Subjects Archives: Literature

  • Learning from Rhee

    On the evening of February 7, Michelle Rhee, former chancellor of DC public schools and the public face of the opaquely funded StudentsFirst, addressed an audience of some four thousand people at the Paramount Theater in Oakland.  The lecture was divided in three parts.  First, Rhee introduced herself and described her leadership of the DC […]

  • She Means It, Man . . .

    Laura Oldfield Ford.  Savage Messiah.  Verso, 2011. HAMLET: Alas poor ghost! GHOST: Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing To what I shall unfold It isn’t just that the alternatives are written over, or out, it is that they return as their own simulacra.     Mark Fisher from the introduction to Savage Messiah In Tom McCarthy’s […]

  • The Committee to Protect Journalists Is Mistaken About Turkey

      According to the tally of the American Committee to Protect Journalists, there are only eight journalists in jail in Turkey.  We, as members of the Freedom for Journalists Platform, comprised of 94 national and local media associations, would like to point out that this is a grave error, unless of course it is deliberate […]

  • The Forgotten

      The text in the painting reads the lyrics of a traditional Iraqi folk song: “Those who have forgotten us, when will you remember us?  When will we cross your mind?  When will you help our situation?  Love, you have left us with no explanation; you shut the doors in our face and abandoned us.  […]

  • After Iraq

      Obama with a map of the Persian Gulf region in hand: “Excuse me!  Does this bus stop at Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Oman?” Gervasio Umpiérrez is a cartoonist based in Montevideo, Uruguay.  This cartoon was published on his blog and by Rebelión on 1 November 2011; it is […]

  • “The Market Will Set You Free”

      The LED sign at the gate of the Temple of Hell: “The Market Will Set You Free” Jorge Alaminos Fernández is a graphic artist and designer in Spain.  This cartoon was first published in Litoral Gráfico on 20 August 2011 under a Creative Commons license.  Translation by Yoshie Furuhashi (@yoshiefuruhashi | yoshie.furuhashi [at] gmail.com). […]

  • Bank Bailout

      “Hands up!  This is a bailout!!” Emma Gascó (from Sevilla, Spain) is a journalist and cartoonist.  She is a co-blogger (with Martín Cúneo) of Los Movimientos Contraatacan.  This cartoon was first published in Los Movimientos Contraatacan on 14 September 2011; it is reproduced here for non-profit educational purposes. | Print  

  • Bank Transparency

      “The cleaner they look . . .” “. . . the more shit is hidden inside.” Jorge Alaminos Fernández is a graphic artist and designer in Spain.  This cartoon was first published in Litoral Gráfico on 12 September 2011 under a Creative Commons license.  Translation by Yoshie Furuhashi (@yoshiefuruhashi | yoshie.furuhashi [at] gmail.com). | […]

  • Let’s Join TEPCO!

      東電に入ろう(倒電に廃炉) Among you, gentlemen, here Anyone wants to join Tokyo Electric? Anyone wants to make a name for himself? TEPCO is looking for talent Let’s join TEPCO, TEPCO, TEPCO Join TEPCO, a heaven on earth All the men’s men are joining TEPCO Ready to die a hero’s death Anyone dying for thrills? Come join […]

  • You Can’t See It, and You Can’t Smell It Either 2011

      It’s safe!  It’s safe!  It’s safe!  It’s safe!  Nuclear!  It’s safe!  It’s safe!  It’s safe . . . until there’s a screw-up!  It’s safe!  It’s safe!  It’s safe!  It’s safe!  Nuclear!  It’s safe!  It’s safe!  It’s safe . . . until it’s not! 誰にも見えない、匂いもない 2011 Music and Lyrics by Rankin Taxi.  Performed by Rankin […]

  • Tweets from Syrian Opposition Conference Held at Semiramis Hotel in Damascus

      27 June 2011 Luay Hussein: This is the first time we meet in front of our people so we have huge responsibilities. Luay Hussein: Those meeting here are not advocates of violence. Fadi Salem: Media was allowed in the first session and Syrian local Radio Cham is broadcasting live. Munther Khaddam: Who would have […]

  • A User’s Guide to Demanding the Impossible

      Excerpt: This guide is not a road map or instruction manual.  It’s a match struck in the dark, a homemade multi-tool to help you carve out your own path through the ruins of the present, warmed by the stories and strategies of those who took Bertolt Brecht’s words to heart: “Art is not a […]

  • To the Spanish People, a Message of Solidarity from Ard al-Liwa, Egypt

      “All of the Egyptian people are behind you and anyone who wants to make a revolution, anyone who wants to achieve something.  There is a saying: If the people want life, destiny should give it to them.” Hamdy Reda is an Egyptian visual artist.  Artellewa Space for Contemporary Art in Giza, established in 2007, […]

  • Interview with Michael Munk, Author of The Portland Red Guide

      Michael Munk’s The Portland Red Guide is a historical guidebook of social dissent in Portland, Oregon, and links notable radicals, their organizations, and their activities to physical sites in the city. We had a brief conversation over e-mail with Michael Munk to talk about the book, now in its Second Edition, and his experience […]

  • May Day Toast to the Workers of the World

      “Let’s drink a toast to all those farmers, workers, artists and intellectuals of the last 100 years who without thought of fame and profit . . . worked tirelessly in their dream of a worldwide socialist revolution, who believed and hoped that a new world was dawning and that their work would contribute to […]

  • Iran’s Islamist Bloggers Divided over Khamenei vs. Ahmadinejad

      It appears from Iranian Islamist blogs that the honeymoon between Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Islamic Republic’s Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is finally over.  Some reject Ahmadinejad in favor of the Supreme Leader while others show unwavering support for Ahmadinejad. It all started when President Ahmadinejad accepted the resignation of the Iranian Minister […]

  • The Revolution of Anger

      ثـــــورة غضــــــب Never will we accept humiliation We are the lovers of martyrdom Raise your voice and say it loud My cause is my nation, and my blood my weapon! Never will we accept humiliation We are the lovers of martyrdom Raise your voice and say it loud My cause is my nation, and […]

  • You Can’t Pee for Free: Notes on the Privatization of the Public Sphere

      In his 1994 book entitled The Location of Culture, post-colonial theorist Homi Bhaba writes that “cafes are part of the social phenomena of the ‘third place’ [which] . . . people occupy outside of the home and work.  It’s a place to relax, to be alone, to socialize, to read, to gossip, to meet […]

  • My Heart, My Fellow Traveler

    Laal presents “Meray Dil, Meray Musafir” dedicated to the centenary of the birth of Faiz Ahmed Faiz.  The music video is a new interpretation of Faiz’s iconic poem “Dil e Man, Musafir e Man” (My Heart, My Fellow Traveler).  While Faiz wrote this poem about exile, this video explores Marx’s concept of alienation within the […]

  • Undetonated Cluster

    Tossed, dropped it freefalls so easily through the willing, complicit sky A slender wind pokes, nudges, guides misguides A squall of warm air slurs the speed the metal orb floats, a jewel-red plum parachuting, an overripe peach spit from a god’s bitter lips On deeded sand it lands, or settles in a bent cedar limb […]