Charlie Chaplin, The Great Dictator Closing Speech (Text)
I’m sorry but I don’t want to be an Emperor, that’s not my business. I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible, Jew, gentile, black man, white. We all want to help one another, human beings are like that. We all want to live by each other’s happiness, not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone and the earth is rich and can provide for everyone.
The way of life can be free and beautiful. But we have lost the way.
Greed has poisoned men’s souls, has barricaded the world with hate;
has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed.
We have developed speed but we have shut ourselves in:
machinery that gives abundance has left us in want.
Our knowledge has made us cynical,
our cleverness hard and unkind.
We think too much and feel too little:
More than machinery we need humanity;
More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness.
Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.
The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men, cries out for universal brotherhood for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men, women and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me I say “Do not despair”.
The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress: the hate of men will pass and dictators die and the power they took from the people, will return to the people and so long as men die [now] liberty will never perish. . .
Soldiers: don’t give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you and enslave you, who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think and what to feel, who drill you, diet you, treat you as cattle, as cannon fodder.
Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men, machine men, with machine minds and machine hearts. You are not machines. You are not cattle. You are men. You have the love of humanity in your hearts. You don’t hate, only the unloved hate. Only the unloved and the unnatural. Soldiers: don’t fight for slavery, fight for liberty.
In the seventeenth chapter of Saint Luke it is written:
“The kingdom of God is within man”
Not one man, nor a group of men, but in all men; in you, the people.
You the people have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness. You the people have the power to make life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then in the name of democracy let’s use that power, let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give you the future and old age and security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power, but they lie. They do not fulfill their promise, they never will. Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people. Now let us fight to fulfill that promise. Let us fight to free the world, to do away with national barriers, do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness.
Soldiers! In the name of democracy, let us all unite!
. . .
Look up! Look up! The clouds are lifting, the sun is breaking through. We are coming out of the darkness into the light. We are coming into a new world. A kind new world where men will rise above their hate and brutality.
The soul of man has been given wings, and at last he is beginning to fly. He is flying into the rainbow, into the light of hope, into the future, that glorious future that belongs to you, to me and to all of us. Look up. Look up.
The Unconquerable Inscription by Bertolt Brecht
During the war
In a cell of the Italian prison in San Carlo
Full of imprisoned soldiers, drunks and thieves
A socialist soldier, with an indelible pencil, scratched on the wall:
Long live Lenin!
High above, in the semi-dark cell, hardly visible, but
Written in large letters.
As the warders saw it, they sent for a painter with a bucket of lime.
And with a long stemmed brush he whitewashed the threatening inscription.
Since, however, with his lime, he painted over the letters only
Stood above in the cell, now in chalk:
Long live Lenin!
Next another painter daubed over the whole stretch with a broad brush
So that for hours it disappeared, but towards morning
As the lime dried, the inscription underneath was again conspicuous:
Long live Lenin!
Then dispatched the warder a bricklayer with a chisel against the inscription
And he scratched out letter by letter, one hour long
And as he was done, now colourless, but up above in the wall
But deeply carved, stood the unconquerable inscription:
Long live Lenin!
Now, said the soldier, get rid of the wall!
Watched “Corporation” Yesterday,
and liked it very much.
So,
what do I usually rant about? Politics, Israeli politics. Out of a million things that do piss me off, this is mostly the one I am willing to sit down, basically waste my time, and write about it.
Whatever…
So, what’s new?
Plenty.
1. Now I understand Lieberman’s role in the new government.
At first I was appalled, as everybody was, by the decision to appoint Mr. Lieberman as Foreign Minister. I mean, he’s the one that appointed Netaniyahu as Prime Minister, so why not return a favor. Not only that, but now I am beginning to understand Mr. Netaniyahu better. Every “good cop” needs a “bad cop” for the routine to work. And who’s up for “bad cop” role if not the “Bad Lieutenant” himself – Mr. Lieberman.
As far as real and stable peace agreements go, here in Israel, usually they were made and upheld by the Right (yes you are reading this correctly) rather then the Left. However, there’s no more Left in Israeli politics (thanks to Mr. Barack), so I am sort of all for this “good-bad cop” thing. It may bring something else to the table.
Moreover, as far as the Arab side goes, it is most likely that they will find a way to talk to Lieberman, because it is as simple as their usual approach. They do not respect whom they don’t fear. At least a little. So, as hard as this may be for me to admit, yes, Lieberman is the right choice. I just hope Netaniyahu doesn’t fuck up the “good cop” side of it.
2. I also understand Netaniyahu’s economic policy better now.
Lies and deceit. Simple. Effective. Plus stupidity on top.
So what is Netaniyahu trying to achieve? Same thing as President Obama or any other leader in the capitalist world. They want the “middle class” spending money. Simple. This whole huge machinery called economics or the banking system (capitalism in general) is nothing more than an enormous pyramid scheme waiting to collapse. So whenever it sort of shows that side, all capitalist governments jump up and down in an attempt to convince (or confuse) us into thinking that everything will be OK. With the help of media of course.
Because, what is capitalism all about? The rich getting richer on the account of the poor. Simple and effective. So, all in all, as soon as the “middle class” starts spending money, the machine moves on, and on, and on…
The thing is Mr. Netaniyahu is smart. Before the elections he commits to lowering taxes. That’s a great move. Nobody else does a crazy thing like this in the midst of an economic crisis. Right? By doing so, he wins the elections. Then, after the elections he increases taxes on cigarettes, alcohol and gas (which is OK) and adds VAT on fruit and vegetables. Now, that’s the real catch 22. Everybody needs to eat. EVERYBODY buys food and vegetables. Right!
Bottom line, in a true hardcore capitalist move Mr. Netaniyahu ensures popularity plus spending and even more money for the government. Cheers! That was a great move. Lowering the taxes for the higher classes (about 14%) and adding 17% VAT on an everyday commodity (basic food). You do the math, it’s simple. THEY WIN!
On the other side, to be honest, Mr. Netaniyahu never said or committed to assisting the lower classes. I guess, it’s only fair, as long as we understand that, but most of us don’t.
And, finally, the touch of stupidity on top. I heard this a few weeks ago, but now it is public. The Treasury Ministry was toying around with the idea of collecting taxes on people’s e-mails, about 3 cents per mail plus 2 cents per attachment. I mean, although the Treasury has denied it officially, how stupid can you get? Tax me for something I don’t event pay for to begin with? Talk to Google, not me.
In conclusion, it ain’t all that bad as it looks. It is actually going to be very bad, seriously…
Thank you for listening,
CAPUT58
Peace Agreements (1989 Onwards)
“The Peace Agreements Digital Collection, part of the Margarita S. Studemeister Digital Library in International Conflict Management, strives to contain the full text of agreements signed by the major contending parties ending inter- and intra-state conflicts worldwide since 1989. It is a collection constantly under development by the Jeannette Rankin Library Program as a means to strengthen worldwide access to information on peaceful means to end international conflict.”
With a special section for Middle East: http://www.usip.org/library/pa.html#middleeast
Good morning, Neualtland!
If we, Jews, learned from our own mistakes, many disasters could have been avoided. I will not get into each and every mistake and each and every possible solution we’ve missed. I’ll concentrate on the latest one:
“Good morning to you Mr. Netaniyahu! How’s your first day at the job? Having fun?”
Yesterday was fun. We had our new government swearing in and what a swearing that was. Even I got offended and I really don’t care about politics.
30 ministers. A quarter of our national assembly are ministers! For God’s sake people. Lets make all 120 ministers and get it over with! And then there are their offices. Such creativity in creating them. A Minister for Secret Services and The Atomic Energy?! WTF? And we are worried about Iran? Our Ministers have worse and funnier titles then Iranians could come up with or even Joseph Goebbels himself. And so on, and so on…
And of course, we should not forget the brilliant mind behind all of this, Mr. Netaniyahu. Seriously, I am surprised and somewhat disappointed that Mr. Peres actually went on and let him construct the government, it is like we forgot what happened just a few years back.
And finally, the death sentence to the Left in Israel was given by utter and swine like opportunism displayed by The Labor Party and especially Mr. Barack and Mr. Ben Eliezer. You two will be remembered in history as the ones that successfully dismantled the Left in Israel!
“Good morning, Neualtland!”
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