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International Q Research Threads

>>20886248 ——–——– Australia #36

>>20940004 ——–——– Canada #59

>>20584322 ——–——– China #1

>>16694358 ——–——– France #7

>>19988670 ——–——– Germany #106

>>20837582 ——–——– Japan #23

>>20584358 ——–——– Korea #1

>>16694250 ——–——– Nederland #10

>>17784579 ——–——– QAJF #1

>>20584333 ——–——– Russia #1

>>20584424 ——–——– Saudi Arabia #1

>>20771571 ——–——– Scotland #10

>>19804572 ——–——– UK #51

Alternate South Africa bread on midnightriders

https://8kun.top/midnightriders/res/147928.html

Alternate South Africa bread on Endchan

https://endchan.gg/qrbunker/res/73076.html

Notables are NOT Endorsements

#12-A

>>19692232 Property developer Shafiq Naser killed by assassins on superbikes in Cape Town

>>19692436 Africarare Ubuntuland Partners with HAQQ to Innovate Sharia Law Education and Ethical Community Engagement in Mixed Reality

>>19692443, >>19692449 South Africa: The Halal Kingdom, Although it holds the world’s smallest percentage of Muslims

>>19731387 (General Research #24226) Eight UN peacekeepers detained over sex abuse claims in DR Congo

>>19782011 Patrisse Cullors, Co-Founder Black Lives Matters: “Palestine is our generation in South Africa”

>>19782021 ANCYL President Collen Malatji has told President Cyril Ramaphosa to close the Israeli embassy

>>19782035 Ramaphosa Rules Out South Africa Abandoning Neutral Stance on War in Ukraine

>>19821993 Tankers Line Up Off South Africa to Ensure Diesel Power

>>20027327 (General Research #24583) Harvard’s Shocking Admission: Affirmative Action and Critical Race Theory Killed South Africa

>>20362707 ‘Fake’ UN official allegedly received briefings from SA’s top security cluster

>>20242709, >>20242774 ony Hollingsworth got Bishop Trevor Huddleston’s ‘blessing’ to hold a concert in 1988 for the release of Nelson Mandela to influence the world (Parts 1 &2 video)

>>20407571 How liberators turn into oppressors: a study of southern African states

>>20445866, >>20445869 Spraying of controversial herbicide on Vaal River water lettuce begins – critics urge caution (Parts 1&2)

>>20452953, >>20452962 The European House - Ambrosetti - Who we are (video)

>>20457742 SA unfazed by US Bill threat

>>20462673 Initial Covid & Other Pestilence Bun | Initial Cyril Ramaphosa Bun | Initial ICJ Suit Bun

>>20462676 Initial Maldives Bun | Initial Rwanda Bun

>>20510793, >>20510794 UNFPA staff concerned over headquarters' relocation from New York to Nairobi (Parts 1&2, video)

>>20510840 CIA Director Secretly Visits Kenya And Somalia To Discuss Regional Security (video)

>>20511103 Africacheck: “Coalition to fight misinformation”: South African elections (video)

>>20511116 Google’s true origin partly lies in CIA and NSA research grants for mass surveillance

>>20516774 South African intelligence and De Beers worked with the CIA in the early 60s

>>20516804 “South Africa: The Growing Influence of the Military”: CIA Document 1982

>>20516812 South Africa's 'paedophile' minister [General Magnus Malan] and a mysterious death (video)

>>20520896 US imposes new sanctions on Zimbabwe's President and other senior leaders

>>20525976 “Global Cooling is on the way! Give up your freedom NOW!” – Or is it global warming?

>>20537617 (Canada #54) Alliance of Sahel States: Military Juntas of Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali Create Joint Task Force Against Islamic Jihadists

>>20552292 Viral Minister Naledi Pandor Speech on Israel Shocks the World (video)

>>20558069 Updated ANC Bun | Updated BRICS Bun

>>20558078 Updated Cyril Ramaphosa Bun | Updated Rwanda Bun

>>20558081 Initial SSA/NIA Bun

>>20586389 Niger Junta Severs US Military Cooperation Agreement, Orders Troops and Civilian Personnel Out of the Country

>>20606606 Bill that calls for full review of US relations with SA crosses first hurdle in US Congress

>>20682073 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

>>20697117 A Few Bad Apples: 8,000 UNRWA Teachers Rallied for Hamas Terrorist (video)

>>20701775, >>20701789 Louis Armstrong and the spy: how the CIA used him as a ‘trojan horse’ in Congo

>>20729192, >>20777598 Daily Maverick: QAnon and Shut down for 15 April 2024

>>20729208 The Pan-African Institute for Socialism (PAIS)

#12-B

>>20743038, 20743047, >>20743054 Time to pull the plug on SACU (Parts 1-3)

>>20743308, >>20743312 Mayor sends police to ban and shut down NatCon Brussels conference as Antifa gathers outside (video)

>>20777614, >>20777617, >>20777619 “The South African Arms Deal” – Thales (Parts 1-3)

>>20777708 Thales sets up new SA subsidiary - 2009

>>20833831 ANC Bun Part One

>>20833836 Initial Brenthurst Foundation Bun

>>20833841 Updated Oppenheimer Bun

>>20833844 Updated André Pienaar Bun

>>20833845 Updated Rwanda Bun

>>20833846 Violence and Crime Bun Part One

>>20833849 Violence and Crime Bun Part Two

>>20891860, >>20891889 At least three U.S. citizens - accused of being CIA agents - are arrested in Congo after failed coup (Parts 1&2)

>>20918103 Ex-UCT chair hits back at ‘untested’ panel report [chaired by retired Supreme Court of Appeal president Judge Lex Mpati]

>>20952724, >>20952772 Central African Republic accuses a European NGO worker arrested last week of spying, same NGO is in South Africa

>>20969241 Final ANC Bun Part Two

>>20969244 Final Commodities Bun

>>20969245 Final Covid & Other Pestilence Bun

>>20969247 Final Jacob Zuma Bun

>>20917814

>1 August 2023

>The [Freedom Under Law] Board has elected as its new chairman Justice Azhar Cachalia, a director since 2021.

>He was a founder and leading member of the United Democratic Front.

>>20379919

>also the increased attacks on the citizens of Ciskei by the United Democratic Front [which the ANC helped to resurrect a few months ago] and the African National Congress.

It is curious that the founder of the UDF became the chairman of Freedom under Law around the same time the UDF was reactivated.

“UDF celebration to reawaken active citizenry” – Part 1

https://youtu.be/cQkyX-rhCIA

Aug 17, 2023

The UDF40 steering committee says the 40th anniversary celebration will continue without one of its founding Member, Dr Allan Boesak. Other former leaders of the umbrella organisation of civic organisations, which was instrumental in the defeat of apartheid, say this celebration is meant to re-awaken active citizenry to solve the many challenges facing the country. They have also refuted claims that the event on the 20th of August, is a concealed attempt to revive the ANC, using the UDF. The committee announced that President Cyril Ramaphosa and Archbishop Thabo Makgoba will be amongst the attendees.

3:03 – “As South Africa heads to elections next year, these founding members of the UDF say they will continue to be the torch bearers of the country’s democracy.”

https://www.justice.gov.za/trc/special/udf/udf.htm

[Popo Molefe] The militaristic culture especially amongst the youth merit the militarization of the South African state and society. This phenomenon provided fertile grounds for forced recruitment into organisations and campaigns initiated by the UDF and for the attitude amongst activists that, if you are not with us you are against us.

https://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za/server/api/core/bitstreams/69631ad2-fb58-44d7-aecb-406687b963e1/content

THE UNITED DEMOCRATIC FRONT (UDF): A CASE STUDY OF DEMOCRATIC ORGANISATION, 1983-1987

GREGORY FREDERICK HOUSTON

This Thesis is dedicated to all who have contributed to the struggle for freedom and democracy in South Africa

It is argued that the formation of the UDF, and revolutionary developments during the period of review, conformed to the strategic and tactical requirements of a Leninist-Gramscian model of revolutionary praxis in the following way: the general drive to establish mass-based community organisations (increasing the complexity of civil society by establishing mass organisations); the formation of the UDF in August 1983 (creating a historical bloc in opposition to the ruling bloc during the phase of democratic struggle); and the development and spread of a common national political culture based on resistance to apartheid (expanding the revolutionary consciousness of the masses).

During the period under review, the UDF-Ied opposition to apartheid resulted in the organisational and ideological penetration of the Front into almost every major sector of black civil society. The major forces behind the increasing political and ideological leadership of the UDF were the affiliated civic associations, trade unions, student/youth and women's organisations. These organisations played a central role in mass mobilisation and organisation and the spread of revolutionary consciousness throughout black civil society.

>>20970850

“UDF celebration to reawaken active citizenry” – Part 2

https://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za/server/api/core/bitstreams/69631ad2-fb58-44d7-aecb-406687b963e1/content

the ANC's earlier efforts to influence certain legal and semi-legal organisations inside the country; the proven existence of clandestine ANC members as leaders in some of the UDF affiliate organisations, and the leadership role in these organisations played by convicted ANC members after their release from prison.

The LeninistlGramscian model's emphasis on the importance of the political and ideological struggle to promote and expand revolutionary consciousness sets it apart from other models of a United Front strategy and reflects one of the most fundamental achievements of popular resistance during the 1980s. Here the stress is on: mobilising and organising people around the concrete particulars of their everyday lives (rent increases, bus-fare increases, education issues, women's issues, etc.); uniting the separate currents of protest into a single stream; and, most importantly, transforming the "particular, often economic, demands of interest groups into a universalistic political challenge of the dominant system" which aims at national liberation. This results in the spread of a revolutionary consciousness.

The UDF underwent a revival in 1989 when it joined with COSATU (in the Mass Democratic Movement) in a civil disobedience campaign against government-controlled hospitals and schools. Thus, during 1989 the emphasis was on national campaigns of the Mass Democratic Movement (with the main organisational base provided by trade unions) rather than on actions which involved local UDF affiliates.

These changes brought to an end the period of resistance which corresponded to the LeninistiGramscian model of revolutionary strategy and tactics. Instead, the UDF became a Leninist vanguard party, with its affiliate membership operating largely underground.

The vast majority of leaders of the UDF at local, regional and national levels became involved with the time-consuming and difficult task of building ANC structures and, more recently, participating within the national negotiation process. Many UDF activists became visibly absorbed into and, in the opinion of some observers, form a distinct bloc within the ranks of the ANC. As a result, this study has not been able' to avail itself of the very rich sources of oral evidence that do exist. Hence, it relies largely on documentary material.

In a speech delivered to the Seventh Congress of the Communist International in 1935 Dimitrov stated… While Communists must not abandon the work of Communist education, organisation and mobilisation of the masses, the road to creating the widest united front of workers is to strive for short-term and long-term goals with non-Communist worker parties, trade unions and other organisations of the working class.

Willem Booyse gives credit to Mao Tse Tung for the idea of a united front and the formulation of the strategy to create such a front. According to Booyse, Mao's intention and his eventual success was based on an idea to 35 unite the broadest possible spectrum of opposition groups in China against the nationalist government of Chiang Kai-Shek. The process of mobilising opposition groups was manifested in the creation of "organisations (alliances) throughout the country (China), developing mass movements of the workers, peasants, youth, children, winning over the intellectuals in all parts of the country, and spreading the movement as a struggle for democracy".5 The objective of this process was to ensure that the masses became aware of the necessity for joint action by all the social forces that oppose the ruling government.

>>20970850

>>20970854

“UDF celebration to reawaken active citizenry” – Part 3

https://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za/server/api/core/bitstreams/69631ad2-fb58-44d7-aecb-406687b963e1/content

The most comprehensive account of the Vietnamese revolutionary strategy was provided by Vo Nguyen Giap, faithful disciple of Ho Chi Minh and major strategist of the Vietnamese Communist Party. One central feature of Giap's theory of revolutionary strategy and tactics is the combination of military struggle and political struggle. This lies at the centre of his concept of "people's war". The people's war revolutionary strategy involved military action by forces of the revolutionary movement to destroy the enemy as well as the people's mass uprisings to regain administrative power.

Our political force is a force of all the people that participate in uprisings and wars in an organised manner under the Party's vanguard leadership. It includes revolutionary classes, patriotic elements, and nationalities in our country who have assembled in a broad, united national front, under working class leadership, with the worker-peasant alliance as a foundation .7

–In the people's war strategy emphasis is placed on the use of propaganda to motivate the organisation and development of revolutionary forces with the purpose of mobilising the entire population to participate in the struggle. The goal is the creation of a "mass political force", which

is a firm, steady foundation on which to build and develop comprehensive forces for the revolutionary war, to protect the material and moral forces on the political, economic, and cultural fronts, on the front line and in the rear base areas and to form and develop the people's armed revolutionary forces.

Two important lessons can be drawn from the Chinese and Vietnamese experiences: firstly, the necessity of creating a broad united front which includes all patriotic elements of the population and is directed primarily at the goal of national liberation and; secondly, recognition of the dual importance of political and military struggle. The Vietnamese revolution proved that a strategy placing sole reliance on either political or military struggle would have been insufficient, and probably disastrous. The emerging revolutionary practices stressed the importance of a combination of the political mobilisation of the broadest possible range of forces against the enemy and a military struggle involving protracted guerrilla war in preparation for the final stage of general uprising. 9

https://wikimili.com/en/United_Democratic_Front_(South_Africa)

The Progressive Federal Party had vigorously opposed the introduction of the tricameral system (in the referendum), but once introduced continued as the official opposition in the "White" Assembly. "Let us voice strong opposition and offer vigorous resistance both within and without the system that excludes Blacks and continues to imprison Nelson Mandela" argued Helen Suzman, speaking at the Cape Town Conference of the PFP National Youth in 1984. At the same conference, a resolution was passed endorsing and supporting the recent establishment of the United Democratic Front and offer ' back office financial assistance". This support sponsored by Gordon Waddell and Harry Oppenheimer through the Western Province Regional PFP Youth Committee led by Stephen Drus ( Stephen Darori)

http://web.archive.org/web/20220810203059/https://uncensoredopinion.co.za/chronology-national-party-african-national-party-outsmarted-white-businessmen-foreign-governments-taking-south-africa-1989/#

• 1977 Urban Foundation “think tank” is founded by Harry Oppenheimer, Anton Rupert and Clive Menell.This Foundation introduced neoliberal housing policy for Blacks under the guise of “development”. Cyril Ramaphosa, Nthato Motlana and Phuthuma Ntleko became the leaders of this “development” Foundation

• 20 August 1983 United Democratic Front is founded in Mitchells Plain. The UDF will later be funded by Harry Oppenheimer with people such as Alan Boesak, Desmond Tutu, Frank Chikane, Terror Lekota, Vally Moosa, Albertina Sisulu, Sheryl Carolus,Trevor Manuel ,Pravin Gordhan and Popo Molefe on the upper echelons of its structures

>>20970896

>>20970911

Stéphén Dǻrori Part 3

https://stephendarorionveryinterestingpeople.blogspot.com/

First Lieutenant=> Captain=> Major=> Commandant until 1994 (Lieutenant-Colonel)

SADF: Recce commandos, Reconnaissance Unit of 11 Commando, 3rd Infantry Battalion

January 1975 – December 1976 (2 years)Diskopolos, Kimberly , South Africa

Angola : My "4 Citations , 3 medals ( 2 Campaign + Another), 2 Battlefield Promotions" Period . South Africa ( Defence Force) enters Angola on the side of UNITA against the MPLA , SWAPO and 25,000 subprime Casto Cubans. This was not a helicopter gunship war . In a bombastic "Apocalypse Now" ( the movie came later) helicopter gunship formation , South Africa launched a massive attack on the MPLA . In the open 5-10 minutes 7 SADF gunships were destroyed by 9K32 “Strela-2” shoulder fired Russian Missiles. Not another SADF helicopter again entered Angola . The 75 person Recce Commando ( the elite of the elite unit ) was paradropped 8 kms north of Luanda & told to proceed eastwards pulling the substand Cuban Battalions & some MPLA away from the coast & the protection of SAM 6 missiles around Luanda. I ran (circling back at night) across Angola & exited through Zambia .Entered as 1 of 3, 2nd Lieutenants, exited as a Major with 12 including 4 walking wounded.During this endless & now embedded nightmare kept saying that if I survive my first daughter would be called after the home base of the Recce Commandos . 20 years to the date I was discharged, my daughter Kim(berly) was born. Kimberly ( Big Hole of .fame) was the home base of 11 Commando.Honest to god truth, joined the Recce Commandos, & really expected to sit on my backside , suntanning, drinking beer & reading all the English Classics.This was a character building lesson in survival. The Recce Commando like 11 Commando originated during the Anglo Boer War.The Recce Commando first saw action at Spion Kop (Anglo Boer War)on 24th January 1900. 11 Commando was created by the British to counter the very mobile (mounted) Boer Recce Commandos & went toe to toe with the later during the Guerrilla War phase of the Anglo Boer War, November 1900 to May 1902 until the Transvaal Republic surrendered at Vereeniging on 31st May 1902. The agreement was signed ,by the Generals De Wet & Kitchener.

Honors & Awards

Beit Trust Scholarship

Beit Trust

January 1983

The Trust was initially set up in 1906 by the Will of Mr Alfred Beit, a brilliant financier and a director of the British South Africa Company with many interests including the development of Rhodesia’s railway system. In 1903 he suffered a stroke near Salisbury, Rhodesia, and died on 16 July 1906 in England at the age of 53, leaving much of his fortune bequeathed to a wide range of charitable causes. As a result of his close association with…more

University Blue Honour fo Student Leadership

University of Cape Town

Student Blues Awards are awarded to outstanding students in various disciplines including sport ( largely) and student leadership. I was very active in Student Councils, a student led Rag fund ( that is a small industry) that supports an entire free medical aid for Blacks ( and Coloured) A massive student charity and student politics ) + held youth leadership positions in the official White opposition party with a prominent presence on multiple…more

>>20970896

>>20970911

>>20970955

>>20970850

>>20970854

>The UDF underwent a revival in 1989 when it joined with COSATU (in the Mass Democratic Movement)

>>20970855

Stéphén Dǻrori Part 4

https://stephendarorionveryinterestingpeople.blogspot.com/

Region Chairman Western Cape Progressive Party Youth Committee=> Progressive Reform Party->Progressive Federal Party=> now Democratic Alliance

Democratic Alliance

January 1978

The Progressive Party transitioned to the Progressive Reform Party which became the Progressive Federal Party who are the Democratic Alliance to day. The Democratic Alliance (DA) is a political party in South Africa, which is the official opposition to the ruling African National Congress (ANC) at federal level, and the governing party in the Western Cape province. The DA is broadly centrist, though it has been attributed both centre-left and…more

National Chairman Progressive Federal Party Youth Committee => now Democratic Alliance

June 1981

The Progressive Party transitioned to the Progressive Reform Party which became the Progressive Federal Party who are the Democratic Alliance to day. The Democratic Alliance (DA) is a political party in South Africa, which is the official opposition to the ruling African National Congress (ANC) at federal level, and the governing party in the Western Cape province. The DA is broadly centrist, though it has been attributed both centre-left and…more

Founding Member and Treasurer Mass Democratic Movement (MDM) and United Democratic front ( UDF)

Nelson Mandela and Democratic Black Rule in South Africa

THE MDM was the first Massive Umbrella movement fof 400+ Free Mandela organisations. The mistake it made was electing a leadership , thereby giving it existence as an organisation that could be banned by the South African Government and that happen quickly. Immediately thereafter the UDF was "formed" with 500+ organisations on board . This time without an official leadership. "The United Democratic Front (UDF) was one of the most important anti-…more

First National Youth Action Chairman (and joint founder with Helen Suzman, Colin Elgin,Harry Oppenheimer and Dr Nthato Motlana

National Youth Action

1974

National Youth Action was the first attempt at an integrated Youth Action Program for kids aged 15 to 18 in South Africa. The idea was to form racial integrated groups who would do volunteer communal work in communities that need such help. The first two groups became active in the Western Cape ( Gugeluto) and Pretoria ( Alexandra) . The South African Government did not like mixed integrated groups of kids , " Cleaning up Slums" and eventually…more

University of Cape Town

MBA,MA, BCOM in Accounting and Economics, Accounting and Finance, With Distinction

1978 – 1985

Started studing at the University of Cape Town and continued elsewhere.BCompt Hons ( UNISA), MBA ( Heriot Watts)

Activities and Societies: Quite frankly over the years have become a Peter Thiel supporter. Peter was a founder of among other companies, Paypal and an early 2% investor in Facebook. Peter like Bill Gates,Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, Larry Ollison and others, Peter Thiel has no academic degrees. Peter is sponsoring 100 young entrepreneurs with $100K a year not to go to college but jump straight into starting a high tech company . ( 88 have already raised follow on finance… Thiel is onto something)

>>20970896

>>20970911

>>20970955

>>20970977

Stéphén Dǻrori Part 5

https://stephendarorionveryinterestingpeople.blogspot.com/

Herzlia High School, Cape Town

First Class University Entrance Sort of like A Levels, Maths, Science, Accountancy, English,Hebrew Afrikaans

1962 – 1974

Jewish education in a private school environment from the age of 3 to 18.

Activities and Societies: Regional Committee Progressive Party Youth Progressive Party Youth Support Speaker First Team Cricket, Hockey, Chess National Youth Action- founding member and first Chairman

1. –Interests–

Also interested in viable Alternative Investments include Africana and Judaica, Maps and Prints and investment quality Philatelic Postal History. Individual items rather than collection. Cooking: Try Family Recipes Passed down from Poland, Lithuania and Latvia ;Editing them and Blogging Them. Try them - they are all great and easy recipes to make.

2. Personal Details

Birthday November 29, 1965

Marital Status Single

3. Advice for Contacting Stéphén

Mobile Tel 972-52-7234313.

Fax 972-3-6598825

Skype stephendarori.israel

Email : stephendarori@outlook.com..

Postal Address: P.O.Box 41026, Tel Aviv ,6141001, Israel

A Cute and a Silly Tongue in Cheek Postscript : In 1962 , Professor Ethel Drus ( my aunt, my father's sister and three times winner of the Alexander Prize for History, the equivalent of the Mitchell prize for Mathematics) spent 3 months researching disintegrating Proclamations ( Letters Patent ) that had been traditionally handed down in the Drues/Drus family. I am the hereditary Baron of Kraków , ( hmmm , can't help smiling) that was created in 1732 in an exchange for a very significant contribution by Drues of Mejzugola to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth 's Monarch Budget . This custom was started by King Henry VIII of England Rich land owners were rewarded with Aristocracy Titles for significant contributions to the King's Budget. I am also the hereditary Count Dziedreuszycka , the Ordynat of Poturzyca, Zarzecze, Kramarzowka, Markpol, Gluszyn, Wiry and Szczytnik estates. The Count was the eldest son of Drues of Mejzugola and was excommunicated from the family when he married a shiksa , the youngest daughter of the then Monarch . Like in France, German, Austria and elsewhere , aristocracy titles came to an end when the 2nd Polish Republic was created by the Treaty of Versailles. The first Count had no issues and the property was returned to the Monarch. At least theoretically this title also passed down to me.. Both titles have nice Coat of Arms .The Count's has a Star of David instead of a cross, a pointer to his heritage. Have a check at it.

>>20970896

>>20970911

>>20970955

>>20970977

>>20970986

Stéphén Dǻrori Part 6

https://stephendarorionveryinterestingpeople.blogspot.com/

Recommendations

JL Mealer

Arizona Gubernatorial Candidate. Arizona revitalization/restabilization strategies, putting Arizona Industry on top.

Stephen certainly appears to be the man for the position. That goes for just about any position because his background is very diverse and his skill set extraordinary.

July 26, 2013, JL was with another company when working with Stéphén at MIU Movement for Israeli Urbanism and other ideas ( sorry I am a reality check)

https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephendarori/details/experience/

Research Associate,Publicist. Personal Assistant, ( Intern and Driver.)..

Houses of Parliament , Cape Town , Office Helen Suzman and Colin Elgin - Progressive Federal Party

Jul 1972 - Jan 1986 · 13 yrs 7 mos

Cape Town Area, South Africa

Positions of increasing responsibility

Helen Suzman MP and Colin Elgin MP Intern, Researcher Associate ,Political Secretary Frequent Driver to Brandfort ( Winnie Mandela) … was the Youth Speaker at her political ralies when Tony Leon wasn't available

Colin Elgin ( Leader of the Opposition) , Researcher later Political Secretary ( COO) Youth Speaker

Gordon Waddell Office Research Associate, Publicist,COO ( who insisted in actual paying me a salary )

Also Regional Chairman of the Progressive Party Youth, later Progressive Reform Party and finally Progressive Federal Party ( Now the Democratic Alliance) 1976 to 1986 including 4 years and National Youth Chairman.

Journalist and Social Media Political. Consumer and Social Causes

#BardOfBatYam, #PoetLaureateOfZion, #TastesFromZion, #CameosFromZion · Freelance

Jan 1975 - Present · 49 yrs 5 mos

Bat Yam Area, Israel

Hashtag for articles on Poetry ( mostly mine and commentary on others) ,Gormet Recipes and Restaurants, Music, Israel and the Middle East

Two of the hashtags I create #OyVeyDonaldTrump has been hashtagged on over 250,000 posts on and across 43 social media platforms #OyVeyBibiNetanyahu on over 180,000

Senior Editor, Author , Researcher

Wikipedia

Mar 2001 - Present · 23 yrs 3 mos

Israel

Activist

Meretz Party (Knesset) מרצ

Apr 1986 - Present · 38 yrs 2 mos

Human Rights

• Activist in Mapam and then founding member of Ratz prior to the formation of Meretz. Huge digital contributor to election campaigns and pounded the streets in the early hours of the morning with לך stencil and spray paint can in hand , putting up Meretz banners and posters from Redding to Rishon Le Zion. Since 2010 de facto Meretz Chair in Jaffa and Bat Yam.

https://stephendarorioninterestingpeoplexx.blogspot.com/2016/01/harry-oppenheimer.html

When Mr. Oppenheimer left Parliament in 1957 to take over the family business empire after his father died, he threw his moral and financial support to the relatively liberal Progressive Party.

>>20970855

>1977 Urban Foundation “think tank” is founded by Harry Oppenheimer, Anton Rupert and Clive Menell.This Foundation introduced neoliberal housing policy for Blacks under the guise of “development”. Cyril Ramaphosa, Nthato Motlana and Phuthuma Ntleko became the leaders of this “development” Foundation

>>20970977

>First National Youth Action Chairman (and joint founder with Helen Suzman, Colin Elgin,Harry Oppenheimer and Dr Nthato Motlana

“SYND 30 7 77 DR MOTLANA INTERVIEW”

https://youtu.be/JtOp5Nw867U

Nthato Harrison Motlana

https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/nthato-harrison-motlana

He obtained a BSc degree from the University of Fort Hare and won a bursary to study medicine at the Medical School of the University of the Witwatersrand, as part of a quota of black students. He qualified in 1954 and opened a practice in Soweto, one of only two private practices, which he ran for almost forty years, initially charging his patients R2 and later giving his services for free. He was the family doctor of Walter Sisulu and Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu and thousands of others, and his practice became a haven for the wounded and injured during the uprisings of the seventies and eighties.

With other parents such as Winnie Mandela and Aubrey Mokoena he founded the Black Parents Association (BPA) in response to the 1976 Soweto school riots. The association formed a liaison group between the students and the authorities.

One of his major projects is the Get Ahead Foundation, started in 1984 together with community leaders such as advocate Dikgang Moseneke, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Snowy Mashingo and Don MacRobert to address unemployment through the informal sector. In 1996 Get Ahead split into two separate companies: Get Ahead Financial Services (GAFS) and Get Ahead Development (GAD).

He was a founder member of the National Association of Co-operative Societies of Southern Africa (Nacssa) an umbrella body for a range of burial societies, stokvels, women's clubs and mehodisano clubs. Its assets were valued at R650 000.

After four years, in 1994, Nacssa was in financial trouble and core investors demanded their money back, disturbed by internal strife between Motlana and chief executive Sam Moufhe. Motlana's black empowerment company, New Africa Investments Limited (Nail), was listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in 1994. As executive chairman Motlana built it up into a multibillion rand company within five years. His approach was to form strategic partnerships and alliances with established businesses with a view to transferring skills, know-how and ultimately power to black employees.

The first investment, made in 1992, was in Metropolitan Life, a thriving life insurance company, which had been successful in the black insurance market and where blacks had progressed into management. The Afrikaner owned Sanlam, one of South Africa's most powerful insurance companies, sold 30% of Metropolitan Life to Motlana and a consortium of black investors.

Nail next bought The Sowetan, the biggest daily newspaper in the country. It also acquired control of a 20% stake in MTN, one of two cellular networks in South Africa. In alliance with the National Empowerment Consortium (NEC), Nail acquired a big slice of Johnnic, created from the unbundling by Anglo American of Johannesburg Consolidated Investments.

Eventually Nail was clouded in scandal when a plan to reward four executives with share options worth R130 million led to acrimony and division among shareholders. When white co-founder Jonty Sandler was asked to resign, Motlana followed suit, displaying a characteristic lifelong loyalty towards his friends and closest associaties.

Still an ANC man, he has been accused of meddling with the editorial content of The Sowetan, a charge he has vehemently denied.

He has to be one of South Africa's busiest committee people, spending much of his time redressing the iniquities of apartheid. As chairman of IDASA, the Institute for Democratic Alternatives in South Africa, he has committed himself to peaceful change in South Africa and dialogue with the whole community.

He is a member of the Educational Opportunities Council, one of the largest bursary funds in the country, which administers scholarships for blacks at universities in South Africa and the USA.

He has received an honorary LLD from Dartmouth USA, an LLD from Dennyse, USA and an MD from Medunsa. The South African Sunday Times Business Times named him one of the "Top Five Businessmen" of 1993.

>>20971014

>[Nthato Motlana] As chairman of IDASA, the Institute for Democratic Alternatives in South Africa, he has committed himself to peaceful change in South Africa

>>20918172

>[Cyril Ramaphosa's] invaluable contribution to the multiparty negotiations and convening the Constitutional Assembly to draft the new Constitution during the transition from apartheid to a democratic South Africa.

“CONSTRUCTIVE POLITICS: The contributions of the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa)” Part 1

https://www.academia.edu/14801517/Constructive_politics_in_Africa_The_story_of_Idasa

Produced for the World Movement for Democracy Conference

Durban, South Africa, February, 2004

Introduction: Idasa’s ‘Unconventional Radicalism’

In early December, the Mail and Guardian spotlighted another Idasa activity, present from the very beginning, the creation of what co-founder Van Zyl Slabbert terms a “politics of negotiation” among bitterly divided groups.

The Institute for Democracy in South Africa, Idasa, is a large, non-governmental organization operating nationally from offices in Pretoria and Cape Town, with a growing presence in a number of other African nations as well. It has played a vital role in the democratic transition and the process of democracy building in South Africa since 1987. It has extensive working relationships with government at every level, civil society groups, business, and higher education. Its mission is to promote a sustainable democracy by building democratic institutions, educating citizens, and advocating social justice. The mission is expressed through the strategic objective of “building of capacity for democracy in civil society and government.”

For instance, in a little known effort of great importance, Idasa organized five high level trips for drafters of the new South African constitution to England, Switzerland, Portugal, the US, Canada, India, and Australia, in 1994 and 1995, with a group drawn from all the major parties.

On the left, some charge that the organization is remote from the people. “The only strong NGOs appear to be the elitist ones such as Idasa, which do not deal with the grassroots and do not handle issues affecting people on the ground,” said the government minister of Social Development, Zola Skweyiya, in an interview with the Mail and Guardian on November 7. Others on the left make more sweeping accusations. In a 2002 article by political scientist Ian Taylor in the academic journal Politikon, “South Africa’s transition to democracy and the ‘change industry’: a case study of IDASA,” Idasa is portrayed as taming the mass radical movement and directing it away from anti-capitalist struggle. In Taylor’s account, Idasa helped to create what he calls “a polyarchical form of democracy” focused on process not participation. Such democracies, according to Taylor, “are not about promoting democratic input into the everyday life of citizens, but rather have become a useful mechanism to soothe social and political pressures.”

Critics on the right have often been even more scathing. “Traitors!” declared the Afrikaner Weerstands Beweging, a conservative Afrikaner group after the Idasa- organized meeting in Dakar in 1987, bringing together for the first time a large number of Afrikaner and other white leaders with leaders of the banned ANC. South African President P.W. Botha accused Idasa of “undermining the state” and announced a parliamentary committee of inquiry to investigate its activities.

In the run-up to the elections scheduled for April, 2004, the Idasa-authored newspaper supplement for all 2,000 high schools in the nation illustrated both its reach and its philosophical orientation toward grassroots democracy. Entitled Youth Vote South Africa, undertaken in association with the Ministry of Education and the Independent Electoral Commission, the project consists of 20 weekly supplements in the chain of Independent newspapers across the nation.

But the frustration of Slabbert and his colleague Alex Boraine, Chair of the Federal Council of the largest anti-apartheid party, the Progressive Federal Party, at the seeming irrelevancy of the Parliament had been growing for several years.

In the middle of 1986, Van Zyl Slabbert and Alex Boraine created The Institute for a Democratic Alternative in South Africa.

Dakar, a meeting organized by Idasa between the ANC and white South Africans in July, 1987, reverberated around the world.

>>20971056

>>20918037

>[Mamphela Ramphele] was a founding board member of the Open Society Foundation for South Africa

“CONSTRUCTIVE POLITICS: The contributions of the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa)” Part 2

https://www.academia.edu/14801517/Constructive_politics_in_Africa_The_story_of_Idasa

Idasa organized discussions between the military forces on both the ANC and SA government side (1990). It also created forums for different sectors to consider their role in a new democracy – Educators (1990); the Media; Youth (1992); Police (1993). Idasa also continued to organize a variety of face to face human contacts, such as Mandela’s face to face discussions with business leaders in the Orange Free State in April, 1992.

From 1993 to 1995, Idasa worked to educate millions of voters, including the military, and to create nonpartisan spaces that would build legitimacy for the electoral process. It also began to develop a sustained and continuing focus on grassroots citizen education through a new Training Centre for Democracy, launched in 1992.

In response, Ivor Jenkins and [Constand] Viljoen developed a project, funded by the Dutch, to open a dialogue with conservatives.

The Mandela meeting was followed by a second meeting between four white generals and Mbeki, Modise, Zuma, and other leaders of the ANC, and then a series of discussions. They resulted in an explicit attention to the concept of protection of minority rights. An Idasa-led delegation to Belgium and Switzerland looked at procedures for protecting minority rights.

The Politics of Construction

In 1993 and 1994 Slabbert and Boraine stepped down from leadership of Idasa. Slabbert took on an organizing role in the new Open Society Foundation, funded by the democracy philanthropist George Soros. Boraine, building on a series of conferences under the name “Justice in Transition” organized by Idasa in 1993 which had featured Archbishop Desmond Tutu, was appointed with Tutu to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, or TRC. Tutu chaired the TRC. Boraine served as the vice chair.

Wilmot James, an eminent young black sociologist, took on the job of executive director. In James’ view, the organization needed to develop new institutional platforms “to engage in politics without involvement in partisan or party politics.” James, who had studied in the United States and who was impressed with the monitoring and public interest roles nonprofit groups could play, founded a Public Information Centre in Idasa.

The ANC Whip of the Senate Office, 13 September, 1995

“The room fell silent. The ebullient greetings stopped in their tracks,” recalls Richard Calland, for many years director of PIMS. “‘So, Mamphela, from under which rock have you now crawled to return to us?’, asked the Reverend Arnold Stofile, ANC Chief Whip in the National Assembly.” The question was directed to Mamphela Ramphele, former leader in the Black Consciousness movement, one of the indisputable heroines of the anti-apartheid struggle now directing the newly formed Public Information Centre of Idasa.

Through PIMS, based in a new Cape Town office, Idasa began to make regular submissions to parliamentary committees on policy matters relating to transparency, accountability and democratic process in general. It also instituted or supported litigation to ensure compliance with constitutional principles. At the executive level, Idasa staff began to serve as consultants in departmental policy making processes in the organisation’s areas of expertise. It was also contracted to facilitate public participation processes such as public hearings for the Constitutional Assembly and hearings on proposed legislation and policies, such as the White Paper on Safety and Security.

>>20971056

>>20971069

“CONSTRUCTIVE POLITICS: The contributions of the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa)” Part 3

https://www.academia.edu/14801517/Constructive_politics_in_Africa_The_story_of_Idasa

Idasa was a partner in the Public Service Management Development Programme.

The organization has also seen the constructive politics of democracy-building as involving increasing capacities of citizens, community organizations, and other nongovernmental organizations.

Idasa has always forged strong connections with other countries in Africa – its signature event, the Dakar conference, held in Senegal with strong support from its president, was a vivid example. In the last several years, Idasa has become increasingly involved in assisting democratic processes in other African countries, as well as projects that cross borders.

Idasa, with two other partners, won a tender from USAID in 2002 for a two year project in Nigeria known as “the Programme for Civic Empowerment (PACE)”. The aim of the programme is to strengthen and build the capacity of Nigerian civil society in areas of electoral support, constitutional reform, transparency and peacebuilding

According to the EU observers, questionable practices in some regions after the first round of voting meant a failed election. But Idasa’s template was fundamentally different. It asked questions such as “what is minimally needed to make the democratic process move forward?”… Idasa was able to release a statement soon after the polls closed that the election, while not perfect, was definitely an advance. Idasa’s judgment had large impact on international opinion about the election’s credibility. It could well have been the key factor in the government’s holding of the next round of elections.

>>20971133

“Van Zyl Slabbert caught red handed” [APDUSA VIEWS March 1986] – Part 2

https://www.sahistory.org.za/archive/dr-van-zyl-slabbert-caught-red-handed

https://www.sahistory.org.za/sites/default/files/archive-files/ApMar86.1684.4459.000.000.Mar1986.2.pdf

March 1986

REACTION TO Dr SLABBERT’S RESIGNATION

Since the resignation of Dr Slabbert was a spectacular event, reaction came in fast and furious.

1. ENGLISH PRESS

Initially the English press was jubilant. It considered the act of resignation as a heavy body blow to the reform strategy of the government because it “was in effect an act of no confidence in the very existence of Parliament as it is now constituted… Dr Slabbert has decided to leave Parliament to deprive the government any possible credibility his presence may lend to its reform powers…”

However, in a matter of days, if not hours, the English press changed its tune. We can only assume that the top brass of the PFP had a chat with the newspaper policymakers. The Press now had to engage in the process of LEADER-UNMAKING. Rapidly, Dr Slabbert’s image began to tarnish. There were insinuations that Dr Slabbert had lost the “iron in his soul” and took the easy way out. There were accusations of betrayal and desertation. Harry Oppenheimer, the godfather of the PFP, in a press statement criticized Dr Slabbert.

2. Young white liberals who had been straining at the leash imposed on them by the conservative PFP leadership saw in Dr Slabbert’s resignation a signal for dramatic action to follow.

3. The ANC, which met a delegation of the PFP headed by Dr Slabbert, described his act as “very courageous”. It even hinted that Dr Slabbert’s decision to resign was influenced by the discussion between the ANC and Dr Slabbert.

4. A prominent UDF official stated that Dr Slabbert had “proven qualities of leadership which should not be wasted” and, therefore, Dr Slabbert could “possibly find a home in the United Democratic Front” (Post, 12-15 February 1986).

5. Bishop Tutu congratulated Dr Slabbert and described him as a “great politician”.

>>20971133

>>20971134

“Van Zyl Slabbert caught red handed” [APDUSA VIEWS March 1986] – Part 3

https://www.sahistory.org.za/archive/dr-van-zyl-slabbert-caught-red-handed

https://www.sahistory.org.za/sites/default/files/archive-files/ApMar86.1684.4459.000.000.Mar1986.2.pdf

March 1986

Dr SLABBERT’S INTERVIEW WITH PW BOTHA – NOVEMBER 1985

While Dr Slabbert was occupied with interviews to the press, the radio and and TV, his moment of glory was fouled-up by the publication of a transcript of an interview between PW Botha and Dr Slabbert. The contents of the interview appeared in various newspapers. We urge our readers to study the interview very carefully and to keep newspaper cuttings of it.

It is a rare opportunity for members of the public to catch a glimpse of really what goes on behind closed doors between ruling class politicians belonging to “different” parties. The safety of privacy and being away from the public eye makes these politicians feel free to express their REAL VIEWS. More so, if they are unaware of the fact that their words are being recorded by a tape recorder.

We can do nomore than to select a few highlights from that interview.

1. Dr Slabbert was at pains to assure PW Botha that “the ANC can be beaten” and that he, PW Botha, could extract the teeth of the whole ANC story” (The Daily News, 19.02.86 and City Press, 21.02.86).

2. Dr Slabbert then warned that “the ANC should not be built up as an organisation which is so powerful that it can control all unrest” (City Press, 21.02.86).

3. When PW Botha stressed that there was no question of abolishing the Bantu system, Dr Slabbert’s reply was that he had no problem in drawing these State into negotiations process (The Daily News, 19.02.86). In other words, Dr Slabbert was quite prepared to recognize the various breeds of Bantustans as legitimate bodies with whom he was prepared to negotiate.

4. PW Botha insisted that the “self-determination of the whites should not be impaired. According to PW Botha, ‘self-determination’ meant the Group Areas Act, the separate and superior system of education provided fro the whites and the life of luxury and wealth enjoyed by the whites.

To all that Dr Slabbert’s reply was: “I have no problem.”

5. Dr Slabbert then accused the ANC and Buthelezi of each wanting to be the “the only bull in the kraal” i.e. to have a monopoly of power to the exclusion of all other organisations.

>>20971133

>>20971134

>>20971143

“Van Zyl Slabbert caught red handed” [APDUSA VIEWS March 1986] – Part 4

https://www.sahistory.org.za/archive/dr-van-zyl-slabbert-caught-red-handed

https://www.sahistory.org.za/sites/default/files/archive-files/ApMar86.1684.4459.000.000.Mar1986.2.pdf

March 1986

WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM THE INTERVIEW

What strikes one immediately is the vast difference between Dr Slabbert’s version of the interview and the transcript of the tape recording. Most observers and commentators are agreed that Dr Slabbert’s version was far from the truth.

Then one gets the unmistakable impression from reading the interview that there you had two political leaders discussing the problems of the South African ruling class as CONCERNED MEMBERS OF THE THAT RULING CLASS.

Throughout the interview, Dr Slabbert appeared to be on the defensive, fumbling and respectful towards the aggressive PW Botha. As one newspaper reporter put it: “It was a conversation between nephew and favourite uncle.”

Dr Slabbert’s public image is that of a LIBERAL – one who makes out that he is opposed to oppression, that he is the “friend of the people”. Politically speaking, he is the descendant of a long line of liberals – Dr John Phillip, Rose-Innes, Sauer, Merriman, Mr and Mrs Ballinger, Hofmeyer, Alan Paton, etc – all of whom had adopted a similar political stance in public. Yet, in truth, all of them used the art of deception to mislead the oppressed into believing that they were the champions of the oppressed.

We, of the Unity Movement and APDUSA, have consistently exposed these liberals as agents of Imperialism. We have exposed their forked tongues and their two faces. Dr Slabbert has conducted himself in the “best traditions” of his political forbears. As can be seen from the reaction to his resignation, he was able to deceive a section of the Liberatory Movement.

Unfortunately for Dr Slabbert, he has been CAUGHT RED-HANDED.

PUBLICLY, Dr Slabbert holds out that he is opposed to this entire rotten system of oppression. IN PRIVATE, he identifies himself with the ruling class. PUBLICLY, his stance on the ANC is: “a war against the ANC is a war against South Africa”. IN PRIVATE, he is planning how to defeat the ANC. PUBLICLY, he condemns apartheid. IN PRIVATE, he has “no problems” with the preservation of the vast priviledges of the whites. PUBLICLY, he resigns from Parliament but in the next breath he urges the PFP to continue with its work in Parliament.

He did not stop there. He went on to encourage the Indian and coloured sell-outs in the Tri-cameral parliament to sue it as a “forum for protest and opposition”. (The Daily News, 13.3.86). He says this notwithstanding the fact that close to 90% fo the Indian and coloured people have rejected these sell-outs and the Tri-cameral Parliament. Such is Dr Slabbert’s contempt for the oppressed people.

Dr Slabbert stands thoroughly exposed. In exposing himself, he has also reavelaed the TRUE NATURE OF LIBERALISM.

>>20971133

>>20971134

>>20971143

>>20971150

“Van Zyl Slabbert caught red handed” [APDUSA VIEWS March 1986] – Part 5

https://www.sahistory.org.za/archive/dr-van-zyl-slabbert-caught-red-handed

https://www.sahistory.org.za/sites/default/files/archive-files/ApMar86.1684.4459.000.000.Mar1986.2.pdf

March 1986

WHO IS THE OPPRESSOR?

We have always considered it to be of the utmost importance to identify and present to the people WHO THE OPPRESSOR IS. Not just a section of the oppressors but the whole gang of them. If people are called upon to struggle against oppression, the first task is to identify the oppressor. Then the people will know against whom they are to struggle.

Our view is: The oppressor is the official ruling lcass and it pack of henchmen – the Bantustan “leaders”, the sell-outs in the Houses of ill-fame called Delegates and Representatives. The oppressor is the racism-ridden white worker and petty bourgeoisie born with golden spoons in their mouths. The oppressor is Imperialism – thos powerful and rich groups in countries like American, Britain, France, West Germany, Canada, Japan, etc. The oppressor is the big factory owner, bankers, mine owners and the land barons (Capitalism).

The political representatives of Imperial and Capitalism are the LIBERALS, one section of which is the Progressive Federal Party.

All this is very elementary and easy to grasp. What is important is that we APPLY this simple truth in our day-to-day activities. If we do this, not only will we be rendering the oppressed people a great service but we will also ensure that we do not fall prey to the antics of the modern-day Dr Jekylls and Mr Hydes.

>>20971056

>For instance, in a little known effort of great importance, Idasa organized five high level trips for drafters of the new South African constitution to England, Switzerland, Portugal, the US, Canada, India, and Australia, in 1994 and 1995, with a group drawn from all the major parties.

>>20971100

>>20971108

“Untold Story of George Soros’ Worldwide Soft Power Empire”

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230824/untold-story-of-george-soros-worldwide-soft-power-empire-1112859657.html

Elon Musk has confirmed X’s plans to sue NGOs funded by US financier George Soros over their alleged attempt to crack down on free speech. What’s the lawsuit about? Who is Mr. Soros? And how has his name come to feature so prominently in many of the most politically disruptive events of the first decades of the 21st century? Sputnik explains.

X CEO Elon Musk dropped a bombshell late Wednesday after confirming that his social media empire would “be filing legal action” to “stop” an attempted crackdown on free speech by politicians and George Soros-funded NGOs justified using trumped-up data on the number of "hate incidents" in the British Isles. “Can’t wait for discovery to start!” Musk wrote.

The billionaire did not elaborate, prompting users and media to speculate on the exact nature of the case.

Musk’s message was a response to a report [https://public.substack.com/p/soros-funded-ngos-demand-crackdown] by an independent Irish journalist accusing authorities in Ireland and Scotland of inflating statistics about “hate-based offenses” to pass a new “hate speech” law which would make it a criminal offense to possess “hateful material” on your person or in your home – including up to a year in prison and a 5,000 euro fine for those refusing to hand over their digital device passwords to the authorities.

The crackdown is reportedly being backed by George Soros-funded non-government organizations (NGOs) accused of supporting a hardline censorship agenda, including by supporting police intervention and the seizure of personal phones and computers, as well as raids on the homes of the accused.

Soros-backed NGOs’ alleged attempts to influence Irish and Scottish government policy are a prime example of soft power.

Soft power, or the use of ideological, cultural, or economic influence rather than force to achieve one’s policy objectives, has been a primary tool of US and European foreign policy from at least the mid-1980s onward. After 1991, Western countries working to build the post-Cold War unipolar world order used soft power tools to spread visions of liberal democracy, free market economics, and "open societies" as "universal values" applicable to all nations. Countries refusing to adhere to these concepts have faced invasions, crushing sanctions, and coup d’états (among them Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Ukraine, just to name a few).

George Soros, 93, has been a staple of Western soft power campaigns for well over 40 years, and is perhaps the single most visible face of such efforts (although certainly not the first or only one). His Open Society Foundations spends around $1.5 billion a year from the financier’s vast hedge fund empire to fund “civil society” groups around the globe.

While conservatives often characterize Soros as a “leftist,” “communist,” or even “neo-Marxist,” his actions in Eastern Europe in the late 1980s and early 1990s reveal that he can best described as a standard social and economic liberal, promoting a vision of the world which both social conservatives and traditional leftists abhor – that is, the spread of a neoliberal political, social, and economic order perhaps best exemplified by academic Francis Fukuyama in his famous 1989 essay "The End of History?" [https://www.jstor.org/stable/24027184]

The Hungarian-born hedge fund manager and financier got his start in soft power "philanthropy" in the 1980s, providing funding for groups promoting radical political, economic, and institutional reforms in the communist nations of Eastern Europe and the USSR. He quickly ramped up the scale and scope of his activities in the region after the collapse of the Eastern Bloc in 1989 and the end of the Soviet Union in 1991.

>>20971176

>Elon Musk has confirmed X’s plans to sue NGOs funded by US financier George Soros over their alleged attempt to crack down on free speech.

“‘Falls short of demonstrating good cause’: Federal judge hands Elon Musk and X a discovery win in ‘thermonuclear’ lawsuit against Media Matters”

https://lawandcrime.com/lawsuit/falls-short-of-demonstrating-good-cause-federal-judge-hands-elon-musk-and-x-a-discovery-win-in-thermonuclear-lawsuit-against-media-matters/

Apr 27th, 2024, 11:17 am

A conservative federal judge in Texas known for repeatedly ruling that Obamacare was unconstitutional granted Elon Musk a discovery win in the X owner’s self-described “thermonuclear lawsuit” against Media Matters, the liberal group that accused the social media company of placing major brands’ ads “next to content that touts Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party.”

Before Musk filed the federal lawsuit, he promised that it would be “thermonuclear” in strength. Musk claimed that Media Matters’ “blatant smear campaign” against X “falsely portrayed” it as a haven for hate and haters to defame the company and harm it financially following Musk’s forced purchase.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor, a George W. Bush appointee, rebuffed Media Matters’ attempt to keep the lawsuit from moving to the discovery phase, writing that the defendant “falls short of demonstrating good cause” to stay discovery pending a ruling on their motion to toss out the case on various grounds.

O’Connor said Media Matters’ claims of having several strong arguments in favor of dismissal weren’t enough for him to “deviate from” the “usual practice” in the Fifth Circuit.

Media Matters has argued that it makes no sense (other than judge-shopping) for the case venue to be in Texas, considering that the allegedly offending Media Matters statements were composed in Maryland and “published” in Washington, D.C., while X is in California. The defendant concluded that Texas jurisdiction “is unavailable” to Musk, “full stop.” The defendant has also asserted that Musk failed to state claim.

In March, a federal judge in California who happens to be the brother of retired Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer threw out a different Musk lawsuit, one that alleged the Center for Countering Digital Hate caused advertisers to flee by reporting that under Musk’s watch X was “overwhelmed with harmful content” after Musk “reinstated tens of thousands of accounts, including neo-Nazis, white supremacists, misogynists and spreaders of dangerous conspiracy theories.”

In that dismissal, which Musk is appealing, Senior U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer concluded that the lawsuit was “about punishing” free speech that X’s owner didn’t like.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/reminder-left-wing-megadonors-have-poured-money-into-media-matters-the-org-trying-to-starve-musks-x/ar-AA1kqwFH

Media Matters for America, the organization that has successfully targeted advertisers on billionaire Elon Musk’s X, formerly known as Twitter, has long been a beneficiary of donations from major institutional liberal donors and organizations connected to the Democratic Party, according to tax documents and grants.

Moreover, left-wing billionaire George Soros’ Open Society Foundations granted the group $500,000 in 2021, according to its grant database. Soros also contributed $1 million to Media Matters in 2010, according to The New York Times.

>>20971069

>Wilmot James, an eminent young black sociologist, took on the job of executive director… founded a Public Information Centre in Idasa.

>>20971100

>Members subscribing to the above views; Dr Wilmot James

>>20917858

>Most of the [Legal Resources Centre's] funding was from outside South Africa. “The funders were fantastic. The first big funder was the Ford Foundation from New York. Then we got money from the Carnegie Corporation in New York, also the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. We got some money from Anglo American, from Harry Oppenheimer.”

“Wilmot James: Innovation and Justice in the World Today”

https://youtu.be/27Sajmo2LDw

Jun 10, 2013

On the Ford Foundation channel

2:23 – “I was a member of the board of Ford [Foundation] from 1996 to 2008… I am absolutely delighted to be here and to see my family again.”

Wilmot James, PhD

https://pandemics.sph.brown.edu/people/wilmot-james-phd

Senior Adviser to the Brown Pandemic Center, Professor of the Practice of Health Services, Policy and Practice at the Brown University School of Public Health

Biography

Dr. James, an internationally recognized thought leader in biosecurity, global health, and pandemic preparedness, is a Senior Advisor to the Pandemic Center and a Professor of the Practice of Health Services, Policy and Practice.

Dr. James has served as Member of Parliament and Shadow Minister of Health in South Africa, and most recently held positions at Columbia University as Senior Research Scholar at the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy and as Chair of the Center for Pandemic Research. He is a highly sought-after consultant for organizations such as the African Society for Laboratory Medicine and the Nuclear Threat Initiative, and serves on the advisory board of Resolve to Save Lives. Dr. James will use his extensive experience to address public health and national security challenges in his role as senior advisor to the Pandemic Center.

>>20896981

>the Wellcome Trust, a British research foundation with a multibillion dollar endowment that had worked with the Gates Foundation in previous years. Finally, there was the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, or CEPI, the international vaccine research and development group that Gates and Wellcome both helped to create in 2017.

>>20971200

“Dr. Wilmot James named as Chair of Wellcome Trust’s Climate Impacts Advisory Committee”

https://pandemics.sph.brown.edu/news/2023-07-26/wilmot-james-wellcome-trust-committee

PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND, July 26, 2023 - Today, the Pandemic Center at the Brown University School of Public Health announced that Wilmot G. James, PhD, has been named Chair of Wellcome’s Climate Impacts Advisory Committee. He is appointed on a three-year term. Dr. James is a Senior Advisor to the Pandemic Center and Professor of the Practice of Health Services, Policy and Practice at Brown University School of Public Health. The Climate Impacts Advisory Committee considers applications for the funding award, “Climate Impacts Awards: Unlocking urgent climate action by making the health effects of climate change visible.”

Wellcome’s Climate Impacts Awards fund short-term, high-impact projects that combine evidence generation with communications and/or public engagement to make these impacts of climate change more visible. These projects will drive urgent climate policy and practice change at scale. The expert Committee, made up of a diverse group of scientists, policy-makers, communicators and community leaders convened the first meeting with an interim Chair, Professor Peter Diggle of Lancaster University, in early July. Dr. James will assume the Chair moving forward. The first round of awards will be announced shortly.

“I am honored to be asked to serve as Chair of this important committee, and to work with Wellcome’s expert team in this area. We need to urgently address the causes of climate change, as well as coming up with innovative solutions to limit the harm done to people’s health today. I am delighted as I am fortunate to be exposed to cutting edge policy proposals that build on the opportunities we have to improve people, animal, plant and planetary health,” said Dr. James.

Dr. Madeleine Thomson, Head of Climate Impacts & Adaptation at Wellcome, said:

“Our health is one of the first ways many of us will directly feel the impacts of climate change. The recent heatwaves are a reminder of this as people suffer from the extreme weather fueled by climate change all over the world.

“Not every climate impact on health is this visible. The purpose of these awards is to make the links clear and inspire solutions to help drive policy change.

“We are delighted to appoint Dr. James as Committee Chair and believe his leadership will help us in identifying high impact research that aims to protect people from the worst effects of climate change.”

As Senior Advisor to the Pandemic Center at Brown University, Dr. James works with an interdisciplinary team, led by Jennifer Nuzzo, DrPH, that takes a holistic approach to pandemic preparedness. This no-stone-unturned approach expands beyond a typical epidemiological lens and includes, among its many priorities, examining climate change's impacts on biological emergencies and working to increase resilience to them. Dr. James’ position with the Wellcome Climate Impacts Advisory Committee will allow him to significantly bolster his expertise in this area and further contribute to the Pandemic Center’s goals in climate change.

“Our changing climate, and its contributions to the spread of infectious diseases, is having profound impacts on public health. Given the stakes of this issue, it was no surprise to me that Wilmot James was selected to Chair this distinguished committee. Dr. James is a top global leader on health security threats and has an impressive record of being able to solve tough problems. I look forward to the progress that his leadership will spur.” said Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo, Director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University.

Wellcome is a global charitable foundation that works to improve health and save lives using science. They focus on three worldwide health challenges: mental health, infectious disease and climate and health. The Pandemic Center at Brown University’s School of Public Health strives to reduce vulnerabilities and increase resilience to pandemics, other biological emergencies, and the harms they pose to health, peace, security, and prosperity.

For more information about the Committee, the awards, or the application process, see Wellcome’s website, https://wellcome.org/grant-funding/schemes/climate-impacts-awards.

>>20970999

>[Stéphén Dǻrori] Activist in Mapam and then founding member of Ratz prior to the formation of Meretz.

“Israel Political Parties: Meretz”

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/meretz-political-party

Meretz (“Energy,” in Hebrew) is a left-wing, social-democratic political party in Israel.

Meretz was originally founded in 1992 through a union of three other left wing political parties – Ratz, Mapam and Shinui. Ratz’s leader, veteran Knesset member Shualmit Aloni was pegged as the new party’s leader on their electoral list.

On October 22, 2002, Meretz MK Uzi Even made history by becoming the first openly gay Member of Knesset. His term lasted less than three months, however, as the Knesset was dissolved in January 2003.

In December 2003, Meretz disbanded and merged with Yossi Beilin’s non-parliamentary Shahar (שח"ר) movement and became the Yachad (Hebrew: יח"ד) Party, which means “Together” and is also a Hebrew acronym for Social-Democratic Israel (Hebrew: ישראל חברתית דמוקרטית, Yisrael Hevratit Demokratit).

The party’s purpose was to unite a variety of dovish Zionist movements with the Labor Party. In March 2004, Beilin was elected party leader. In July 2005, the party changed its name to Meretz-Yachad. The party reverted to the name Meretz for the 2006 election, but the outcome was worse. The party won just five seats.

Meretz calls for an end to the occupation and for reaching an agreement that will lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside the State of Israel. We believe that Israel should adopt the Arab League initiative and that the Israeli government should declare on its own initiative that it adheres to a political settlement based on the partition of the land based on the 1967 borders. Meretz calls for an immediate freeze on the settlement enterprise.

Meretz will fight for the defense of democracy and civic equality. Israel is a democratic state, a state of the Jewish people and a state of all its citizens. The status of every citizen without distinction on the basis of nationality must be equal. Meretz will fight manifestations of racism, nationalism and fascism. Meretz will fight against anti-democratic legislative initiatives, against the damage to the judicial system, the press, academia and freedom of expression.

Meretz offers a fair, just and transparent socio-democratic economic alternative , out of deep recognition of the state’s responsibility for its citizens. Meretz will promote a welfare state that includes regulation, effective supervision and promotion of workers’ rights. Will act to reform the tax system and to revolutionize the labor market. Meretz will lead a wide range of social services to the public in the fields of health, education, housing and welfare. Meretz will act to change the priorities of the state budget and will fight privatization.

Meretz will continue to lead the struggle for environmental justice. We will promote a policy of conservation versus development, protection of natural resources, and animal rights.

Meretz sees the education system as the most important resource for the establishment of a successful and successful society, and will work to promote free, equal and equal education for all Israeli children.

In the April 2019 election, Meretz won just four seats. Following the poor result, Meretz chose journalist and former MK Nitzan Horowitz as its new party leader. Horowitz is the first openly gay leader of a political party in Israel.

On July 25, 2019, Meretz agreed to form a joint list – the Democratic Union – with the new Democratic Israel Party created by former Labor Prime Minister Ehud Barak. The party won five seats in the September 2019 election.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meretz

In addition to being a full member of Socialist International and the Progressive Alliance, it has participated in Global Greens conferences.[44] In the international media, Meretz has been described as left-wing, social-democratic, dovish, secular, civil libertarian and anti-occupation.

https://www.jewishpress.com/news/israel/israeli-arabs/meretzs-arab-mk-calls-for-direct-negotiations-with-hamas/2021/08/24/

August 24, 2021

Meretz’s Arab Minister [Esawi Frej] Calls for Direct Negotiations with Hamas

>>20971236

Ever since October 7th, commentators, scholars, politicians, and Israeli officials alike have referred to the terrorist attack as a hyper-charged version of “Israel's 9/11.” https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2023/11/why-the-oct-7-attack-wasnt-israels-9-11.html

Curiously, after the October 7 Hamas attack…

“Former general Golan [former Meretz MP] wins Israeli Labour party leadership”

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/former-general-golan-wins-israeli-labour-party-leadership-2024-05-28/

May 28, 20242:32 PM EDT

JERUSALEM, May 28 (Reuters) - Israel's center-left Labour party elected as its new leader Yair Golan, a former general who won widespread acclaim for rescuing people during the Oct 7 Hamas attack, the party said on Tuesday.

Golan, a military reservist who formerly served as a member of parliament for the left-wing Meretz party, won 95% of the party vote.

He was hailed as a hero in Israel after he rushed on his own initiative to the area around Gaza on the morning of the Oct. 7 attack and rescued people from a music festival that had been overrun by Hamas gunmen in a deadly assault that led to Israel's massive ongoing retaliation.

The Labour party, once a dominant force in Israeli politics, has shrunk to a tiny rump, winning just four seats in the 2022 election that saw Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu win an unprecedented sixth term.

In his campaign video, Golan said Israel could not continue on its current trajectory and that "together we can create an Israel that is free and democratic and strong." He invited voters to join "a journey to save the state."

https://www.jns.org/former-meretz-lawmaker-wins-labor-party-leadership-primary/

(May 29, 2024 / JNS)

Golan’s victory had been expected as the hard-left politician had led the polls over the other candidates—Avi Shaked, Azi Nagar and Itai Leshem.

Labor MK Naama Lazimi, who is facing criminal charges over her role in illegal anti-government protests, praised Golan: “I congratulate my friend Yair Golan on a resounding victory for the party leadership. His victory is the first step in building a large and united democratic camp that will bring tremendous news to the citizens of Israel and the state.”

As part of his campaign, Golan vowed to unify all left-wing parties into a single voting bloc. Recent polls indicate that if the Jewish state were to hold an election, the Labor Party and the far-left Meretz Party would win five and four mandates, respectively, in Israel’s 120-seat parliament.

There was some controversy about the primary’s results. Just hours before the vote, the Supreme Court accepted an appeal filed by Golan and the party, ruling that Tuesday’s results would be final and absolute.

The Tel Aviv District Court had previously ruled that the primary results would be “conditional” and require the party conference’s approval.

[Also this attack ended the strikes in Israel]

“The return of liberal Zionism?”

https://www.vox.com/23954323/return-of-liberal-zionism-israel

Dec 12, 2023, 11:00 AM UTC

The massacre by Hamas on October 7 and subsequent war in Gaza has created the conditions for something surprising: a resurrection of the liberal Zionist political tradition.

Prior to October 7, liberal Zionism appeared defeated: broken by the failure of the 1990s peace process and subsequent collapse of the left-wing Israeli parties that stood for its ideals. And on its face, this moment seems like a poor time for a revival.

This was not for lack of effort: In the 1990s, the spirit of liberal Zionism pervaded Israeli politics. The government passed two major new Basic Laws (the Israeli equivalent of constitutional amendments), historic protections for human rights that Supreme Court Justice Aharon Barak famously termed a “constitutional revolution.” Around the same time, Israel reached two agreements with the Palestinians — called the Oslo Accords — that created the Palestinian Authority as an interim step toward a full Palestinian state.

But the peace process collapsed into violence, making the 2000s a decade of nearly continuous war with Palestinians. Liberal Zionism was a casualty of these conflicts.

The ANC party that freed South Africa from apartheid loses its 30-year majority in landmark election

With more than 99% of votes counted, the once-dominant African National Congress had received just over 40% in Wednesday’s election, after a massive drop in support.

June 1, 2024

By Associated Press

JOHANNESBURG — The African National Congress party lost its parliamentary majority in a historic election result Saturday that puts South Africa on a new political path for the first time since the end of the apartheid system of white minority rule 30 years ago.

With more than 99% of votes counted, the once-dominant ANC had received just over 40% in Wednesday’s election, well short of the majority it had held since the famed all-race vote of 1994 that ended apartheid and brought it to power under Nelson Mandela. The final results are still to be formally declared by the independent electoral commission that ran the election, but the ANC cannot pass 50%.

At the start of the election, the commission said it would formally declare the results by Sunday, but that could come earlier.

While opposition parties have hailed the result as a momentous breakthrough for a country struggling with deep poverty and inequality, the ANC remained the biggest party by some way. However, it will now likely need to look for a coalition partner or partners to remain in the government and reelect President Cyril Ramaphosa for a second and final term. Parliament elects the South African president after national elections.

“The way to rescue South Africa is to break the ANC’s majority and we have done that,” said main opposition leader John Steenhuisen.

The way forward promises to be complicated for Africa’s most advanced economy, and there’s no coalition on the table yet.

Steenhuisen’s Democratic Alliance party was on around 21% of the vote. The new MK Party of former President Jacob Zuma, who has turned against the ANC he once led, was third with just over 14% of the vote in the first election it has contested. The Economic Freedom Fighters was in fourth with just over 9%.

More than 50 parties contested the election, many of them with tiny shares of the vote, but the DA and MK appear to be the most obvious for the ANC to approach, given how far it is from a majority. Which coalition the ANC pursues is the urgent focus now, given Parliament needs to sit and elect a president within 14 days of the final election results being officially declared. A flurry of negotiations are set to take place and they will likely be complicated.

Steenhuisen has said his centrist party is open to discussions. The MK Party said one of their conditions for any agreement was that Ramaphosa is removed as ANC leader and president. That underlined the fierce political battle between Zuma, who resigned as South African president under a cloud of corruption allegations in 2018, and Ramaphosa, who replaced him.

“We are willing to negotiate with the ANC, but not the ANC of Cyril Ramaphosa,” MK Party spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndlela said.

MK and the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters have called for parts of the economy to be nationalized. The Democratic Alliance is viewed as a business-friendly party and analysts say an ANC-DA coalition would be more welcomed by foreign investors, although there are questions over whether it is politically viable considering the DA has been the most critical opposition party for years.

An ANC-DA coalition “would be a marriage of two drunk people in Las Vegas. It will never work,” Gayton McKenzie, the leader of the smaller Patriotic Alliance party, told South African media.

The ANC has also been blamed — and now punished by voters — for a failure in basic government services that impacts millions and leaves many without water, electricity or proper housing.

Nearly 28 million South Africans were registered to vote and turnout is expected to be around 60%, according to figures from the independent electoral commission.

More:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/south-africas-ruling-anc-brink-losing-majority-landmark-election-resul-rcna155007

Cape Town Tells Port to Do Better After Being Ranked Last in World

By Paul Burkhardt (Bloomberg) — June 7, 2024

The Port of Cape Town was urged to do better by the city that surrounds it after ranking last globally, even as South Africa’s state-run logistics firm took steps to improve performance.

The container terminal came 405th on The Container Port Performance Index 2023 that’s based on vessel time in port, the World Bank said in the report published Wednesday. State-owned Transnet SOC Ltd. is trying to bring in private operators and upgrade old equipment to curb the losses suffered by South Africa’s economy due to hampered mineral exports and ships waiting to unload.

“The inefficiencies at our port not only impede the flow of goods but also significantly hamper our economic growth,” the City of Cape Town said in a statement on Friday. It called for more integration of the private sector to boost performance.

The World Bank added 57 new ports to the index this year and South African harbors took up the last two spots with the Port of Ngqura coming in at 404th. Durban, the nation’s biggest terminal, was the eighth worst.

At a visit to Cape Town operations last month, Oscar Borchards, Transnet’s acting managing executive for terminals in the Western Cape province, described a plan to increase capacity. New equipment to load and unload ships will be able to operate in higher wind speeds, avoiding the problem of worsening weather when gusts force the port to shut.

A recent fruit export season was a challenging period when the need for upgrades “really hit us,” according to Borchards. “We are seeing changes already in terms of improvement, in terms of productivity,” he said. “As the equipment comes up and, and the technology comes into play step by step, it’ll improve.”

https://gcaptain.com/cape-town-tells-port-to-do-better-after-being-ranked-last-in-world/

So ignore South Africa again and use the AGOA carrot with Angola?

General Research #25768 >>21013164

Angola pens a new military agreement with the US as Washington attempts to increase its influence in Africa

A military cooperation agreement signed last week by Angola and the US will “allow closer logistical assistance between the armed forces” of the two countries.

Tressa Guenov, US principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, and Afonso Carlos Neto, Angolan secretary of state for material resources and infrastructure of the ministry of defence, signed the agreement at the first meeting of the US-Angola Joint Defense Committee in Washington DC.

The two countries will also pursue a closer security relationship, a point of discussion for the next meeting of the committee, scheduled for 2025 in Luanda.

[See more: The US and Angola have finalised a US$1.3 billion infrastructure investment deal]

The two-day meeting was announced last week during a visit by Angola’s defence minister João Ernesto dos Santos to the Pentagon, where he met with his US counterpart, Lloyd Austin.

Ernesto dos Santos noted that the geopolitical area in which Angola is located requires special attention due to the deep historical, geographic, economic and cultural complexities of the communities it encompasses.

https://macaonews.org/news/lusofonia/angola-us-military-pact/

General Research #25771 >>21015471

The Petrodollar deal has expired

As part of the effort to maintain the World Reserve Currency dominance of the US Dollar, Sec of State Henry Kissinger in 1974 brokered a 50 year deal with the Saudis for oil trade would be dominated by US Dollars.

This was needed after loss in confidence in the US Dollar after Nixon "temporarily" suspended the Gold Standard in August 1971.

Now there is no Gold Standard and there is no PetroDollar. Another crack in the dominance of the US Dollar.

BRICS News

🇸🇦 🇺🇸 Saudi Arabia's 50-year-old petrodollar agreement with the United States has expired, with no new agreement in place.

Saudi Arabia will now sell oil in multiple currencies, including the Chinese RMB, Euros, Yen, and Yuan, instead of exclusively in US dollars.

BRICS News

https://x.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1801061788160516147