[A monthly link list of recommended articles, videos, podcasts, photos, tweets … you name it]
[Videos]
Grace Jones – Slave To The Rhythm (Hibs Mix) – Pro Tools Session Breakdown
Wer oder was ist alles von der Kunstfreiheit gedeckt? – Igor Levit, Danger Dan, Jan Böhmermann
[Music]
Money Mark – Fight With Love
Little Simz – Introvert
Danger Dan – Das ist alles von der Kunstfreiheit gedeckt
[Podcasts]
You’re Wrong About – “Political Correctness”
[Articles English]
Pharma’s anti-generic-vaccine lobbying blitz [pluralistic] – “Worse still, if the virus circulates widely enough for enough time, the likelihood that a mutant strain will emerge that is both more infectious and more deadly goes up and up. A half-vaccinated world is like a swimming pool where only one end has a “no pissing” rule.” Patents are murder at this point in time.
Covid-19 in India—profits before people | Jayati Ghosh [socialeurope.eu] – “In the interim, in a uniquely cynical strategy, the Modi government has passed the buck on vaccination to the states, without providing any funding—indeed making them pay higher prices. It has agreed with the private producers a pricing system whereby state governments already desperately short of finances and facing hard budget constraints will have to pay up to four times what the central government pays for the same vaccines. They are now also being allowed to import vaccines from abroad—they will have to bid on their own for that. To create such a Hunger Games among state governments, without central funding and procurement of vaccines for every resident, can only have disastrous outcomes.” Support India anyway you can.
Why Cryptocurrency Is A Giant Fraud | Nathan J Robinson [current affairs] – “The need for security, privacy, and easy money transfers is real, but the promise that a new form of money will rein in the surveillance state or free us from profiteers is illusory. Only strong—yes, sometimes centralized—democratic institutions can do that.” The usual dilligent take down we’ve been waiting for
Fan-Owned Clubs Can Help Democratize Football [jacobin] – “The European Super League fiasco has sparked a heated debate about money in football, with many pointing to Germany’s fan-owned clubs as an alternative. Fan ownership is an important step — but it’ll only work if fans are organized and thinking politically.” Hopp YB fan owned or no more.
The Black Masses of Michel Foucault, the Bullshit of Guy Sorman [lundi.am] – “In his recent dictionnaire du bullshit, a Franco-American by the name of Guy Sorman, known previously for his apology of neoliberalism and his defense of Reagan, Thatcher, and Pinochet, accused Michel Foucault of having violated eight-year-old children during a stay in Tunisia. This accusation was taken up by the Sunday Times and then by different French media and on the social networks, without further information ever being demanded concerning the acts alleged by that strange accuser. Some fact-checking, the refutations of persons with direct knowledge of Foucault’s life in Tunisia and his relations with young adults, plus the refusal of Guy Sorman to reply to the testimony contradicting his accusations, soon led to the conclusion that this was a case of pure slander launched by a reactionary author in search of a buzz, but we know what happens with rumors these days : without an ounce of evidence in support of Sorman’s vague declarations, the news quickly made the rounds on the internet.” I fell for it too. Thanks for putting it in perspective.
Erich Fromm and the Mass Psychology of Fascism [jacobin] – “The German socialist philosopher Erich Fromm sought to explain the social psychology of right-wing authoritarianism after the Nazis drove him into exile. His work is full of valuable insights that can inform struggles for political and economic freedom today.”
Bill Gates will kill us all [pluralsitic] – “2.5b people in Earth’s 130 poorest countries have not been vaccinated. The 85 poorest countries won’t be vaccinated until 2023. The humanitarian cost is unforgivable – and self-defeating, as each infected person is a potential source of new strains.” Bill Gates did not chip us, nope, but he did something so much worse.
Global Climate Report – March 2021 [ncdc.noaa.gov] – “The global surface temperature departure of +0.85°C (+1.53°F) in March 2021 was the smallest March temperature departure since 2014 and was the eighth highest for March in the 142-year record. March 2021 also marked the 45th consecutive March and the 435th consecutive month with temperatures, at least nominally, above the 20th-century average.” Still a yes it’s happening on climate change.
Making sense of conspiracy theorists as the world gets more bizarre | Jon Ronson [the guardian] – “Lately, of course, the theories have proliferated wildly – radicalising unparalleled swathes of YouTubers, inspiring an insurrection and reportedly in the past two years at least one murder and a suicide bombing. I feel lucky to have been there at its inception, but annoyed with myself for not anticipating quite how vast and malevolent things would get. Looking back, were there clues?” Jon Ronson in his usual witty way.
A Better Son Or Daughter [current affairs] – “Mary Trump’s book echoes the broad tendency of many liberals, progressives, and even leftists in placing the problems of the last four years squarely on the shoulders of one man, her uncle, rather than considering how the Trump presidency’s horrors were, first, not unique to him and, second, only a reflection of this country’s blood-soaked and genocidal history.”
Anti-Racist Activists Say They Used a Stolen Confederate Monument as a Toilet [hyperallergic] – “They also used a Confederate banner flag as tissue.” Gimme some of that toilet paper.
Howard Deans racist genocidal pharma sellout [pluralistic] – “As things stand, 85 of the poorest countries will not have widespread vaccine access until 2023. That’s not just a death sentence for the Global South – it’s also a chance for the new mutant strains to develop and endanger the whole human race.”
Jordan Peterson ‘shocked’ by Captain America villain espousing ‘10 rules for life’ [the guardian] – “Ta-Nehisi Coates’s new comic sees Red Skull mobilising young men against ‘the feminist trap’ and other Petersonian targets” Cue Jordan Peterson voice in my head, “Shocked, I am shocked”.
Right-Wing State Legislators Make Unprecedented Attack on Trans Kids [intercept] – “Efforts to legislate trans children out of existence should not be seen as some discrete outgrowth of a distracting “culture war”; anyone who claims to care about the state’s monopoly on violence, health care austerity, and determinations over which lives get to matter should be fighting for trans children and adults right now.” Fight for trans rights is fight for human rights.
QAnon’s unexpected roots in New Age spirituality [wapo] – “Masculinity, faith and the strange convergence of counterculture and hate” New Age went there.
The zombie economy and digital arm-breakers [pluralistic] – “It’s a zombie economy. For 40 years, we’ve eroded the wages of workers and transfered their share of profit and productivity to owners of capital. This is a problem, because people need money to buy things, and if they run out of money, they stop buying and profits vanish.”
NFTs Were Supposed to Protect Artists. They Don’t. [atlantic] – “When we invented non-fungible tokens, we were trying to protect artists. But tech-world opportunism has struck again.” STFU about NFTs already.
I Spent My Life Consenting to Touch I Didn’t Want [nyt] – “But somehow it was his wrongs that embarrassed me, as if it were rude of me to remember them.” No more touch ever.
[Articles German/French]
Cancel Culture ist real [das lamm] – “Das ewige Gedöns um Cancel Culture ist der pubertäre Reflex einer Generation von Politiker:innen, Künstler:innen und Medienschaffenden, die Kritik mit Zensur verwechseln, gerade wenn sie von marginalisierten Personen geäussert wird, die sich dank sozialer Medien erst seit Kurzem aktiv in den Diskurs einbringen können.” Wurde Gölä dieser menschgewordene Stammtisch gecancelt? Nope.
Halt, stopp, Long Covid! [republik] – “Der Bundesrat gehe mit seinen Öffnungen ein «kalkuliertes Risiko» ein, sagt er. Wissenschaftler und Betroffene fragen sich: Hat er die Langzeitfolgen miteinkalkuliert?” #LongCovid is here to stay.
Pandemiepolitik in der Schweiz: Nichts gelernt und alles wieder vergessen [sozialismus.ch] – “Der Bundesrat beugt sich dem Druck der Wirtschaftsverbände und beschliesst weitgehende Lockerungen. Das ist skandalös und gefährlich.” Pretty good, for socialists, even an anarchist has to concede.
Die Vereinigten Staaten gegen Tillie Kottmann [republik] – “Einer Luzerner Hackerin und Anarchistin drohen in den USA über 20 Jahre Gefängnis. Sie hat Daten der Firma Intel und Sicherheitslücken von Überwachungskameras publik gemacht – und dem Überwachungskapitalismus den Kampf erklärt.” Solidarity with Tillie.
Fauler Datenzauber am Zürichsee [woz] – “Der US-Softwarekonzern Palantir rennt in der Schweiz offene Türen ein – trotz Flops und Skandalen. Mit Schweizer Unterstützung will das Unternehmen nun das lukrative Geschäft mit Regierungen und Behörden ausbauen.”
In den Untiefen einer deutschen Debatte [woz] – “Die Beschäftigung mit historischen Verbrechen würde davon profitieren, wenn sie sich – im Sinne Rothbergs – öffnete und inklusiver würde. Was aber nicht bedeuten kann, dass nun etwa behauptet wird, Schulkinder mit Migrationshintergrund könnten im Geschichtsunterricht nicht mit der nationalsozialistischen Judenvernichtung behelligt werden: Schliesslich seien sie mit für sie näher liegenden historischen Untaten beschäftigt. Genauso wenig darf der schulmeisterliche Verweis auf die Einzigartigkeit von Holocaust und deutscher Erinnerungskultur dazu verleiten, Kolonialverbrechen und anderem Unrecht weniger Aufmerksamkeit zu schenken.” A very brave article.
Identitätspolitik: Ohne geht es auch nicht [gdg] – “Identity politics ist gerade zum Feindbild jener geworden, die sie mit Inbrunst betreiben.” Duh.
Sachliche Fassade, dünn aufgetragen [megafon] – “Die selbsternannte Jugendbewegung «Mass-Voll» will den Coronademos einen Anschein von Sachlichkeit verpassen. Doch mehrere Kernmitglieder verbreiten Falschinformationen über die Pandemie oder werben in Verschwörungs-Chats um Mitstreiter*innen.” Mass-Voll deconstructed.
Poetik des Staunens. Ein Gespräch mit der Literaturwissenschaftlerin Nicola Gess [gdg] – “Staunen kann aus dem Denken der Alternativlosigkeit herausführen. Zum einen im Sinne des Innehaltens, Unterbrechens, aus der Situation Heraustretens. Das wäre ein Staunen, wie man es bei Walter Benjamin oder bei Bertolt Brecht findet.”
[Older articles, still great]
Comandante Brus Li isst Sushi | Jens Kastner [transversal.at] – “Gegen die Re-Essentialisierung von Ausdrucks- und Protestformen”
R.I.P.
DMX
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Header Photo: This flag was no longer available at the shop, so my wonderful partner painted one for me ;)))
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