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


Thursday, May 26, 2011

What Ethan McCord saw when he rescued the children...


Incident in New Baghdad is a short, award-winning documentary about the Apache helicopter strike shown in the Collateral Murder video allegedly leaked by Bradley. Ethan McCord, the soldier who rescued the wounded children from the van, spoke at the film premier in April. He describes his experience in-detail and works to contextualize the attack. If you have not read one of Ethan McCord’s interviews yet, you should absolutely check out the video:





From the video:

That was one incident of many that you guys got to see. Things like this happen almost on a daily basis in Iraq. It may not have been an Apache… it may have been a Bradley (type of fighting vehicle). I saw a Bradley fire on a van load of children, nothing more than children, and watched the Iraqi police pull bodies out. Pieces of children. And the whole time they were just looking at us and shaking their heads. Again, that was one incident. And you guys can see from that one incident that we shouldn’t be there.

Original at Bradley Manning Support Network (BradleyManning.org)

Monday, May 23, 2011

While we were shopping...


British women today enjoy freedoms undreamed of a century ago. There is a widespread sense that all the big battles have been won. But have they? In the first part of a three-day series on feminism, Katharine Viner asks how liberating these 'freedoms' really are - and says it's time we stopped being so complacent.

Anorexic women targeted by ‘super-skinny’ porn websites

"As you know, beauty has one name: being thin. Our models are underweight, skinny, thin, bony – just like you. We want you. Regardless of the costs, we want you to join our agency. Let's face facts, on anorexic porn websites, men are masturbating watching your pictures. You are a superstar of starvation and if you were selling and marketing your frame you would be more wealthy than most of us because men would pay any price for watching those pictures."

Full Guardian article by Nicola Hobbs, The Guardian - Wednesday 6 April 2011

Anorexic back

Below Commentary From The AntiPornMenProject BY EDDIE, ON APRIL 16TH, 2011

Last week the Guardian exposed a horrific example of how the porn industry keeps its ‘edge’ in the market. Well recorded in the porn industry is the continuous movement towards more and more hard-core, violent and degrading content. As time goes on what counts as mainstream porn becomes normalized in the quest for more shocking material making yesterday’s extreme, today’s mainstream. It is indicative of the capitalist model that traders in the market attempt to out-do each other to the next new and exciting product. This operates the same way in pornography.

‘Super-skinny’ porn sites are another example of this. Blatantly exploiting people who are unwell in order to feed an appetite for porn that is not only more shocking but that also strongly plays to the masculine obsession with dominance and control over women. Not only do those who suffer from anorexia nervosa often look younger they are also obviously weaker than the non-anorexic male porn performer they are shown with in porn. Women’s comparative physical weakness to men is accentuated to the extreme in ‘Super-skinny’ porn. Not only does the industry move to more hard-core and violent ground, this new ground is often importantly about power and dominance over women.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Radical Feminist Seminar in Boston on June 25 – 26, 2011

For our US readers particularly, a Radical Feminist Seminar at Wheelock Media Institute, Boston, MA.

Come to Boston on June 25 – 26, 2011, for two days of radical feminist education, organizing, and networking. Women from all over the world will be exploring classic and contemporary radical feminism as well as developing local and international strategies for building cultures of resistance. We will have presentations, workshops, and discussions on:

* Globalization and the exploitation of women’s labor
* Fighting the global sex industry
* Theoretical and activist splits in contemporary feminism
* International strategies for radical feminist organizing
* Movement building through social media
* Radical feminist critiques of Third Wave feminism, Postmodernism, and Queer theory

Presenters include Gail Dines, Sheila Jeffreys, Cynthia Enloe, Lierre Keith, Saba Malik, Samantha Berg, and more. Special guest appearances include feminist activists from Norway and other countries to talk about their extraordinary successes in fighting the sex industry.

link