Every Monday on Global Comment, we share the slow, thoughtful, considerate words that our brains – and souls – need but that it’s easy to miss in our busy world. We distil the best of the web and recommend just three links every week that you absolutely must see.
No fluff, no fuss, just three exceptional reads.
Here are this week’s recommendations:
‘I’m sorry to have to announce that my cancer situation has developed not necessarily to my advantage’ (Simon Boas / Jersey Evening Post)
My favourite bit of understatement ever comes not from a Brit or a Spartan but from the Japanese Emperor Hirohito. In August 1945, following Japan’s defeats in every recent battle and the obliteration of two cities with nuclear bombs, he broadcast that “the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan’s advantage”
Aaron Bushnell Set Himself on Fire Over the US’s Role in Palestine. Who Was He? (Lex McMenamin / Teen Vogue)
Bushnell’s final words were not widely reported by mainstream media initially, but were later read on CNN: “I am an active-duty member of the US Air Force,” he began, “and I will no longer be complicit in genocide.”
In footage of his protest, preserved by the independent journalist Talia Jane, Bushnell can be heard saying. “I am about to engage in an extreme act of protest, but compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers, it’s not extreme at all. This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal.”
After Black Panther member Bobby Hutton was controversially gunned down by Oakland police officers, Marlon Brando addressed the large crowd that had gathered at his funeral.
@provocative_hubAfter Black Panther member Bobby Hutton was controversially gunned down by Oakland police officers. Marlon Brando addressed the large crowd that had gathered at his funeral.
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Image: Quintin Gellar