in court while fully covered and in the presence of the man who beat her.
The law also forbids women from seeking refuge with relatives to escape abuse. Those who do can be jailed for three months.
Meanwhile, new rules target men’s beards.
The Taliban claim that a beard that’s too short makes men look like women, so short beards are banned, and several barbers have already been arrested.
Last month, the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice mandated that beards must now be longer than a fist.
Podcast here.
The moment a parent says “no” to their child’s gender transition, they don’t expect that the next knock on the door could be from Child Protective Services….
In a sane society, one would presume that the disagreement over a child’s stated gender identity would be treated as a family matter, a therapeutic matter, maybe even a painful conflict… but not as something that could end with the state taking your child away.
Then I started meeting people whose stories suggested otherwise.
Today’s video is one of those stories.
From the Times:
An NHS trial of puberty blockers has been halted after health officials raised concerns about “long-term biological harms” to children.
Up to 250 girls and boys as young as ten were due to be recruited to join the clinical trial of hormone-suppressing drugs run by King’s College London. However, on Friday the UK’s medical regulator wrote to King’s raising concerns and arguing for a minimum age of 14. The Department of Health said that, as a result, “preparations for the trial have now been paused”, although it could still go ahead if the issues are resolved.
The study, due to be the biggest trial yet of puberty blockers, was due to involve children being put on the drugs for up to two years and monitored until early adulthood, with their brain development, quality of life and physical and mental health compared with those not given them. The trial had been facing a legal challenge from campaigners who said it was unethical.
The letter from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) highlighted concerns including the “very likely” loss of fertility and permanent bone damage to children. The drugs pause the physical changes of puberty, such as breasts, periods or facial hair.
The MHRA said: “We would like to discuss the inclusion of a minimum age for participation in the trial … since potentially significant and, as yet, unquantified risk of long-term biological harms is present to participants and biological safety has not been definitively demonstrated in this proposed cohort, at the very least, there should be a graded … approach starting with those aged 14 as the lower limit of eligibility.”
It highlighted the infertility risk, stating: “It is widely understood that reduction in gametogenesis will very likely cause infertility in these young people. These are medically consequential effects for a future adult individual that may involve infertility treatment and significant medical interventions.”
They’ve just realised? People have been pointing this out for months. These drugs are serious life-changers. It’s grossly irresponsible to hand these out to confused youngsters like they’re guinea pigs, when they have no conception of the life-changing consequences.
It’s basically a trial to see if sterilising a child will cure them of their “gender dysphoria” – and given that some 80% of these kids are likely to be gay, it’s in effect an attempt to “cure” them of their homosexuality.
A pause – or a prelude to cancellation? We’ll see.
Added:
Powerful testimony here.
I am 65 years old. I write as a retired lawyer with approximately 35 years experience of working in the child protection field in both the public and private sectors.
I worked for three of the largest local authorities in the country, advising social workers, teachers, police officers, health care staff and other professionals dedicated to safeguarding children from all forms of abuse.
I conducted and had responsibility for hundreds and hundreds, possibly thousands, of child care cases in all levels of court up to and including the Court of Appeal.…
From my direct experience, conversations with fellow professionals and a detailed knowledge of enquiries, reports and statistics, the following things are obvious to anyone who is not compromised by political allegiance.
Mick Hartley 