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Politics, activism and timely social issues
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Refuse to be Terrorized
From Bruce Schneier at Wired: Regardless of the threat, from the would-be bombers' perspective, the explosives and planes were merely tactics. Their goal was to cause terror, and in that they've succeeded.
Imagine for a moment what would have happened if they had blown up 10 planes. There would be canceled flights, chaos at airports, bans on carry-on luggage, world leaders talking tough new security measures, political posturing and all sorts of false alarms as jittery people panicked. To a lesser degree, that's basically what's happening right now.
Our politicians help the terrorists every time they use fear as a campaign tactic. The press helps every time it writes scare stories about the plot and the threat. And if we're terrified, and we share that fear, we help. All of these actions intensify and repeat the terrorists' actions, and increase the effects of their terror.[ More...]
posted by Matt Borondy at 8/24/2006 03:43:00 PM
Identity Crisis
Over at The Nation, William Greider examines what it means to be a Democrat in light of this whole Joe Lieberman thing:
The question of party identity takes on weird new relevance now that Joe Lieberman is cross-dressing in Connecticut. Defeated once as a Democrat, tiresome Joe is now running again as an independent. Only he says he's still a loyal Dem at heart. How can we know he's not lying? [ More...]
posted by Matt Borondy at 8/22/2006 05:01:00 PM
CORPORATE TAKEOVER: an interview with Jim Gollin
From a 2005 Tricycle magazine interview with the chairman of Rainforest Action Network: The Rainforest Action Network is highly confrontational. How does a Buddhist find himself comfortable using confrontation?There's a story about a guy with a mule. He couldn't get the mule to move. His friend says, "You've just got to whisper 'Move' in his ear and he'll move." So the first guy whispers into the mule's ear. Nothing. He says louder, "Move!" Nothing. Eventually the friend says, "Here, I'll show you." He takes a two-by-four and whacks the mule on the head. Then he whispers, "Move" into the mule's ear, and the mule moves. The first guy is shocked by the violence. "What was that about?" "Well," says the friend, "first you have to get his attention."
You have to get a corporation's attention. They're not interested in talking to a bunch of environmentalists wanting to change things. They've got a lot of other things on their minds. Take Citigroup, the world's largest financial institution: They've got a lot of problems going on, from corruption and investigations to trying to make money. Why are they going to talk to us? Why are they going to do anything for us? You have to get their attention. What we do is always nonviolent both to people and to property. So it's really an aggressive form of speech designed to make them very uncomfortable. It's a way of getting a conversation started. Read more...
posted by Matt Borondy at 8/16/2006 10:25:00 AM
"Retail with a Conscience"
From "Creating a Market for Fair Trade" by Evelyn Iritani, L.A. Times: "William Easterly, a former World Bank economist who teaches at New York University, called the fair-trade movement a 'brilliant marketing ploy' that had shown limited success in reducing poverty. He said a far better way to help poor African farmers would be to remove the barriers that prevent them from exporting their sugar and cotton to the U.S. and Europe." [ more...]
posted by Matt Borondy at 8/10/2006 11:04:00 AM
The Brooklyn Rail: Critical Perspectives on Art, Politics, and Culture
The Culture of Self-Deception
Yes, we can insist on a purging of public lies - a true reform. But we repeat a major blunder if we conclude that the problem of self-serving deception belongs to someone else. ''When I talk about the contaminated moral atmosphere,'' Havel presumed to tell his fellow citizens, ''I mean all of us.'' Read "the Culture of Self-Deception"
posted by Jesslyn at 8/03/2006 10:04:00 AM
Hezbollah, Hamas and Israel: Everything You Need to Know
As the tv networks give unlimited airtime to Israel’s apologists, the message rolls out that no nation, least of all Israel, can permit bombardment or armed incursion across its borders without retaliation. The guiding rule in this tsunami of drivel is that the viewers should be denied the slightest access to any historical context, or indeed to anything that happened prior to June 28, which was when the capture of an Israeli soldier and the killing of two others by Hamas hit the headlines, followed soon thereafter by an attack by a unit of Hezbollah’s fighters. Memory is supposed to stop in its tracks at June 28, 2006. Hezbollah, Hamas and Israel: Everything You Need to Know Full Article
posted by Jesslyn at 8/03/2006 10:01:00 AM
the Conflict in the Middle East
The Peculiar Disappearance of the War in Iraq
AS America fell into the quagmire of Vietnam, the comedian Milton Berle joked that the fastest way to end the war would be to put it on the last-place network, ABC, where it was certain to be canceled. Berle's gallows humor lives on in the quagmire in Iraq. Americans want this war canceled too, and first- and last-place networks alike are more than happy to oblige. The Peculiar Disappearance of the War in Iraq
posted by Jesslyn at 8/03/2006 09:57:00 AM
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