February 2011
73 posts
“It is also true that every new movement, when it first elaborates its theory and policy, begins by finding support in the preceding movement, though it may be in direct contradiction with the latter. It begins by suiting itself to the forms found at hand and by speaking the language spoken hereto. In time, the new grain breaks through the old husk. The new movement finds its own forms and own language.”
—
Rosa Luxemburg, Reform or Revolution. (via nicoie)
yeah! just finished reading this piece by luxemburg a couple weeks ago.
“The real damage is done by those millions who want to ‘survive.’ The honest men who just want to be left in peace. Those who don’t want their little lives disturbed by anything bigger than themselves. Those with no sides and no causes. Those who won’t take measure of their own strength, for fear of antagonizing their own weakness. Those who don’t like to make waves—or enemies. Those for whom freedom, honour, truth, and principles are only literature. Those who live small, mate small, die small. It’s the reductionist approach to life: if you keep it small, you’ll keep it under control. If you don’t make any noise, the bogeyman won’t find you. But it’s all an illusion, because they die too, those people who roll up their spirits into tiny little balls so as to be safe. Safe?! From what? Life is always on the edge of death; narrow streets lead to the same place as wide avenues, and a little candle burns itself out just like a flaming torch does. I choose my own way to burn.”
—
Sophie Scholl
Sophie Scholl, Hans Scholl, and other members of the White Rose were arrested on this day - February 22 - 68 years ago for distributing anti-Nazi leaflets. Four days later, Sophie, Hans, and Christoph Probst were found guilty of treason and executed hours later.
(via momonwi)
i have a tattoo commemorating the white rose. i remember when i was 18 and first heard of sophie scholl during my introductory politics course in university - this quote reminds me - it really touched me somewhere deep… esp. since there is little in the way of how history is written that tells of the women who gave their all for an ethical imperative beyond themselves. and this quote is important because it reminds us of the banality of evil, of the people who do nothing and thus side with the monstrous violence of the status quo. right on, sophie scholl.
Baudrillard? Probably not.
- Edward Said: [During the first Gulf War] the media was completely in cahoots with the government. It was one of the great satanic collaborations between the media and the government. You couldn’t get on. Radio, however was very important during the war. National Public Radio and a few of the national networks carried a lot of stuff. But it didn’t have the power of television. It was a television war.
- Interviewer: In Baudrillard’s terms?
- Said: What did he say? Probably not.
- Interviewer: Baudrillard said it was a hyper-real non-event.
- Said: Good old Baudrillard! For that I think he should be sent there. With a toothbrush and a can of Evian, or whatever it is he drinks.
“It is the duty of revolutionists to defend every conquest of the working class even though it may he distorted by the pressure of hostile forces. Those who cannot defend old positions will never conquer new ones.”
—
Leon Trotsky, In Defense of Marxism (via redguard)
nice. this puts into good words a belief i’ve had but struggled with articulating. i don’t think this is saying we must uncritically lend solidarity to all things working class, but that we must stand behind those attempts by oppressed folks trying to take power even when their agenda gets adapted so that it cansuccessfully stand up against external imperialist powers. i know it raises questions about sacrifices and the eggs that get broken to make omelettes, and i wonder about that too, especially since often times the ones that bear the weight of said ‘disortions’ caused by ‘the pressure of hostile forces’ are often women, queers, pocs (at least i am thinking here of cuba, where feminist/queer/anti racist agendas were sometimes forced to take the back burner while the cuban state dealt with the pressures of american imperialism. criticism of the regime was, in times of pressure, seen as ‘counter revolutionary’).. but i feel like i read somewhere rosa luxemburg saying that a ‘distorted’ working class party was better than no working class party…
Many blackbirds found dead in Ukraine →
upi.com
SEVASTOPOL, Ukraine, Feb. 19 (UPI) — Mass deaths of blackbirds in the Crimea are puzzling Ukrainian scientists.
Dozens of the migratory birds have been found dead on the Kamyshovskoye highway in Sevastopol, along Kazachya Bay and in other coastal areas, ITAR-Tass reported Saturday.
Ornithologist Alexander Grinchenko of the Ukrainian Society for the Protection of Birds said it is not yet known if the blackbirds died from infection or poisoned food. They probably flew from North Africa, where no bird epidemics are reported.
The first examinations by the Sevastopol state veterinary center suggest frost as a cause. A recent storm brought heavy snow and frigid weather to the Crimea.
Tissues from the dead birds have been sent to a veterinary clinic in Simferopol, and a diagnosis is expected within a week.
The mass bird death is the first reported in Ukraine, and it is not known if there is any connection to recent incidents in the United States and Europe.
eastern bloc party - in defence of marxism →
trentradio.ca
tune in to hear the most recent episode of my campus radio show, eastern bloc party. today’s show showcases special guest drew hoult, where we speak in defence of marxism when discussing the 1956 revolution in hungary. imre nagy, we say, was a raving socialist and not a hyper-nationalist like today’s hungarian centre-right wing would have you believe…
“The neon signs which hang over our cities and outshine the natural light of the night with their own are comets presaging the natural disaster of society, its frozen death. Yet they do not come from the sky. They are controlled from earth. It depends upon human beings themselves whether they will extinguish these lights and awake from a nightmare which only threatens to become actual as long as men believe it.”
—Theodor Adorno, The Culture Industry (p.96)
“…moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.”
—
- Malcolm X (via movementbaby)
fuckyeah
