pmeg

Amused observer of all things absurd

[GET A GRIP @docrussjackson]

Nilatpal Basu posted this on FB:

At the #WorldCup on Tuesday — a man in a red suit stood completely still for 90 minutes in the stands. Then he covered his mouth and pointed a gun to his head.
FIFA’s cameras cut away immediately.
His name is Michel Kuka Mboladinga — known as “Lumumba Vea,” which means “Lumumba Lives.” For more than a decade he has stood motionless at every DR Congo match — suit and tie, arm raised — as a living tribute to Patrice Lumumba, the first Prime Minister of an independent Congo.
Patrice Lumumba gave a stunning Independence Day speech on June 30, 1960 — standing before King Baudouin of Belgium — excoriating Belgian colonialism. Malcolm X called him “the greatest Black man who ever walked the African continent.”
Six months after independence, Belgian officers and soldiers captured Lumumba, tortured him, and executed him by firing squad. His body was dismembered and dissolved in acid. The only known remnant was a gold tooth kept by the Belgian officer responsible for 39 years until his death.
That is what Lumumba Vea stands in tribute to. Every single match. In a suit. Motionless. For 90 minutes.
On Tuesday against Colombia — he added something new. He covered his mouth and mimicked a gun to his head. A silent, devastating protest against the world’s silence over eastern DR Congo — one of the globe’s most severe yet least-covered humanitarian crises, which has displaced millions and claimed countless lives through violence and massacres.
Lumumba Vea went viral this week — covered by USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, ESPN, Sports Illustrated, CNN and the BBC. Every outlet explained the Patrice Lumumba connection. Not one mentioned the link between Lumumba’s CIA-backed assassination, the Western strategy to destabilize an independent Congo, and the current humanitarian catastrophe in eastern DRC today.
That connection is not a footnote. It is the entire story.
The same Western powers that assassinated Lumumba in 1961 — because he wanted Congo’s mineral wealth to benefit Congolese people — have spent 65 years ensuring the DRC remains destabilized, its cobalt and coltan flowing to Western technology companies while its people are massacred in the east.
FIFA cut the cameras. The mainstream media covered the gesture without the history. And a man in a red suit stood in the stands and said — without words — what the world refuses to hear.

Lumumba Lives.

[SON LAİK BÜKÜCÜ 🇹🇷 @TheLaikYobaz]

Bir X kullanıcısının sayfasında paylaştığı karikatür sosyal medyada gündem oldu.

Avrupalılar yavaş yavaş gerçeğin farkına varıyor...

[History Nerd @_HistoryNerd]

After 144 years of construction, the Sagrada Familia has finally been illuminated for the first time

[LUMUMBA VEA 🇨🇩🐆 @JumbaDrc]

CONGRATULATIONS TO US 🇨🇩🐆

[Daniel Mayakovski @DaniMayakovski]

Documental sobre la pobreza en EEUU, según OXFAM, más del 40% de la población estadounidense, incluido el 48,9% de los niños, es pobre con bajos ingresos... mientras el 1% más rico de EEUU es 987 veces más rico por hogar que el 20% más pobre del pais.

El capitalismo que no te enseñan, la mayoría de pobres en EEUU trabajan incluso en varios empleos pero ni así pueden permitirse pagar una casa ni tener un buen seguro médico, así que sobreviven durmiendo en sus coches y van a médicos voluntarios de ONGs para poder tratarse.

[Duke Of Nigeria. @xagreat]

This image breaks my heart.

Long live the resistance

[Soureh 🟩☫🟥 @Soureh_design2]

The saddest Best Player of all time

[Nilo Tabrizy @ntabrizy]

What happened with Team Melli succinctly sums up the story of being Iranian: regardless of talent and work ethic, the cruelty of being structurally and systemically thwarted at every turn.

On the visa front and border anxiety, it’s destabilizing in a way that’s difficult to explain unless you’ve personally experienced it. I was navigating discriminatory Visa issues for the month of May and it was so stressful. I couldn’t shake the anxiety of the limbo, despite knowing it would be eventually solved at some point. So to imagine a team having to deal with this on the daily, and the compounding effects of being treated so differently than any other team is heartbreaking.

As talented and full of fight as this year’s team was, deep down I never expected us to go through. There were too many challenges for these athletes: a country destabilized by AND still reeling from the trauma of the IRI’s massacre in January, then subject to relentless bombing campaign by a World Cup host country, AI doctored images of the athletes trying to sow division amongst the diaspora and potential fans, never being allowed to stay overnight on American soil and properly recover, the stupidity of the VAR crimes that many top international announcers were bewildered by. The list goes on.

The scales were intentionally imbalanced. Our Team Melli had an unequal hill to climb. And yet through it all, these men played with their full hearts, despite immense pressure intended to flatten them. Seeing them cry in their post game interviews was too heartbreaking. All of my respect to Team Melli for playing with all they had despite the machinations working against them.

“I don't know why we've been so unlucky. I hope we qualify so we can bring some joy back to our people.

People of Iran, we love you so much. Please forgive us,” Ramin Rezaeian, tearfully to camera after the 1-1 draw with Egypt where the team experienced VAR disqualifying a second consequential goal in the tournament

[رامین رضاییان @Ramin_Rezaian_]

Hoy nos despedimos oficialmente del torneo con la frente en alto 🇮🇷... ¡pero la pasión ahora late por México! 🇲🇽🔥 No se desesperen, campeones, el futuro es suyo.

¡Adelante, campeones, y que su camino hacia el trofeo esté lleno de bendiciones! 🏆

[Carlos Montero @CMonteroOficial]

Cuando tiene razón, tiene razón! Vergonzoso el maltrato a Iran 🇮🇷.
“Esta es una Copa del Mundo desastrosa. Como jugadores profesionales no podemos jugar una competición en estas condiciones, no está bien ni es justo.”, Taremi, capitán 🇮🇷

[Mal @UtdMaI]

Iran played three matches.
They drew all three.
And in every single one, they fought with heart, pride, and dignity.

But after their final match, the host nation reportedly demanded they leave immediately.
No time to recover. No time to rest. Just pack up and go.

That is not how you treat athletes.
That is not how you treat human beings.

Despite the pressure, the restrictions, and everything stacked against them, Iran kept showing resilience.

This team deserves respect, not mistreatment.

That’s the spirit of the World Cup.

[Motivaciones Fútbol @MotivacionesF]

¡ESTA IMAGEN NOS ROMPIÓ EL CORAZÓN! 💔🇮🇷

Ramin Rezaeian marcó el gol del empate, fue elegido como el mejor futbolista del partido… pero eso no alcanzó.

Tras el pitazo final, no pudo contener las lágrimas. Irán estuvo a segundos de conseguir la clasificación, pero el gol de la victoria en el último minuto fue anulado.

La imagen de Ramin recibiendo el premio con los ojos llenos de lágrimas lo dice todo. Refleja el dolor de un equipo que no solo luchó dentro de la cancha, sino también fuera de ella.

Mientras otras selecciones viven el Mundial con normalidad, Irán ha tenido que entrenar en México y viajar el mismo día de cada partido a Estados Unidos. Un contexto que ha complicado enormemente su participación.

Esto fue mucho más que un partido de fútbol.

TIENEN TODO NUESTRO RESPETO, IRÁN. 🇮🇷❤️

[pmeg @Pmegmac]

@Nicolas_Colin Just use a floor unit! wtf is the issue. You put the exhaust out the bottom of your window. Seriously no one has thought of this? In the whole world??

[KNOWLEDGE_SUPER @KNOWLEDGEs1111]

「Still Bad, Michael Jackson」と題されたオハイオ州立大学（OSU）のマーチングバンドのアメフトハーフタイムショーで行われたパフォーマンス

マイケル・ジャクソン追悼のため、2013年10月19日(土)に披露されたショーは全メンバーがフィールド上にマイケルを描き、ムーンウォークを再現しました

[Restitutor Orientis 🇱🇮 @restitutorII]

Dans le sud de l'Iran, où les températures peuvent atteindre 50°C à l'ombre, les habitants utilisent depuis plus de 2 000 ans un système d'architecture bioclimatique: les badgirs, ou tours à vent. Très répandues dans les régions désertiques du pays, notamment autour de la ville de Yazd, ces structures constituent un véritable système de climatisation naturelle.

Leur fonctionnement est ingénieux: la tour capte le vent en hauteur et l'achemine à l'intérieur du bâtiment. L'air traverse souvent un bassin ou un réservoir d'eau souterrain, ce qui le refroidit davantage par évaporation. En parallèle, l'air chaud est évacué par d'autres ouvertures grâce à l'effet de cheminée.

Grâce à ce procédé entièrement passif, l'intérieur des habitations peut rester étonnamment frais, même lorsque la température extérieure dépasse 45°C, et ce sans recourir à la moindre source d'électricité.

[Daniel Mayakovski @DaniMayakovski]

En el partido de esta noche entre Congo y Colombia en el Mundial, un hombre congoleño se quedó inmóvil durante los 90 minutos imitando el saludo del líder anticolonial congoleño, Patrice Lumumba.

Lumumba fue descuartizado y disuelto en ácido por EEUU y Bélgica en 1961 por conseguir la independencia del Congo ante el colonialismo y negarse a que los imperialistas siguieran saqueando los recursos de su pais.

Aunque los imperialistas disolvieron su cuerpo, no pudieron borrarlo de la historia, 65 años después, Lumumba sigue presente para millones de personas.

[Sophie Grenham @sophiegrenham]

As many of you know, summer is my least favourite season. It's not just "the heat" that bothers me, though I usually cope so long as it doesn't go above 25°C and there's a breeze.
Here are some of the reasons...

I look, feel, and sweat like a hog.

There are precious few things I can wear where I don't look like a hog in human clothing, and even the physical act of dressing can bring on sweat.

Due to the above, I need two cool showers a day.

Public transport smells like an armpit.

The roads absorb all the heat, so I can't wear proper shoes.

Chafing, swelling, insect bites.

Sunburn if you even briefly take your eye off the ball.

The coastline is full of teenagers being annoying.

You regularly see people in the most unflattering clothing known to man.

I can't sleep at night.

Everything gets so darn loud.

Tell me yours...

[That's My Michelle @JamelleMyBelle]

Somebody said that World Cup is just the US having a giant sleepover with the cousins we never see because our parents hate each other. 😂