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Dirtyoldsox t1_j68bnbv wrote

Artwork like this always just comes across as annoying because we’re all just mice trying to chase our cheese in order to survive anymore. What else are we gonna do until a new system is put into play? Wanna make art with a message? Call out the billionaires exploiting our labor for chump change and poor living conditions.

Aside from that, the artwork is great. The message is just flat and tired.

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megamindcrime t1_j696n37 wrote

>anymore

Always. You mean always. The methods change but the story is the same. There has never been, and will never be some utopia.

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Dirtyoldsox t1_j69btar wrote

I’m not saying a utopia is possible or impossible however it certainly won’t ever exist under capitalism.

The existence or non existence of a utopia is not my point though. Why spread the message that chasing down our cheese will lead us, the mice, to death when the message should be that hoarding all the cheese that rightfully belongs to the mice will lead the mice to revolt and come for the trap setters head. If anything, the artwork upholds the elitist idea of stay within your socioeconomic class otherwise you’ll be in danger.

Either way you look at it though, my viewing of the artworks message is subjective to my views on the topic. Nobody is right or wrong here, just spitballing our opinions and views of the artists work. Well done on the artist to spur conversation!

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ProphecyRat2 t1_j6dg5bq wrote

“Capatalism”

No matter what you a call it, “Socialism,” “Communism”, “Capatalism”

Its all built on Neo-Colonial Industrialism.

How bout some Swedish Oil?

In her book Affärer i blod och olja: Lundin Petroleum i Afrika[26] (Business in blood and oil: Lundin Petroleum in Africa) journalist Kerstin Lundell claims that the company had been complicit in several crimes against humanity, including death shootings and the burning of villages.[27]

In June 2010, the European Coalition on Oil in Sudan (ECOS)[28] published the report Unpaid Debt,[29] which called upon the governments of Sweden, Austria and Malaysia to look into allegations that the companies Lundin Petroleum, OMV, and Petronas have been complicit in the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity whilst operating in Block 5A, South Sudan (then Sudan) between 1997-2003.

The reported crimes include indiscriminate attacks and intentional targeting of civilians, burning of shelters, pillage, destruction of objects necessary for survival, unlawful killing of civilians, rape of women, abduction of children, torture, and forced displacement.

Approximately 12,000 people died and 160,000 were violently displaced from their land and homes, many forever. Satellite pictures taken between 1994 and 2003 show that the activities of the three oil companies in Sudan coincided with a spectacular drop in agricultural land use in their area of operation.[30]

Also in June 2010, the Swedish public prosecutor for international crimes opened a criminal investigation into links between Sweden and the reported crimes. In 2016, Lundin Petroleum's Chairman Ian Lundin and CEO Alex Schneiter were informed that they were the suspects of the investigation.

Sweden’s Government gave the green light for the Public Prosecutor in October 2018 to indict the two top executives[31] On 1 November 2018, the Swedish Prosecution Authority notified Lundin Petroleum AB that the company may be liable to a corporate fine and forfeiture of economic benefits of SEK 3,285 (app. €315 million) for involvement in war crimes and crimes against humanity.[32] Consequently, the company itself will also be charged albeit indirectly, and will be legally represented in court. On 15 November 2018 the suspects were served with the draft charges and the case files.[33]

They will be indicted for aiding and abetting international crimes and may face life imprisonment if found guilty. The trial is likely to begin by the end of 2020 and may take several years.

The Swedish war crimes investigation raises the issue of access to remedy and reparation for victims of human rights violations linked with business activities. In May 2016, representatives of communities in Block 5A claimed their right to remedy and reparation and called upon Lundin and its shareholders to pay off their debt.[34] A conviction in Sweden may provide remedy and reparation for a few victims of human rights violations who will be witnesses in court, but not for the app. 200,000 victims who will not be represented in court.

Lundin Energy endorses the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, acknowledging the duty of business enterprises to contribute to effective remedy of adverse impact that it has caused or contributed to.[35] The company has never refuted publicly reported incriminating facts. Nor has it substantiated its claim that its activities contributed to the improvement of the lives of the people of Sudan.[36] It never showed an interest in the consequences of the oil war for the communities in its concession area. The company maintains a website about its activities in Sudan.[37]

Criticism has also been directed towards former Minister for Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt, a former board member for the company, responsible for ethics.[38][39] Ethiopia arrested two Swedish journalist Johan Persson and Martin Schibbye and held them for 14 months before the release. Conflict Ethiopian Judicial Authority v Swedish journalists 2011 was caused as the journalist studied report of human rights violation in the Ogaden in connection with activities of Lundin Petroleum.[40]

The trial against Lundin may become a landmark case because of the novelty and complexity of the legal issues that the Swedish court will have to decide. It would be the first time since the Nuremberg trails that a multibillion-dollar company were to be charged for international crimes. The court is likely to answer a number of important legal questions, including about the individual criminal liability of corporate executives vs. corporate criminal liability of organisations, the applicable standard of proof for international crimes before a national court, and the question whether a lack of due diligence is sufficient for a finding of guilt. On 23 may 2019, the T.M.C. Asser Institute for International Law in The Hague organized a Towards criminal liability of corporations for human rights violations: The Lundin case in Sweden.[41]

Thomas Alstrand from the Swedish Prosecution Authority in Gothenburg on 13 February 2019 announced that a second criminal investigation had been opened into threats and acts of violence against witnesses in the Lundin war crimes investigation.[42] They have allegedly been pressured not to testify in court. Several witnesses have been granted asylum in safe countries through UNHCR supported emergency protection procedures. The company has confirmed that its CEO and Chairman have been officially informed by the prosecutor about the allegation, noting that it believes that it is completely unfounded.

Witness tampering is usually intended to prevent the truth from being exposed in court. The second investigation into obstruction of justice seems to contradict the company’s assertions of its good faith cooperation with the war crimes investigation.

Once court hearings commence in Sweden, the Dutch peace organization PAX and Swedish NGO Global Idé will provide daily English language coverage of proceedings, expert analyses and comments on the website Unpaid Debt.[43]

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