Nike begint reclame campagne met Colin Kaepernick, de 'American' football speler die knielde tijdens het volkslied

Colin Kaepernick, de 'American' football speler, werd uitgekotst nadat hij volkomen terecht uit protest tegen het grote aantal moorden door de politie in de VS op gekleurde VS burgers*, knielde tijdens het volkslied i.p.v. te staan met de hand op het hart. (ha! ha! ha! ha!)  Gekleurde burgers die jaarlijks (veelal) zonder enige reden worden doodgeschoten door de politie...... E.e.a. ingegeven door de Black Lives Matter (BLM) beweging, die zich het lot van de zwarte bevolking in de VS aantrekt. 

Staan met de hand op het hart voor het belachelijke volkslied van de VS, onderdeel van ceremonies die een genocide op de oorspronkelijke bewoners moet verdoezelen en er bij de kinderen al instampt dat de VS het door god gegeven land (aan de import burgers) is.........

Vanmorgen bracht BNR dit nieuws, waarin o.a. werd gemeld dat hysterische nationalistische burgers op grote schaal hun Nike schoenen hebben verbrand (de kwalificaties zijn van mijn hand, zoals je waarschijnlijk al had begrepen)...... Ofwel een fiks deel van de VS bevolking maakt zich net als de president, het beest Trump, druk om het knielen voor het volkslied**, terwijl ze zich niet eens druk maken over de jaarlijkse massamoord op hun gekleurde medeburgers........

Kaepernick stond al lang onder contract bij Nike, al deed Nike daar na alle consternatie niets mee, Kaepernick werd overigens gewoon doorbetaald door het bedrijf. Wel heeft het bedrijf laten weten het recht van vrijheid op meningsuiting te respecteren, daarmee gaf het bedrijf in feite aan dat het achter Kaepernick en zijn collega's die zijn voorbeeld volgden staat.

Het is dan ook een geweldige stap van Nike om nu een reclame campagne te starten met Kaeperick 'in de hoofdrol.'

Hulde aan Nike!

Hier een artikel van Kevin Draper en Ken Bolson over deze zaak, gepubliceerd op The New York Times:

Colin Kaepernick, Face of N.F.L. Protests, Is Face of New Nike Campaign

Colin Kaepernick tweeted the new Nike advertisement he appears in as part of a new deal with the company. Colin Kaepernick, via Twitter

By Kevin Draper and Ken Belson

Sept. 3, 2018

Colin Kaepernick, the former N.F.L. quarterback who inspired a player protest movement but who has been out of a job for more than a year, has signed a new, multiyear deal with Nike that makes him a face of the 30th anniversary of the sports apparel company’s “Just Do It” campaign, Nike confirmed on Monday.

The first advertisement from Nike, one of the league’s top partners, debuted Monday afternoon, when Kaepernick tweeted it, assuring that his activism and the protest movement against racism and social injustice he started would continue to loom over one of the country’s most powerful sports leagues.

Nike will produce new Kaepernick apparel, including a shoe and a T-shirt, and if the merchandise sells well, the value of the deal will rival those of other top N.F.L. players, according to people close to the negotiations who spoke on condition of anonymity because Nike had not formally announced it. Nike will also donate money to Kaepernick’s “Know Your Rights” campaign.

The N.F.L. did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The ad and the campaign, coming a few days before the start of the N.F.L. season on Thursday, is likely to annoy the league’s top executives and its owners. On Thursday, Kaepernick won a victory in his grievance against the league when an arbitrator let his case, in which he accuses the league of conspiring to keep him off the field because of his activism, advance.

A wave of on-field protests has continued, with varying degrees of intensity, since summer 2016, when Kaepernick began kneeling during the playing of the national anthem.

The N.F.L. has struggled to contain the on-field protests, which have also included raised fists and other gestures, which league officials have blamed for dragging down the league. Television ratings have declined and certain segments of the fan base have reacted angrily. President Trump has made the N.F.L. a target for not firing players who refuse to stand for the national anthem.

The Kaepernick deal could be awkward for the league.

In March, Nike and the N.F.L. announced an extension of an apparel deal through 2028. As part of that deal, Nike supplies 32 teams with game-day uniforms and sideline apparel that features the company’s swoosh logo. When that deal was announced, Brian Rolapp, the NFL’s chief media and business officer, called the company “a longtime and trusted partner” of the league.

Kaepernick and Nike already had an endorsement deal, dating to when he entered the league in 2011, but it was expiring soon and has now been extended.

The new Kaepernick ad features a close-up, black-and-white photograph of his face, with copy that references his kneeling and his belief that his activism is keeping him out of the league.

The ad reads: “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.”

When asked if Nike had run the campaign by the N.F.L., a spokeswoman, Sandra Carreon-John, responded: “Nike has a longstanding relationship with the N.F.L. and works extensively with the league on all campaigns that use current N.F.L. players and its marks. Colin is not currently employed by an N.F.L. team and has no contractual obligation to the N.F.L.”

The new contract was negotiated by Kaepernick’s lawyers, Mark Geragos and Ben Meiselas, and Nike executives.

Even as the N.F.L. season approaches, the Kaepernick story has continued to dominate the N.F.L. narrative. On Friday, Kaepernick received an ovation from the crowd at the United States Open match between Serena Williams and Venus Williams.

Serena Williams, LeBron James, Odell Beckham Jr., Shaquem Griffin and Lacey Baker are also part of the “Just Do It” anniversary campaign.

Nike’s decision to make new Kaepernick merchandise and to make him the face of a campaign could, if they are successful for the company, undercut the argument from N.F.L. owners that he is bad for business. Previously, Nike stated that it “supports athletes and their right to freedom of expression on issues that are of great importance to our society,” but the company had not used Kaepernick in any recent ad campaigns.

There is reason to believe that Kaepernick, despite not playing, will move merchandise. During the second quarter of 2017, his officially licensed jersey was the 39th-best selling in the league. As an unsigned free agent, he was the only player in the top 50 of those rankings not signed to a team.

With Kaepernick seemingly having little chance of playing in the N.F.L. again, Geragos was eager to try to portray him as something more than a football player.

“I give Nike credit for understanding that he’s not just an athlete, he has become an icon,” Geragos said.

====================================

*   In de periode 2015 t/m 7 juli 2016 was het totale aantal doden door politiekogels 1.712. Het fascistenforum Geen Stijl dacht de vloer aan te kunnen vegen met de bewering dat zwarten (waar expres een aantal keren het woord neger werd gebruikt...) veel vaker dan witten het slachtoffer zijn van politiekogels. Het aantal witte door de politie gevelde burgers was 860 (50% van het aantal door de politie doodgeschoten burgers) tegen 442 zwarte burgers (25% van dat aantal). Helaas kan men bij Geen Stijl niet verder kijken dan de witte neus lang is, anders had men geweten dat er veel meer witte burgers zijn in de VS t.w. 223 miljoen tegen 42 miljoen zwarte burgers. Dit betekent dat 4 op de miljoen witte inwoners werden vermoord door de politie, tegen 11 per miljoen zwarte inwoners (cijfers van de NRC)

** Terwijl knielen ook een vorm is van eerbied tonen, dat weten christenen maar al te goed en vreemd genoeg is het overgrote deel van de hysterische bevolking, die pissig is op Kaepernick, van het christelijk geloof en dan nog van de meer fanatieke kant van dat (onzinnige) geloof.....

Zie ook: 

'Vandalisme na Super Bowl door massamedia o.a. afgedaan als pure poëzie, waar protesten van gekleurden na zoveelste moord door politie worden afgedaan als terreur.........'

'VS hypocrisie t.a.v. knielende footballspelers..........'

en terzijde:

'VS politie corrupt, ongehoord dom en schietgraag....... Een uiterst giftige cocktail.......'

'Daklozen van Los Angeles gehuisvest in kleine huisjes, raken hun onderdak kwijt door ingrijpen van de overheid.....'

'Daklozen in de VS, het land van 'hoop en glorie', worden massaal gedeporteerd............'

'Arizona: vanaf nu levenslang recht op niet meer dan 12 maanden bijstand........'

''90 jarige 'activist' in het land van hoop en glorie gearresteerd voor het uitdelen van voedsel aan daklozen.......'

'Willem Post en Hans Veldman met open deuren boek 'De spiegel van Amerika.......''

'Trump: VS heeft een geweldige prestatie geleverd met de hulp aan Puerto Rico na orkaan Maria.......... ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!'

'VS en de enorme armoede 'in één van de rijkste landen''

''Amerika het land van de onbegrensde mogelijkheden.... Arme patiënt uit ziekenhuis gezet!''

De evolutie van politiestaat VS o.a. te zien in het buitenspel zetten van burgerrechten in steden als Boston en Charlottesville

Gisteren bracht John Whitehead een opiniestuk op de site van The Rutherford Institute, waarin hij aangeeft 'hoe makkelijk' hele steden op slot kunnen worden gedaan.....

In zijn woonplaats Charlottesville maakte hij het zelf mee: een jaar geleden waren er rellen in Charlottesville waarbij een fascist een moord pleegde op een demonstrant die zich tegen de fascistisch parade in Charlottesville keerde*. Dezelfde dag een jaar later werd voorafgegaan door het met veel bombarie op slot gooien van de stad, waarbij de bewoners werden geacht zoveel mogelijk in huis te blijven. De noodtoestand en de staat van beleg werden afgekondigd, zonder dat daar ook maar één aanwijsbare reden voor was (bijvoorbeeld de aankondiging van de neonazi's dat ze weer een parade zouden houden in Charlottesville...).... 

De politie in de VS is in hoge mate gemilitariseerd, inclusief automatische wapens die de VS o.a. gebruikt in haar illegale oorlogen in het Midden-Oosten en Afrika...... Hetzelfde geldt voor een deel van het rollend materieel van de politie: pantserwagens en zelfs een klein soort tank..... Dit nog naast de National Guard, in feite een paramilitaire organisatie met reservisten, die bij grote rellen e.d. regelmatig te zien is in de straten van de VS en de beschikking heeft over een veel groter deel van het oorlogstuig dat de VS in het buitenland gebruikt (zoals gezegd in illegale oorlogen), dus ook tanks en 'oorlogshelikopters.......' 

Al moet aan het voorgaande worden toegevoegd dat de 'gewone' politie meer en meer wordt gemilitariseerd en daarmee de beschikking krijgt over steeds meer oorlogsmaterieel en er steeds minder verschil is te zien tussen de politie en de National Guard..... Uiteraard 'met dank' aan de lobby van de wapenfabrikanten............

De VS is dan ook verworden tot een politiestaat en dat al enige jaren, het ontbreekt nog net aan volledige censuur, al wordt daar met hulp van Facebook en Google hard aan gewerkt.....** Hoewel de VS keer op keer als excuus voor militair ingrijpen aanvoert dat het democratie wil brengen, terwijl in eigen land 'de democratie' wordt gekocht met enorme bakken geld en het buitenspel zetten van grote groepen (arme en veelal gekleurde) kiezers......

De schrijver van het hieronder opgenomen artikel van The Rutherford Institute, John Whitehead, is het 'niet helemaal eens' met het voorgaande, hij ziet de VS transformeren in een politiestaat. Whitehead gaat o.a. in op de manier waarop de bevolking monddood wordt gemaakt en op bepaalde momenten zelfs geen vrijheid van bewegen heeft in de eigen stad...... Voorts noemt hij o.a. Göring die na WOII op het proces van Neurenberg aangaf wat er nodig is om een bevolking te manipuleren. 

Lees en oordeel zelf:

From Boston to Ferguson to Charlottesville: The Evolution of a Police State Lockdown

August 17, 2018 at 8:17 am

Written by John Whitehead

“It takes a remarkable force to keep nearly a million people quietly indoors for an entire day, home from work and school, from neighborhood errands and out-of-town travel. It takes a remarkable force to keep businesses closed and cars off the road, to keep playgrounds empty and porches unused across a densely populated place 125 square miles in size. This happened … not because armed officers went door-to-door, or imposed a curfew, or threatened martial law. All around the region, for 13 hours, people locked up their businesses and ‘sheltered in place’ out of a kind of collective will. The force that kept them there wasn’t external – there was virtually no active enforcement across the city of the governor’s plea that people stay indoors. Rather, the pressure was an internal one – expressed as concern, or helpfulness, or in some cases, fear – felt in thousands of individual homes.” — Journalist Emily Badger, “The Psychology of a Citywide Lockdown”

(RI) — It has become way too easy to lockdown this nation.

Five years ago, the city of Boston was locked down while police carried out a military-style manhunt for suspects in the 2013 Boston Marathon explosion.

Four years ago, the city of Ferguson, Missouri, was locked down, with government officials deploying a massive SWAT team, an armored personnel carrier, men in camouflage pointing heavy artillery at the crowd, smoke bombs and tear gas to quell citizen unrest over a police shooting of a young, unarmed black man.

Three years ago, the city of Baltimore was put under a military-enforced lockdown after civil unrest over police brutality erupted into rioting. More than 1,500 national guard troops were deployed while residents were ordered to stay inside their homes and put under a 10 pm curfew.

This year, it was my hometown of Charlottesville, Va., population 50,000, that was locked down while government officials declared a state of emergency and enacted heightened security measures tantamount to martial law, despite the absence of any publicized information about credible threats to public safety.

As Tess Owen reports for Vice:

One year after white supremacists paraded through the streets, the face of downtown Charlottesville was transformed once again – this time with checkpoints, military-style camps for National Guard, and state police on every corner. When residents woke up Saturday, all entrances to the downtown mall were blocked off, apart from two checkpoints, where police looked through people’s bags for lighters, knives or any other weapons. Up above, standing atop a building site, two national guard members photographed the individuals coming in and out… A National Guard encampment was set up in McGuffey Park, between the children’s playground and the basketball court, where about 20 military police officers in camouflage were snoozing in the shade of some trees. A similar encampment was set up a few blocks away.

More details from journalist Ned Oliver:

Downtown Charlottesville felt like the green zone of a war-torn city Saturday. More than a thousand local and state police officers barricaded 10 blocks of the city’s popular pedestrian district, the Downtown Mall, to prepare for the one-year anniversary of the white supremacist rally last year that left dozens injured and one dead. To enter, people had to submit to bag checks and searches at one of two checkpoints… Preparations aside, unlike last year, no white supremacist groups had said they were going to visit the city, and, by week’s end, none had. Instead, it was a normal day on the mall except for the heavy security, a military helicopter constantly circling overhead, and hundreds of police officers milling around.

Make no mistake, this was a militarized exercise in intimidation, and it worked only too well.

For the most part, the residents of this city—once home to Thomas Jefferson, the nation’s third president, author of the Declaration of Independence, and champion of the Bill of Rights—welcomed the city-wide lockdown, the invasion of their privacy, and the dismantling of every constitutional right intended to serve as a bulwark against government abuses.

Yet for those like myself who have studied emerging police states, the sight of any American city placed under martial law—its citizens essentially under house arrest (officials used the Orwellian phrase “shelter in place” in Boston to describe the mandatory lockdown), military-style helicopters equipped with thermal imaging devices buzzing the skies, tanks and armored vehicles on the streets, and snipers perched on rooftops, while thousands of black-garbed police swarmed the streets and SWAT teams carried out house-to-house searches—leaves us in a growing state of unease.

Watching the events of the lockdown unfold, I couldn’t help but think of Nazi Field Marshal Hermann Goering’s remarks during the Nuremberg trials. As Goering noted:

It is always a simple matter to drag people along whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. This is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country. (Goering was een vuile fascistische ploert, maar dit is wel een waarheid als een koe!!!)

As the events in Charlottesville have made clear, it does indeed work the same in every country.

Whatever the threat to so-called security—whether it’s civil unrest, school shootings, or alleged acts of terrorism—government officials will capitalize on the nation’s heightened emotions, confusion and fear as a means of extending the reach of the police state.

These troubling developments are the outward manifestations of an inner, philosophical shift underway in how the government views not only the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, but “we the people,” as well.

What this reflects is a move away from a government bound by the rule of law to one that seeks total control through the imposition of its own self-serving laws on the populace.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t take much for the American people to march in lockstep with the government’s dictates, even if it means submitting to martial law, having their homes searched, and being stripped of one’s constitutional rights at a moment’s notice.

In Charlottesville, most of the community fell in line, except for one gun-toting, disabled, 71-year-old war veteran who was arrested for purchasing cans of Arizona iced tea, a can of bug spray and razor blades, all of which were on the City’s list of temporarily prohibited, potentially “dangerous” items. Incidentally, the veteran’s guns (not among the list of prohibited items) caused no alarm.

Talk about draconian.

This continual undermining of the rules that protect civil liberties will inevitably have far-reaching consequences on a populace that not only remains ignorant about their rights but is inclined to sacrifice their liberties for phantom promises of safety.

Be warned: these lockdowns are just a precursor to full-blown martial law.

The powers-that-be want us acclimated to the sights and sounds of a city-wide lockdown with tanks in the streets, military encampments in cities, Blackhawk helicopters and armed drones patrolling overhead.

They want us to accept the fact that in the American police state, we are all potentially guilty, all potential criminals, all suspects waiting to be accused of a crime.

They want us to be meek and submissive.

They want us to report on each other.

They want us to be grateful to the standing armies for their so-called protection.

They want us to self-censor our speech, self-limit our movements, and police ourselves.

As Glenn Greenwald notes in The Intercept:

“Americans are now so accustomed to seeing police officers decked in camouflage and Robocop-style costumes, riding in armored vehicles and carrying automatic weapons first introduced during the U.S. occupation of Baghdad, that it has become normalized… The dangers of domestic militarization are both numerous and manifest. To begin with… it degrades the mentality of police forces in virtually every negative way and subjects their targeted communities to rampant brutality and unaccountable abuse… Police militarization also poses grave and direct dangers to basic political liberties, including rights of free speech, press and assembly.” (!!!)

Make no mistake: these are the hallmarks of a military occupation.

Militarized police. Riot squads. Camouflage gear. Black uniforms. Armored vehicles. Mass arrests.

Pepper spray. Tear gas. Batons. Strip searches. Surveillance cameras. Kevlar vests. Drones. Lethal weapons. Less-than-lethal weapons unleashed with deadly force. Rubber bullets. Water cannons. Stun grenades. Arrests of journalists. Crowd control tactics. Intimidation tactics. Brutality.

We are already under martial law, held at gunpoint by a standing army.

Take a look at the pictures from Charlottesville, from Baltimore, from Ferguson and from Boston, and then try to persuade yourself that this is what freedom in America is supposed to look like.

A standing army—something that propelled the early colonists into revolution—strips the American people of any vestige of freedom.

It was for this reason that those who established America vested control of the military in a civilian government, with a civilian commander-in-chief. They did not want a military government, ruled by force. Rather, they opted for a republic bound by the rule of law: the U.S. Constitution.

Unfortunately, with the Constitution under constant attack, the military’s power, influence and authority have grown dramatically. Even the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which makes it a crime for the government to use the military to carry out arrests, searches, seizure of evidence and other activities normally handled by a civilian police force, was greatly weakened by both Barack Obama and George W. Bush, who ushered in exemptions allowing troops to deploy domestically and arrest civilians in the wake of alleged terrorist acts.

Now we find ourselves struggling to retain some semblance of freedom in the face of police and law enforcement agencies that look and act like the military and have just as little regard for the Fourth Amendment, laws such as the NDAA that allow the military to arrest and indefinitely detain American citizens, and military drills that acclimate the American people to the sight of armored tanks in the streets, military encampments in cities, and combat aircraft patrolling overhead.

We’ve already gone too far down this road.

Add these lockdowns onto the list of other troubling developments that have taken place over the past 30 years or more, and the picture grows even more troubling: the expansion of the military industrial complex and its influence in Washington DC, the rampant surveillance, the corporate-funded elections and revolving door between lobbyists and elected officials, the militarized police, the loss of our freedoms, the injustice of the courts, the privatized prisons, the school lockdowns, the roadside strip searches, the military drills on domestic soil, the fusion centers and the simultaneous fusing of every branch of law enforcement (federal, state and local), the stockpiling of ammunition by various government agencies, the active shooter drills that are indistinguishable from actual crises, the economy flirting with near collapse, etc.

Suddenly, the overall picture seems that much more sinister.

The lesson for the rest of us is this: once a free people allows the government to make inroads into their freedoms or uses those same freedoms as bargaining chips for security, it quickly becomes a slippery slope to outright tyranny. And it doesn’t really matter whether it’s a Democrat or a Republican at the helm, because the bureaucratic mindset on both sides of the aisle now seems to embody the same philosophy of authoritarian government.

Remember, a police state does not come about overnight.

It starts small, perhaps with a revenue-generating red light camera at an intersection.

When that is implemented without opposition, perhaps next will be surveillance cameras on public streets. License plate readers on police cruisers. More police officers on the beat. Free military equipment from the federal government. Free speech zones and zero tolerance policies and curfews. SWAT team raids. Drones flying overhead. City-wide lockdowns.

No matter how it starts, however, it always ends the same.

Remember, it’s a slippery slope from a questionable infringement justified in the name of safety to all-out tyranny.

These are no longer warning signs of a steadily encroaching police state.

As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, the police state has arrived.

By John Whitehead / Republished with permission / Rutherford Institute / Report a typo
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* Zie: 
'FBI 'legt link' tussen links-radicalen en islamistische terroristen, de tijden van McCarthy zijn terug........'

'Among the Racists' (met mogelijkheid tot vertaling)

'Before Trump, Clinton Democrats Invoked the Term ‘Alt-Left’ to Demonize Critics'

'Charlottesville: wat er fout ging voor de verzamelde gewelddadige en bewapende fascisten..........'

'Charlottesville: twee schuldigen? Of is het de taak van eenieder te vechten tegen fascisme?' 

'Charlottesville: Trump haalt antifascisten toch onderuit.........'

'Neonazi terreuraanslag in VS, westerse media spreken 'op hun best' over 'een daad van agressie......''

** Met deze censuur wordt tevens de berichtgeving van de reguliere media als enig zaligmakend neergezet en daarmee wordt de hersenspoeling van het volk geïnstitutionaliseerd.... Zie wat dat betreft ook: 
'Censuur op het internet met vliegende start in de VS, 'het land van het vrije woord....'

'Eis een nee tegen censuur op het internet!' 

'Facebook wil samen met door Saoedi-Arabië gesubsidieerde denktank censureren.... ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!'

'Trump wijst elke bezuiniging af op de hulp van de VS voor de genocide die Saoedi-Arabië uitvoert in Jemen'

Hashima en de Japanse ontkenning van wreedheden tijdens WOII

De schrijver van het hieronder opgenomen artikel, Andre Vltchek, heeft een reis gemaakt naar Japan om daar het eiland Hashima (ook bekend als Gunkanjima), in de buurt van Nagasaki te bezoeken.

Vltcheck wilde met eigen ogen het eiland zien waar Japan duizenden Koreaanse en Chinese gevangenen liet werken in de mijnen en op de scheepswerven waar oorlogsschepen werden gebouwd. Het meest gruwelijk was wel het lot van Chinese en Koreaanse vrouwen die daar als seksslaven te werk werden gesteld....... 

Vltcheck beschrijft hoe je je als bezoeker moet onderwerpen aan de strakke regie van de gidsen, die geen vragen wensen te beantwoorden die niet in het Japanse straatje passen, dus geen vragen over de werkslaven en de seksslaven. Van 1919 tot 1945 werd Korea bezet door Japanse troepen en in die tijd werden naar schatting 60.000 Koreanen gedeporteerd naar Japan om daar als slaven te worden ingezet (op plekken als Hashima)....... 

Het eiland heeft intussen de status van werelderfgoed gekregen (van de UNESCO), daarvoor heeft Japan beloofd aandacht te schenken aan de slavernij op Hashima en nog een paar van dergelijke industriële terreinen. Je raadt het al: van die aandacht is niets te merken en men wordt zelfs pissig als je ernaar durft te vragen.......

Japan herschrijft haar geschiedenis en voor WOII heeft men amper plek in de geschiedenisboeken, e.e.a. heeft alles te maken met het steeds sterker wordend nationalisme, dat zoals je weet vaak de voorloper is van fascisme en vooral gepaard gaat met een fascistische zienswijze op de geschiedenis........

Men zegt vaak dat we kunnen leren van de geschiedenis, echter dat geldt duidelijk niet voor zaken als fascisme, of de vele uitwassen van het kapitalisme waar zovelen, het dodelijke slachtoffer van werden......... (het cliché: 'van hard werken is nog nooit iemand doodgegaan', is een smerige leugen, vooral gebezigd door welgestelden en neoliberale politici, zoals die van de VVD, CDA, D66 en de zogenaamde christelijke partijen CU en SGP, zelfs politici van de PvdA hebben deze leugen in het verleden gebezigd........ Al duizenden jaren hebben mensen zich daadwerkelijk doodgewerkt, 'niets nieuws onder de zon.....')

Hashima – Brutal History and the Most Haunted Island on Earth

By Andre Vltchek

August 08, 2018 "Information Clearing House" - Do you want to see perhaps the spookiest island on earth – Hashima (also known as Gunkanjima – the Battleship Island) – which is located just 30 minutes by speedboat from the historic Japanese port city of Nagasaki? Now you can. Just book online, pay the equivalent of 40 American dollars, and then hop on one of those shiny sleek vessels belonging to Gunkanjima Concierge or to some other company.

Do it, and you will see the island which looks like an abandoned monstrous wreck; like a sunken and haunted ship.

You will sail around it. You will even be able to disembark and walk a few hundred meters on a fenced path. Guides/minders will let you take a few snapshots.

But that is all. No stepping left or right off the path. No going ahead of the group. No lagging behind. And please, no ‘provocative’ questions!

The guides are well trained to ‘entertain you’, to tell you just how ‘haunted’ the island is and how ‘vibrant’ it used to be in the past.

Sugary smiles never leave their faces.

But were you to defy their written and unwritten rules, they’d immediately jump and appear next to you. They would even loudly scold you. Suddenly they’d become very rude.

What are they afraid of? What are they hiding? What really took place on this island?

The true horrors of the past will never be conveyed to you. It is all about WWII, and Japan is still in denial.

A Japanese tour guide (designated for the Japanese-speaking visitors) as well as a carefully prepared electronic recording for the English speakers, will recount countless details about the island’s geography and uncontroversial chapters of history, but close to nothing about the terror of the slave labor into which the Korean and Chinese people were forced into, during World War II.

*

On 6 July 2015, The Guardian reported:

“Unesco has decided to grant world heritage status to more than 20 old industrial sites in Japan after officials from the country agreed to acknowledge that some of them used Korean forced labourers before and during the second world war.

The 23 Meiji period (1868-1912) sites include coalmines and shipyards that Japan says contributed to its transformation from feudalism into a successful modern economy.

South Korea, however, had opposed the application for world heritage status unless clear reference was made to the use of an estimated 60,000 labourers forced to work at seven of the sites, including the island coalmine Gunkanjima, during Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule over the Korean peninsula.”

Opposition was also expressed by China (PRC).

The issue of forced labor and Tokyo’s stubborn rejection to acknowledge it, delayed the inscription of the sites by UNESCO. However, in 2015, Japan yielded, and its delegation to UNESCO declared:

“Japan is prepared to take measures that allow an understanding that there were a large number of Koreans and others who were brought against their will and forced to work under harsh conditions in the 1940s at some of the sites”.

The sites, including the notorious Hashima/Gunkanjima, eventually gained world heritage status. In exchange, both South Korea and China expected Japan to highlight the suffering of their people during the occupation and WWII. The sites where forced laborers used to be held, were supposed to carry clearly marked and detailed explanations. But as in so many other cases related to its dark history, Japan did close to nothing to keep its side of the bargain. With the world heritage status, it got what it wanted, but gave almost nothing in return.

*

In May, I spent three days in Nagasaki, visiting my friend, a leading left-wing Australian historian, Geoffrey Gunn.

For many years, I have been coming to this city, searching for answers to a myriad of questions related to Japan’s and Asia’s complex past.

The past of Nagasaki has it all: great old Japanese culture, Christians and their prosecution, the Dutch traders and their settlement, a vibrant Chinese minority. Nagasaki was always one of the most ‘open’ cities in Japan, by choice or by force. But also, this is where the military ships were built, where many slave laborers were brought to from the occupied territories, and this is also where the second A-bomb was exploded by the US at the end of WWII.

Seen from the roof of the imposing Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum, the bay of the city is still dotted with WWII ‘relics’. Near the water, there is a huge crane, another fragment of an industrial UNESCO world heritage site. The crane belongs to the Mitsubishi shipyards, which have been, for long decades, producing and repairing Japan’s military vessels.

“Officially, Japan does not have a military,” I said, sarcastically. “But look, it is in possession of these huge battleships, docked at the other side of the bay.”

“You are lucky. They just arrived here,” said Geoff. “These docks played an extremely important role in the past. Gunkanjima mines also belonged to Mitsubishi. They were excavating coal there, and then building some of the largest battleships here, in Nagasaki.”

For the rest of the evening we discussed the bizarre refusal of the Japanese governments and public to acknowledge the past. Even now, more than 70 years after the end of the war, these issues are taboo: the genocide committed against the Chinese people, and the terrible crimes against the Koreans.

Often, when the past is mentioned, the famously polite Japanese people suddenly become defensive, even aggressive.

*

In 2015, Japan began literally blackmailing UNESCO, temporarily withdrawing its payment dues, after the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Agency listed the 1937 Nanjing Massacre documents in its “Memory of the World” program. The funds were eventually released, but the message was sent, clearly and patently.

This stubborn refusal to deal with the horrors of the past is bringing Japan closer and closer to the deadly embrace of the West, particularly the United States, and further and further away from potentially friendly relations with the rest of north Asia, particularly China.

After WWII, the so-called Tokyo Trial supervised by the US (also known as The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE)) was clearly designed to punish just a few individuals, while preserving the Japanese industrial, business and political system in its original form, so it could serve the interests of the West. After the trial, Japan was allowed to rebuild and to join the West in its aggressive policy towards the Asia Pacific. It played a significant role in the brutal Korean War, during which the West massacred millions of Korean citizens.

“Modern Japan has no foreign policy,” I was once told by the Irish academic and political analyst David McNeal, who is based in Tokyo. “It is strictly following the US dictate. The same goes for the media coverage of the international events.”

David has no illusions about the Japanese take on its history:

“They are rewriting text books; they skip through WWII, dedicating to it only eight pages… Nationalism is rising… There is so much self-censorship in Japanese media, now. And the government is issuing ‘guidelines’, the so-called ‘Orange Book’, for instance: how to treat anything that is ‘contagious’… or anything related to history. There are instructions to writers and translators. For instance: ‘never use words like Nanking Massacre, except when you quote foreign experts’. Or ‘Yasukuni Shrine – never use word “controversial” in connection to it.’ We cannot write about ‘sexual slaves’ from WWII.”

The more ignorant about its past Japan gets, the more it seems to strongly dislike its former victims – China and Korea. According to a Pew Research Center poll (2017), 83% of the Japanese people have an unfavorable view of China. Korea does not fare much better. Both countries (PRC and ROK) are now clearly leaving Japan behind, when it comes to the economy and in the case of South Korea, the standard of living. The reaction of Tokyo: moving closer and closer towards the West, while adopting an increasingly aggressive policy towards two communist nations: China and North Korea.

*

But back to the Battleship Island… You pay, and you get onboard. Right from the beginning, even before the vessel departs from Nagasaki, you get bombarded by outrageous propaganda: about that “samurai spirit” of Japan and the entire Nagasaki area.

There is continuous control, right from the start. You get up from your seat, and immediately someone approaches you: Where are you going? Do you want to change seat? No, you cannot sit here…” Guides (or call them minders) sound extremely rude: their English is primitive, while their obsession with all sorts of rules and regulations is fundamentalist.

An old dude who is here clearly in order to play the role of the main propagandist, is continuously clarifying things into the microphone. His voice is amplified, and his performance soon turns into an annoying and uninterrupted flow of verbal diarrhea. There is no space for reflection – no time to feel and to pause or let alone to ask some serious questions.

Whenever he stops, some cheaply-made video begins playing on the screen. Then advertisements of Kirin Beer are beamed.

The yacht is sailing towards the place that held thousands of people as slave laborers, where many died, where women were turned into sexual slaves. But the circus goes on. No reflection and no repentance.

On the island, I refuse to follow the group. I lag behind, trying to avoid loud noise and the herd of people. Of course, I soon get confronted by two “guides”, trying to push me back towards the flock.

I ignore them, keep filming.

They become aggressive. One shouts: “This is Japan. Follow our rules!”

I keep filming.

I did not come here to be loved. The reason for my journey was simple: to determine whether the Japanese government sticks to the deal it made with UNESCO, Korea and China – whether it marks and commemorates the sites where forced laborers were pushed into an inhuman existence and work, and where some of them, died.

I found nothing of that kind: no information, no commemoration!

Back in Nagasaki, I asked for brochures explaining the past. There were no such brochures. The organizers of the island visits had no idea what I was asking about.

Later, the next day, professor Gunn took me to a small private museum managed by local Koreans, commemorating the terror which Japan committed against the Korean and Chinese people.

At least this is where the truth about ‘the most haunted island’ on Earth can be found. If one could find that tiny museum…

Gunkanjima – a ghost island which resembles, at least from a distance, a mighty destroyer; an island dotted with tall buildings now lacking windows and doors. An island where thousands of miners used to go down into deep shafts, some voluntarily, some by force. An island – Gunkanjima – where many people used to live, and many died. A place so mysterious and so unique, beautiful in its own way, but also both symbolic and horrifying.

Andre Vltchek is a philosopher, novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist. He has covered wars and conflicts in dozens of countries. Three of his latest books are Revolutionary Optimism, Western Nihilism, a revolutionary novel “Aurora” and a bestselling work of political non-fiction: “Exposing Lies Of The Empire”. View his other books here. Watch Rwanda Gambit, his groundbreaking documentary about Rwanda and DRCongo and his film/dialogue with Noam Chomsky “On Western Terrorism”. Vltchek presently resides in East Asia and the Middle East, and continues to work around the world. He can be reached through his website and his Twitter.

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Zie ook:
'In de VS berichtte men in 1945, dat Hiroshima 'a military base' was.......'

'Hiroshima, één van de grootste oorlogsmisdaden ooit, 71 jaar later redenen te over voor herdenking!'

'De werkelijke reden voor de VS atoomaanvallen op Hiroshima en Nagasaki.... Niet om de oorlog met Japan ten einde te brengen.......'

'Hiroshima en Nagasaki, aanvallen zijn niet te verdedigen enorme oorlogsmisdaden >> The Indefensible Hiroshima Revisionism That Haunts America To This Day'

'Atoomaanvallen op Hiroshima en Nagasaki, één van de grootste oorlogsmisdaden uit de menselijke geschiedenis'

'Overlevenden atoomaanval op Hiroshima vragen om een verbod op kernwapens' (2018)

en zie voor verdere VS-terreur na WOII:
'VS vermoordde meer dan 20 miljoen mensen sinds het einde van WOII........'

'VS buitenlandbeleid sinds WOII: een lange lijst van staatsgrepen en oorlogen..........'

'List of wars involving the United States'

PS: Als je het artikel van Vltcheck leest, zou je kunnen denken dat de tweede atoombom die de VS afwierp op Nagasaki ook Hashima trof, echter dat is niet waar, wel werd Nagasaki afgeschilderd als doel met grote militaire aanwezigheid en militaire bedrijvigheid...... Al had de VS met een atoomaanval op Hashima de duizenden werkslaven daar getroffen. De VS gebruikte de leugen over 'het militaire karakter van Nagasaki' om de atoomaanval op die stad 'te verantwoorden..........' (en ja ook de VS overheid is expert in geschiedvervalsing......) Wel werden veel dwangarbeiders in de stad Nagasaki zelf getroffen door de tweede atoombom die de VS op Japan afwierp (in feite was de aanval op burgerdoel Nagasaki, zoals die op Hiroshima, ook een test zodat men de gevolgen van zo'n laffe schoftenaanval nog beter kon bestuderen....)......