I doubt that anyone is still checking up on this, but I have decided not to continue this blog. I may start another political/art blog somewhere else. Thanks for reading.

Thoughts on the election

The day after Bush won the 2004 election, I fell apart. I cried and screamed and harbored slightly homicidal thoughts against him and his followers.

Not so much because I deeply wanted John Kerry to be President.

Not so much because I thought anything would *really* change with a Democratic White House.

Not so much because I thought that a Kerry win would end the war.

I was upset because enormous swaths of the population had actually voted for George W. Bush.

People I knew.

People I had been friends with.

And they did it, along with the hundreds of thousands of other people who had voted for Bush, under a banner of hate. Disguised as pleasant hometown patriotic American conservatism. I hated the vindication and smug grins I saw on Bush's face and on the faces of my friends and dormmates - that "We have won" smile. I was crushed and outraged that a majority of the country, however slim, had validated Bush's policies of violence, destruction, and hatred. And that so many of them had been mobilized by a fierce desire to protect their hetero privilege and keep gays and lesbians oppressed. That so many people, people I worked with and studied with, people I grew up with, harbored an abhorrent nostalgia for the quaint old days when women meekly served male leaders.

It was this that killed me more than the thought of 4 more years with Bush in office.

And so, four years later as we approach another election, I can safely say I am somewhat more healthily detached from the outcome. But the way I think about the electoral process and what it means to me has crystallized.

I find precious little to support in the policies of either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. Perhaps, given recent primary victories, my feelings about the latter are irrelevant. But I think they're both weak on their anti-war stances, wrong on Afghanistan, wrong on Israel, wrong on Cuba, wrong on immigration, and wrong on healthcare.

Now, I'm a socialist, so this kind of statement is to be expected. ;) And it's not that I'm issuing a wholesale rejection of all of Obama's policies. I think bits and pieces of his platforms are progressive, and CERTAINLY better than they could be. He is at least partially committed to ending the Iraq war, offering healthcare and developing a progressive plan for immigration. What I'm trying to say is that I'm not crazy about the idea of him as President. I don't look at Obama and say "That's my dream ticket." I think he has some good ideas but on the whole I don't believe his presidency will effect as much change as he may be promising.

HOWEVER.

I have come to realize that I will probably be just as crushed if he loses the November general election as I was when Bush won in 2004.

Because if the U.S. has gone through 8 years of the hell the Bush administration has put us through and STILL elects a Leave it to Beaver throwback draconian neocon like John McCain, I am going to LOSE it. If Bush's approval ratings can drop almost into the single digits, but America still elects a gay-hating immigrant-hating racist warmonger like McCain, I will probably need to be checked into some kind of hospital. Because I will have punched several holes in my wall. (okay not really but I'll probably think about doing it)

Conversely, I have seen the throngs of people who support Obama. I don't agree with all of them but I think we have many common goals. And though, as Angela Davis says "an electoral campaign is not a movement," I am still inspired by all of these people who have been mobilized to participate more in progressive politics. And I'd be so sad if all of these people were disappointed. Because I know all we'd hear for weeks after a McCain victory is, "Well all those progressive people, all those African-Americans, all those young people, they failed. La dee da."

Obviously I know that Obama himself can easily disappoint all of his supporters once he's in office, and that is a whole other kind of disappointment. I guess the secret is many of Obama's supporters are far more progressive than he is. My hope lies less with Obama and more with the people who support him, many of whom are at the brink of true radical consciousness, who have just started to think about the intersections of race and class. I don't want to see them disillusioned by a candidate who makes false promises, if that's what Obama turns out to be. But I also don't want to see them crushed and bashed by a Republican victory and a mainstream media post-election spin storm. Nor do I want to see homophobia, racism, sexism and aggression hoisted onto a pedestal like they were with Bush's 2004 victory.

I have learned too much to put that much faith into the power of a U.S. President to change much of the underlying structure of this society. But what matters most to me is what ideals and what values get celebrated come election day, and which ones get trampled.

"Where pain is the prime number" - Remembering Paula Gunn Allen

Let's take a moment to honor the passing of great writer and activist Paula Gunn Allen, who died at her home in California on May 29, 2008. She was the author of dozens of books of prose and poetry, a Lannan Foundation Fellow, National Endowment for the Arts Fellow, and a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writer's Circle of the Americas.

And as a dedicated professor, critic and writer, one of Paula's passions was creating a space in academic literature studies for multi-ethnic writing. She personally describes herself as a "multicultural event," referring to her Pueblo, Lakotah, Lebanese and Scottish heritage. In a 1997 interview she says,

"I would like to call the university a multiversity. The university means there's only one god, there's only one way to do things, and to me that is directly counter to the American experience. That's fine for the English or the French, or whoever, and in discussion they say they don't like that [to be grouped together] but then why do they do it to us? Why can't we have many literatures, all of which are American? African American literature is not African. It really isn't. It's American literature informed by the experiences here and African oral traditions, which were brought over from various African nations.

. . . . .Okay, so imbedded in Western thought for two thousand years, or fifteen hundred years at least, is the idea of one king, one emperor, one people. But that's not true. And even the motto e pluribus unum, out of many one, but really what we have is out of many, many. And it's wonderful, cause that's the reality. Have you ever heard of one anything? You can't just have one leaf, you've got to have the whole tree.

. . . . Everything has to be community, and it has to be multiple-community literature. That's what it has to be. There's no reason why we can't develop a contemporary Native American stance that enables us to generate political strategies that will apply. Not the same ones for everyone, but the appropriate ones for the case that you're examining."

She was also a fierce defender of the rights of women and GLBT people: According to Gale's Poet Corner, " Elaborating on the roles and power of Native American women, Allen's "Who Is Your Mother: Red Roots of White Feminism" was published in Sinister Wisdom in 1984. In this startling article, Allen articulated Native American contributions to democracy and feminism, countering a popular idea that societies in which women's power was equal to men's never existed. She also has been a major champion to restore the place of gay and lesbian Native Americans in the community. These ideas were first published in 1981 in a groundbreaking essay in Conditions, "Beloved Women: Lesbians in American Indian Cultures," and then reworked for the Sacred Hoop."

And I'll end with Paula in her own words, one of her poems:

Hoop Dancer

It's hard to enter
circling clockwise and counter
clockwise moving no
regard for time, metrics
irrelevant to this dance
where pain is the prime number
and soft stepping feet
praise water from the skies:

I have seen the face of triumph
the winding line stare down all moves
to desecration: guts not cut from arms,
fingers joined to minds,
together Sky and Water
one dancing one
circle of a thousand turning lines
beyond the march of gears--
out of time, out of
time, out
of time.

No Toxic Dump on O'odham Land

The O'odham Solidarity Project was formed to provide solidarity to the O'odham of South Western Arizona and Northern Sonora in their efforts to maintain their traditional culture and ancestral land in areas currently under colonization by the United States and Mexico.

Specifically, this project will seek to raise awareness about a proposed project of the Department of Homeland Security / Border Patrol to build a permanent wall across the Arizona/Mexico border - a wall that will bisect the traditional O'odham lands and severely limit the rights of ancestral passage.

In addition, this project will illuminate the ongoing intersection between environmental racism and the colonial occupation of indigenous lands.

The O'odham Solidarity Project is an autonomous solidarity project and does not claim to represent any specific group other than itself.

Now, the Mexican company CEGIR has proposed building a toxic dump near sacred O'odham ceremony grounds:

"Since early in 2006 the traditional O’odham residing in the occupied territories of Northern Mexico and the South Western United States (and their international supporters) have persistently and patiently organized, protested and petitioned to try to convince the Mexican government federal Environment and Natural Resources Secretariat (SEMARNAT) and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to stop CEGIR from building this toxic dump. So far, protest and international attention has held back the initial phases of the dump construction, but there have been no official statements from SEMARNAT, CEGIR or any other entity that the plans to build the dump have actually been officially canceled.

The placement of this toxic dump in Sonora, very close to one of the O’odham’s most sacred sites, is yet another blatant example of the environmental racism that characterizes the dominant culture. The toxic waste that will be put into this dump, should we fail to stop its construction, will be generated primarily by the maquiladoras along the border. These factories, made possible by NAFTA, are violating the human rights of those who work in them, and are now seeking to violate the sacred waters of Quitovac, all to satiate the consumer sickness and the greed of the US corporations who profit from the human misery and environmental destruction that they wreak."

Petition to stop the toxic waste dump on sacred O'odham lands

Anti-immigrant bills on their way to AZ Gov. Napolitano

From Border Action Network:

Tell the Governor to Veto HB2807 and HB2359 –Today!

State Legislative Action

Wednesday, 23 April 2008

On Monday, April 21 the Arizona Senate gave the final stamp of approval to HB2807. The bill is now on its way to Governor Napolitano’s desk where she has the choice: require all Arizona police and sheriffs departments to create programs to address federal immigration violations or veto it. We want her to veto it. Another bill, HB2359, would allow Sheriff’s to sign agreements with Immigration without County Boards of Supervisor approval will likely be approved the legislature this week and be sent to her desk as well. If you live in Arizona, click here to send Napolitano an email asking her to veto these bills.

reverse racism linkies

Hey Anti-Racist activists. Do you ever wonder what to say to people when they counter your arguments about privilege and white supremacy with the old "but racism goes both ways!" defense?

Well MissCripChick has pointed me to a badass response by FruitFemme:

After leaving a workshop where the speakers claimed racism "goes both ways":

No it does not actually go both ways. NO it is not all about mean words & hurt feelings. It is actually about infant mortality rates and poverty and deportation and rape and who does/does not have a grocery store on their side of town and who can/cannot get onto the fucking bus which stops running at 7 anyway and whether Scully & Khubz & I are all safe together and it is not is NOT is NOTNOTNOT about whether some person of color said something mean to you when you were in 7th grade.

Expertise

From Democracy Now!:

The New York Times has revealed new details on how the Pentagon recruited more than seventy-five retired military officers to appear on TV outlets as so-called military analysts ahead of the Iraq war to portray Iraq as an urgent threat. The Times reported the Pentagon continues to use the analysts in a propaganda campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration’s wartime.

The media defends this manipulation of public opinion and imbalance of perspectives by saying they invite "experts" onto their shows. That's why they didn't interview peace activists in the months leading up to the war. That's why they showed predominantly pro-war views from generals and Pentagon officials. Because these people were experts.

I wonder . .

Why not interview an Iraqi child, an expert on what it's like to have your parents shot and killed by U.S. soldiers right before your eyes, an expert on what it's like to be orphaned, your house destroyed, your school destroyed.

Why not interview an Iraqi mother whose son was detained in a raid, taken to a secret prison and tortured. She's an expert on the knifing worry in your gut when someone you love disappears.

Why not interview that son, for an expert inside look at U.S.-run detention centers in Iraq.

Why not interview a family forced to leave their home, for their insightful expertise on living as a refugee, on having your vibrant city irrevocably decimated by war.

Talk to the kids from the U.S. ghettos and barrios who are aggressively wooed by recruiters. They're experts on the smarting irony of the word "choice," having to "choose" between poverty in a neglected community and trauma on a cruel battlefield.

Talk to the people marching and chanting against the war, experts no doubt on what it's like to scream for years without ever being heard or taken seriously.

Interview the mothers who lost sons, the fathers who lost daughters. Interview the children whose parents were tortured at Abu Ghraib, killed in Ramadi, Fallujah, Basra. Interview the people whose sons, fathers, brothers, uncles, and cousins have gone missing, who were swept up in raids and haven't been heard from in months, who were shot for walking down the street after curfew, for appearing to carry a weapon. Interview these experts on grief.

Why not invite the soldiers who hate what they've been ordered to do, who put down their guns, who walk away, who go AWOL, tear their medals from their chest. They are experts in terrifying conviction, in walking off a cliff and risking everything for their conscience.

Talk to the refugees, the teachers, the shopkeepers, the oil-workers, the women, the lawyers, the doctors, the nurses, the writers, the journalists, the musicians, the old, the young, the people of Iraq, the only experts there are in what has happened to their country. Ask them for their in-depth analysis. Put them on your payroll, CNN. Put them up in luxury hotels with food and new clothes and access to all the media outlets they need. Bring them into the studio every day and ask, "What do you need? What should be done? What has happened? How can we help? What do you want us to understand? We are listening. We are listening."

six-word memoir

one part spine
one part bloom

Sehba Sarwar tagged me for this:
I tag Erica, Ammie, MissCripChick, Nez, Michelle

The six word memoir rules are:
write your own six word memoir.
post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you’d like.
link to the person that tagged you in your post.
tag five more blogs with links.
leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play!

Another racist attempt from the AZ legislature . . .

I can't imagine that this will pass - but then again, AZ did pass Prop 300 in 2006 and several "English only" and "don't hire immigrant" bills so . . . . .

Funny how often the word "anti-American" is used by the architects of this bill. I wonder if schools could bypass the fascist demands to confiscate anti-American books by pointing out that MEXICO is part of THE AMERICAS. "See, Mr. Whitey? Viva La Raza is really pro-American!"

Arizona attempts to outlaw MEChA and Chicano StudiesLA VOZ DE AZTLAN

Los Angeles, California
April 17, 2008

Arizona legislation will outlaw MEChA and Mexican-American Studies

The Appropriations Committee of the Arizona House of Representatives has approved provisions to a "Homeland Security" measure that would essentially destroy the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA) and Mexican-American study programs in the state's public schools, colleges and universities.

The anti-Mexican provisions to SB1108 were approved yesterday and the bill is now scheduled for a vote by the full House.

The provisions would withhold funding to schools whose courses "denigrate American values and the teachings of European based civilization."

One section of SB1108 would bar public schools, community colleges and universities from allowing organizations to operate on campus if it is "based in whole or in part on race-based criteria," a provision Rep. Russell Pearce said is aimed at MEChA.

Pearce is a Republican and the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee out of Mesa, Arizona.

According to Chairman Pearce, SB1108 would also bar teaching practices that "overtly encourage dissent from American values" such as Raza Studies at the Tucson Unified School District.

In addition, SB1108 mandates the State Superintendent of Public Instruction to confiscate books and teaching materials that are deemed anti-American.

Chairman Pearce said some of the teaching materials amount to "sedition" by suggesting that the current border between the United States and Mexico disappear with La Raza taking over the American Southwest.

One book that would be confiscated mentioned by Pearce is "Occupied America - A History
of Chicanos" by Professor Rodolfo Acuña.