I’m watching this Colombia game, & an Afro-Colombian player, Yerry Mina, subs in for another Afro-Colombian, Jhon Lucumi, & my mind is just blown.
Mina is what Portuguese called enslaved West Africans from the Gold Coast because many of them were shipped from the slave fort El Mina in Ghana. And Lucumi comes from the Yoruba phrase Olu Kumi, meaning “My friend”, which is what enslaved Yoruba called each other in the Americas. Fascinating����
🏴🤣 John Stones pretends his shoulder is hurt then begins to dance in the England changing room. 🕺
Tuchel was genuinely worried at one point that the injury was real. 😅
I’m one of those who DID know who what and where they were. I fought politically for the liberation of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde half a century ago under the leadership of Cabral. After this World Cup I’m even more proud to have done so.
my most unpopular World Cup opinion: Vozinha hasn't been very good. He's made (and got away with) more errors than he's made saves. It's absolutely a great story, but for the opposite reason people think. Cape Verde have defended so well no-one has noticed their weakness in goal.
🇨🇳 | The last believed survivor of the “Long March” during the Chinese Civil War celebrated her 105th birthday.
Her name is Wang Quanying, she joined the Red Army as a medic when she was only 14 years old.
Born into a Tibetan family in 1921, Sichuan province, she lost both parents by age one. From age five, she was forced into harsh labor.
When the Red Army entered her hometown, Wang was attracted by their policy of protecting the poor and joined the Women's Independent Regiment.
The one-year-long march starting in 1934 under the leadership of Mao Zedong is viewed as one of the most daring military manoeuvres in modern history.
The Chinese Communist Party defied all odds, including total defeat, by what is often described as sheer revolutionary willpower.
Starting with about 100,000 people, only around 8,000 survivors eventually made it to their destination in Yan'an.
During battles with the Nationalist forces led by Chiang Kai-shek, Wang Quanying was cut off from her unit and went into hiding in 1936. Authorities verified her as a veteran in 1984.
Listening to Postecoglu suggesting that all Ancelotti did tonight was put on his players and wait for them to do their thing, I’m reminded of the words attributed to Lao Tzu 1700 years ago:
“The best of all rulers is but a shadowy presence to his subjects. Hesitant, he…
91 year old legendary Argentinian journalist Macaya Márquez was in press conference, covering his 18th (!) World Cup 🐐
“Let me ask you… will Messi play against Jordan or not?” 😬
“I’d never reply to any journalist on this topic now… but it is coming from you, and so I tell you: Messi will not start” 👏🏼
“I respect you too much, I’m proud to see you here”, added.
Scaloni then went to hug Márquez and took a picture 🫂🥹
Two absolute legends. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐠𝐮𝐲. 👏🏼
🎥 @okdobleamarilla
🇧🇫🇫🇷Burkina Faso formally end all diplomatic relations with France:
In a news that is likely to send shockwave across the imperialist world, Burkina Faso announced it is ending diplomatic relations with France, following the EU resolution that was spareheaded by Paris.
The consequences of this decision is that the French embassy in Burkina Faso will will forced to close .
Allende believed socialism could be achieved through liberal democracy. 1973 coup proved otherwise. He thought democracy was a shield; the bourgeoisie showed him it was a stage and they wrote the final act. By allowing counter-revolutionary forces to operate freely in the name of democracy, he gave them the rope to hang him. They don't hesitate to throw democracy aside when it no longer serves them. Chile's lesson: democracy without the will to suppress its enemies is not a path to socialism, it is a grave.
Important and profound reflections on China from Domenico Losurdo, republished in the latest edition of International Critical Thought.
“Obviously, it’s completely legitimate to express doubts and criticisms about ‘market socialism.’ But on one point I think the Left should be able to reach a consensus. The reform and opening-up policy Deng Xiaoping introduced has not at all meant the merging of China with the capitalist West, as if the whole world was from then on characterized by a still calm. In reality, starting in 1979, a struggle developed that may have escaped the vision of the more superficial observers but whose importance is being demonstrated with greater and greater evidence.
“The US and its allies hoped to impose an international division of labor in which China’s part was limited to producing low-priced goods with little technological content. In other words, they hoped to conserve and increase the Western monopoly of technology. Under this plan, China, like the entire Third World, would have had to continue to play a dependent role with respect to the capitalist centers.
“It is now well understood that the Chinese Communists have interpreted and carried out a continuation of the struggle for national liberation in order to cause this neo-colonial project to fail: there is no political independence without economic independence. At least those who declare themselves Marxist should understand this truth clearly! Thanks to the desired maintenance of technological monopoly, the US and its allies intended to continue to dictate the terms regarding international relations. With its extraordinary economic and technological development, China has opened the road to democratizing international relations. This result should please not only communists but also all authentic democrats: there are now better conditions for the political and economic emancipation of the Third World.”
https://t.co/YtXMeevUq8
By far my favourite Scotland vs Brazil story is the referee saying “Good luck, may the best team win” to both captains before the game in 1982 and Graeme Souness replying “I fucking hope not”
“What she did…was to make me think why capitalism is not only efficient and practical, but also moral” - Alan Greenspan, speaking about his guru Ayn Rand in 1974.
It's worth understanding the role that this partnership played in unleashing the savageries of the modern market.
When Greenspan was still working in the corporate sector, Rand’s ideas about the “utopia of greed” infused him with a powerful sense of mission: apparently, making money wasn’t just good for him - it was good for society as a whole.
As for those who got trampled? Rand helped with that too: “Parasites who persistently avoid either purpose or reason perish as they should,” Greenspan wrote.
This mindset served him well as Fed Chair, where he supported shock therapy in Russia (72 million impoverished) and in East Asia after the 1997 economic crisis (24 million pushed into unemployment). Not to mention attacks on welfare and trade unions in the U.S....
JD Vance, with his tight concentric circles of "love," is just the latest manifestation of this worldview.