Reading Occupy

I haven't said too much about the Occupy movements, but it's worth stressing something about the world of 2012.
 
For decades, the media-systems of the neoliberal era were built on a tiny oligopoly of First World media firms, who monopolized the means of cultural production (Hollywood studios), distribution (corporate-owned broadcasting networks) and consumption (the dominance of advertising expenditure,  which reached $466 billion in 2011).


This oligopoly had a lockdown on most forms of journalism and political activity. No, Big Media  couldn't tell people what to think, but they could -- and did -- tell people what to talk about. They controlled the discourse, and critics and dissidents had to operate on unfriendly terrain.


Not anymore. Developmental states are lighting up the global grid like a Kolkata Durga Puja procession -- the BRICs alone generated roughly $11 trillion in economic output last year, and own $4.3 trillion in hard currency reserves. Vast new digital audiences are plugged into digital media-systems which neither one-party states, comprador elites nor corporate-owned governments can effectively control. Most mainstream observers point to the boom in the commercial media of the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China). But the real story is the unprecedented explosion of non-commercial culture -- hip hop from Brazil and Russia, indie media from China and India, open source software, fan-art and machinima in videogame culture, and comics, music and music videos from practically everywhere. The transnational audience now includes 2 billion gamers, 4 billion readers, 5 billion cellphone users, and 6 billion radio listeners.

No monopoly or political authority on Earth can tell We, the people of planet Earth, what to talk about. This is a decision We must make for ourselves.

That's why the cluster of struggles which found their expression (not their final form) with the "Occupy" movement is so riveting. This isn't some flash in the pan, disconnected from other struggles. Rather, it marks the point when *all* those struggles are converging. Six billion cellphones, one world of resistance!

Banksters Steal Trillions, Pay Billions

The US continues its dizzying decline into Russia's post-Soviet hell.

Yves Smith has this devastating critique of the mortgage settlement which will enable Wall Street banksters to walk scot-free away from decades of criminal fraud.

Even by the most conservative estimates, the housing bubble destroyed $7 trillion of US wealth. Wall Street raked off massive profits when the bubble was inflating, engaged in criminal fraud and malfeasance, and then got huge government bailouts when markets nosedived (among other gifts, the ability to borrow at 0.025% rates of interest from the Federal Reserve, precisely where working stiffs like you and me have to pay 5% or more).

Not a single bankster goes to jail, and the banksters will hand over the grand total of $25 billion, very little of which will directly help homeowners.

This is beyond criminal, into some realm of decadence which needs its own neologism

The bitter irony of this is that none of this will solve the problem of the shadow inventory of dead mortgages, which will never be profitably sold. Nor does it solve the problem of negative equity -- twelve million American households owe more on their mortage than their house will ever be sold for.

Things don't have to be this way. It's high time to start jailing our banksters, slashing our bloated military, spending on healthcare and education, and investing in green jobs.

The Iraqicide And the Thirty Year's War on Education

The crimes of the US Empire's Iraqicide are legion: hundreds of thousands killed, rampant ethnic slaughter, trillions of dollars wasted, the hatred and repugnance of the planet.

But there was also the crime of destroying Iraq's once-sterling universities, a tale told here (the full report can be downloaded here). Note the techniques: the hiring of abysmally incompetent political hacks and neocon stooges, who knew nothing (and didn't want to know) anything about Iraqi culture or history; foreign aid which flowed into no-bid Halliburton slush funds instead of public services; and crazed ideological ultimatums which eviscerated the professional and teaching staff.

Sound familiar? They should be. They're the same techniques which have been used to ravage the US public education system for thirty years -- insider deals to benefit edu-profiteers instead of students,  demonizing and scapegoating children (especially in communities of color) through bogus test schemes which simply do not work, busting teacher's unions instead of investing in schools, slashing and burning curricula and programs, etc.

Neoliberalism is guilty not just of war crimes against the people of Iraq, but against the children of America.

From Russia With Crowbars

 Freeman's Days spreads the anti-neoliberal crowbar love from a BRIC near you. (Watch the trailer here.)

Thieves And Honor

Want to know why the economy is broken? Despite epidemic levels of mortgage fraud, real estate fraud, ratings fraud, and securities fraud, Federal prosecutions for financial fraud have dropped by half since 1999. True-blue American hero Bill Black, scourge of the banksters, explains the gory details.

The banksters own the politicians. But us 99 Percenters own the music.

Moving the Goalposts

The key to social change is not to have goals. The key is to move the goalposts.

Instead of just returning to Zucotti Park, take protest transnational -- footage from march in Kano, Nigeria and rally in Freedom Square, Kano. 

Instead of just firing corrupt banksters, Ellen Brown suggests turning banks into a public utility -- a model which works just fine for New Zealand, Japan, China, Germany, India, Russia, and even for the US state of North Dakota, in the form of the Bank of North Dakota.

Arab Spring: We're Just Getting Started

Benghazi-based rap artist MC Swat scorches the desert with Freedom of Speech (English subtitled version here).