Also whoah socialist tshirt FTW! Jami’s drummer, Derrick McKenzie, is totally wearing a socialism-related tshirt in that vid! It’s a quote from Bill Shankly, “The socialism I believe in is everybody working for the same goal and everybody having a share in the rewards. That’s how I see football, that’s how I see life.” Nice catch, me!
"The balance between the coolness of genuine rebellion and the attempt to market it has always been an uneasy one. I’m sure that Urban Outfitters are oblivious to how their attempt to market our own radicalization back to us might end up fanning the flames - big business will gladly sell us the same rope we use to string them up!"
— Alexander Billet @ Rebel Frequencies Blog
http://rebelfrequencies.blogspot.com/2009/08/revolution-is-only-t-shirt-away.html
I like this guy. He’s incredibly optimistic and I hope he’s right, that rather than squeezing the life out of radical ideas, commercialization of them gives us tools for discussion and identification.
Apparently I’m late. I’ve had dreams of making “cute” socialist tshirts for a long time, and now Urban Outfitters has beat me to the punch AND commercialized it. Great. On the other hand, this could be considered a good thing, and this article does a great job explaining why: http://rebelfrequencies.blogspot.com/2009/08/revolution-is-only-t-shirt-away.html
I really wish they made this shirt for women, DAMN YOU URBAN OUTFITTERS!!!!
I wanted it when I first saw Lil Wayne wear it on the View. Here’s a link to that video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8r6d7a1wmw&feature=player_embedded
Great TED talk by Mathieu Lehanneur showing some great collaboration between SCIENCE and DESIGN. This is human potential, right here! Too bad it’s unaffordable in our society.
"The House’s Affordable Health Care for America Act would force millions of people to buy high-cost, low-coverage insurance policies from private companies. It would funnel hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars that could be used to do something useful about health care into the pockets of the insurance giants. It capitulates on even the half-measure of the “public option” of a government-run alternative for the uninsured. It gives up on effective regulation of all but the worst practices of the medical-insurance complex. It contains an appalling concession to the anti-abortion fanatics that would be the most expansive government restriction yet imposed on women’s right to choose."
Malalai’s accent is hard to understand but it’s absolutely worth trying and watching this whole video (and the second half). She talks about the Afghan people being caught between “two enemies” - the US-created Taliban and the US occupation.
“Malalai Joya is known around the world as a courageous opponent of the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan, the corrupt regime presided over by President Hamid Karzai—and the Taliban and other conservative Islamist forces battling U.S. and Afghan government troops. An uncompromising fighter for women’s rights, Joya was elected to parliament in 2005, where she denounced the presence of representatives who she called “warlords” and “war criminals.” In 2007, she was suspended on the grounds that she had “insulted” fellow members. An international solidarity campaign has rallied support for her. Joya has been the target of assassination attempts and must travel in Afghanistan with armed bodyguards, wearing a burqa as a disguise. She is speaking in Seattle on a US book tour for her new book, A Woman Among Warlords: The Extraordinary Story of an Afghan Who Dared to Raise Her Voice.”
"CHRIS HARMAN, a leading British socialist and author of dozens of books and pamphlets on politics, economics, history and the Marxist tradition, died of a heart attack on Saturday at the age of 67."
— \I haven’t yet finished Chris’ People’s History of the World, but I can say that its helped to shape my wider Marxist perspective greatly. Many cheers to his efforts to bring about a better world - I’m sure his works will continue to have influence on revolutionaries for generations.
Buying Influence in the Obama Administration
Cause that’s how government under Capitalism works, apparently.
http://awesome.good.is/transparency/web/0910/healthcareless/flash.html
“Opponents of the public option claim that by being forced to compete against the government, health care companies will be at an unfair advantage. But right now, health care companies hardly have to compete at all. In most states, one health care provider controls the vast share of the market, which allows them to raise premiums far faster than the wages of their customers rise. The market might be the best solution for health care, but right now, it’s being controlled by virtual monopolies in many states.”
Unlike V, I wouldn’t blame the situation of society on the vote of the people over those holding the puppet’s strings, but V for Vendetta still has an inspiring message about the power of the people. …Even if having an antihero like V behind the scenes sort of made the revolution aspect a lot easier. The movie is about the IDEA, not the details. Those are for real life I suppose.
Really really good explanation of the Marxist Socialist (specifically ISO) perspective on “the state”, Marxism, Lenin, Stalin and some high and low level debates surrounding those things. You may disagree with the ideas, but no doubt it’s a great overview OF them.
Surveys show that women consider themselves less happy than in the 70’s and some are pointing to feminism as the culprit. But there are plenty reasons for us to be unhappy today - we’re more willing to admit it, we expect more but have less, the sexes are still unequal, the beauty ideal is marketed even more heavily today, and fewer women are involved in struggles for liberation.
Holy crap. And again I say, “this is why I’m a socialist”. We CAN do it, we just choose not to because it’s not currently profitable.
smartercities via smarterplanet:
Surface Area Required To Solar Power The World | Information Is Beautiful
According to the United Nations 170,000 square kilometers of forest is destroyed each year. If we constructed solar farms at the same rate, we would be finished in 3 years.
Can I get a hand analyzing this TED talk? My politico friends and some socialist perspective would be great.
My first reaction to some of the things this guys says is “Fuck you buddy”. Talking as though “the consumer” got us into this financial mess is just a twisted take on reality. When people who are not consulted about the type of society they live in are manipulated by it and follow through, that’s not control and not something to praise people for. While I agree with the idea of “mindful consumption” over “mindless consumption”, the context is all wrong, because businesses benefit from mindless consumption - that’s how capitalism works. After suggesting that we, as consumers, need to be more responsible, he goes on to list some examples of how businesses are finding new opportunities to manipulate people. Wth?
Saying that people are being more responsible because they’re using Debit cards instead of Credit cards is ludicrous, because most of my credit has been downsized by fearful banks. It’s not a choice. Saying that volunteerism is up because employment is down is just twisted. Saying that people are suddenly holding onto their cars longer out of a sense of frugality is idiotic - the real reason is because they can’t afford a new car.
The focus of the talk skews reality to make it seem like people are consuming more responsibly in order to be more responsible - not because they’re forced to by the situation. Some of it, like the DIY and localvore movements have been around for much longer than this recession and deserve respect in their own right. I support the idea of “consumer” power - much of which has to do with the evolution of social media on the web - but playing it as something that is our responsibility to fix and a benefit to businesses just seems messed up.
"They, who claim to believe in ‘free markets’ do not believe in a free marketplace of ideas, any more than they believe in a free marketplace of goods and services. In both material goods and in ideas, they want the market dominated by those who have always held power and wealth. They worry that if new ideas enter the marketplace, people may begin to rethink the social arrangements that have given us so much suffering, so much violence, so much war these last five hundred years of ‘civilization.’"
— Howard Zinn in Columbus and Western Civilization.
