The Free

Einstein, Barcelona and anarchism in 1923 (2013) – Xavier Lasauca i Cisa

June 3, 2022 set me free Leave a comment
Albert Einstein in l’Espluga de Francolí (Tarragona), on February 25, 1923

Albert Einstein visited Catalonia between February 22 and March 1, 1923, invited by the Mancomunitat de Catalunya and the Institut d’Estudis Catalans to teach a course. In this article we will summarize the most relevant events of his visit to Barcelona and we will focus on one that took place on February 27: Albert Einstein’s interview with Àngel Pestaña and other anarchist leaders.

The Monographic Courses of Higher Studies and Exchange of the Commonwealth of Catalonia were an initiative of the Pedagogy Council of the Commonwealth aimed at the exchange of teachers between the centers dependent on the entity (in reality, the Barcelona Provincial Council) and foreign universities.

It was the mathematician, physicist and engineer Esteve Terradas (one of the six best bosses in the world, according to Einstein), as head of the physical-mathematical science courses, who invited Einstein to Barcelona. Thanks to these courses, scientists such as the Italian mathematician Tullio Levi-Civita (January 1921) or the German physicists Hermann Weyl and Arnold Sommerfeld (March 1922) also gave lectures in Barcelona.

In addition to Terradas, the chemical engineer Casimir Lana and the industrial engineer Rafael Campalans, the three German-speakers, acted as Einstein’s hosts during his stay in Barcelona. Within the framework of these courses, Einstein gave three conferences at the Diputación on special and general relativity. Although the conferences were intended for a specialized audience, many attendees filled the room to capacity just to see him and hear his voice, although you had to pay 25 pesetas at the time to do so.

The Academy of Sciences was the scene of another conference, more accessible than the previous one, in this case on the cosmological aspects derived from the theory of relativity. The mathematician Ferran Tallada, from La Vanguardia, and the poet and writer Josep Maria de Sagarra, from La Publicitat, echoed that very few understood the German physicist’s expositions. Instead, the philosopher Joaquim Xirau, also from La Publicitat, spoke of “wonderful clarity.”

Einstein visited the rector of the University and the mayor of the city, but one of the meetings that raised the most expectations was the one that took place in the anarcho-syndicalist confederation on Baix de Sant Pere street, where he was received by the leaders of the CNT Ángel Pestaña and Joaquin Maurin.
The anarcho-syndicalist leader Àngel Pestaña met with Albert Einstein on February 27, 1923.
Einstein and anarchist Barcelona

The pacifism manifested by Einstein publicly, as well as the rejection of the signing of the manifesto of the German intellectuals where they supported the military objectives of the Kaiser in the First World War (the manifesto of the 93) had turned Einstein into a true hero of the classes. workers. Einstein refused to sign this manifesto, which had been signed by all his colleagues, such as Max Planck, among others. In addition, in 1914 the German physicist signed a manifesto against the war and in favor of the unity of Europe.

To the devil with the Monarchy and to Hell with the Orange Order! – Irish/English -‘You can’t be both a curd and a whey – a republican should not show any respect for the monarchy’.

from BLOSC by Fearghal Mac Bhloscaidh- June 4, 2022 rough translation via thefreeonline

We had an interesting weekend. Sinn Féin Politician Michelle O’Neill sent a letter to the Queen to celebrate her jubilee then it came to light that Orangemen (far right ‘loyalist’ protestants in British part of Ireland) were singing racist chants about the death of Michaela Harte/McAreavey as they celebrated the centenary of “their own little country”.

Someone told me today that a republican is a significant contrast in showing leadership and political maturity on the one hand and loyalists in showing the worst of sectarianism on the other.

Sinn Féin, (radicalrepublicans now sharing power in British run 6 counties) think they are as clever as a fox and have done a great triangulation to get the upper hand over the DUP once again. I told my friend that it was definitely a ploy but that I would say their victory was as slippery as an eel, because instead of ability Sinn Féin showed the same stupidity that has lain behind their “strategy” for the last thirty years.

You can’t run with the fox and hunt with the hounds – a republican should not show any respect for the monarchy. Michelle O’Neill didn’t add to the reconciliation I think, on the contrary, she took a rod that will beat herself later on.

Reconciliation cannot be based on lies and ingenuity and you cannot call yourself a republican and practice it like this [read Rousseau or Wolfe Tone or Mac Reachtáin or Tómas Ó Cléirigh etc. if you do not agree with me].

But the final Party in the Orange Hall showed us something else- it’s a waste of time trying to compromise . They hate everyone else who is not a conservative racist.

The Orange Order was founded in 1795 to consolidate Protestant supremacy – it is a reactionary sectarian organisation [sectarian and racist in the Irish colonial context] that has stood up for injustice for over 200 years.

Covida Commedia: tea and ginger biscuits to hand – Olivia and I turned to Covid – “It’s got to be aliens” – off Guardian

by John Griffin at off-guardian via thefreeonline

The following represents over two years of careful research and close logical reasoning, brought to fruition in one middle-of-the-night conversation when, sleepless through worry over the future of civilization – tea and ginger biscuits to hand –

Olivia and I turned to the only subject that never quite goes away: Covid.

“It’s got to be aliens.”

She looks at me. “What on earth are you on about?”

“That’s just it: not on Earth – out there!”

When it comes to the Covid narrative, and the absurdities it has propagated, the alien explanation is merely elementary deduction. By discounting everything it can’t be – à la Sherlock Holmes – what you’re left with, no matter how unlikely it seems, must be true.

First, the faulty premises.

Stupidità

Stupidity is the most charitable explanation for what has transpired. And it will probably be the last resort of the accused at the International Covid Tribunal.

Any single policy decision might be explained by bumbling. Visualize the many foolish decisions of this ‘comedy of errors’, however, and you will also begin to hear the Benny Hill outro tune playing in the background.

Doltishly, the WHO, in 2009, defines ‘pandemic’ as merely the global spread of a new virus to which most people are not immune, and unsurprisingly identifies one in March 2020.

Clownishly, we take notice of people pratfalling in the street in China. Neil Ferguson is clumsily chosen as an authority on SARS-CoV-2 propagation after yet another back-of-a-dogeared-envelope calculation.

Christian Drosten foolishly decides upon a test for coronavirus that isn’t remotely diagnostic (the PCR method is like finding the few atoms of Shakespeare in your tea – it impresses only until you remember you can do this sort of thing because the universe is wondrously interdependent and interrelated. Viruses are not alien invaders, but one facet of the glittering jewel that is Terran life).

Naively, we believe the bog-standard cold virus has suddenly disappeared and been replaced with an ultra-exotic one. Muddleheadedly, we forget all about the efficacy of tried-and-true remedies like hydroxychloroquine.

Obtusely, we believe in asymptomatic spread, and become thoroughly mixed up about the meaning of ‘dying with’ and ‘dying of’ something.

Docilely, we adopt Fauci and Whitty’s ineffective policies to mitigate the impact of Covid, which unintentionally cause the destruction of livelihoods, health services and education.

We watch, insensate, as the frail elderly are bundled into nursing homes and accidentally killed, thuggish police are brought onto the streets to prevent sociable behaviour, and frustration, despair, illness and suicide proliferate.

Vacantly, we overlook vaccine companies’ criminal pasts and opt for a novel therapy that doesn’t produce immunity.

Idiotically, we acquiesce to our children being jabbed because it will help them adjust to the new conditions. Gormlessly, we watch young males begin to keel over…

“I could go on…”

“Don’t,” Olivia said. “I got the picture ages ago. The only stupidity was looking to the ‘experts’ instead of noticing the dearth of bodies in the streets. Let’s face it, most people voluntarily donned the dunce cap; the giveaway was that the average age of a Covid death was the average age of death. Of course the policies weren’t accidental. Look at the Nudge Unit’s machinations, the obsession with universal vaccinations, and the filthy lucre made by Big Pharma. How’s that for deliberation?”

Soldi

‘Follow the money’, the old saying goes. But a half-hearted quest won’t do. You must be prepared to follow it into hell.

As Plato recognized, the great shortcoming of democracies is their obsession with wealth. Which is why thoroughgoing materialists are not themselves disposed to notice, let alone curb, the excesses of the few; indeed, they seem like the lucky bastards.

But while most of us desire money, we usually apply a judicious approach, recognising that little things – such as the ultimate welfare of our fellow humans – trumps its acquisition ……

…..

continue reading HERE: https://off-guardian.org/2022/06/04/covida-commedia/

How The Great ‘Carbon Capture Scam’ continues Profiteering from Climate Sabotage

from Human Wrongs Watch By Rex Weyler* via thefreeonline

1 June 2022 (Greenpeace International)* — We know that oil companies hid knowledge of global heating for decades, but the captains of petroleum also schemed to turn the ecological crisis into a profit centre.

The industry devised a plan to swindle money from the public purse by pretending to address the climate issue while using subsidies to increase oil production. If one had no moral compass, one might say their scam was a stroke of genius.

Flare stack at oil refinery in Immingham, UK. © Les Gibbon / Greenpeace

Projection in Rome ahead of G20 Leaders' Summit 2021. "We need REAL climate action NOW. #RealZero" © Greenpeace / Lorenzo Moscia

A thick layer of smog hovers above the ground while smoke continues to pour out of the smoke stacks at the oil refinery. © Greenpeace / Colin O’Connor

Since the oil industry — Shell, Chevron, and others — were not prepared to actually slow oil production to halt global heating, and since they had no intention of aiming for zero carbon emissions, they invented “net zero.” The “net” requires that we subtract some carbon from total emissions to create the illusion of “zero” emissions.

Thus, the patriarchs of petroleum profiteering came up with “carbon capture,” a deception that has netted them billions of dollars and euros in public money.

Even the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has enabled the scam, since most IPCC climate models require carbon capture and storage (CCS) to balance the carbon books, always of course, at some time in the distant future.

How the scam works

Oil industry geologists knew in the 1950s that all oil fields would deplete over time, as pressure dropped in rock formations and the oil would no longer flow. They developed certain “enhanced oil recovery” technologies to extend the life of depleted oil fields, by fracking and by pumping carbon dioxide (CO₂) into old wells.

BREAKING FAKES: Staged Battles Of Ukrainian Army

from southfront.org via thefreeonline shared with thanks

On May 3, the Russian Ministry of Defence shared videos of the staged combat operations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Cameras are seen on the videos, and the AFU servicemen follow the orders of the film director.

The roles of the LPR and DPR servicemen are also played by Ukrainian actors who have red armbands which are a tactical sign of the People’s Militias.

Video Player doesn’t work… see original HERE if not censored: breaking-staged-battles-

The Russian Ministry of Defence commented:

” Amid the Kiev’s political catastrophe in Mariupol and military failures in the Donbas, the Kiev regime, with the financial support of the United Kingdom, organized filming of “spirit-lifting” videos for Western and Ukrainian audiences.

Video Player doesn’t work… see original HERE if not censored.. breaking-staged-battles-

In particular, on May 28, staged video footage was filmed near the settlement of Meshkovka in the Mykolaiv region showing the alleged “high efficiency” of the use of Western weapons by Ukrainian nationalists.

To make the future picture more dramatic, at the insistence of the British curators, a “reconstruction” of the never-existing “battle” of the Ukrainian Nazis with the outnumbered “Russian servicemen” was created on the set.

The roles of the “opponents” of the Ukrainian Nazis in the staged short film were performed by members of the local territorial defense unit wearing red armbands. In the absence of captured Russian equipment, the “conditional enemy” appears in the frame on Ukrainian armored personnel carriers and armored vehicles.”

The videos confirm that main weapons of the Kiev regime are lies and fakes.

Kurdistan and solidarity without borders: Testimony of an internationalist volunteer

Thousands of men and women came to Rojava to join the fight led by the Kurdish people against the Islamic State. Kemal, a Spanish anarchist, was one of them and tells his story to La Tinta.

Kemal sends me photos. In some, he can be seen practicing shooting, resting, talking with the residents of Rojava (Syrian Kurdistan), where he was twice as an internationalist volunteer, between 2016 and 2018.

His story, where militancy, combats against the State Islamic (ISIS or Daesh), learning that will mark him forever and the ever-living memory of comrades who fell defending the territory, is similar to that of thousands of people from all over the world who decided to come to a Syria in the midst of war to join the resistance led by the Kurdish people.

Of course, Kemal has a first and a last name, but he prefers that I write about him with the nickname he chose in Rojava.

He knows that many other internationalists who returned to their countries -especially to Europe- were victims of judicial persecution.

Although European governments continue to publicly declare their rejection of Daesh, the citizens who went to fight the followers of the Caliphate were classified on more than one occasion as “terrorists” and were brought before the courts.

I speak several times with Kemal, an ocean separates us , but it is not inconvenient for me to tell the story. “About my personal data, I can only tell you that I am from Aragon, Spain,” he summarizes. And he apologizes to me if he prefers to leave his personal life at that point.

Kemal describes himself as “a normal guy” who had “normal jobs”, who “likes to play sports” and with an anarchist militancy that allowed him to develop a “political consciousness”.

His story within the Spanish libertarian movement intersected with the political and social process that emerged in 2012 in Rojava, when the population of northern Syria declared autonomy, and, driven by the Kurdish movement, decided that it was time to change their lives radical.

“I have to tell you that militancy, as we know it in the West, is completely different from what it means in Rojava and in the sphere of the Kurdish movement –says the Aragonese-. I just made the decision to fight for those who didn’t have so much.

I don’t know if I mentioned it to you the other time, but for me the gesture made by so many thousands of foreigners who came to Spain to fight against fascism in the International Brigades has great value. Doing the same for other people seemed like the best way to honor his memory.”

Hevales

With each photo he sent me, Kemal added a comment. In one he says: “Heval Chekdar. A great guy, full of good humor and a good person. He fell in the Raqqa operation”.

In another: “She was our commander in Manbij. Heval Eylan, possibly the best commander I’ve ever had. I could tell you a lot about her, but for another time. She fell just the day after we parted ways, at the hands of a Turkish attack when we were in the Al Bab operation.