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The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
Investigative journalist Naomi Klein speaking on “The Rise of Disaster Capitalism” is a PM Press DVD produced by Bonobo Films. It consists of a brilliant 65-minute talk Naomi gave on May 19, 2008 at the Friends Meeting House in London introducing the paperback edition of her book The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism (New York, 2007), plus a remarkably insightful 10-minute interview with Naomi done in London the next day. Some sections of the talk are on youtube (1), but the whole is not, and is worth having in its entirety.
Continue reading...Muzzling a Movement
4. August 2010
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It seems that the petty antagonisms that for so long characterized relations between competing animal activist and advocacy movements are dissipating. More and more frequently, the struggle for legitimacy between welfare, rights-based, and grassroots movements is being subsumed into a superstructural antagonism
Continue reading...The Politics of Protest: Task Force on Violent Aspects of Protest and Confrontation of the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence
21. July 2010
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So the story goes, the original edition of The Politics of Protest was in fact a report commissioned by the Lyndon B. Johnson Administration in 1968. That year, Johnson created the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence.
Continue reading...George Orwell’s 1984 Electronic Music Remix
9. June 2010
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George Orwell meets twenty-first century electronic agit-prop. That’s the best way to explain Margaret Noble’s latest nonprofit sound project. She begins with a 1950s vinyl recording of George Orwell’s novel 1984, famous for its depiction of a totalitarian society held captive by the three-pronged propaganda of: War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength.
Continue reading...Empire of Sacrifice: The Religious Origins of American Violence
3. June 2010
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From Regeneration Through Violence to Settlers, many sobering works have given attention to the unusual relationship religion has served in undergirding oppression and the passive as well as active support among keepers of the faith for brutal policies.
Continue reading...Academic Repression: Reflections from the Academic Industrial Complex
2. June 2010
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The belief higher education is about the spirit of inquiry and exploring ideas has been central to education itself for centuries. Consider where many young people first encountered great literature, thoroughgoing thinkers and spaces for political debate.
Continue reading...Anarchism and Its Aspirations
6. May 2010
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Contemporary introductions to anarchism are rare considering the veritable explosion of interest in anarchism since the Battle of Seattle (when a loose coalition of trade unionists, environmentalists, anarchists, animal advocates, and many others shut down the World Trade Organization’s conference in 1999).
Continue reading...Bottlemania: Big Business, Local Springs, and the Battle Over America’s Drinking Water
7. February 2010
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In mid-January, I received a mass email asking me to donate $10 for bottled water and other supplies for participants in an important immigrant rights march in Phoenix.
Continue reading...Colectivo Solidario, El anarcosindicalismo español. Una historia en imagenes
7. February 2010
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Marking the centenary of Solidaridad Obrera, this extensive graphic history of the Spanish libertarian tradition is one of the most recent books published by the Confederación Sindical Solidaridad Obrera.
Continue reading...Armed Madhouse
19. January 2010
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Palast’s Armed Madhouse (2007) is a witty but hard hitting critique on some of the recent political news stories in the past few years. Most of the book is spent probing the missed opportunities that occurred during President George W. Bush’s administration.
Continue reading...The Culture of Punishment: Prison, Society and Spectacle
2. December 2009
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It is impossible to come in contact with commercial media and not be exposed to the specter of criminal justice as entertainment. Turn on the news and you can see car chases. Turn on afternoon fare and it is syndicated reality shows featuring people being chased down by police.
Continue reading...Become A Friend
17. August 2010
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