to do list

envision : nap : whisper : laugh : caress : sing : love : consider : hug : create : wonder
but above all
—dance

Traveling Hopefully

"Not only is another world possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing."

-Arundhati Roy


Friday, October 23, 2009

Daniel Parker's Reply to Free Market Anarchism and Private Property

(Editorial note: This was a response by Daniel Parker to an individual. I've generalized the comment. --Cat)

I'm an anarchist and I completely disagree with this...conception of private property or of reality for that matter. I think [it] conflates private property with possession. I don't think [this perspective recognizes] the fact that private property means 'ownership' over stuff the owner cannot use to the extent that owners become a class by the monopolization of the means of production and this scarcity induces people to become wage slaves, simply because there is no place left for them to go. The Earth is finite and so are its natural resources - considering that we all depend on it for life, that we have all become wage slaves, and that we are all subjected to the consequences of decisions we didn't make but were made for us by hierarchies of bosses, owners, and politicians. It would appear to me that not only should the people affected by decisions be the ones making them, but that the people producing and servicing should be the ones defining the terms of these activities.

I honestly am appalled at the notion that market forces are acceptable for anti-authoritarians and anti-statists to base economic models on.

Even in social anarchism, a person has a right to possession and free association. How agorists, mutualists, capitalists, and other marketeers could ever misconceive of social anarchism to be authoritarian is beyond me - however I have tried sincerely many times to understand it.

Maybe propertarians and marketeers will snort at me, "But no one forces you to work for them!". Well, except for the case of private prisons or other forms of slavery, sure. I'll concede that. But generally you do have to work for someone. And that's what propertarians always like to gloss over, seemingly unaware of the monopolization of productive resources which induces people to submit to wage slavery and the resulting plunder and destruction of natural resources.

If anything, I consider them only to be concerned about the right to make a profit. Profit, of which the fact eludes them that it is distinct and generally disconnected from the cost of production, is something which people historically have gone to great lengths to protect, even using violence, deception, and certain other forms of general malevolence and ill will...(including the creation of states--if I may add. --Cat)

Sunday, October 18, 2009

FBI Arrests and Raids of Twitter Anarchist Activists

Friends of Tortuga (reprint)

"On October 1st, 2009, at 6:00am, the Joint Terrorism Task Force (a union of local police departments and the FBI), kicked out the front door to our home—an anarchist collective house in Queens, NY, affectionately known as Tortuga.

The FBI spent 16 hours ransacking our house before carting off boxes of our personal belongings, everything from computers, passports and even stuffed animals.

The apparent reason for this predawn raid was the arrest of two members of our household a week earlier in Pennsylvania. Our two friends were arrested and charged with several felonies for sending twitter messages during protests against the G20 in Pittsburgh."

Further information:
Friend's of Tortuga Blog
Twitter Revolution Solidarity Action: Free Elliot Madison! Allow twitter for protests in USA, not just Iran! Set your avatar red & black!
Story Oct. 6, 2009: Attorney: Info sent to G-20 protesters via Twitter was public

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Human nature and the study of humans. Intellectual Machines. (1)


Preface

We are not intellectual machines, but the creators of social reality. We are complex analyzers, and interpreters--each one of us a synthesizer of incoming information into a personal knowledge that interacts with, influences, and is influenced by others who are each doing the same thing and on a variety of levels from person-person to person-culture/group.

These cultures are many, as well. One individual may belong to a larger society, but also many smaller cultures and subcultures of subcultures. I am a person, but also a female, white/brown/yellow/red, considered beautiful or not, smart or not, old or young (and maybe all of these things in varied circumstances and by different groups). I may be a student or a scientist and each of these memberships, itself, results in still more subgroups, ingroups, and outgroups. Each group and subgroup has its own culture that creates a social reality. What is relevant and salient and useful to one may not be to another.

Human nature and the study of humans - a work in progress. Read at your own risk.


Warning to readers: I am a messy writer and thinker. My world is a chaos of larger pictures lost and found as I muddle around looking at the smaller pictures, while also losing and finding them. I contradict myself and back up to correct, forget half the evidence and can't seem to get all my ideas down in an orderly or comprehensive enough fashion to feel comfortable. I forget much of what I, myself, know on any given day and have to refer back to what I write to find out. This leaves even less room for remembering all the details of the evidence or the ideas of thinkers who've influenced me. I am more like a process than a destination. I write in fragments of ideas. I will experiment with trying to write, anyway.

1. Intellectual Machines

Monday, October 12, 2009

Everything is OK

"The only chains that exist are in your mind."

This is wonderful, hilarious, and full of great stuff! "I am not protesting, I am just speaking through a megaphone. And what I do is give people like you hugs." "Capitalism is a wonderful system. Okay, a few billion people get nothing. But still, think of all the people that get lots." "Everything is OK." "Please go back to your jobs."


"You were born free. You will live free. You will die free. You're allowed to make a scene. You're allowed to scream for joy. You're allowed to complain. You're allowed to cry. You're allowed to love people. You're allowed to hug people. And we're starting to live in a world where we're starting to feel scared. We're starting to forget just how divine and special we are as human beings. Every single one of you is the only example of you that will ever exist. And there is not a single authority in this world who can tell you how to behave at any time, any place, anywhere. You are free. You will live free. You will die free. The only chains that exist are in your mind."

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Playing for Change - War/No More Trouble

Playing For Change | "War/No More Trouble" - Song Around The World from Concord Music Group on Vimeo.

playingforchange.com - As we made our way around the world we encountered love, hate, rich and poor, black and white, and many different religious groups and ideologies. It became very clear that as a human race we need to transcend from the darkness to the light and music is our weapon of the future. This song around the world features musicians who have seen and overcome conflict and hatred with love and perseverance. We don't need more trouble, what we need is love. The spirit of Bob Marley always lives on.

This is the fourth Song Around The World video released from the CD/DVD Playing For Change: Songs Around The World and the follow up to the classics "Stand By Me," "One Love" and "Don't Worry." This unforgettable track was performed by musicians around the world adding their part to the song as it traveled the globe.

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