Political influences no.1: John Pilger – speaking truth to power

This is the first post in a series. For the introduction to the series, see the post below this one.

It was the discussion of the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia in the comment thread on this post of Andrew Coates’ that reminded me that I’ve had it in mind to write this post for some time. For a complicated reason it is not worth explaining, this genocide was the first issue on which I became passionately engaged, and on which my views were not formed by my parents.

To summarise, the Khmer Rouge were a bizarre and extreme Maoist sect who were sponsored by China, allied to the Communist North Vietnamese against the Americans in the Vietnam war and incubated by the Viet Cong when the latter were based in Cambodia in the late 1960s. Under the leadership of Pol Pot, they came to power in 1975, and launched probably the most brutal totalitarian regime of the modern era. The death toll of the regime is disputed, but the most authoritative accounts put the figure at around 1.7 million, 20% of the population. The slaughter came to an end in 1978, when Vietnam invaded and liberated the country. Vietnam installed a puppet government (the People's Republic of Kampuchea – PRK) and started the task of re-building and healing the shattered nation, although the Khmer Rouge continued their insurgency until 1998 from bases on the Thai border. By 1978, the Cold War had shifted on its axis, the US was building up relations with the Khmer Rouge’s main sponsor, China. The United Nations, under pressure from America and China, refused to recognise the new administration, instead giving a seat to a government in exile, the CGDK, which included the Khmer Rouge. Only the Soviet Union and its allies recognised the PRK.

I am not sure if John Pilger took up the cause of Cambodia in the period when Pol Pot was America’s enemy (that is, during the worst years of the genocide), but after he took up the cause he did more than anyone to expose the horrors of the Khmer Rouge regime. Jams listed Pilger as one of his political influences, writing: “Although I don't care for a lot of what Pilger has to say, Cambodia: Year Zero had a profound effect on me.” Many others of mine and Jams’ generation would say something similar.

Political influences: Introduction

A long time ago, I was tagged for a “political influences” meme, which got me thinking about the political writers and activists who formed me, a topic that came back to mind when I read this nice post by BenSix, which inspired me (I move slowly) to start a new series on my political influences.

I know this is a self-indulgent thing to do, but, in the words of comrade Coates, this is my gaff and I make the rules. To minimise the self-indulgence, I decided to exclude from the series friends, teachers, close comrades and family members, even though some of my most important political influences have come from these categories.

I have ordered it more or less chronologically in terms of my life as a political animal, which probably creates more of a sense of a narrative coherence to my political development than has been the case. At all times, now more than ever, I have held contradictory views, been unable to decide between positions and changed my mind about things.

I will use this post to index the series as it goes up.

Gnome Chomsky 10: The T-Shirt

Buy the T-shirt from CafePress:

In other news:

Professor of linguistics and political campaigner Noam Chomsky has been confirmed as the new judge on TV talent show The X Factor. ‘Cheryl Cole was still recovering from malaria and we needed someone who could fill the intellectual void,’ said programme creator Simon Cowell, ‘Professor Chomsky is perfect and the audience just loves him.’

In his first outing as judge, Chomsky quickly made his mark. ‘Your act is part of a propaganda state promoting a culture-ideology of comforting illusion’, he told one hopeful young girl, before adding, ‘I’m saying yes.’

The only lving boy in Crofton Park

Congratulations Jim on keeping the spot in the Total Politics green list, and to Flesh for zooming into the higher echelons. Flesh has a fantastic post on how to be a top blogger, in which I get some undeserved compliments.Like Weggis, I offer my commiserations to the downwardly mobile, including Green Ladywell and Anglo-Buddhist Combine.

Some Bob recommendations: Chris Dillow on motives and consequences in Afghanistan; Flying Rodent on the Furedi cult; JP Pagano's Normblog profile; Max Dunbar on the illusion of realism; A machine with a single spring - on Hegal and Pol Pot; Carl on The Labour club in the age of austerity; Hans Kundnani on the new left and the neocons; Robert S Wistrich on Trotsky's Jewish question; Ze'ev Avrami on when Leonard Cohen sings; China - trouble in the world's sweatshops; Harpy sez Keep Libraries Public; A Kurdish village governed by none; Phil Dickens on anarchism and the middle class; Oona King in conversation with David Aaronovitch (from Oona's "cringe-making" blog).

Some on the English Defence League: Modernity imagines being a British neo-fascist (explained here); "Malatesta" on the EDL, Bradford and anti-Asianism; Phil Dickens on Hope not Hate; AWL on the EDL threat; Street fighting for the establishment.

More Jogo recommendations: Terry Teachout on David Mamet; Rich man needed to save Yiddish; 

And here's a different Bob, Jim Bob, originally of Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine, singing "The Only Living Boy in New Cross" acoustically. Not great sound quality, alas. (Via comments at a post on this song at Transpontine.)


Jim Bob cooking the Only Living Boy from Jonathan Main on Vimeo.

France today: The black legions on fortune's road

Essential reading: Unlucky roads – Roma in Europe

Please read it.

Also read: Roma Expulsions Continue: La Honte de la France; Why aren’t we talking about Europe’s Roma shame?; When you write about us.

Note: This is not just France, it is also Germany, Hungary, Finland, Italy; the Czech Republic, Serbia, and Britain. In fact, it is the whole of Europe.

Esma singing "Djelem, djelem", the heart-wrenching song which opens Flesh's post.

Previous: Remembering, Fascism watch: Italy, Mr. Alemanno strikes again…, Saban Bajramovic z''l.

Triangulating Bobism 1: Harryism and indecency

“Bob seems like a reasonable sort” - Andy Newman.

This post is the first of three planned oblique attempts to address the core contradictions at the heart of the Bob project, as well as to respond to some of the discussions at my more heated comment threads, such as this one, this one and this one. It starts with a report on a recent and not particularly important spat amongst the leftover remains of the British anti-racist movement carried out in the courts and in the blogosphere, amongst three of the heavier hitters of the UK-based but internationally read left bloggers, Harry’s Place, Andy Newman’s Socialist Unity and Richard Seymour’s Lenin’s Tomb. This spat is a good occasion to reflect on the meaning of “decency” and “indecency” in politics. In reflecting on this, the post touches on three areas: the conflict in the former Yugoslavia, the war on terror, and the etiquette of debate, with a kind of footnote on the anti-racist movement. All of these are illustrated with examples from British fringe politics of the 1990s and thus have a slightly autobiographical element, although I’ve done my best to keep self-indulgence to a minimum. I realise that the coherence of these elements might not be immediately apparent, but I would genuinely appreciate your responses, even if you only read part of it.

Hitch, Fitz and Harry

Let’s begin, though, with Christopher Hitchens, a key figure in the issues to be raised in what follows. The next two paragraphs are extracted from Poumista. [Carl P has] a piece on Christopher Hitchens and prayer and Andrew Coates has a long and very good review of Christopher Hitchens’ Hitch 22. This provokes quite a long comment thread, involving our comrades Mick Hall and Mike Ezra, who recounts the debate in a post at Harry’s Place entitled A Debate with the Indecent Left. The Coatesy comment thread, unlike more or less any at Harry’s Place, is well worth reading.

Meanwhile, as Carl informs me, a furore has raged in the pokier corners of the leftiesphere about said Place, specifically the association with it of one Terry FitzPatrick, street-fighting man, veteran anti-racist and, erm, bon viveur, recently arrested for racism in relation to statements made to Simon Woolley of Operation Black Vote and Lee Jasper, black liberation tsar. (When I lived in Brixton, Jasper’s names featured prominently in local graffiti, which described him as a police informer, on which I will not pass comment). Here‘s Andrew again, but more relevant are posts by Richard Seymour, Lee Jasper and especially this series at Socialist Unity: 1, 2, 3, 4. Here are the charges against Fitz, to which he is pleading not guilty. I won’t weigh in on this debate... except to note that Woolley and Jasper’s faith in bourgeois law as a tool to punish alleged racists is rather in contradiction to their disregard for due process in making a big deal of this before the court rules – in contrast, say, to Paul Stott, an anarchist who prefers not to upset the legal proceedings.

Slowly catching up

Bob's recommendations: Long live NATO's anti-imperialism; An Iranian capitalism and the search for Islam; Amnesty International and the challenge of Shalil Shetty; John Sweeney's World Service documentary on Stalin's "useful idiots" (h/t Gil); Human Rights, The Gaza Protests and the Future of Afghanistan; the BNP, Israel and "the Zionists"; Shlomo Yosef on the boycotters of left and right; John Rentoul v the Stoppers; Laurie Penny has her bottom squeezed by a Young Conservative; David Cameron is not middle class; the Rushdie affair and responsibility; and pretty much everything at On A Raised Beach.

Jogo's recommendations: Ron Radosh on the hubris of Peter Beinart; and this fine album cover:



More to follow!

From Bob's archive: Bono is a pajero

This is the last item from my archive which I'm scheduling while I'm away. It's from May 2006 - seems an age away. Back soon.


The appalling singer Bono has made the news this week for giving George Bush an IPod and a Bible and has turned campaigning journalist. Here's Reuters AlertNet's newblog:

He jumped from music to political activism and then advertising - Bono's latest career move is into the editor's seat of British daily newspaper The Independent.

Lots of good stuff putting Africa's issues at the top of the agenda. But cut to the end:

There's a feature on mobile phones in Africa, but then you might also notice an article about the RED phone which raises a few questions about the lines between political campaigning, advertising and corporate profit. The RED phone is part of Bono's campaign to enlist global business in the fight against HIV/AIDS. So if you pay $280 for a new RED phone, $19 plus 5 percent of call revenues will go to the Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria. And the other $261? I'd rather not give the companies extra advertising by mentioning them here.

The Alertnet blog took up the issue the next day, linking to a great piece in the Telegraph Newsblog, nicely entitled "putting journalistic integrity in the red":

Reading the finished newspaper this morning, I have to say that it looks worse than a mere publicity stunt; it's a sales pitch for Red, the organisation set up by Bono and others to provide money for The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria..
As Red's website points out, it is not a charity but a "commercial initiative" and as such it is associated with some pretty high profile brands... the Independent has sold out its editorial to push Bono's aims and, by extension, his commercial partners.

If you don't have time to read the whole thing, here's the final coup de grace:

It looks to me like the big winners are, in order, Bono's ego, Bono's corporate sponsors, Bono's op-ed writing mates and, just possibly, the charities these forces are backing.

So far, I haven't seen anyone making te connection between Bono's corporate buddies and the deaths in the Congo caused by the voracious mineral mining needs of the mobile phone industry. This is from, ironically, an Independent article (cited here):

The trade in coltan, a rare mineral used in computers and mobile phones, had social effects “akin to slavery”, the panel said. But no Western government had investigated the companies alleged to have links with such abuses. Some, including ones from the UK, US, Belgium and Germany, had lobbied to have their companies' names cleared from the “list of shame”.

(See also here, here.)

Back to AlertNet:

Moving on to another commercial partnership, the car company which has built its image around safety is teaming up with a group of humanitarian agencies who focus on road safety in the aid world. Volvo is planning to help the Fleet Forum analyse traffic accidents and make recommendations for action. It all sounds logical - Volvo has been conducting accident research since 1969 - but you can't help wondering if someone at the company is hoping this might be a way into the aid vehicle market. Most of the aid world's ubiquitous white four-wheel drives seem to be Toyotas or the hilariously named Mitsubishi Pajero. Ask a Spanish-speaker what "pajero" means.

Pajero, for those not in the know, means wanker, "from paja meaning ‘wank’ (literally, ‘straw’), in the expression hacerse una paja, (literally ‘to do oneself a straw’)" (ref).

A comment by Himalayan Bamboo on a Winds of Change blog post about Afghanistan's "Toyota Taliban" says:

Same s**t here in Nepal. The 4WD Mitsubishi Pajero even gave name to a political/aid-people clas: PAJEROBAD (Rule of the Pajero). The Nepalis are good at this: already in 1991 they enriched the world's vocabulary withDEMOCRAZY.
My blood boils when I see the HUGE white SUVs driving by (living on a road to Nagarkot, popular resort E of KTM), with diff. logos: WFP, UNDP, UNICEF (yeah, the children' fond: the car full of children, yeah, the bureaucrats' own!). I always suspected 90% of the foreign aid doesn't get past Ring Road. I was wrong - there is a new study by a nepali researcher: it's only 80%!!!
Abolish and rebuild UN, so the price of admission is democracy, we cannot sit in the same Assembly with canibals and butchers.

(See also my previous posts on this sort of thing: Live8/G8/Black Bloc, and Coldplay, Gwyneth Paltrow, the glitz-based community and the axis of edginess (these are probably two of the better posts on this blog, if I may say so.))

From Bob's archive: Sylvia Pankhurst and the House of Lords

I am continuing to post stuff from my archive while I'm away. This was from March 2006. Comments, as always, welcome. I believe the campaign for the memorial remains unsuccessful. 


There is a campaign to put a statue of Sylvia Pankhurst, the great suffragette leader and radical campaigner, on College Green in Westminster, outside the House of Lords. This is being resisted by the reactionary old codgers in the Lords.

Here’s the Guardian report:

‘The words "Sylvia Pankhurst Memorial Committee" do not have a ring of militant fervor, and yet to achieve its aims, members may need to adopt some of the tactics of its namesake. The Lords Administration and Works Committee - a bunch of hereditary male peers - has refused to allow a statue of the pioneering suffragette to be erected in Westminster. For those who believe that Pankhurst was the greatest feminist of her generation, this is an insult to the sisterhood.’

Sylvia is someone I massively admire (when I added the “heroes” section to my link list over to the right [now over to the left!] earlier this year, I made sure to include her), so you might expect me to support this campaign.

New Labour MP Vera Baird says

”Sylvia was the greatest democrat of all the suffragettes... "The statue should stand near to the parliament she worked and suffered for. It is a disgrace that these unelected peers fail to see what pride and inspiration women would get from such a great memorial."

In fact, I think that it is an insult to a woman who had nothing but scorn for the parliamentary system.

From Bob's archive: Folk Marxism and American political culture

This is another one from the archive while I'm away. It got zero comments when I posted it in February 2006, so I would appreciate feedback. I have added a conclusion, which hopefully makes it more coherent, although I have my doubts.

Economist Arnold Kling has written an interesting two-part piece in TCS Daily on how thinkers influence us through the folk versions of their beliefs. Jogo sent me the second part with the simple instruction “blog this”. I’m going to comply with that instruction, because I found the piece wrong on so many levels.

Gnome Chomsky 9: Psychadelic

Scheduling this post to continue the series while I'm away.

From A Love For Art:

You'll be pleased to hear we're nearing the end of the series now.

Whining Leftist/Grieving Mother

I am away for a couple of weeks and, as is my usual practice, am posting some old stuff from my archives. This is from February 2006, from when the blog was a year old. It was a guest post by our American correspondent Jogo. Please feel free to argue back in the comments while I'm away!


Note: the context is the second half of George W Bush's second term. The Democrats have failed to block the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. The Iraq war is raging, and Meryl Streep has a nephew serving there, while Cindy Sheehan's son had been killed there two years previously. In summer 2005, Sheehan became a national celebrity when she went to Bush's ranch in Texas and in January 2006 she was arrested at his State of the Union address.

Meryl Streep says:

"I'm so demoralised. I want a candidate to come out of nowhere and have no conflicts. I want major campaign reform. I want Jesus to come back and throw the money lenders out."

Leftism in a nutshell. Meryl nailed it with precision. What a sorryass existential cry. A childlike cry, don't you think? Leftism is religion. Why don't leftists admit it, and stop thinking they're better than the Christians?

---

One of Bush's biggest mistakes -- as President and as a man -- was not to have met with Cindy Sheehan when she first attempted to get his attention in Crawford. He, or someone very close to him, should have seen that Ms Sheehan was no ordinary angry citizen. She meant business. And she was fueled by a righteous fury, a John Brown-level fury, one might say a Sacred Fury.

A deeper and more thoughtful Christian would have seen in her the mysterious relationship between Fury and Grace ... let alone heard her cry and not turned from her.

At that time Ms Sheehan was only a private citizen, albeit a most resourceful and single-minded one. She did not then have, as she has today, the money, power and skills of the Organized Hate America Left behind her.

Of course she would not have permitted from Bush the kiss she received from Hugo Chavez. But Bush might have touched her in some way that she could receive... were he a deeper and more thoughtful man. He might then have risen, in her eyes, to the level of a human being. But as things stand today, he is not even that to her.

---

In response to this, a Christian friend in Oakland writes:

"Yes, I agree that he does not have what it takes to unify our poor broken divided country. I pray that another Lincoln could emerge...and be able to speak to and listen to both sides."

The millionaire moisturized Leftist wants Jesus... while the Christian schoolteacher prays for another Lincoln.

Signing off

I'm off for a few weeks, but keep checking in, as I have scheduled some "controversial" old posts.

Here's some reading for while I'm going.

Post of the week: Finding something worth fighting for is harder than finding something to fight against.

Benism: On Roger Scruton on irony and forgiveness. (Possibly an opportunity for Martin to finish some unfinished business? See also Francis.)

Keithism: What drove Melanie Phillips to the right?, Post-democratic Israel?, On denial (click on the link for a pdf), Is Turkey the only villain in this piece?

Also on Israel and Turkey, a very well written piece by the Turkish-American scholar Seyla Benhabib, writing from Tel Aviv. And also on genocide denial: Max Dunbar on Edward Herman. And on a different genocide, the UN's shameful silence on Srebernica.

Martinism: No more burqas, no more bans. (For a pro-ban view, see the Eygptian blogger Mona Eltahway, found via Martin, especially this. For a robust left-wing view, see Coatesy.) And on Blair, Chilcott, Iraq and 7/7:  The baroness and the bombers.

Illiberalism: Pat Buchanan and Neil Clark.

Multiculturalism: The wrong way to celebrate diversity. Kenan Malik and engineered identities.

Rose-ism: David Aaronovitch on Jacqueline Rose on Dreyfus for today.

Fascism: Duncan on the current state of the BNP.

Secularism: In defence of hospital chaplains.

Austerity bites

I've already included some of these links in previous posts, but want to highlight them a little more. They are about some of the first casualties of the new regime of austerity in my neck of the woods, the borough of Lewisham. The specifics are primarily of local interest, but the generalities are the same across the UK, and below the fold I have some comments that relate to the more general issues.

Transpontine sums up the cuts here, along with details of some of the campaigns against the cuts, in Lewisham and Southwark. Deptford Visions and Hangbitch report on the protests in Lewisham. Jim reports the obscene contempt our directly elected mayor, Sir Steve Bullock, has for the protestors. 853 reports from neighbouring Greenwich.

Although not the most important of the cuts, one closest to my heart is the possible closure of Crofton Park Library. The library, built in 1905 and designed by the LCC's Emanuel Vincent Harris with money from by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, who donated it to the people in perpetuity, is one of the architectural gems of SE4, as well as a wonderful resource for families, older people, unemployed people, and school students. Brockley Central reports here.

There are "consultation" meetings over the summer (when many parents, a key user group, are away). There is a petition here. Locally based children's author Andy Cullen makes the case well:

My wife and I use Crofton Park library regularly with our children. Often we take books home; sometimes we just stay for an hour in the lovely children's library and explore and read together. This beautiful local library continues to be a valued resource for local residents and schools. After many decades of service it still has a vital role as a people's university catering to all ages and types.

 Other libraries are under threat too, including Blackheath. Five altogether might close, out of 12.

Before I move on to the general issues, two local links for my local readers: Why are South Londoners the best bloggers? and Get a free glass of wine at the final screening in the Brockley Jack Film Club season. (The film club website, by the way, also features nice pics of lovely local folk at Blythe Hill and Brockley Max.)

There are three more general points I want to make about these things.

East London Line/Yiddish Sarf London: קריסטל פעלעס

Has anyone been to the newish Overground Uncovered exhibition at the Transport Museum, about life on the East London Line? I saw a flier in a local shop, and among the images is one of some Hebrew letters (קריסטל פעלעס) which spell Crystal Palace (or, rather Kristl Peles) in Yiddish. (I would have gone for קריסטל פאליס (Kristl Palis) myself, but I'm not a native Yiddish speaker. Can anyone shed any light on this?

The Bob drink: a preliminary report

Thanks to all of you who turned up on Saturday night. I counted 15 in all, including me, which is more than respectable. These were Jams*, Kellie*, Francis*, Max, Sue, Jim, Darryl, Mikey E, Carl*, Keith, Daniel, Flesh and two other halves of bloggers who are of course also human beings in their own right.(Asterisks denote posts on the topic of the drink.)

I got fairly drunk. No blows were traded. No papparazzi were present. No one was exactly as I imagined them. Everyone was nice. My main regret is there were too many people for me to manage to talk to everyone properly, or indeed anyone at any length.

A preliminary statistical analysis reveals more details on the demographic.

Unfinished posts no.1: 2009's four star tracks

I have lots of unfinished posts in my drafts folder. I am never going to finish this one, which I started in December, and it is now rather out of date. My plan is to one by one post or delete my unfinished posts, until my draft folder is empty!

Highly unscientific version of a musical best of. I looked for 2009 music in my Media Player library and arranged them by star rating. I found that nothing in 2009 got five stars, but about three dozen tracks got four stars. I don't know if it says more about me or about 2009 that lots of it sounds like it comes from another era, specifically the 1970s. Dedicated to my friends Ali and Anamik. Arranged purely alphabetically.

Buguinha Dub "Fino da massa 1" and "Tubarao de bacia". Jamaican style dub from Brazil. Mp3s and info from Starfrosch.


DJ Mujava "Township Funk" (Crazy P Remix). An accurate description: "kwaito’s urban grime reborn as a chilled as fuck space disco roller". Listen at last.fm/mp3 from A Derogatory Term.

Donovan "Ventura". No, not that Donovan, the French chilled electro disco one. Found via partycmyk.

Levon Helm "When I Go Away" and "White Doves". From his wonderful Electric Dirt album. Southern boogie, bluegrass and deep roots. Sounds like it has always been there, in the landscape. Reviews from Popdose and Fiddlefreak. (Note: I realise Levon Helm has been overrepresented in previous annual round-ups.)

Malcolm Middleton "Call The Shots", a Girls Aloud cover. Scotland's great poet of misery and artist of chamber electro-folk minimalism shows that perfection can be improved upon. See Zeon, Another Form of Relief.

Nostalgia 77 featuring Alice Russell covering White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army”. Heavy duty 1970s time-travelling sexy bassy jazzy funky soul. Actually released in 2004, it is on the 2009 Tru Thoughts Covers album.

Quantic y su Combo Barbaro "Mambo Los Quantic" and "Enyere Cumbara". Extraordinarily talented genre-hopping artists. MySpace/homepage/label. Bloggery: Motel de Moka, All the Way Live, Music Like Dirt,

The Ramirez Brothers "Sizzlin'" (featuring Karolina). Superb jazz funk from Tel Aviv.

***

Undomundo's Meta Best Lists of 2009.

***

P.S. have you listened to my radio programme yet? Over to the right I have added a feed for my tracks, and my Hype Machine tracks.

Last orders at the bar

Just a final reminder of the Bob From Brockley drink on Saturday night. E-mail me if you want to get a sought after place on the guest list. Actually not that sought after, but if everyone comes who says they will it'll be in the high teens. (I'll re-paste here my original invite list, minus people I know can't come, including people who say they might and people who haven't answered: Kellie; Richard; Daniel; Mira, David and gang; Flesh; Francis; Marko; Martin; Martin; Keith; Courtney; Jams; Transpontine; Carl; Steve; the Estate agents; Dave and comrades; comrade Dave; Jim; Inspector Darryl; Clare; Sue; Max; Ross; Ken; Brockley Nick and co; Danny; Little Richardjohn; Nick; Paulie; Raven; Michael; James. And belatedly adding the Dame.)

In other news...

Remembering our dead: More Harvey Pekar tributes (some via Kellie): Kroninger, Molly Mew. More Tuli Kupferberg tributes (ditto): Kroninger, Molly Mew, Michael Ezra.Our other dead: Ken Coates. The dead of 7/7. And again. Srebernica 15 years on. 

My obsessions: Carl has posted the text version of his post on the SWP and Moazzam Begg. Pinkwashing Israel and whitewashing Judith Butler.RCPwatch: the Institute of Ideas. Churchill was no hero. Righteous Muslims during the Shoah. The Iranian Islamic counter-revolution. Those Burka-banning French, I mean Syrians. Hanging our heads for the future of the left.

Fascism and anti-fascism: South London anti-fascists 1934. Old EDL news: racist after all and inspired by Loyalism. The changing face of British racism. BNP beaten in Barking again (but get a third of the vote). Socialist Unity and anarcho-squadism.

Hitch: Why he matters. And more.

London/Labour: Ambivalence about Ken. Ken versus Ooona = pisshead versus airhead. Cruddas for leader, or at least chair. 

A local blog for local people: Convoys Wharf latest plans (I haven't posted about this for ages). Save Crofton Park Library. Lewisham's cuts. Added: Sir Steve B*ll*cks: F**king idi*t. Cuts, cuts, cuts.

The state of blogging: Marko on Harry's Place and its comment threads. Vote early vote often.

To add to the blogroll: Radiator.

Other miscellanies: Poumista.

Death of a hero

I just opened an e-mail from Arieh:

It's with an overwhelming sadness that I share the news of the passing of both Harvey Pekar and Tuli Kupferberg.

May their memory, and their creativity in diverse media, be a blessing to us all, and future generations.

Tuli Kupferberg, for those who don't know, was a member of the Fugs, as well as an all-round important figure in the 1960s counter-culture. Harvey Pekar, however, is one of my true heroes.

I first encounted Pekar and his American Splendour comics in a Los Angeles bookstore, Amok (is it still there?), while visiting Jogo perhaps two decades ago. I remember standing there in the store unable to stop reading them. In particular, I loved this story.

When the film came out a couple of years back, I was very nervous, but the film captured the comics perfectly, and, I thought, really did him justice. I felt I knew him as a friend from the comics; I felt I knew him even better afterwards.

He was 70, and suffering from prostate cancer. His battle with cancer had been one of the themes of his recent work.

I will miss him.

Some appreciations: Daily Cross Hatch; Nick Abadzis; Jesse Hamm; Anthony Bourdain; Jeff Smith.

Weekending

The new Con-Dem austerity is beginning to hurt. Locally (in Lewisham), there are plans to close half the libraries in the borough, including my local one in Crofton Park. Details from Brockley Central and Blackheath Bugle. Other proposals include job cuts in the Early Years service, less youth workers, less refuse collections and job cuts among bin men, and replacing pay and display parking with a pre-pay system.

On the brighter side, the Overland train allows people in my neighbourhood to get to Tayyabs easily - although Tayyabs, in my view, isn't as good as it used to be.

Also on the bright side: BBC 6Music has been saved. A victory for people power and Web 2.0, or was the announced closure just a clever marketing ploy?

Loads of great stuff this week at Raincoat Optimist: Iranian law and the case of Sakine Mohammadi Ashtani; The troops and the ‘good muslim, bad muslim’ narrative: A reply to Richard Seymour; Philip Hollobone and the (il)logic of the burka debate. I think this post on Moazzam Begg and the left would be brilliant too if it was typed, but I can't handle the vlog formatI'm afraid. Am I old-fashioned?

Unrelated: The radicalism of the American revolution, with superb musical accompaniment. Pinkwashing Israel (relates to this/this).