[A monthly link list of recommended articles, videos, podcasts, photos, tweets … you name it]
[Videos]
Passenger taped to seat after attacking flight attendants on flight to Miami, police say At first I believed this was real, but it’s still funny.
[Music]
MF DOOM – GAZZILLION EAR (THOM YORKE MAN ON FIRE REMIX) Another great remix by Thom Yorke.
[Podcasts]
Donna Haraway und ihr radikales Denken der Verwandlung [oe1.orf] – “Wir brauchen Verwandtschaft mit allem was lebt und was nicht lebt; mit Tieren, Pflanzen, Menschen, Cyborgs, künstlichen Intelligenzen und Maschinen aller Art – sogar mit den Dingen, die uns umgeben. So denkt die utopische Feministin, Biologin und Wissenschaftstheoretikerin Donna Haraway. “Make kin, not babies” (“Macht euch verwandt, nicht Babys”) ist daher der oft wiederholte Slogan ihrer ökologischen Ethik, die darauf abzielt, dass die bislang Ausgegrenzten, wie etwa die indigene Bevölkerung oder auch aussterbende und unbeliebte Tierarten, einen Teil der Erde zurückgewinnen müssen.” This podcast is only available for a limited time.
Special Report: Yes Men’s Andy Bichlbaum Pranks Newsmax [team human] – “On this Team Human special report, The Yes Men’s Andy Bichlbaum explains how he duped Newsmax into letting an imposter former Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz discuss his regret for the Afghanistan War for 11 minutes!” Douglas being his usual pretentious self, but Andy has none of it.
Naomi Klein [team human] – “Author and activist Naomi Klein engages with Rushkoff about life in the technopoly, and how the inequality of the digital age must be met with a structural critique of capitalism” Ugh Doug, yay Naomi.
#133 Vegan, spirituell, rechts: Wenn Alternative auf gefährliche Ideen kommen [dissens] – “Die Corona-Proteste haben gezeigt, wie verbreitet rechtes Gedankengut und Verschwörungsfantasien sind – auch in Alternativmilieus. In seinem Buch “Verqueres Denken” spürt Andreas Speit der Radikalisierung nach. Ein Gespräch über Lebensreformer, verkürzte Kapitalismuskritik und die Zukunft der Querdenker-Bewegung.” Technically this is from July.
Pussy, Arts & Balaklava – Feministische Maskierungen [rabe] – “Anonymität, Sicherheit und kollektive Identität: Für feministische Aktivist*innen sind Masken ein Mittel, um sich Gehör und Raum zu verschaffen. Die Grafikerin, Illustratorin und Dozentin an der HKB Franziska Nyffeler forscht zu Maskierungen in feministischen Kunstaktionen. Im Talk diskutieren wir, warum Maskierungen gerade in feministischen Kollektiven eine Rolle spielt.” F. is of course my beloved partner and best friend.
[Tweetthreads]
“Woke” was turned into a pejorative term precisely because there was fear of a critical mass becoming conscious of history, race-class dynamics & systemic oppression.
— Vaccinated💉Masked😷Praying for the World🙏🏾✝️ (@BreeNewsome) August 24, 2021
You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y'all. Stop it. https://t.co/TWb75xYEY4
— U.S. FDA (@US_FDA) August 21, 2021
Here is my statement on recent events at Current Affairs. I've been reluctant to discuss facts in detail but the allegations are serious. The accusation that I retaliated against labor organizing is false. I made terrible mistakes but would never do that. https://t.co/FtnD2VRoGg
— Nathan J Robinson (@NathanJRobinson) August 20, 2021
[Articles English]
Imperial Fantasies Fueled the Afghan Tragedy | Pankaj Mishra [bloomberg (eww)] – “The real threat to Western security and credibility may not come from Afghanistan’s Pashtun countryside, but from what has passed for thinking in much of the Beltway.”
Riot police, body scanners and social breakdown in toy town [coda story] – “An array of childhood playthings are normalizing the concepts of surveillance and state control for the youngest of minds” Smart move, if you think about it. Cynical move too.
Wuhan lab leak theory: How Fort Detrick became a centre for Chinese conspiracies [bbc] – “A disinformation campaign claiming that the Covid-19 virus originated from an American military base in Maryland has gained popularity in China ahead of the release of a US intelligence report on the virus origins.” I was always willing to ignore the lab theory, but the way China reacts gets more and more suspicious.
Newsmax tells viewers Afghanistan war wasted $2T [the yes men] – “For 11 full minutes (complete transcript below, and back story here), Tom Basile of NewsmaxTV allowed Andy Bichlbaum (posing as Basile’s “friend” Paul Wolfowitz) to tell hundreds of thousands of Newsmax viewers that the $2.1T war in Afghanistan, begun in 2001, was a complete waste of money. “It’s very clear $2 trillion could have gone to things that Americans could now be proud of, instead of a 20-year unwinnable war,” said Bichlbaum to the perpetually fooled Tom Basile live on the air. “The next time we have two trillion dollars lying around, let’s spend it on something useful like health care or education” The yesmen landed another media hack coup!
Capitalism Is Making You Lonely [jacobin] – “Long before the coronavirus pandemic, we were amid a growing crisis of loneliness. The problem isn’t social media, popular culture, or city living — it’s capitalism.” Fuck this system.
Tennessee Teacher Fired After Teaching on White Privilege [the atlantic] – “Matt Hawn says he was helping his students in Blountville, Tennessee, learn to critically evaluate contemporary debates.” This is actual cancel culture.
Ken Loach: Keir Starmer Is Mr Bean Trying to Act Like Stalin [jacobin] – “He’s a figure of fun. They said that with Gordon Brown as leader, it was like Stalin became Mr Bean; for Starmer, it’s the other way around, he’s Mr Bean trying to act like Stalin, and he’s doing it very clumsily.” Ken Loach is not beyond reproach, but he does put things in perspective.
Best earplugs to save you from sound sensitivity [wired uk] – “Earplugs aimed at people with auditory sensitivities claim to ‘take the edge off noise’. But what does that mean? And do they really work?” I tested the Knops, not for me.
The Current Affair at Current Affairs Is That Everyone Has Been Fired [gawker] – “The majority of the staff at Current Affairs magazine, the leftist bimonthly magazine started by colorful suit fan Nathan J. Robinson, has been fired by their boss, a man who wears cravats and allegedly has a fake British accent.” This shocked me, but do also read the thread by Nathan J. Robinson above.
Nao Bustamante Redesigns a Common Gynecological Tool [hyperallergic] – ““I left thinking, ‘Gosh, they can send a man to the moon, but they can’t devise a comfortable speculum,’” Nao Bustamante wrote to Hyperallergic.” Nao was a friend of mine in San Francisco, very happy to see her do well still.
The Forest Occupation Movement in Germany : Tactics, Strategy, and Culture of Resistance [crimethinc] – “Lignite mining, express highways, gravel mining, parking decks, lime pits, and candy factories all have something in common that might not be obvious at first glance. Capitalists need to cut down forests to make way for them. But all around Germany, people are mobilizing to stop them. Over the past decade, forest occupations and forest defense actions have proliferated to such a point that we can now reflect on the movement as a whole.”
Global Climate Report – July 2021 | National Centers for Environmental Information [ncd.noaa.gov] – “As a whole, the July 2021 global surface temperature was the highest for July since global records began in 1880 at 0.93°C (1.67°F) above the 20th-century average of 15.8°C (60.4°F). This value surpassed the previous record set in 2016 (and subsequently matched in 2019 and 2020) by only 0.01°C (0.02°F). Because July is the warmest month of the year from a climatological perspective, July 2021 was more likely than not the warmest month on record for the globe since 1880. Nine of the 10 warmest Julys have occurred since 2010, with the last seven Julys (2015-2021) being the seven warmest Julys on record. July 1998 is the only July from the 20th century to be among the 10 warmest Julys on record. July 2021 marked the 45th consecutive July and the 439th consecutive month with temperatures, at least nominally, above the 20th-century average.” It’s still happening.
The Day Today: prophetic parody that’s still funny in the fake news era [the guardian] – “Armando Iannucci and Chris Morris’s satire first aired 27 years ago. These days the media is almost too shameless to satirise, but – as the cast reunite – the show’s hilarity remains” Chris Morris is my all time favorite comedian.
Type The Alphabet Game – “Typing game to see how fast you type. Timer starts when you do :)” I am slow.
What can I do about climate change? [vox] – “We’re not powerless, even if it feels that way.” Adressing the emotional, psychological aspect of what the climate crisis does with us.
The era of ‘rapid’ climate change has begun | Eric Holthaus [thephoenix.substack] – “Here’s what the new IPCC report says, and what it doesn’t, about the most important moment of our lives.” We are fucked. Even if he says we aint.
How ‘Coward and Phony’ Tim Pool Became One of the Biggest Political YouTubers on the Planet [thedailybeast] – “A former darling of Occupy Wall Street, Tim Pool has racked up more than a billion views and millions in earnings while dangerously whitewashing the far right.” How could I ever watch this guy …
Anarchist Profiles: Klee Benally on Indigenous Mutual Aid [agency] – “Mutual aid is collective care and support. It is organizing to ensure the well-being of all our relations in non-hierarchical voluntary association through direct action. I always define mutual aid with action.” Klee <3
Apple’s Plan to “Think Different” About Encryption Opens a Backdoor to Your Private Life [eff] – “There are two main features that the company is planning to install in every Apple device. One is a scanning feature that will scan all photos as they get uploaded into iCloud Photos to see if they match a photo in the database of known child sexual abuse material (CSAM) maintained by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). The other feature scans all iMessage images sent or received by child accounts—that is, accounts designated as owned by a minor—for sexually explicit material, and if the child is young enough, notifies the parent when these images are sent or received. This feature can be turned on or off by parents.” Think different again please.
Giraffes have been misunderstood and are just as socially complex as elephants, study says [cnn] – “Female giraffes maintain long-term relationships with other females and their own offspring, the study found. Close bonds form between females and their calves, who are sometimes cared for by other females in a kind of crèche. Female giraffes show distress when a calf in the group dies even if it’s not their own. Male giraffes, however, only associate consistently with their mothers.” Co-parenting matriarchy, love it, want it.
Adam Curtis’s Theory of Everything [dissent magazine] – “Some may consider Curtis a lucid seer, but absent a compelling vision of his own, he looks more like a functionary of his own bleak prophecy.” Someone took the time to phrase lots of the criticism I also had of Curtis latest debacle.
Our leaders look climate change in the eyes, and shrug | Hamilton Nolan [the guardian] – “Capitalism is a machine made to squeeze every last cent out of this planet until there is nothing left. We can either fool ourselves about that until it kills us, or we can change it.” Team change it. Losing hope.
England riots 10 years on: augmented reality work gives voice to arrested protestors [the art newspaper] – “Baff Akoto’s Up:Rise piece can be accessed via QR codes on posters in London, Liverpool and Bristol”
[Articles German/French]
ich war btw mal wieder in der zEiTuNg ? https://t.co/JWTThYn2iW pic.twitter.com/GsGs13rVw1
— jessica jurassica (@sickbutsocial) August 28, 2021
The journalist had to end the interview with his usual paternalistic bullshit, but JJ rocks it anyway.
Am Stammtisch der Sachlichkeit: Markiertes Sprechen in Deutschland [merkur] – “Ohne dieses und jenen zu canceln, kommt die Menschheit natürlich keinen Schritt weiter, aber auch jeder für sich wird von einem Autor keinen weiteren Artikel lesen, dessen letzte zehn ohne jeden Gewinn waren. Unmögliche Personen und Ideen sind von denjenigen, die ihnen als unmöglich erschienen, schon immer aussortiert worden. Eine gespaltene Gesellschaft ist einer zu 100 Prozent verblödeten ja wohl vorzuziehen.” Great text, puts the whole woke/identity politics/pc rightwing trope in perspective.
„Dieses Camp sehen wir als Ort des revolutionären Austausches“ [lotta] – “Ich glaube es gibt zwei wichtige Ziele. Einerseits geht es um diesen symbolischen Akt des Widerstandes: 500 Jahre nach Beginn der Kolonialisierung kommt eine organisierte, indigene Bewegung nach Europa – ungebrochen. Es hat also diese dekoloniale Bedeutung. Andererseits geht es einfach darum einen Austausch zwischen indigenen Bewegungen und den revolutionären Bewegungen in Europa zu organisieren.” Interview with two of the organisers of the Zapatista camp in Basel.
Neue Gewalt in Chiapas – und eine kleine Revolution der Bienen [daslamm] – “Chiapas ist in Aufruhr, seit Monaten kommt es zu Gewalt durch Paramilitärs und Drogenbanden. Der mexikanische Bundesstaat war in den 90er-Jahren Ursprungsort der zapatistischen Revolution, die linke Strömungen weltweit beeinflusste und den Kampf gegen die neoliberale Globalisierung entscheidend prägte. Im Gespräch mit einem schweizerischen Aktivisten vor Ort versucht das Lamm, die Geschehnisse einzuordnen.”
Online-Petitionen gegen Abtreibung: Angriff der christlichen Fundis [taz] – “Die rechtskonservative Plattform CitizenGo kämpft europaweit gegen Abtreibung und mehr LGBTIQ-Rechte. Ein Datenleak zeigt, mit wessen Geld.” These people have so much money to spread their reactionary junk.
Die Zerstörungsmaschine [republik] – “Der grösste Medienkonzern der Schweiz geht gegen Ex-Politikerin und Netzaktivistin Jolanda Spiess-Hegglin vor, sie wird mit allen Mitteln diskreditiert. Was sagt das über den Zustand des Schweizer Journalismus?” Strong text summing up one of the biggest mysogenistic media scandals.
[Older articles, still great]
Ich habe mich in d letzten Tagen wieder sehr viel auf rechtsextremen Seiten in aller Welt herumgetrieben. Es gibt verschiedene Ansätze zu Corona, auf die ich andernorts länger eingehen werde. Was auffällt: Unkontrollierte Durchseuchung ist d präferierte Ansatz- ich sag euch warum
— Natascha Strobl (@Natascha_Strobl) April 6, 2020
Should have used Condoms
R.I.P.
Lee Scratch Perry – Disco Devil
“I am an alien from the other world. I live in space – I’m only a visitor here.” [1]
Lee Scratch Perry
Charlie Watts (even though I was never a huge Stones fan, i kinda liked this dude)
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Header Photo: A photo of our balcony tomatoes with the cardbord Anarchy-sign we used to remember David Graeber