Red hot and riot
Shannon points out a track about the militant confrontation with the Nazis in Toledo.
can a vegan…
… enter, in good conscience, into a “touch and see mammals” room? if so, are they permitted to “touch” or only to “see”? if they, say, ride a huge stuffed bear, or play with a buffalo skull, is this a sin?
this and other difficult questions (see below) await us on the way to the communist future.
a question of timing…
revolutionary temporality has always been a difficult issue. great thinkers have devoted a great number of pages to the subject. here at the wrong side of capitalism, we do our best to tackle these and other difficult questions, so in the spirit of this monumental task, we pose the central question of revolutionary time:
do we round up the capitalists first, and then cut the guts out of the bureaucrats? or, alternatively, are the guts prepared before we catch the capitalists to string them up?
Theses you should write on tour
I’m currently in Minneapolis for a conference which features, among other things, a panel on 24. Some might consider that a little excessive.
You can look at my notes for my presentation (Word format only for the moment, sorry), if you like. It’s a bit scrappy, but I like the basic idea.
Revolutionary But Gangsta
Fantastic. Community members and local anarchists know how to deal with fascists:
> Rioters in Toledo, Ohio have attacked police and set fire to property and
> overturned cars, apparently in protest at a planned neo-Nazi march.
>
> …
>
> The mayor of Toledo, Jack Ford, said the violence was triggered by gang
> members angry that the neo-Nazi march had been allowed.
And, from Fox News:
> When Mayor Jack Ford and a local minister tried to calm the
> rioting, they were cursed for allowing the march, and Ford said a masked
> gang member threatened to shoot him.
A superdope homeboy from the Oaktown
Local hero MC Hammer on a comeback tip ![[MP3]](http://huh.34sp.com/res/mp3.png)
. (The picture is from Psychbloke).
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Depressing
Via American Leftist, I’ve just discovered this nonsense from Medea Benjamin:
> We’re marching because the war in Iraq is undermining the capacity of
> the US military. The military has been unable to reach its recruiting
> goals for months now, because young people don’t want to be sent off to
> fight in a war they don’t believe in.
If the ‘leaders’ of the anti-war movement are coming out with this kind of ‘loyal opposition’ crap, it makes me pessimistic about the possibility of getting a serious anti-war movement going in this country (though there are other things which make me a little more optimistic).
I discovered today that an acquaintance of mine, who joined the Reserves to pay his way through medical school, has been called up. Oh, I’ll support him, of course: me and some closer friends of the guy in question were discussing today possible ways to help his wife and kids; in the unlikely event that he decides to avoid military service, I would certainly be willing to help as much as I can with that, as well (and the flipside of anti-recruiting agitation ought to be a support network for those going AWOL).
But this practical work to mitigate the effects of the war should, obviously, not be confused with agreement with the war or with my acquaintance’s choice to serve in the military (the guy is placed in a terrible position, of course, and one can sympathize with that. But he _has_ made a choice). The anti-war position remains, we support our troops when they shoot their officers.
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Disappointingly vitalist
So, Girls Aloud have sort of come up with a way around the necessarily unfulfilled expecations in all their post-’The Show’ releases. Simply add a mediocre intro to the song , so that we’ve already got over the disappointment when the real, fantastic, song starts.
Actually, I think I prefer to read the rampant biologisim of the track as an ironic, subversive performance, particularly as “the way that we walk, the way that we talk,” are surely among the _least_ biological of gender markers (perhaps the Girls have been reading Judith Butler?).
Why have the Sugababes released a reggae album?
I’ve just discover DJ Lioness’s blog, which is a great source of grime information and Rinse FM sets. This set in particular is great. I love it when grime tracks remember their hardcore roots, as in the track at 35 minutes in (I think it’s ‘Candy Flossin’ by King of the Streets). Some fine MCing from Wiley, too, at about an hour in. I should have remembered to say, particularly as I was posting on John Peel Day, that there’s a track at about one hour 20 which sounds surprisingly like ‘The French Toast Man’ by Fred Lane and the Hittite Hotshots.
A picture of Infinite Thought
So, I was reading Infinite Thought’s latest post and, as the picture was loading, I thought, “that would make a great Maoist slogan.” And then I noticed it was a link, clicked on it, and discovered it _was_ a Maoist slogan, and was nestling alongside loads of fantastic Maoist propaganda posters.