1 00:00:01,720 --> 00:00:05,880 Speaker 1: Cool Zone Media. 2 00:00:04,440 --> 00:00:06,600 Speaker 2: Hello, and welcome to Cool People did Cool Stuff. You're 3 00:00:06,600 --> 00:00:10,160 Speaker 2: a weekly reminder that sometimes when bad stuff happens, people 4 00:00:10,760 --> 00:00:14,200 Speaker 2: use that opportunity to do good stuff in response to 5 00:00:14,360 --> 00:00:18,800 Speaker 2: the aforementioned bad stuff. I'm your host, Margaret Kildroy, and 6 00:00:18,840 --> 00:00:21,600 Speaker 2: with me today is my guest, James Stout. 7 00:00:21,760 --> 00:00:24,599 Speaker 3: Hi James. Hi, Margaret. I'm happy to be here. 8 00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:28,360 Speaker 2: I'm happy you're here too, and I'm happy that Sophie's here. 9 00:00:28,360 --> 00:00:29,040 Speaker 2: Who's our producer? 10 00:00:29,120 --> 00:00:29,680 Speaker 3: Hi Sophie. 11 00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:32,080 Speaker 1: Hi mag Hi Hi James. Hi. 12 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:36,559 Speaker 2: I'm also happy that Daniel is not here. No, that 13 00:00:36,600 --> 00:00:39,920 Speaker 2: comes across badly. Our audio engineer is Daniel, who is 14 00:00:39,960 --> 00:00:41,239 Speaker 2: not here, but we'll hear this. 15 00:00:41,760 --> 00:00:45,200 Speaker 1: Hi Daniel, Daniel, You're always here in our hearts. Hi Daniel. 16 00:00:45,840 --> 00:00:49,040 Speaker 3: Yeah. Everywhere I go I carry down in my heart. Yeah. 17 00:00:49,200 --> 00:00:50,880 Speaker 2: Our theme music was written for us by un woman 18 00:00:51,920 --> 00:00:54,840 Speaker 2: and this week is d next week because it's a 19 00:00:54,880 --> 00:00:57,480 Speaker 2: four parter, because it started as a two parter and 20 00:00:57,520 --> 00:01:01,880 Speaker 2: then it didn't fit. Because it's a big thing that 21 00:01:01,920 --> 00:01:04,840 Speaker 2: we're talking about, but it's an I can't sell this 22 00:01:04,880 --> 00:01:07,440 Speaker 2: as exciting. It's mostly bad, but there's good stuff within it. 23 00:01:09,319 --> 00:01:11,080 Speaker 2: This week and next week we're going to talk about 24 00:01:11,080 --> 00:01:14,360 Speaker 2: one of the least discussed worst things that has happened 25 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:18,360 Speaker 2: in the history of the world, the Armenian genocide, And 26 00:01:18,400 --> 00:01:22,440 Speaker 2: we're going to talk about the well, the scrappy, poorly 27 00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:26,839 Speaker 2: funded Armenians who set out to and successfully killed basically 28 00:01:26,840 --> 00:01:34,200 Speaker 2: everyone responsible for that particular nightmare, which is an impressive feat. Yeah, James, 29 00:01:34,920 --> 00:01:36,600 Speaker 2: I know the answer to this question because I already 30 00:01:36,640 --> 00:01:39,759 Speaker 2: asked you, have you heard much about the Armenian Genocide. 31 00:01:40,360 --> 00:01:42,680 Speaker 3: I've had a little bit. Yeah. I used to teach 32 00:01:43,200 --> 00:01:47,000 Speaker 3: a world's history course at the University of California and 33 00:01:47,040 --> 00:01:49,320 Speaker 3: we talked a little bit about the Armenian genocide, and 34 00:01:50,120 --> 00:01:53,120 Speaker 3: I was kind of shocked how most folks coming into 35 00:01:53,120 --> 00:01:55,760 Speaker 3: that course who are really genuinely unaware that anything bad 36 00:01:55,800 --> 00:01:57,600 Speaker 3: had happened to the Armenian people. 37 00:01:58,440 --> 00:02:04,480 Speaker 2: Yeah. I knew the words Armenian genocide. I mean I 38 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:08,360 Speaker 2: knew the cliff notes of what had happened, right, but 39 00:02:08,440 --> 00:02:10,760 Speaker 2: I didn't I didn't know as much as i've known. 40 00:02:10,800 --> 00:02:11,040 Speaker 1: Now. 41 00:02:12,080 --> 00:02:16,440 Speaker 2: Yeah, how about Operation Nemesis. You heard Operation Nemesis? 42 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:19,440 Speaker 3: Is this when they go about splatting all the people 43 00:02:19,440 --> 00:02:21,280 Speaker 3: who did the Armenian genocide. 44 00:02:21,320 --> 00:02:24,200 Speaker 2: There's so many there's yeah, yeah, yeah, can I do this? 45 00:02:24,600 --> 00:02:27,760 Speaker 3: Yeah? This one is pretty cool. Ways to respond to 46 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:30,840 Speaker 3: a genocide go not a bad one. Yeah. 47 00:02:30,919 --> 00:02:35,440 Speaker 2: It was just so cut and dry. I mean, there's 48 00:02:35,480 --> 00:02:37,240 Speaker 2: a lot, there's a lot that's going on, right, it's 49 00:02:37,240 --> 00:02:40,360 Speaker 2: the forethar we're going to talk about it. But like, yeah, 50 00:02:40,400 --> 00:02:45,760 Speaker 2: they're like, well, that can't happen. And and there's a 51 00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:48,040 Speaker 2: lot of stuff that came up during this that I 52 00:02:48,040 --> 00:02:51,480 Speaker 2: didn't realize that even like complicates it more. It wasn't 53 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:58,600 Speaker 2: just revenge. It was actually political actions that had a 54 00:02:58,639 --> 00:03:00,840 Speaker 2: real and direct impact on people who are still living. 55 00:03:00,960 --> 00:03:05,000 Speaker 2: Because well, we'll get into it, yeah, because it's also 56 00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:08,600 Speaker 2: going to be a story about how socialist revolutionaries of 57 00:03:08,680 --> 00:03:12,160 Speaker 2: every stripe and the presence of women in general in 58 00:03:12,200 --> 00:03:15,799 Speaker 2: revolutionary struggle has been left out of the mainstream retellings 59 00:03:15,800 --> 00:03:18,960 Speaker 2: of this story, Like most of the mainstream retellings of 60 00:03:18,960 --> 00:03:22,840 Speaker 2: this story I've heard, basically come down to, Oh, some 61 00:03:23,200 --> 00:03:27,720 Speaker 2: middle class Armenian Americans with no connections to power at 62 00:03:27,720 --> 00:03:31,400 Speaker 2: all got together and killed all these people, you know, 63 00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:33,920 Speaker 2: and it's meant to be like this like scrappy underdog 64 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:36,440 Speaker 2: story because of the fact that they're like all detached, 65 00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:41,120 Speaker 2: but it removes them from a lineage of struggle and 66 00:03:41,200 --> 00:03:46,120 Speaker 2: actually specific actors who were involved. So I disagree with 67 00:03:46,160 --> 00:03:48,800 Speaker 2: that way of telling it. And I want to shout 68 00:03:48,800 --> 00:03:51,400 Speaker 2: out the Armenian listener who wrote to suggest this story, 69 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:55,720 Speaker 2: so thank you. The shortest version of this story is 70 00:03:55,720 --> 00:03:59,120 Speaker 2: that in nineteen fifteen, a pseudo revolutionary nationalist Turkish force 71 00:03:59,240 --> 00:04:02,360 Speaker 2: called the Young Terms led a genocide of somewhere between 72 00:04:02,400 --> 00:04:06,240 Speaker 2: a million and two million Christians, particularly Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians. 73 00:04:06,840 --> 00:04:10,560 Speaker 2: The numbers are hotly contested. Mostly they're tracked separately by ethnicity, 74 00:04:11,120 --> 00:04:13,720 Speaker 2: but it was an absolute nightmare, and folks did not 75 00:04:13,840 --> 00:04:16,400 Speaker 2: take a line down, which brings me the question. I 76 00:04:16,400 --> 00:04:20,159 Speaker 2: feel like you two probably know more about modern political 77 00:04:20,200 --> 00:04:25,520 Speaker 2: media landscape. There's an influential group called the Young Turks 78 00:04:25,640 --> 00:04:26,200 Speaker 2: that's around. 79 00:04:26,600 --> 00:04:29,600 Speaker 3: Yeah, this is one of those things that, like I 80 00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:33,120 Speaker 3: if people aren't guessing from the way I speak, I 81 00:04:33,160 --> 00:04:36,520 Speaker 3: didn't grow up in the United States, and yeah, yeah, 82 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:38,720 Speaker 3: get crazy, I did, I see? I just mainlined Harry 83 00:04:38,720 --> 00:04:42,920 Speaker 3: Potter movie. It's why I'm a terrible fucking person. That's 84 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:47,360 Speaker 3: not true. I didn't grow up here and I wasn't 85 00:04:47,400 --> 00:04:50,120 Speaker 3: always like a heavy user of the Internet, like I'm 86 00:04:50,160 --> 00:04:54,400 Speaker 3: PULHDM now, but I remember having a distinct moment and 87 00:04:54,480 --> 00:04:56,080 Speaker 3: someone being like, oh, yeah, man, you check this thing out. 88 00:04:56,080 --> 00:04:58,160 Speaker 3: They called the Young Turks not but they called fucking 89 00:04:58,279 --> 00:05:03,520 Speaker 3: what And apparently it's this left liberal media network, which, 90 00:05:04,240 --> 00:05:06,840 Speaker 3: like unsurprised me, has terrible takes on things. I have 91 00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:09,280 Speaker 3: now become sadly very aware of how terrible they are. 92 00:05:09,360 --> 00:05:12,640 Speaker 3: But why what the fuck are you going for with that? 93 00:05:13,640 --> 00:05:16,400 Speaker 2: It? As best as I can understand, I have not 94 00:05:16,520 --> 00:05:19,800 Speaker 2: really consumed any of the Young Turks content, as best 95 00:05:19,800 --> 00:05:22,159 Speaker 2: as I could understand. If you're like kind of stuck 96 00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:25,200 Speaker 2: in a specific nationalist lens, you can ignore all of 97 00:05:25,240 --> 00:05:29,240 Speaker 2: the bad stuff and stick to like the like ten 98 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:31,839 Speaker 2: minutes that the Young Turks in the eighteen nineties was 99 00:05:31,920 --> 00:05:35,799 Speaker 2: like vaguely progressive or something. But it's like naming your 100 00:05:36,600 --> 00:05:43,440 Speaker 2: media network the Nazi, Like if this is like yeah media. 101 00:05:43,920 --> 00:05:47,440 Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it's insane, Like it speaks I think to 102 00:05:47,480 --> 00:05:49,520 Speaker 3: the fact that people don't like when I would when 103 00:05:49,520 --> 00:05:53,400 Speaker 3: I would lecture about the Armenian genocide. If students who 104 00:05:53,400 --> 00:05:55,520 Speaker 3: are aware at all, they were aware through the medium 105 00:05:55,520 --> 00:05:59,120 Speaker 3: of the Kardashians, which is I know nothing else. I 106 00:05:59,120 --> 00:06:03,640 Speaker 3: know the Kardashian are educators about the Armenian genocide, and 107 00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:05,280 Speaker 3: I know that one of them is married to one 108 00:06:05,279 --> 00:06:07,960 Speaker 3: of the dudes from Blink one A two, And this 109 00:06:08,120 --> 00:06:09,640 Speaker 3: is all I know about them. 110 00:06:10,560 --> 00:06:13,440 Speaker 2: Two facts more than I had. But Sophie is probably 111 00:06:13,520 --> 00:06:18,240 Speaker 2: laughing at both of us for our pop culture. 112 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:21,480 Speaker 3: Yeah, Sophie's going to do her own podcast about. 113 00:06:22,240 --> 00:06:27,560 Speaker 2: Explain yea explaining pop culture to the people who live 114 00:06:27,640 --> 00:06:29,560 Speaker 2: under rocks on my network is that. 115 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:36,160 Speaker 3: We found some anarchists and explained television to Yeah. 116 00:06:36,200 --> 00:06:37,120 Speaker 2: I would listen to that. 117 00:06:37,400 --> 00:06:40,120 Speaker 3: Yeah, I would just do that. Should be really fun. 118 00:06:41,080 --> 00:06:43,479 Speaker 2: Do me some good, because I'm not proud of the 119 00:06:43,480 --> 00:06:46,119 Speaker 2: fact that I have no idea what's going on unless 120 00:06:46,120 --> 00:06:47,640 Speaker 2: it happened in eighteen ninety six. 121 00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:50,760 Speaker 3: In my points of reference stop at the end of 122 00:06:50,760 --> 00:06:53,159 Speaker 3: the Spanish Civil War and from there, I'm just going 123 00:06:53,160 --> 00:06:57,000 Speaker 3: off context on Twitter. Yeah, but no Young Turks really 124 00:06:57,040 --> 00:07:00,640 Speaker 3: shit name, Like if you didn't see like all of 125 00:07:00,680 --> 00:07:02,560 Speaker 3: their other terrible stuff coming, I feel like the name 126 00:07:02,600 --> 00:07:04,160 Speaker 3: should have been a massive clue. 127 00:07:04,880 --> 00:07:08,599 Speaker 2: Yeah, but I mean I had never heard of the 128 00:07:08,640 --> 00:07:11,800 Speaker 2: Young Turks, the original movement, you know, even in as 129 00:07:11,880 --> 00:07:14,680 Speaker 2: little as I knew about anything else, and so I 130 00:07:15,120 --> 00:07:16,920 Speaker 2: assume that that's what it is, is that people just 131 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:23,960 Speaker 2: don't know, you know, and like, Okay, this is really petty. 132 00:07:24,320 --> 00:07:28,320 Speaker 2: There's this Armenian composer that I learned about this week 133 00:07:28,400 --> 00:07:32,880 Speaker 2: named Gomitas, and it's transliterated different ways, different times, and 134 00:07:32,960 --> 00:07:35,920 Speaker 2: the music is so beautiful, and there's like all of 135 00:07:35,960 --> 00:07:40,000 Speaker 2: these like long importance is very important. Composer. He loses 136 00:07:40,040 --> 00:07:42,400 Speaker 2: his mind in the Armenian genocide. He's considered one of 137 00:07:42,440 --> 00:07:45,920 Speaker 2: the victims of the genocide. He lives for a while longer, 138 00:07:45,960 --> 00:07:49,120 Speaker 2: but he, you know, he loses his mind completely. And 139 00:07:51,320 --> 00:07:56,360 Speaker 2: my metal band has more listeners on Spotify than this guy. 140 00:07:57,360 --> 00:08:01,600 Speaker 2: And it was just this moment of like, oh, people 141 00:08:01,640 --> 00:08:06,000 Speaker 2: don't know about the past. Yeah, you know, I didn't 142 00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:08,800 Speaker 2: know about this guy. It's amazing. This is completely up 143 00:08:08,840 --> 00:08:13,760 Speaker 2: my alley. It is like crazy, dramatic, dark and beautiful. 144 00:08:14,200 --> 00:08:18,920 Speaker 2: I'm so into it. But this is start the story. 145 00:08:18,960 --> 00:08:20,280 Speaker 2: I was gonna say to get back to the story, 146 00:08:20,280 --> 00:08:24,240 Speaker 2: but we haven't started it yet. So just to make 147 00:08:24,280 --> 00:08:26,120 Speaker 2: soph happy, I'm going to start this story in the 148 00:08:26,160 --> 00:08:28,360 Speaker 2: year three hundred and one. 149 00:08:29,720 --> 00:08:33,240 Speaker 3: I have a triple digit Yeah, yeah, use a full 150 00:08:33,280 --> 00:08:35,880 Speaker 3: pot of ass. 151 00:08:37,920 --> 00:08:41,520 Speaker 2: The Armenian genocid was both ethnically and religiously motivated, but 152 00:08:41,720 --> 00:08:46,200 Speaker 2: especially religiously motivated. To say that Armenia is a Christian 153 00:08:46,280 --> 00:08:51,839 Speaker 2: nation is to understate the case dramatically. Armenia is the 154 00:08:51,960 --> 00:08:55,600 Speaker 2: first Christian nation in the history of the world in 155 00:08:55,640 --> 00:08:58,760 Speaker 2: the year three hundred and one, seventy nine years before Rome, 156 00:09:00,160 --> 00:09:02,760 Speaker 2: years before Ethiopia. I think Georgia was also up there. 157 00:09:03,600 --> 00:09:07,360 Speaker 2: In general, most Armenians belong to the Armenian Apostolic Church, 158 00:09:07,400 --> 00:09:10,280 Speaker 2: which is part of the Oriental Orthodox tradition, which is 159 00:09:10,320 --> 00:09:12,319 Speaker 2: distinct from the Eastern Orthodox tradition. 160 00:09:12,760 --> 00:09:16,240 Speaker 1: For us, I think it's a Postolic. 161 00:09:16,200 --> 00:09:19,640 Speaker 3: Apostolic Okaystal, you should include me getting that wrong and 162 00:09:19,679 --> 00:09:20,679 Speaker 3: you're fixing me, I think. 163 00:09:20,760 --> 00:09:21,640 Speaker 2: I think so fixing. 164 00:09:21,720 --> 00:09:26,600 Speaker 1: I'm like going back to going to Catholic church Apostolic. 165 00:09:26,480 --> 00:09:30,040 Speaker 2: And the reason it is an Apostolic church is because 166 00:09:30,040 --> 00:09:32,240 Speaker 2: tradition holds that it was Saint Jude, one of the 167 00:09:32,280 --> 00:09:35,280 Speaker 2: original apostles of Jesus, who traveled to Armenia and started 168 00:09:35,280 --> 00:09:42,160 Speaker 2: converting people. So it's real Christian. What exactly Armenia means 169 00:09:42,160 --> 00:09:44,680 Speaker 2: as a political entity versus as a people is a 170 00:09:44,720 --> 00:09:47,280 Speaker 2: complicated issue that has changed many, many times over the 171 00:09:47,280 --> 00:09:50,440 Speaker 2: course of history. There's a country called Armenia right now 172 00:09:50,559 --> 00:09:53,520 Speaker 2: in West Asia. It's sort of sandwich between Turkey and Georgia. 173 00:09:54,720 --> 00:09:56,520 Speaker 2: This is sort of a rump state. It is the 174 00:09:56,559 --> 00:10:00,559 Speaker 2: remnant of a larger previous state. Most modern Armenians have 175 00:10:00,600 --> 00:10:03,880 Speaker 2: a heritage that more directly comes from modern day Turkey, 176 00:10:04,040 --> 00:10:08,439 Speaker 2: as someone from Armenia explained to me, or rather an 177 00:10:08,559 --> 00:10:11,079 Speaker 2: Armenian person explained to me earlier today when I was 178 00:10:11,120 --> 00:10:15,719 Speaker 2: trying to sort out exactly this question. Armenia has been 179 00:10:15,720 --> 00:10:17,760 Speaker 2: doing this thing for thousands of years at this point, 180 00:10:18,040 --> 00:10:20,600 Speaker 2: but it hasn't always existed as a distinct political entity, 181 00:10:20,640 --> 00:10:22,360 Speaker 2: although the culture and the people have been around for 182 00:10:22,400 --> 00:10:24,600 Speaker 2: a very long time. But we're not going to track 183 00:10:24,760 --> 00:10:26,880 Speaker 2: Armenia as it comes and goes as a country. Instead, 184 00:10:26,880 --> 00:10:30,120 Speaker 2: we're going to talk about the Armenian people. And I 185 00:10:30,160 --> 00:10:33,480 Speaker 2: just want to point out that this is they are 186 00:10:33,480 --> 00:10:38,480 Speaker 2: in some ways distinct, right. I had always assumed, like, oh, Armenians, 187 00:10:38,520 --> 00:10:40,719 Speaker 2: those are people who live in Armenia, and that's my 188 00:10:43,040 --> 00:10:47,800 Speaker 2: white Americans, like Irish people are from the island of 189 00:10:47,840 --> 00:10:50,200 Speaker 2: Ireland and everything simple, you know. 190 00:10:50,679 --> 00:10:56,000 Speaker 3: Yeah, Americans really often conflate like nation and state because 191 00:10:56,120 --> 00:10:59,280 Speaker 3: of the nature of American nationalism and stayhood. But yeah, 192 00:10:59,280 --> 00:11:01,600 Speaker 3: I think a lot of it. Even if you're from Europe, 193 00:11:01,600 --> 00:11:03,960 Speaker 3: break you can understand the Catalonius a nation but not 194 00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:06,080 Speaker 3: a state, and you have some kind of lived experience 195 00:11:06,160 --> 00:11:10,720 Speaker 3: of that. Yeah, And it can be again venturing into 196 00:11:10,760 --> 00:11:12,760 Speaker 3: things that I used to teach about when I would 197 00:11:14,200 --> 00:11:15,240 Speaker 3: still being a historian. 198 00:11:15,559 --> 00:11:18,160 Speaker 2: I mean that is part of why you were the guests. 199 00:11:18,880 --> 00:11:20,480 Speaker 2: I appreciate that you know a lot. 200 00:11:20,320 --> 00:11:22,880 Speaker 3: Of this stuff. Thank you. Yeah, people should read Benedict 201 00:11:22,920 --> 00:11:24,480 Speaker 3: Anderson if they want to know more about that. 202 00:11:24,920 --> 00:11:27,320 Speaker 2: So now we're going to jump over to a recent 203 00:11:27,360 --> 00:11:29,600 Speaker 2: friend of the pod, or at least recurring character of 204 00:11:29,600 --> 00:11:32,920 Speaker 2: the pod, the Ottoman Empire. And we talked a bunch 205 00:11:32,920 --> 00:11:34,439 Speaker 2: about the Ottoman Empire on the show. So I'm not 206 00:11:34,480 --> 00:11:36,680 Speaker 2: going to do a lot of it, but I'm going 207 00:11:36,720 --> 00:11:38,440 Speaker 2: to drill down a little bit further into how it 208 00:11:38,440 --> 00:11:42,040 Speaker 2: worked as a multi ethnic empire. I was talking to 209 00:11:42,080 --> 00:11:45,120 Speaker 2: an Armenian Greek friend about doing this episode, and the 210 00:11:45,160 --> 00:11:48,320 Speaker 2: way he put it was basically like, look, I'm not 211 00:11:48,360 --> 00:11:50,400 Speaker 2: going to go to bat for empires in general, but 212 00:11:50,480 --> 00:11:52,760 Speaker 2: the Ottomans just wanted your taxes and didn't give a 213 00:11:52,800 --> 00:11:56,719 Speaker 2: fuck what else you did. And this is an exaggeration, 214 00:11:56,840 --> 00:11:58,840 Speaker 2: and we're going to talk about some of the exceptions 215 00:11:58,840 --> 00:12:04,719 Speaker 2: to that over all, Like as far as empires go, you. 216 00:12:04,679 --> 00:12:07,920 Speaker 3: Know, big Empire fan Margaret Kiljoy. 217 00:12:07,760 --> 00:12:12,480 Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, they they're yeah, they're a minarchist, they're 218 00:12:12,480 --> 00:12:15,560 Speaker 2: not minarchist, but you know they do not begin that 219 00:12:15,640 --> 00:12:22,240 Speaker 2: discourse from da oh wow, let's start an Ottomans as 220 00:12:22,240 --> 00:12:28,240 Speaker 2: a discourse subject. I don't anyway. If anyone wants to 221 00:12:28,400 --> 00:12:29,760 Speaker 2: bring it up to me, just at me at. 222 00:12:29,640 --> 00:12:32,720 Speaker 3: I right, okay, on Twitter, and so she could be found. 223 00:12:33,280 --> 00:12:36,560 Speaker 2: Yeah, the Ottoman Empire has a distinct advantage and a 224 00:12:36,559 --> 00:12:41,760 Speaker 2: distinct disadvantage of being on the Anatolian Peninsula aka Asia 225 00:12:41,840 --> 00:12:45,520 Speaker 2: Minor aka more or less what we call Turkey. Now, 226 00:12:46,679 --> 00:12:49,120 Speaker 2: this is an advantage because it's at the crossroads of 227 00:12:49,160 --> 00:12:53,120 Speaker 2: the world. It's at a disadvantage because it's at the 228 00:12:53,120 --> 00:12:58,080 Speaker 2: crossroads of the world. I am honestly not sure if 229 00:12:58,080 --> 00:13:02,680 Speaker 2: there's ever been a more invasion prone place. I got 230 00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:06,280 Speaker 2: really lost and sidetracked for a long time reading about 231 00:13:06,480 --> 00:13:09,760 Speaker 2: centuries of backs and forth of people invading this place. 232 00:13:10,640 --> 00:13:14,040 Speaker 2: My main takeaway was people really like invading this place. 233 00:13:15,679 --> 00:13:17,840 Speaker 2: The Turks, who are a distinct ethnic group from the 234 00:13:17,920 --> 00:13:23,280 Speaker 2: also generally Muslim Arabs, formed the Imperial Core, and they 235 00:13:23,320 --> 00:13:27,240 Speaker 2: won their empire by being seriously good warriors, highly mobile 236 00:13:27,280 --> 00:13:30,360 Speaker 2: cavalry with composite bows which are just basically like a 237 00:13:30,400 --> 00:13:34,079 Speaker 2: better bow technology, would go around and conquering and demanding 238 00:13:34,080 --> 00:13:36,960 Speaker 2: total surrender and bringing people into this empire. They ruled 239 00:13:37,040 --> 00:13:40,360 Speaker 2: huge trunks of Southwest Asia, North Africa, and Eastern Europe 240 00:13:40,360 --> 00:13:43,920 Speaker 2: for centuries. The Crusaders would like, comment and conquer shit, 241 00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:46,760 Speaker 2: and to be clear, the Crusaders also really like killing 242 00:13:46,800 --> 00:13:50,280 Speaker 2: non Catholic Christians. That crusaders not great people, not that 243 00:13:50,320 --> 00:13:52,360 Speaker 2: it would have been okay if they were. What I'm trying 244 00:13:52,360 --> 00:13:55,680 Speaker 2: to say is a crusader sucked. The Mongols would comment 245 00:13:55,760 --> 00:13:58,520 Speaker 2: and conquer shit. And the Ottoman Empire was at war 246 00:13:58,559 --> 00:14:02,400 Speaker 2: with Russia like basically always any pick a random year 247 00:14:02,440 --> 00:14:05,520 Speaker 2: and they were probably at war with Russia. But once 248 00:14:05,520 --> 00:14:08,760 Speaker 2: they conquered Constantinople from the Christians in fourteen fifty three 249 00:14:08,800 --> 00:14:12,680 Speaker 2: what's now Istanbul, they managed a pretty stable empire. That 250 00:14:12,760 --> 00:14:15,480 Speaker 2: particular battle was apparently very wild, like one day when 251 00:14:15,480 --> 00:14:17,760 Speaker 2: I've like completely lost all interest in everything else and 252 00:14:17,760 --> 00:14:20,200 Speaker 2: I'm entirely cynical. I'm absolutely going to run a history 253 00:14:20,240 --> 00:14:22,480 Speaker 2: podcast where I talk about people carrying boats over and 254 00:14:22,520 --> 00:14:24,040 Speaker 2: putting them down in harbors and shit. 255 00:14:25,360 --> 00:14:26,840 Speaker 3: But portage podcast. 256 00:14:27,200 --> 00:14:31,920 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, exactly, it's actually specifically going to be about portage, Sophie, 257 00:14:32,200 --> 00:14:34,400 Speaker 2: Is that all right? We could do that, the portage 258 00:14:34,560 --> 00:14:38,760 Speaker 2: portage cast always be portaging. 259 00:14:38,640 --> 00:14:45,840 Speaker 3: Putage, always carry a boat. I see, I love it? Yes, please, 260 00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:49,520 Speaker 3: I love it? Yeah, great, Wow, this is perfect We 261 00:14:49,720 --> 00:14:56,160 Speaker 3: Narco Ottomans did. Anyway, there are authoritary bucks. 262 00:14:56,160 --> 00:14:58,160 Speaker 2: I'm not going to bat for them here, all right, 263 00:14:59,800 --> 00:15:01,400 Speaker 2: and now I'm about to say nice things about them. 264 00:15:01,480 --> 00:15:04,600 Speaker 2: As soon as they had constants noble, they were honestly 265 00:15:04,640 --> 00:15:08,160 Speaker 2: comparatively chill about it compared to the Christians. Jews and 266 00:15:08,240 --> 00:15:11,400 Speaker 2: Christians were immediately invited and sometimes maybe forced to come 267 00:15:11,480 --> 00:15:15,640 Speaker 2: live in the city alongside the Muslim population. By the 268 00:15:15,680 --> 00:15:17,920 Speaker 2: early five to fifteen hundreds, they kind of rule what's 269 00:15:18,040 --> 00:15:22,160 Speaker 2: the sort of known world? Because Western Europe is a 270 00:15:22,320 --> 00:15:25,120 Speaker 2: dinky little backwater, It is poor as fuck, and it 271 00:15:25,200 --> 00:15:27,560 Speaker 2: is not too politically powerful on the world stage at 272 00:15:27,560 --> 00:15:32,760 Speaker 2: this point. And what turned it around is that they 273 00:15:34,080 --> 00:15:36,360 Speaker 2: quote unquote discovered the New World and then robbed the 274 00:15:36,400 --> 00:15:38,920 Speaker 2: shit out of it. And it turns out that if 275 00:15:38,960 --> 00:15:40,800 Speaker 2: you rob a whole bunch of people of a bunch 276 00:15:40,800 --> 00:15:43,920 Speaker 2: of gold and enslave a bunch of people, you can 277 00:15:43,960 --> 00:15:45,840 Speaker 2: make money doing that. 278 00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:49,400 Speaker 3: Yeah, not the best way to make money, no, But 279 00:15:49,480 --> 00:15:51,400 Speaker 3: you know what the best way to make money is, James, 280 00:15:51,840 --> 00:15:54,840 Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I do bug it. It's inserting adverts for 281 00:15:54,880 --> 00:15:57,600 Speaker 3: brands that are not at all problematic and your podcast. 282 00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:01,000 Speaker 2: Yeah exactly. I'm sure every thing that is about to 283 00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:03,760 Speaker 2: be advertised to you is something that I would wholeheartedly support. 284 00:16:04,120 --> 00:16:07,520 Speaker 2: Maybe maybe it's a pocket boat, like a tiny yeah, 285 00:16:07,920 --> 00:16:10,240 Speaker 2: so that you can carry it yep, brought to you 286 00:16:10,280 --> 00:16:11,200 Speaker 2: by pocketboat. 287 00:16:11,680 --> 00:16:12,280 Speaker 1: Wow. 288 00:16:12,520 --> 00:16:14,320 Speaker 2: I actually really kind of want one of those, like 289 00:16:14,400 --> 00:16:15,840 Speaker 2: folding kayak or canoes. 290 00:16:17,240 --> 00:16:20,720 Speaker 3: I ate shit so fucking hard in an inflatable canoe 291 00:16:21,080 --> 00:16:24,400 Speaker 3: on the fifty July, like I got fucking tumbled. It's 292 00:16:24,400 --> 00:16:28,680 Speaker 3: broken half like it folded. Okay, so they're not the 293 00:16:28,720 --> 00:16:33,040 Speaker 3: most reliable canoes. I gave mine to the folding one. 294 00:16:33,080 --> 00:16:35,400 Speaker 3: It gave to my friend in Moab who also stuffed 295 00:16:35,400 --> 00:16:37,520 Speaker 3: it in a fucking pocket and it folded on him. 296 00:16:37,720 --> 00:16:40,360 Speaker 3: I like, oh, yeah, he could have drowned. 297 00:16:40,640 --> 00:16:41,920 Speaker 2: Was this like white watering or what? 298 00:16:42,680 --> 00:16:46,480 Speaker 3: So he was white watering? I was surf kayaking. Okay. 299 00:16:46,520 --> 00:16:50,640 Speaker 2: See my plan is to go to this like small 300 00:16:50,720 --> 00:16:55,240 Speaker 2: lake that has toads and put my dog in the 301 00:16:55,280 --> 00:16:59,560 Speaker 2: canoe and then put me in the canoe and move 302 00:16:59,600 --> 00:17:01,200 Speaker 2: around at like two miles an hour. 303 00:17:01,720 --> 00:17:05,440 Speaker 3: Okay, I think you're more of a target demo. Yeah, 304 00:17:05,480 --> 00:17:08,600 Speaker 3: you've made like kayak Twitter really mad now by conflating 305 00:17:08,680 --> 00:17:09,680 Speaker 3: kayak and canoe. 306 00:17:10,119 --> 00:17:12,600 Speaker 2: I know, although I do know how to do both, 307 00:17:12,600 --> 00:17:14,320 Speaker 2: I'm not very good at many sports. But I once 308 00:17:14,400 --> 00:17:19,320 Speaker 2: won a kayak race. Wow, And that's why I am 309 00:17:19,640 --> 00:17:22,280 Speaker 2: shelling for whatever comes next, because there wasn't a lot 310 00:17:22,280 --> 00:17:24,200 Speaker 2: of money in winning kayak race when I was thirteen. 311 00:17:24,280 --> 00:17:30,280 Speaker 2: Here you go, hi, Margaret Kiljoy. Here boy, the world 312 00:17:30,320 --> 00:17:31,480 Speaker 2: sure is a mess right now? 313 00:17:31,520 --> 00:17:32,000 Speaker 3: Huh. 314 00:17:32,200 --> 00:17:34,199 Speaker 2: Seems like every day there are more and more reasons 315 00:17:34,200 --> 00:17:36,840 Speaker 2: to get out into the streets and protest. That's why 316 00:17:36,960 --> 00:17:40,080 Speaker 2: when I get arrested, there's only one strategy, I trust. 317 00:17:40,480 --> 00:17:43,359 Speaker 2: I shut the fuck up. I say, I would like 318 00:17:43,400 --> 00:17:45,560 Speaker 2: to remain silent. I would like to talk to my lawyer, 319 00:17:45,880 --> 00:17:48,240 Speaker 2: and then I shut the fuck up. In the United 320 00:17:48,240 --> 00:17:51,600 Speaker 2: States of America, it's constitutionally protected and recommended by the 321 00:17:51,680 --> 00:17:57,480 Speaker 2: National Lawyers Guild. That's shut thg f u c k 322 00:17:57,960 --> 00:18:05,720 Speaker 2: up once again, Sahu t thche fuc k up, because 323 00:18:05,720 --> 00:18:08,240 Speaker 2: you can't talk yourself out of custody, but you can 324 00:18:08,400 --> 00:18:09,840 Speaker 2: talk yourself into a conviction. 325 00:18:10,280 --> 00:18:13,679 Speaker 4: Providing identification to law enforcement required in some states and situations, 326 00:18:13,800 --> 00:18:16,720 Speaker 4: giving them an address expedient in most circumstances. Never discuss 327 00:18:16,720 --> 00:18:18,840 Speaker 4: the events leading to arrest with anyone except your lawyer, doctor, 328 00:18:18,880 --> 00:18:21,600 Speaker 4: or therapist. Posting pictures of protests and actions on social 329 00:18:21,600 --> 00:18:24,240 Speaker 4: media may lead to complications. If you have already talked 330 00:18:24,240 --> 00:18:26,800 Speaker 4: to cops or experienced confusion about talking to cops, call 331 00:18:26,840 --> 00:18:29,040 Speaker 4: your attorney immediately, as these may be signs of more 332 00:18:29,080 --> 00:18:31,600 Speaker 4: serious legal problems. The concept of not talking to cops 333 00:18:31,600 --> 00:18:33,280 Speaker 4: does not provide legal advice, and the foregoing statements are 334 00:18:33,280 --> 00:18:35,800 Speaker 4: for informational purposes only. If you have specific legal questions, 335 00:18:35,880 --> 00:18:38,720 Speaker 4: consult an attorney. 336 00:18:45,720 --> 00:18:49,400 Speaker 2: And we're back. And So Europe went from warring kingdoms 337 00:18:49,440 --> 00:18:51,879 Speaker 2: to really really wealthy kingdoms because they took advantage of 338 00:18:51,880 --> 00:18:54,480 Speaker 2: the great deals that we offer heracles on media, and 339 00:18:54,520 --> 00:18:57,560 Speaker 2: they started modernizing their warships with new pocket boats and 340 00:18:58,960 --> 00:19:03,720 Speaker 2: forever change to the war. The Ottoman Empire, their main 341 00:19:03,760 --> 00:19:07,800 Speaker 2: advanced technology was basically bureaucracy. They were pretty good at it. 342 00:19:08,080 --> 00:19:10,440 Speaker 2: The ability to actually rule a massive empire and pull 343 00:19:10,520 --> 00:19:13,000 Speaker 2: taxes out of everyone took a lot of work, and 344 00:19:13,040 --> 00:19:15,639 Speaker 2: they had a really elaborate millet system for how they 345 00:19:15,640 --> 00:19:19,880 Speaker 2: handled ethnic and religious minorities. All of the different millets, 346 00:19:19,920 --> 00:19:22,160 Speaker 2: all of the different groups of people. They all had 347 00:19:22,160 --> 00:19:24,960 Speaker 2: different costumes that I think they had to wear. I 348 00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:26,680 Speaker 2: know they weren't allowed to wear a bunch of different 349 00:19:26,680 --> 00:19:30,159 Speaker 2: colors very specifically. I ended up with like kind of 350 00:19:30,240 --> 00:19:32,760 Speaker 2: mixed answers about whether or not they had to wear these. 351 00:19:33,440 --> 00:19:37,440 Speaker 2: But Greeks wore sky blue hats with black slippers, Armenians 352 00:19:37,440 --> 00:19:40,320 Speaker 2: wore dark blue and later red hats with violet slippers, 353 00:19:40,320 --> 00:19:44,920 Speaker 2: and Jews wore yellow hats with blue slippers. Wow, they 354 00:19:45,240 --> 00:19:49,320 Speaker 2: color coded their minorities. Yeah, yeah, I'm not sure I 355 00:19:49,359 --> 00:19:51,520 Speaker 2: love that. No, I'm going to say all the bad 356 00:19:51,560 --> 00:19:56,280 Speaker 2: stuff now. Yeah, non Muslim men couldn't marry Muslim women. 357 00:19:56,520 --> 00:19:59,360 Speaker 2: Church steeples couldn't be higher than the minarets on mosques, 358 00:20:00,160 --> 00:20:03,199 Speaker 2: church bells were banned Christians, couldn't dress like Muslims. They 359 00:20:03,200 --> 00:20:06,480 Speaker 2: couldn't build tall houses or buy slaves truly in oppression, 360 00:20:06,560 --> 00:20:10,000 Speaker 2: that last one. Yeah, and most importantly in a way 361 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:12,960 Speaker 2: that'll come up as a major problem. They couldn't carry weapons. 362 00:20:14,400 --> 00:20:16,640 Speaker 2: They also paid a millet tax, which was a tax 363 00:20:16,680 --> 00:20:20,080 Speaker 2: that Muslims didn't have to pay. Yeah, but this tax 364 00:20:20,160 --> 00:20:27,040 Speaker 2: also exempted them from military service. Partly, we'll get into it. Overall, 365 00:20:27,400 --> 00:20:30,600 Speaker 2: the Ottoman Empire, like basically, this was so much better 366 00:20:30,600 --> 00:20:34,840 Speaker 2: than Europe for religious minorities, and it's just incredibly shameful 367 00:20:34,840 --> 00:20:38,160 Speaker 2: that that's the case, right, Europe was in a kill 368 00:20:38,200 --> 00:20:41,360 Speaker 2: the heretic phase where for really long time they were 369 00:20:41,359 --> 00:20:44,639 Speaker 2: in this phase. If you disagreed about like the Third Council, 370 00:20:44,800 --> 00:20:48,200 Speaker 2: the Nicean Commission on the Nature of the Trinity or whatever, 371 00:20:48,720 --> 00:20:54,520 Speaker 2: they would fucking burn you alive. So I'd rather wear 372 00:20:54,520 --> 00:20:56,640 Speaker 2: a silly hat. Yeah, Yeah, it's true. 373 00:20:56,680 --> 00:21:00,159 Speaker 3: Yeah, I lame as Yes. 374 00:21:01,040 --> 00:21:05,600 Speaker 2: And they were allowed their own legal systems and autonomous 375 00:21:05,640 --> 00:21:08,040 Speaker 2: structures as long as they stayed loyal to the Sultan. 376 00:21:08,760 --> 00:21:11,199 Speaker 2: Leaders of these millets were often powerful actors within the 377 00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:15,160 Speaker 2: Ottoman Empire, And of course we're talking about a huge 378 00:21:15,160 --> 00:21:17,240 Speaker 2: swath of land over the course of like six hundred years, 379 00:21:17,280 --> 00:21:21,640 Speaker 2: so things ebbed and flowed. Author Eric Bogosian who wrote 380 00:21:21,640 --> 00:21:25,560 Speaker 2: the book Operation Nemesis, which is a very good book 381 00:21:25,600 --> 00:21:27,520 Speaker 2: that does a lot better of a job than anything 382 00:21:27,520 --> 00:21:30,600 Speaker 2: else that I read about Operation Nemesis. It lays it 383 00:21:30,600 --> 00:21:33,720 Speaker 2: out that words like Armenian and Turk really only started 384 00:21:33,720 --> 00:21:36,840 Speaker 2: getting used regularly at the end of the nineteenth century. Quote. 385 00:21:38,080 --> 00:21:41,800 Speaker 2: Aside from their respective religious faiths, the two peoples are 386 00:21:41,840 --> 00:21:45,240 Speaker 2: in many ways congruent in their culture and style. Both 387 00:21:45,280 --> 00:21:50,560 Speaker 2: people call roughly the same vast territory home, and for 388 00:21:50,600 --> 00:21:52,760 Speaker 2: a thousand years they would intermarry and there's just a 389 00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:55,400 Speaker 2: ton of intermingling and the thing about like they called 390 00:21:55,400 --> 00:21:57,480 Speaker 2: the same area home. I feel like it's important because 391 00:21:57,480 --> 00:22:01,120 Speaker 2: we have this idea like ethnanationalism. It's like, oh, everyone 392 00:22:01,160 --> 00:22:04,480 Speaker 2: gets an Ethno state and it's all distinct areas because 393 00:22:04,520 --> 00:22:06,919 Speaker 2: everyone grew up in different areas and they just have 394 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:09,520 Speaker 2: to go back to their corner. I don't like ethno nationalism. 395 00:22:09,520 --> 00:22:13,320 Speaker 2: You'll be shocked to learn. And it's just not true 396 00:22:13,800 --> 00:22:19,399 Speaker 2: right that Armenia and Turkey are like separate. I mean, 397 00:22:19,440 --> 00:22:22,200 Speaker 2: they're separate they're distinct, right, they're culturally distinct, but. 398 00:22:23,320 --> 00:22:27,440 Speaker 3: Yeah, they know distinct geographical entities with like this fictive 399 00:22:27,440 --> 00:22:30,520 Speaker 3: ethnicity that. Yeah, people are tied by their blood to 400 00:22:30,560 --> 00:22:30,920 Speaker 3: the soil. 401 00:22:31,480 --> 00:22:34,239 Speaker 2: Yeah. And like a little like shot Collars where if 402 00:22:34,240 --> 00:22:37,040 Speaker 2: you go past the electric fence, the invisible fence, you know, 403 00:22:37,280 --> 00:22:37,880 Speaker 2: like you. 404 00:22:37,800 --> 00:22:42,320 Speaker 3: Get a beep thin a zapp. Yeah, and don't give 405 00:22:42,359 --> 00:22:44,960 Speaker 3: Joe Biden any ideas he's already doing it. No, that's true. 406 00:22:45,280 --> 00:22:49,440 Speaker 2: A big listener of this podcast Joe Biden, because he 407 00:22:49,480 --> 00:22:51,719 Speaker 2: got really confused and he was like, I think I 408 00:22:51,840 --> 00:22:53,920 Speaker 2: like stuff. I don't know what I like anymore. 409 00:22:54,880 --> 00:22:56,280 Speaker 3: People I like ice cream? 410 00:22:56,480 --> 00:23:02,280 Speaker 2: Yeah, I do like ice cream? So much in common 411 00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:06,040 Speaker 2: with that man anyway. Okay, have you heard about this 412 00:23:06,160 --> 00:23:09,120 Speaker 2: system where Christians had to give up a certain percentage 413 00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:11,560 Speaker 2: of their kids to the Ottoman Empire? 414 00:23:12,160 --> 00:23:15,800 Speaker 3: I have, unfortunately, h once again, this is this is 415 00:23:15,800 --> 00:23:19,960 Speaker 3: a thing that uh, like, world history is informed by 416 00:23:20,280 --> 00:23:22,440 Speaker 3: like this idea. The teaching of world history in the 417 00:23:22,520 --> 00:23:24,879 Speaker 3: Mode University is informed by the idea that, like the 418 00:23:24,960 --> 00:23:28,439 Speaker 3: state is the final and best organization of mankind, and 419 00:23:28,480 --> 00:23:30,960 Speaker 3: therefore we have to study these giant, massive states and 420 00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:34,600 Speaker 3: empires and that's how we understand human history. Right I am, 421 00:23:34,720 --> 00:23:37,600 Speaker 3: as an anarchist, don't believe that. But yes, unfortunately, this 422 00:23:37,680 --> 00:23:38,880 Speaker 3: is a thing that was on Sidyby. 423 00:23:39,920 --> 00:23:43,560 Speaker 2: It's it's interesting. And when I say interesting, I mean 424 00:23:43,600 --> 00:23:47,240 Speaker 2: that is like a literal sense in that is a 425 00:23:47,240 --> 00:23:51,359 Speaker 2: a different way of doing things than that than what 426 00:23:51,480 --> 00:23:54,959 Speaker 2: like Western Europe was doing. Right. Yeah, there was a 427 00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:57,960 Speaker 2: system where starting in the fourteenth century, a certain percentage 428 00:23:57,960 --> 00:24:01,119 Speaker 2: of boys born to Christian homes were requisitioned as slave labor. 429 00:24:01,720 --> 00:24:03,720 Speaker 2: Kids as young as seven and as old as twenty 430 00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:07,720 Speaker 2: were taken over to Constantinople and raised in Muslim families 431 00:24:07,760 --> 00:24:10,760 Speaker 2: and converted to Islam and then became slaves to the state. 432 00:24:11,840 --> 00:24:15,520 Speaker 2: And slavery is always always bad, but American listeners will 433 00:24:15,520 --> 00:24:18,359 Speaker 2: conflate all slavery with the unique cars of chattel slavery 434 00:24:18,359 --> 00:24:22,200 Speaker 2: in the US, and it's important to understand that these 435 00:24:22,200 --> 00:24:29,679 Speaker 2: are distinct without putting moral positions on it. Many of 436 00:24:29,720 --> 00:24:33,440 Speaker 2: these formerly Christian boys became like the sultan's personal guards. 437 00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:36,720 Speaker 2: Many wound up with power and prestige. They would become 438 00:24:36,760 --> 00:24:42,720 Speaker 2: government ministers, which were called slave administrators and provincial governors, 439 00:24:42,760 --> 00:24:45,399 Speaker 2: and there were several Grand viziers, which is the position 440 00:24:45,520 --> 00:24:49,600 Speaker 2: just below sultan, and sultan was often just a figurehead 441 00:24:49,760 --> 00:24:55,760 Speaker 2: except for a few forceful, powerful personalities throughout history. So 442 00:24:55,800 --> 00:25:00,720 Speaker 2: sometimes these literal civil servants, these these slave iministrators, were 443 00:25:00,720 --> 00:25:08,120 Speaker 2: the most powerful political actors in the empire. Some Muslim 444 00:25:08,160 --> 00:25:11,119 Speaker 2: families would pretend their kids were Christian so that they 445 00:25:11,119 --> 00:25:13,399 Speaker 2: could taken up by this, because it was a path 446 00:25:13,520 --> 00:25:17,200 Speaker 2: to prestige. And now mostly this is like, well, if 447 00:25:17,240 --> 00:25:21,439 Speaker 2: only everyone wasn't so poor that this seemed like the 448 00:25:21,480 --> 00:25:24,439 Speaker 2: way to do things. But whatever, And while they're supposed 449 00:25:24,480 --> 00:25:26,520 Speaker 2: to cut ties with their families, many of them use 450 00:25:26,560 --> 00:25:29,760 Speaker 2: their positions of power to help out their families. This 451 00:25:29,840 --> 00:25:32,439 Speaker 2: system declined in the seventeenth century. It ended by sixteen 452 00:25:32,520 --> 00:25:35,040 Speaker 2: forty eight because Ottoman soldiers wanted to recruit their own 453 00:25:35,119 --> 00:25:41,119 Speaker 2: kids into the army instead of the sons of Christian families. Meanwhile, 454 00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:44,320 Speaker 2: the Ottoman Empire is in a state of perpetual war 455 00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:48,960 Speaker 2: because they're basic philosophy and this like whenever I read 456 00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:52,800 Speaker 2: shit from like Western authors, even like Armenian American authors 457 00:25:52,840 --> 00:25:55,280 Speaker 2: and stuff like that, whenever I read stuff that says 458 00:25:55,320 --> 00:25:56,720 Speaker 2: things like this, I get a little bit like is 459 00:25:56,760 --> 00:25:59,960 Speaker 2: this Orientalysm, like what's going on? Right, because because you're 460 00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:03,000 Speaker 2: Europe is obsessed with like this like fantasy version of 461 00:26:03,040 --> 00:26:06,240 Speaker 2: the Ottoman Empire, right, yeah, and some of it is 462 00:26:06,280 --> 00:26:09,680 Speaker 2: based on reality, like you know, the Harem system and 463 00:26:10,240 --> 00:26:15,160 Speaker 2: all kinds of things, right, but best as I can tell, 464 00:26:15,200 --> 00:26:16,960 Speaker 2: and so like I have a like second guess and 465 00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:19,040 Speaker 2: a doubt right that I want to sow the seeds 466 00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:22,080 Speaker 2: of doubt about the things that like almost anything written 467 00:26:22,080 --> 00:26:25,359 Speaker 2: in English, you know, Yeah, the Ottoman Empire is in 468 00:26:25,400 --> 00:26:29,160 Speaker 2: a state of perpetual war because their basic philosophy divides 469 00:26:29,200 --> 00:26:32,120 Speaker 2: the world into the House of Islam aka their empire 470 00:26:32,440 --> 00:26:36,360 Speaker 2: and the House of War aka everywhere they haven't yet conquered. 471 00:26:38,600 --> 00:26:40,640 Speaker 2: By the end of the Ottoman Empire, about a third 472 00:26:40,640 --> 00:26:44,359 Speaker 2: of its population was European, a third Anatolian like what's 473 00:26:44,400 --> 00:26:48,160 Speaker 2: now Turkey, and one third Arabian and or North African. 474 00:26:48,680 --> 00:26:51,880 Speaker 2: And this was almost evenly split between Muslims and Christians, 475 00:26:51,920 --> 00:26:56,240 Speaker 2: with a sizable minority of Jews. The Christians and the 476 00:26:56,320 --> 00:26:59,440 Speaker 2: Jews in the Ottoman Empire filled similar rules as Jews 477 00:26:59,440 --> 00:27:03,600 Speaker 2: wound up leaning Christian Europe basically like non aristocratic trades 478 00:27:03,880 --> 00:27:08,440 Speaker 2: that Muslims were more likely to avoid artisans, merchants, traders, bankers. 479 00:27:09,080 --> 00:27:11,439 Speaker 2: This is not to say that most Armenians were middle class. 480 00:27:12,119 --> 00:27:14,360 Speaker 2: Most of them were dirt poor peasants. We'll get into it, 481 00:27:14,400 --> 00:27:18,520 Speaker 2: but a lot of this middle class did was filled 482 00:27:18,520 --> 00:27:24,359 Speaker 2: by Christians. Social class, which had religious and ethnic components, 483 00:27:25,040 --> 00:27:28,080 Speaker 2: was the division talked about more often than religion, although 484 00:27:28,119 --> 00:27:32,280 Speaker 2: religion determined your access to social class. The Askiri were 485 00:27:32,320 --> 00:27:36,840 Speaker 2: a class of military administrators aka the professional Ottoman and 486 00:27:36,880 --> 00:27:40,720 Speaker 2: they were exclusively Muslim and this included court officials and 487 00:27:40,760 --> 00:27:44,160 Speaker 2: clerics as well as the military, whereas the rahea were 488 00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:49,000 Speaker 2: basically the tax paying class, and these include Christians, Muslims, 489 00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:51,840 Speaker 2: and Jews. Then about a fifth of the Ottoman Empire, 490 00:27:51,840 --> 00:27:53,960 Speaker 2: at least in the sixteenth and seventeenth century were the 491 00:27:54,040 --> 00:27:57,639 Speaker 2: cool the slaves, and some of those were high class, 492 00:27:57,680 --> 00:28:01,679 Speaker 2: but not all of them, like we talked about, And 493 00:28:01,680 --> 00:28:05,119 Speaker 2: that's the Ottoman Empire and how Armenians were living for 494 00:28:05,240 --> 00:28:11,399 Speaker 2: centuries in this kind of relative peace. But you know, 495 00:28:12,440 --> 00:28:14,080 Speaker 2: I wouldn't be mad at someone who was like, I 496 00:28:14,080 --> 00:28:15,639 Speaker 2: don't like living this way and I don't want to 497 00:28:15,640 --> 00:28:16,480 Speaker 2: live this way anymore. 498 00:28:17,119 --> 00:28:20,320 Speaker 3: Yeah, can I drop you my favorite random Ottoman Empire fact. 499 00:28:20,520 --> 00:28:22,359 Speaker 3: Please do I feel like that's one day I'll do 500 00:28:22,359 --> 00:28:25,119 Speaker 3: a whole episode on this. But so, Suliman Shah is 501 00:28:25,160 --> 00:28:30,160 Speaker 3: like the kind of fictive father of the Ottoman Empire, right, 502 00:28:30,680 --> 00:28:36,000 Speaker 3: and I guess it is one of the notable founders, 503 00:28:36,119 --> 00:28:38,320 Speaker 3: not not necessarily the founder, but one of the notable 504 00:28:38,400 --> 00:28:43,320 Speaker 3: kind of founders the Automo Empire. His tomb is like 505 00:28:44,160 --> 00:28:48,200 Speaker 3: supposed to be the site in Syria twenty fifteen, in 506 00:28:48,240 --> 00:28:51,720 Speaker 3: the peak of the civil war in Syria, Turkey sent 507 00:28:51,720 --> 00:28:55,120 Speaker 3: an entire fucking army column to scoop up the tomb 508 00:28:55,240 --> 00:28:58,400 Speaker 3: and the forty dudes who are guarding it, forty Turkish 509 00:28:58,400 --> 00:29:00,920 Speaker 3: guys just hanging out around this tomb and move it 510 00:29:01,160 --> 00:29:05,000 Speaker 3: back too closer to the Turkish border. Whoa like just 511 00:29:05,040 --> 00:29:08,280 Speaker 3: a unilateral military operation to find a dead guy? Like, 512 00:29:08,440 --> 00:29:10,320 Speaker 3: I know it would be a great film, and I 513 00:29:10,320 --> 00:29:12,440 Speaker 3: think that it's like, especially when we talk about like 514 00:29:12,480 --> 00:29:17,280 Speaker 3: modern Turkey denying the Armenian genocide, you can see a 515 00:29:17,280 --> 00:29:22,040 Speaker 3: lot of like it's not I don't know whatever, I'm 516 00:29:22,320 --> 00:29:27,480 Speaker 3: not enough of an expert on current affairs, but like, yeah, 517 00:29:27,960 --> 00:29:33,800 Speaker 3: there's a lineage. Yeah, Ottomanism is not like absent from 518 00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:36,760 Speaker 3: the discourse and identity in Turkey. 519 00:29:36,840 --> 00:29:43,080 Speaker 2: Now, so the nineteenth century hits and I feel like 520 00:29:43,120 --> 00:29:45,800 Speaker 2: the subtext of the show besides, everyone dies of tuberculosis 521 00:29:45,800 --> 00:29:49,000 Speaker 2: if you don't get murdered by the state is the 522 00:29:49,080 --> 00:29:53,960 Speaker 2: nineteenth century changes everything in the world. Everything started changing 523 00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:57,560 Speaker 2: and fast. In the mid nineteenth century, rebellion broke out 524 00:29:57,560 --> 00:29:59,720 Speaker 2: in the Balkans against the Ottoman Empires. This is where 525 00:29:59,760 --> 00:30:05,720 Speaker 2: the word Balkanization comes from. Where things break up, and 526 00:30:06,240 --> 00:30:08,840 Speaker 2: you famously get the rise of nationalism, which buy and 527 00:30:08,920 --> 00:30:11,440 Speaker 2: large made everything worse. And this is when media started 528 00:30:11,440 --> 00:30:15,840 Speaker 2: doing things like Turkey is mad or well, I guess 529 00:30:15,840 --> 00:30:17,360 Speaker 2: they would have said the Ottomans are mad. 530 00:30:17,440 --> 00:30:17,640 Speaker 3: You know. 531 00:30:18,120 --> 00:30:21,680 Speaker 2: It's when we start like like Britain will raise his 532 00:30:21,920 --> 00:30:24,080 Speaker 2: mighty I don't know how they do to Britain her 533 00:30:24,160 --> 00:30:28,960 Speaker 2: mighty fists Britannia or John Bull depending okay, And so 534 00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:31,920 Speaker 2: you start having this idea that like, nations are people, 535 00:30:32,160 --> 00:30:36,280 Speaker 2: not just that people make up nations or whatever. Right, Yeah, 536 00:30:37,280 --> 00:30:41,280 Speaker 2: most Armenians at this point are poor, rural peasants, although 537 00:30:41,280 --> 00:30:43,480 Speaker 2: in larger towns and cities you have that modern class 538 00:30:43,520 --> 00:30:47,400 Speaker 2: of artisans and merchants. But most Armenians are living medieval 539 00:30:47,440 --> 00:30:50,800 Speaker 2: lives in the nineteenth century, Like they are not hanging 540 00:30:50,840 --> 00:30:54,600 Speaker 2: out under electrical light or glass windows. There's even this 541 00:30:54,640 --> 00:30:56,760 Speaker 2: thing where like when they talk about like westernization, they're like, 542 00:30:56,800 --> 00:30:59,000 Speaker 2: they're trying to come in here with their glass windows. 543 00:30:59,040 --> 00:31:02,200 Speaker 2: And I'm like, it's one of those things that I 544 00:31:02,280 --> 00:31:03,000 Speaker 2: like don't. 545 00:31:04,400 --> 00:31:04,480 Speaker 1: Like. 546 00:31:04,520 --> 00:31:06,000 Speaker 2: Every now and then I'm trying to like write like 547 00:31:06,400 --> 00:31:09,479 Speaker 2: medieval era fantasy, and I'm like, I don't think they 548 00:31:09,480 --> 00:31:12,280 Speaker 2: had windows, like we understand them, you know. 549 00:31:13,160 --> 00:31:17,200 Speaker 3: Yeah, it wouldn't be practical in the absence of a 550 00:31:17,240 --> 00:31:18,040 Speaker 3: good glass. 551 00:31:18,400 --> 00:31:23,240 Speaker 2: Yeah. Like in colder places you had scraped hide I think, okay, 552 00:31:23,320 --> 00:31:25,000 Speaker 2: in warmer places you were like, that's a hole in 553 00:31:25,040 --> 00:31:25,400 Speaker 2: the wall. 554 00:31:25,560 --> 00:31:26,760 Speaker 3: Yeah, we just made a hole here. 555 00:31:27,080 --> 00:31:32,719 Speaker 2: Yeah. So they're living medieval lives. They're using hand looms, 556 00:31:32,760 --> 00:31:35,479 Speaker 2: blacksmiths are fixing plows. They live in mud walled houses 557 00:31:35,480 --> 00:31:38,600 Speaker 2: and all that shit. Even bigger towns might not have 558 00:31:38,600 --> 00:31:42,600 Speaker 2: a single telephone. There's no paved roads, no railroads. A 559 00:31:42,600 --> 00:31:45,920 Speaker 2: lot of the folks, the Christians in the countryside are 560 00:31:46,000 --> 00:31:48,920 Speaker 2: essentially surfs. When the land was sold, the peasants came 561 00:31:48,960 --> 00:31:54,240 Speaker 2: with the sale. Meanwhile around them were the Kurdish tribes, 562 00:31:54,440 --> 00:31:57,240 Speaker 2: another distinct ethnic group in the area, but one that 563 00:31:57,360 --> 00:32:01,800 Speaker 2: was pastoralist and nomadic, and things were famously not great 564 00:32:01,840 --> 00:32:05,680 Speaker 2: between these two groups. The Muslim Kurds were allowed to 565 00:32:05,680 --> 00:32:08,120 Speaker 2: take more or less any liberties they wanted with the Christians, 566 00:32:08,160 --> 00:32:10,800 Speaker 2: often like moving into people's houses for the winner without 567 00:32:10,840 --> 00:32:14,239 Speaker 2: asking and things like that. This antagonism was set up 568 00:32:14,240 --> 00:32:19,640 Speaker 2: on purpose by the Ottoman rulers to have the Armenians and. 569 00:32:19,560 --> 00:32:23,200 Speaker 3: The Kurds at each other's throats and such cases. Yeah, 570 00:32:23,320 --> 00:32:26,120 Speaker 3: this is how empires work. Like, Yeah, I was just 571 00:32:26,280 --> 00:32:28,560 Speaker 3: talking to some friends in Mema right now about how 572 00:32:28,680 --> 00:32:30,880 Speaker 3: like the Hunter is very clearly trying to set up 573 00:32:30,920 --> 00:32:34,040 Speaker 3: the Rahingia against other people in Rakine. Like it is 574 00:32:34,080 --> 00:32:37,360 Speaker 3: a tale as old as time with empire, and it works. 575 00:32:38,120 --> 00:32:40,680 Speaker 3: It worked for a very long time. I'm happy to 576 00:32:40,720 --> 00:32:43,840 Speaker 3: say that all the Kurdish organizations that I pay attention 577 00:32:43,880 --> 00:32:48,360 Speaker 3: to have all talked about this openly and admitted the 578 00:32:48,440 --> 00:32:52,160 Speaker 3: role of Thirds in the Armenian genocide. Yeah, unlike the 579 00:32:52,240 --> 00:32:56,280 Speaker 3: country of Turkey. Yes, Turkish individuals, many Turkish individuals are 580 00:32:56,400 --> 00:32:57,680 Speaker 3: very aware of it and are sorry. 581 00:32:57,680 --> 00:32:58,760 Speaker 2: Go ahead, what were we gonna say? 582 00:32:58,960 --> 00:33:01,320 Speaker 3: No? I met a really interesting guy not so long 583 00:33:01,360 --> 00:33:07,240 Speaker 3: ago at the border who essentially was his grandparents I believe, 584 00:33:07,280 --> 00:33:11,080 Speaker 3: had been Armenian but had given their son to a 585 00:33:11,200 --> 00:33:14,600 Speaker 3: Kurdish family at the time of the Armenian genocidekind and 586 00:33:14,680 --> 00:33:18,240 Speaker 3: did like look after my little baby, like they're genociding us. 587 00:33:18,360 --> 00:33:20,680 Speaker 3: And yeah, he had only found this out in his 588 00:33:20,720 --> 00:33:25,080 Speaker 3: attempt to document his family as part of his asylum application, 589 00:33:25,440 --> 00:33:28,600 Speaker 3: and was like trying to explain, like as someone who 590 00:33:28,680 --> 00:33:32,200 Speaker 3: identified as Kurdish, Like that's a really fucking the weird 591 00:33:32,200 --> 00:33:34,480 Speaker 3: situation to be in, right, you're finding that, like your 592 00:33:34,480 --> 00:33:38,560 Speaker 3: identity is Kurdish and you know, but yeah, your grandfather, 593 00:33:39,240 --> 00:33:41,480 Speaker 3: I guess your grandfather was as a little baby like 594 00:33:42,520 --> 00:33:45,240 Speaker 3: given to a Kurdish family. But then like Kurdish people 595 00:33:45,240 --> 00:33:46,520 Speaker 3: are also complicit in this. 596 00:33:47,240 --> 00:33:50,280 Speaker 2: Right, No, this is actually this comes up a lot 597 00:33:50,400 --> 00:33:53,640 Speaker 2: in that a lot of Armenian survivors of the genocide 598 00:33:53,680 --> 00:33:59,000 Speaker 2: survived by either I hadn't read about. I believe it. 599 00:33:59,640 --> 00:34:02,360 Speaker 2: I believe this man's version. I believe this man's story, 600 00:34:03,000 --> 00:34:05,040 Speaker 2: but most of what I've read about our survivors who 601 00:34:05,080 --> 00:34:09,759 Speaker 2: have been like taken into Muslim families by force, and 602 00:34:09,840 --> 00:34:12,440 Speaker 2: so you have and then also just like if you 603 00:34:12,560 --> 00:34:15,160 Speaker 2: say you are now Turkish and change your religion, we 604 00:34:15,200 --> 00:34:17,400 Speaker 2: won't kill you. And so there's this whole thing in 605 00:34:17,440 --> 00:34:21,040 Speaker 2: the nineteen eighties I think where a ton of Turkish 606 00:34:21,040 --> 00:34:26,080 Speaker 2: folks were like, holy shit, my grandparents were Armenian, and 607 00:34:26,320 --> 00:34:28,360 Speaker 2: like we only found out when they were like dying 608 00:34:28,400 --> 00:34:33,480 Speaker 2: and on their deathbeds being like, you know, hey, actually 609 00:34:33,640 --> 00:34:34,960 Speaker 2: I was a Christian, you know. 610 00:34:35,760 --> 00:34:37,240 Speaker 3: Damn yeah. 611 00:34:37,560 --> 00:34:42,600 Speaker 2: But anyway, so in the countryside in nineteenth century, the 612 00:34:42,680 --> 00:34:45,239 Speaker 2: Kurds and the Armenians are being played against each other. 613 00:34:46,160 --> 00:34:49,360 Speaker 2: The country wanted to modernize to have a chance militarily 614 00:34:49,400 --> 00:34:51,840 Speaker 2: and economically against Europe. And one of the things that 615 00:34:51,880 --> 00:34:53,640 Speaker 2: keeps coming up in nineteenth century history is you start 616 00:34:53,680 --> 00:34:55,920 Speaker 2: being like, oh, everyone in a constitution because it's like 617 00:34:56,000 --> 00:34:59,120 Speaker 2: good for liberty and stuff, and like slowly you start 618 00:34:59,160 --> 00:35:01,480 Speaker 2: being like the power. I think a lot of people 619 00:35:01,480 --> 00:35:03,359 Speaker 2: did want it for good reasons. A lot of people 620 00:35:03,440 --> 00:35:07,040 Speaker 2: were like, oh no, that's a that's the better system 621 00:35:07,120 --> 00:35:09,239 Speaker 2: by which to create a modern military and be able 622 00:35:09,239 --> 00:35:11,680 Speaker 2: to like continue to exert power on the world stage 623 00:35:11,680 --> 00:35:13,520 Speaker 2: and not be conquered is to have a constitution. 624 00:35:13,760 --> 00:35:17,760 Speaker 3: Yeah, generally, liberally, like nineteenth century liberalism was heavily tied 625 00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:19,319 Speaker 3: to like militarism, right. 626 00:35:19,440 --> 00:35:25,040 Speaker 2: Yeah, So in eighteen seventy six, this secret society called 627 00:35:25,040 --> 00:35:26,960 Speaker 2: the Young Ottomans that had been around for a while, 628 00:35:27,120 --> 00:35:29,880 Speaker 2: and this is different than the Young Turks. They managed 629 00:35:29,920 --> 00:35:32,520 Speaker 2: to get a constitution in a parliament set up, and 630 00:35:32,560 --> 00:35:35,520 Speaker 2: their name was inspired by a similar movement, the Young Italians, 631 00:35:35,719 --> 00:35:38,360 Speaker 2: which at some point I'm going to cover the unification 632 00:35:38,400 --> 00:35:41,440 Speaker 2: of Italy and because a lot of leftists were really 633 00:35:41,480 --> 00:35:43,400 Speaker 2: excited about at the time and now it's really awkward. 634 00:35:44,880 --> 00:35:48,640 Speaker 2: But that same year, the new sultan, who had agreed 635 00:35:48,680 --> 00:35:53,600 Speaker 2: to the constitution was like, nah, never mind, that's enough 636 00:35:53,640 --> 00:35:57,959 Speaker 2: of that. I thought I wanted a constitution, I actually don't. 637 00:35:58,000 --> 00:36:01,040 Speaker 2: Democracy sucks. I'm in charge. By eighteen seventy eight, the 638 00:36:01,040 --> 00:36:06,720 Speaker 2: pretense of democracy was gone. Three years later, the Empire 639 00:36:06,760 --> 00:36:11,360 Speaker 2: basically went bankrupt. European bankers stepped in and the Empire 640 00:36:11,400 --> 00:36:14,920 Speaker 2: became an economic colony of the West. European powers had 641 00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:19,920 Speaker 2: rights over railroads, shipping, mining, water banks, mineral rights, just everything. 642 00:36:20,640 --> 00:36:23,600 Speaker 2: But you know what else is an economic colony of 643 00:36:24,040 --> 00:36:27,920 Speaker 2: Western corporate interests US. 644 00:36:27,960 --> 00:36:38,120 Speaker 5: Sadly, yes, it's us, good, good, great here's some ads. 645 00:36:45,200 --> 00:36:45,719 Speaker 3: Welcome back. 646 00:36:45,800 --> 00:36:48,080 Speaker 2: I think that was my most cynical a transition. 647 00:36:48,160 --> 00:36:49,680 Speaker 3: Yeah, that one. 648 00:36:51,400 --> 00:36:54,560 Speaker 2: From its brief flirtation with constitutional monarchy, the seeds of 649 00:36:54,680 --> 00:36:57,239 Speaker 2: change had been sown because like, Okay, as much as 650 00:36:57,239 --> 00:36:59,600 Speaker 2: I'm like, oh, like it's all like as cynicals I 651 00:36:59,600 --> 00:37:04,239 Speaker 2: am about constitutional monarchy, whatever it's it's still better than autocracy. 652 00:37:04,360 --> 00:37:07,400 Speaker 2: Like I get why people fought for this, you know. 653 00:37:09,040 --> 00:37:13,880 Speaker 2: And new groups popped up to modernize the empire. Most 654 00:37:14,120 --> 00:37:16,680 Speaker 2: at the beginning wanted to continue to have a religiously 655 00:37:16,719 --> 00:37:20,480 Speaker 2: pluralistic but still Islamic society. That's like they were like, look, 656 00:37:20,480 --> 00:37:22,520 Speaker 2: our vibe kind of works for us, Like why would 657 00:37:22,520 --> 00:37:24,759 Speaker 2: we fuck that up? Like, of course the Christians are 658 00:37:24,800 --> 00:37:27,200 Speaker 2: allowed here as long as we get to like our 659 00:37:27,239 --> 00:37:28,200 Speaker 2: minarets are taller. 660 00:37:28,480 --> 00:37:28,680 Speaker 5: You know. 661 00:37:30,400 --> 00:37:33,280 Speaker 2: One of these new groups was called the Young Turks, 662 00:37:34,239 --> 00:37:37,120 Speaker 2: and they start off kind of good. Then they turn 663 00:37:37,200 --> 00:37:39,160 Speaker 2: out to be more or less the precursors of the 664 00:37:39,239 --> 00:37:44,200 Speaker 2: Nazis in terms of should we genocide religious minorities. We'll 665 00:37:44,200 --> 00:37:48,920 Speaker 2: come back to them. The Sultan he had a problem. 666 00:37:49,080 --> 00:37:51,560 Speaker 2: He's trying to do this autocracy thing right, and the 667 00:37:51,640 --> 00:37:55,400 Speaker 2: problem is that ethnic minorities weren't being ruled well enough. 668 00:37:55,960 --> 00:37:58,880 Speaker 2: And I think the first problem he tried to solve 669 00:37:59,000 --> 00:38:01,600 Speaker 2: in this way was the quote unquote Kurdish problem. 670 00:38:02,360 --> 00:38:04,440 Speaker 3: When you're referring to a group of people and then 671 00:38:04,560 --> 00:38:07,120 Speaker 3: using the word problem afterwards, bad sign. 672 00:38:08,160 --> 00:38:09,360 Speaker 2: This is part of why I'm going to call them 673 00:38:09,360 --> 00:38:12,160 Speaker 2: the precursors of the Nazis. All of the like phrasing 674 00:38:12,200 --> 00:38:16,280 Speaker 2: of like the following problem and the solution to that problem. 675 00:38:17,280 --> 00:38:21,960 Speaker 2: Like it just I mean there's literally German officers taking 676 00:38:22,000 --> 00:38:22,440 Speaker 2: notes ding. 677 00:38:22,600 --> 00:38:24,759 Speaker 3: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, there's yeah, there's more than a 678 00:38:24,840 --> 00:38:26,359 Speaker 3: rhetoric shed between these two. 679 00:38:27,160 --> 00:38:30,640 Speaker 2: Uh so, yeah, this Kurdish problem. Nomadic people are hard 680 00:38:30,640 --> 00:38:34,200 Speaker 2: to rule. The best chance most dictators have is to 681 00:38:34,320 --> 00:38:38,320 Speaker 2: leverage the militaristic society of nomadic people for their own aims. 682 00:38:39,680 --> 00:38:43,759 Speaker 2: So Hamid the Sultan broke up the largest tribes of 683 00:38:43,800 --> 00:38:46,239 Speaker 2: the Kurds and killed a bunch of their leaders, and 684 00:38:46,280 --> 00:38:48,760 Speaker 2: then co opted a bunch of them into a paramilitary 685 00:38:48,840 --> 00:38:55,000 Speaker 2: force called the Hamadie, which he named after himself. And 686 00:38:55,040 --> 00:38:57,960 Speaker 2: if yeah, and if this sounds familiar to what the 687 00:38:57,960 --> 00:39:00,319 Speaker 2: Czar did or the Cossacks, because you've been found along 688 00:39:00,360 --> 00:39:02,239 Speaker 2: a cool zone media book club and I was reading 689 00:39:02,280 --> 00:39:05,439 Speaker 2: about that a while ago. It's because it's the same 690 00:39:05,480 --> 00:39:09,000 Speaker 2: fucking thing, and this is okay, this is a rabbit 691 00:39:09,040 --> 00:39:12,480 Speaker 2: hole I want to ask you about. Yeah, the overlap 692 00:39:12,480 --> 00:39:15,920 Speaker 2: between the Kurds and the Cossacks is really interesting because 693 00:39:15,960 --> 00:39:19,239 Speaker 2: both are nomadic horse tribes that wind up being the 694 00:39:19,280 --> 00:39:22,880 Speaker 2: shock troops of reaction and then wind up being the 695 00:39:22,880 --> 00:39:25,040 Speaker 2: core of two of the most impressive, large scale anti 696 00:39:25,080 --> 00:39:27,359 Speaker 2: authoritarian socialist societies the world's ever seen. 697 00:39:28,280 --> 00:39:29,840 Speaker 3: Yeah, it is an interesting parallel. 698 00:39:30,440 --> 00:39:33,279 Speaker 2: And during that one, Makno was a Cossack and he 699 00:39:33,360 --> 00:39:36,400 Speaker 2: led the anarchist Ukrainian Project, while the Kurds have spearheaded 700 00:39:36,440 --> 00:39:40,560 Speaker 2: the autonomous region of Northeast Syria that exists currently, and 701 00:39:40,600 --> 00:39:43,600 Speaker 2: their pluralistic society is built on democratic and federalism. 702 00:39:44,239 --> 00:39:48,200 Speaker 3: Yeah, that's nice. And there are like, I know, there 703 00:39:48,200 --> 00:39:51,120 Speaker 3: are like Havalds from Curtis Dan who are fighting in 704 00:39:51,160 --> 00:39:54,480 Speaker 3: Syria now I'm sorry, in Syria in Ukraine, now okay 705 00:39:54,960 --> 00:39:57,680 Speaker 3: with there, And there are also Cossack folks playing there, 706 00:39:57,719 --> 00:40:02,040 Speaker 3: and there were like horizontally organized units that might comprise 707 00:40:02,120 --> 00:40:03,640 Speaker 3: both of them. I don't know. I'm talking to one 708 00:40:03,640 --> 00:40:04,839 Speaker 3: of them soon, so we'll find out. 709 00:40:05,239 --> 00:40:06,759 Speaker 2: And it's like interesting because like a lot of people, 710 00:40:06,840 --> 00:40:10,160 Speaker 2: whenever you have like these, you know, a nomadic culture 711 00:40:10,200 --> 00:40:12,600 Speaker 2: that becomes like shock troops of reaction, people are like, oh, 712 00:40:12,640 --> 00:40:15,840 Speaker 2: it's because they're so fighty, but you're like, well, also 713 00:40:15,880 --> 00:40:20,640 Speaker 2: they're like refusal to be ruled. Also has a cultural 714 00:40:20,840 --> 00:40:24,080 Speaker 2: tendency towards anti authoritarian socialism. 715 00:40:24,480 --> 00:40:28,880 Speaker 3: Yeah, like the idea of like martial races is inherently 716 00:40:28,920 --> 00:40:32,040 Speaker 3: tied to empire, right, Like, at some point everyone was fighty, 717 00:40:32,160 --> 00:40:35,360 Speaker 3: and then yeah, they're totally the folks that they couldn't 718 00:40:35,360 --> 00:40:38,680 Speaker 3: subdue became the ones who they painted as barbarians totally. 719 00:40:39,160 --> 00:40:42,520 Speaker 2: Yeah, And it's just so interesting the way that that 720 00:40:43,400 --> 00:40:45,960 Speaker 2: sometimes those groups are still like the more privileged group 721 00:40:46,040 --> 00:40:49,840 Speaker 2: within within a system, like on some level the Kurds. 722 00:40:50,000 --> 00:40:51,759 Speaker 2: But then again you can see how much good it 723 00:40:51,800 --> 00:40:55,040 Speaker 2: did them to be slightly more privileged, because then in 724 00:40:55,080 --> 00:40:57,880 Speaker 2: the eighteen nineties the sultan was like, eh, let's just 725 00:40:57,960 --> 00:40:58,920 Speaker 2: kill you all, you know. 726 00:40:59,440 --> 00:41:01,560 Speaker 3: Yeah, so it has continued. 727 00:41:02,120 --> 00:41:06,440 Speaker 2: Yeah, so these broken up Kurdish tribes get even more 728 00:41:06,520 --> 00:41:10,919 Speaker 2: violent and banditry prone because their society has been disrupted, right, 729 00:41:12,320 --> 00:41:14,800 Speaker 2: and they're largely taking it out on the rural Armenians. 730 00:41:16,200 --> 00:41:20,280 Speaker 2: Then in eighteen ninety four eighteen ninety six, the Sultan 731 00:41:20,400 --> 00:41:23,840 Speaker 2: was like, hey, would you just go crush the Armenians. 732 00:41:24,640 --> 00:41:29,120 Speaker 2: They're too friendly with Russia. So hundreds of thousands of 733 00:41:29,200 --> 00:41:32,840 Speaker 2: Armenians were slaughtered. They were burned alive, they were aflayed, 734 00:41:32,840 --> 00:41:35,680 Speaker 2: they were raped, they were dismembered. It's a really bad time. 735 00:41:36,560 --> 00:41:40,239 Speaker 2: This is sometimes called the first Armenian genocide. And this 736 00:41:40,320 --> 00:41:43,839 Speaker 2: started what's also to be uh has been called if 737 00:41:43,960 --> 00:41:46,320 Speaker 2: if this was Wikipedia, people will be very angry because 738 00:41:46,360 --> 00:41:48,239 Speaker 2: I'm saying has been called and saying I'm saying who 739 00:41:48,280 --> 00:41:50,239 Speaker 2: called it that? And the answer is a bunch of 740 00:41:50,440 --> 00:41:57,400 Speaker 2: books I read. They started a culture of massacre, and 741 00:41:57,440 --> 00:42:00,439 Speaker 2: since the Christians weren't allowed to bear arms, there wasn't 742 00:42:00,440 --> 00:42:03,760 Speaker 2: a time they could do about it, at least not legally. 743 00:42:04,920 --> 00:42:08,400 Speaker 2: They did do quite a lot about it through friend 744 00:42:08,400 --> 00:42:16,320 Speaker 2: of the pod crime, Crime that we'll talk about on Wednesday. 745 00:42:17,239 --> 00:42:21,600 Speaker 3: That's my that's my Cliffhanger. I promise you crime. Yeah, right, 746 00:42:21,719 --> 00:42:24,040 Speaker 3: very rare to have crime on this podcast. So exciting 747 00:42:24,080 --> 00:42:25,360 Speaker 3: for us. 748 00:42:26,280 --> 00:42:29,399 Speaker 2: But I don't know, how are you feeling so far? 749 00:42:30,719 --> 00:42:33,600 Speaker 3: Well, it's a part of the world I've recently visited, 750 00:42:33,680 --> 00:42:37,520 Speaker 3: so yeah, yeah, and then I've been watching the football 751 00:42:37,600 --> 00:42:40,239 Speaker 3: recently and seeing a lot of a lot of a 752 00:42:40,280 --> 00:42:43,400 Speaker 3: lot of Gray Wolf salutes, which is really a stadium 753 00:42:43,400 --> 00:42:46,360 Speaker 3: full of people doing a fascist salute. Is not a 754 00:42:46,400 --> 00:42:48,400 Speaker 3: thing that I'd expected to see in Germany again, but 755 00:42:48,480 --> 00:42:52,320 Speaker 3: here we are. Wait, were the Gray Wolves in Germany 756 00:42:52,360 --> 00:42:54,319 Speaker 3: doing it? Yeah? The Grey Wolves is the largest right 757 00:42:54,360 --> 00:42:57,640 Speaker 3: wing group in Germany, which is impressive given that Germany 758 00:42:57,680 --> 00:42:58,240 Speaker 3: is Germany. 759 00:42:58,680 --> 00:43:03,080 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, right, what's the German So the Gray Wolves, 760 00:43:03,160 --> 00:43:05,440 Speaker 2: which I only vaguely know about, but anyone who's listening, 761 00:43:05,480 --> 00:43:09,680 Speaker 2: it's a Turkish far right nationalist group, right, yeah, ultranationalists 762 00:43:09,719 --> 00:43:11,239 Speaker 2: pan Turkish. 763 00:43:11,400 --> 00:43:15,240 Speaker 3: They conceive of Turkey that being a mono ethnic Sunni 764 00:43:15,320 --> 00:43:18,920 Speaker 3: Islamic state that expands across much of the old Ottoman 765 00:43:18,960 --> 00:43:23,719 Speaker 3: Empire to unite Turkic people, right, Okay, they are Yeah, 766 00:43:24,120 --> 00:43:28,600 Speaker 3: the street fighters at MHP they people can listen to 767 00:43:28,640 --> 00:43:31,879 Speaker 3: a podcast what it could Happen here where my friend 768 00:43:31,880 --> 00:43:35,719 Speaker 3: Sherien and I talk about the Mirage massacre and the 769 00:43:35,760 --> 00:43:40,879 Speaker 3: Gray Wolves and why Turkish bobs are beating Syrian refugees 770 00:43:41,040 --> 00:43:45,480 Speaker 3: this week in Turkey. It's great, It's very affirming stuff. 771 00:43:45,480 --> 00:43:49,360 Speaker 3: But yeah, the Gray Wolves are the right wing ultranationalists, 772 00:43:49,360 --> 00:43:53,720 Speaker 3: street fighting kind of movement of Turkish ulter nationalism. Yeah. 773 00:43:54,360 --> 00:43:56,360 Speaker 2: And if you're a metal head and you want to 774 00:43:56,400 --> 00:44:01,640 Speaker 2: be mad, their salute is distinct from throwing the horns, 775 00:44:02,040 --> 00:44:05,400 Speaker 2: but hard to tell. Yeah, it's distinct from throwing the horns. 776 00:44:05,520 --> 00:44:08,520 Speaker 3: It's close. Or if you're a shadow puppetella, then really 777 00:44:08,520 --> 00:44:12,760 Speaker 3: if you've been previously doing the little dog, yeah, problematic now. 778 00:44:13,160 --> 00:44:15,520 Speaker 2: Which is really low on the list of reasons why 779 00:44:15,520 --> 00:44:16,720 Speaker 2: we need to destroy them. 780 00:44:17,400 --> 00:44:22,120 Speaker 3: Yeah, just imagining like a just a street fighting branch 781 00:44:22,160 --> 00:44:24,319 Speaker 3: at a shadow puppet movement, fucking them up. 782 00:44:25,640 --> 00:44:28,800 Speaker 2: I mean I think about like like twenty sixteen, twenty seventeen, 783 00:44:28,840 --> 00:44:30,840 Speaker 2: I would like go to these anti Trump rallies in 784 00:44:30,920 --> 00:44:33,560 Speaker 2: like a small southern town, and the localhema groups, the 785 00:44:33,640 --> 00:44:38,400 Speaker 2: historical European martial arts books who are just like poor 786 00:44:38,600 --> 00:44:42,359 Speaker 2: rural biker nerds who are amazing and lovely people would 787 00:44:42,400 --> 00:44:44,960 Speaker 2: show up with their like heathens against hate signs and 788 00:44:45,040 --> 00:44:49,040 Speaker 2: like they're like you know, medieval kit right, Yeah, And 789 00:44:49,080 --> 00:44:51,600 Speaker 2: part of it is just like get those runs out 790 00:44:51,600 --> 00:44:56,759 Speaker 2: of your fucking mouth. Yeah yeah, yeah, like fuck you, yeah, 791 00:44:56,960 --> 00:44:59,000 Speaker 2: again like I can't see that and not have a 792 00:44:59,000 --> 00:44:59,680 Speaker 2: certain reaction. 793 00:45:00,239 --> 00:45:03,120 Speaker 3: But at the same time, yeah, those people were they 794 00:45:03,160 --> 00:45:04,359 Speaker 3: were first on the ruin shit. 795 00:45:05,120 --> 00:45:09,080 Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, And so I appreciate the work that people 796 00:45:09,080 --> 00:45:11,959 Speaker 2: have put into and not like because there's one version 797 00:45:12,000 --> 00:45:13,680 Speaker 2: of the putting in the work where you're like, hey, 798 00:45:13,719 --> 00:45:16,120 Speaker 2: no one should use runes anymore because Nazis have them, 799 00:45:16,160 --> 00:45:18,160 Speaker 2: and another that's like, we will fucking take those back 800 00:45:18,160 --> 00:45:21,560 Speaker 2: from the Nazis by before all the Nazis and having 801 00:45:21,680 --> 00:45:24,799 Speaker 2: the fact that we street fight Nazis while using these 802 00:45:25,320 --> 00:45:26,840 Speaker 2: change what people's perception is. 803 00:45:27,280 --> 00:45:30,600 Speaker 3: Yeah, I love that for them. Yeah, be a Viking 804 00:45:30,640 --> 00:45:31,520 Speaker 3: against fascism. 805 00:45:31,880 --> 00:45:36,640 Speaker 2: Yeah. So, but don't throw the horns in the wolf way. 806 00:45:37,640 --> 00:45:41,560 Speaker 3: That's my keep those two middle fingers tight tight into 807 00:45:41,600 --> 00:45:43,440 Speaker 3: the palm you did, or do it like the really 808 00:45:43,440 --> 00:45:45,040 Speaker 3: awkward way where you kind of have the thumb out 809 00:45:45,040 --> 00:45:46,239 Speaker 3: even though you're like not supposed to. 810 00:45:46,360 --> 00:45:49,080 Speaker 2: But it doesn't only matter, you know, Yeah, the. 811 00:45:49,040 --> 00:45:51,200 Speaker 3: Ship is sailed now, but at least people know what 812 00:45:51,200 --> 00:45:51,960 Speaker 3: you're doing, I guess. 813 00:45:53,960 --> 00:45:57,200 Speaker 2: Anyway, when we come back on Wednesday, we will talk 814 00:45:57,280 --> 00:46:04,000 Speaker 2: about how the Armenians formed massive revolutionary socialist organizations committed 815 00:46:04,000 --> 00:46:06,759 Speaker 2: to doing terrorism against the people who were murdering them, 816 00:46:07,560 --> 00:46:13,040 Speaker 2: which is classic cool people coose Yeah, stand by of 817 00:46:13,080 --> 00:46:15,640 Speaker 2: the show. Well, yeah, I mean thing you could plug. 818 00:46:15,680 --> 00:46:16,960 Speaker 2: I guess you'd just plugged her. 819 00:46:17,640 --> 00:46:19,799 Speaker 3: Yeah. I do a podcast, but it could happen here. 820 00:46:20,640 --> 00:46:23,440 Speaker 3: It's also on cool Zone Media. You can listen to 821 00:46:23,520 --> 00:46:27,160 Speaker 3: it by typing it could happen here podcast into your 822 00:46:27,200 --> 00:46:28,880 Speaker 3: machine as search as the Internet and it will come 823 00:46:28,960 --> 00:46:32,120 Speaker 3: up and you will find a podcast every day. And 824 00:46:32,360 --> 00:46:35,480 Speaker 3: I am writing a book for ak Press about anarchist 825 00:46:35,520 --> 00:46:38,360 Speaker 3: at War that involves some of the people we've spoken 826 00:46:38,480 --> 00:46:42,480 Speaker 3: about today, and you can read it eventually when I 827 00:46:42,520 --> 00:46:43,480 Speaker 3: finish it. 828 00:46:43,520 --> 00:46:44,640 Speaker 2: Does that have a working title? 829 00:46:46,120 --> 00:46:49,120 Speaker 3: So I wanted to do We renounce everything but victory, 830 00:46:49,160 --> 00:46:52,680 Speaker 3: which is the last words that Buenaventors Luti spoke well, 831 00:46:53,520 --> 00:46:58,720 Speaker 3: which I think is cool but still unsure. I always 832 00:46:58,719 --> 00:47:02,360 Speaker 3: feel like any any really cool speech which is attributed 833 00:47:02,360 --> 00:47:05,040 Speaker 3: to de Ruti, you have to work really hard to 834 00:47:05,080 --> 00:47:07,760 Speaker 3: ascertain if he actually said that or anything like it, 835 00:47:07,880 --> 00:47:09,319 Speaker 3: or some Dutch dude made up. 836 00:47:09,520 --> 00:47:12,640 Speaker 2: I know, because his best quote wasn't actually probably said 837 00:47:12,640 --> 00:47:12,960 Speaker 2: by him. 838 00:47:13,120 --> 00:47:13,960 Speaker 3: Yeah, but I don't care. 839 00:47:14,000 --> 00:47:14,719 Speaker 2: He would have said it. 840 00:47:14,719 --> 00:47:19,279 Speaker 3: Fuck it, yeah, fuck it, yeah, he he hated a fascist, 841 00:47:19,320 --> 00:47:22,000 Speaker 3: and yeah, there's a new there's a new quote growing 842 00:47:22,000 --> 00:47:22,560 Speaker 3: in her hearts. 843 00:47:22,600 --> 00:47:28,759 Speaker 2: It's growing in anyway. I have a book coming out 844 00:47:28,800 --> 00:47:31,920 Speaker 2: in September. You can pre order it. I'm the Kickstarter 845 00:47:32,040 --> 00:47:35,200 Speaker 2: is done, but I'm still signing book plates for all 846 00:47:35,239 --> 00:47:37,320 Speaker 2: of the pre orders that go through Firestorm Books. The 847 00:47:37,320 --> 00:47:40,400 Speaker 2: book is called The Sapling Cage That September twenty fourth. 848 00:47:40,400 --> 00:47:42,880 Speaker 2: It's about a young trans witch who goes off and 849 00:47:43,840 --> 00:47:46,680 Speaker 2: joins the Witches, which implies that she didn't start as 850 00:47:46,719 --> 00:47:49,839 Speaker 2: a witch, which is true. She didn't even start off 851 00:47:49,840 --> 00:47:50,680 Speaker 2: knowing that she was a girl. 852 00:47:51,239 --> 00:47:54,960 Speaker 1: I'm really enjoying it. Oh yeah, cool, that makes it 853 00:47:55,000 --> 00:47:58,719 Speaker 1: surfe endos my. It's my current plane book where I'm like, 854 00:47:58,760 --> 00:48:01,160 Speaker 1: all right, I need to be distracted from the fact 855 00:48:01,160 --> 00:48:03,400 Speaker 1: that I'm in this horrible metal death trap. 856 00:48:05,680 --> 00:48:06,919 Speaker 2: Let's escape to another world. 857 00:48:08,719 --> 00:48:11,759 Speaker 3: That's where Margaret's books are always stocked in tiny submarines 858 00:48:11,840 --> 00:48:12,800 Speaker 3: that billionaires go on. 859 00:48:12,920 --> 00:48:16,200 Speaker 1: Now, oh yeah, they give that to them instead of like, 860 00:48:16,480 --> 00:48:19,120 Speaker 1: I don't know, something that could help them survive, like 861 00:48:19,239 --> 00:48:21,040 Speaker 1: maybe not getting in one of those. 862 00:48:21,480 --> 00:48:25,759 Speaker 2: Yeah, a brain, They're going to get down to the 863 00:48:25,760 --> 00:48:27,960 Speaker 2: bottom and be like, wait a second, I've been living 864 00:48:27,960 --> 00:48:30,720 Speaker 2: my life all wrong. This capitalism thing is terrible for people. 865 00:48:30,760 --> 00:48:33,240 Speaker 2: But by then it's too late they hear the rivets popping. 866 00:48:35,640 --> 00:48:37,359 Speaker 2: I should mention that Margaret I am doing. I did 867 00:48:37,360 --> 00:48:41,920 Speaker 2: a translation for Margaret Strange in a Tangled Wilderness zine 868 00:48:42,040 --> 00:48:45,200 Speaker 2: as well, which that'll be out at some point to 869 00:48:45,239 --> 00:48:48,120 Speaker 2: our Patreon backers and on our website Tangled Wilderness dot org. 870 00:48:48,120 --> 00:48:50,400 Speaker 2: I'm part of a collectively run publisher called Strangers in 871 00:48:50,400 --> 00:48:53,919 Speaker 2: a Tangledilderness and we are publishing some of James translations 872 00:48:54,080 --> 00:48:57,400 Speaker 2: about the Spanish of war and how people romanticize it 873 00:48:57,440 --> 00:49:03,759 Speaker 2: too much, including us. Yes, and we'll see you on Wednesday. 874 00:49:07,120 --> 00:49:09,640 Speaker 1: Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff is a production of 875 00:49:09,680 --> 00:49:12,760 Speaker 1: cool Zone Media. For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, 876 00:49:12,920 --> 00:49:16,160 Speaker 1: visit our website Coolzonemedia dot com, or check us out 877 00:49:16,280 --> 00:49:19,640 Speaker 1: on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get 878 00:49:19,680 --> 00:49:20,960 Speaker 1: your podcasts.