Parents, teachers, and students fight the power. Watch the neolibs trying to destroy public education scurry away!
Egyptians sent a shout out to their American brothers and sisters.
Egypt's Asmaa Mahfouz in NY's Liberated Zone, and the indispensable Amy Goodman, one of the greatest journalists of our time, talks with Egyptian activists Basem Fathy and Ahmed Maher
(clip starts at 46:40 on the timer) about Egypt and the importance of the OWS.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Sunday, October 23, 2011
What The Arab Spring Did
Listen to Junkyard Empire's Rebellion Politik (2010).
And now, one year later, here's Junkyard's We Want (2011).
Hear the difference?
Dissent has turned into demand.
And now, one year later, here's Junkyard's We Want (2011).
Hear the difference?
Dissent has turned into demand.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Libya is Free
The people of Libya have written a glorious page in human history, breaking their chains and putting an end to one of neoliberalism's most bloodthirsty monsters. The celebrations are ongoing, and the Libyan people's media has the details, but I did want to say this.
First of all: a special dedication to Mo Nabbous, because I know you're watching all this, somewhere, and you'll excuse me if I'm getting emotional typing this, but Mo exemplified everything which was wonderful and inspiring about the Arab Spring. Mo was the single most influential citizen journalist of the Libyan revolution, and his example inspired numerous other Libyans to step up and start creating their own free media, ranging from radio stations to hip hop bands, and from webzines to twitter feeds. Mo was killed by a regime sniper in March while reporting from the front lines, at the exact moment the tide began to turn in favor of the revolution. The sorrow of his passing is made bearable only by the fact that his newly-born daughter will grow up in a free, democratic Libya.
Much love to the brave people of Benghazi, who resisted the katiba's bullets with their bare hands; to the people of Tobruk and Derna, steadfast in their resistance; to the people of Misrata, who endured rocket barrages and defeated the regime's most fearsome units in battles of unbelievable ferocity; to the Amazigh people of the Nalut mountains, who sheltered the Revolution in its hour of need and then swept down from the mountains to free their brothers and sisters elsewhere; to the towns of the south, who rose up to free their communities; to the people of Zawiya, who resisted and kept resisting, until Zawiya was free; to the people of Tripoli, who rose up en masse to tear down the regime's walls, fortresses and prisons; to every Libyan who fought for change, and to the Libyans all over the world who returned to fight for their country's future -- and sometimes paid the ultimate price.
You forever changed your country, but you also taught the rest of the world a lesson: that no tyranny, however how many prisons it builds or how many weapons it stockpiles, can withstand the power of human dignity.
The day comes when human beings will rise up for their freedom, and fight for their freedom -- and win their freedom.
Sunday, October 23, is now your day.
May the blessings of peace and prosperity rain upon your land!
First of all: a special dedication to Mo Nabbous, because I know you're watching all this, somewhere, and you'll excuse me if I'm getting emotional typing this, but Mo exemplified everything which was wonderful and inspiring about the Arab Spring. Mo was the single most influential citizen journalist of the Libyan revolution, and his example inspired numerous other Libyans to step up and start creating their own free media, ranging from radio stations to hip hop bands, and from webzines to twitter feeds. Mo was killed by a regime sniper in March while reporting from the front lines, at the exact moment the tide began to turn in favor of the revolution. The sorrow of his passing is made bearable only by the fact that his newly-born daughter will grow up in a free, democratic Libya.
Much love to the brave people of Benghazi, who resisted the katiba's bullets with their bare hands; to the people of Tobruk and Derna, steadfast in their resistance; to the people of Misrata, who endured rocket barrages and defeated the regime's most fearsome units in battles of unbelievable ferocity; to the Amazigh people of the Nalut mountains, who sheltered the Revolution in its hour of need and then swept down from the mountains to free their brothers and sisters elsewhere; to the towns of the south, who rose up to free their communities; to the people of Zawiya, who resisted and kept resisting, until Zawiya was free; to the people of Tripoli, who rose up en masse to tear down the regime's walls, fortresses and prisons; to every Libyan who fought for change, and to the Libyans all over the world who returned to fight for their country's future -- and sometimes paid the ultimate price.
You forever changed your country, but you also taught the rest of the world a lesson: that no tyranny, however how many prisons it builds or how many weapons it stockpiles, can withstand the power of human dignity.
The day comes when human beings will rise up for their freedom, and fight for their freedom -- and win their freedom.
Sunday, October 23, is now your day.
May the blessings of peace and prosperity rain upon your land!
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
O-15
Chris Hedges hits it out of the park in Times Square. I'm old enough to know why he chokes up at the end. Occasionally I've felt the same way while watching the feeds. Because my generation -- those of us born in the shadow of the decades-long American decline, who are old enough to remember the Cold War -- failed to stop neoliberalism, until it nearly wrecked the world.
Well, maybe failure is too strong a word. "We tried to warn them, but the Administrator just wouldn't listen", as a famous line in Valve's Half Life (1998) put it. This Empire (and its semi-peripheral clones) was an immovable weight on this planet's neck for thirty-five years.
Now that weight is shifting. Most of those semi-peripheral clones have been swept away, and the final redoubts of Empire -- the ones Americans have been carrying around in their minds for centuries -- are now beginning to totter. Just as Egyptian soldiers left their barracks and joined the Arab Spring, Sgt. Shamar Thomas came back from the Middle East and delivered this amazing lesson in civic patriotism.
Something magical is happening, something which happens only once in a lifetime. Zizek gets it right: the protests are a new kind of ink, the digital ink out of which the 99% will begin to reshape the destiny of this planet.
All births are deeply sacred moments, and this one has its own special elixir of joy, anxiety and wonder. You can almost see the vast, skyscraper-sized shapes of Bearzilla, Pandazilla, and Brazilla off in the mist, singing and chortling and greeting some new arrivals: the people of Tunis, the workers of Cairo, the lions of the desert who defeated North Africa's Mussolini, and so many others...
Well, maybe failure is too strong a word. "We tried to warn them, but the Administrator just wouldn't listen", as a famous line in Valve's Half Life (1998) put it. This Empire (and its semi-peripheral clones) was an immovable weight on this planet's neck for thirty-five years.
Now that weight is shifting. Most of those semi-peripheral clones have been swept away, and the final redoubts of Empire -- the ones Americans have been carrying around in their minds for centuries -- are now beginning to totter. Just as Egyptian soldiers left their barracks and joined the Arab Spring, Sgt. Shamar Thomas came back from the Middle East and delivered this amazing lesson in civic patriotism.
Something magical is happening, something which happens only once in a lifetime. Zizek gets it right: the protests are a new kind of ink, the digital ink out of which the 99% will begin to reshape the destiny of this planet.
All births are deeply sacred moments, and this one has its own special elixir of joy, anxiety and wonder. You can almost see the vast, skyscraper-sized shapes of Bearzilla, Pandazilla, and Brazilla off in the mist, singing and chortling and greeting some new arrivals: the people of Tunis, the workers of Cairo, the lions of the desert who defeated North Africa's Mussolini, and so many others...
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Neon Genesis Europa
During one of the most mysterious and revelatory moments of Hideaki Anno's 1995 anime series "Neon Genesis Evangelion", namely near the end of Episode 24, two gigantic mechas, one symbolizing the developmental state and the other Euroliberalism, wage a life-and-death struggle which will determine the fate of humanity. They crash through barrier after barrier just like the Great Recession has crashed through one financial tranche after another, one failed ringfence after another, one failed bailout after another, accompanied by the stirring chorale of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" (original epic footage here from 15:00 to 24:15).
I always thought the end was an allegory of the passing of neoliberalism: no apocalyptic battle, just the realization that somehow, through millions of acts of individual survival (symbolized by the refusal of Shinji Ikari and Rei Ayanami to give up), change was possible. Madrid staged its own deeply inspiring retake of this moment here.
I always thought the end was an allegory of the passing of neoliberalism: no apocalyptic battle, just the realization that somehow, through millions of acts of individual survival (symbolized by the refusal of Shinji Ikari and Rei Ayanami to give up), change was possible. Madrid staged its own deeply inspiring retake of this moment here.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Signs and Portents
For years, I had to scour the nether reaches of the global airwaves to find any traces of dissent in the Neoliberal Ice Age.
But suddenly, faint cracks have appeared in the ice. Tremors are running through the ground, telegraphing earthquakes to come.
On Bill Maher, some of Wall Street's hired clowns scurried and sneered for half an hour. But suddenly Alan Grayson stood up for the 99%. The crowd delivered a standing ovation.
Hersi shows what dignity is all about. (Much love and a shout out to PoetNation.)
And the heartbeat of the Resistance keeps on.
But suddenly, faint cracks have appeared in the ice. Tremors are running through the ground, telegraphing earthquakes to come.
On Bill Maher, some of Wall Street's hired clowns scurried and sneered for half an hour. But suddenly Alan Grayson stood up for the 99%. The crowd delivered a standing ovation.
Hersi shows what dignity is all about. (Much love and a shout out to PoetNation.)
And the heartbeat of the Resistance keeps on.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
We Are the 99%
Just read the stories. The pain level in this country has risen past the point of no return.
Such immense suffering across this land. Wounded bodies, wounded hearts, wounded minds. But instead of healing, there is just more violence. Viciousness disguised as self-interest, narrowness disguised as market access, brutality disguised as market discipline.
We must learn to be better than our past.
Such immense suffering across this land. Wounded bodies, wounded hearts, wounded minds. But instead of healing, there is just more violence. Viciousness disguised as self-interest, narrowness disguised as market access, brutality disguised as market discipline.
We must learn to be better than our past.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Neoliberalism: The Video
My own take on neoliberalism, a.k.a. Wall Street financial fundamentalism, a.k.a. the plutocracy of the 1%.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
BRIC-ology
I wrote on September 24 that the BRICS were cooking up a little surprise for the plutocrats who pretend to run the world-system.
Here you go.
How did I know? No secret documents or high-tech decryption streams were necessary. The train of Eurasian integration left the station in the summer of 2008 and has been gathering speed ever since.
Here you go.
How did I know? No secret documents or high-tech decryption streams were necessary. The train of Eurasian integration left the station in the summer of 2008 and has been gathering speed ever since.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Ammo Pack
I can't be in New York, but I can at least suggest poster slogans:
We're the 99%
We're the 99%
and we want our planet back
Jail the Thieves!
"Hosni Mubarak" Is Arabic For Goldman Sachs
Steal $100, you're a criminal
Steal $14 trillion, you're Wall Street
Arab Spring, Libyan Summer...
New York Autumn!
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