A VERSION of Santanalia
by the bloody nos
HEAR HEAR
Now is the time to celebrate Santanalia!
Q: Why is Santanalia here?
A: Because Christian celebration is monopolizing this land. Many Christmas-celebrators simply have no idea that other cultures exist. Media sources tell us that the assertion of Happy Holidays is a sting in this side, the refusal to step down from empire status. Other folks celebrating other Holidays may likewise resist blending, but they do not have the experience of totally possessing a culture with their emblems and assertions. Above and beyond this social interplay, the land is steeped in longer and longer nights, shadow swallowing us in greater and greater darkness. Let us look into that darkness.
American Christian Empire forces an emphasis on light. The need to understand death is eclipsed by the reassurance of afterlife. Death outright frightens, and media pantomimes expose a cultural unwillingness to accept it. Thus culture is youth-obsessed, driven to increasing diversions, and collapsing under excess waste.
The new light is born upon the land: let us look upon the new light, sayeth the Christians. This is not the actual timing of the event in question, of course, but a natural tactic to place the ritual initiation of their empire in the midst of 1. extant celebrations and 2. the center of earth darkness (northern hemisphere).
Thus the season was hijacked. My impression is that early celebration of the new "Christmas" (year xxx) went along generally as before, regional celebrations based on local traditions, responding to the imposed rituals gradually or jarringly… after all, you cannot tell a man how to celebrate!
Or can you? Advent of electric entertainment cloaking corporate advertisement suddenly broadcast in all KINDS of instructions. Brands soothe, technology titillates. Products climb out of the glass face and populate our worlds. How we love our objects! It is only reasonable that, in a season given to communal reassurance, we share our feeling by giving beloved objects to people. This is the culture, and this is a fine thing. Santa, of course, approves – but Santa is dead now.
Santa has gone the way of Jupiter, hanging his great snowy face in the sky. He is a myth of a man, CEO among untermenschen, impossibly wealthy and apparently resourceful, even magical in his will to gift.
But Santa is dead now, going the way of the snow itself, and it falls upon our harried populace to tax their means and gift in the honor of Santa!
Santa-in-us agitates, mashes us up against each other. We are driven to co-mingle and dust off the old pagan traditions of Saturnalia: solstice awareness, disintegration of class, mischief and jolly-ness. For in the time of deepest night, the sought animal warmth of community omits any safety, except that which we respectfully incline towards each other.
That is a folk notion, and was the essential socialist idea (X) behind Christianity itself… but apparently, in latter days, this does not extend to folk beyond one's own cultural circle. In these times of post-globalization we must change the very practice of holiday celebration to participate in human community again.
In this way, we embrace the commonly extant holidays: Dark Solstice, Regal Chaunkkah, Pious Christmas, Righteous Kwanzaa & Crystal New Year. In that all impart gifts upon their celebrator, they are already practitioners of the Great Santanalia. And further – to the Muslims, the Atheists, the Hindis, the Satanist, the monks & acolytes – whose present body confers status in the Human Community.*
* Santa's rumored whiteness is based only on practical knowledge (North Pole exists in a tundra), but completely ignores the Hollow Earth theory, which has been discredited only by photographs. Santa could have been any kind of dude, really.
TAKE BACK THE HOLIDAYS
Santanalia is a three-week period beginning 21 days before the last day of Kwanzaa. Celebration styles vary widely, but invariably include social activity, preparation of objects & object exchange, and examination of the significant and daily occurrences of the preceding year. In the omnipresence of the night, it is potent time to participate in one's inner life. (Life changes might occur, but it is best not to force them.) It is from this interior practice that we generate the energy to fully celebrate, as well as prepare intentionally for the coming year.
RITES (in whatever order)
On the cusp of New Year, make a wish in the name of Santalia.
Gift-giving is most certainly NOT withheld for one particular day. The whole Holiday is ripe for receiving, and make certain to save some wrapped gift for January.
It is appropriate to overlap Santanalia with your traditional style of celebration. Santanalia is known soother for particular Holiday Hangover.
If commerce situations freak you out, it is totally acceptable to handcraft gift from the waste and excess of the past year.
Notice the birds and animals that actively scoutabout in this season. Give gifts to your favorite (they like simple food).
Give special thanks to an evergreen plant by decorating it while it is still in the ground. This includes cactus and other regional variance. There is also plenty of time to rescue cut trees from anxious Christmas-only households.
Santanalia lights are blues & indigoes.
Bend class rules at work holiday parties.
The importance of the Object was predominant to Santa, so shall it be to us. Use Santanalia as a time to revere all Objects – complex tools of perpetual use (home, vehicle, electronics) and simple Objects at hand; acknowledge them as people, ask how you can serve them.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Monday, December 08, 2008
Went to a film screening at St. Joe's on Sat. of Shelter: A Squatumentary. Hosted by Rochester Indymedia.
Here's this:
Here's this:
Friday, December 05, 2008
Monday, November 24, 2008
“It Could Have Worked” by Niels Colesky
When looking at aerial photographs of more than nine hundred bodies lying dead in the jungle, you have to feel disturbed. A walk along the elevated wooden walkways, with bodies either side of you, would leave you with a feeling that far transcends tragedy.
It matters not when you first “discover” Jim Jones, Peoples Temple and Jonestown, chances are your first thoughts are: “What sort of evil person is responsible for this?”
Surely the only thing that could have caused the snuffing out of nine hundred lives in the jungles of Guyana would be undiluted evil. We demand this of the universe. We can’t have mediocre people doing extreme things, be they good or be they bad. And we would need the cause of the Jonestown tragedy, this complete waste of human life and potential, to be pure evil.
And the people – the relatives of their loved ones who died, and the mere spectators of the event – had someone to pin the “Pure Evil” badge onto. Reverend Jim Jones was our scapegoat and probably forever will be. We can fill our hearts with hate for Jim Jones and we can dismiss his followers as flaky cultists. This is the easy path to follow. If we wish to follow this path, we must be sure to look straight ahead and focus only on the dead bodies, their leader at the top of the path choosing the coward’s way out with a bullet to the head. If we want to choose the easy way, the “laying of blame on only one reason” way, we must never ever look to the left or the right or indeed behind us. We must never ask why.
People willingly went to the jungle. They truly believed that Jim Jones could deliver a better life. Many man hours were spent building this community. One can only believe that somewhere in the beginning of it all, there was faith and there was hope. Why else would nearly one thousand people leave everything to go to the jungle? We have watched enough episodes of Survivor to know that your average city dweller does not have the means to make it in the wilderness. Yet aeroplane after aeroplane flew with members of Peoples Temple to Guyana to start life a-new. Were they drugged? Were they beaten until they got onto the aeroplanes? There were enough stories of abuse at the time for members of the Temple to know that Jim Jones was evil and demented. Weren’t there? But still, people climbed onto aeroplanes, to fly into the unknown.
I find it hard to believe that this man was all evil, and these people were all fools for following.
Jesus, it is said, told his disciples that he would make them fishers of men. Jim Jones undoubtedly was blessed with this talent. It is said that message of Peoples Temple reached approximately 20,000 heads.
If we look at old news and archive footage of both Peoples Temple and Jonestown, we see smiling faces. Lots of them. We see people who, at first anyway, were there by choice. There can be little doubt that by the morning of November 18, things in Jonestown were quite unbearable. Things must have been as bad as declared by Deborah Layton in her affidavit. In his article The Voice, Vern Gosney, tells us he was 119 pounds when he left Jonestown. The photographs we see of full plates of food? Publicity shots? Were they not, Vern Gosney would never have risked everything by passing the note to NBC newsman Don Harris.
In the end, Jonestown and Peoples Temple was a failure. A dismal failure that took too many lives with it. And yet, I have this nagging feeling that it could have worked. I have this unshakable feeling that it should have worked. Not only should Peoples Temple been a success, but it should have been a model for many more similar projects and communes.
From the early days of the Temple to the last day of Jonestown, what passed for a mission statement was printed on Peoples Temple letterhead. The mission statement is taken from Matthew 25, verses 35 to 40. If we believe mission statements, then we can believe that the people of Peoples Temple were committing to looking after those that could not look after themselves, be they hungry, unclothed, or sick. Peoples Temple was an organisation intent on looking after its old people; for getting the strayed out of trouble from the law; for helping people navigate the government bureaucracies of social services and welfare. Socialism in its purist, most unselfish way. Humanity does not get better than that.
The world right now is a confusing and scary place. The figures for poverty, starvation and hunger around the world today are staggering. It is estimated that approximately 820 million people are undernourished at the moment. While over the last ten years, the chronically homeless figures are on the decline, housing remains a major problem world wide. The aged are getting poorer and poorer.
We can speculate for the next 300 years why Jonestown failed, and some might even have what they consider definitive answers. But, for me, what I believe the most is that the world desperately needs for Jonestown-type settlements to exist and to work. How awesome would it be if there were organisations that would be prepared to pick those of us up that just don’t fit in. Offer us a feeling of community. Even better than that, a feeling of being part of a family.
Thirty years later, I believe that was what Peoples Temple was meant to be about.
And yet, it went wrong. We come up with ten thousand different reasons why it all went south. We blame drugs; we blame sex; we blame the Concerned Relatives, the CIA, the defectors. Mostly we blame Jim Jones.
The root cause for it all going wrong is simple. The whole problem is man and his ego. History is littered with men who thought they were bigger than the dream. For all his charm, magnetism and intelligence, Jim Jones was no different.
He grabbed the power that flowed so naturally from within and would never consider relinquishing it. And when he was no longer to stay in control, he took his entire tribe with him.
The Jonestown story could have been so much more different had someone strong enough just said “Stop.” By the time Christine Miller stood up and voiced her objections, it was too late. People were too tired and too hungry. And so went the dream of creating a little piece of paradise here on earth.
I sit here in my office in Cape Town, South Africa and in my mind’s eye I see the bodies. I hear the babies crying. I see the dead bodies shot up on the tarmac at Port Kaituma. I know it didn’t work and I can’t think of any action that would have stopped Jim Jones getting that far out of control. And yet the same words go through my mind over and over again.
It coulda worked. It shoulda worked.
When looking at aerial photographs of more than nine hundred bodies lying dead in the jungle, you have to feel disturbed. A walk along the elevated wooden walkways, with bodies either side of you, would leave you with a feeling that far transcends tragedy.
It matters not when you first “discover” Jim Jones, Peoples Temple and Jonestown, chances are your first thoughts are: “What sort of evil person is responsible for this?”
Surely the only thing that could have caused the snuffing out of nine hundred lives in the jungles of Guyana would be undiluted evil. We demand this of the universe. We can’t have mediocre people doing extreme things, be they good or be they bad. And we would need the cause of the Jonestown tragedy, this complete waste of human life and potential, to be pure evil.
And the people – the relatives of their loved ones who died, and the mere spectators of the event – had someone to pin the “Pure Evil” badge onto. Reverend Jim Jones was our scapegoat and probably forever will be. We can fill our hearts with hate for Jim Jones and we can dismiss his followers as flaky cultists. This is the easy path to follow. If we wish to follow this path, we must be sure to look straight ahead and focus only on the dead bodies, their leader at the top of the path choosing the coward’s way out with a bullet to the head. If we want to choose the easy way, the “laying of blame on only one reason” way, we must never ever look to the left or the right or indeed behind us. We must never ask why.
People willingly went to the jungle. They truly believed that Jim Jones could deliver a better life. Many man hours were spent building this community. One can only believe that somewhere in the beginning of it all, there was faith and there was hope. Why else would nearly one thousand people leave everything to go to the jungle? We have watched enough episodes of Survivor to know that your average city dweller does not have the means to make it in the wilderness. Yet aeroplane after aeroplane flew with members of Peoples Temple to Guyana to start life a-new. Were they drugged? Were they beaten until they got onto the aeroplanes? There were enough stories of abuse at the time for members of the Temple to know that Jim Jones was evil and demented. Weren’t there? But still, people climbed onto aeroplanes, to fly into the unknown.
I find it hard to believe that this man was all evil, and these people were all fools for following.
Jesus, it is said, told his disciples that he would make them fishers of men. Jim Jones undoubtedly was blessed with this talent. It is said that message of Peoples Temple reached approximately 20,000 heads.
If we look at old news and archive footage of both Peoples Temple and Jonestown, we see smiling faces. Lots of them. We see people who, at first anyway, were there by choice. There can be little doubt that by the morning of November 18, things in Jonestown were quite unbearable. Things must have been as bad as declared by Deborah Layton in her affidavit. In his article The Voice, Vern Gosney, tells us he was 119 pounds when he left Jonestown. The photographs we see of full plates of food? Publicity shots? Were they not, Vern Gosney would never have risked everything by passing the note to NBC newsman Don Harris.
In the end, Jonestown and Peoples Temple was a failure. A dismal failure that took too many lives with it. And yet, I have this nagging feeling that it could have worked. I have this unshakable feeling that it should have worked. Not only should Peoples Temple been a success, but it should have been a model for many more similar projects and communes.
From the early days of the Temple to the last day of Jonestown, what passed for a mission statement was printed on Peoples Temple letterhead. The mission statement is taken from Matthew 25, verses 35 to 40. If we believe mission statements, then we can believe that the people of Peoples Temple were committing to looking after those that could not look after themselves, be they hungry, unclothed, or sick. Peoples Temple was an organisation intent on looking after its old people; for getting the strayed out of trouble from the law; for helping people navigate the government bureaucracies of social services and welfare. Socialism in its purist, most unselfish way. Humanity does not get better than that.
The world right now is a confusing and scary place. The figures for poverty, starvation and hunger around the world today are staggering. It is estimated that approximately 820 million people are undernourished at the moment. While over the last ten years, the chronically homeless figures are on the decline, housing remains a major problem world wide. The aged are getting poorer and poorer.
We can speculate for the next 300 years why Jonestown failed, and some might even have what they consider definitive answers. But, for me, what I believe the most is that the world desperately needs for Jonestown-type settlements to exist and to work. How awesome would it be if there were organisations that would be prepared to pick those of us up that just don’t fit in. Offer us a feeling of community. Even better than that, a feeling of being part of a family.
Thirty years later, I believe that was what Peoples Temple was meant to be about.
And yet, it went wrong. We come up with ten thousand different reasons why it all went south. We blame drugs; we blame sex; we blame the Concerned Relatives, the CIA, the defectors. Mostly we blame Jim Jones.
The root cause for it all going wrong is simple. The whole problem is man and his ego. History is littered with men who thought they were bigger than the dream. For all his charm, magnetism and intelligence, Jim Jones was no different.
He grabbed the power that flowed so naturally from within and would never consider relinquishing it. And when he was no longer to stay in control, he took his entire tribe with him.
The Jonestown story could have been so much more different had someone strong enough just said “Stop.” By the time Christine Miller stood up and voiced her objections, it was too late. People were too tired and too hungry. And so went the dream of creating a little piece of paradise here on earth.
I sit here in my office in Cape Town, South Africa and in my mind’s eye I see the bodies. I hear the babies crying. I see the dead bodies shot up on the tarmac at Port Kaituma. I know it didn’t work and I can’t think of any action that would have stopped Jim Jones getting that far out of control. And yet the same words go through my mind over and over again.
It coulda worked. It shoulda worked.
Many people are hopeful about Barak Obama's presidency. I can understand why after 8 years of stupid wars, economic insecurity and the merger of state and evangelical church. However, as Ralph Nader said, will he be an Uncle Sam or an Uncle Tom? Time will tell, but I can't help being pessimistic. Obama is part of the same system that has run things for 300 years. He may be a fresh, young and (dare I say it) dark face, but politics is a club. Both Democrats and Republicans are part of this same club. President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and CFR member Tim Geithner will take over the job of administering the banker bailout in January. It appears Obama’s presumptive choice for AG will be Eric Holder, a former Clinton Justice Department official. As the corporate media throws confetti and heralds the possibility of America’s first black AG, it ignores something more sinister lurking beneath the surface: in 1999, Holder advocated internet regulation. read also: Barack Obama: the Banker’s Choice Thirty one out of forty seven people that he has named so far for transition or appointments have ties to the Clinton Administration, according to Politico. Obama’s transition team reviewing intelligence agencies and recommending appointments is headed by John Brennan and Jami Miscik, who worked under George Tenet when the CIA was involved in politicizing intelligence for, among other officials, Secretary of State Colin Powell’s erroneous address before the United Nations calling for war against Iraq. Mr. Brennan, as a government official, supported warrantless wiretapping and extraordinary rendition to torturing countries. National Public Radio reported that Obama’s reversal when he voted for the revised FISA this year relied on John Brennan’s advice. The top choice as White House chief of staff is Rahm Emanuel — the ultimate hard-nosed corporate Democrat, military-foreign policy hawk and Clinton White House promoter of corporate globalization, as in NAFTA and the World Trade Organization.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
A Conversation with Malik Rahim
BY ADAM FLEMING
Pittsburgh City Paper, November 13, 2008
http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A55307
Malik Rahim has been many things. He's been a Black Panther, an armed robber and a social activist. He is currently a Green Party congressional candidate in New Orleans; the election cycle for some Louisiana districts was delayed because of Hurricane Gustav. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Rahim co-founded the Common Ground Collective to provide assistance to low-income residents. This week, the Thomas Merton Center honors Rahim at its annual award dinner, on Wed., Nov. 12.
[Q] What was your reaction to Barack Obama's victory?
None, other than to say that history was made. And now it's: How we can really come up with a plan to clean our environment, and then second, do something to save our economy without just giving bailouts to the rich?
[Q] Are you upset that New Orleans wasn't mentioned during the debates?
I don't fault [Obama]. I fault our city's administration for not really pushing that we are still really in dire need of assistance. The Saints are winning and Mardi Gras was a success, then hey, you're going to have a lack of enthusiasm from any politician. It's a city that's based upon tourism, and they believe that telling the truth would be bad for tourists. [But people need] to see our school system and the deplorable situation that they're in. To see the health-care agencies, and how in dire need the city is for hospital beds. If you look at the lack of opportunity in the midst of a construction boom. The tough questions that need to be asked aren't asked.
We can't talk about just building levy walls. We've got to talk about, how can we restore our wetlands? We've got to talk about some alternatives for when we have to evacuate. We need to constantly teach and train the residents of New Orleans about disaster-preparedness. We can't go on living in New Orleans as if we're living in Arizona.
[Q] What needs to change in the reconstruction of New Orleans?
We have to move into a clear direction of hope: How can we assure people that, hey, you can come back. You will be able to rebuild. That we're not just concerned about the French Quarter or the Superdome. That every citizen in this city is important. Once we start doing this, then we will get the people's involvement. Right now, if we had just the resources that we are spending on incarcerating non-violent offenders, the Ninth Ward would be rebuilt.
[Q] Do you consider yourself a radical?
Yes, indeed, I consider myself a radical. It pushes those who are not about peace and justice away, but for those who truly have made a stand for environmental peace and justice, I believe they gravitate towards the ideas that I have shown. It's not like something that I'm saying is wrong. People have [come] and seen this.
[Q] You say the Common Ground Collective has organized thousands of volunteers in New Orleans. Are you upset that New Orleans wasn't mentioned during the debates?
I don't fault [Obama]. I fault our city's administration for not really pushing that we are still really in dire need of assistance. ... The Saints are winning and Mardi Gras was a success, then hey, you're going to have a lack of enthusiasm from any politician. ... It's a city that's based upon tourism, and they believe that telling the truth would be bad for tourists. ... [But people need] to see our school system and the deplorable situation that they're in. To see the health-care agencies, and how in dire need the city is for hospital beds. ... If you look at the lack of opportunity in the midst of a construction boom. ... The tough questions that need to be asked aren't asked.
We can't talk about just building levy walls. We've got to talk about, how can we restore our wetlands? ... We've got to talk about some alternatives for when we have to evacuate. ... We need to constantly teach and train the residents of New Orleans about disaster-preparedness. We can't go on living in New Orleans as if we're living in Arizona.
[Q] What needs to change in the reconstruction of New Orleans?
We have to move into a clear direction of hope: How can we assure people that, hey, you can come back. You will be able to rebuild. That we're not just concerned about the French Quarter or the Superdome. That every citizen in this city is important. Once we start doing this, then we will get the people's involvement. ... Right now, if we had just the resources that we are spending on incarcerating non-violent offenders, the Ninth Ward would be rebuilt.
[Q] Do you consider yourself a radical?
Yes, indeed, I consider myself a radical. ... It pushes those who are not about peace and justice away, but for those who truly have made a stand for environmental peace and justice, I believe they gravitate towards the ideas that I have shown. ... It's not like something that I'm saying is wrong. People have [come] and seen this.
[Q] You say the Common Ground Collective has organized thousands of volunteers in New Orleans. What's so radical about people flocking to save a city in need?
Because of the fact that it has never been done: In the history of America, never have you had 18,000 predominantly whites come into an African-American community in solidarity. Not as exploiters or oppressors. This is the first time this has been done. And they have lived in those communities and have helped to rebuild. ... Yeah, some people might call it radical, but there are people who classify Christ as being radical. Mohammad was a radical. I'm in good company.
[Q] What do you think of people calling Obama a radical for associating with Rev. Jeremiah Wright and former Weatherman Bill Ayers?
I believe it would take a small-minded person to tell anyone that has met with those individuals that "You are a radical." ... This is a nation that was made by radicals. It came into existence by radicals. What's the difference between Obama meeting with those individuals or someone meeting with George Washington? Who could be more radical than the founding fathers of this country?
[Q] After leaving New Orleans in the 1970s, you were arrested for armed robbery in California. What happened?
That's what it took to save my life and to change the direction I was heading. At that time, just like most young black men, I was full of rage and felt like the movement had abandoned us, and we did some things that we are no longer proud of. ... I didn't come out of prison asking anyone for any hand. But I had a support mechanism, I had a family.
[Q] How did your time in prison shape your role as a prison-rights activist?
I know the plight. I know what is needed to turn people around. I know what is needed to do to build a better tomorrow. ... We have to understand, we cannot jail everyone. It's not the idea that people are born criminals. I'm a firm believer that that's folly. I believe in conditions. We have to talk about cause and effect. What causes a person to resort to crime?
[Q] From your perspective in New Orleans, what's missing from the current national political dialogue?
How can we transform this nation into the nation that it once was? At one time America was a great nation, and it wasn't great because we were the most powerful or the richest, it was our ability to reach out and help people in need. And I believe we can do it again.
BY ADAM FLEMING
Pittsburgh City Paper, November 13, 2008
http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A55307
Malik Rahim has been many things. He's been a Black Panther, an armed robber and a social activist. He is currently a Green Party congressional candidate in New Orleans; the election cycle for some Louisiana districts was delayed because of Hurricane Gustav. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Rahim co-founded the Common Ground Collective to provide assistance to low-income residents. This week, the Thomas Merton Center honors Rahim at its annual award dinner, on Wed., Nov. 12.
[Q] What was your reaction to Barack Obama's victory?
None, other than to say that history was made. And now it's: How we can really come up with a plan to clean our environment, and then second, do something to save our economy without just giving bailouts to the rich?
[Q] Are you upset that New Orleans wasn't mentioned during the debates?
I don't fault [Obama]. I fault our city's administration for not really pushing that we are still really in dire need of assistance. The Saints are winning and Mardi Gras was a success, then hey, you're going to have a lack of enthusiasm from any politician. It's a city that's based upon tourism, and they believe that telling the truth would be bad for tourists. [But people need] to see our school system and the deplorable situation that they're in. To see the health-care agencies, and how in dire need the city is for hospital beds. If you look at the lack of opportunity in the midst of a construction boom. The tough questions that need to be asked aren't asked.
We can't talk about just building levy walls. We've got to talk about, how can we restore our wetlands? We've got to talk about some alternatives for when we have to evacuate. We need to constantly teach and train the residents of New Orleans about disaster-preparedness. We can't go on living in New Orleans as if we're living in Arizona.
[Q] What needs to change in the reconstruction of New Orleans?
We have to move into a clear direction of hope: How can we assure people that, hey, you can come back. You will be able to rebuild. That we're not just concerned about the French Quarter or the Superdome. That every citizen in this city is important. Once we start doing this, then we will get the people's involvement. Right now, if we had just the resources that we are spending on incarcerating non-violent offenders, the Ninth Ward would be rebuilt.
[Q] Do you consider yourself a radical?
Yes, indeed, I consider myself a radical. It pushes those who are not about peace and justice away, but for those who truly have made a stand for environmental peace and justice, I believe they gravitate towards the ideas that I have shown. It's not like something that I'm saying is wrong. People have [come] and seen this.
[Q] You say the Common Ground Collective has organized thousands of volunteers in New Orleans. Are you upset that New Orleans wasn't mentioned during the debates?
I don't fault [Obama]. I fault our city's administration for not really pushing that we are still really in dire need of assistance. ... The Saints are winning and Mardi Gras was a success, then hey, you're going to have a lack of enthusiasm from any politician. ... It's a city that's based upon tourism, and they believe that telling the truth would be bad for tourists. ... [But people need] to see our school system and the deplorable situation that they're in. To see the health-care agencies, and how in dire need the city is for hospital beds. ... If you look at the lack of opportunity in the midst of a construction boom. ... The tough questions that need to be asked aren't asked.
We can't talk about just building levy walls. We've got to talk about, how can we restore our wetlands? ... We've got to talk about some alternatives for when we have to evacuate. ... We need to constantly teach and train the residents of New Orleans about disaster-preparedness. We can't go on living in New Orleans as if we're living in Arizona.
[Q] What needs to change in the reconstruction of New Orleans?
We have to move into a clear direction of hope: How can we assure people that, hey, you can come back. You will be able to rebuild. That we're not just concerned about the French Quarter or the Superdome. That every citizen in this city is important. Once we start doing this, then we will get the people's involvement. ... Right now, if we had just the resources that we are spending on incarcerating non-violent offenders, the Ninth Ward would be rebuilt.
[Q] Do you consider yourself a radical?
Yes, indeed, I consider myself a radical. ... It pushes those who are not about peace and justice away, but for those who truly have made a stand for environmental peace and justice, I believe they gravitate towards the ideas that I have shown. ... It's not like something that I'm saying is wrong. People have [come] and seen this.
[Q] You say the Common Ground Collective has organized thousands of volunteers in New Orleans. What's so radical about people flocking to save a city in need?
Because of the fact that it has never been done: In the history of America, never have you had 18,000 predominantly whites come into an African-American community in solidarity. Not as exploiters or oppressors. This is the first time this has been done. And they have lived in those communities and have helped to rebuild. ... Yeah, some people might call it radical, but there are people who classify Christ as being radical. Mohammad was a radical. I'm in good company.
[Q] What do you think of people calling Obama a radical for associating with Rev. Jeremiah Wright and former Weatherman Bill Ayers?
I believe it would take a small-minded person to tell anyone that has met with those individuals that "You are a radical." ... This is a nation that was made by radicals. It came into existence by radicals. What's the difference between Obama meeting with those individuals or someone meeting with George Washington? Who could be more radical than the founding fathers of this country?
[Q] After leaving New Orleans in the 1970s, you were arrested for armed robbery in California. What happened?
That's what it took to save my life and to change the direction I was heading. At that time, just like most young black men, I was full of rage and felt like the movement had abandoned us, and we did some things that we are no longer proud of. ... I didn't come out of prison asking anyone for any hand. But I had a support mechanism, I had a family.
[Q] How did your time in prison shape your role as a prison-rights activist?
I know the plight. I know what is needed to turn people around. I know what is needed to do to build a better tomorrow. ... We have to understand, we cannot jail everyone. It's not the idea that people are born criminals. I'm a firm believer that that's folly. I believe in conditions. We have to talk about cause and effect. What causes a person to resort to crime?
[Q] From your perspective in New Orleans, what's missing from the current national political dialogue?
How can we transform this nation into the nation that it once was? At one time America was a great nation, and it wasn't great because we were the most powerful or the richest, it was our ability to reach out and help people in need. And I believe we can do it again.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Friday, October 17, 2008
a poem on a tired autumn day...
lazy kitten sleeps in the piles of the leaves
waking only when a squirrel goes by
and i trudge through
hearing the crackle of the leaves beneath my feet
what colors! what excitement!
but a paradox inside
fall is the harbinger of winter
and it's gonna get cold very soon
but now i'm just wearing sweaters
feeling the wind on my cheeks
and the canal might start draining
so i walk along the edge
never to fall
lazy kitten sleeps in the piles of the leaves
waking only when a squirrel goes by
and i trudge through
hearing the crackle of the leaves beneath my feet
what colors! what excitement!
but a paradox inside
fall is the harbinger of winter
and it's gonna get cold very soon
but now i'm just wearing sweaters
feeling the wind on my cheeks
and the canal might start draining
so i walk along the edge
never to fall
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
29.
The gods who wielded bolts of lightning were not gods, but men
who used the atom, as we did, to wreck the world again.
- Moondog
The gods who wielded bolts of lightning were not gods, but men
who used the atom, as we did, to wreck the world again.
- Moondog
