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Culture

July 16, 2004 - 9:50am -- hydrarchist
Analysis & Polemic
Culture

kirsten anderberg writes:

Charity Versus True Sharing and Giving
Kirsten Anderberg

It took me quite a while in this world to see the subtle differences between charity and actual sharing and giving. Charity involves one entity keeping all the wealth and power, and giving metered allowances to those they control. Sharing involves equal access to resources and equal access to power. Giving involves relinquishment of control of property to another. Charity is controlling and paternalistic, while Sharing and Giving involve empowerment. Charity is a very different species than Sharing and Giving. This subtle difference is played out in so many ways it is astounding, from our “charity” in Iraq, where we want total control yet try to play ourselves off as merciful, selfless, “givers,” to Christian soup kitchens that hold food from they hungry until the hungry proclaim allegiance to a mythic white god from the Middle East. People need to ask themselves whether a situation involves actual sharing or giving, or whether it is manipulative “charity,” at every turn in the road.

July 14, 2004 - 9:32am -- hydrarchist
Announcements
Culture

Mike B writes "Moviment Graffitti - What is it?

Moviment Graffitti is active against oppression and exploitation of people, environment and animals; with a vision of freedom and radical democracy.

Moviment Graffitti's activism consists primarily of two strategies:

Direct Action. Moviment Graffitti is active in various areas such such as social justice and protection of the environment. This includes the years-long activism in local community struggles such as the Front Against the Hilton, Front Against the Golf Course and Save Kalkara Valley Front. This also activities for the emancipation of the working class (such as participation in demonstrations by progressive trade unions); peace and neutrality (such as activities against the visit of warships); civil rights (such as divorce and anti-sexism); human rights (such as the rights of asylum seekers); and animal rights (such as anti-furcoat protests). Moviment Graffitti has organised various activities that were concurrently taking place around the world. These include Workers' Day, Peace Marches, the World Anti McDonalds Day, as well as various activities against capitalist globalisation and in favour of global social justice.

July 11, 2004 - 11:01am -- Uncle Fluffy
Reviews
Culture

"Maufacturing Dissent:

Think Before You Cheer — Michael Moore is Making a Noose for the Left's Neck"


Shlomo Svesnik, WW3Report.com

Who can resist the urge to cheer?

George W Bush has gotten away with stealing an election, waging an illegal
war of aggression, and redesigning the entire federal security and
intelligence apparatus, expanding its powers on a level not seen since the
dawn of the Cold War. A sniveling mediocrity who achieved the pinnacle of
global power entirely through family connections, he is leading the world
into a state of permanent war, turning the planet's lone superpower into a
despised and isolated pariah. All decent, thinking people want to see him
soundly trounced in November, and Michael Moore's film Fahrenheit 9-11 is
the most effective piece of anti-Bush propaganda to hit the American
mainstream, by a mile.

July 10, 2004 - 6:58pm -- jim
Analysis & Polemic
Culture

Yoshie Furuhashi writes:


"Why Does 'Fahrenheit 9/11' Pursue Conspiracy Theory?"

Yoshie Furuhashi, Critical Montages


Some left-wing viewers of Fahrenheit 9/11 — perhaps out of wishful thinking? — believe that the film makes an argument that Riyadh and Washington "have collaborated for decades in a violent project of repression" (Doug Henwood, LBO-talk, July 9, 2004) based only on well-checked facts provided by credible experts (Dennis Redmond, LBO-talk, July 9, 2004).


I wish that Fahrenheit 9/11 made such an argument, but it doesn't.

July 9, 2004 - 2:45pm -- jim
Events
Culture

Laurie Mimosa writes:

This would be a great event to cover — as a cultural demonstration against repression of free space in nyc.


2nd Annual "I LOVE NY?" Poetry Festival

Tompkins Square Park, July 17, 2004

"art is permitted everywhere" presents the second annual "I LOVE NY?" Poetry Festival — A festival of words celebrating New York City in one of the finest public places in New York. This is a time to support public speaking at a time of great unrest and suppression of public voice.


Date: Saturday July 17th, 2004

Place: Tompkins Square Park Lower East Side 9th Street and A Old Bandshell area

Time: 2–6pm

Cost: Free


Featured: Over fifty poets, musicians, bards, and bitter and elated New yorkers from around New York City who will gather to read and speak about New York City — those who have lived and loved and hated the city from days to decades. Featuring over fify New York Bards, Poets, Musicians including: magdelena alagna, urayoen noel, chi chi valenti, ryn gargulynski, bob hershon, jim feast, bronx buffallo poets, Danny Shot....


See www.artispermittedeverywhere.com for full listing and updates.


Contact: Laurie Schoeman 917 664 6649 or ljsmimosa@yahoo.com

July 9, 2004 - 2:22pm -- jim
Analysis & Polemic
Culture

bhagat writes:

The article below is by Martin Rosenberg, Ph.D., a scholar of science, technology and culture living in the Pittsburgh area. I know it's a few weeks old now, but Martin is currently working on a new article about the CAE case, and so any comments from this audience would be much appreciated. The upcoming article, which will appear in one of the major Boston papers, makes an argument about the CAE case transforming the entire Ashcroft Justice Department into a conceptual art piece. Maybe a draft of the next piece will get posted here? — Lex

"The Paranoid Persecution of Steve Kurtz"
Martin E. Rosenberg, Pittsburgh Post Gazette

For the past month, artists, scientists, academics and others interested in freedom of thought and expression have had their eyes on Buffalo and a bizarre grand jury investigation into the case of The Artists Who Play With Petri Dishes.

The case involves a heart attack victim, and then a range of claims and denials: wrongful death by bacterial infection, possession of biological agents suitable for warfare, public health threats, terrorism, sedition, artistic freedom and First Amendment violations, paranoid McCarthyism and Keystone Cops shenanigans. Artists and scientists are so united in outcry that you would think that C.P. Snow had never written his "Two Cultures" thesis that in the modern world, never the twain shall meet. The Bill of Rights makes for strange bedfellows.

July 9, 2004 - 9:25am -- jim
Announcements
Culture

Brave New Classrooms:

Educational Democracy and the
Internet

Call for Papers


One of the most idealistic promises of the internet as a
medium has been its democratic potential. In working to keep faith with
that promise, many educators seek reinforcement for a progressive
political belief that good education leads towards social justice.
Although this promise still glimmers, teachers who want to pursue the
democratic potential of the internet and electronic education have
increasingly encountered forces of homogenization, standardization,
censorship, hierarchy and corporatization. This edited volume,
entitled Brave New Classrooms: Educational Democracy and the Internet,
will examine the "other" side of online learning.

July 6, 2004 - 11:03am -- jim
Announcements
Culture

(Image)ining Resistance

Call for papers:

Editors: Keri Cronin and Kirsty Robertson

Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

We are seeking contributions for a collection of essays tentatively
titled (Image)ining Resistance. Our aim is to encourage interdisciplinary
approaches and critical examinations that address the use of visual imagery in
social and activist movements throughout history. From banners embroidered for
suffragette actions, to the impact of photographs taken in Soweto in 1976, to
political puppets created for recent global justice demonstrations, the
intersections between visual culture and activism relate a rich history with
transnational and transideological import. Interdisciplinary approaches are
encouraged, as are essays addressing a wide range of historical periods,
geographic regions and protest actions.

June 29, 2004 - 5:10pm -- jim
News
Culture

High Court Upholds Block of Web Porn Law

Anne Gearan, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a law meant to punish pornographers who peddle dirty pictures to Web-surfing kids is probably an unconstitutional muzzle on free speech.

The high court divided 5-to-4 over a law passed in 1998, signed by then-President Clinton and now backed by the Bush administration. The majority said a lower court was correct to block the law from taking effect because it likely violates the First Amendment.

Full story: here.

June 29, 2004 - 3:47pm -- jim
Announcements
Culture

"New York Civil Liberties Union Questions The Investigation Of A Buffalo Artist"


June 21, 2004 -- The New York Civil Liberties Union is questioning the propriety of an investigation into the work of Buffalo artist and Autonomedia author Steven Kurtz. The NYCLU has written a letter to U.S. Attorney Michael Battle inquiring about the presentation of the case of Professor Kurtz to a Grand Jury.


“It doesn’t appear that this investigation satisfies the FBI standards that the facts and circumstances of the case must reasonably indicate that a crime has been committed,” said Donna Lieberman, Executive Director of the NYCLU.

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