Category: Systemic racism and classism

Q&A Session with Arundhati Roy at SOAS

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Disappearing World Forum Q&A Session with Arundhati Roy, held at the Brunei Gallery, SOAS, 2013

One could write a never-ending book about all that is contained in and around this event so it will be difficult to write anything short here. I could say something romantic about ugliness and beauty, about the drama of our existence, of exploiter and the exploited, of greed and resistance to that greed. Or about the possibility that we humans are flawed in our very DNA and evolution and may never be capable of collective peace and goodwill to all. I could say history is never in the past. I could say ideology is profound, especially when it has almost unlimited power driving it into plastic labile minds. I could say capitalism is a fundamental threat to the survival of almost all living things – especially humans. I could say corporate neoliberal rule is designed to exacerbate the logic of capitalism which is ceaseless accumulation and the commodification of all things. Or I could focus on the institution and histories and ideologies and power relations that brought those specific questioners there at that particular time. Or I could focus on Arundhati and all she is representing and all the superlatives that would flow from there. All of the strength, intelligence, elegance, beauty, all of the eloquence, patience, and fortitude. Or I could point out her seeming prescience about our current state of affairs, which was actually a clear-eyed left analysis that has been on the right (correct) side of history for generations, along with common sense ideas like fairness, justice, right and wrong…and feelings, like passion and empathy. Well, the never-ending book won’t start now, so here ends this bit of thought and feeling, digitized, and published for those few who will come across it.

Chomsky BBC Interview Corbyn, Deadly Republicans, Class, Corruption

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Fairly typical bright but fundamentally clueless BBC interviewer talks to Chomsky like an equal, is confronted with the truth, and most of it bounces off of him as if he were made of teflon. He seems clueless because he has almost totally absorbed the reigning neoliberal ideology of the establishment. He wouldn’t be there if he hadn’t. Chomsky’s and Edward S. Herman’s Manufacturing Consent breaks down how the interviewer got where he is. It also explains why the BBC has fallen even further into its role as partisan mouthpiece for the right (i.e, the aforementioned neoliberal establishment). Spoiler alert: the BBC is state media and corporations and the super rich run the state.
The way the BBC titled the video is the definition of burying the lede.
Enjoy:

Looking for a stellar political podcast and news site? Check out Black Agenda Report

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BlackAgendaRadio_AlbumArt

Click image above to go to site.

 

BAReport
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In the fall of 2006, Glen Ford, Bruce Dixon, Margaret Kimberley and Leutisha Stills of CBC Monitor left Black Commentator, which Ford had co-founded and edited since 2002, and launched Black Agenda Report.
Check it out. Well worth your while…

 

The Boots Riley interview on DN! you probably didn’t see

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Click here to watch Boots Riley’s extended interview on Democracy Now! I’m glad he was interviewed and given time on DN!, but it’s a shame most people will miss seeing this second part, because it wasn’t aired. It’s only available on the DN! website as an extended interview.

The first part was important because it got the story out about his cousin and introduced Boots to people who had had never heard of him. Unfortunately, it was rushed and it didn’t give people a chance to fully see what he has to offer politically or musically. He didn’t choose one of his best rhymes (which, even more unfortunately, he flubbed) and the interview just didn’t communicate enough about Riley’s knowledge and experience.

In this extended piece, he has time to relax and tell his story – and surprisingly, he ends-up giving a great analysis of the left that many on the left don’t want to hear. It’s not a total analysis, but it gets to crux of the problem. He also gives a much better performance of a much better song. And there’s even more good stuff in there. So, as they say, watch and learn…

A 20/20 Report on Rap from 1981 [Video]

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Here’s a little time capsule: A 20/20 Report on rap. Surprisingly, it didn’t do a bad job talking about its origins. Of course they missed quite a few things, like the dozens, Gil Scott-Heron, and if they were really on it they would have included a toasting clip from a Jamaican sound system instead of the clip they showed, but I was surprised they even generally got the idea. They tried to put it in some historical and cultural context as well, while showing some respect. Usually there is much more condescension in stories like this from sources like this. The reporter also predicted rap would have staying power. Not too shabby considering the source.

In the end, he states everybody can rap. Maybe, but not everybody can rap well. It’s like saying everyone can sing. But he was trying to make the point that the music was accessible to the makers and the listeners.

For the hardcore old school Hip Hop heads: because he went to the epicenter to get footage, there are actually a couple of clips I haven’t seen anywhere else.

Enjoy the time capsule. The discerning viewer will see how much (and how little) things have changed, in all respects.

I just took another look at the beginning of the video and caught the producer’s name: Danny Schechter. That was Danny Schechter the News Dissector, who recently passed away. Now the quality makes sense. This happened to be from the time Danny spent in corporate news, but he was a good ol’ leftie. Like anyone, he wasn’t perfect or always right, but he left a legacy of engagement and activism when he died, from the struggle for South Africa to media freedom. Here is my post on him from 2013:

Danny Schechter The News Dissector