Tuesday 3 July 2012
US officials pursue Julian Assange
The evidence that the US is pursuing to have Wikileaks founder Julian
Assange extradited to America is becoming more obvious. Assange still
awaits in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for political asylum to South
America, but while he remains trapped, democratic Senator Dianne
Feinstein has issued a statement to an Australian newspaper demanding
that the whistleblower be prosecuted. Trevor Timm, an activist for the
Electronic Frontier Foundation, joins us with more on the hunt for
Assange
Never Knew That Department
Never knew that Radiohead had to amend Creep's writing credits to include the writers of this song...
pourmecoffee @pourmecoffee
So far, Anderson Cooper coming out does not appear to have threatened the sanctity of traditional newscasts.
Is There a Right Way to Come Out?
The Institute of Continuing Education
Keith Laws who is now a Professor of Cognitive Neuropsychology but who in a previous life was the keyboardist in The The has started a new music blog. At the moment he is posting primarily Throbbing Gristle related flyers etc.
HERE
Keith and I have already remarked on how many of the same gigs we were at back in the day and I used to have a lot of these flyers etc used to advertise TG gigs too...
HERE
Keith and I have already remarked on how many of the same gigs we were at back in the day and I used to have a lot of these flyers etc used to advertise TG gigs too...
Monday 2 July 2012
Moving Borders (The Politics of Dirt)
Who can move? Who can speak? Who can act
politically? The struggles of refugees and migrants have problematized
conventional answers to these questions in a profound manner. Their
struggles have demonstrated that, despite the considerable risks and
dangers, new political subjects are being formed within securitized
sites and border zones. Struggles by refugees and migrants around issues
of detention, deportation, regularization and freedom of movement have
debunked some of the most cherished assumptions about political
subjectivity. While refugees, irregular migrants and the undocumented
have long been associated with victimhood, helplessness and dependency,
recent theorizations of citizenship challenge these assumptions, showing
how migrants negotiate, contest and evade borders and, in doing so,
constitute themselves as political subjects. These studies represent a
shift in how we conceptualize citizenship, from a formal status to an
enactment of political subjectivity through unexpected, unfamiliar and
irregular acts. They also enable an appreciation of what a growing and
fascinating literature calls ‘noncitizen citizenships’.1
Some commentators, especially those
working from the ‘autonomous migration’ perspective, have posited that
there is something primary – or, better, uncontrollable, indefinable,
uncapturable – about human movement, with borders and their various
apparatuses of control coming only afterwards.2 We
typically think of migrants confronting borders. Less often do we
consider the ways in which borders are also always following migrants,
being forced to adapt to the inventiveness of human mobility. For the
migrant is not the only mobile agent at the border. The border, too,
moves. While there has been some very interesting work on the
proliferation of mobile borders in their virtual forms (e.g. biometrics
and dataveillance),3 there is comparatively
little analysis of the movement of borders in material terms. When I
speak of the moving border, I mean exactly that: the movement of the
territory – the dirt, the soil – that constitutes the border. In this
context, smuggling takes on new and quite literal terms. It is not only
people and goods, licit or illicit, that are being smuggled across the
border; it is the border itself...
Policing England's Riots
Police officers from across the country describe their experience of tackling last year's riots. Eight police forces allowed the Guardian and London School of Economics unprecedented access to officers deployed on the front line during the disturbances as they battled to regain control of towns and cities across the country.
Via
Via
Reading the Riots: reflections on interviewing police officers
Andre Kuipers, space station astronaut, sends pictures to Earth via Twitter
The lights of London are captured by ESA astronaut Andre Kuipers, from his
vantage point high above the Earth on board the International Space Station.
He has been capturing jaw-dropping views since he arrived on the space
station in December, and tweeting them to his followers from his Twitter
profile, @astro_andre.
MORE
MORE
Evgeny Morozov
@evgenymorozov
This book was inevitable: "Breaking Bad and Philosophy" http://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Bad-Philosophy-David-Koepsell/dp/0812697642
A perfect mix for this bitterly cold day
Silent Season - Winter Solstice
Download
01. ASC - Stranded With No Direction - SSCD11
02. Djorvin Clain - Deep Storm - Pattern of Thought - SSCD12
03. Michael Mantra - Mountain (Lunatik Sound System Remix) - SSCD10
04. Michael Mantra - Mountain (Ohrwert Summit Alter) - SSCD10
05. Djorvin Clain - Somewhere - SSCD12
06. Djorvin Clain - The Untitled One - SSCD12
07. Edanticonf - Planet - SSD07
08. Edanticonf - Drome - SSD07
09. Edanticonf - Forest of Echo - SSD07
10. Mon0 - Dreaming - SS14
11. Inanitas - Jim - Unreleased
12. Electribalt - Unreleased
13. Alteria Percepcysne - Jamais Vu - SSD01
14. Sonitus Eco - Strange Figure Up Ahead- SSD05
15. Sonitus Eco - Time Goes By...- SSD05
16. Research Music Lab - Ambient 1 Remix - SSD06
Download
01. ASC - Stranded With No Direction - SSCD11
02. Djorvin Clain - Deep Storm - Pattern of Thought - SSCD12
03. Michael Mantra - Mountain (Lunatik Sound System Remix) - SSCD10
04. Michael Mantra - Mountain (Ohrwert Summit Alter) - SSCD10
05. Djorvin Clain - Somewhere - SSCD12
06. Djorvin Clain - The Untitled One - SSCD12
07. Edanticonf - Planet - SSD07
08. Edanticonf - Drome - SSD07
09. Edanticonf - Forest of Echo - SSD07
10. Mon0 - Dreaming - SS14
11. Inanitas - Jim - Unreleased
12. Electribalt - Unreleased
13. Alteria Percepcysne - Jamais Vu - SSD01
14. Sonitus Eco - Strange Figure Up Ahead- SSD05
15. Sonitus Eco - Time Goes By...- SSD05
16. Research Music Lab - Ambient 1 Remix - SSD06
Pushing Citizens To Extremes
'As
governments seem wholly unwilling to bring criminal bankers to justice, angry
and frightened citizens look to more drastic measures. I wouldn’t actually
recommend extreme revenge. It’s probably illegal to suggest such things.'
Mick Farren
Mick Farren
♪♫ The Flaming Lips - You Lust (feat. Phantogram)
"You got a lot of nerve
A lot of nerve to fuck with me
Better kill your emperor
'Cause you know you're just like me
You lust
You lust
You lust
Lust to succeed
Lust to succeed
Lust to succeed
Lust to succeed
Lust to succeed
Lust to succeed
When you pull the switch on them
I don't really want to know
When you shoot the stars away
The brightest light is the first to go
You lust
You lust
You lust
Lust to succeed
Lust to succeed
Lust to succeed
Lust to succeed
Lust to succeed
Lust to succeed
Unholy and magnificent
The selfish eye can't see itself
When it shoots across the fire
It can never be destroyed
It can never be destroyed
It can never be destroyed"
Via
Russians join in call for Pussy Riot trio's release
Pussy Riot try to perform at the Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow. Photograph: Sergey Ponomarev/AP
Artists and musicians around the world have called for their release. Now, nearly four months after three women were arrested for performing a protest anthem inside Moscow's most important Orthodox church, Christ the Saviour cathedral, a growing number of Russians are joining calls for their freedom.
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Ekaterina Samutsevich and Maria Alehina – all members of the anarchic Pussy Riot punk band – have been in prison since March, held on charges of hooliganism which could eventually mean a seven-year sentence. Many Muscovites were happy enough to see a tough response to the band's irreverent act of rebellion, which was aimed at President Vladimir Putin. But with no trial date set, no signs that they will be released and opposition to Putin spreading, support for the trio has grown, even among those who at first condemned them.
"Their actions insulted me, because I'm religious," said Alexander Ivanov, a popular musician. "It's not what they said, it's where they did it. I was offended – but for them to get seven years in jail for an unsuccessful experiment, that's going too far."
Ivanov is one of more than 100 cultural figures who signed an open letter last week calling on the state to release the women, in an indication that popular unease at their plight is growing.
"It scares me that, for a rather unsuccessful, but extreme, cultural experiment, they want to jail them for so many years," he said. "Artists need to have freedom."
Some of Russia's best-known opposition figures – satirist Viktor Shenderovich, poet Lev Rubinstein, musician Yury Shevchuk – signed the letter. Other names were more surprising, such as those of actress Chulpan Khamatova and actor Yevgeny Mironov, both of whom appeared in videos for Putin's re-election campaign earlier this year. Director Fyodor Bondarchuk, a prominent supporter of Putin's, also added his name. The signatories warned of the social divisions caused by the case, stating: "While the participants in the performance have been held under arrest, an atmosphere of impatience has grown in society which will cause division and radicalism. We do not see any legal foundation or practical sense in further isolating from society these young women who present no real danger."
Nearly 25,000 other supporters have added their names to the letter, which was published on the website of the liberal radio station Ekho Moskvy.
The domestic groundswell of opinion comes after a concerted international campaign. Beastie Boy Ad-Rock – real name Adam Horowitz – has performed at a Pussy Riot benefit in New York; the US punk band Anti-Flag have released an English-language cover of the controversial Punk Prayer, and the Tokyo Palace in Paris has opened an exhibit on the jailed rockers.
Benefits have been held in Prague, Warsaw and Tallinn, where the Estonian president was in attendance. But such backing from Russia's cultural intelligentsia was until recently all but non-existent. Artemy Troitsky, Russia's premier rock critic, thinks similar acts in Russia would be impossible. "We could put on a concert in support of Pussy Riot in a forest or something," he said. "But in our police state it's not realistic to put on such a concert – it would be stopped."
Troitsky, a harsh regime critic with a sharp, expletive-laden tongue, has instead gathered hundreds of artists to put together a series of albums to support the growing movement against Putin's rule – and to call for Pussy Riot's release. The so-called "White Album" has more than 350 artists so far; a proper album is in the works. Troitsky is hoping for songs, or messages of support, from stars such as Paul McCartney or Madonna, who will perform in St Petersburg in August.
"We're calling for honest elections, a fight against corruption, justice and freedom for political prisoners – Pussy Riot first," Troitsky said. "They are the clearest and most undoubtable case of people arrested for political reasons."
Last week Amnesty International again called for the release iof the three women, whom they have dubbed prisoners of conscience. The statement came after a Moscow court extended the trio's detention until 24 July. No trial start date has been set.
"The case is dragging on because they can't do anything – on the one hand, they can't let them go because it would be against Putin's order; on the other hand, they can't start the trial because they have no argument," Troitsky said. Putin criticised Pussy Riot's performance shortly after their arrest, which many in Russia took as a signal of his support for the criminal case against them.
The longer it drags on, the more public acts of defiance grow. Last week, actor and director Olga Darfi strutted down the red carpet at the opening of Moscow's International Film Festival in a makeshift pink balaclava.
"I don't share their point of view and I'm not aesthetically close to what they do, and maybe they deserve some administrative punishment," Darfi said. "But that they're in jail is totally illegal. And we have to fight against this situation and create social pressure – if we do nothing then any of us can find ourselves in this situation. It's very dangerous."Pussy Riot shot to notoriety inside Russia with their flash performances of anti-Putin punk songs, accompanied by a revolutionary look of bright balaclavas and stockings. A February performance inside Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, dubbed Punk Prayer, led to their arrest. The anti-government lyrics, delivered in the heart of official Orthodox Christianity, shocked the nation.
The powerful Orthodox church has continually attacked the band. Last week its spokesman, Vsevolod Chaplin, said that God had told him in a divine revelation that he "condemns what they have done". He added: "This sin will be punished in this life and the next."The signatories of the open letter in support of Pussy Riot warned of the social divisions caused by the case. "While the participants in the performance have been held under arrest, an atmosphere of impatience has grown in society which will cause division and radicalism.
"We do not see any legal foundation or practical sense in further isolating from society these young women who present no real danger," the letter said. Nearly 25,000 readers have added their names to the letter, which was published on the website of liberal radio station Echo Moskvy.
Miriam Elder @'The Guardian'
Artists and musicians around the world have called for their release. Now, nearly four months after three women were arrested for performing a protest anthem inside Moscow's most important Orthodox church, Christ the Saviour cathedral, a growing number of Russians are joining calls for their freedom.
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Ekaterina Samutsevich and Maria Alehina – all members of the anarchic Pussy Riot punk band – have been in prison since March, held on charges of hooliganism which could eventually mean a seven-year sentence. Many Muscovites were happy enough to see a tough response to the band's irreverent act of rebellion, which was aimed at President Vladimir Putin. But with no trial date set, no signs that they will be released and opposition to Putin spreading, support for the trio has grown, even among those who at first condemned them.
"Their actions insulted me, because I'm religious," said Alexander Ivanov, a popular musician. "It's not what they said, it's where they did it. I was offended – but for them to get seven years in jail for an unsuccessful experiment, that's going too far."
Ivanov is one of more than 100 cultural figures who signed an open letter last week calling on the state to release the women, in an indication that popular unease at their plight is growing.
"It scares me that, for a rather unsuccessful, but extreme, cultural experiment, they want to jail them for so many years," he said. "Artists need to have freedom."
Some of Russia's best-known opposition figures – satirist Viktor Shenderovich, poet Lev Rubinstein, musician Yury Shevchuk – signed the letter. Other names were more surprising, such as those of actress Chulpan Khamatova and actor Yevgeny Mironov, both of whom appeared in videos for Putin's re-election campaign earlier this year. Director Fyodor Bondarchuk, a prominent supporter of Putin's, also added his name. The signatories warned of the social divisions caused by the case, stating: "While the participants in the performance have been held under arrest, an atmosphere of impatience has grown in society which will cause division and radicalism. We do not see any legal foundation or practical sense in further isolating from society these young women who present no real danger."
Nearly 25,000 other supporters have added their names to the letter, which was published on the website of the liberal radio station Ekho Moskvy.
The domestic groundswell of opinion comes after a concerted international campaign. Beastie Boy Ad-Rock – real name Adam Horowitz – has performed at a Pussy Riot benefit in New York; the US punk band Anti-Flag have released an English-language cover of the controversial Punk Prayer, and the Tokyo Palace in Paris has opened an exhibit on the jailed rockers.
Benefits have been held in Prague, Warsaw and Tallinn, where the Estonian president was in attendance. But such backing from Russia's cultural intelligentsia was until recently all but non-existent. Artemy Troitsky, Russia's premier rock critic, thinks similar acts in Russia would be impossible. "We could put on a concert in support of Pussy Riot in a forest or something," he said. "But in our police state it's not realistic to put on such a concert – it would be stopped."
Troitsky, a harsh regime critic with a sharp, expletive-laden tongue, has instead gathered hundreds of artists to put together a series of albums to support the growing movement against Putin's rule – and to call for Pussy Riot's release. The so-called "White Album" has more than 350 artists so far; a proper album is in the works. Troitsky is hoping for songs, or messages of support, from stars such as Paul McCartney or Madonna, who will perform in St Petersburg in August.
"We're calling for honest elections, a fight against corruption, justice and freedom for political prisoners – Pussy Riot first," Troitsky said. "They are the clearest and most undoubtable case of people arrested for political reasons."
Last week Amnesty International again called for the release iof the three women, whom they have dubbed prisoners of conscience. The statement came after a Moscow court extended the trio's detention until 24 July. No trial start date has been set.
"The case is dragging on because they can't do anything – on the one hand, they can't let them go because it would be against Putin's order; on the other hand, they can't start the trial because they have no argument," Troitsky said. Putin criticised Pussy Riot's performance shortly after their arrest, which many in Russia took as a signal of his support for the criminal case against them.
The longer it drags on, the more public acts of defiance grow. Last week, actor and director Olga Darfi strutted down the red carpet at the opening of Moscow's International Film Festival in a makeshift pink balaclava.
"I don't share their point of view and I'm not aesthetically close to what they do, and maybe they deserve some administrative punishment," Darfi said. "But that they're in jail is totally illegal. And we have to fight against this situation and create social pressure – if we do nothing then any of us can find ourselves in this situation. It's very dangerous."Pussy Riot shot to notoriety inside Russia with their flash performances of anti-Putin punk songs, accompanied by a revolutionary look of bright balaclavas and stockings. A February performance inside Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, dubbed Punk Prayer, led to their arrest. The anti-government lyrics, delivered in the heart of official Orthodox Christianity, shocked the nation.
The powerful Orthodox church has continually attacked the band. Last week its spokesman, Vsevolod Chaplin, said that God had told him in a divine revelation that he "condemns what they have done". He added: "This sin will be punished in this life and the next."The signatories of the open letter in support of Pussy Riot warned of the social divisions caused by the case. "While the participants in the performance have been held under arrest, an atmosphere of impatience has grown in society which will cause division and radicalism.
"We do not see any legal foundation or practical sense in further isolating from society these young women who present no real danger," the letter said. Nearly 25,000 readers have added their names to the letter, which was published on the website of liberal radio station Echo Moskvy.
Miriam Elder @'The Guardian'
Sunday 1 July 2012
Off to see Damo Suzuki tonight
Info
Bugger that!
Far too cold here in Melbourne tonight to go traipsin' uphill & downhill in the wind & rain...
GAH!!!
Mona Street
@exilestreet
What is it w/ kids & their
intolerably CRAP loud music. Think I may have to wire up the PA &
blast Sunn O))) in their direction! (1:30AM)
CELEBRITY: Katie Holmes files for divorce, citing 'irreconcilable homosexuality'.
Are middle aged mums REALLY being seduced by porn?
Fifty Shades of Grey (Fifty Shades, #1)
David Aaronovitch
So is it the billionaire or the spanking that women like so much about Shades of Grey? I’m sure it’s not the fisting.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)