I had the opportunity to attend the final day of the Oppositional Architecture conference yesterday, despite some difficulties getting to Brooklyn. It was a chance to hear David Harvey really speak in his element.
jhn brssndn!
I teach. I have a work-related blog and Tumblr. My other Tumblrs are Wire Porn and Mud Island.
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Towards Post-Capitalist Spaces
Gene Krupa and his orchestra with Drum Boogie from Ball of Fire (1941)
“I mean, the liberal democrats aren’t going to tell the average American, “Yeah, you’re being shafted because of the policies that we’ve established over the years that we’re maintaining now.” That’s not going to be an answer. And they’re not getting answers from the left. So, there’s an internal coherence and logic to what they get from Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and the rest of these guys. And they sound very convincing, they’re very self-confident, and they have an answer to everything—a crazy answer, but it’s an answer. And it’s our fault if that goes on. So one thing to be done is don’t ridicule these people, join them, and talk about their real grievances and give them a sensible answer, like, “Take over your factories.”
I sure hope that this fall didn’t shatter this big, black, ironic, post-emo eyeglasses. Not that he needs them or anything.
Heh
YOU THOUGHT HE WAS DUMB FOR PICKING PALIN as his running mate? Or maybe for singing “bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran” during a sound check prior to an election speech? Well, John McCain has definitely lathered the idiot-icing on the stupid-cake. Speaking at the Halifax International Security Forum, ie. warmongers from Europe and the Americas, McCain suggested that “political correctness” played a role in preventing anyone from doing anything about Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan before it was too late.
In one sense, he’s right - if politicians like him hadn’t voted for war in Iraq and Afghanistan there wouldn’t be hundreds of thousands of damaged men and women returning from brutalizing populations halfway around the world. And Hasan wouldn’t have faced racist harassment on a daily basis. But it was politically correct to support the vilest of wars and the suspension of civil liberties. It was politically correct to keep sending soldiers back into war zones to kill and die, even though it was leading to growing rates of suicide and inter-personal violence. And we know this is what was - and continues to be - politically correct because trash like McCain are rewarded for it by being paid big bucks to be Sentators and big bucks to come to Canada to peddle their filth.
But I suspect that we won’t hear anyone calling John McCain politically correct because that would be politically incorrect - just like it would be to point out that at Fort Hood 76 soldiers have committed suicide since 2003 - out of a population of about 50,000, much higher than the national averageRedBedHead: Sen. McCain Blames “Political Correctness” For Fort Hood Massacre
Patrick Moberg is the poor man's Jim Jarmusch.
The revolution will be red-hot. That’s probably Sly at the easel, although in my heart it’s “Body By” Jake Steinfeld.
Chavez calls for Fifth International ➔
During a meeting with delegates attending an ‘International Meeting of Parties of the Left’ in Caracas, President Chavez took a bold but measured step in convoking The Fifth International on grounds that it is not enough to mouth the current left-wing dominant slogan: a “better world is possible … it is possible and necessary.”
The convocation has been in the offing for some time and the President decided that the meeting in Caracas of around 50 left-wing parties provided the background to set the ball rolling.
The proposition will put before delegates meeting this weekend for an extraordinary meeting of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV).
The organizing of the International could kick off with a steering committee, Chavez suggested, and a School of the 5th International for cadres and study of theory and ideology. Chavez made it clear that the International must be new and not an instance of resurrecting old structures that have become useless … such as real Socialism, third ways and social democracy that have failed.
The key word is transforming. Two of the key ideological figures in the proposed 5th International will be Che Guevara and Fidel Castro. Another key element in the new organization will be the presence of the grassroots, workers and peasants. Chavez insisted that the International must also present a Socialist and diversified alternative, create concrete and multiple spaces of coordination, such as economic agreements, between Socialist mayoralties throughout the world.
Although delegates at the meeting applauded the proposition standing, it was clear that some were not too happy. Chavez said he had no problem with parties which did not agree with a 5th International but those in favor could adhere at once.
Motorhead - Ace of Spades
Guess who’s going to see Motörhead this week?
(via Gísli Baldur)
