Co-operatives and Liberation, not necessarily in that order
I was listening to Rush’s 2112, feeling inspired after recently seeing the new Rush documentary, “Beyond the Lighted Stage“, and the song “A Passage to Bangkok” made me wonder whether it is actually possible to travel from Europe to Bangkok today by train. Well, turns out it is – this guy has done it and […]
Read More London to Bangkok by Train in 9minutes and 30 secondsLong I have desired to connect my interest in democracy and participatory politics, (i.e. unionism, syndicalism, anarchism etc…) with my interest in the work of Martin Heidegger. Heidegger’s philosophy is not explicitly democratic, and Martin’s actual political exploits leave much to be desired. Heidegger’s late position wasn’t so much conservative as anti-political, taking the stance […]
Read More Democracy and the End of MetaphysicsWhen is accusing someone of rape an act of racism? When the “victim” decides its rape only after the fact, on the basis of your race: Although conceding that the sex was consensual, district court judge Tzvi Segal concluded that the law had a duty to protect women from “smooth-tongued criminals who can deceive innocent […]
Read More No Rape, just RacismThese are just facts that anyone can easily access. I found this source in two minutes using google: It is important to understand that this is not a call to boycott individual Israeli academics. Rather, the boycott call is aimed at academic institutions and the institutional connections that exist between universities here and those in […]
Read More What is the CUPE Academic Boycott?Jonathen Mann writes a song a day, everyday. Last thursday he posted the “Ipod Antenna Song” which was featured in Apple’s July 16th press conference on “Antenna Gate“. When you write a song everyday, and you aren’t terrible, some of them are going to be good. This is actually his theory – given any stable […]
Read More “Hey, Paul Krugman”, Confirmation Bias, and the Pop-idolization of AcademicsCome and See is a 1985 Soviet film about the Barbarossa campaign’s effects on the villages of Belorussia. While everyone is familiar with the Holocaust, the extent to which operation Barbarossa was a racial extermination, a genocide against the “lesser peoples” of Russia, is significant and deserves knowing about. The film chronicles a boy’s life during the war, beginning […]
Read More Come And SeeI’ve always found it a bit strange that Rawls considered the question of whether free markets, or socialism, could better fulfill the principles of justice. It appears plain to me that “free markets” are anything but, and modern capitalism is a political system where power is concentrated in the hands of economic actors, primarily high […]
Read More What’s Wrong with Rawls’ Defence of Capitalism?Apple today held a press conference to address concerns over reception issues with the new Iphone G4. The technical factors of cell phone reception is not a topic I find particularly interesting – however, other things about the presentation are of significance. Specifically, the many times repeated love of Apple for their customers, and the […]
Read More Apple, Capitalism, and doing things for freeTwo days ago, Israeli president Netanyahu has claimed that the only way to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon is U.S. threats of military action against Iran: “There has only been one time that Iran actually stopped the program,” Netanyahu told Fox News’ Chris Wallace Sunday. “That was when it feared US military action.” Netanyahu […]
Read More Iran’s nuclear program: Threats, Agression and “Crazy”If anyone hasn’t heard about the police execution of Oscar Grant, please read up on the facebook page. In short, white officer Johannes Mehserle shot Oscar Grant, a black man, in the back of the head while Grant was handcuffed and lying facedown on a train platform. The murder occured on the early morning hours […]
Read More The Killing of Oscar Grant: this is what racist police brutality looks like
Only a Northern Song 