Virginia Woolf: Let us never cease from thinking...

"Let us never cease from thinking--What is this 'civilization' in which we find ourselves? What are these ceremonies and why should we take part in them? What are these professions and why should we make money out of them?"

Virginia Woolf. Three Guineas. NY: Harcourt Brace, 1936.

Wikileaks

(Courtesy of Democracy Now. My new daily reading site!)

From the About page:

Wikileaks is developing an uncensorable Wikipedia for untraceable mass document leaking and analysis. Our primary interest is in exposing oppressive regimes in Asia, the former Soviet bloc, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, but we also expect to be of assistance to people of all regions who wish to reveal unethical behavior in their governments and corporations. We aim for maximum political impact. Our interface is identical to Wikipedia and usable by all types of people. We have received over 1.2 million documents so far from dissident communities and anonymous sources.

We believe that transparency in government activities leads to reduced corruption, better government and stronger democracies. All governments can benefit from increased scrutiny by the world community, as well as their own people. We believe this scrutiny requires information. Historically that information has been costly - in terms of human life and human rights. But with technological advances - the internet, and cryptography - the risks of conveying important information can be lowered.

Wikileaks opens leaked documents up to stronger scrutiny than any media organization or intelligence agency can provide. Wikileaks provides a forum for the entire global community to relentlessly examine any document for its credibility, plausibility, veracity and validity. Communities can interpret leaked documents and explain their relevance to the public. If a document comes from the Chinese government, the entire Chinese dissident community and diaspora can freely scrutinize and discuss it; if a document arrives from Iran, the entire Farsi community can analyze it and put it in context. Sample analyses are available here.

In its landmark ruling on the Pentagon Papers, the US Supreme Court ruled that "only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government." We agree.

We believe that it is not only the people of one country that keep their government honest, but also the people of other countries who are watching that government. That is why the time has come for an anonymous global avenue for disseminating documents the public should see.

Wikileaks

Homeland: Whose Home, What Land

(Studets asking me about anarchism...a repost)

In my summer course we are currently reading Homeland (Seven Stories Press, 2004) by Dale Maharidge and Michael Williamson.  The first section tells the story of Katie Sierra the teenage anarchist who was thrown out of school for a shirt she wore to school and her attempts to start an Anarchy club at her high school in Sissonville, West Virginia.
 
Well after discussing anarchy with my students, and later with Melissa, I realized that I have only a passing knowledge of the founding ideas of anarchism and that I needed to revise some of the stereotypes about anarchist activists that I had received from the media.   So I sought out a few handy guides online and will search for a couple of books to fill in the history of anarchism.  As always I would appreciate some suggestions/comments, especially about anarchist histories.
 
What is Anarchism?
 
Anarchist Sampler
 
Anarchist Library
 
Anarchy Archives
 
Infoshop: Online Anrachist Community
 
Anarchist Theory Guide
 
Spunk (Anarchist) Library
 
Anarchist Black Cross Network
 
Anarchist Action Network
 
Institute For Anarchist Studies
 
Anarchist Federation
 
Anarchist People of Color Website
 
Black Ribbon Campaign
 
Daily Bleed: Anarchist Encyclopedia
 
Daily Bleed: Anarchist Timeline
 
Anarchist News Service
 
Phoenix Anarchist Coalition
 
Anarchist Communitarian Network

Gwendolyn Bradley: Scholars Excluded from the United States

(Courtesy of Swerve Left)

Scholars Excluded from the United States
By Gwendolyn Bradley
American Association of University Professors

In recent years, scores of foreign citizens have been barred from the United States when they sought to travel here to attend academic conferences, take up faculty posts, or perform other scholarly work. While the number of foreign scholars excluded is a relative handful compared to the number allowed to enter the country, it represents an alarming trend that is at odds with this nation’s historic commitment to the free exchange of ideas. Sometimes the exclusions have been for overtly ideological reasons—such as the blanket exclusion of Cuban scholars seeking to attend a conference of the Latin American Studies Association. In other instances, no reason has been given by the government, leaving observers to guess that the exclusions were related to the politics or ethnic identities of the scholars in question.

To Read More

What I Care About (a localized version)

(Thanks to ToggleSwitch who reminded me about the traditon)

1. What I contribute to my community
2. My love
3. My job--hell, it consumes so much time, it better be worth it.
4. Recognition from my family--multilayered, biological and communal, they all are important and their opinions mean a lot.
5. Friends that are honest, playful, and creative
6. Reading a book, or watching a film, or listening to music (that hits my body/soul like a tuning fork, but, instead of tuning me, it shifts my consciousness)
7. Guerilla Gardening (huge kiss to Marchman and Mayer)
8. A message from someone I miss (I know I'm difficult to get a hold of, but it makes my day and I think about when I can find the time to return the favor)
9. My very crazy cats (Marcus and Cleopatra) that keep me from settling down when I get home.
10. Any opportunity to hike...

Make Films, Not War

(Courtesy of Tammy Ramsey)

Thought you guys might be interested in this:

Jan 01, 2008 CALL FOR FILM FOOTAGE Seeking footage from filmmakers around the world for feature-length documentary, tentatively called Cultures of Resistance, for non-profit multifaceted initiative that seeks creative ways to bring people from all walks of life together to promote sustainability, diversity, and peace with justice. Film will be collaborative cinematic collage about the myriad ways in which people are opposing war, oppression, and corporate-led globalization in their everyday lives. Film credit and small honorarium for any footage used. Any proceeds from film will be used to fund other arms of initiative. For more info, please contact: Cultures of Resistance OR Make Films, Not War OR filmsubmission@makefilmsnotwar.org

Tim Flannery: “We Are Now In The Danger Zone”

“We Are Now In The Danger Zone”: Leading Australian Scientist Tim Flannery on Climate Change and How To Save the Planet
Tim Flannery
Democracy Now



We spend the hour with one of the world's leading scientists studying climate change, Tim Flannery. An Australian mammologist, palaeontologist and field zoologist, he has discovered and named more than thirty new species of mammals. He has been described as being in the league of all-time great explorers such as David Livingstone. Flannery might be best known as the author of the bestselling book "The Weather Makers: The History and Future Impact of Climate Change." Earlier this year he was named 2007 Australian of the Year. Tim Flannery recently spoke before a packed crowd at the Lensic Theater in Santa Fe New Mexico as part of "Readings and Conversations," a series sponsored by the Lannan Foundation. Today, Tim Flannery's speech on the environment, how human activity is altering the earth's climate and what we can do to save it.

To Listen/Watch/Read

Rajiv Chandrasekaran: Imperial Life in the Emerald City

Podcast: Imperial Life in the Emerald City
Rajiv Chandrasekaran talks about his prizewinning account of life in Baghdad's Green Zone.
Guardian Unlimited Books



Rajiv Chandrasekaran, winner of the 2007 Samuel Johnson prize for Imperial Life in the Emerald City, talks to Lindesay Irvine about his tragicomic account of life in post-war Iraq.

He explains how, after working as Baghdad bureau chief for the Washington Post, he was inspired to write the tragicomic tale of the ill-planned and misconceived efforts by the American-led Coalition Provisional Authority to reconstruct the country, and the strange world of the "Emerald City" - the Green Zone.

To Listen to the Podcast

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving I am giving thanks for my friends/family (I'm lucky to have friends that are like family/family that are my friends), my great job (the key is work that is centered around your passions), and the many inspiring people that continue to keep me hopeful about the future (you know who you are--activists of the heart and soul :)

While I bask in my good fortune, I will remember the people who are less fortunate than me and say a prayer for those who are suffering because of war and/or conflicts around the world.

Peace and Love to you all,

Imagine

Working Class Hero

What's So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding

Jessica Lee and Kamau Karl Franklin: Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act Raises Fears of New Government Crackdown on Dissent

Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act Raises Fears of New Government Crackdown on Dissent
Host: Amy Goodman
Guests: Jessica Lee and Kamau Karl Franklin
Democracy Now

A little-noticed anti-terrorism bill quietly making its through Congress is raising fears of a new affront on activism and constitutional rights. The Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act was passed in an overwhelming 400 to six House vote last month. Critics say it could herald a new government crackdown on dissident activity and infiltration of universities under the guise of fighting terrorism. The bill would establish two government-appointed bodies to study, monitor and propose ways of curbing what it calls homegrown terrorism and extremism in the United States. The first body, a National Commission, would convene for eighteen months. A university-based "Center for Excellence" would follow, bringing together academic specialists to recommend laws and other measures.
Critics say the bill's definition of "extremism" and "terrorism" is too vague and its mandate even more broad. Under a false veil of expertise and independence, the government-appointed commissions could be used as ideological cover to push through harsher laws.

Following last month's approval in the House, the Senate version is expected to go before the Judiciary Committee this week.

Jessica Lee, reporter for the Indypendent, published by the NYC Indymedia Center. Her latest article is called "Bringing the War on Terrorism Home: Congress Considers How to 'Disrupt' Radical Movements in the United States"

Kamau Karl Franklin, Racial Justice Fellow at the NY-based Center for Constitutional Rights. He is also co-chair of the National Conference of Black Lawyers and serves on the Executive Committee of the National Lawyers Guild.

To Watch/Listen/Read

Sublime Frequencies Films Tour @ the Cat's Den, UK Student Center, 8 PM, FREE (December 5th)

(Message from Trevor Tremaine. You can find out more about Sublime Frequencies on VBS TV which has a regular online show that features the label's world music--Michael Benton)

** Wed/December 5 - Sublime Frequencies Films Tour @ the Cat's Den, UK Student Center, 8 PM, FREE Two mind-blowing documentaries on traditional music that combine the field work of Alan Lomax with the psychedelic realism of Werner Herzog. Sublime Frequences smash the condescending implications of the term "world music" in order to TAKE YOU THERE. This footage is unlike anything else you've ever seen.

MUSICAL BROTHERHOODS FROM THE TRANS-SAHARAN HIGHWAY Film by Hisham Mayet (60 Minutes)



Hisham Mayet's latest film showcases an assortment of spectacular musical dramas presented live and unfiltered on the home turf of the world's most dynamic string/drum specialists performing and manifesting the ecstatic truth! Ancient mystical brotherhoods have been flourishing for centuries in and around the cities of Marrakesh and Essaouira in Morocco where the trade caravans have gathered from their long journeys across the Trans-Saharan Highway.

This is some of the last great street music on Earth.

See the trailer here

PALACE OF THE WINDSA film by Hisham Mayet (45 minutes)

An entrancing look at the culture and music of the Saharawis from the Western Sahara and Mauritania. This film explores the rich heritage of a culture that is cloaked in mystery and mired in struggle. Journey from the northern fringes of the Western Sahara to the Mauritanian capital of Nouakchott. Explore the intoxicating tapestry of sight and sound that this obscure region has to offer from some of its most legendary musicians. See the trailer here

For more information, go to Sublime Frequenices

THIS EVENT IS SPONSORED BY WRFL 88.1 FM _____________________________________________

Also, if you're interested in linkies, I started up a couple blogs:

free word/mind splooge

the shallow pursuit of pop-culture punditry

Peace,Trevor

Mike Davis wins Lannan Foundation Nonfiction Literary Award

Mike Davis was born in Fontana, California, 60 miles east of Los Angeles in 1946, and is a veteran of 1960’s civil rights and anti-war movements. From his first book, Prisoners of the American Dream (1986), about unionism in the United States, to his most recent, Buda’s Wagon: A Brief History of the Car Bomb (2007), Davis’ fearless writing in 18 books shines a fresh light on economic, social, environmental, and political injustice. Some of his other books include City of Quartz, Ecology of Fear, Magical Urbanism, Planet of Slums, Dead Cities, In Praise of Barbarians, and No One is Illegal. He is currently working on a book about climate change, water, and power in the U.S. West and northern Mexico. A former meat cutter and long-distance truck driver, Davis has been a fellow at the Getty Institute and was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 1998. He teaches at the University of California, Irvine.

Lannan Foundation Literary Awards and Fellowships

An interview with Mike Davis:

"Resisting, Subverting and Destroying the Apparatus of Surveillance and Control"

Ghosts of Cité Soleil (Asger Leth: Denmark/USA, 2006)

I understand why this film is very difficult for some people. It is simply a story of gang warfare in an environment of extreme poverty and shifting political loyalties. There is no ultimate truth that will uplift the people in the film or the viewers of the film. For the Haitians depicted in the film there is no right way of living in the sense of a "safe" person mentality (the mentality/reality of people who live in safe environments). For these people there is no way out and so there is no compromise/alternative. I commend the makers of this film for their documentation of the voices of this particular community who are involved in committing violent acts in a country that is consumed by violence.

This film should be viewed by everyone who is concerned about violence that springs up in the midst of poverty, no matter where that poverty may be (hello Americans, when you wonder about the violence of our own places, think about the systemic roots of that violence). Violence is not without reason! These people have a need for respect, they have family, they want the same things that every human wants/desires. If they don't care because they have no future... what do you expect them to do with their lives? This is not only a film about Haiti, but about any environment in the world that produces the hopeless conditions that these people face.

--Michael Benton

Pakistan: Two Democracy Now Reports

* Deception: British Reporter Adrian Levy on How the United States Secretly Helped Pakistan Build Its Nuclear Arsenal *

Adrian Levy examines how five consecutive US administrations from Jimmy Carter to George W. Bush have been complicit in building and protecting Pakistan's nuclear arsenal. Levy is co-author of the new book: "Deception: Pakistan, the United States, and the Secret Trade in Nuclear Weapons."

Listen/Watch/Read

* Crackdown On the Press: General Musharraf Shuts Down Two of Pakistan's Biggest Private Television News Channels *

Mazhar Abbas, the deputy director of one of the stations ARY One World television, joins us in New York. He is also the Secretary-General of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists. He has been a well-known champion of press freedom over the past 27 years.

Listen/Watch/Read

WXPN 885 Most Memorable Musical Moments: R Crumb designs Janis Joplin's Cheap Thrills album cover

#869: R Crumb designs the Cheap Thrills album cover



Robert Crumb, credited as simply “R Crumb”, illustrated the iconic second Big Brother & The Holding Company album Cheap Thrills. Crumb, the father of underground comics responsible for the provocative, LSD-tinged “Keep on Truckin’”, “Mr. Natural”, and “Fritz the Cat”, became friendly with Janis Joplin as her neighbor in Haight-Asbury. As a favor to Joplin, Crumb pulled an all-nighter completing both sides and was paid $600 by Columbia Records. Ultimately, Columbia rejected half the cover, and what Crumb had originally intended to serve as the back track listing became what is now an instantly recognizable cover and emblem of the San Francisco sound.



More about R. Crumb

WXPN 885 Most Memorable Musical Moments: The First Wave of Ska

Philadelphia's WXPN

#871: The first wave of Ska

In the late 1950s and early ’60s, thanks to military broadcasts of American music, Jamaicans were introduced to the whole new sound of American R&B. This influence is obvious in the first wave of Ska music performed by artists such as Derrick Morgan, Millie Small, and The Skatalites.

International Education in the USA

(Message from Wendell Sparks)

The International Education Week ends today. Interesting international student statistics have been release. Thank the many of you who visited the International Student Association display Wednesday. NAFSA Association of International Educators Economic Impact Statements estimates that foreign students and their dependents contributed approximately $14.5 billion to the U.S. economy during the 2006-2007 academic year. The net contribution to the Kentucky state economy by foreign students and their families is $94,322,000.

Merriam-Webster Word of the Day: Besmirch

(In preparation for the 2008 political campaigns...)

besmirch \bih-SMERCH\ verb
: sully, soil

Example sentence:
In order to besmirch the reputation of his opponent, Clay made sure to bring up the subject of the senator’s tax troubles during their first debate.

Since the prefix "be-" in "besmirch" means "to make or cause to be," when you besmirch something, you cause it to have a smirch. What's a smirch? A smirch is a stain, and "to smirch" is to stain or make dirty. By extension, "to smirch" came to mean "to bring discredit or disgrace on." "Smirch" and "besmirch," then, mean essentially the same thing. We have William Shakespeare to thank for the variation in form. Shakespeare's 1599 use of the term in Henry V is the first known appearance of "besmirch" in English.

WXPN 885 Most Memorable Musical Moments: Live at Budokan by Cheap Trick

Philadelphia's WXPN:

#878: Live at Budokan by Cheap Trick. The pop ecstasy at the heart of any classic Cheap Trick tune draws power from a savvy marriage of Beatlesque melodies to the raw energy of punk. Cheap Trick has always known how to wow an arena of screaming fans, but they’ve merely flirted with colossal mainstream success in America. A sharp visual sense, a hunky vocalist with mighty pipes, and smart songwriting from flamboyant geek-made-good Rick Nielsen, Cheap Trick was subtly groundbreaking in the mid-70s arena rock milleu. What proved elusive to American music fans was immediately seized upon with enthusiasm of Godzilla-like proportions by Japan. Cheap Trick were superstars… over there. In 1978 Cheap Trick cashed in on this fanbase and recorded a series of performances at the Budokan to promote their fourth album Dream Police. On this live recording the energy of Cheap Trick finally translated, and it yielded their most memorable hits. “I Want You to Want Me” climbed the Billboard Top 10, and “Surrender” became an instant teen anthem.

WXPN 885 Most Memorable Musical Moments: “Shining Star” becomes Earth, Wind & Fire first and only #1 hit in the US

Philadelphia's WXPN

# 883: “Shining Star” becomes Earth, Wind & Fire first and only #1 hit in the US
With several booty-shakin’ songs and an electrifying stage show, Earth, Wind & Fire stand up as one of the great pop-funk acts of the 70s. Despite a faithful hippie college following and contributing a memorable score to Melvin Van Peeble’s pioneering blaxploitation film “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song,” it wasn’t until the key 1972 addition of startling crooner Philip Bailey that EWF’s struggle to the top really started to gain momentum. By 1975, EWF broke with “Shining Star,” their first and only #1 hit in the US.