Links 19/6/19

Politics:  

"This administration has established concentration camps on the southern border of the United States for immigrants, where they are being brutalized with dehumanizing conditions and dying.

This is not hyperbole. It is the conclusion of expert analysis" 

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter, June 18, 2019

Over the last three years, I have found it increasingly difficult to follow the news, which was a first in my whole life - I've followed politics closely for as long as I can remember, so the tiredness that set in after the United Kingdom European Union Membership referendum and the election of Donald Trump was unexpected to an extent. It coincided with a lot of personal changes, most literally the amount of time that I have every day to do anything of my own choosing - but I guess now we're at a point where it seems irresponsible to continue in that fashion. 

The article that Representative Ocasio-Cortez cites gives a historical view of the term concentration camps, which covers a number of historical events apart from those of the Nazis, and what is happening at the border in the United States at the moment is comparable to some of those historical incidents. And in any case, a discussion of the finer points here seems out of place, as any such attention to detail has been repeatedly  mocked over the last few years, as things have spiralled further and further away from anything that would resemble a normal presidency. 

Elsewhere, Hong Kong residents marched in the comparatively largest protests of modern history (Hong Kong has about 7.4 million inhabits, of which approximately 2 million marched against a new extradition bill with mainland China). The protests managed to force Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam to apologise for the attempt to force the bill through and has put that bill on hold, but it has not been withdrawn. As a reminder of the kind of world that we now live in, residents decided to purchase paper tickets after participating in protests as leaving a digital trace with their metro cards may have put them in danger of later being identified and arrested for dissent. 

An ultimate summary of everything we do not know about the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, in the Atlantic. 

Afropunk summarises how the the attempts to censor and forcefully change Caster Semenya's body is an example of the intersection of the gender-binary being used as a weapon by white supremacy. 

Pop Culture: 

Films: Bisexual ultimate heaven Men in Black International, a first look at The Goldfinch, much anticipated The Farewell. 

New music by Kate Tempest (and a whole album, The Book of Traps and Lessons), a new song by Team Dresch, and a first release from an upcoming album by Sleater-Kinney, produced by St Vincent, titled The Center Won't Hold, another solid return to Joan Didion references after "Can't get that monster out of my mind").