Patrick Iber

Fire extinguisher next to a statue of Joan of Arc

Hell of a thing to put next to a statue of Joan of Arc. (h/t David Pilling)

When AI-generated fake news popped up I think most of us were worried about its use to fool others, but it turns out we should have been most worried about the right using it to fool itself

You could scan it quickly and get the point, I don't think there's much to be gained beyond that

1) I think the basic argument is compelling enough; 2) I've used it with undergrads and there's a lot there that they need to struggle with to grasp; 3) more advanced readers will have quibbles, Tim Barker had some fair ones, intemperately presented; 4) for you, "meh" seems about right

Can America Become a Democracy? What it would take for the United States to live up to the promise of its founding

My review of Osita Nwanevu's The Right of the People is here; 1) we have a short window to improve American democracy; 2) a Second Reconstruction is a good way to imagine it; 3) we need to learn from Chile's (unsuccessful) recent attempt and build wide support newrepublic.com/article/2011...

I started during the pandemic so I always know how long it has been. Doing chess now and really enjoying it, I think it’s actually better than their language instruction

Is this good or bad

Yes it is!

Totally. I ran cross country in high school and was never better than 18 minutes where varsity was 15:30-16. But 30 years later I’m still running and just trying to do my best!

My main sport is ultimate so I'm not always training for distance, but I did a charity 5k about a week ago in 22:30 and was well pleased. (I'm 44.) 19 minutes would be really impressive.

good job keep at it

jack-sneakered thugs

A Permanent State of Exception in El Salvador - Dissent Magazine In cooperation with gangs and with massive popular support, Nayib Bukele is cracking down on dissidents and expanding the state’s carceral apparatus.

As part of our section on Authoritarianism and Resistance in the most recent @dissentmag.bsky.social, Julia Gavarette writes about El Salvador's criminalization of dissent and the people facing a choice of prison or exile--and those with no choice at all www.dissentmagazine.org/article/a-pe...

Got real fashy at the end though

Dissent hosted a conversation by ex-conservatives who moved to the left in 2020, in case you're curious www.dissentmagazine.org/article/why-...

Why We Left the Right - Dissent Magazine A group of ex-conservatives explores how they were drawn to the left, and where they think we’re headed now.

Dissent did a series on this in 2020 FWIW, doesn't mean it's not worth doing again www.dissentmagazine.org/article/why-...

Uruguay's voters decided to it was best to give its military a general amnesty after the return of democracy to keep the military in the barracks; different South American countries have handled these questions differently and no matter what choice you make it's very delicate

The institutional memories are different, but I know what you mean

Lucky for me they seem to be committed to doing that anyway so I guess I don't have to worry about it too much la la la

I hate that reading the news makes me have to think about questions of transitional justice: like, if we commit to persecuting regime officials who commit crimes, are they more likely to hang on to power undemocratically in order to avoid prison

The whole federal government is in violation of the Hatch Act right now, but it doesn't matter because no one will enforce it; just another example of why we are no longer under the "rule of law"

Yes, I found it quite surprising that that is the way it looked from 1987!

The regime has perfected the tech- nique of identifying themes likely to capture the popular imagination, and of using messages and images to dis- tract the public. Of course, there is nothing new about Pinochet's al- lowing El Mercurio to run up a debt to the government of roughly a hundred million dollars, and thus being able to count on its unconditional support. Pi- nochet does not ask the owners of the newspaper, the Edwards family, what they have done with the hundred mil- lion dollars, and El Mercurio does not ask Pinochet what he has done with the people more than seven hundred of them--who have disappeared in Chile after being arrested by the mili.

Oof: "Pinochet does not ask the owners of the newspaper [El Mercurio] what they have done with the hundred million dollars, and El Mercurio does not ask Pinochet what he has done with the people--more than seven hundred of them--who have disappeared in Chile after being arrested by the military."

Then come the financial considera- tions and the negotiations with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. This stage is usually fol lowed by doubts and ambivalence: it is possible that Pinochet may continue in power only another year. Going inte exile also poses risks that must be con- sidered. The children may marry for- eigners while they are living abroad, and may not want to return to Chile when the dictator is overthrown. There are usually grandparents to think about; often they are in ill health. In addition, going into exile means that you lose your job, your professional qualifications, and your home. When a family faces exile, the countless elements that make up its life are all swept up in a devastating whirlwind. Exiles who have returned to Chile cannot help those who must make a decision about whether to escape. The exile's return is painful, despite the help of a team of psychologists spon- sored by the Catholic, Lutheran, and Methodist churches. It is not easy to renter Chilean life, and most exiles find that political solidarity has been extinguished by the repression and that economic solidarity has been made impossible by the hard times.

The confusion suffered by adoles- cents and young people who return is expressed in their relations with the country and with their parents. In Eu- rope, the United States, or some of the other Latin-American countries, they have been able to enjoy almost bound- less freedom, and have become accus- tomed to it. Now they find themselves in a country that is almost unknown to them. They are startled by constant warnings from their parents about the limits they must observe. During the children's exile, the influence of the parents was strong, because the chil- dren saw them as linked to the recap- ture of their country. The children of whole families that have returned from exile look upon Chile, according to "Exilio, 1978-1986," a book writ- ten by a group of psychologists, as "the land of their parents and the friends of their parents, a land un- known, yet also desired, by the ado- lescents." Once the parents are back in Chile, however, they seem over- come by difficulties. Their spirits seem broken: they do not know how to

Have you had any of these kind of thoughts about exile?

Of the Chileans who believe that it is vitally necessary to eliminate Pi- nochet, the majority would prefer to see the United States do it, rather than the Communists. They believe that the Chilean armed forces would accept the operation if it were to be carried out by Washington, but that terrible, indis- criminate repression would be un- leashed if the Communists were to assassinate Pinochet, and this would consolidate the military regime. The truth is, however, that at the moment the United States has other plans for Chile. They are not violent, as they were with Nixon and his Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger. They are also far removed from the magic solution that Chilean politicians dream about- an Operation Chile to remove Pi- nochet which would be over in twen- ty-four hours. It is widely believed that the Reagan Administration wants the Chilean armed forces themselves to bring the Pinochet dictatorship to a close--peacefully and, if possible, within the legal framework of the regime. Pinochet would be allowed to spend the rest of his days in a country of his choice; the political parties would be expected to allow the military to return to their barracks in peace; and the Chilean Communist Party would be isolated.

Although the proposal is simple, carrying it out would be extremely complex. Pinochet has his own friends in Washington, headed by Senator Jesse Helms and Jeane Kirkpatrick, the former ambassador to the United Nations, and he is maneuvering all the time. Pinochet is extremely good at political maneuvering. The Chilean political parties, for their part, have no common objective, even after fourteen years of dictatorship. Although their leaders have been together in jails, in exile, in the underground resistance, not one has ever managed to learn that

he must sacrifice what may seem to be a benefit for his own party in pursuit of a common objective. What Washington has achieved in a short time, merely by changing its ambassador and its attitude, is, for the first time in Latin America, the peo- ple's acceptance-with enthusiasm, or, at least, with resignation of United States intervention. Pinochet's author- itarian personality and the savagery of the military repression have contrib- uted enormously to this acceptance of American intervention. The accep- tance was demonstrated in notable fashion toward the end of 1986 in a conference at the headquarters of Chile's professional association of journalists, in Santiago. A panel of political leaders from the right, the left, and the center discussed seri- ously, rationally, and with equanimity -the possible participation of Wash- ington in the overthrow of Pinochet and the American role in a period of transition to democracy. The topic was "Prospects for American Policy Toward Chile," and, naturally, the major complaints came from the left, but they did not constitute the tradi- tional, virulent attack on imperialist policies. Instead, the left, viewing the situation almost with sadness, la- mented that the United States inter- vened only in cases of crisis and, un- fortunately, the American experts did not yet detect a crisis in Chile. Wash- ington has achieved its consensus that no crisis exists because over the past two years it has publicized its almost constant criticism of human-rights vi- olations in Chile and has intervened to call for the lifting of restrictions on press freedom.

So I found these passages of people speculating about other possible ends to the dictatorship to be a fascinating little view on that moment in time

I was a reading an article by legendary Argentine reporter Jacobo Timerman from the New Yorker in 1987: he's reporting from Chile and neither he nor anyone else knows that the plebiscite the next year will successfully set a path for Pinochet's removal

Thanks Judah!

Can the most eloquent and thoughtful supporter of the "fascism thesis" and one of its most eloquent and thoughtful critics find common ground? Tonight on the Ganz & Riley show

The Battle Over Civil Society - Dissent Magazine An interview with Dylan J. Riley on Trump and the state of American democracy.

I interviewed Dylan Riley about Trump, fascism, and civil society for @dissentmag.bsky.social www.dissentmagazine.org/online_artic...

Musée des Beaux Arts BY W. H. AUDEN About suffering they were never wrong, The Old Masters: how well they understood Its human position; how it takes place While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting For the miraculous birth, there always must be Children who did not specially want it to happen, skating On a pond at the edge of the wood: They never forgot That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot Where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torturer's horse Scratches its innocent behind on a tree. In Brueghel's Icarus, for instance: how everything turns away Quite leisurely from the disaster; the ploughman may Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry, But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shone As it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green Water; and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky, Had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on.