I few months ago I read an essay by Eduardo Galeano that was really incredible, called "To Be Like Them." The other day I found it on line. It's about the global South being promised it can be like the North, if only it follows the rules of free trade and structural adjustment which the North doesn't even follow for itself. It asks the question, even if it were possible, does the South want to be like the North, and is there a chance to say "no?"

Can everyone in the world live like North Americans? No. The earth would not support it. Can the South learn another way to "develop?"

A friend pointed me to Thomas Friedman's latest editorital (i'll cut and paste it below in case you don't want to register, and later, pay, to read it on the Times site.), as sort of a rebuttal, I guess, to my mention of the film End of Suburbia, which is all about the idea of peak oil production and the coming consequences of passing that peak, which we may have already done.

I read the piece and it is okay, has nice vitriol, but it's basically just a rant, and not a terribly original one. Are mainstream New York Times-reading people really responding to rhetoric like this?

But ok great tom's mad and its thanxgiving and he wants to go
home early.

But then i get to the end and he's thankful for the schools that
"manage to produce young men and women ready to voluntarily risk their lives in places like Iraq and Afghanistan to spread the opportunity of freedom and to protect my own."

...and i'm like WHAT?! i thought i had figured out his sarcasm
rhythm and it would seem he's serious here. if not, then ok, a
poorly delivered joke, but if he means this i'm aghast. Does he
really think the afghanistan or iraq adventures are or ever were
about spreading freedom or protecting ours? And as for the
schools and the military i have two words for him: poverty
draft.

And finally, does he really think that if only people drove regular cars and not hummers we wouldn't have mujahadeen in Falluja killing our kids? I mean, I'm sorry Tom but you've got more work to do. There are so few Hummers out there, do you really dream that even if your column somehow convinced every owner to renounce theirs and buy a Ford Explorer, or even a Honda Civic, that it would make a godamn bit of difference in the world? Holy shit.

November 25, 2004
OP-ED COLUMNIST
In My Next Life
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

In my next life, I want to be Tom DeLay, the House majority leader.

Yes, I want to get almost the entire Republican side of the House of Representatives to bend its ethics rules just for me. I want to be able to twist the arms of House Republicans to repeal a rule that automatically requires party leaders to step down if they are indicted on a felony charge - something a Texas prosecutor is considering doing to DeLay because of corruption allegations.

But most of all, I want to have the gall to sully American democracy at a time when young American soldiers are fighting in Iraq so we can enjoy a law-based society here and, maybe, extend it to others. Yes, I want to be Tom DeLay. I want to wear a little American flag on my lapel in solidarity with the troops, while I besmirch every value they are dying for.

If I can't be Tom DeLay, then I want to be one of the gutless Republican House members who voted to twist the rules for DeLay out of fear that "the Hammer," as they call him, might retaliate by taking away a coveted committee position or maybe a parking place.

Yes, I want to be a Republican House member. At a time when 180 of the 211 members of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit in Iraq who have been wounded in combat have insisted on returning to duty, I want to look my constituents and my kids in the eye and tell them that I voted to empty the House ethics rules because I was afraid of Tom DeLay.

If I can't be a Republican House member, I want to be Latrell Sprewell, the guard for the Minnesota Timberwolves. I want to say with a straight face that if my owner will only give me a three-year contract extension for a meager $21 million, then he's not worth working for, because "I've got my family to feed."

Yes, I want to be Latrell Sprewell. At a time when N.B.A. games are priced beyond the reach of most American families, when half the country can't afford health care, when some reservists in Iraq are separated from their families for a year, including this Thanksgiving, I want to be like Latrell. I want to make sure everyone knows that I'm looking out for my family - and no one else's.

If I can't be Latrell Sprewell, I want to be any American college or professional athlete. For a mere dunk of the basketball or first-down run, I want to be able to dance a jig, as if I'd just broken every record by Michael Jordan or Johnny Unitas. For the smallest, most routine bit of success in my sport, I want to be able to get in your face - I want to know who's your daddy, I want to be able to high-five, low-five, thump my chest and dance on your grave. You talkin' to me?

I want to be able to fight on the court, off the court, in the stands and on the sidelines. I want to respect no boundaries and no norms. And when I make your kids cry, I want to be able to tell you to just "chill" - that my coach says "stuff happens" and that my union rep is appealing my punishment in the name of the Bill of Rights and the Magna Carta. Yes, in my next life, I want to be The Man.

If I can't be The Man, then I at least want to be the owner of a Hummer - with American flag decals all over the back bumper, because Hummer owners are, on average, a little more patriotic than you and me.

Yes, I want to drive the mother of all gas-guzzlers that gets so little mileage you have to drive from gas station to gas station. Yes, I want to drive my Hummer and never have to think that by consuming so much oil, I am making transfer payments to the worst Arab regimes that transfer money to Islamic charities that transfer money to madrassas that teach children intolerance, antipluralism and how to hate the infidels.

And when one day one of those madrassa graduates goes off and joins the jihad in Falluja and kills my neighbor's son, who is in the U.S. Army Rangers, I want to drive to his funeral in my Hummer. Yes, I want to curse his killers in front of his mother and wail aloud, "If there was only something I could do ..." And then I want to drive home in my Hummer, stopping at two gas stations along the way.

If I can't be any of these, then I want to be just a simple blue-state red-state American. I want to take time on this Thanksgiving to thank God I live in a country where, despite so much rampant selfishness, the public schools still manage to produce young men and women ready to voluntarily risk their lives in places like Iraq and Afghanistan to spread the opportunity of freedom and to protect my own. And I want to thank them for doing this, even though on so many days in so many ways we really don't deserve them.

I just found out that my rough-cut short video about the Caravan to Juarez will be showing at the Borderland Film Festival on December 3, at Coyote Studios,
2390 Mission St. 3rd Floor, San Francisco. I wish I could be there. The whole festival looks really interesting and great. But I can't afford to just fly down there next week.

At this moment I am logging footage from Juarez. I'm on tape #8 out of 12. I have a lot of footage but I'm starting to fear that I don't have enough of the right footage for my longer documentary - I need more interviews with certain people talking about certain topics. I'm starting to fear that I'll have to travel to talk to more people, which I can't afford, and I'm worrying that this project will stretch on, when I really would like to wrap it up in a timely manner.

Here's a Good article by a woman from Ohio who went to the NarcoNews School of Authentic Journalism conference in Cochabamaba, Bolivia this past August. Describes basically what happened and her personal take on the experience and the concept of what "authentic journalism" means to her. Very compatible with ideas about Indymedia, I think.

Last night on the radio I heard an interview with a historian who studies the historical Jesus, the real person upon which Christianity is based. I don't identify as Christian but he said some things that were extremely fascinating to me. This researcher, John Dominic Crossan, used to be a priest, and is still, one can tell from listening to him, very devoutly religious, but his ideas are going against the grain of some standard Christian dogma. One idea he talked about I just remembered this morning and it suddenly struck me how incredibly profound it is, what a stunning analysis of our culture it is.

The idea is this: In our Judeo-Christian culture, we talk about "the end of the world," in which Jesus will come back and basically kick ass on evil. Crossan says this is an essentially violent worldview, and that many Christians, from the Apostle Paul onward, have wanted there to be a second coming because they secretly believe that Jesus didn't get it right the first time. He was meek and he allowed himself to be killed by his enemies and they can't accept that, so he has to come back and violently "win" next time. But Jesus never talked this way. In fact early biblical writings never referred to the end of the "the world," says Crossan, because it was inconceivable that God would destroy his creation. They talked about "the end of days" instead. A subtle difference, but a telling one.

Crossan said the question before Christians when interpreting the Bible and talking about the End Times is this: do we believe in a violent God, or a non-violent God? And sadly, Fundamentalists believe in a violent God, one who will bring down a hideous Apocalypse upon the Earth, and they're working to help bring it about.

This election fiasco in the Ukraine is so ironic, with the U.S. reaction demonstrating such a level of hypocrisy as to make one want to vomit. I took this BBC story and did a quick search and replace of some person and place names to come up with a suprisingly familiar story:

BBC NEWS
United States on brink of 'civil war'
Both sides in United States's disputed presidential election have warned of a civil conflict, as tens of thousands of people continue to protest in Washington.

Opposition leader John Kerry rejected the official results declaring incumbent president George Bush as president, and urged a general strike.

Former President Bill Clinton called on world leaders not to interfere.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said London "cannot accept" the election result as legitimate.

Correspondents say the opposition supporters show no signs of ending their three days of protests in the capital, Washington.

DISPUTED ELECTION
Official result:
Bush (left): 49.46%
Kerry: 46.61%
Western observers report:
Abuse of state resources and "overt media bias" in favour of Mr Bush
State workers pressured to give absentee voting certificate to their superiors
Intimidation reported at some polling stations
Suspiciously high turnout in two pro-government regions

Calling for a general strike, Mr Kerry told a vast crowd of supporters in the central Independence Square that United States was on the brink of a "civil conflict".

Karl Rove, who backs Mr Bush, denounced the opposition protests and warned civil war "could well become a reality at the present time".

Mr Bush, who has now declared himself the winner, offered to hold talks with the opposition leader.

"We must improve our lives and we will do it together - all of our citizens and myself as president of United States," he said in a brief appearance on state television.

But a key member of the opposition team told the BBC that Mr Kerry would only negotiate with Karl Rove.

The opposition said it would challenge the official result in the supreme court on Thursday.

Refusing to accept defeat, Mr Kerry told his supporters: "We do not recognise the election as officially declared."

He called for a national strike that would shut down schools, factories and transport networks.

The pro-Choice Mr Kerry, who claims the vote was rigged against him, called the election commission's official declaration "their latest crime".

"With this decision, they want to put us on our knees," he told the crowd, which chanted: "Shame! Shame!"

Washington's warning

A host of celebrities have appeared on stage to show their support for the opposition.

They included United States's Eurovision Song Contest winner, Britany Spears, who announced she was going on hunger strike until the opposition leader was declared president.

A number of pro-government supporters were also visible on Washington's streets for the first time on Wednesday, though eastern United States saw pro-government rallies earlier in the week.

The two sides have been trading taunts and pro-government supporters celebrated the official results by drinking champagne.

Riot police have been on stand-by since the demonstrations began but there have been no reports of violence.

In Moscow, President Putin said United States was at a "critical moment" and had to decide whether it was on the side of democracy.

He warned of "consequences" for the Russian-United States relationship, but he added: "It's still not too late to find a solution which respects the will of the people."

The election commission said Mr Bush won Sunday's second round vote with a margin of almost three percentage points.

The commission had already indicated a win for Mr Bush, but exit poll results had put Mr Kerry ahead.

China and the European Commission had urged United States not to announce the result before reviewing the contentious vote.

The new head of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, earlier warned the United States there could be "consequences" for its relations with the European Union, unless there was a serious and independent review.

The Netherlands, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU, said it would send an envoy to United States to discuss the disputed result.

Neighbouring Poland has also sent a top foreign policy adviser.

Western election observers and the American opposition have reported thousands of voting irregularities, including a near 100% turnout in some pro-government strongholds.

Earlier, Mr Kerry said he was prepared to have a re-run of the vote if it was run by "honest" officials.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/4040041.stm

Published: 2004/11/24 22:56:33 GMT

• steev's blog

On Friday it's Buy Nothing Day. Which is a great idea that Adbusters had several years ago that I wholly support as a concept. The intention is right, but it's one of those ideas that is just a stepping stone, that feels now like it doesn't go far enough. There are, according to their site, "millions" of people who take part, who refuse to consume on the day after Thanxgiving, or Black Friday, as retailers call it. But I'll bet you my (unused) copy of Quicken that most of those people go out on Wednesday or even Thursday and make the purchases they would have made on Friday. Or just put it off till Saturday. They make sure they have enough coffee beans and milk, they check that the grinder still works, so they can make cappucinos at home Friday morning. Anybody can do that kind of stuff. It's not that hard. (The fact that it's something people actually have to make an effort to do, something that seems radical to most people in this country, is a sad indictment of our culture.) But how many of those people participating are actually reducing their total daily, monthly, yearly consumption? Isn't it about time to move on to Buy Nothing Week? And on further from there? Sorry, just shifting your consumption over one day is not gonna save the world. It's a nice PR stunt, but that's about it.

Here's a great set of photos by John Douglas called Homeland Security. Hilarious and a great subtle commentary, and just plain weird.

Here's an interesting story by the BBC, entitled "Mexican mob burns officers alive." What's notable is the spin: words like "mob" and "vigilantism," and the background which they only touch on with the mention that people in Mexico are "frustrated by state corruption and soaring crime." Classic British understatement.

They don't go into the incredible depth of corruption, of police involvement with narcotrafficing, which is Mexico's biggest industry amounting to $US30 billion a year. They don't venture to guess that there's going to be more of this sort of thing in the future. More situations where the people, neighbors, communities, fed up with police and other agencies who fail to carry out their duties to society, will handle things more and more themselves. They'll take it upon themselves to organize and improve their communities themselves, because they will finally admit that the institutions aren't going to do it for them. This will start happening more and more, and not just in the "third world" - and there will be mistakes and clashes with official authority, and it will not be pretty...

Just discovered Flickr. Is this old news? It's pretty cool. Makes me wish I had a digital still camera. This kind of stuff, along with phonecams, fotologs, etc, is really changing the way we as a culture look at images, at representation, at reality. I think I was just reading something by Frederic Jameson about this sort of thing, but he wrote before the internet or digital cameras. He wrote about how just the fact there is this HUGE number of photos of everything being taken everywhere has changed the way we look at the world and at life. Now not only are there tons of photos but theoretically anyone (anyone who can afford to be on the internet, somehow) can look at them, and search them and sort them. Totally insane.

And what's even crazier is that there are people growing up now who may never understand that the world was once not like this. Kind of like the friends I have who have never had a job that's not related to the Internet somehow.

It's also interesting to imagine how technologies like this could be used for activism. What happens when virtually everyone has a camera with them at all times and can snap pics, in a relatively clandestine, easy way, and get them online, of whatever fucked-up shit is happening wherever they are? I am reminded of the excellent "Spiders" web cartoon, which tells an alternate history of the U.S.-Afghan War, one in which Gore is president and tiny camera robots roam Afghanistan, accessible by anyone with an internet connection...