![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tcpipI have written a lengthy (3000 word) piece on the Isocracy website about the current situation in Syria, Peace without Justice in Syria, which follows on from a piece over five years ago, Peace with Justice in Syria. To give a summary form, I think that in the coming months we'll see an effective breakup of the country, in fact if not officially recognised. Turkey and the Turkish FSA will take control over Idlib and the north-west, Rojava will be backed by NATO forces and may even declare independence, and sporadic skirmishes will continue. The hopes of the revolution, at least in the short-term, have been dashed by actual facts, and the two most important facts have been the massive Russian intervention on the government's side, and Turkey acting as both the biggest supporter of the FSA, and the biggest opponent of the SDF - which effectively ends the revolution, for there is no way they could take the Assad regime down whilst the FSA and SDF were not working together.
It is the second piece on the Isocracy website this week, the first being a statement on guaranteed minimum income which was approved by the committee. Out of aesthetic and respectful reasons, I ensured that it was posted on 18:01, April 4, Memphis Time - exactly fifty years after Martin Luther King Jnr, was assassinated, and follows on from the address to the local Unitarian church I gave recently on Remembering Martin Luther King, Jnr. His is a message which I think is still highly relevant today; not only for matters of social justice (ending racial discrimination, opposition to imperialist wars, and the abolition of poverty), but also in terms of political strategy (use of non-violent direct action in liberal democracies). I confess to being highly moved by his speeches, and am a little disappointed that apart from a few articles, there wasn't the groundswell of interest on the fiftieth anniversary of his death. The past, I suppose, is another country.
I've been to a few social events this week, which is a little more out of character. It actually started last weekend with a lovely dinner with Holly and Luke in Richmond, with a decidedly Mexican orientation; I brought a bottle of mezcal to add to the style, quite a tasty smokey flavour. During the week also caught up with Damien and Jacqui at the pleasant Water Drop Restaurant in the city, who were taking![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
caseopaya out for a belated birthday. On Friday went to Charmaine's birthday drinks at the Daddy Bar in Brunswick, and last night visited Brendan E., where we finished off the last season of the The New Legends of Monkey (I have, with some cultural appropriateness, just finished the first book of Dream of the Red Chamber). There was, of course, a gaming session as well among all this, specifically, our second playtest session of the Jane Austen inspired RPG, Good Society.
It is the second piece on the Isocracy website this week, the first being a statement on guaranteed minimum income which was approved by the committee. Out of aesthetic and respectful reasons, I ensured that it was posted on 18:01, April 4, Memphis Time - exactly fifty years after Martin Luther King Jnr, was assassinated, and follows on from the address to the local Unitarian church I gave recently on Remembering Martin Luther King, Jnr. His is a message which I think is still highly relevant today; not only for matters of social justice (ending racial discrimination, opposition to imperialist wars, and the abolition of poverty), but also in terms of political strategy (use of non-violent direct action in liberal democracies). I confess to being highly moved by his speeches, and am a little disappointed that apart from a few articles, there wasn't the groundswell of interest on the fiftieth anniversary of his death. The past, I suppose, is another country.
I've been to a few social events this week, which is a little more out of character. It actually started last weekend with a lovely dinner with Holly and Luke in Richmond, with a decidedly Mexican orientation; I brought a bottle of mezcal to add to the style, quite a tasty smokey flavour. During the week also caught up with Damien and Jacqui at the pleasant Water Drop Restaurant in the city, who were taking
caseopaya out for a belated birthday. On Friday went to Charmaine's birthday drinks at the Daddy Bar in Brunswick, and last night visited Brendan E., where we finished off the last season of the The New Legends of Monkey (I have, with some cultural appropriateness, just finished the first book of Dream of the Red Chamber). There was, of course, a gaming session as well among all this, specifically, our second playtest session of the Jane Austen inspired RPG, Good Society.