[A monthly link list of recommended articles, videos, podcasts, photos, tweets … you name it]
[Music]
Pingipung Podcast 133: El Búho – A Full Circle – “This is not about showcasing new music or about this normal mixtape concept but more like one of those old mixes of your favourite tracks taped from the radio” One of the nicest mixes I have heard in a long time.
Oh Long Johnson x The Kiffness (Talking Cat Live Looping Reggae Remix)
The Children Will Rise Up! – Nandi & Roman with Tom Morello, Jack Black and Greta Thunberg
[Videos]
Elephant Herd Squishes Giant Pumpkins – So satisfying.
Cute Animals Play With Pumpkins – More.
Hay una mujer from Enlace Zapatista
Transcribed in english here
Making Of “Flyerservice Hahn GmbH”
[Podcasts]
The Art and Craftiness of Sampling [bureaulostculture] – “Jon More, one half of cut-and-paste collage kings Coldcut and co-founder with Matt Black of Ninja Tune record label, joins turntablist, crate digger Strictly Kev of DJ Food as we dig deep into the wild and wonky world of sampling – the borrowing, plundering, adapting and re-imagining of existing audio, songs and sounds to create new audio, songs and sounds.”
The Dawn of The Dawn of Everything (w/ David Wengrow) [srslywrong] – “The Wrong Boys are joined by David Wengrow to talk about changing human history (starting with the past) and his new book, co-authored with the late David Graeber, on myths about the origins of human society, why both Hobbes and Rousseau are wrong, and why human history may be less set in stone, and more full of playful, hopeful possibilities, than we tend to assume.”
[Twitter Threads]
Heute ist World Menopause Day. Dazu ein paar persönliche Gedanken (Thread) pic.twitter.com/VtJDstUBuj
— franziska (@fr3nzin3) October 18, 2021
Comparing the government to a household or a business isn't merely inapt (a government is a currency creator, while a household is a currency user – their budgeting constraints are totally unrelated) – it's also profoundly dishonest.
— Cory Doctorow (mostly) AFK (@doctorow) October 6, 2021
[The Must Reads This Month]
Mankind is not trapped in a deadly game with the Earth – there are ways out | David Wengrow [theguardian] – “The author of a landmark book that challenges our view of humanity argues catastrophe is not foretold. We are freer to act than we think”
Why is the idea of ‘gender’ provoking backlash the world over? | Judith Butler [the guardian] – “As a fascist trend, the anti-gender movement supports ever strengthening forms of authoritarianism. Its tactics encourage state powers to intervene in university programs, to censor art and television programming, to forbid trans people their legal rights, to ban LGBTQI people from public spaces, to undermine reproductive freedom and the struggle against violence directed at women, children, and LGBTQI people. It threatens violence against those, including migrants, who have become cast as demonic forces and whose suppression or expulsion promises to restore a national order under duress.” Simply amazing in its language and reasoning.
Body Horror | Patrick Nathan [thebaffler] – “We have not consented to the annihilation of our civilization, nor to be reminded of its supposed inevitability on a daily basis with no resources to challenge it, stop it, or even grasp the immensity of its horror.” This article has change my life, and i hope the change stays. Now reading Laings Everybody too.
[Articles English]
The axolotl: critically threatened in Mexico, but a popular pet in China [dialogochino] – “The smiley-faced salamander has long captivated audiences and perplexed scientists. Can its popularity as a pet help save it from extinction in the wild?” This can’t be happening. “A few causes are behind the axolotl’s rapidly decreasing numbers: breakneck urban growth in the Xochimilco borough and poor city planning, which allows waste water and fertiliser into the canals that choke wildlife. In addition, in the 1970s, the United Nations launched a campaign to stock the Xochimilco canals with tilapia and carp to feed residents. The fish, however, had no natural predators in the area, allowing them to quickly take over and feast on young axolotls. According to the most recent census, the axolotl population is less than 0.6% of what it was a little over two decades ago.” This has it all, bad urban planning, the UN trying to “help”, pollution.
How Can You Talk Effectively to Anti-Vaxxers, Flat Earthers, and Climate Deniers? [current affairs] – “I understand that a number of you here are Christians. You’re believers. That’s right. But your belief in flat Earth doesn’t seem to be based on faith. Is that correct? No, no, it’s not based on faith. So it’s based on evidence. That’s right. And I’ve been sitting here for the past 24 hours hearing all your seminars about the evidence for flat Earth. That’s right. But I don’t want to talk about that. I don’t want to talk about that. Because you’re not going to listen to my evidence from Galileo and Newton, and I don’t quite trust your evidence. But let’s talk about how you’re reasoning about your evidence. And then they say, ok. And I’ve gotten them through their little Socratic dialogue there. I’ve got them on ground where they don’t have any talking points. And then I would drop that question that you mentioned earlier, the Karl Popper question. So tell me, if your view is based on evidence, what evidence if I had it in my back pocket could convince you to give up your views? And then I let them sit with the discomfort that they could not answer that question. I planted the seed of doubt.”
Naomi Klein Hopes This Is the Stage Before the Breakthrough [the tyee] – “I hope that this is the stage before the breakthrough. Because a lot of this was an expanding and redefining of infrastructure and climate readiness as including the care sector, which was totally absent just a few years ago in the discussion and really understanding that we have to invest in mental health care, in home care and think about these disasters that we’ve been talking about.” Hope dies last.
A Psychedelic History of Mushrooms as Medicine [hyperallergic] – “Brian Blomerth’s Mycelium Wassonii deploys amazing graphic storytelling to share his own exploration of mushroom history” Beautiful comic book.
Twitter admits bias in algorithm for rightwing politicians and news outlets [the guardian] – “The research found that in six out of seven countries, apart from Germany, tweets from rightwing politicians received more amplification from the algorithm than those from the left; right-leaning news organisations were more amplified than those on the left; and generally politicians’ tweets were more amplified by an algorithmic timeline than by the chronological timeline.” Yeh, another duh from me.
The Anti-Politics and Anti-Comedy of Norm Macdonald [jacobin] – “From his early days honing his craft at comedy clubs in Canada to his later Saturday Night Live fame, Norm Macdonald was one of the most brilliant stand-up comedians of his generation.” I had no idea Norm was considered to be right wing.
David Graeber Knew Ordinary People Could Remake the World [jacobin] – “A new book by David Wengrow and the late David Graeber is a brilliant rejection of the fatalistic myths of human history — and a defense of our power to shape our own world.” Still reading the book, hoping this is not too full of spoilers.
The Methods of Moral Panic Journalism | Michael Hobbes [substack] – “The media has tremendous power to shape public opinion. Reporters and editors should not just be aware of their ability to spread moral panics. They should be terrified of it.” The recent you’re wrong about podcast written out and extended.
WHO asks South African startup to replicate Moderna’s mRNA vaccine [npr] – “The World Health Organization has hired the company, called Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines, as part of a $100 million plan to figure out how to make an mRNA vaccine against COVID that is as close as possible to the version produced by Moderna.”
“Landless Stranded” by PEJAC in Berlin, Germany [streetartnews] – “For this project, Pejac has joined forces with Sea-Watch, the German NGO that has saved thousands of people trying to cross the Mediterranean; with DOJO Cares, the foundation of Berlin-based creative agencies whose office is inside the church; as well as with the Holy Cross Church itself, which is gladly hosting the installation in the context of its charity work in Kreuzberg aimed at helping refugees, the homeless and the poor.” Street art as we love it.
Ursula Le Guin’s Radical Utopias Still Resonate Today [jacobin] – “Ursula K. Le Guin was born on this day in 1929. She used science fiction to explore the failures of capitalist society — and the alternative worlds we could build in its place.” Marxists suck regarding utopia. We need it. Also, why are there many feminists among the utopian scifi authors? Done.
A new report shows how climate change is hurting your health [npr] – “The sprawling health effects of a rapidly warming world can also be subtle. Heat sparks violence and disrupts sleep. Wildfire smoke can trigger respiratory events thousands of miles away. Flooding can increase rates of suicide and mental health problems. Warmer winters expand the range of disease-carrying mosquitoes and ticks.” But of course.
US Billionaires Got 70% More Wealth Under COVID. They Didn’t Deserve Any of It. [jacobin] – “New data shows that Elon Musk’s fortune grew by 750% during the pandemic. It’s not because he worked 750% harder than the rest of us.”
An Anarchist Illustrator Looks to Radical Histories to Fight Fascism [hyperallergic] – “N.O. Bonzo’s illustrations, murals, and literature build on radical art traditions, addressing relations of labor and identity in local communities and protest movements.” So much love for them.
Cryptocurrency Is Bunk [jacobin] – “The ideal of “apolitical” money advocated by crypto fanatics is a fantasy: how much, where, and at whose discretion money is created is inherently a political decision. What is needed is a mechanism to extend monetary agency to ordinary people so they can utilize credit creation to the benefit of their communities and society as a whole.” Yet, it will happen…
Stop making the menopause into a brand! It’s about healthcare, not money [the guardian] – “Founder of midlife website Noon is delighted the subject is being talked about openly, but does not want to see it commercialised” Also see the thread above.
Dave Chappelle’s Betrayal [gq] – “By the time Chappelle declares that “gender is a fact” and that he’s “Team TERF” in solidarity with J.K. Rowling, I turned my television off because I wasn’t having fun anymore. And part of freedom as I experience it is that I don’t owe Dave Chappelle any of my time.”
Global Climate Report – September 2021 [ncdc.noaa.gov] – “The global surface temperature for September 2021 was 0.90°C (1.62°F) above the 20th century average of 15.0°C (59.0°F) and was the fifth highest September temperature in the 142-year record. Only Septembers of 2015, 2016, 2019, and 2020 had a higher September temperature departure. The eight warmest Septembers have all occurred since 2014. September 2021 also marked the 45th consecutive September and the 441st consecutive month with temperatures, at least nominally, above the 20th-century average.” It’s still happening.
The climate disaster is here – this is what the future looks like [the guardian] – “Earth is already becoming unlivable. Will governments act to stop this disaster from getting worse?” The future, it sucks.
Let’s Argue About Bisexual Superman | Caitlin Johnstone [substack] –
“Let’s argue about bisexual Superman,
because it’s easier than being real,
because it’s easier than admitting we’re afraid,
because it’s less challenging than facing ourselves,
because us-and-them culture wars are comfortable
while authenticity is terrifying,
because the beloved keeps beckoning us back to wholeness
and we are simply not ready to confront our own perfection.” I love her poems. They are not great, but so righteous.
Solving the climate crisis requires the end of capitalism | Jeremy Lent [salon.com] – “Overcoming the climate crisis will require a shift away from our growth-based, corporate-dominated global system” Duh.
Eco-feminists are tackling climate change head on [wired uk] – “A protest movement founded in Uganda in 2016 has exploded into a 7,000-strong force of eco-feminists to be reckoned with”
Free the Nipple: A History of a Hidden Movement [hyperallergic] – “The slogan “Free the nipple” is so ubiquitous that it sounds as though it belongs in the annals of history, but actually this rallying cry is barely a decade old. ”
George Floyd Statue in NYC’s Union Square Defaced 48 Hours After It Was Unveiled [hyperallergic] – “Surveillance footage shows a skateboarder splashing gray paint on the newly-installed bust of Floyd.” More bad news.
The Real Problem With Jon Stewart [current affairs] – “Stewart, a committed post-partisan, didn’t quite know what to say, and his new program shows that he still hasn’t noticed that his non-ideological ideology is morally inadequate. Political comedy would not be as good without Jon Stewart’s Daily Show having paved the way, but Stewart shows us what we need to move beyond if we are to have truly incisive and effective satire.” Thanks Nathan for de-constructing Jon Stewart. I find him hielarious, but he is so radicalized centrist, it hurts.
WOKE [war and peas] – “Honey, your father and I care about these issues” “Just not enough to change anything”
National Monument Audit [monument lab] –
“I. Monuments Have Always Changed
II. The Monument Landscape is Overwhelmingly White and Male
III. The Most Common Features of American Monuments Reflect War and Conquest
IV. The Story of the United States as Told by Our Current Monuments Misrepresents Our History” All statues must go.
[Articles German/French]
Clickbait zerstört den Journalismus [jacobin.de] – “Hauptsache Klicks: Trackingtools drängen Journalisten dazu, möglichst profitable Inhalte zu produzieren. Das verschlechtert die Arbeitsbedingungen in der Branche und beschleunigt den Verfall unabhängiger Berichterstattung.” What we have been saying for years and years. “Journalism”, at least big parts of it, is now the enemy.
Drachenlord: Drachengame over? [zeit online] – “Rainer W. alias Drachenlord wird gemobbt, digital und analog. So sehr, dass er manchmal ausrastet. Nun muss er in Haft – das vorläufige Ende eines bösen Spiels.” Schildert die ganze “Causa” (was für Arschlöcher dieser beiden Zeugen, und die sind jetzt Ärzte!).
Ein jahrelanges Martyrium in Deutschland – und niemand hält es auf [spiegel] – “Der YouTuber »Drachenlord« wird seit Jahren von einem Mob gequält, bedroht und belästigt. Nun hat er sich gewehrt und wurde zu einer Haftstrafe verurteilt. Ein katastrophales Versagen von Justiz, Medien und Gesellschaft.” Ich muss leider wieder mal Lobo.
Das neue Moria – “Eine Recherche von Katy Fallon, Elisa Perrigueur, Franziska Grillmeier und Vera Deleja-Hotko.” As seen on Böhmi.
Der Zertifikatstest [woz] – “Am 28. November kommt das Covid-19-Gesetz zur Abstimmung. Im Zentrum der Kritik steht dabei das Covid-Zertifikat. Wahrt es die Grundrechte?” I have many questions on the statements on the sans papiers, i think this undersells the issues, but other than that, pretty good article.
«Covid-19 ist erst der Anfang» [republik] – “Ich bin ein Sozialist alter Schule, und ich bin davon überzeugt, dass man Gesellschaften nur grundsätzlich verändern und Katastrophen nur abwenden kann, wenn man ökonomische Macht demokratisiert. Für mich ist die entscheidende Frage, wie man Macht kontrolliert, die es etwa einer Handvoll Leuten erlaubt, eine lebenslange Industrie einer Stadt zu schliessen und sie nach Übersee zu verlagern, wie wir es in den USA wieder und wieder gesehen haben. Es geht darum, demokratische Eigentümerschaft zu vergrössern, was überhaupt nicht dasselbe ist wie staatliche Eigentümerschaft. Und das wiederum beginnt damit, dass man wichtige öffentliche Institutionen bewahrt.” Read this, stop and pause.
Natascha Strobl über den radikalisierten Konservatismus [der spiegel] – “Die Republikaner in den USA, die Tories in Großbritannien oder die ÖVP in Österreich sind ja eigentlich klassisch konservative Parteien. Sie übernehmen aber Sprache, Rhetorik und ideologische Elemente der extremen Rechten. Jeder Anspruch auf Konsens und Staatsräson wird über Bord geworfen und gegen eine Lust an Polarisierung eingetauscht. Diese Dynamik hat einem politischen Zwischenspektrum zum Aufschwung verholfen – dem radikalisierten Konservatismus.” Might read her book —– at some point.
Gegen das COVID-Zertifikat [barrikade] – “Gegen den Ausbau von Überwachung und Kontrolle unter dem Deckmantel der Gesundheit” Finally the left is waking up.
Corona-Kommunikation: Trotz Zertifikat bleibt Unsicherheit | Sibylle Berg [der spiegel] – “Jetzt ist eingetreten, was immer in Zeiten der Angst passiert: Die Menschen verachten – statt einer Krankheit – einander. Teilen sich in MaßnahmenbefürworterInnen oder -gegnerInnen, jedes Lager sucht nach Belegen für die Richtigkeit des eigenen Denkens, alle suchen nach Sicherheit und finden: nichts.” Thanks Sibylle.
Sex kaufen [republik] – “Es ist eine Arbeit, mit guten und mit schlechten Seiten. Es ist letztlich einfach nicht wahr, dass es nur dieses Entweder-oder gibt: happy hooker oder Menschenhandel. Sexarbeit wird aus vielen verschiedenen Gründen als Arbeit gewählt. Die einen machen es, weil sie es gern tun und viel verdienen können. Für andere ist es eine Notlösung, um durchzukommen. Und dann gibt es viele andere Gründe. Was auch immer der Grund sein mag, will man unsere Situation verbessern, braucht es eine Stärkung der Arbeitsrechte und ein Ende der Stigmatisierung.” Just a very good interview.
[Older articles, still great]
The Dangerous Ideas of “Longtermism” and “Existential Risk” [current affairs] – “By reducing morality to an abstract numbers game, and by declaring that what’s most important is fulfilling “our potential” by becoming simulated posthumans among the stars, longtermists not only trivialize past atrocities like WWII (and the Holocaust) but give themselves a “moral excuse” to dismiss or minimize comparable atrocities in the future. This is one reason that I’ve come to see longtermism as an immensely dangerous ideology.” Longtermism is one to watch out for.
Radicalization Pipeline, 2021
BABOOSHKA- TIKTOK TREND COMPILATION – I’m late to the party, where were you in my life?
Words of Wisdom from an Unexpected Citizen
R.I.P.
Hmm.
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Header Photo: Apocalyptic