[A monthly link list of recommended articles, videos, podcasts, photos, toots … you name it]
[Videos]
Post-Punk, Mark Fisher & Popular Modernism
‘The Night Won’t End’: Biden’s War on Gaza [al jazeera] – “From air strikes to field executions, Fault Lines investigates the killings of civilians by the Israeli military in Gaza and the role of the United States in the war.” Follows the destinies of three families in Gaza, which is very moving because abstract numbers sanitize the atrocities done to the civilians in this war.
I Read The Most Misunderstood Philosopher in the World
No sock aid, no problem! – – Socks. Always a favorite topic of mine.
Ed Yong: Opening Speech at UniteToFight2024 (Opening Ceremony) – The videos of the amazing #UniteToFight2024 conference are in the process of getting uploaded. Start with this one 😉
[Music]
Deichkind – Könnt Ihr Noch? (Official Video) – Also ich kann nicht mehr. Ihr so?
Lena Stoehrfaktor – Beton auf der Zunge (prod. Sinok) – “Ein Plädoyer für Hip-Hop, Liebe und Menschlichkeit.”
[Podcasts]
Buried [bbc sounds]
“A husband and wife team up with the film star Michael Sheen to dig into a witness’s lost files on a toxic chemical secret. What really happened to the witness?” A new season dropped.
Die EM 2024 oder Divided by Football [ballaballa podcast] – “Bei der EM sind die Grenzen zwischen patriotischem Fahnenmeer und hartem Nationalismus mal wieder fließend und vor allem die Fans der Balkanteams mischen ordentlich mit. Der Sohn von Aleksandar Vučić will sich in Gelsenkirchen mit englischen Hooligans prügeln, albanische und kroatische Fans vereinen sich in ihrem Hass auf Serben und die einzigen Leute aus dem ehemaligen Jugoslawien die sich halbwegs anständig benehmen sind die Slowenen. Diese EM ist wie eine kleine Liveepisode unseres Podcasts auf deutschen Straßen.” Documents some of the racist and nationalistic incidents at the Euro 2024 with special focus on the Balkan teams.
Panics around trans femininity shaped by colonialism and segregation [npr] – “There has been this really huge shift in the content of representation in the media, of particularly Black, trans women. This kind of, like, growing attention and fascination, and kind of this – I don’t know, this kind of campaign to humanize, and to think about suffering and violence, has sort of replaced the sort of impetus to make fun of and demean in the first place, and I think there’s also been this message that, like, the point is to pay attention, and I don’t know that I agree. I’m not sure just paying attention to something does anything, and actually, in some cases, I think it kind of extends that dehumanization. It suggests that to be, you know, a Black, trans woman is primarily to be a victim of violence, and that itself is just, like, a dehumanizing proposition.” <3 Jules.
[Toot Threads]
[Pandemic Roundup] Don’t allow anyone to minimize or normalize the ongoing pandemic!
Pandemic Roundup: June 27, 2024
Pandemic Roundup: June 20, 2024
Pandemic Roundup: June 13, 2024
Pandemic Roundup: June 6, 2024
[The Must Read[s] This Month]
They Will Beat the Memory Out of Us | Peter Gelderloos [plutobooks] – “In the face of ecological crisis, police repression and white supremacy, there is an apparent lack of options for effective resistance. Here, Peter Gelderloos brings to life some of the conflictive and subversive events of the last couple of decades in a radical new criticism of nonviolence. The book weaves history, vignettes, interviews and personal reflections to show how our movements suffer from an inability to pass on lessons learned from one generation to the next.” If you only pre-order one.
We’ve Hit Peak Denial. Here’s Why We Can’t Turn Away From Reality [scientific american] – “We need to work harder to catch ourselves in the act of staying silent or avoiding uncomfortable information and do more real-time course correcting. We need to guard against lowering our standards for normalcy. When we mentally and emotionally recalibrate to the new normal, we also disassociate from our own humanity. We need to demand that our leaders give the full truth and hold them to account. We must stand up for the silenced and stand with the silence-breakers.” And this is exactly how fascism creeps in.
“Debilitating a Generation”: Expert Warns That Long COVID May Eventually Affect Most Americans [institute for new economic thinking] – “What does this look like if we continue on the way we are doing right now? What is the worst-case scenario? Well, I think there are two important eventualities. So we’re what, four years in? Most people have had COVID three and a half times on average already. After another four years of the same pattern, if we don’t change course, most people in the U.S. will have some flavor of Long COVID of one sort or another.” Read the signs, people!
Silence from prominent left outlets continues as mask bans spread | Julia Doubleday [substack] – “disabled people fear that even leaving their homes could result in exposure, harassment and violence. Within a day of the NC mask ban, a cancer patient was shouted and sworn at, intentionally coughed on, and told her mask was “illegal”. This type of public confrontation is hardly new to those of us who wear masks, but the explicit support of the state continues to embolden attackers. The closure of the public arena to people with disabilities should send a chill down the spine of every anti-fascist. This is a massive coup for a state hellbent on disposing of anybody unable to survive a COVID infection, and anybody who goes on to be disabled and harmed by one. It is a great leap forward for the social goals of eugenicists, who demand that disabled people simply “stay home” and consider the concept of public health itself to be a violation of their personal freedoms.” I can tell you from experience, it feels horrible to get surplussed.
[Articles English]
One Million Checkboxes – Jup, check, check aaaannndd check.
On the release of Julian Assange [wau holland stiftung] – “The Wau Holland Foundation welcomes with relief the fact that journalist and publicist Julian Assange can finally leave for Australia after five years in Belmarsh maximum security prison. However, the damage to freedom of the press and freedom of information has been done, as the questioning of Julian Assange’s journalistic activities remains legally open, meaning that there is still a threat of persecution of journalists by the US judiciary.” What a price to pay. In every sense.
Commercial Determinants of Noncommunicable Diseases in the WHO European Region [who] – “This report highlights the substantial impact of commercial determinants on noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in the WHO European Region. Nearly 7500 deaths per day in the Region are attributed to commercial determinants, such as tobacco, alcohol, processed food, fossil fuels and occupational practices. These commercial products and practices contribute to 25% of all deaths in the Region. The report’s chapters systematically explore various facets of how commercial interests exacerbate NCDs and key strategies used by commercial actors to negatively influence NCD-related policies at the national and international level. The report also provides selected case studies from the Region to illustrate key strategies and outcomes of industry influence on health policies. The report then calls for urgent and coordinated action to address the commercial determinants of NCDs. It advocates for building coalitions based on the values of equity, sustainability, and resilience.” Capitalism has fucked our bodies.
Toys, spices, sewing machines: the items Israel banned from entering Gaza [the guardian] – “The fluctuating policy has targeted a huge range of items, as tracked by an Israeli human rights group. The latest version of the blockade is nearly total” The list of banned items seems so arbitrary.
“The New York Times” Is Failing Its Readers Badly on Covid [the nation] – “Over the past few weeks, we have seen a flurry of revisionist press articles seeking to rewrite the history of the Covid-19 pandemic. These pieces describe a past that we do not recognize from our perspectives as infectious disease and public health researchers—and that’s alarming, because how we think about the past plays such an important role in how we shape our collective future.” The nyt is part of the problem, and not only on this issue.
Gaza Project [forbidden stories] – “Since the outbreak of Israel’s war in Gaza following Hamas’ terrorist attack on October 7, more than 100 journalists and media workers have been killed. For the Gaza Project, 50 journalists from 13 different news organizations worked together to investigate the killing of journalists in Gaza and the alleged threats, targeting arrests made in the West Bank” Fantastic journalism under horrendous circumstances.
A Heatwave Solstice | Peter Gelderloos [substack] – “Diesel the donkey went missing 5 years ago after getting scared and bolting into the woods. The humans who took care of him searched and searched but never found a trace. It turns out, he was healthy, happy, and sound… living with the herd of elk who adopted him. Since he appeared to be “living his best life,” the humans he had previously lived with have no plans to recapture him.” <3 Diesel The Donkey.
COVID infection endangers pregnancies and newborns. Why aren’t parents being warned? | Julia Doubleday [substack] – “Pregnant people and newborn babies are vulnerable members of our society, just like elderly people. The difference is that the eugenics-first campaign to abandon vulnerable people to infections prefers to use elderly people as its poster children, because the public is more easily convinced to allow elderly people to be harmed. Disabled people are also better sacrificial lambs for the “back to normal” campaign, which likes to claim that only those who “deserve” to be harmed will be harmed by unmitigated disease spread. Because of widespread ableism, much of the public is okay with being told that their behaviors are killing old and disabled people. But as it turns out, no one really likes to think about their behavior as harming newborn infants and pregnant people. Therefore, our collective approach to addressing this harm, from doctors to family members, is to pretend it isn’t happening.” It threatens pregnant women and their babies.
The US Government Anti-Vax Campaign Confirms Them As Enemies of Humanity | Nate Bear [substack] – “the US government was instilling fear and spreading lies about covid vaccines to tens of millions of Asians while attacking western anti-vaxxers for undermining its own domestic vaccination efforts. The revelation is despicable and shocking, highlighting a cartoonish level of evil at the highest echelons of the US government. But we shouldn’t be shocked. This is what the US is. The enemy of humanity. The self-proclaimed home of freedom and democracy has been built atop a mountain of corpses.” A mountain range of corpses, more like. And at the bottom, half-covered under mud and debris are the people with Long COVID.
Author Arundhati Roy Faces Prosecution in India Amid Modi’s Crackdown on Critics [truthout] – “It is no longer just our leaders we must fear, but a whole section of the population. The banality of evil, as Hannah Arendt would have called it, the normalization of evil, is now manifest in our streets, in our classrooms, in our very many public spaces. The mainstream press, the hundreds of 24-hour news channels, have been harnessed to the cause of fascist majoritarianism. India’s Constitution has effectively been set aside. The Indian Penal Code is being rewritten. If the current regime wins a majority in 2024, it is very likely we will see a new constitution.” The goal posts are moved so much when even famous authors like Roy become targets.
Six Months in a Neoliberal Dystopia : Social Cannibalism versus Mutual Aid and Resistance in Argentina [crimethinc] – “The state is attacking social organizations, trade unions, and neighborhood social and sports clubs on principle because they are tangible and material representations of the relations we want to build. We want to create a context in which people may truly interact as equals in pursuit of their collective interests, defying the logic of neoliberal capitalism.” Fuck Milei and everything he stands for.
Summer Seasonal Affective Disorder [substack] – “Each year, as I watch people’s excitement grow about the warmer weather, I think: Why can’t I be like that? and God, I hate those people. Instead of excitement, I feel depressed, anxious, uncomfortable, and irritable. I spend most summers in central air conditioning (if it’s available). I badly want to go outside and be in nature, but anything above 75 degrees (24 Celsius) has me staying in cold dark rooms.” After winter seasonal affective disorder i now also have the summer version, thanks to Long COVID. I can’t deal with the heat, anxiety peaks, energy tanks. But also: summers are so much more noisy, bright, irritating. Fuck summers.
Students, Gaza and a New Vision of Safety [in these times] – “Jewish safety has certainly not been an actual priority for any of these universities. It is, at this moment, a convenient fig leaf for U.S. foreign policy. It is not safety, but security that Israel seeks, and security in the post-9/11 age has been intimately linked with the War on Terror. Hamas fits the preferred narrative; Israeli state violence, even when it is orders of magnitude larger than anything Hamas has done, does not.” The “safety of jewish students” was weaponized.
TOWARD NAKBA AS A LEGAL CONCEPT [columbia law review] – “This Article therefore proposes to distinguish apartheid, genocide, and Nakba as different, yet overlapping, modalities of crimes against humanity. It first identifies Zionism as Nakba’s ideological counterpart and insists on understanding these concepts as mutually constitutive. Considering the limits of existing legal frameworks, this Article goes on to analyze the legal anatomy of the ongoing Nakba. It positions displacement as the Nakba’s foundational violence, fragmentation as its structure, and the denial of self-determination as its purpose. Taken together, these elements give substance to a concept in the making that may prove useful in other contexts as well.” This is the article that initially was not published on by columbia review without any explanation.
Pentagon ran secret anti-vax campaign to incite fear of China vaccines [reuters] – “The U.S. military launched a clandestine program amid the COVID crisis to discredit China’s Sinovac inoculation – payback for Beijing’s efforts to blame Washington for the pandemic. One target: the Filipino public. Health experts say the gambit was indefensible and put innocent lives at risk.” The cynicism is unfathomable.
May 2024 Global Climate Report [ncei]
“The May global surface temperature was 1.18°C (2.12°F) above the 20th-century average of 14.8°C (58.6°F), making it the warmest May on record. This was 0.18°C (0.32°F) above the previous record from May 2020. May 2024 marked the 48th consecutive May (since 1977) with temperatures at least nominally above the 20th-century average.” Mother!? Father?! Why did you put me on this earth!?
Freedom for Kanaky | Peter Gelderloos [substack] – “In Kanaky, the Melanesian island chain called New Caledonia by settlers, the Kanak people are still fighting against colonial rule, with barricades and clashes all over the main island. The most recent upsurge of resistance began with a French government attempt to give voting rights to a large number of white French settlers, which would lead to fewer obstructions on policy issues. Kanaky is treated like a resource colony that France exploits mostly for its nickel reserves. Tesla and a Swiss consortium are both involved in nickel mining there.” Free Kanaky!
Germany’s Anti-Palestine Witch Hunt Is Targeting Jews Too [jacobin] – “While H. P. has long been sympathetic to the Palestinian cause as a result of his long involvement in leftist and queer scenes, he says it was the aggressively anti-Palestinian climate he has experienced in Germany since October 7 that made the issue front and center for him. “The radicalizing effect has been entirely thanks to Germany,” he says” Well done, Germany, i think this was exactly the outcome you had in mind. Or not?
COVID lulls aren’t being earned by policy; they’re being bought with infections and deaths | Julia Doubleday [substack] – “Our metric for success should instead be zero unnecessary deaths of a disease we have many 21st century tools to mitigate, almost none of which are in use. The same way HIV elimination is the goal, malaria elimination is the goal, and polio elimination was the goal, COVID elimination should be the goal. The entire mindset that diseases should be reduced and eliminated appears to have been replaced with the public perception that “people gotta die some time,” a concerning dynamic I explored more deeply in this piece about the death of public health itself as an unfortunate outcome of COVID normalization.” Public health r.i.p.
China Miéville Writes a Secret Novel With the Internet’s Boyfriend (It’s Keanu Reeves) [wired] – “China Miéville Writes a Secret Novel With the Internet’s Boyfriend. After nearly a decade of silence, the beloved sci-fi author opens up about loss, love, and a collaboration with Keanu Reeves.” Might read.
French Authorities Charge Artist Who Tagged “MeToo” on Courbet [hyperallergic] – “The disruption, which took place on May 6 in an exhibition focused on French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan, was not the first time the provocative performance artist responded to the Courbet painting in her work: Her 2014 conceptual performance “Mirror of Origin” involved mimicking the painting by exposing her own genitals. While some critics decried the latest action as an empty gesture that dilutes the meaning of the MeToo movement, De Robertis said her aim was to expose six male art world personalities — including one of the exhibition’s curators, art critic Bernard Marcadé — whom she accused of sexual abuse and misconduct in a lengthy missive posted on Mediapart.” Find the link to her manifesto (in French) bellow.
If i were to make an angry Instagram slideshow. | Raechel Anne Jolie [substack] – “Stop being dismissive of radical movements. Stop rolling your eyes at the ostensibly utopian dreams of your anti-capitalist and anti-state friends. It’s far more unrealistic to imagine persuading the US to stop supporting genocide than it is to imagine abolishing every state and taking care of each other without presidents. Find your local anarchist or anti-state Marxist or Indigenous group and see how you can be part of movement work that is committed to liberation from imperialism, colonialism, ecocide. Or, just be a better neighbor; get to know the people on your block, build relationships that will be supportive as we all move into escalating collapse. Stop giving time and money to electoral politics (if you have money to give, get it directly to people who need it, not to red-tape nonprofits). Stop telling those of us who have already walked away from that delusion that we’re making it worse for people (worse for whom? what Palestinian thinks Biden is better than Trump?). Believe that a world without domination is possible, because then you can believe that a world without genocide is possible.” If i were to give a like on Instagram, i would for this hypothetical post.
If You Love Being Alone, There’s Nothing Wrong with You. [okdoomer] – “a handful of extremely rich families have spent the last few years pouring money into campaigns designed only to enhance everyone’s desire to go out and mingle, while accusing you of anxiety, depression, or personality disorders because you’d rather not. On top of that, they fill the internet with articles telling you that you’ll live a shorter life riddled with health problems because you prefer solitude.”
[…] “The world is getting louder. It’s getting brighter. It’s getting meaner. Noise and light pollution shred our sleep. Empathy levels have dropped to record lows. It’s hard to find someone willing to endure the slightest inconvenience, even for their own good. Our bosses and their bosses think they know what’s best for everyone else. They don’t truly appreciate difference, cognitive or otherwise. They want everyone to live the same, work the same, and consume the same. They want everyone to catch the same diseases. It’s profitable for them.” This might well be the last time i link to okdoomer, after they have gone lab leak conspiratorial.
Techno-Fascism Takes Shape | Nate Bear [substack] – “We’re witnessing the solidifying of a trans-national techno-fascist movement right before our eyes. Yet there has been a curious lack of mainstream news coverage that would join the dots for people. So let’s start here: for supremacist tech bros hatching plans to re-configure global society, Milei is a god-send. He preaches free markets with religious zealotry and wants to abolish the state. He is hellbent on withdrawing all state support for unemployed and disabled people, and has spoken of installing facial recognition every few metres across the country.” Wake up.
[Articles German/French]
Transfeindlichkeit als Geschäftsmodell [daslamm] – “Seit geraumer Zeit vergeht kaum ein Tag ohne mindestens einen transfeindlichen Beitrag in etablierten Schweizer Medien. So stellt das SRF Transsein als Resultat von online Pornografie dar, während Tages-Anzeiger und NZZ unermüdlich gegen Pubertätsblocker oder trans Frauen im Sport anschreiben. Diese Texte haben eines gemeinsam: Sie basieren auf irreführenden Informationen und befürworten eine Benachteiligung von trans Menschen – besonders von Frauen und Jugendlichen.” Fuck Tamedia. Fascist pigs spreading their dog whistles as click bait.
Judith Butler: Hat hier jemand «Gender» gesagt? | Adrian Daub [woz] – “Butlers Argument ist, dass Gender Studies und der Anti-Gender-Diskurs eigentlich nur relativ mittelbar miteinander verknüpft sind – Gemecker über Gender gab es schon vor «Das Unbehagen der Geschlechter» oder bevor man genderte. Denn es geht den Feind:innen von Gender um sehr viel mehr als um Doppelpunkte oder Pronomina. Es geht um den Feminismus, um Homophobie, um sämtliche Freiheitsansprüche jenseits des Patriarchats.” Review of the latest book by Judith Butler.
EM 2024 in Deutschland, kein Sommermärchen – Zum Glück nicht [54books] – “Die omnipräsenten Deutschlandfahnen und der vermeintlich unproblematische Nationalstolz des Sommers 2006 sind nicht zu trennen vom Einzug der AfD in den Bundestag ungefähr 11 Jahre später. Und längst nicht allen war der sogenannte “Party-Patriotismus” geheuer. […] aber darin erzählt auch der Soziologieprofessor Aladin El-Mafaalani von jüdischen Freund*innen, die im Angesicht des scheinbar unproblematischen Nationalstolzes in Deutschland sagten: “Uns macht das Angst.”” Fuck nationalism in all its forms, and patriotism is not one bit better. Don’t @ me.
Globales Kriegsregime: Das Desertieren neu denken [woz] – “Die Zersplitterung des Weltsystems, die Auflösung strategischer Orte der Kapitalakkumulation und die kontinuierliche Verflechtung von Geopolitik und Geoökonomie: All das hat einem Kriegsregime als vorherrschender Regierungsform den Boden bereitet. Angesichts dieser Entwicklung erfordert das Projekt der Desertion nichts weniger als eine internationalistische Strategie zur Neuerschaffung der Welt.” Deserters are heroes.
ON NE SEPARE PAS LA FEMME DE L’ARTISTE | Deborah de Robertis – “Je ne sais plus, à force d’habitude, si vous êtes tous des agresseurs, des harceleurs ou des violeurs, mais vous êtes sans aucun doute des manipulateurs, des calculateurs, des prédateurs, des escrocs, des imposteurs et des censeurs ! Si l’un de vous avait voulu réellement, honnêtement, soutenir une artiste, alors pourquoi ne pas le faire sans abuser sexuellement de votre pouvoir ? Vous croyez-vous sérieusement altruistes ? À vos yeux, ce sont toujours les femmes qui sont naïves, séductrices, manipulatrices. N’est-ce pas vous, qui êtes naïfs de penser que vos agissements pourront rester à jamais secrets ? Vous seriez, vous, les “victimes” de voir se révéler au grand jour vos agissements systémiques ? Combien d’entre vous faudra-t-il encore accuser ?” The manifesto by de Robertis, mentioned above.
Kommentar: Deutschland muss sein Verhältnis zu Israel ändern [deutschlandfunkkultur] – “Versucht man all dies aber im heutigen Deutschland zur Sprache zu bringen und öffentlich zu erörtern, wird man sofort bezichtigt, antisemitisch beziehungsweise von “jüdischem Selbsthass” angefressen zu sein. Der Antisemitismus-Beauftragte der Bundesregierung entblödete sich nicht, den Antisemitismus selbst einem kritischen jüdischen israelischen Bürger anzuhängen. Man kann sich zunehmend des Gefühls nicht erwehren, dass etwas mit der anfangs vielversprechenden Aufarbeitung der deutschen Vergangenheit schiefgegangen ist.” Jede/r Antideutsche MÜSSTE das eigentlich lesen. Aber werden sie halt nicht.
[Older articles, still great]
The 1918 Influenza Pandemic and the Rise of Italian Fascism: A Cross-City Quantitative and Historical Text Qualitative Analysis [ncbi] – “The influenza pandemic that began in 1918 had a devastating health impact: 4.1 million Italians contracted influenza and about 500 000 died. We tested the hypothesis that deaths from the 1918 influenza pandemic contributed to the rise of Fascism in Italy. To provide a “thicker” interpretation of these patterns, we applied historical text mining to the newspaper Il Popolo d’Italia (Mussolini’s newspaper). Our observations were consistent with evidence from other contexts that worsening mortality rates can fuel radical politics.” The fascist playbook had already unfolded, on a massive scale even, keyword #MaskBans.
Sportlerinnen: Zu stark, um Frau zu sein – Die ganze Doku [arte] – “Wer entscheidet, was ein Frauenkörper ist? Caster Semenya und andere Athletinnen kämpfen unbeirrt gegen die Testosteronregeln des Leichtathletik-Weltverbandes. Ein Kampf gegen Rassismus und die Kontrolle des weiblichen Körpers.” Strong documentary about the question who defines what a women is and who is allowed in sports.
Full Speech: Ursula K. Le Guin’s Passionate Defense of Art over Profits – <3 Ursula.
Ours is the Waste Age: that’s the key to tranforming the future [aeon essays] – “To say that we live in the Waste Age is not to focus attention on an unpleasant but marginal problem; it’s to say that the production of waste is central to our way of life. Waste is deliberately generated as the very metabolism behind economic growth. And while the waste crisis and the climate crisis are not the same thing, waste is a major driver of climate change. Plastic production is the second-largest source of industrial greenhouse gases, and methane generated in landfills is another significant contributor.” We live in the Garb-Age.
Federico Campagna “The End of the World(s)”
This Is Water David Foster Wallace Commencement Speech
Porträt Berner Chansonnier Mani Matter (1973) – “Porträt des Berner Mundart-Liedermachers Mani Matter, der am 24. November 1972 bei einem Verkehrsunfall ums Leben kommt. Seine berndeutschen Chansons sind heute fester Bestandteil des Schweizer Kulturguts. Mani Matter war nicht nur Liedermacher, sondern von Beruf Jurist, verheiratet und Vater von 3 Kindern. [ «Mani Matter – Ein Fernsehporträt von Franz Hohler», 26.12.1973]” Mani was my uncle and godfather and i miss him every single day.
R.I.P.
Ben Vautier n’exist pas
Françoise Hardy
[If you care to receive more regular updates, please follow my diigo (feed: rss) for all of my saved links or mastodon for an edited choice of them]
Header Photo: Freshly picked cherries on a handkerchief