Bread, Circuses and Genocide
Afternoon Comrades.
Considering the Titanic-sized fuckery afoot I have a feeling that we will be spending this week talking, positioning and ideally looking for solutions to yet another week of wanting to not be helpless as the empire swings with all masks off.
Obviously, I referring to the reality of Israel’s publicly announced Final Solution 2.0 in Rafah, Palestine as well the Super Bowl. For context, at the time of writing I have been up and about for 5-6 hours and whilst trying to catch up with reality I was confronted with two seemingly competing but definitely connected realities. One, Israel’s Final Solution, live streamed in all its horrors, as well as a sporting event in the US that to date has not been surpassed in its brazen display of Orwellian usage of propaganda. It feels as if each passing day is perceived from the powers that are to be used to further push the envelope of depravity and violence while equally forcing their desperate need for us to be brainwashed into endless consumption and passivity. Hence the title of today’s dispatch, bread and circuses. Again, nothing is new, it has all happened before and it is our duty to stop it.
The phrase "bread and circuses" encapsulates a concept deeply rooted in the political and social landscape of ancient Rome. Its origin can be traced back to the satirical writings of the Roman poet Juvenal in the late 1st and early 2nd centuries AD. In his satires, Juvenal criticized the Roman elite for pacifying the masses with superficial entertainment and material goods, rather than addressing the underlying issues of poverty, inequality, and political corruption.
The phrase itself, "panem et circenses" in Latin, refers to the provision of free bread (panem) and extravagant public spectacles (circenses) such as gladiatorial games, chariot races, and theatrical performances. These were employed by the ruling class as a means of distracting and placating the populace, diverting their attention away from the realities of their daily struggles and grievances.
The provision of free bread, distributed through state-sponsored programs like the "annona," was a form of welfare intended to alleviate hunger among the urban poor. It served not only as a means of subsistence but also as a tool for social control, fostering a sense of dependency on the government and discouraging dissent.
Meanwhile, the lavish spectacles held in arenas like the Colosseum served multiple purposes. They provided entertainment and diversion for the masses, offering an escape from the harshness of everyday life. They also served as a display of wealth and power by the ruling elite, reinforcing their status and authority in the eyes of the public. Additionally, these spectacles served a political function, as emperors and politicians used them to cultivate popular support and legitimize their rule through public adulation.
However, Juvenal's use of the phrase "bread and circuses" was not merely a critique of the Roman aristocracy's manipulation of the masses. It also conveyed a deeper commentary on the erosion of civic virtue and the decline of Roman society. Juvenal lamented the loss of political engagement and moral integrity among the Roman people, who had become passive and apathetic in the face of corruption and tyranny.
You know what I am getting at.
The fact that the genocide of Palestine at the hands of the Israeli state and army, with full support of the US and the rest of the Western Nato Bootlickers really kicked off around the weekend of Black Friday in 2023 and now is converging its Final Solution on Super Bowl Sunday is not by accident but entirely on purpose. The fact that the state of Israel, financed predominately by US Tax Money ran an internationally viewed advertisement during this event, at a cost of around 7 Million USD per 30 seconds and whose content is not worthy of mention while at the same time carpet bombing a ghetto of refugees that they themselves created is beyond even my words.
The Super Bowl, as a quintessential example of mass entertainment in capitalist societies, embodies the concept of "circuses". It is a spectacle of extravagance and consumerism, with corporations spending exorbitant amounts on advertising and sponsorship deals. The event serves to distract the masses from the economic inequalities and social injustices inherent in capitalist society and now, genocide. By promoting a culture of consumerism and spectacle, the Super Bowl reinforces capitalist ideology and perpetuates the illusion of prosperity and social mobility. Furthermore, the provision of "bread" in the form of economic aid and development projects is often used as a guise for imperialist agendas, masking the underlying exploitation of resources and labor in colonized or neo-colonial territoriesPart of this ideology is imperialism and the material reality of that word has been live streamed to us from Palestine for the last 3 months.
Meanwhile, the promotion of "circuses" through cultural imperialism and media hegemony serves to propagate Western values and ideologies globally. Mass entertainment, including sports events like the Super Bowl, becomes a tool for cultural domination and soft power projection. By exporting Western cultural products and norms, imperialism seeks to maintain its influence and control over oppressed nations while diverting attention from the material realities of exploitation and oppression.
Once again, I am at a loss of words for the above.
It is not that we wanted nor needed for this genocide to happen in order for us here in the West to understand the horror’s of our own governments. More importantly, Gazan’s, as well as all oppressed people around the world do not, have not ever deserved death in all its modern horror for the sole purpose of the enrichment of racist European settlers around the world. I find this extremely important to state and feel as if I am lacking the ability to put into words properly, but I cannot stomach the train of thought that leads to statements that this genocide is finally waking up bigger parts of the western world to the horrors committed for 700 Starbucks’ on one city block, fucks sake.
All of this could have and should have been avoided, and yes, while genocides have always been the logical conclusion of western imperialism, no one deserved to die for our pampered asses to realize just how evil our lords are.
For too long have our rulers, the capitalists and their governments been too safe, felt too secure in their ideological driven greed for profit that has resulted in nothing but death, oppression and sickness the world over. No one deserved to have been used to wake up us up and it is, at the very least, or moral and material duty to put an end to it now.
Time’s up. The beginning is here.
We serve the Revolution.
Yours. Raging.
V.