The concept has been fading into obscurity for a while, as issues such as social justice have taken its place, with some arguing that the two work contrary to each other. But the legitimization of attacks on speech has created a dichotomy rife with emotion, retaliation and violence — and perhaps most significant of all, irony.

The idea of punching Nazis is routinely fetishized in memes that don’t seem to be going away, and glorified by Hollywood and other influential forces. The hysteria brought about by the election of Donald Trump as president of the USA was very much expected — but the toll the recent trend is taking on the concepts of speech and justice might not have been.

The inauguration of the new president has brought about the arrests of a number of journalists covering the event, including a documentary producer, photojournalist, live-streamer and freelance reporter all charged with the most serious level of offense under Washington DC’s rioting laws.

At the same time, the FBI have been involved in the investigation of rioters who threw firebombs and brutally attacked attendees of a speaking event at the University of California at Berkeley — an event which included right-wing speaker Milo Yiannopoulos.

On our own shores, controversial blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia is claiming that Economy Minister Chris Cardona and EU presidency policy coordinator Joseph Gerada visited a German brothel while on official business this month. In an unprecedented move, the two filed four warrants which froze €47,460 from the journalist’s bank account.

Similarly to how Milo Yiannopoulos or Richard Spencer’s supporters are multiplying with every riot and every attempt at taking making sure they don’t deliver their speeches — support for our own controversial figures rises with every act of disproportionate retaliation. What many deem to be an act of cavalier intimidation is precisely what caused Mrs Caruana Galizia to generate €69,500 in donations so far.

Waging war on the island’s “one-woman WikiLeaks” is no small feat, especially with the existence of more powerful entities on the playing field. In fact, the European Federation of Journalists has reported the case to the Council of Europe Platform for the Protection of Journalism, the largest organisation in Europe for the safeguarding of the rights of journalists.

In response, the Democratic Party has called for the correction of "draconian’ libel laws — followed by a tweet from opposition leader Simon Busuttil pledging to “remove all gags on free expression” once a Nationalist government is in power.

Although many would argue that all freedoms carry consequences and that a lack of proof to claims made by a popular blogger should not be taken lightly, vicious counter-attacks are proving to be immensely counterproductive. It would take a lot more to silence or destroy controversial figures and provocateurs — and perhaps rightly so.

The post Free Speech: Death or Rebirth? appeared first on The Third Eye.

Friday was also declared a national day of mourning by Lebanon after two suicide bombers killed 43 people and injured another 200 in an area in Beirut, said to be predominantly Shia. ISIL have claimed responsibility for the attack.

French President Hollande has declared France in a national state of emergency for only the fourth time since World War Two. The Islamic State has issued an official statement in French, claiming responsibility for the attacks. However, it is entirely unclear whether these were inspired or directed by the IS. Charles Winter, a security analyst, describes the statement as being "’put together hastily’’ and revealing no new information.

Saudi Arabia’s highest religious body has issued a strong condemnation of the attacks in Paris. “Terrorists are not sanctioned by Islam and these acts are contrary to values of mercy it brought to the world,” a statement by the Council of Senior Scholars said.

According to the AFP, A frenchman was identified as a possible concert hall shooter. He was identified through fingerprinting, whilst the owners of the Syrian and Egyptian passports found at the scene are yet to be formally identified. German media are reporting that a man was arrested in Bavaria last week with machine guns and explosives, suggesting this could be related to the Paris attacks.

Poland has announced it will no longer take in refugees via an EU programme in a statement linked to the Paris killings. “The European Council’s decisions, which we criticised, on the relocation of refugees and immigrants to all EU countries are part of European law,” European affairs minister Konrad Szymanski wrote online. “After the tragic events of Paris we do not see the political possibility of respecting them”.

Internet warriors have also rushed to social media to blame the tragedy on the refugees residing in Europe. Over 500,000 Syrian refugees have gone to Europe, fleeing the civil war and barbaric ISIS. Even in legitimate debates about the threat assessment and the link between terrorism and refugees, fears are often exaggerated and the wrong concerns are raised.

The Islamic State urges Muslims to travel to Iraq and Syria to fight for IS and its enemies locally – not the other way round. ISIS does not urge its followers to travel to Western countries as their priorities are currently in the middle East. "’The refugees themselves, fleeing war and extremism, are not strong supporters of the most violent groups: if they were, they would have stayed in Iraq or Syria.’’ (Brookings).

The refugee crisis needs to be handled properly, as there is always a chance of refugees becoming disenfranchised, away from home and in a country that does not treat them with dignity. However, the current death toll  in Syria is well over 250,000 people. To say that terror attacks are caused by the refugees – who are a product of this very terror, is equivalent to spitting on the untimely graves of the 30,000 children caught in the midst of it. Falling for a terrorists’ provocation for a race war, as many Europeans are doing, is ultimately giving the terrorists what they want; war, terror, martyrdom. With the perfect scapegoat in place, they have us blaming the wrong people and effectively keeping the cycle going. This is what these people are fleeing from, don’t let them suffer for it.

The post The ultimate paradox, the refugee scapegoat appeared first on The Third Eye.

Ten years later, hundreds of people are still missing

Today is the anniversary of the day the hurricane made landfall in Louisiana, which lead to the severity to this tragedy. The hurricane affected about 90,000 square miles of land, caused billions of property damages and wreaked havoc on the economy by destroying homes, causing a rise in gas prices, and putting an end to about 1 million non-farm jobs in the affected areas.

For the tenth anniversary of the tragedy, George W. Bush has returned to New Orleans, and his visit has been met with mixed responses.

Ordinary citizens were very proactive in the catastrophic aftermath of the hurricane, praised for helping their neighbours and providing food and shelter, while the coast guard rescued 34,000 people in New Orleans alone. The Federal government, however, was heavily criticized for its slow response to the disaster. President Bush was accused of not understanding the extent of the destruction or bothering to witness it, barring his photogenic flight over the disaster zone after the pressure started to kick in. On social media, his visit back to the disaster zone ten years later is therefore deemed wildly inappropriate by many, with some going as far as blaming the former President for the dreadful aftermath.

Despite this, Bush was very well received upon his arrival at a secondary school in New Orleans where much of the resentment seems to have subsided. Outside, however, were protesters with a sign that read “George Bush still hates black people.”

The post A Natural and Man-Made Disaster – 10 Years of Recovery and Bitterness appeared first on The Third Eye.

Naturally, the political right proceeded to explode.

Previously, marriage equality was left up to the discretion of the states. Progression in equal rights in the US has so far been concerned with the expansion of freedoms, and rights have since expanded to cover non-property owners, abolishing slavery, equal rights for women, and now the equality in marriage. Same-sex marriage being treated as a federal issue is, of course, befitting of an issue concerning the rights of persons.

U.S. Senator and Republican candidate Ted Cruz, however, says he will be introducing a constitutional amendment to “protect the authority of state legislatures to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman,” he told Fox News. Numerous conservative officials have, in fact, pledged to disregard the new law. As a first response to the news, governor of Louisiana Bobby Jindal tweeted that “marriage between a man and a woman was established by God, and no earthly court can alter that.”

Most of us in the west are happy to live in a secular democracy. A place in which religious ideals prevail over national law is one similar to, say, Saudi Arabia or perhaps, more accurately, areas controlled by ISIS, who maintain disbelief in courts, and hold the perceived word of God to be supreme. The U.S Constitution states that it is not to establish any religion.

It is difficult to see how these critics honestly believe in justice, and some seem to be proposing a religious state. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee said, “the Supreme Court has spoken with a very divided voice on something only the Supreme Being can do – redefine marriage.”

In Alabama, the association of county commissioners is attempting to push courts to suppress the issuing of marriage licenses until attorneys review the Supreme Court ruling and decide on action. According to MyFox station, at least three counties so far are complying with the halt.

Alabama’s Chief Justice Roy Moore is questioning the legitimacy of the Supreme Court on the basis that it has no legal authority to define marriage. In one of his speeches, Moore "predicts’ that same-sex marriage will destroy America. Similarly, Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert fears that “God’s hand of protection will be withdrawn” from the U.S in response to the law. God has, so far, neglected to respond.

President Obama, on the other hand, praised the outcome despite the position he held during his first term. It is acknowledged that Obama’s true sympathies were always on the side of the progressives, and the 1996 questionnaire is testament to this, as is the nature of politics.

In a recent interview on CNN, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was plainly asked how he would respond to the notion that his own marriage is not traditional, as he has been married three times. “Well, they have a very good point,” Trump said. “But I’ve been a very hardworking person. And actually, I have a great marriage; I have a great wife now. My [first] two wives were very good.” Host Jake Tapper pressured on, asking what he would answer if married LGBT person were to pose the question.

“I really don’t say anything. I’m just…Jake, I’m for traditional marriage.”

Holding back tears, CNN commentator S.E. Cupp urged the Republican Party to accept the ruling. Although being a Republican herself, Cupp is known for her support of gay unions. She described unions as beneficial “economically, for family stability, and that it is the moral thing to do.”

“Those people there are not pariahs, they’re patriots, and wherever you stand on the politics of this issue – and I’ve long been in support of gay rights – it’s hard not to see these people as just wanting the human dignity that the rest of us have when it comes to death benefits, hospital visitation, or child custody.

“The politics of this is one thing but I would challenge members of my party to look at the faces on the right hand of your screen, and ask yourself if they deserve the same kind of dignity that the rest of us get to enjoy.”

The post The Right Reactions: Traditional Inequality appeared first on The Third Eye.

Roof is described as an unemployed, heavy user of pill drugs including Xanax, in favour of racial segregation and intending to start a civil war. A parallel has been made between Dylann Roof and Timothy McVeigh, who murdered 168 people in 1995 in an act of "revolt’ against the government in hope for a race war.

President Obama reacted to the tragedy by addressing the problem of gun violence in America. Many conservatives objected to this, suggesting instead that churches and churchgoers ought to be armed. Some went as far as blaming the victims themselves for not carrying guns, including South Carolina State Rep. William Chumley who complained that somebody in the church should have been ready to defend. Despite holding a record of felony drug charges and being open with friends and neighbours about his wish to kill people, Roof was in possession of a gun. It is unclear, however, whether the gun was a gift or purchased by Roof himself.

Commenters on prominent far-right online forums largely condemned the attack, mainly out of fear that it would be used against them and prompt the government to crackdown on gun ownership and hate speech. Kirk Lyons, a prominent lawyer known for being a Holocaust-denier and protecting Ku Klux Klan members, went on to criticize the killings on the basis that the victims were Christian. Amongst some conservative circles, the outrage surrounding the tragedy seems to be due to the fact that the attack took place in a church, feeding into the fear of a perceived "war on Christianity’.

It is acknowledged that Roof is indeed a disturbed individual, but his ideas of nationalist duty, racism and violence must have come from somewhere. Roof expressed neo-Nazi admiration, and in his manifesto titled "The Last Rhodesian’, explains that he does not hold as much hatred for Jewish people since “they are white”, but did describe wanting to “destroy Jewish identity”. Roof seemed to have been triggered by the outrage surrounding the shooting of Trayvon Martin in 2012 in which he sympathized with the shooter, as well as the website of the Council of Conservative Citizens.

 People who knew him described him as someone with a lot of “Southern pride”, but his racist jokes were never taken seriously. He was described as merely "conservative’, an aspect which somehow made his words and racist paraphernalia acceptable to those around him. Photographs found on his Facebook page depict him either holding, or wearing, various flags with particular symbolism that is very relevant to this story. One patch worn by Roof in a photograph depicts the flag of South Africa’s Apartheid government while the other is the flag of the white-controlled country of Rhodesia (later Zimbabwe). He is also pictured sitting on a car with a Confederacy license plate referencing a racist group.

The tragedy was immediately assumed to be a hate-crime by most, probably due to the shooter’s profile and political sympathies, as well as the history of the targeted church. The opinion is not shared by everyone however, as conservative forums and news stations seem to deny the racial motive altogether, or at least suggest we do not “jump to conclusions”. "Fox News’, for instance, held this view but did indeed jump to conclusions themselves – suggesting the motive is an attack on faith. Republican Party politician Rick Santorum also claimed this to be “an assault on religious liberty”.

To some of us, interpreting this act of terrorism as an attack on Christianity is comparable to construing the Boston bombings as an attack on physical exercise. There seems to be nothing, other than the event taking place during a Bible-study meeting that suggests the killer was motivated in this way. His manifesto reeks of nothing other than national pride and staunch racism.

 African-Americans were historically targeted in their churches by white supremacists in attempt to terrorise them based on their race – and not religion.  Therefore, the history of the church in question is imperative. It has always acted as a safe house from those in fear of white supremacy. It is one of the oldest African Methodist Episcopal Church in the South, and the site where in 1822, Denmark Vesey, a freed slave, planned one of the biggest slave insurrections in U.S history. Leaders subsequently blamed the revolts on the church itself, and it was burnt to the ground, after which its members continued to congregate in secret. In fact, many civil rights leaders emerged from within churches, including Rev. Martin Luther King. These churches were therefore a threat to those who sought to enforce slavery and segregation. Such attacks are, of course, not ancient history, since the 1990s also experienced a wave of fire bombings on historically black churches, as well as the burning of the church in Massachusetts the day President Barack Obama was inaugurated.

South Carolina has a problem with hate groups, with about 19 known groups, including two factions of the Ku Klux Klan, four white nationalist groups, six neo-Confederate groups and two branches of League of the South and the Council of Conservative Citizens. The Confederate flag continues to fly.

The issue with describing Dylann Roof, or any domestic terrorist, as a "lone wolf’ is that it downplays the threat of such terrorism. This is especially evident when compared to the fear surrounding foreign terrorism. It is easy to blame Xanax or mental illness, but the truth is that anyone who commits an act of terrorism is disturbed to some extent. The issue lies in the way terrorists are classified; right-wing terrorists kill more Americans than Islamic terrorists do, and yet they are given disproportionate weight. Even if Dylann Roof is a “lone wolf” who operated outside of any group or institutionalized terrorist campaign, the truth is that this kind of terrorism has been going on for hundreds of years in America. Although there is much talk of combating foreign terrorism, real and substantial action against domestic terrorism is yet to make an appearance.

The post Know your Context: Charleston Church Murders appeared first on The Third Eye.