February 8, 2010
February 8, 2010
Trade liberty for safety or money and you'll end up with neither. Liberty, like a grain of salt, easily dissolves.
The power of questioning -- not simply believing -- has no friends. Yet liberty depends on it. ***
Our thanks to Thomas W. Halton for his financial contribution!
Note from the Editors:
Though it seems like a goddam thousand news cycles ago that J.D. Salinger died and was buried by the Tea Party Convention, Snowmaggedon, and the countdown to America's favorite gladiator event, a few of Swans notable contributors rose to the challenge to submit 200 words, more or less, on the enigmatic author. The result is a set of wonderful vignettes as diverse as the contributors who penned them, each capturing in their own style -- and his -- the aspect of Salinger that left an indelible mark.
Meanwhile, whether George W. Bush, Barrack Obama, or...Sarah Palin? the coin will continue to flip like a Super Bowl coin toss, revealing one side or the other of the very same system. Gilles d'Aymery, addressing civil libertarians young and old who are puzzled by the Obama Doctrine -- a continuation of the Bush policies, explains what needs to happen to steer train-USA in a new direction, and shares his thoughts on Howard Zinn, a man of great courage and ethics whose recent death dealt a deafening blow to the already silenced progressive movement. To further understand the "George W. Obama" phenomenon read Michael Doliner's excellent lesson on the history of nation-states and the justification for war, beginning with the Enlightenment and the notion of universal human equality (a notion that, based on Charles Marowitz's take on America's widening financial disparity, can only be described as quaint). The systemic need for perpetual war even permeates philanthropic organizations with what Michael Barker describes as "humanitarian imperialism" in his exposé on AmeriCares, Haiti, and democracy-manipulating interventions. And as all politics is local, conservation and expansion collided -- with the spoils going to the usual victor -- in the otherwise progressive city of Seattle, as Steve Shay sardonically reports.
Moving to Africa, Femi Akomolafe writes about the politics, poverty, and political vacuum in Nigeria, while Peter Byrne considers the award-winning documentary Mugabe and the White African, which needed a much wider lens and a broader historical backdrop for its portrayal of Robert Mugabe and white farmers. Turning the page to a bygone era and another world, Paul Buhle reviews A Lifetime Burning, the remarkable illustrated memoir by Richard Quinney on his parents and grandparents' family farm, and Guido Monte raises poetic questions about human existential confusion, new dangers, and forgotten ways. Finally, we close with your letters in search of Michael Doliner, in praise of Gilles d'Aymery, in contrast of Seine and Shay, in fear of the coming French Tea Partiers, and more.
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"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your common sense."
Quotations Search:
Sites on our Mind
 Yes, Howard! Howard Zinn Cost of War Imagine Peace Jack Kessler's FYI France Council for Secular Humanism
RESISTANCE: In The Eye Of The American Hegemon
What is
YOUR Purpose?
Question
YOUR Answers!
War is NOT
the Answer
Think
before you think! —Stanislaw Lec
Don't believe everything you think!
Localize!
Relocalize!
Conserve!
Don't believe.
Think!
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In Memoriam
Vignettes On J.D. Salinger
Based upon a suggestion by Charles Marowitz, we asked our regular contributors to write about J.D. Salinger in 200 words more or less. They all hit the mark pretty well, except for one lonely minimalist entry. More... Charles Marowitz, Peter Byrne, Louis Proyect, Art Shay, Walter Trkla, Gilles d'Aymery, Milo Clark
Tidbits Flying Across the Martian Desk
Blips #95
"In this world of war and injustice, how does a person manage to stay socially engaged, committed to the struggle, and remain healthy without burning out or becoming resigned or cynical?
Gilles d'Aymery is Swans' publisher and co-editor.
Patterns Which Connect
A Short History Of Stupidity - Part 1
If human civilization lasts long enough to produce a historian of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries who lives far enough in the future to consider the facts objectively, he will either go mad, die of laughter, or shroud himself in gloom. Let us, for example, consider the first decade of the new millennium. The United States, because of "9/11," an event of dubious and suspicious particulars at best questionably attributed to an organization, "al Qaeda" or "The Database," whose own existence is highly dubious, set off on a war to capture its leader, Osama Bin Laden, who, for the vast bulk of the time the U.S. was chasing him, was dead. More... Michael Doliner has taught at Valparaiso University and Ithaca College. He lives with his family in Ithaca, N.Y.
Caring For Haiti
Humanitarian imperialism is a phenomenon that needs to be understood and unmasked by all who care to safeguard life. Yet to date, many thoughtful and often selfless individuals have failed to address the depths to which imperial forces have penetrated human rights activism. Haitian human rights activist Paul Farmer provides one such example, as while he is personally critical of elite-driven human rights activism, a good case can be made that his own work actually perpetuates such elitism. More... Michael Barker is an independent researcher who currently resides in Australia.
America: Myths & Realities
The Displaced Generation
America was born in dissension. For as many colonists who subscribed to the Revolution, there were hordes who thought it foolhardy to take on the British. To acquire fertile land in the new continent, homesteaders waged war against the Native Americans, ultimately annihilating their warriors and destroying their culture -- the first national genocide. In the l9th century, the Civil War continued the ravages between one sect and another. More... Charles Marowitz is an author of over two dozen books and numerous essays and articles who lives in Southern California.
Is Seattle Of Two Minds? Well, Yes And No
Seattle elected a new mayor and city attorney on November 3, 2009. Low-key Mayor Mike McGinn ran on a "green" platform and endeared himself to carbon footprint-conscious voters by leaving his car in the garage and peddling his environmental message on bicycle whenever possible. But wait. There's more. The days of driving aren't grinding to a halt in Seattle, so we should not trade in our red Prius for a powder blue Raleigh 10-speed quite yet. The mayor backs a $3 billion highway underneath downtown Seattle called the "Deep Bore Tunnel." More... Steve Shay is a photographer and reporter who lives in Seattle, Washington.
Africa
Nigeria: A Nation In Custody
It is difficult not to feel sorry for ordinary Nigerians nowadays. This unfortunate West African country of between one hundred and forty to one hundred and fifty million people continues to be held hostage by a cabal of totally unconscionable elite with an insatiable appetite for petty thievery and gargantuan greediness. And it is looking increasingly clear that there is no limit to what this shameless political class will do to satisfy its selfish ends. No calamity, it seems, is beyond them to wreak on their compatriots in order to hold on to their illicit power. More... Femi Akomolafe is a computer consultant, a writer and social commentator, and a passionate Pan-Africanist who lives in Kasoa, Ghana.
Cameras On White Africa
Can white Europeans say anything pertinent about Africa now? Lucy Bailey and Andrew Thompson think so. They made a documentary film entitled Mugabe and the White African (UK, 2009, 90 mins.). It was declared the Best Documentary at the British Independent Film Awards. Bailey presented and discussed the film in January at the Tricycle Theatre on the Kilburn High Road in London. It then went out on limited release. More... Peter Byrne is an American-born teacher and writer who lives in Lecce, Italy.
Hungry Man, Reach For The Book
Richard Quinney's A Lifetime Burning
The Wisconsin farm boy who became a prominent left-wing sociologist in the field of criminal law has retired back to Wisconsin and produced a series of illustrated memoirs about the family farm. The recuperated memories of the land and the family offer some of the most poignant and remarkable views of middle America from the mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth century and after. Quinney has the deft touch, not only by pen but also by camera, for he offers example after example of how to look at his subjects, adding his own spare comments. More... Paul Buhle is author or editor of forty books, and a sometime columnist for the ecological journal Capitalism Nature Socialism.
Multilingual Poetry
Via Dimenticata
"Who's that man? Guido Monte teaches Italian and Latin literature in Palermo, Italy.
Letters to the Editor
In search of Michael Doliner in Swans archives; praise for Gilles d'Aymery's Beginnings With No Known End and The First Obama Year; Seine and Shay: a contrast in photographers; the coming French Tea Partiers; and the reality of the census. More... We appreciate your comments. Please, remember to sign your e-mails with your real name and add your city, state, country, address and phone number. If we publish your opinion we will only include your name, city, state, and country. Thank you.
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