IWW organises Starbucks Workers

The IWW has a Starbucks Union in the US, good for them. May the Wobblies rise again.

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A reason to eat fish…

Poster by Charles Livingston Bull, Save the Products of the Land – Eat more fish – they feed themselves., 1917 ca.

Tokyo Times

This blog is fast becoming a favourite. There’s just something about the strangeness of it all that I find quite appealing. Not for sensitive viewers or those monitored by freedom-hating bosses.

Buddhists are Anarchists?

Found this in my inbox:

I just wanted to point out that despite the fact that Buddhism is anarchist, in the sense that we believe in social unity and equality, you have nothing for us in your philosophical links. I heavily recommend you check El Buddha out, seeing as you don’t suck. We are like rage against the machine, but without the rage.

While I’m glad I don’t suck, I have my doubts about Buddhism as a form of anarchism. From the above, it seems the author is equating Buddhism with the left-friendly definition of socialism, which is that we work together in a collective manner to achieve good things for the benefit of society as a whole.

My knowledge of Buddhism isn’t that great (in fact, improving my knowledge about it does not factor high in the list of priorities), I’ll take a flyer here and state that being a Buddhist doesn’t necessarily make you an anarchist. Can you be a Buddhist and believe in the correctness of a State? Sure, Tibet, for example.

Is Buddhism a form of socialism? Hell, I don’t know. Comment your thoughts, or not.

Btw, here are two definitions of socialism for the sake of common reference:

One:

socialism (sou.Saliz’m). a. Fr. socialisme (1832), or independently f. social a. + -ism.

1. A theory or policy of social organization which aims at or advocates the ownership and control of the means of production, capital, land, property, etc., by the community as a whole, and their administration or distribution in the interests of all.

2. A state of society in which things are held or used in common.

Two:

Socialism refers to a broad array of doctrines or political movements that envisage a socio-economic system in which property and the distribution of wealth are subject to social control. As an economic system, socialism is usually associated with state or collective ownership of the means of production. This control, according to socialists, may be either direct, exercised through popular collectives such as workers’ councils, or it may be indirect, exercised on behalf of the people by the state.

Say goodbye to Bluefin Tuna

The only thing that surprised me about this news item…

Bluefin tuna stocks in the Mediterranean Sea and East Atlantic Ocean are on the brink of extinction because of rampant illicit fishing, the environmental group WWF said on Wednesday.

A report by the WWF said that bluefin tuna catches are at least 40 percent higher than an internationally-approved quota of 32 000 tonnes, and are deliberately under-reported at official level.

It called for the immediate closure of bluefin tuna fishing in the area, followed by an agreement this year on a “strong recovery plan and strict management measures”.

Otherwise “we will most likely face the total commercial and biological extinction of the Mediterranean and Eastern Atlantic bluefin tuna,” the report warned.

…was that there was still some bluefin left.

For WWF reports on our campaign to eradicate marine life, go here.

Above: A 1496lbs bluefin tuna caught in Canada way back on October 26, 1979.

Whale meat in Japan

According to this blog, even the Japanese don’t like whale meat and stores are virtually giving the stuff away. Even the dogs don’t seem too keen on it. Thanks to Dale for the link.

Tamerlane

Tamerlane, aka the Scourge of God (originally attributed to Attila the Hun and later proclaimed by Ghengis Khan), was not a man to be trifled with. He was the second great Khan, and sought to finish what Ghengis Khan had started. When his armies captured Baghdad in 1401, the massacred 20,000 inhabitants and reduced Baghdad to rubble. His soldiers were ordered to return with at least two severed heads. This kind of brutality was standard operating practice. In Tamerlane’s own words, when describing his invasion of India in 1389 and right before the sack of Delhi, gives us an idea of the Mongol approach to conquest:

At this Court Amir Jahan Shah and Amir Sulaiman Shah, and other amirs of experience, brought to my notice that, from the time of entering Hindustan up to the present time, we had taken more than 100,000 infidels and Hindus prisoners, and that they were all in my camp. On the previous day, when the enemy’s forces made the attack upon us, the prisoners made signs of rejoicing, uttered imprecations against us, and were ready, as soon as they heard of the enemy’s success, to form themselves into a body, break their bonds, plunder our tents, and then to go and join the enemy, and so increase his numbers and strength. I asked their advice about the prisoners, and they said that on the great day of battle these 100,000 prisoners could not be left with the baggage, and that it would be entirely opposed to the rules of war to set these idolaters and foes of Islam at liberty. In fact, no other course remained but that of making them all food for the sword. When I heard these words I found them in accord with the rules of war, and I directly gave my command for the Tawachis to proclaim throughout the camp that every man who had infidel prisoners was to put them to death, and whoever neglected to do so should himself be executed and his property given to the informer. When this order became known to the ghazis of Islam, they drew their swords and put their prisoners to death. 100,000 infidels, impious idolaters, were on that day slain. Maulana Nasiru-d din ‘Umar, a counsellor and man of learning, who, in all his life, had never killed a sparrow, now, in execution of my order, slew with his sword fifteen idolatrous Hindus, who were his captives.

The Mongol Solution to counter-insurency; slaugter everyone.

The construction Bibi-Khanym Mosque was a direct result of Tamerlane’s invasion of India. Tamerlane (also known as Timor) tells us how he did it:

I ordered that all the artisans and clever mechanics, who were masters of their respective crafts, should be picked out from among the prisoners [from the sack of Delhi] and set aside, and accordingly some thousands of craftsmen were selected to await my command. All these I distributed among the princes and amirs who were present, or who were engaged officially in other parts of my dominions. I had determined to build a Masjid-i jami in Samarkand, the seat of my empire, which should be without a rival in any country; so I ordered that all builders and stone-masons should be set apart for my own especial service.

Edgar Allen Poe immortalised Samarkand in his poem Tamerlane (first published Poe poem, btw):

Look ’round thee now on Samarcand! —
Is not she queen of Earth? her pride
Above all cities? in her hand
Their destinies? in all beside
Of glory which the world hath known
Stands she not nobly and alone?
Falling — her veriest stepping-stone
Shall form the pedestal of a throne —
And who her sovereign? Timour — he
Whom the astonished people saw
Striding o’er empires haughtily
A diadem’d outlaw —

Oddly enough, Tamerlane’s justification wiping out Jats during the invasion of India (which built the great mosque), has a vaguely modern ring to it (bold added):

On the 8th of the month I marched from Ahruni, through the jungle to a village called Tohana. In answer to the inquiries I made about the inhabitants, I learned that they were a robust race, and were called Jats. They were Musulmans only in name and had not their equals in theft and highway robbery. They plundered caravans upon the road, and were a terror to Musulmans and travelers. They had now abandoned the village and had fled to the sugar-cane fields, the valleys, and the jungles. When these facts reached my ears I prepared a force which I placed under the direction of Tokal Bahadur, son of the Hindu Karkarra, and sent it against the Jats. They accordingly marched into the sugar-canes and jungles. I also sent Maulana Nasiru-d din in pursuit of them. When these forces overtook the Jats they put 200 to the sword and made the rest prisoners. A large stock of cattle was captured, and my soldiers returned to camp.

It was again brought to my knowledge that these turbulent Jats were as numerous as ants or locusts, and that no, traveler or merchant passed unscathed from their hands. They had now taken flight, and had gone into jungles and deserts hard to penetrate. A few of them had been killed, but it was my fixed determination to clear from thieves and robbers every country that I subdued, so that the servants of God, and Musulmans and travellers might be secure from their violence. My great object in invading Hindustan had been to wage a religious war against the infidel Hindus, and it now appeared to me that it was necessary for me to put down these Jats and to deliver travelers from their hands.