Mickey Z

Cool Observer

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Arming the world at a theater near you

Posted by Mickey Z on 09/20 at 04:55 AM

the film looks interesting but i am always suspiscious of hollywood when it does ‘left’ films. i always wonder what the real game is if you know what i mean?

if you want to see hollywood going a bit left then i have to recommend this. its 5 minutes long and its a lesser known remake of a recent blockbuster. (i can’t remember if i posted this here already or if it was somewhere else)

http://www.indybay.org/news/2002/12/1553281.php

Posted by michael on from scotland 09/20 at 06:30 AM

The Chomsky quote reminded me of these:

“The poet, the artist, the sleuth - whoever sharpens our perception tends to be antisocial; rarely “welladjusted,” he cannot go on with currents or trends. A strange bond often exists among antisocial in their power to see environments as they really are. This need to interface, to confront environments with a certain antisocial power, is manifest in the famous story, “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” “Welladjusted” courtiers, hqving vested interests, saw the Emperor as beautifully appointed. The “antisocial” brat, unaccustomed to the old environment, clearly saw that the Emperor “ain’t got nothin on.” The new environment was clearly visible to him.”
- Marshall McLuhan, The Medium Is The Massage

“To me, the comic is the guy who says ‘Wait a minute’ as the consensus forms. He’s the antithesis of the mob mentality. The comic is a flame – like Shiva the Destroyer, toppling idols no matter what they are.”
- Bill Hicks

P.S. There is no such thing as left-right, it’s a phoney argument (though a lot of people use it without manipulative intentions) to obscure the fact that the are more than two sides to a debate. George Orwell called it ‘blackwhite.’

Posted by Owen on from Barcelona 09/20 at 06:56 AM

i heard a theory about how the left and right labels came to be. the story goes that when the french parliament was built it was in a horsehoe shape. all the socialists went and sat at one side (the left) and all the capitalists at the other end as they didn’t want to sit next to each other. people who did not take either position sat in the middle.

thats the story anyway.

also found this - http://www.ourmedia.org/node/59078 - don’t think the tune is any good but would be good for this to get some exposure (it probably won’t tho)

if anyone watches the film thing i posted i guarantee they won’t regret it. hilarious.

and for yesterdays post about DU then i recommend this http://www.bushflash.com/animation.html - but if you are squeamish then don’t watch it. its the one called “your tax dollars at work”

Posted by michael on from scotland 09/20 at 07:06 AM

On topic...Check out this story on the front page of today’s Banner...complete with a photo of the 9 year old little girl wearing a camouflage outfit and holding a gun.
http://www.benningtonbanner.com/Stories/0,1413,104~8678~3062017,00.html

Posted by rosemarie jackowski on from 09/20 at 07:23 AM

Trying again ...

http://www.benningtonbanner.com/Stories/0,1413,104~8678~3062017,00.html

Posted by rosemarie jackowski on from 09/20 at 07:26 AM

“Forty years from now our kids will be learning about this as history,” said Larry Gauthier, one of Hoyt’s buddies on the bear hunt. “Hunters should be included as an extinct species because we’re falling away so fast, we need to be protected.”

Isn’t that ironic.

Posted by JOS on from Puerto Rico 09/20 at 08:02 AM

interesting story from Basra:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7374-1788560,00.html

“BRITISH forces smashed their way into Basra jail last night to free two soldiers seized by Iraqi police earlier in the day. After the doors to the jail were breached, troops stormed inside to find and rescue their colleagues. The Ministry of Defence confirmed that the men had been freed, but would not comment on reports that they were undercover commandos…

The dramatic show of strength, also allowed about 150 Iraqi prisoners to escape, an Iraqi defence ministry source said.

The move ended a stand-off that began after a gunfight with police in which two Iraqis were allegedly killed. In a challenge to British authority in Iraq, the special forces soldiers, who were in plain clothes, were taken prisoner.

The British military sent a small force to rescue the soldiers, but it was beaten off by an angry mob which set fire to two Warrior armoured fighting vehicles. One soldier was seen tumbling from the vehicle in flames, another being pelted with rocks.”

Posted by JOS on from Puerto Rico 09/20 at 08:36 AM

a more detailed article on the same story:

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article313848.ece

Posted by JOS on from Puerto Rico 09/20 at 08:41 AM

Well, I read all the articles and watched all the videos.
I feel like a tiny, useless, impotent nothing. One of a huge race of tiny, useless nothings.

Twenty years ago, I read Chomsky and burned with a rage and frustration which I could barely stand. This morning I feel much the same way - except it’s twenty years later, and the circumstances of human life seem considerably worse… are considerably worse.

Posted by joe on from Oregon 09/20 at 09:49 AM

It is alwasy striking how so many of the war for human rights crowd don’t seem bothered by U.S. arms sales and why this doesn’t inspire sincere people in the U.S. to want to get excited about spreading “freedom” as easily. My guess is that there is the issue of a lack of knowledge but also that this issue puts the U.S. on the defensive and points out that there may be problems with the U.S. of A and that it is not a pure liberator, as so many like to believe. And that is not acceptable to all too many.

Posted by micah holmquist on from Cadillac, Michigan 09/20 at 09:54 AM

i do film shows occasionally. set it up for nothing for people to come and see stuff about real issues.

i think if people watch films like the corporation on their own the effect can be a negative one in the way that joe is describing. people see it and think ‘what can i do against that, its too big.’ however, when people see it in a group i think it is a different effect. people get talking and things start to happen.

Posted by michael on from scotland 09/20 at 09:58 AM

Hey, Joe.

One difference (and a big one) is that we are sharing this information with eachother and I’m in PR and you, Oregon.

I just had a visit last night to my blog from someone in Germany who gave me a free translation of my German joke. He had a post on an interview with Robert Pape (I need to buy his book):

http://wdthu.blogspot.com/2005/07/professor-robert-pape-explains-suicide.html

There MUST be a growing group of individuals taking in this same information who desire change. I look to Chomsky for proof of this, he says he never has had such large or well-informed audiences as he does today.

We need new ideas of how to utilize this ever-expanding group of Expendables.

I don’t want to see this any more:

I want British and American troops...all foreign invaders out of occupied lands. For our sake and theirs.

Posted by JOS on from Puerto Rico 09/20 at 10:01 AM

That’s the point of the mainstream media Joe, to tune people in with a perception of a world filled with unsolvable problems and condition them to be spectators in their own lives. I’m full of quotes today: Bill Burroughs had a name for it, the ‘newspaper spoon.’

Posted by Owen on from Barcelona 09/20 at 10:04 AM

Excellent idea, Michael. I love this:

people see it and think ‘what can i do against that, its too big.’ however, when people see it in a group i think it is a different effect. people get talking and things start to happen.

Posted by JOS on from Puerto Rico 09/20 at 10:05 AM

Thanks guyz. I suppose, I hope that you’re right. But, you know, most of my generation was radicalized, 35 years ago. It was more difficult to find “young people” who supported the war, in 1970, than it was to find people who were passionately against it. It seemed to me, then, that the entire world was waking up, rubbing its eyes, looking about at almost limitless possibilities.
That same generation now fills the corporate board-rooms and the seats of federal and state and local governments. They’re now the police chiefs and the FBI or CIA or NSA mucki-mucks, who implement the psychosis of the New Reich… They sit at anchor desks on CNN and NBC and CBS… They run the Bennington Banner and the NY Times.
They own every single cable company and phone company over which lines these words are about to be transmitted, and read.

Yes, there are differences - primarily, this internet, and the alliances we’re forming, through it. There are also films, like Lord of War or Constant Gardner, or the new one comming out later this year - Sir, No Sir…

As things get worse and worse, more people seem to be waking up. However -
I’m sure most of the people locked into concentration camps are very much awake, politically. It’s just that, by then, it’s too late. I’m gonna go out and look at the mountains for a while.

Posted by joe on from Oregon 09/20 at 10:31 AM

on the need to speak out....

a german pastor wrote this after the WW2

First they came for the Communists; I wasn’t a Communist so I didn’t speak up.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists; I wasn’t in a Union so I didn’t speak up.
Then they came for the Jews; but I was a Christian, so I didn’t speak up.
Then they came for the Catholics; I was a Protestant, so I didn’t speak up.
Then they came for me; and there was no one left to speak up.
-Pastor Martin Niemöller.

this relates to what is happening now.... just start with the line

First they came for Muslims; I wasn’t a Muslim so I didn’t speak up.

Posted by michael on from scotland 09/20 at 10:44 AM

I was just watching Hugo Chavez, on Democracy Now. I guess there’s also this difference, between now and 1970: Those people who are now more or less awake to the political realities, are also more serious, more realistic, and perhaps more frightened. There’s a “hard-work,” a no-nonsense approach to radicalism, now, which was not so often evident during the 60’s and 70’s. Radicals, now, seem to understand that we may well be at the brink of a globalized Fascism, and that life, itself, hangs in the balance. It’s not just about “making things better,” for a great many of us, recently, but it’s about halting what seems to be a relentless and psychopathic sprint towards oblivian…
I guess all of us here are solidly within that group which is willing to stand against the tide.
Mickey noted our true position, yesterday:

“Rise like Lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number -
Shake your chains to earth like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you -
Ye are many - they are few.”

But, adds the old guy -
just what the f**k do we do?

Posted by joe on from Oregon 09/20 at 11:30 AM

Hello All. I’ve got back-to-back hectic days so, unfortunately, I can’t chime in as often as I’d like. For now, I’d like to encourage Joe to spell out “####” any time he wants. It’s not offensive. Arms dealers are offensive. I would also like to re-ask Joe’s question: just what the #### do we do?

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 09/20 at 11:36 AM

I was about to use an Old School movie reference to Mickey’s request of Joe, but this is too serious a conversation.

I think local face-to-face group meetings like the one Michael described above allow imaginative brainstorming. Of course, we can do the same here, but I think some (or quite a bit) of the magic created among small groups is diminished by the computer-to-computer connection.

So that’s my idea...organize small group meetings in our hometowns to discuss direct actions that can be taken locally. Instead of protesting, we need to find ways of helping the people in our communities with things that our local and federal government do not provide. We need to connect with more people, spark interest in more people.

I know this is nothing new, but I don’t see it being done in my community. There is always some agenda attached that turn people off...some organization attached to the meeting that many people can not relate to. If an individual can step out of the culture of greed, so can a small towm or community.

It is up to me to initiate this type of action in my community and discover how to make it work.

Posted by JOS on from Puerto Rico 09/20 at 12:34 PM

I think there may be an old “Cheech & Chong” reference in there somewhere, too, JOS.

I’m sure you’re right about the power of “face to face.” And, certainly, changing minds and doing some good at the local level is a powerful way of making a difference.

You know, a week or two ago, Owen was asking what we were going to do if we didn’t march in the September 24 demonstrations. I replied that I write and blog and talk to people and leave “notes and messages” here and there. Afterwards, I thought alot about his question, and I took a couple of days “off” and worked on my “book.” I thought: “Well, I better get down to it. If I’m going to be of help, I guess I’ll have to do it by writing. I’ll get to work on my ‘book.’” So, I wrote and wrote. Then, after a couple of days, I was back to blogging and to living my usual day to day routine, which includes some writing here and there - when it’s convenient.

I guess I feel impatient and more than a little lost. Every day some new and horrific fact comes my way, and then that day passes into the next day, and the next. I continue to write and blog and what-not, and the days pass on and the horrors increase. I’m reluctant to get myself into a situation where I’d jeopardize our income or the safety, etc., of my wife and son and mother in law. I’m reluctant to take a real and actual personal risk - and I’ve not found much to get involved in, locally, anyway. So - I guess there’s fear and self-interest and confusion and restlessness and anger and probably more than a little laziness, all mixing and whirling about in my head and heart. I suppose that that part of the world which most requires change is that figure I spy in the mirror…
Tomorrow, I’ll feel more relaxed and upbeat, and today may well seem like little more than a whiney, self-indulgent “mood swing.”

Posted by joe on from Oregon 09/20 at 01:40 PM

Joe, I know exactly how you feel, which is exactly how I feel most days. Today, I am a little more upbeat.

Cheech: How am I driving, dude?
Chong: I think we’re parked, man.

####. When I read shit like this:

“New Orleans ‘unsafe for a decade’

12.09.05
By Geoffrey Lean

Toxic chemicals in the New Orleans flood waters will make the city unsafe for full human habitation for a decade, a senior US Government official predicts.

And, he added, the Bush Administration is covering up the danger.

Hugh Kaufman, an expert on toxic waste and responses to environmental disasters at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), said the way the polluted water was being pumped out was increasing the danger to health.

The pollution was far worse than had been admitted, he said, because his agency was failing to take enough samples and was refusing to make results of those it had tested public.

“Inept political hacks” running the clean-up will imperil the health of low-income migrant workers by getting them to do the work.”

I feel like I’m sitting in a parked car, in the desert, with no gas.

Posted by JOS on from Puerto Rico 09/20 at 01:56 PM

There you are, JOS - Maybe, within the decade, physicians will be able to take photos of little black and brown kids, in Southern Louisiana, with birth defects similar to those they’re seeing now, in Iraq. There are lots of ways to poison people. You know they’ll let minorities move back into the absolutely “un-cleanable” areas, and they’ll build schnazzy, upscale clubs and condos in the areas they rehabilitate.
I was about to add: “How can they sleep at night. But, it might be asked of all of us: How can anyone sleep at night?”

Once, in India, I smoked some Ganja, with an Indian guy. I went off, after a while, to visit a kiosk, along the ocean, to buy some cigarettes. I was standing at the kiosk, stoned, waiting for the clerk to bring me a pack of smokes. I heard a voice, very high-pitched and youthful, say “Hello there.” It stunned me, though, because the voice came from below me, though I’d not seen anyone approach. I looked down and saw a boy, maybe 10 or 11, looking up at me. He was on the ground, “on all fours” but his head and face seemed to be oriented upward, as if his head faced backward. It was as if he was a human crab, with his head on backwards. I was momentarily speechless. But, the boy had these bright, beautiful black eyes, and they were just shining and sparkling, and he was smiling up at me with such gentleness and friendliness, that I was quickly put at ease. He didn’t ask me for anything, and refused my offer to buy him something from the kiosk or from a nearby shop. He was just saying hello because, he said, I had a “golden beard,” and he liked it. We exchanged a few more words, and he walked off - head more or less facing up, arms and legs doing the walking. He was smiling as he went.
Those eyes have haunted me ever since. There were pollutants and diseases in India which must astound even the most hard-core CDC type folks. Soon, I suppose, we’ll see such lads, here. Instead of finding a way to eliminate such things from the earth, governments are increasing their numbers…

Posted by joe on from Oregon 09/20 at 02:44 PM

“I feel like I’m sitting in a parked car, in the desert, with no gas.” Maybe I should have said “with no grass.”

That’s one hell of a story, Joe...the Man with the Golden Beard. I like that…

Posted by JOS on from Puerto Rico 09/20 at 02:51 PM

JOS - the guy I was smoking with made money by climbing huge cocoanut palm trees and gathering cocoanuts, or knocking them down, and retrieving them. He’d take them to the local sellers who would buy from him. Most of those trees had to be 50+ feet tall, without a single limb. At the top there were those skinny branches, leaves, and cocoanuts. He’d climb, very quickly, with bare hands and bare feet, toss the cocoanuts into a sack, knock down what he couldn’t reach, with a stick, then climb down.
One night, a week or so after I smoked with him, he was in a cafe drinking a soda. A couple of burley British guys were there, drunk, giving people a hard time. They teased this guy a little. He was about 6’2”, maybe 190 pounds, and looked skinny. He stood up, walked over to their table and put his arm down, challenging them to an arm-wrestle. He crushed each of them in about 3 seconds. One of them said: “These little dark blokes can be awfully strong.” The other guy said: “You wouldn’t think they get enough to eat, to be that strong.”
Made me proud to be a White Guy.

Posted by joe on from Oregon 09/20 at 03:44 PM

Joe and JOS: Don’t know if you were here for this, but I was involved in a small direct action to help some of the victims. Click here http://www.transcend.ws and scroll down for info on “Operation Bolivia.”

If anyone out there has similar ideas, let’s make it happen.

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 09/20 at 03:51 PM

Sorry, I haven’t had time to read all of the posts here today....Joe, when you saw the little boy in India, were you near Bhopal, the site of the Dow Chemical contamination. That accident killed, How many? No compensation yet, that I know about. Someone asked here today, what should we do...I am not sure what will work to bring about change, but we all know what doesn’t work. Everything that we all have been doing, has had no effect. We have to change our tactics. Maybe that is what the government is afraid of. If you haven’t been following the case of the St. Patrick’s 4, check it out. The government is retrying cases of protesters and really upping the ante. It is happening in Binghamton now...we all are in danger. All protections of the Constitution have been suspended. It is only a matter of time before they come after bloggers. Questioning the government is now considered to be conspiracy and treason. How many people are being held in US prisons right now, who have never had a trial? Think about it. If you believe in the Rule of Law, that is great. How can we get the government to obey the Rule of Law?

Posted by rosemarie jackowski on from Dante's Inferno 09/20 at 04:07 PM

Mickey, I just read about Operation Bolivia....That is fantastic !

Posted by rosemarie jackowski on from Dante's Inferno 09/20 at 04:12 PM

Thanks, RMJ. I’d love to do it again. What’s new with your case?

Btw, has everyone noticed the little “cost of the war in Iraq” counter in the upper right hand corner?

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 09/20 at 05:01 PM

Hi Mickey...Yes, I like the war counter that you have added, of course I would like it better if it was counting civilian casualties, but I know that that is not possible. The time in front of the State Supreme Court went as well as could be expected. Our side got in 2 Perry Mason Moments, one when my lawyer made the comparison of the stopping of the traffic to the civilian deaths in Iraq. He used the words “Collateral damage”. That was a great moment. The other moment came after the government said that they didn’t allow the jury to see the info on my sign because they did not know where the info came from. My lawyer responded that the list of US war crimes on my sign was compiled by former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark. Thanks for asking about the case. I have come to believe that if the government doesn’t get the verdict that they want, they just continue to retry the case until they get a guilty verdict. That seems to be happening in Binghamton now with another case.

Posted by rosemarie jackowski on from Dante's Inferno 09/20 at 05:37 PM

Hi Mickey & Rosemarie -
No, I wasn’t around, but I have read about you & Rich, and your efforts to help down there. It was a wonderful thing to do. The Bolivians have done some amazing things, of late, you know? I imagine the US government will hammer them, if “we” ever get out of Iraq, and have some spare firepower. For now, at least, they’re setting the corporations back a bit with some amazing courage…

I hope your friend Ralph can supply lots of demonstrators with his invention on the 24th - somehow, I expect they’ll need such a thing. (It’s goofy, but looks quite useful! Imagine 100,000 people wearing that gear, as they march? It would scare the hell out of the authorities.)
BTW, that Kissinger quote on the front page sure is scary, isn’t it? And, it’s much more so because it calls him “Nobel laureate.” Maybe it’s time Karl Rove got a Nobel Prize: Hell, he’s probably responsible for almost as much misery as Kissinger. How many people da ya gotta kill ta get one of those???

Rosemarie, I just wanted to offer a quick comment on the Banner article about the little girl going hunting - and Mickey said it was all right to do so:
#### Them!
So, there’s a guy who is trying to create a new generation of hunters in the US. There’s the spirit! Just as it looks as if the animals might get some sort of minor respite from human savagery, this fellow comes along to try to reinvigorate the nasty business. Out here, there are lots and lots of poor while folk, many of whom make extra money by hunting. Go out into the “back woods” and, in some places, you can almost hear the banjos playing that “Deliverance” theme. I talked to a guy who hunts black bear with dogs. He said he can run down a couple hundred in a week… He seemed so proud of his skills, and of his hunting dogs. I felt nauseated, literally, by his declaration. I imagined hundreds of “him,” running down various species of animals, out in the forests, each week.

I believe you’re right about the government throwing away whatever quote rights unquote we’re supposed to have in the courtroom, Rosemarie. More and more often, there are reports of people getting obviously screwed in court, without so much as a whimper from the mainstream press. That black lady in Texas, who was recently executed is one extreme example - I read a variety of lawyers talking about how she should not even have been in jail, let alone executed.
We may all soon be busy just trying to save each other from the gallows, as it were…

Posted by joe on from Trump Tower 09/20 at 06:52 PM

The black lady who was executed, that was horrific....also the case of the black lady arrested for looting because she had some sausage in her possession. She was held in prison for 15 days and released with a very high bail. That is an amazing case that I think might still be going on. I can only imagine what happened behind the scene in these cases. That, untold story is always more important than what hits the pages of any newspaper.............So under the influence of Mickey, you said a bad word, Joe. That really makes me laugh. Does that mean that both of you get coal in your Christmas stockings this year? The way heating oil prices are, maybe coal would be a good thing. Hummm, thinking about the millions of people who have been killed and/victimized by US policies we should all loosen up on our language and get a little more colorful in our speech and actions. ....Awhile back I attended a Peace Protest. Someone in the crowd held a sign that said, “#### THE TROOPS”. The Peace protesters beat him up. True story...I saw it with my own eyes.

Posted by RMJ on from Dante's Inferno 09/20 at 07:15 PM

Rosemarie, I love your catchphrase: Inform the Troops. In fact, I’d like to write a book with that title.

I just walked in from a local community board meeting (long story, I’ll explain later in the week) and ended getting interviewed by several news outlets. The community board was nothing but a group of pass-the-bucks types...but the local residents showed more fire and passion (on a variety of issues) than I imagined. Maybe, with media help, my neighbors and I can tackle this local issue. From there, who knows?

Again, I promise to explain this by, say, Thursday.

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 09/20 at 07:27 PM

Sounds interesting, Mickey. Whatever is going on, I hope you can “make a difference.” We’ll look forward to hearing about it.

Rosemarie - I read somewhere that that Black Woman didn’t “loot” that sausage, at all, but that she was arrested because it looked as though she did, and because the police were frustrated at not being able to catch some of the younger “looters” in the area, that day.

Maybe we can all get some cheap oil from Hugo Chavez. He’s already made a deal with some authorities in Chicago. It will be fascinating to see how the feds deal with him, on this one. I must admit, I very much like the guy. Every time I see him I wonder how many hours he has left on earth. He’s got to be well above Osama on the Neo-Con hit list.

I’m surprised to find I’m NOT surprised by the guy who was beaten by the peace demonstrators. More and more, I feel as though we’ve all gone down the rabbit hole with Alice & Neo, and everything, everywhere is bizarre and upside down. I sometimes feel that the main script was crafted by Orwell & Kafka, in some parallel dimension. The unnerving thing is to realize that things are just getting started: This is all just the beginning…

Posted by joe on from Oregon 09/20 at 07:44 PM

That’s it , Joe:

LIFE
A Kafka-Orwell Production

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 09/20 at 08:00 PM

Yes, Joe, that was just a technicality...the sausage that the lady, accused of looting, had in her possession was not even sold in that store...just a small fact that seemed to be overlooked by those who arrested her. More and more, the officials don’t seem to care about facts......Tonight I will go to sleep imagining what it would be like if Chavez was our president instead of W......Mickey, you’re good. I remember using that phrase but I’m not sure of where. About a year ago I had an idea. I called it the Zinn Project. It was a contest with prizes to be awarded to anyone who found a substantial error of fact (Not a typo, or wrong date) in Zinn’s history book. I told Zinn about my idea during a brief encounter with him. The purpose was to get people to read the book. I also wanted a copy of the book to be given to every recruit before he/she signed on the dotted line. The project never got off the ground because I never had enough time to do the fund raising for the prize money.

Posted by RMJ on from GUILLOTINE 09/20 at 08:11 PM

Very good, Mickey -
“All New! Tuesday, at 10!”

The “Zinn Project” is an interesting idea, Rosemarie. I, too, have wondered how to get people to read more dissident material. Of course, it might behoove us to just wander about, helping people learn to read - just to read. Around here, and apparently throughout the country, literacy rates are dropping. Must be good news for the Reich. If they can’t read Chomsky or Zinn or Mickey or Rosemarie, order is mantained, the “Gods” are served. No matter that these poor folks will live pretty miserable, impoverished lives - government just can’t do Everything!
People can always find some spare room in a shelter or a leaking sports facility. It might even, he he he, be a pretty good deal for them.

Posted by joe on from the very edge 09/20 at 08:53 PM

People do read a lot of dissident material, but there’s seemingly no way to mainstream it. There’s also no money in it outside the left of center publications. Intellectuals who want to have nice things and job security face a lot of pressure to tone it down. Some of them triangulate against people with whom they may agree more often than not. You can hear variations on “so and so is a sectarian, and determined to marginalize himself” all the time. It’s a very human reaction to want to justify oneself against another, especially when one doesn’t feel particularly good about making accommodations to something they feel is basically wrong.

One of the things I think is key to avoiding defeatism in these circumstances are the micro-projects like Operation Bolivia and community gardens. At worst, they get people talking and working ogether.

Posted by Harry on from 09/21 at 05:03 AM

I agree, Harry, re: micro-projects. Michele and I played a small role in Astoria’s first community garden and it was an experience we still talk about.

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 09/21 at 09:21 AM

Mickey,
you ask what can be done? I have the germ af an idea blending ideas from the Buy Citgo campaign and the nationwide student strike about to start organised by Brian Bogart. Brian has done extensive research into DOD suppliers (incl Universties), some 310,000 of ‘em world wide. These companies get money from the Gummint but i figure they also get a lot from private citizens (or their other divisions do).
Chris Floyd has written recently very eloquently that what drives all these bastards is money and nothing else when it comes down to it.
So, how to use that leverage?
What if a list of companies that DON"T supply to DOD was drawn up and circulated with the view to patonise their products.
The list would feature product catagories such as food (and sub-catagories) etc. then scan over to see which products are worth supporting.
I can give you Brian’s contact details if you need them.
Or maybe there is some other way to hit these people in the hip pocket. Maybe a green stamp deal involving non DOD suppliers. Wadja tink?
Jim

Posted by Jim on from 09/22 at 05:29 AM