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Consideration for MAPS, a thread
The takeaway from @D__Nickles piece is that if MAPS wants to “integrate anti-racist practices” in order to “work for collective liberation,” it's necessary to acknowledge & disavow the strategy it's taken: centering the cops & military
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The takeaway from @D__Nickles piece is that if MAPS wants to “integrate anti-racist practices” in order to “work for collective liberation,” it's necessary to acknowledge & disavow the strategy it's taken: centering the cops & military
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(rather than the people they surveil, assault, and murder) while accepting money from plutocrats and courting political favor with some of the most powerful white supremacists in the US.
https://www.psymposia.com/magazine/acab/
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https://www.psymposia.com/magazine/acab/
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Re cops: "The authorities created the police in response to large, defiant crowds. That’s strikes in England, [worker] riots in the N. US, and the threat of slave insurrections in the South. So the police are a response to crowds, not to crime."
https://libcom.org/history/origins-police-david-whitehouse
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https://libcom.org/history/origins-police-david-whitehouse
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Cops uphold the US white supremacist order, which was created "to secure an obedient labor supply to keep shipping goods, materials and profits back to [Britain].”
https://crimethinc.com/podcasts/the-ex-worker/episodes/32/transcript
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https://crimethinc.com/podcasts/the-ex-worker/episodes/32/transcript
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MAPS accepted a $1 million pledge from the Mercer Family Foundation in 2018. The Mercers own and fund Brietbart, a well-documented white supremacist media outlet.
https://maps.org/news/media/7054-press-release-mercer-family-foundation-grants-$1-million-to-maps-for-ptsd-research-in-veterans
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https://maps.org/news/media/7054-press-release-mercer-family-foundation-grants-$1-million-to-maps-for-ptsd-research-in-veterans
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MAPS has repeatedly gushed over its positive coverage in Brietbart. Here are some of the Mercer-owned Brietbart headlines, including “Why White People Seek Black Privilege” & “Hoist it High & Proud: The Confederate Flag Proclaims a Glorious Heritage”
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-lists/10-most-despicable-stories-breitbart-published-under-bannon-115278/as-are-mexican-immigrants-in-america-115619/
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https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-lists/10-most-despicable-stories-breitbart-published-under-bannon-115278/as-are-mexican-immigrants-in-america-115619/
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Despite the Mercers having been spurned a mere 3 mos prior by none other than the American Museum of Natural History, Doblin stated "With this gift, the Mercers are on the forefront of scientifically rigorous medical innovation."
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/25/climate/rebekah-mercer-natural-history-museum.html
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https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/25/climate/rebekah-mercer-natural-history-museum.html
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Except, the Mercers are not at the forefront of science. In fact, hundreds of scientists condemned them for funding climate change denial, a driver of environmental racism.
http://thenaturalhistorymuseum.org/open-letter-from-scientists-to-the-american-museum-of-natural-history/
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http://thenaturalhistorymuseum.org/open-letter-from-scientists-to-the-american-museum-of-natural-history/
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The Mercers’ firm, Cambridge Analytica, tested “thinly veiled forms of racism toward African Americans called ‘race realism,’” a “new label for…‘scientific racism’...or research dedicated to proving the scientific inferiority of black people...”
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/04/white-supremacy-is-still-americas-biggest-security-threat/557591/
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https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/04/white-supremacy-is-still-americas-biggest-security-threat/557591/
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ADL: “When...Trump named Bannon as his chief strategist, numerous well-known white supremacists celebrated the appointment. David Duke called the selection of Bannon “excellent,” adding that Bannon was “basically creating the ideological aspects of where we’re going.”
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MAPS’ has both courted and repeatedly used Steve Bannon in presentations to evidence their success at achieving “bipartisan support” (read: courting reactionaries).
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MAPS has accepted $250k from Christian Angermayer (founder of ATAI), who is the sole funder for MAPS’ Israel/Palestine conflict resolution study. Angermayer serves as an advisor to Rwandan dictator Kagame. Kagame’s regime has committed numerous human rights abuses.
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“Christian didn’t hesitate for very long at all & he said, ‘Well how much is that gonna cost?’ I said well, it’s £100k in year 2 & year 3. And so Christian said alright I’ll donate that. But he wanted to be the only donor and make it his project.”
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Human Rights Watch stated “At the time, Kagame came close to condoning Karegeya’s murder in a public speech: “Any person still alive who may be plotting against Rwanda, whoever they are, will pay the price…Whoever it is, it is a matter of time.”
https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/09/24/rwanda-killing-latest-attack-opponents
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https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/09/24/rwanda-killing-latest-attack-opponents
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HRW “Documented numerous cases of arbitrary arrests, detentions, prosecutions, killings, torture, enforced disappearances, threats, harassment, and intimidation against [Kagame’s] government opponents and critics in Rwanda.” https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/02/20/rwanda-ensure-justice-over-kizito-mihigo-death 15/33
Rwandan opposition leader's 'throat cut' as Kagame critics are silenced https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/09/24/rwandan-opposition-leader-third-killed-single-year/
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Angermayer tweets at Rwandan dictator Paul Kagame saying “You rock!” - Read: The person funding MAPS’ conflict resolution study is telling a dictator with a long list of human rights abuses he rocks.
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Christan Angermayer’s essay describing Rwandan murderous dictator Paul Kagame as the “real life Black Panther miracle”
https://medium.com/@christianangermayer/the-real-life-black-panther-miracle-ec64fd0cd438
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https://medium.com/@christianangermayer/the-real-life-black-panther-miracle-ec64fd0cd438
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We know how much Doblin loves “bipartisan support” so here’s a story by the Koch-backed conservative think-tank, American Enterprise Institute, entitled “Rwanda: How long can a dictator’s malign acts go unpunished by an uncritical media?”
https://www.aei.org/economics/rwanda-how-long-can-a-dictators-malign-acts-go-unpunished-by-an-uncritical-media/
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https://www.aei.org/economics/rwanda-how-long-can-a-dictators-malign-acts-go-unpunished-by-an-uncritical-media/
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Angermayer retweets spin-master Frank Luntz’s assertions that equate Confederate statues with the Auschwitz Memorial. Wow. 20/33
These tweets speak for themselves.
Aged well, aye, @C_Angermayer? For more tomfoolery see https://www.psymposia.com/magazine/christian-angermayer-coronavirus-advice/
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Aged well, aye, @C_Angermayer? For more tomfoolery see https://www.psymposia.com/magazine/christian-angermayer-coronavirus-advice/
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Then there’s neo-fascist Peter Thiel, about whom Doblin has said, “What I wish were different were not that Peter Thiel [had] not invested in COMPASS, but I wish he would have donated to MAPS…Republicans need [psychedelics] more than anyone else.”
https://qz.com/1007144/the-neo-fascist-philosophy-that-underpins-both-the-alt-right-and-silicon-valley-technophiles/
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https://qz.com/1007144/the-neo-fascist-philosophy-that-underpins-both-the-alt-right-and-silicon-valley-technophiles/
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Thiel's a board member of Facebook, Chairman of surveillance-defense contractor Palantir, investor in tech-border-defense contractor Anduril, & investor in slew of psychedelic cos: @COMPASSPathway, @ATAI_life (Angermayer), and @mymindbloom @dbeynon22
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/07/01/silicon-valley-tech-start-up-anduril-raises-200-million-create-software-driven-defense-company/
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/07/01/silicon-valley-tech-start-up-anduril-raises-200-million-create-software-driven-defense-company/
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Even as Mijente—a Latinx and Chicanx action network—highlights Palantir’s role in assisting ICE in targeting immigrants, Doblin on Thiel: “‘He’s this evil guy doing all these things with Trump!’ It’s guilt by association, which is not fair.”
https://action.mijente.net/petitions/facebook-must-stop-giving-ice-access-remove-head-of-data-sharing-company-from-leadership
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https://action.mijente.net/petitions/facebook-must-stop-giving-ice-access-remove-head-of-data-sharing-company-from-leadership
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Perhaps MAPS has failed to take a stance against Thiel due to his investments in COMPASS and ATAI. COMPASS and ATAI founders have donated at least $705k to MAPS. Receipts:
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MAPS’ staff raised potential ethical issues. In response, COMPASS founder George Goldsmith, who has a long history with @TapestryNetwork of leading high-level “multi stakeholder” meetings in major industry contexts shed performative tears. https://qz.com/1454785/a-millionaire-couple-is-threatening-to-create-a-magic-mushroom-monopoly/
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It’s not unfair to name Thiel’s/Palantir’s ICE contracts and role in "bust[ing] relatives of migrant children" @sambiddle @theinterept has been following Thiel/Palantir for years, so Doblin’s claims we’re being “unfair” is a head scratcher.
https://theintercept.com/2019/05/02/peter-thiels-palantir-was-used-to-bust-hundreds-of-relatives-of-migrant-children-new-documents-show/
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https://theintercept.com/2019/05/02/peter-thiels-palantir-was-used-to-bust-hundreds-of-relatives-of-migrant-children-new-documents-show/
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“[Thiel] said, with no facial affect, that apartheid was a sound economic system working efficiently, & moral issues were irrelevant. He made no effort to even acknowledge the pain the concept of apartheid could possibly raise for me, a Black woman.”
https://medium.com/indian-thoughts/my-conversation-with-peter-thiel-about-apartheid-and-its-aftermath-3fdf4249b08d#.mssa871vr
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https://medium.com/indian-thoughts/my-conversation-with-peter-thiel-about-apartheid-and-its-aftermath-3fdf4249b08d#.mssa871vr
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And finally, excluding instances of sexual-misconduct by MAPS-affiliated researchers, Halperngate is perhaps the biggest psychedelic scandal of the past 20 years that few talk about.
https://erowid.org/culture/characters/halpern_john/halpern_john_article1.shtml
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https://erowid.org/culture/characters/halpern_john/halpern_john_article1.shtml
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Note MAPS researcher & DEA snitch Halpern’s paternalism re: Indigenous Americans @7:15: “Would I be working with Indians on...peyote actually being healthy for them? Finally giving them some strength to stand up stronger to the government?”
https://www.bitchute.com/video/w56oF3HPF1zP/
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https://www.bitchute.com/video/w56oF3HPF1zP/
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Doblin’s disregard for communal safety re: Halpern’s snitching & Thiel’s policing demonstrate mainstreaming at any cost. But don’t worry, he’s in “good” company. Alleged perp of serial “sexual misconduct” @nmgoldsmith agrees research comes first. https://erowid.org/culture/characters/halpern_john/halpern_john_info1.shtml
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Please see the statement below by Horizons Perspectives on Psychedelics for the source regarding Neal M. Goldsmith
https://www.facebook.com/HorizonsConference/posts/1758393120865599
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https://www.facebook.com/HorizonsConference/posts/1758393120865599
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There’s plenty more to be said, but we’ll leave it at that for now. How about them apples? Errr...cherries.
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@threadreaderapp unroll
