[A monthly link list of recommended articles, videos, podcasts, photos, tweets … you name it]
[Videos]
All kinds iof animals crossing a log
Martin Sonneborn – Das dämliche Hufeisen-Theorem
World Music: janvier 2020 en musique et en images
[Music]
Madonna – Justify My Love (Only Lenny Kravitz backup vocals)
Lido Pimienta – Eso Que Tu Haces
Weatherdrive [google drive] – On this drive fans and also Andrew Weatherall himself collected his music, it’s mostly dj mixes but also unreleased material like the Sabres of Paradise Peel Sessions.
[Podcasts]
Ep. 236: Judith Butler Interview: “The Force of Nonviolence” – “On The Force of Nonviolence: An Ethico-Political Bind (2020). What is it to be nonviolent in political activity? Is it to eschew violence in all circumstances, or just not to be the aggressor? While Judith is not ruling out all excuses that violence is needed for self-defense, she sees this excuse as perniciously expansive due to the nature of what we might consider part of “self.”
[Articles English]
Interview with musician and artist Genesis P-Orridge [boing boing] – “The original artists were healers. They were often shamans as well. You know, they would make objects to work within rituals. They would draw things in the sand, in the soil, and sometimes on a cave wall. And eventually they drew them on something they could take with them to different locations. That’s how it grew. That’s where it comes from. So it’s about trying to make things happen.”
NYC Neighborhoods Map [google maps] – Just a lovely map. It appears that the neighborhood my family lived in is called Morris Park.
Jacques Ranciere – The crisis of democracy [verso books] – “What are the roots of the current crisis of democracy? How should we understand the simultaneity of contemporary revolts? Fifteen years after the publication of his book Hatred of Democracy, Jacques Rancière returns to its themes.”
Far-right lone actor terror attack in Hanau: a mirror of contemporary German politics? [sv.uio.no] – “In a month marked by the breaking of the country’s long-enduring political ‘cordon-sanitaire’ , coupled with evidence of extensive far-right terrorist mobilisation and its most deadly terror attack since 1980, it is clear that Germany’s institutions are at a critical juncture in the struggle against right-wing extremism.”
A user’s guide to “Cultural Marxism”: Anti-Semitic conspiracy theory, reloaded [salon] – “How an arcane conspiracy theory from the far-right margins is fueling terrorism — and Donald Trump’s Twitter feed”
Propositions for Non-Fascist Living. Tentative and Urgent [wmmna] – “Propositions for Non-Fascist Living is a compact reader with 11 essays. Professor of strategic management Stefano Harney and Professor of performance studies at NYU Fred Moten open theirs with the brutal and sadly opportune question “If fascism is back, when did it go away?” In her introduction to the book, Maria Hlavajova examines fascisms as a mutating force that indeed never really went away but that takes various forms according to the geo-political contexts.”
At 75, my mother decided to play through “Red Dead Redemption 2” and I am so pleased to share her essay about the experience with all of you. Please enjoy: “Unsung heroes: Reconceptualizing a video game as a work of art.” by Jessica Hoffmann Davis, EdD ** [reddit] – “What a privilege to play.”
Abolish the Billionaire Class [jacobin] – “Billionaires are the grotesque products of an exploitative, immoral economic system. We should get rid of them.”
Femcels vs. Incels, Explained: Meet the Female Incels on Reddit & Discord [melmagazine] – “Just like men, many women feel their ‘inferior’ looks and personality make them unfuckable. But as they turn to online forums for the ‘involuntarily celibate,’ they must also contend with men who don’t believe they could possibly exist”
A Civil War reenactor tried to frame Antifa by fabricating threats against his own Civil War reenactments [boing boing] – “A search warrant application seeking phone records for Gerald Leonard Drake, a former volunteer at the nonprofit Cedar Creek Battlefield Foundation in Middletown, Virginia, was unsealed today in federal court. The filing lays out evidence that Drake, a 61-year-old registered sex offender who has spent time in prison, sent the letters to exact revenge on Cedar Creek after it kicked him out of his unit. The document does not say which side Drake fought for during the reenactments, but email addresses for Drake listed in public records include variations on the word “confederate.””
Is Patriarchy Too Big to Fail? | Laurie Penny [thebaffler] – “In fact, the greatest threat that liberalism poses to the survival of the species is its relentless strategic assumption that “decent people” in full possession of the facts will do the right thing. Nobody, after all, is more anxious to win the war than those who already know they’ve lost the moral argument.”
Can We Have Prosperity Without Growth? [the new yorker] – “The critique of economic growth, once a fringe position, is gaining widespread attention in the face of the climate crisis.”
More About Pete [current affairs] – “Unfortunately, this kind of politics is downright dangerous. More than ever, we need someone who isn’t a hollow careerist putting on a “folksy” image, but who cares passionately about fighting for justice. The threats of climate change and war are too great to leave in the hands of someone who doesn’t seem to care about the lives of working people.”
Bruno Latour: ‘Trump and Thunberg inhabit different planets’ [the guardian] – “The French philosopher is making a drama out of a social, cosmic and climate crisis in his new show, Moving Earths”
Google Maps Hack [simonwickert] – “Do these maps function as dispositive nets that determine the behaviour, opinions and images of living beings, exercising power and controlling knowledge? Maps, which themselves are the product of a combination of states of knowledge and states of power, have an inscribed power dispositive. Google’s simulation-based map and world models determine the actuality and perception of physical spaces and the development of action models. ”
[Articles German/French]
“Männerphantasien”: Zu wenig Körperkontakt [zeit] – “Die Sprachskepsis war eine Skepsis gegenüber Autoritäten, es ging um den Abbau von Hierarchien, um die Befreiung vom Bestreben, sich als Teil eines universitären Milieus zu markieren, indem man sich hinter beeindruckenden, mächtigen Worten versteckt.” Theweleit Content.
Radikalisierung – Rechter Hass und die Gaming-Kultur [netzpolitik.org] – “Rechtsradikale Gruppierungen tummeln sich auf Steam, Nutzer benennen sich nach Terroristen, Frauen und nicht weiße Spieler werden beschimpft: Rechtes Gedankengut ist in Teilen der Gaming-Kultur weit verbreitet.”
„Hasskrieger“ – Gewaltfantasien und rechtsextreme Abgründe in Online-Netzwerken [netzpolitik.org] – “Das ist ganz klar ein Weg in den Rechtsradikalismus und eine Überschneidung, die es bei vielen rechtsradikalen Bewegungen klar gibt. Antifeminismus ist ein Türöffner, weil er auch in der Mitte der Gesellschaft relativ anschlussfähig ist.”
Die Schweiz wird dechiffriert [woz] – “Die Cryptoleaks brauchen eine umfassende Aufklärung. Zur Disposition steht der Geheimdienst selbst. Endlich.”
«Die Faschisten sind nur dort an die Macht gekommen, wo die Konservativen ihnen die Plattform geboten haben» [republik] – “Die Faschisten sind dort, wo sie an die Macht gekommen sind, immer nur an die Macht gekommen, wenn die Konservativen ihnen dazu die Plattform geboten haben. Das war in Italien so. Das war in Deutschland so. Daraus resultiert eine besondere Verantwortung auch für Konservative, die Abgrenzung gegenüber faschistischen Bewegungen und Parteien klar vorzunehmen.”
#JeSuisLächerlich [das lamm] – “Das Schoggi-Imperium Läderach und dessen rechtsgewandte FreundInnen echauffieren sich medienwirksam und Hashtag-stark darüber, dass die Hassgesinnung der Besitzerfamilie nun nach Jahren auf sie zurückfällt. Man könnte jetzt über freien Markt, pink-washed capitalism auf Seiten der Boykottierenden und die Ungerechtigkeiten der Moral sprechen. Oder man lässt es sein und schüttelt vergnügt den Kopf.”
[Older articles, still great and/or relevant]
Intersektionaler Feminismus: Kopftuch und Tabu [taz] – “Seit Jahren beißen sich feministische Lager am Thema Kopftuch fest. Problematisch ist nicht nur die pauschale Kritik der Generation Alice Schwarzer.”
WHY? – Good Friday [boc remix]
Mamman Sani – 500 Miles
R.I.P.
Andrew Weatherall
Claire Bretécher
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Header Photo: Con pastel