Feb 28, 2009
Happy 25,000 hits!
The blog's total cumulative web traffic recently surpassed 25k hits! I realize that many larger websites get this sort of traffic everyday, I am still very happy. When I first started this blog, I never dreamed that it would reach such a wide audience as it has. Or that my article on gun stores would come up on the first page of google results. So thanks to my readers, everybody who comments on my post, and my co-blogger and comrade in arms, Saheim al Azad.
Dumpster Diving Alert: Peanut Butter Recall Means Full Dumpsters
I am sure that most of my U.S. readers have heard about the massive recalls of products containing peanut butter sourced from the Peanut Corporation of America. Most if not all products that are "recalled" do not go back to the companies that produce but rather "destroyed"/thrown out at the stores. The picture above is from behind a food store, who dumpster was full of recalled granola bars. Below is a picture of my haul minus another 25-50 that I had eaten since the recalls began a month ago and another 100-150 that I distributed to elated homeless people. Most products recalled have not been linked to any cases of salmonella, so most/almost all things are safe to eat. If you are poking around any dumpsters, be on the look out for potential rations for the revolution, as seen below. Update: Add 20 boxes of granola to the mix, new picture below.
Feb 13, 2009
Multi-Million Dollar Fallow Properties in Honolulu
One of the most startling things about Hawai'i, where both property values and poverty and homeless rates are high is the amount of fallow land, that is abandoned properties, sometimes with houses on them, sometimes completely overgrown and sometimes completely barren. The number of homeless people here dwarfs any other city in the United States that I have been to and there is tons of land that is not being used for anything productive or anything period. I recently took pictures of these multi-million dollar beach front property in the über-bourgeois neighborhood of Kahala in Honolulu there are a handful of these property along one stretch of the coast. A local friend of mine says they are all owned by some Tokyo multi-billionaire who buys up properties and lets them fall into disrepair in order to drive down property values in the neighborhood so he and his real estate cartel can buy and develop properties more cheaply. Above and below are a tiny sample of the land wasted by the bourgeois, land stolen/"ceded" by indigenous Hawai'ians. The seizure of fallow land, agricultural or otherwise must be on the platform of any true revolutionary leftist party or social movement. If the Socialist State of Vermont should become reality, I would conduct direct action seizures of unused property in order to collectivize it for use by and for the good of the workers.
Hampshire College First in US to Divest from Israel
Via Electronic Intifada
When I saw this article I almost shit my pants. I have many comrades who are/were members of this student group, Students for Justice in Palestine at Hampshire College, including (in)famous refusenik Noam Bahat, who went to prison rather than allowing himself to be drafted into the imperialist Israeli Defense Force. And to see them mentioned in one of my favorite blogs was pretty cool. I applaud their accomplishments, especially considering Hampshire has a large number of Jewish students and is host to a large Yiddish book center. I hope this action draws attention to the plight of the Palestinians.
Press release, Students for Justice in Palestine (Hampshire College), 12 February 2009
Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, has become the first of any college or university in the US to divest from companies on the grounds of their involvement in the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
This landmark move is a direct result of a two-year intensive campaign by the campus group, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). The group pressured Hampshire College's Board of Trustees to divest from six specific companies due to human rights concerns in occupied Palestine. More than 800 students, professors and alumni have signed SJP's "institutional statement" calling for the divestment.
The proposal put forth by SJP was approved on Saturday, 7 February 2009 by the Board. By divesting from these companies, SJP believes that Hampshire has distanced itself from complicity in the illegal occupation and war crimes of Israel.
Meeting minutes from a committee of Hampshire's Board of Trustees confirm that "President Hexter acknowledged that it was the good work of SJP that brought this issue to the attention of the committee." This groundbreaking decision follows in Hampshire's history of being the first college in the country to divest from apartheid South Africa 32 years ago, a decision based on similar human rights concerns. This divestment was also a direct result of student pressure.
The divestment has so far been endorsed by Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Rashid Khalidi, Vice President of the EU Parliament Luisa Morganitini, Cynthia McKinney, former member of the African National Congress Ronnie Kasrils, Mustafa Barghouti, Israeli historian Ilan Pappe, John Berger, Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire and Roger Waters of Pink Floyd, among others.
The six corporations, all of which provide the Israeli military with equipment and services in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip are: Caterpillar, United Technologies, General Electric, ITT Corporation, Motorola and Terex. Furthermore, our policy prevents the reinvestment in any company involved in the illegal occupation.
SJP is responding to a call from Palestinian civil society for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) as a way of bringing nonviolent pressure to bear on the state of Israel to end its violations of international law. SJP is following in the footsteps of many noted groups and institutions such as the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education in the UK, the Israeli group Gush Shalom, the Congress of South African Trade Unions, the Canadian Union of Public Employees and the American Friends Service Committee.
As well as voicing our opposition to the illegal occupation and the consistent human rights violations of the Palestinian people, we as members of an institute of higher education see it as our moral responsibility to express our solidarity with Palestinian students whose access to education is severely inhibited by the Israeli occupation.
SJP has proven that student groups can organize, rally and pressure their schools to divest from the illegal occupation. The group hopes that this decision will pave the way for other institutions of higher learning in the US to take similar stands.
When I saw this article I almost shit my pants. I have many comrades who are/were members of this student group, Students for Justice in Palestine at Hampshire College, including (in)famous refusenik Noam Bahat, who went to prison rather than allowing himself to be drafted into the imperialist Israeli Defense Force. And to see them mentioned in one of my favorite blogs was pretty cool. I applaud their accomplishments, especially considering Hampshire has a large number of Jewish students and is host to a large Yiddish book center. I hope this action draws attention to the plight of the Palestinians.
Press release, Students for Justice in Palestine (Hampshire College), 12 February 2009
Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, has become the first of any college or university in the US to divest from companies on the grounds of their involvement in the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
This landmark move is a direct result of a two-year intensive campaign by the campus group, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). The group pressured Hampshire College's Board of Trustees to divest from six specific companies due to human rights concerns in occupied Palestine. More than 800 students, professors and alumni have signed SJP's "institutional statement" calling for the divestment.
The proposal put forth by SJP was approved on Saturday, 7 February 2009 by the Board. By divesting from these companies, SJP believes that Hampshire has distanced itself from complicity in the illegal occupation and war crimes of Israel.
Meeting minutes from a committee of Hampshire's Board of Trustees confirm that "President Hexter acknowledged that it was the good work of SJP that brought this issue to the attention of the committee." This groundbreaking decision follows in Hampshire's history of being the first college in the country to divest from apartheid South Africa 32 years ago, a decision based on similar human rights concerns. This divestment was also a direct result of student pressure.
The divestment has so far been endorsed by Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Rashid Khalidi, Vice President of the EU Parliament Luisa Morganitini, Cynthia McKinney, former member of the African National Congress Ronnie Kasrils, Mustafa Barghouti, Israeli historian Ilan Pappe, John Berger, Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire and Roger Waters of Pink Floyd, among others.
The six corporations, all of which provide the Israeli military with equipment and services in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip are: Caterpillar, United Technologies, General Electric, ITT Corporation, Motorola and Terex. Furthermore, our policy prevents the reinvestment in any company involved in the illegal occupation.
SJP is responding to a call from Palestinian civil society for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) as a way of bringing nonviolent pressure to bear on the state of Israel to end its violations of international law. SJP is following in the footsteps of many noted groups and institutions such as the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education in the UK, the Israeli group Gush Shalom, the Congress of South African Trade Unions, the Canadian Union of Public Employees and the American Friends Service Committee.
As well as voicing our opposition to the illegal occupation and the consistent human rights violations of the Palestinian people, we as members of an institute of higher education see it as our moral responsibility to express our solidarity with Palestinian students whose access to education is severely inhibited by the Israeli occupation.
SJP has proven that student groups can organize, rally and pressure their schools to divest from the illegal occupation. The group hopes that this decision will pave the way for other institutions of higher learning in the US to take similar stands.
Feb 9, 2009
Quote of the Day: A plague upon your ignorance that keeps the young from the truth they deserve
Apart from Soviet military marches and other music of revolution, I am a big fan of "classic rock," particularly really psychedelic stuff. Although he is not often thought of as much, I find Frank Zappa to be one of the most revolutionary and anti-establishment musicians in addition to being a genius. The lyrics that I have quoted before come from his song "What's the Ugliest Part of Your Body?" on his (along with the Mothers of Invention) album, We're Only in it for the Money. If you don't own this album or any Zappa period, buy/download it now.
All your children are poor, unfortunate victims of systems beyond your control. A plague upon your ignorance and the gray despair of your ugly life.
...
All your children are poor, unfortunate victims of lies you believe. A plague upon your ignorance that keeps the young from the truth they deserve.
Back in the eighties Zappa was a strong opponent of government censorship of music/entertainment/art, testifying before Congress and taking on/schooling Bob Novak on CNN's Crossfire. I have embedded it below for your viewing pleasure.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)