Dec 15

Too soon?

All tears are justified. Lack of tears is not.

Oct 21

Phil Ochs — Love me, I’m a liberal

İ cried when they shot Medgar Evers
Tears ran down my spine
I cried when they shot Mr. Kennedy
As though I’d lost a father of mine
But Malcolm X got what was coming
He got what he asked for this time
So love me, love me, love me, I’m a liberal

I go to civil rights rallies
And I put down the old D.A.R.
I love Harry and Sidney and Sammy
I hope every colored boy becomes a star
But don’t talk about revolution
That’s going a little bit too far
So love me, love me, love me, I’m a liberal

I cheered when Humphrey was chosen
My faith in the system restored
I’m glad the commies were thrown out
of the A.F.L. C.I.O. board
I love Puerto Ricans and Negros
as long as they don’t move next door
So love me, love me, love me, I’m a liberal

The people of old Mississippi
Should all hang their heads in shame
I can’t understand how their minds work
What’s the matter don’t they watch Les Crain?
But if you ask me to bus my children
I hope the cops take down your name
So love me, love me, love me, I’m a liberal

I read New republic and Nation
I’ve learned to take every view
You know, I’ve memorized Lerner and Golden
I feel like I’m almost a Jew
But when it comes to times like Korea
There’s no one more red, white and blue
So love me, love me, love me, I’m a liberal

I vote for the democratic party
They want the U.N. to be strong
I go to all the Pete Seeger concerts
He sure gets me singing those songs
I’ll send all the money you ask for
But don’t ask me to come on along
So love me, love me, love me, I’m a liberal

Once I was young and impulsive
I wore every conceivable pin
Even went to the socialist meetings
Learned all the old union hymns
But I’ve grown older and wiser
And that’s why I’m turning you in
So love me, love me, love me, I’m a liberal

Oct 1

Don’t have to live like a refugee…

I can’t stand these initiatives. They lull liberal souls into thinking “the problem” is addressed through these idyllic solutions. There’s a refugee, an American dream, and there’s even something in it for you: his GREAT RECIPE!

I wish Ah Lun success, but I can’t consider this a very important cause or an adequate effort for Americans to address the problem of refugees when I see what I see, in the news, and even in the streets. Every day, I take a tram ride past a few Afghan refugees who have been on hunger strike for weeks while they appeal their denied application for asylum. They have sewn their mouths shut, slept in the cold and rain for weeks, with the threat of deportation to their war-torn homeland.

There are millions of Afghan refugees, displaced persons and asylum seekers around the world. If you’re an American who cares about refugees, I suggest you spend less time learning the recipes of one man in the Bronx, and more time focusing on holding your government responsible for it’s foreign policy and foreign wars.

Liberal causes need to do a bit deeper soul-searching and less shallow soul-soothing.

Sadza with Vegetable Relish Ah Lun, a Burmese refugee, is promoting healthy eating in the South Bronx

Get his favorite recipe »

Aug 10

“To be sure, capitalism now is trying to introduce some sort of organization and planned production. Its insatiable profit-hunger cannot be satisfied within the old realms; it is driven to expand over the world, to seize the riches, to open the markets, to subject the peoples of other continents. In a fierce competition each of the capitalist groups must try to conquer or to keep to themselves the richest portions of the world. Whereas the capitalist class in England, France, Holland made easy profits by the exploitation of rich colonies, conquered in former wars, German capitalism with its energy, its capacities, its rapid development, that had come too late in the division of the colonial world, could only get its share by striving for world-power, by preparing for world war. It had to be the aggressor, the others were the defenders. So it was the
first to put into action and to organize all the powers of society for this purpose; and then the others had to follow its example.”

Anton Pannekoe, on WWII

Wow - basically, allied powers were super successful colonial powers, while Germany, late and less successful in the colonial game, had to expand by other means, stepping on more industrial, European toes rather than less-developed, non-European grounds.

Same thing with Japan then, eh? Japan would have liked to be a colonial power, if it could, but in its expansion throughout Asia, it butted heads with the USA (in economic interests in the Philippines and elsewhere?).

Of course, you never get these perspectives in the mainstream. So simple. So reasonable.

Aug 7

March Forward! Organizing veterans against US wars

10-Point Program for Struggle

1

We demand the right to refuse illegal and immoral orders.
Service members should no longer be bound to carry out the plans of the Pentagon and Wall Street in violation of U.S. law, international law and people’s right to self-determination. Service members deserve the right to resist, without persecution, orders that conflict with internationally recognized laws or that conflict with their own conscience.

2

We demand an immediate end to the criminal occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Service members should no longer be sent to fight, kill, die, be seriously wounded and/or psychologically scarred furthering the domination of U.S. corporations over other nations. We have nothing to gain from these wars. The occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan serve only the interests of the rich, not the service personnel who are sent over and over to repress people who have the right to determine their own destiny. The people of Iraq and Afghanistan are not our enemies. The more than 800 U.S. bases in 130 countries around the world should be shut down and the troops, fleets and air power brought home.

3

We demand an end to the existing officer corps.
The existing class stratification in the military must end. Officers—who are overwhelmingly from more privileged sectors of society—enjoy a much higher standard of living. They are paid significantly more, are provided much higher quality housing, and have access to services not available to enlisted personnel. Officers advance their careers on the backs of enlisted personnel, going so far as to send their troops into harm’s way for the good of their résumés. The existing officer corps should be dismantled and replaced by enlisted service members who are democratically elected by their units and who are subject to recall at anytime. Officers should no longer enjoy special privileges, including hand salutes. We also demand the right for lower enlisted ranks to unionize and form committees to address grievances with the chain of command, the unit and the military.

4

We demand an end to racism, sexism and homophobia prevalent in the military.
These are intentional barriers to rank-and-file unity against the will of the Pentagon, and must be eliminated through comprehensive education and strict disciplinary action. With the welcomed repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” we demand that necessary measures be taken to ensure that the new law is being respected

…

Great article blasting Afghanistan war myths

Myth 1: We are fighting to defeat the Taliban.

Myth 2: We are fighting to defeat al-Qaeda.

Myth 3: We’re in Afghanistan to defend women’s rights and human rights.

….

Aug 4

Thích Quảng Đức immolated himself in protest of the persecution of Buddhists by South Vietnam’s Roman Catholic government led by Ngo Dinh Diem.

His last words:

“Before closing my eyes and moving towards the vision of the Buddha, I respectfully plead to President Ngô Đình Diệm to take a mind of compassion towards the people of the nation and implement religious equality to maintain the strength of the homeland eternally. I call the venerables, reverends, members of the sangha and the lay Buddhists to organise in solidarity to make sacrifices to protect Buddhism.”

Jul 28

Gives new meaning to the term “post-colonialism”. More like some kind of hangover…

Jul 26

“From a marketing point of view, you don’t introduce new products in August.” White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, when the Bush administration called for the invasion of Iraq on September 12th 2002

…also from a marketing perspective, waiting until the day after the one-year anniversary of 9-11 was a strategic move - get ‘em while they’re emotionally vulnerable

“In a world built on violence, one must be a revolutionary before one can be a pacifist.” Pacifist A.J. Muste, as quoted by Noam Chomsky in American Power and the New Mandarins

The End of Empire

Dismantle oppression. Deepen democracy. Destroy tyranny.