On this day in 1884, the "Berlin Conference" began when delegations from nearly every Western European country and the U.S. met in Germany to develop a set of protocols for the seizure and control of African resources.
The conference, which had no African representatives, was the first international conference ever on the subject of Africa, and dealt almost soley with the matter of its exploitation.
At the time, approximately 80% of African land and resources were under domestic control; the influence of Europeans was most strongly exerted on the coast. Following it, colonial powers began seizing resources further inland.
As a result of the conference, which continued into 1885, a "General Act" was signed and ratified by all but one of the 14 nations at the table, the U.S. being the sole exception. The Act's main features were the establishment of a regime of free trade stretching across the middle of Africa, the development of which became the rationale for the recognition of the short-lived "Congo Free State", the abolition of the overland slave trade, and the principle of "effective occupation".
The Conference's rapacious intentions for Africa were noted by outsiders: socialist journalist Daniel De Leon described the conference as "an event unique in the history of political science...Diplomatic in form, it was economic in fact."
Before the Conference ended, the Lagos Observer declared that "the world had, perhaps, never witnessed a robbery on so large a scale." Theodore Holly, the first black Protestant Episcopal Bishop in the U.S., condemned the delegates as having "come together to enact into law, national rapine, robbery and murder".
Berlin 1884: Remembering the conference that divided Africa
Megathreads and spaces to hang out:
- β€οΈ Come listen to music and Watch movies with your fellow Hexbears nerd, in Cy.tube
- π Come talk in the New Weekly Queer thread
- π Read and talk about a current topics in the News Megathread
- π Come and talk in the Daily Bloomer Thread
- βοΈ September Movie Nominations βοΈ
reminders:
- π You nerds can join specific comms to see posts about all sorts of topics
- π Hexbearβs algorithm prioritizes comments over upbears
- π Sorting by new you nerd
- π If you ever want to make your own megathread, you can reserve a spot here nerd
- πΆ Join the unofficial Hexbear-adjacent Mastodon instance toots.matapacos.dog
Links To Resources (Aid and Theory):
Aid:
Theory:
- β€οΈFoundations of Leninism
- β€οΈAnarchism and Other Essays
Baseball is one of those sports that gets talked about as if it's dying when it's still one of the most watched and popular sports in the world. The MLB is the second largest league in the world as far as revenue is concerned and has some of the highest attendance numbers of any league.
Weird. It's soooo fucking boring? I can't imagine sitting down and watching a game of baseball
You sit down to drink beer and eat "food" and do crowd participation stuff and talk with your family and yell at the other team while baseball happens. The baseball itself is mostly incidental.
Fair, I can do all of that without baseball though. Like, can't we do that with a sport, or some other shitvwe can watch, that's actually fun?
This is why they invented the circus.
Baseball isn't dying. The fans of baseball are dying... of boredom.