It’s not the case, as the naïve might think, that indoctrination is inconsistent with democracy. … The point is that in a military State or a feudal State or what we would nowadays call a totalitarian State, it doesn’t much matter what people think because you’ve got a bludgeon over their head and you can control what they do. But when the state loses the bludgeon, when you can’t control people by force and when the voice of the people can be heard, you have this problem. It may make people so curious and so arrogant that they don’t have the humility to submit to a civil rule and therefore you have to control what people think. And the standard way to do this is to resort to what in more honest days used to be called propaganda. Manufacture of consent. Creation of necessary illusions. Various ways of either marginalizing the general public or reducing them to apathy in some fashion.
(Speech at American University quoted in) Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media. ed. Mark Achbar. Montreal: Black Rose Books, 1994: 43.
In the presidential address to the American Political Science Association in 1934, William Shepard argued that government should be in the hands of "an aristocracy of intellect and power," while the "ignorant, the uninformed and the anti-social elements" must not be permitted to control elections, as he mistakenly believed they had done in the past. One of the founders of modern political science, Harold Lasswell, one of the founders of the field of communications, in fact, wrote in the Encyclopedia of Social Sciences in 1933 or 1934 that modern techniques of propaganda, which had been impressively refined by Wilsonian liberals, provided the way to keep the public in line. Lasswell described Wilson as "the great generalissimo on the propaganda front." Wilson's World War I achievements in propaganda impressed others, including Adolph Hitler. You can read about it in Mein Kampf. But crucially they impressed the American business community. That led to a huge expansion of the public relations industry which was dedicated to controlling the public mind, as advocates used to put it in more honest days, just as writing in the Encyclopedia of Social Sciences in 1934, Laswell described what he was talking about as propaganda. We don't use that term. We're more sophisticated. As a political scientist, Laswell advocated more sophisticated use of this new technique of control of the general public ... [to] enable the intelligent men of the community, the natural rulers, to overcome the threat of the great beast who may undermine order because of, in Laswell's terms, the ignorance and superstition of the masses. We should not submit to "democratic dogmatisms about men being the best judges of their own interests." The best judges are the elites, who must be ensured the means to impose their will for the common good.
---. "Democracy and Education." Mellon Lectures given at Loyola University, 1994.
So the Reaganite statist reactionaries thought that the public, the beast, shouldn't even have the spectator role. That explains their fascination with clandestine terror operations, which were not secret to anybody except the American public, certainly not to their victims. Clandestine terror operations were designed to leave the domestic population ignorant. They also advocated absolutely unprecedented measures of censorship and and agitprop and other measures to ensure that the powerful and interventionist state that they fostered would serve as a welfare state for the rich and not troubled by the rabble. The huge increase in business propaganda in recent years, the recent assault on the universities by right-wing foundations, and other tendencies of the current period are other manifestations of the same concerns. These concerns [of Reaganite statist reactionaries] were awakened by what liberal elites had called the "crisis of democracy," that developed in the 1960s, when previously marginalized and apathetic sectors of the population, like women and young people and old people and working people and so on, sought to enter the public arena, where they have no right to be, as all right-thinking aristocrats understand.
---. "Democracy and Education." Mellon Lectures given at Loyola University, 1994.
The term "national interest" is commonly used as if it's something good for us, and the people of the country are supposed to understand that. So if a political leader says that "I'm doing this in the national interest," you're supposed to feel good because that's for me. However, if you look closely, it turns out that the national interest is not defined as what's in the interests of small, dominant elites who happen to be able to command the resources that enable them to control the state--basically, corporate-based elites. That's what's called the "national interest." And, correspondingly, the term "special interests" is used in a very interesting related way to refer to the population. The population are called the "special interests" the corporation elite are called the "national interests"; so you're supposed to be in favour of the national interests and against the special interests.
---. Language and Politics. edited by C.P. Otero. Montreal: Black Rose Books, 1988: 662.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Noam Chomsky: Propaganda in a Democracy; The Threat of the Public Beast; Welfare State for the Rich; National Interest vs Special Interests
Howard Zinn: Democratic Education
Z-Magazine: From a World Without Borders
Interviewed by David Barsamian
Excerpt:
To me, a democratic education means many things: it means what you learn in the classroom and what you learn outside the classroom. It means not only the content of what you learn, but also the atmosphere in which you learn it and the relationship between teacher and student. All of these elements of education can be democratic or undemocratic.
Students as citizens in a democracy have the right to determine their lives and to play a role in society. A democratic education should give students the kind of information that will enable them to have power of their own in society. What that means is to give students the kind of education that suggests to the students that historically there have been many ways in which ordinary people can play a part in making history, in the development of their society. An education that gives the student examples in history of where people have shown their power in reshaping not only their own lives, but also in how society works.
In the relationship between the student and the teacher there is democracy. The student has a right to challenge the teacher, to express ideas of his or her own. That education is an interchange between the experiences of the teacher, which may be far greater than the student in certain ways, and the experiences of the student, since every student has a unique life experience. So the free inquiry in the classroom, a spirit of equality in the classroom, is part of a democratic education.
It was very important to make it clear to my students that I didn't know everything, that I was not born with the knowledge that I'm imparting to them, that knowledge is acquired and in ways in which the student can acquire also.
...
Skepticism is one of the most important qualities that you can encourage. It arises from having students realize that what has been seen as holy is not holy, what has been revered is not necessarily to be revered. That the acts of the nation which have been romanticized and idealized, those deserve to be scrutinized and looked at critically.
I remember that a friend of mine was teaching his kids in middle school to be skeptical of what they had learned about Columbus as the great hero and liberator, expander of civilization. One of his students said to him, "Well, if I have been so misled about Columbus, I wonder now what else have I been misled about?" So that is education in skepticism.
More:
As a teacher, I'm not interested in just reproducing class after class of graduates who will get out, become successful, and take their obedient places in the slots that society has prepared for them. What we must do--whether we teach or write or make films--is educate a new generation to do this very modest thing: change the world. (15)
Zinn, Howard. "Stories Hollywood Never Tells." The Sun #343 (July 2004): 12-15.
Interviewed by David Barsamian
Excerpt:
To me, a democratic education means many things: it means what you learn in the classroom and what you learn outside the classroom. It means not only the content of what you learn, but also the atmosphere in which you learn it and the relationship between teacher and student. All of these elements of education can be democratic or undemocratic.
Students as citizens in a democracy have the right to determine their lives and to play a role in society. A democratic education should give students the kind of information that will enable them to have power of their own in society. What that means is to give students the kind of education that suggests to the students that historically there have been many ways in which ordinary people can play a part in making history, in the development of their society. An education that gives the student examples in history of where people have shown their power in reshaping not only their own lives, but also in how society works.
In the relationship between the student and the teacher there is democracy. The student has a right to challenge the teacher, to express ideas of his or her own. That education is an interchange between the experiences of the teacher, which may be far greater than the student in certain ways, and the experiences of the student, since every student has a unique life experience. So the free inquiry in the classroom, a spirit of equality in the classroom, is part of a democratic education.
It was very important to make it clear to my students that I didn't know everything, that I was not born with the knowledge that I'm imparting to them, that knowledge is acquired and in ways in which the student can acquire also.
...
Skepticism is one of the most important qualities that you can encourage. It arises from having students realize that what has been seen as holy is not holy, what has been revered is not necessarily to be revered. That the acts of the nation which have been romanticized and idealized, those deserve to be scrutinized and looked at critically.
I remember that a friend of mine was teaching his kids in middle school to be skeptical of what they had learned about Columbus as the great hero and liberator, expander of civilization. One of his students said to him, "Well, if I have been so misled about Columbus, I wonder now what else have I been misled about?" So that is education in skepticism.
More:
As a teacher, I'm not interested in just reproducing class after class of graduates who will get out, become successful, and take their obedient places in the slots that society has prepared for them. What we must do--whether we teach or write or make films--is educate a new generation to do this very modest thing: change the world. (15)
Zinn, Howard. "Stories Hollywood Never Tells." The Sun #343 (July 2004): 12-15.
Mike Davis: Evil Paradise -- An Artist's Vision of Dubai in the Future
(This essay is from 2005, but I dug it up to put it into play with Ron Sherer's Why Debt at Dubai World Is Shaking World Financial Markets)
Evil Paradise: An Artist's Vision of Dubai in the Future
by Mike Davis
Socialist Review
Mike Davis asks if the road to the future ends at Dubai.
The narration begins: As your jet starts its descent, you are glued to your window. The scene below is astonishing - a 24 square mile archipelago of coral-coloured islands in the shape of an almost finished puzzle of the world. In the shallow green waters between continents, the sunken shapes of the Pyramids of Giza and the Roman Coliseum are clearly visible. In the distance are three other large island groups configured as palms within crescents, and planted with high-rise resorts, amusement parks and a thousand mansions built on stilts over the water. The 'Palms' are connected by causeways to a Miami-like beachfront chock-full of mega-hotels, apartment high-rises and yacht marinas.
As the plane slowly banks toward the desert mainland, you gasp at the even more improbable vision ahead. Out of a chrome forest of skyscrapers (nearly a dozen taller than 1,000 feet) soars a new Tower of Babel. It is an impossible half mile high: the equivalent of the Empire State Building stacked on top of itself.
You are still rubbing your eyes with wonderment and disbelief when the plane lands and you are welcomed into an airport emporium where hundreds of shops seduce you with Gucci bags, Cartier watches and one-kilogram bars of solid gold. The hotel driver is waiting for you in a Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph. Friends have recommended the Armani Hotel in the 160-storey tower or the seven-star hotel with an atrium so huge that the Statue of Liberty would fit inside, but instead you have opted to fulfil a childhood fantasy. You always have wanted to be Captain Nemo in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.
Your jellyfish-shaped hotel is, in fact, exactly 66 feet below the sea surface. Each of its 220 luxury suites has clear plexiglas walls that provide spectacular views of passing mermaids as well as the hotel's famed 'underwater fireworks' - a hallucinatory exhibition of 'water bubbles, swirled sand, and carefully deployed lighting'. Any initial anxiety about the safety of your sea-bottom resort is dispelled by the smiling concierge. The structure has a multi-level failsafe security system, he reassures you, that includes protection against terrorist submarines as well as missiles and aircraft.
Although you have an important business meeting at the internet city free-trade zone with clients from Hyderabad and Taipei, you have arrived a day early to treat yourself to one of the famed adventures at the Restless Planet dinosaur theme park. Indeed, after a soothing night's sleep under the sea, you are aboard a monorail headed for a Jurassic jungle. Your expedition encounters some peacefully grazing Apatosaurs, but you are soon attacked by a nasty gang of velociraptors. The animatronic beasts are so flawlessly lifelike - in fact, they have been designed by experts from the British Natural History Museum - that you shriek in fear and delight.
You polish off the afternoon with some thrilling snowboarding on the local black diamond run. Next door is the Mall of Arabia, the world's largest mall - the altar of the city's famed Shopping Festival that attracts 5 million frenetic consumers each January - but you postpone the temptation. Instead you indulge in some expensive Thai fusion cuisine at a restaurant near Elite Towers that was recommended by your hotel driver. The Russian woman at the bar keeps staring at you with almost vampire-like hunger, and you wonder whether the local sin scene is as extravagant as the shopping...
The Sequel to Blade Runner?
Welcome to paradise. But where are you? Is this a new science fiction novel from Margaret Atwood, the sequel to Blade Runner or Donald Trump tripping on acid? No, it is the Persian Gulf city-state of Dubai in 2010. After Shanghai (current population 15 million), Dubai (current population 1.5 million) is the world's biggest building site - an emerging dreamworld of conspicuous consumption and what locals dub 'supreme lifestyles'.
To Read the Rest of the Essay
More:
Contextual Musings pointed me toward these latest architectural monstrosities planned for Dubai:
Dubai's Moving Skyscraper "Dynamic Tower" Planned For 2010
Evil Paradise: An Artist's Vision of Dubai in the Future
by Mike Davis
Socialist Review
Mike Davis asks if the road to the future ends at Dubai.
The narration begins: As your jet starts its descent, you are glued to your window. The scene below is astonishing - a 24 square mile archipelago of coral-coloured islands in the shape of an almost finished puzzle of the world. In the shallow green waters between continents, the sunken shapes of the Pyramids of Giza and the Roman Coliseum are clearly visible. In the distance are three other large island groups configured as palms within crescents, and planted with high-rise resorts, amusement parks and a thousand mansions built on stilts over the water. The 'Palms' are connected by causeways to a Miami-like beachfront chock-full of mega-hotels, apartment high-rises and yacht marinas.
As the plane slowly banks toward the desert mainland, you gasp at the even more improbable vision ahead. Out of a chrome forest of skyscrapers (nearly a dozen taller than 1,000 feet) soars a new Tower of Babel. It is an impossible half mile high: the equivalent of the Empire State Building stacked on top of itself.
You are still rubbing your eyes with wonderment and disbelief when the plane lands and you are welcomed into an airport emporium where hundreds of shops seduce you with Gucci bags, Cartier watches and one-kilogram bars of solid gold. The hotel driver is waiting for you in a Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph. Friends have recommended the Armani Hotel in the 160-storey tower or the seven-star hotel with an atrium so huge that the Statue of Liberty would fit inside, but instead you have opted to fulfil a childhood fantasy. You always have wanted to be Captain Nemo in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.
Your jellyfish-shaped hotel is, in fact, exactly 66 feet below the sea surface. Each of its 220 luxury suites has clear plexiglas walls that provide spectacular views of passing mermaids as well as the hotel's famed 'underwater fireworks' - a hallucinatory exhibition of 'water bubbles, swirled sand, and carefully deployed lighting'. Any initial anxiety about the safety of your sea-bottom resort is dispelled by the smiling concierge. The structure has a multi-level failsafe security system, he reassures you, that includes protection against terrorist submarines as well as missiles and aircraft.
Although you have an important business meeting at the internet city free-trade zone with clients from Hyderabad and Taipei, you have arrived a day early to treat yourself to one of the famed adventures at the Restless Planet dinosaur theme park. Indeed, after a soothing night's sleep under the sea, you are aboard a monorail headed for a Jurassic jungle. Your expedition encounters some peacefully grazing Apatosaurs, but you are soon attacked by a nasty gang of velociraptors. The animatronic beasts are so flawlessly lifelike - in fact, they have been designed by experts from the British Natural History Museum - that you shriek in fear and delight.
You polish off the afternoon with some thrilling snowboarding on the local black diamond run. Next door is the Mall of Arabia, the world's largest mall - the altar of the city's famed Shopping Festival that attracts 5 million frenetic consumers each January - but you postpone the temptation. Instead you indulge in some expensive Thai fusion cuisine at a restaurant near Elite Towers that was recommended by your hotel driver. The Russian woman at the bar keeps staring at you with almost vampire-like hunger, and you wonder whether the local sin scene is as extravagant as the shopping...
The Sequel to Blade Runner?
Welcome to paradise. But where are you? Is this a new science fiction novel from Margaret Atwood, the sequel to Blade Runner or Donald Trump tripping on acid? No, it is the Persian Gulf city-state of Dubai in 2010. After Shanghai (current population 15 million), Dubai (current population 1.5 million) is the world's biggest building site - an emerging dreamworld of conspicuous consumption and what locals dub 'supreme lifestyles'.
To Read the Rest of the Essay
More:
Contextual Musings pointed me toward these latest architectural monstrosities planned for Dubai:
Dubai's Moving Skyscraper "Dynamic Tower" Planned For 2010
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Darren Aronofsky Initiates a Fictional Derive: 3.0
OK, adopt the altered mindset of your choice, prepare yourself to open your mind to the possibilities, put on Modest Mouse's "3rd Planet"
and then read this:
NASA telescope sees black hole gulping remote star
Watch Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain (don't listen to the mundane critics who do not get this film--it is bold, unique and deep--it is to be experienced ... why are there so few filmmakers that understand that cinema should be an art form that transforms you when you experience the film):
Unwind, revisit, ponder everything while listening to more Modest Mouse (or another favorite)...
Then watch Aronofsky's Pi
Then to keep the pleasant strangeness going read Haruki Murakami's stunningly weird and beautiful Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World (my first time reading one of his books, but I will definitely be reading more--the first 30 pages I was having a hard time grasping the dual worlds he portrays in this novel, then, all of a sudden, it became so real... as if I had been there before and this was not all that strange):
Then have a friend sense that you need some powerful meditative words to ground you:
(Amy S. states that "This is the 15th path on the road to ultimate nothingness-which is the Ain Soph of the Kabbalah.")
and then delve into the 5 volumes of Alan Moore's "Promethea" series (which provides a unique fictional perspective on the development of magical thought and belief):
and then read this:
NASA telescope sees black hole gulping remote star
Watch Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain (don't listen to the mundane critics who do not get this film--it is bold, unique and deep--it is to be experienced ... why are there so few filmmakers that understand that cinema should be an art form that transforms you when you experience the film):
Unwind, revisit, ponder everything while listening to more Modest Mouse (or another favorite)...
Then watch Aronofsky's Pi
Then to keep the pleasant strangeness going read Haruki Murakami's stunningly weird and beautiful Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World (my first time reading one of his books, but I will definitely be reading more--the first 30 pages I was having a hard time grasping the dual worlds he portrays in this novel, then, all of a sudden, it became so real... as if I had been there before and this was not all that strange):
"You are fearful now of losing your mind, as I once feared myself. Let me say, however, that to relinquish your self carries no shame," the Colonel breaks off and searches the air for words. "Lay down your mind and peace will come. A Peace deeper than anything you have known" (The Colonel speaking to the Man, who has lost his Shadow, at the End of the World: 318)
"First, about the mind. You tell me there is no fighting or hatred or desire in the Town. That is a beautiful dream, and I do want your happiness. But the absence of fighting or hatred or desire also means the opposites do not exist either. No joy, no communion, no love. Only where there is disillusionment and depression and sorrow does happiness arise; without the despair of loss, there is no hope. (The Shadow speaking to his Man at the End of the World: 334)
Then have a friend sense that you need some powerful meditative words to ground you:
When all the world is dark and fear surrounds me,
when my night-blind soul cries out for help,
I turn to thee.
For thou are my opening to the Light and hope.
Like a child crouching in the dark, bereft of love,
I call to thee for succor and for comfort.
How long must I remain in darkness?
How long must I suffer the darkness of others
that threatens to engulf me?
From far beyond the ultimate source of Light
comes the voice of my desire.
i lift my head but remain silent, accepting
what I cannot change,
enduring that which seeks to overthrow me.
Hope, that most beloved of messengers,
comes winging down the paths of morning.
The darkness lifts, and I see beyond the shadows
to the sun.
I look to thee and I behold my beloved.
I open the window of my battered ark.
And, like a yearning dove,
my heart flies through the opening to freedom
and the Light.
(Amy S. states that "This is the 15th path on the road to ultimate nothingness-which is the Ain Soph of the Kabbalah.")
and then delve into the 5 volumes of Alan Moore's "Promethea" series (which provides a unique fictional perspective on the development of magical thought and belief):
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
NBC Refuses To Air PETA's Thanksgiving Ad
[NBC asked PETA to make an ad for thanksgiving. The first one was rejected with the request that they make the ad more informative about "factory farming and turkey slaughter" (remember this is a 30 second ad?) and they submitted this brilliant ad (which NBC rejected--of course)
Courtesy of Sling Blog: NBC Refuses To Air PETA's Thanksgiving Ad]
Courtesy of Sling Blog: NBC Refuses To Air PETA's Thanksgiving Ad]
Blackwater’s Secret War in Pakistan: Jeremy Scahill Reveals Private Military Firm Operating in Pakistan Under Covert Assassination and Kidnapping
Blackwater’s Secret War in Pakistan: Jeremy Scahill Reveals Private Military Firm Operating in Pakistan Under Covert Assassination and Kidnapping Program
Democracy Now
In an explosive new article in The Nation magazine, investigative journalist and Democracy Now! correspondent Jeremy Scahill reveals the private military firm Blackwater is part of a covert program in Pakistan that includes planning the assassination and kidnapping of Taliban and Al-Qaeda suspects. Blackwater is also said to be involved in a previously undisclosed U.S. military drone campaign that has killed scores of people inside Pakistan. The article says the program has become so secretive that top Obama administration and military officials have likely been unaware of its existence.
...
Writing in the the Nation magazine, independent journalist Jeremy Scahill has revealed Blackwater is secretly operating in Pakistan under a covert program that includes planning the assassination and kidnapping of Taliban and Al-Qaeda suspects. Blackwater is also said to be involved in a previously undisclosed U.S. military drone campaign that has killed scores of people inside Pakistan.
Blackwater operatives have been working under a covert program run by the Joint Special Operations Command—the military’s top covert operations force. The previously undisclosed JSOC operations would mark the first known confirmation of U.S. military activity inside Pakistan. A military intelligence source said Blackwater operatives are effectively running the drone bombings for both JSOC and the CIA. The CIA drone program is already public knowledge. But the military source says some of the deadliest drone attacks attributed to the CIA were actually carried out by JSOC.
The article also reveals Blackwater operatives have taken part in ground operations with Pakistani forces under a subcontract with a local security firm. The operations have included house raids and border interdictions in northwest Pakistan and other areas. Blackwater has also been given responsibility for planning JSOC operations in Uzbekistan.
The Nation reports the program has become so secretive that top Obama administration and military officials have likely been unaware of its existence.
To Read/Listen/Watch
Democracy Now
In an explosive new article in The Nation magazine, investigative journalist and Democracy Now! correspondent Jeremy Scahill reveals the private military firm Blackwater is part of a covert program in Pakistan that includes planning the assassination and kidnapping of Taliban and Al-Qaeda suspects. Blackwater is also said to be involved in a previously undisclosed U.S. military drone campaign that has killed scores of people inside Pakistan. The article says the program has become so secretive that top Obama administration and military officials have likely been unaware of its existence.
...
Writing in the the Nation magazine, independent journalist Jeremy Scahill has revealed Blackwater is secretly operating in Pakistan under a covert program that includes planning the assassination and kidnapping of Taliban and Al-Qaeda suspects. Blackwater is also said to be involved in a previously undisclosed U.S. military drone campaign that has killed scores of people inside Pakistan.
Blackwater operatives have been working under a covert program run by the Joint Special Operations Command—the military’s top covert operations force. The previously undisclosed JSOC operations would mark the first known confirmation of U.S. military activity inside Pakistan. A military intelligence source said Blackwater operatives are effectively running the drone bombings for both JSOC and the CIA. The CIA drone program is already public knowledge. But the military source says some of the deadliest drone attacks attributed to the CIA were actually carried out by JSOC.
The article also reveals Blackwater operatives have taken part in ground operations with Pakistani forces under a subcontract with a local security firm. The operations have included house raids and border interdictions in northwest Pakistan and other areas. Blackwater has also been given responsibility for planning JSOC operations in Uzbekistan.
The Nation reports the program has become so secretive that top Obama administration and military officials have likely been unaware of its existence.
To Read/Listen/Watch
Monday, November 23, 2009
Anti-Capital Projects: The Necrosocial
(Courtesy of Brian Holmes, on Continental Drift, reporting on the continuing University of California Protests)
Excerpt from the The Necrosocial
In the university we prostrate ourselves before a value of separation, which in reality translates to a value of domination. We spend money and energy trying to convince ourselves we’re brighter than everyone else. Somehow, we think, we possess some trait that means we deserve more than everyone else. We have measured ourselves and we have measured others. It should never feel terrible ordering others around, right? It should never feel terrible to diagnose people as an expert, manage them as a bureaucrat, test them as a professor, extract value from them their capital as a businessman. It should feel good, gratifying, completing. It is our private wet dream for the future; everywhere, in everyone this same dream of domination. After all, we are intelligent, studious, young. We worked hard to be here, we deserve this.
We are convinced, owned, broken. We know their values better than they do: life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. This triumvirate of sacred values are ours of course, and in this moment of practiced theater—the fight between the university and its own students—we have used their words on their stages: Save public education!
When those values are violated by the very institutions which are created to protect them, the veneer fades, the tired set collapses: and we call it injustice, we get indignant. We demand justice from them, for them to adhere to their values. What many have learned again and again is that these institutions don’t care for those values, not at all, not for all. And we are only beginning to understand that those values are not even our own.
The values create popular images and ideals (healthcare, democracy, equality, happiness, individuality, pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, public education) while they mean in practice the selling of commodified identities, the state’s monopoly on violence, the expansion of markets and capital accumulation, the rule of property, the rule of exclusions based on race, gender, class, and domination and humiliation in general. They sell the practice through the image. We’re taught we’ll live the images once we accept the practice.
Excerpt from the The Necrosocial
In the university we prostrate ourselves before a value of separation, which in reality translates to a value of domination. We spend money and energy trying to convince ourselves we’re brighter than everyone else. Somehow, we think, we possess some trait that means we deserve more than everyone else. We have measured ourselves and we have measured others. It should never feel terrible ordering others around, right? It should never feel terrible to diagnose people as an expert, manage them as a bureaucrat, test them as a professor, extract value from them their capital as a businessman. It should feel good, gratifying, completing. It is our private wet dream for the future; everywhere, in everyone this same dream of domination. After all, we are intelligent, studious, young. We worked hard to be here, we deserve this.
We are convinced, owned, broken. We know their values better than they do: life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. This triumvirate of sacred values are ours of course, and in this moment of practiced theater—the fight between the university and its own students—we have used their words on their stages: Save public education!
When those values are violated by the very institutions which are created to protect them, the veneer fades, the tired set collapses: and we call it injustice, we get indignant. We demand justice from them, for them to adhere to their values. What many have learned again and again is that these institutions don’t care for those values, not at all, not for all. And we are only beginning to understand that those values are not even our own.
The values create popular images and ideals (healthcare, democracy, equality, happiness, individuality, pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, public education) while they mean in practice the selling of commodified identities, the state’s monopoly on violence, the expansion of markets and capital accumulation, the rule of property, the rule of exclusions based on race, gender, class, and domination and humiliation in general. They sell the practice through the image. We’re taught we’ll live the images once we accept the practice.
Laurie Essig: Lessons from the University of California student protests
Lessons from the UC student protests
by Laurie Essig
Class Warfare
UC Santa Cruz students are still occupying a building after rate hikes were announced across the University of California system last week.
A system wide, 32 percent fee increase approved Wednesday amid the state’s budget crisis sparked protests at several UC campuses, including both Santa Cruz and Berkeley, where groups of students seized control of several administration buildings.
These 32% rate hikes, we are told, are unavoidable. The students have their doubts. So do I.
The ugly truth is that universities have become mini-versions of Neoliberal corporate America. The people at the very top- the presidents and provosts and countless vice presidents- make a quarter million or even a half million dollars a year. A good chunk of all teaching is done by “Adjunct” professors, meaning that getting their PhD has landed them a job where they teach 4 classes a semester (more than full-time faculty) at a couple of thousand dollars a class with no benefits. And the staff- always underpaid- remains so.
To Read the Rest
More Resources:
Infoshop Archive of Reports
by Laurie Essig
Class Warfare
UC Santa Cruz students are still occupying a building after rate hikes were announced across the University of California system last week.
A system wide, 32 percent fee increase approved Wednesday amid the state’s budget crisis sparked protests at several UC campuses, including both Santa Cruz and Berkeley, where groups of students seized control of several administration buildings.
These 32% rate hikes, we are told, are unavoidable. The students have their doubts. So do I.
The ugly truth is that universities have become mini-versions of Neoliberal corporate America. The people at the very top- the presidents and provosts and countless vice presidents- make a quarter million or even a half million dollars a year. A good chunk of all teaching is done by “Adjunct” professors, meaning that getting their PhD has landed them a job where they teach 4 classes a semester (more than full-time faculty) at a couple of thousand dollars a class with no benefits. And the staff- always underpaid- remains so.
To Read the Rest
More Resources:
Infoshop Archive of Reports
Sunday, November 22, 2009
KCRW: RIAA vs Tennebaum
(Joel Tenenbaum eventually lost this case and the jury awarded the RIAA $675,000 as penalties for Tenenbaum downloading 30 songs. Absurd! The RIAA is a typical predatory corporate institution. Burn, Baby, Burn! Joel Fights Back)
RIAA vs Tenenbaum
Politics of Culture (KCRW)
What happens when a Boston student uploads seven songs illegally gets caught by the Recording Industry Association of America. The RIAA sues him for up to $150,000 per song. Celia Hirschman looks at the latest on this landmark digital law suit.
Guests:
Charles Nesson: Harvard Law School Professor, Lead Attorney for Joel Tenenbaum
To Listen to the Conversation
RIAA vs Tenenbaum
Politics of Culture (KCRW)
What happens when a Boston student uploads seven songs illegally gets caught by the Recording Industry Association of America. The RIAA sues him for up to $150,000 per song. Celia Hirschman looks at the latest on this landmark digital law suit.
Guests:
Charles Nesson: Harvard Law School Professor, Lead Attorney for Joel Tenenbaum
To Listen to the Conversation
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Videogum: College Will Turn Your Daughter Into A Pregnant Liberal Who Hates Cookies; College Weekend Workshop: Snakes With PhDs
First watch this marketing video (no, despite your instinct to think this, it is not a parody--they are serious) "The College Casualty":
Then visit the College Weekend Workshop it advertises at the end of the video.
I recommend the course content section for a fun time... where they discuss "Snakes With a PhD!!!" where you can learn the "four signs that your professor has a forked tongue"
The College Casualty from Mark Nauroth on Vimeo.
Then visit the College Weekend Workshop it advertises at the end of the video.
I recommend the course content section for a fun time... where they discuss "Snakes With a PhD!!!" where you can learn the "four signs that your professor has a forked tongue"
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Linda B. Blackford: Kentucky's Poor spend larger percentage on taxes
Poor spend larger percentage on taxes
By Linda B. Blackford
Lexington Herald-Leader
Low and middle-income Kentuckians pay a larger share of their incomes on state and local taxes than wealthier people do, making the tax system one of many in the country that is inherently unfair, according to a new study.
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy in Washington, D.C., studied tax codes in every state and concluded that the vast majority depend too much on sales and property taxes, which then puts a greater burden on the lower-income population.
"State and local taxes are profoundly unfair around the nation, and Kentucky is no exception," said Matt Gardner, the author of the study and director of the institute, which bills itself as a non-partisan, non-profit research group.
The study found that, in 2007, people making less than $15,000 a year paid 9.4 percent of their income to sales, property and income taxes, while those making about $36,000 paid 11 percent.
In contrast, the wealthiest 1 percent of Kentuckians, those making more than $346,000 a year, paid 7.1 percent. After federal deductions, the percentage is 6.1.
In 2002, the group did a similar study, which found that the poorest Kentuckians paid 9.8 percent of their income in sales, property and income taxes, while the richest 1 percent paid 7.8 percent.
To Read the Rest of the Article
By Linda B. Blackford
Lexington Herald-Leader
Low and middle-income Kentuckians pay a larger share of their incomes on state and local taxes than wealthier people do, making the tax system one of many in the country that is inherently unfair, according to a new study.
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy in Washington, D.C., studied tax codes in every state and concluded that the vast majority depend too much on sales and property taxes, which then puts a greater burden on the lower-income population.
"State and local taxes are profoundly unfair around the nation, and Kentucky is no exception," said Matt Gardner, the author of the study and director of the institute, which bills itself as a non-partisan, non-profit research group.
The study found that, in 2007, people making less than $15,000 a year paid 9.4 percent of their income to sales, property and income taxes, while those making about $36,000 paid 11 percent.
In contrast, the wealthiest 1 percent of Kentuckians, those making more than $346,000 a year, paid 7.1 percent. After federal deductions, the percentage is 6.1.
In 2002, the group did a similar study, which found that the poorest Kentuckians paid 9.8 percent of their income in sales, property and income taxes, while the richest 1 percent paid 7.8 percent.
To Read the Rest of the Article
Social Movements, Street Protests and Engaged Activism: Additional Resources
Building an educational/informational/inspirational online archive of alternative/independent/non-profit sources for the audience for our presentation on Monday--suggestions/comment are appreciated. Of course this list will reflect our perspectives and interests.
Aaaarg
Adbusters: The Journal of the Mental Environment
Advocacy 2.0 Guide: Tools for Digital Advocacy
AK Press
American Dissidents (Bill Moyers Journal)
Anti-Capital Projects
Appalshop
Bill Moyers Journal (PBS)
Blog for a Cause!: The Global Voices Guide of Blog Advocacy
Brave New Films
Brian Martin
Class Warfare
Common Dreams
Continental Drift
CounterPunch
Creative Commons
Crimethinc.: Ex-Workers Collective
Dialogic
Democracy Now
Documentary is Never Neutral
Doug Henwood (Left Business Observer)
Electronic Frontier Foundation: Defending Freedom in the Digital World
FAIR: Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
The Fourth World War (USA: Rick Rowley, 2003)
Framing Reality: Language, Rhetoric, Images, Concepts
Framing Science
Free Documentaries
Frontline (PBS: Documentary Archive 1983 - 2009)
Future of Music Coalition: Education, Research, and Advocacy for Musicians
Glenn Greenwald
Global Activism (Worldview)
Global Voices Advocacy
Global Voices Online
History Is a Weapon
Howard Zinn
The Hub: See it. Film it. Change it.
Human Rights Watch
Indy Media
Infoshop: Unthinking Respect for Authority Is the Greatest Enemy of Truth
The Institute for Anarchist Studies: Promoting Critical Scholarship, Exploring Social Domination and Reconstructive Visions of a Free Society
Interactivist Info Exchange
Inter Press Service (IPS)
Kentuckians for the Commonwealth (KFTC)
Kritik: Theory, Culture, Politics (University of Illinois)
Left Business Observer
Libcom
Media Education Foundation: Documentary Films/Challenging Media
Media Matters with Bob McChesney
Monthly Review Press
Naomi Klein
New Left Review
Noam Chomsky
No Logo: Brands, Globalization and Resistance (USA: Sut Jhally, 2003: based on Naomi Klein's book)
North of Center (Downtown Lexington's Independent Newspaper: articles posted online)
On the Media (WNYC)
Open Culture
Pittsburgh Indy Media: G20 Reports
The Politics of Culture (KCRW)
PR Watch (Center for Media and Democracy)
Rising Voices: Helping the Global Population Join the Global Conversation
Scarlateen: Sex Ed For the Real World
Seeing Red Radio
Socialist Worker
SourceWatch: Your Guide to the Names Behind the News (Center for Media and Democracy)
This Is What Democracy Looks Like (USA: Jill Friedberg and Rick Rowley, 2000)
TruthDig: Drilling Beneath the Headlines
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (The United Nations)
Witness: Using Video and Online Technologies to Open the Eyes of the World to Human Rights Violations
The Wobblies (Stewart Bird and Deborah Shaffer, 1979)
Worldview (WBEZ)
Zinn, Howard. A People's History of the United States.
Aaaarg
Adbusters: The Journal of the Mental Environment
Advocacy 2.0 Guide: Tools for Digital Advocacy
AK Press
American Dissidents (Bill Moyers Journal)
Anti-Capital Projects
Appalshop
Bill Moyers Journal (PBS)
Blog for a Cause!: The Global Voices Guide of Blog Advocacy
Brave New Films
Brian Martin
Class Warfare
Common Dreams
Continental Drift
CounterPunch
Creative Commons
Crimethinc.: Ex-Workers Collective
Dialogic
Democracy Now
Documentary is Never Neutral
Doug Henwood (Left Business Observer)
Electronic Frontier Foundation: Defending Freedom in the Digital World
FAIR: Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
The Fourth World War (USA: Rick Rowley, 2003)
Framing Reality: Language, Rhetoric, Images, Concepts
Framing Science
Free Documentaries
Frontline (PBS: Documentary Archive 1983 - 2009)
Future of Music Coalition: Education, Research, and Advocacy for Musicians
Glenn Greenwald
Global Activism (Worldview)
Global Voices Advocacy
Global Voices Online
History Is a Weapon
Howard Zinn
The Hub: See it. Film it. Change it.
Human Rights Watch
Indy Media
Infoshop: Unthinking Respect for Authority Is the Greatest Enemy of Truth
The Institute for Anarchist Studies: Promoting Critical Scholarship, Exploring Social Domination and Reconstructive Visions of a Free Society
Interactivist Info Exchange
Inter Press Service (IPS)
Kentuckians for the Commonwealth (KFTC)
Kritik: Theory, Culture, Politics (University of Illinois)
Left Business Observer
Libcom
Media Education Foundation: Documentary Films/Challenging Media
Media Matters with Bob McChesney
Monthly Review Press
Naomi Klein
New Left Review
Noam Chomsky
No Logo: Brands, Globalization and Resistance (USA: Sut Jhally, 2003: based on Naomi Klein's book)
North of Center (Downtown Lexington's Independent Newspaper: articles posted online)
On the Media (WNYC)
Open Culture
Pittsburgh Indy Media: G20 Reports
The Politics of Culture (KCRW)
PR Watch (Center for Media and Democracy)
Rising Voices: Helping the Global Population Join the Global Conversation
Scarlateen: Sex Ed For the Real World
Seeing Red Radio
Socialist Worker
SourceWatch: Your Guide to the Names Behind the News (Center for Media and Democracy)
This Is What Democracy Looks Like (USA: Jill Friedberg and Rick Rowley, 2000)
TruthDig: Drilling Beneath the Headlines
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (The United Nations)
Witness: Using Video and Online Technologies to Open the Eyes of the World to Human Rights Violations
The Wobblies (Stewart Bird and Deborah Shaffer, 1979)
Worldview (WBEZ)
Zinn, Howard. A People's History of the United States.
The Children of Woody Guthrie: Interview with Antonino D'Ambrosio
The Children of Woody Guthrie: Interview with Antonino D'Ambrosio
by Alexander Billet
Socialist Worker
Never underestimate the ability for pop culture to water down its most firebrand figures--especially after they're dead. Luckily, there are people like Antonino D'Ambrosio. His book Let Fury Have the Hour: The Punk Rock Politics of Joe Strummer, released in 2003, is essential reading for anyone who wants to learn who the Clash front man really was. D'Ambrosio's new book A Heartbeat and a Guitar: Johnny Cash and the Making of Bitter Tears is a passionate examination of Cash's album protesting the conditions for Native peoples in the early 1960s.
Here, D'Ambrosio takes to Alexander Billet about the new book, his influences, and his thoughts on music and politics.
To Read the Interview
by Alexander Billet
Socialist Worker
Never underestimate the ability for pop culture to water down its most firebrand figures--especially after they're dead. Luckily, there are people like Antonino D'Ambrosio. His book Let Fury Have the Hour: The Punk Rock Politics of Joe Strummer, released in 2003, is essential reading for anyone who wants to learn who the Clash front man really was. D'Ambrosio's new book A Heartbeat and a Guitar: Johnny Cash and the Making of Bitter Tears is a passionate examination of Cash's album protesting the conditions for Native peoples in the early 1960s.
Here, D'Ambrosio takes to Alexander Billet about the new book, his influences, and his thoughts on music and politics.
To Read the Interview
Julien Bell: Grad employees' strike victory at University of Illinois
Grad employees' strike victory at U of I
by Julien Ball
Socialist Worker
WITH THE chant "The workers united will never be defeated," some 500 jubilant members and supporters of Graduate Employees Organization (GEO), AFT/IFT Local 6300, held a rally November 17 in front of Foellinger Hall at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as leaders of the local announced that the administration had agreed to contract language protecting tuition waivers.
Later that evening, a mass membership meeting of more than 450 members of the GEO voted unanimously to accept the contract proposal, and the strike committee met that night and decided to suspend the union's two-day-old strike.
Members of the GEO, which represents teaching assistants (TAs) and graduate assistants (GAs) on campus, had walked out over the university's refusal to agree to language protecting the union's right to bargain the impact of any changes to tuition waivers for out-of-state and international students.
"We knew that in this economic climate, we would have to strike to win anything at all at the bargaining table," Kerry Pimblott, a graduate student in history and member of the union's bargaining team, told the crowd at Foellinger Hall. "It was the pressure coming from all of you that made what we did possible."
Despite the fact that many graduate students depend on tuition waivers to be able to afford to attend the University of Illinois, administrators had refused to guarantee them in a contract, leading members to walk off the job.
TAs teach 23 percent of classes on campus yet receive poverty wages. Meanwhile, disgraced former Chancellor Richard Herman and former university President B. Joseph White--who were forced to resign this fall over a scandal involving the admission of under-qualified but politically connected applicants--still draw a salary of more than $600,000 between them, because of the golden parachutes they received from the university.
The GEO's contract had expired on August 11, and it was only months of rallies and pressure--and finally the strike authorization vote and two-day strike--that forced the university to drop its most regressive proposals.
The university initially proposed an across-the-board wage freeze, refused any contract language protecting employees against unlimited furloughs, and tried to impose a "scope of agreement" clause that would have prevented the GEO from re-opening bargaining in the event of a change in employment conditions.
Last week, after the strike authorization vote, and after hundreds of members packed the bargaining room over the weekend, the university withdrew almost all of these proposed attacks. However, the administration still refused to guarantee tuition waivers, the issue that led to the strike.
In the days leading up to the strike, interim Provost and Chancellor Robert Easter sent a number of misleading and threatening e-mail messages about the GEO. In a November 12 e-mail sent to a list that goes to the entire university community, he announced that "colleges and departments have been planning for the possibility of a strike and will ensure that teaching and learning continue."
Picketers stood strong, however, with more than 1,000 people braving to cold rain to take part in union actions. Meanwhile, an undergraduate solidarity committee formed in the weeks leading up to the strike and drew 35 to 40 people to planning meetings. Members of student groups like La Colectiva, MEcHA, Equality, Campus AntiWar Network, Amnesty International and the International Socialist Organization joined the picket lines. Many professors cancelled classes or moved them off campus, and the entire English department was shut down. Introductory psychology classes with hundreds of students were cancelled, and business generally did not go on as usual.
Meanwhile, the strikers enjoyed support from other union workers--UPS drivers refused to cross picket lines to make deliveries, and members of graduate student unions from the University of Michigan and the University of Illinois at Chicago drove for hours to support the strike.
As it became clear that the strike was having an impact, Easter began to change his tune.
To Read the Entire Article
by Julien Ball
Socialist Worker
WITH THE chant "The workers united will never be defeated," some 500 jubilant members and supporters of Graduate Employees Organization (GEO), AFT/IFT Local 6300, held a rally November 17 in front of Foellinger Hall at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as leaders of the local announced that the administration had agreed to contract language protecting tuition waivers.
Later that evening, a mass membership meeting of more than 450 members of the GEO voted unanimously to accept the contract proposal, and the strike committee met that night and decided to suspend the union's two-day-old strike.
Members of the GEO, which represents teaching assistants (TAs) and graduate assistants (GAs) on campus, had walked out over the university's refusal to agree to language protecting the union's right to bargain the impact of any changes to tuition waivers for out-of-state and international students.
"We knew that in this economic climate, we would have to strike to win anything at all at the bargaining table," Kerry Pimblott, a graduate student in history and member of the union's bargaining team, told the crowd at Foellinger Hall. "It was the pressure coming from all of you that made what we did possible."
Despite the fact that many graduate students depend on tuition waivers to be able to afford to attend the University of Illinois, administrators had refused to guarantee them in a contract, leading members to walk off the job.
TAs teach 23 percent of classes on campus yet receive poverty wages. Meanwhile, disgraced former Chancellor Richard Herman and former university President B. Joseph White--who were forced to resign this fall over a scandal involving the admission of under-qualified but politically connected applicants--still draw a salary of more than $600,000 between them, because of the golden parachutes they received from the university.
The GEO's contract had expired on August 11, and it was only months of rallies and pressure--and finally the strike authorization vote and two-day strike--that forced the university to drop its most regressive proposals.
The university initially proposed an across-the-board wage freeze, refused any contract language protecting employees against unlimited furloughs, and tried to impose a "scope of agreement" clause that would have prevented the GEO from re-opening bargaining in the event of a change in employment conditions.
Last week, after the strike authorization vote, and after hundreds of members packed the bargaining room over the weekend, the university withdrew almost all of these proposed attacks. However, the administration still refused to guarantee tuition waivers, the issue that led to the strike.
In the days leading up to the strike, interim Provost and Chancellor Robert Easter sent a number of misleading and threatening e-mail messages about the GEO. In a November 12 e-mail sent to a list that goes to the entire university community, he announced that "colleges and departments have been planning for the possibility of a strike and will ensure that teaching and learning continue."
Picketers stood strong, however, with more than 1,000 people braving to cold rain to take part in union actions. Meanwhile, an undergraduate solidarity committee formed in the weeks leading up to the strike and drew 35 to 40 people to planning meetings. Members of student groups like La Colectiva, MEcHA, Equality, Campus AntiWar Network, Amnesty International and the International Socialist Organization joined the picket lines. Many professors cancelled classes or moved them off campus, and the entire English department was shut down. Introductory psychology classes with hundreds of students were cancelled, and business generally did not go on as usual.
Meanwhile, the strikers enjoyed support from other union workers--UPS drivers refused to cross picket lines to make deliveries, and members of graduate student unions from the University of Michigan and the University of Illinois at Chicago drove for hours to support the strike.
As it became clear that the strike was having an impact, Easter began to change his tune.
To Read the Entire Article
The People Speak (New Documentary)
I think this is going to be an amazing documentary! It will premiere on the History Channel, December 13th at 8PM.
Sounds like a good opportunity for The People Speak parties!
Sounds like a good opportunity for The People Speak parties!
Social Movements, Street Protests and Engaged Activism: Setting the Tone for a Presentation
Preparing a lecture/presentation on the continuing importance of social movements, street protests and engaged activism. So collecting good videos/music to set the tone as the audience gathers in the auditorium and as they leave... and, as always, suggestions are appreciated:
(recommend turning down the volume and just looking at the slide show)
Abu-Jamal, Mumia. Empire of Fear.
Adbusters. Brand Spangled Banner.
---. The Product Is You (1999)
The Coup. Riding the Fence.
Def, Mos. Reads Malcom X's "Message to the Grass Roots". (Voices of the People's History of the United States ed. Anthony Arnove and Howard Zinn. (November 9, 2006)
Difranco, Ani and Utah Phillips. Anarchy.
---. The Most Dangerous Woman.
Flobot. Anne Braden. Fight With Tools
---. Mayday. Fight With Tools
---. Rise. Fight With Tools
---. Stand Up. Fight With Tools
---> There Is a War Going On For Your Mind. Fight With Tools
---. We Are Winning. Fight With Tools
Free Range Studios. Consumption. Ch. 5 of The Story of Stuff. (2007)
Lennon, John. Power to the People.
---. Working Class Hero.
Petric, Faith. You Ain't Done Nothing If You Ain't Been Called a Red. (With images of the 2009 G20 Conference and Protests in Pittsburgh, PA)
Phillips, Utah. Direct Action.
Public Enemy. Fight the Power.
Ruffalo, Mark. Reads Eugene Debs' "Canton, Ohio" Speech. (Voices of the People's History of the United States ed. Anthony Arnove and Howard Zinn. (All Saints Church in Pasadena, CA on Feb 1, 2007)
---. Reading from Henry David Thoreau's 1849. (Voices of the People's History of the United States ed. Anthony Arnove and Howard Zinn. (All Saints Church in Pasadena, CA on Feb 1, 2007)
Seeger, Pete. What Did You Learn In School Today.
---. Which Side Are You On.
Vedder, Eddie, et al. Masters of War. (2006)
Walker, Alice. Reading Sojourner Truth (Voices of the People's History of the United States ed. Anthony Arnove and Howard Zinn. (Berkeley, CA: November 11, 2006).
Williams, Saul. List of Demands.
Williams, Saul and DJ Spooky. Not In Our Name. Live Without Dead Time (Adbusters)
Zinn, Howard. The People Speak (Trailer for the Upcoming Documentary)
(recommend turning down the volume and just looking at the slide show)
Abu-Jamal, Mumia. Empire of Fear.
Adbusters. Brand Spangled Banner.
---. The Product Is You (1999)
The Coup. Riding the Fence.
Def, Mos. Reads Malcom X's "Message to the Grass Roots". (Voices of the People's History of the United States ed. Anthony Arnove and Howard Zinn. (November 9, 2006)
Difranco, Ani and Utah Phillips. Anarchy.
---. The Most Dangerous Woman.
Flobot. Anne Braden. Fight With Tools
---. Mayday. Fight With Tools
---. Rise. Fight With Tools
---. Stand Up. Fight With Tools
---> There Is a War Going On For Your Mind. Fight With Tools
---. We Are Winning. Fight With Tools
Free Range Studios. Consumption. Ch. 5 of The Story of Stuff. (2007)
Lennon, John. Power to the People.
---. Working Class Hero.
Petric, Faith. You Ain't Done Nothing If You Ain't Been Called a Red. (With images of the 2009 G20 Conference and Protests in Pittsburgh, PA)
Phillips, Utah. Direct Action.
Public Enemy. Fight the Power.
Ruffalo, Mark. Reads Eugene Debs' "Canton, Ohio" Speech. (Voices of the People's History of the United States ed. Anthony Arnove and Howard Zinn. (All Saints Church in Pasadena, CA on Feb 1, 2007)
---. Reading from Henry David Thoreau's 1849. (Voices of the People's History of the United States ed. Anthony Arnove and Howard Zinn. (All Saints Church in Pasadena, CA on Feb 1, 2007)
Seeger, Pete. What Did You Learn In School Today.
---. Which Side Are You On.
Vedder, Eddie, et al. Masters of War. (2006)
Walker, Alice. Reading Sojourner Truth (Voices of the People's History of the United States ed. Anthony Arnove and Howard Zinn. (Berkeley, CA: November 11, 2006).
Williams, Saul. List of Demands.
Williams, Saul and DJ Spooky. Not In Our Name. Live Without Dead Time (Adbusters)
Zinn, Howard. The People Speak (Trailer for the Upcoming Documentary)
The Tavis Smiley Show: Paul Mooney
Paul Mooney
The Tavis Smiley Show
Comedian-writer Paul Mooney talks about working with Richard Pryor and using race in his stand-up material.
To Listen to the Conversation
The Tavis Smiley Show
Comedian-writer Paul Mooney talks about working with Richard Pryor and using race in his stand-up material.
To Listen to the Conversation
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