Now we’re finding out he wasn’t killed by the 500 lb bombs we dropped. He had to be dispatched afterwards, more or less manually.
We sure wouldn’t have wanted him to be able to talk. Somebody might actually have learned something. But then he might have been able to incriminate members of the government. Oh, of course I’m only referring to our security zone Baghdad allies; who else?
Category: Politics
nativist terror in Belgium is reflected everywhere
only the lyrics change
I’m going to start by pointing out that here in the U.S, in the best of all possible worlds, we managed to put racism and nativism behind us long ago and we are today totally cool with the blessings of multiculturalism.
Admitedly however, in the last few weeks we’ve had to confront the fact that we haven’t entirely straightened out the kinks in the wall which is supposed to keep out the brown peril on our southern border.
We’ve also been reminded only this week that we still haven’t been able to carve into the Constitution a new 3/5ths rule for our damnable native homos, although this time it’s going to be more like 0/5ths when marriage licenses are distributed. The girls aren’t much of a problem, but why can’t the gay boys be happy with their beauty parlors, ribbon counters and, well . . . their traditional illicit and indiscriminate sex, leaving the manly jobs and marriage bliss for real Americans?
All of this gives me the authority to decry the horrors of nativism which have descended upon what is by most accounts one of the most ancient and most sophisticated [Western] societies on the planet, the nation of Belgium.
I am going to upload here the entire text of an email which I [along with a number of her other correspondents] was privileged to receive recently from a good friend who has been living in Antwerp for a number of years. Kate’s own complex national and cultural background would be difficult to describe easily, and I would argue it is irrelevant to the significance of her account.
A LETTER FROM ANTWERP
Dear friends abroad:
I am writing to tell you what it is like being here. Recent events have brought an ugly demon to the surface and everyone seems to be tainted in some way by its grip. It was as if before it was “sleeping” but events prove that it has embedded itself deeply at this society’s core.
I am talking about the recent spate of attacks and murders that have swept through the Flanders part of Belgium and in particular in the city of Antwerp where I live.
First we were shocked to hear how a parisian of african origins and his Belgian (white) rastafarian friend were severely beaten by some neonazis in the picturesque city of bruges
The african man is still in a coma and just about every bone in his face was broken
Then a young boy of, what, 22, was chased into the river Scheldt and drowned. The assumption is that it was a racist attack, as Mohamed Bouazza was from Morocco, living in Belgium.
Third and perhaps most devastatingly an eighteen year old man went on the rampage with a hunting gun which he simply purchased at a store near the museum where I was working that day. Didn’t need a license, and the weapon he bought was powerful enough to kill a bear. Are there still bears in Belgium, incidentally? Just days before it happened I had looked at the shop, displaying all manner of weaponry, and knives as if they were trophies, and wondered what sacrifice would be made with those items.
So the man goes into town, and shoots a Turkish woman reading a book on a park bench, the bullet going right through her and even leaving traces in the apartment building behind. Her condition is serious if no longer critical.
The man then proceeded to kill a Malian woman who was pregnant, and a child of two from Belgium for whom she was babysitting. In the “Black Sister Street” [Zwartzustersstraat] no less. Nobody of the Flemish government was at her funeral.
The shooter’s aunt belongs to the extreme right Vlaams Belang (formerly known as the Vlaams Blok), is a member of parliament and also involved in some of the VB’s more radical wings. Evidence shows the man’s motives were racist. It does not seem too farfetched to suppose that the man was brought up on extreme right propaganda. Fed with his porridge spoon as they say in Flemish.
One third of citizens in this city votes extreme right.
Yesterday 20.000 people marched in silence to the court of justice in Antwerp to commemorate the dead. 35.000 people went to see the holy blood procession in Bruges a few days earlier. I don’t know if they were all tourists; or if it was because of yesterday’s rain. What I can say is that people are afraid, the atmosphere is highly strung here, and that there seems to be no solution in sight.
The region of Flanders has to wake up to the idea that its diversity is a fact and that it is a positive and enriching fact in an already extremely prosperous region. I see these events as the result of a people’s grossly warped self image and a great lack of gratitude. Flanders is stooped under a huge chip on its shoulder due to the francophone suppression, but that was years ago and now Flanders is far more prosperous than the Wallonian, french-speaking part of Belgium. A big chunk of the taxes I pay go to funding the Vlaams Belang, who preach hate messages wherever they can.
The march was a warm affair despite the damp yet at its end I was left with a feeling that little had been done. I had a feeling that the immigrant community don’t have a good spokesperson, and there is such an all pervading sense of “the other” it is chilling.
Of course it was nice to see many artists and actors, musicians, poets in the ranks of people on the walk. We found each other and we spoke with people we didn’t know before. And 20.000 is an awful lot of people. All people I know have reacted in a similar way to me and are as disgusted and shocked by the events. And I am happy to say that I have met some wonderful warm intelligent gifted openminded and generous people of all origins while living here and that the cultural scene is thriving, at times visionary, and quite positively one to be jealous of. This gives hope.
But I am not sure how much longer I want to live in this city which never clarified or brought its dubious allegiances of its WWII history into the open.
I am not an expert on this subject but I have tried to sketch an image of how I feel.
Be well,
Kate
In truth of course Belgium’s nightmare is currently being shared in one form or another by each of its neighbors, and to a greater or lesser degree by every nation on earth, not least our own frightened, benighted land.
If only reports about the worst of these horrors unfolding in distant lands could bring us to our senses. Instead similar tragedies produced by similar hatreds and fears can continue to unfold here precisely because we fail to recognize ourselves in the ignorance and malevalence of what is seen only as the other.
[image from Latin American Studies]
Brooklyn College MFA works resurrected, with scars
I wrote a little while back that I would show some of the damage the school had done to work created by Brooklyn College Masters degree students. While this small post can’t show the full extent of the physical and psychological assault, it may help to show what New York really thinks about art where it’s not attached to big money or some kind of celebrity.
Susan C. Dessel Texas Barrier 2006 cement, styrofoam, cheesecloth, rocks (barrier structure: 5’6″ H x 10′ W x 4’D, rocks 8’ D around structure) [installation view of photograph in re-assembled show documenting the original site-specific installation; the photograph itself is by Robert Puglisi]
Susan C. Dessel Texas Barrier Post Mortem 2006 (elements of Texas Barrier) [large detail of installation in re-assembled show]
Even in photo reproduction, for me Dessel’s original installation stood as a brutal monument to exclusion or “security”; in its damaged form, its shattered pieces reconfigured and squeezed into an alcove in something less than ideal lighting, the work sadly suggested something more like a wounded, defeated animal. I don’t know how to sort out an irony through which an evil process can transfom a scary, inanimate object into a creature less the object of scorn than of pity, but I want to watch where Dessel goes from here.
jun Yejin’s damaged sculpture (large sections broken off and removed, and large remaining areas of straight pins completely flattened)
Carrie Fucile’s large wooden house sculpture, as totally flattened by workers sent by Brooklyn College, including her video documentation of men loading pickup trucks
Megan Piontkowski’s Brooklyn College parrots were re-configured after their initial outing in the show’s original venue: While these little guys suffered damage when they were taken from the War Memorial, the artist herself has altered their appearance further herself. Tiny dark hoods now cover their heads, in a reference to the violence of New York City’s summary act of art censorship and the College’s ready cooperation in it.
There are more photographs on the “PlanB Prevails” website, along with an open letter from Vito Acconci, one of the few artists to be heard from on this assault on the arts and on civil rights which exploded five weeks ago.
Bush needs federal help to protect his marriage
Somebody must currently be leaning very hard on George, perhaps some homo brute has a gun at his back and is forcing him to walk out on Laura and pad down the aisle once again. Why else would our Commander-in-Chief be thumping for a constitutional amendment in order to stay with his wife?
It seems to me a real man could just say no, or at least yell to the Secret Service for help. Anyway, from where I sit when you see a Republican panic and run off to try to rig up a clumsy, big-government device in order to defend a marriage it sadly looks like just plain cowardliness. If Bush or even some lower-ranking heterosexual is unable to protect her or his marriage without calling in the feds, the contract’s no longer likely to be worth a damn anyway.
Then again, how could I know any thing about the horrors of bourgeois marriage? Barry and I have had too much fun being together for fifteen years to even begin thinking about “protection” or “defense”, other than safe sex, that is.
Oh, Bush’s problem? Maybe someone just has to start supervising our boy’s reading material:
[to protect the ancient innocent, this vintage DC Comics image has not been altered one bit]
[image from superdickery]
the penis art which threatens New York families
Augusto Marin’s notorious provocation
This is just one of five sculptures by Augusto Marin which is included in the Brooklyn College MFA thesis show shut down three weeks ago by the Brooklyn Parks Commissioner. This self-appointed guardian of New York’s public morals was outraged by the small image of a hand holding a penis and declared it not appropriate for families.
The show has finally been re-assembled elsewhere by the artists, and last night visitors at the opening reception, including members of families representing all ages and genders, were clearly at a loss at locating any provocation in a beautiful piece of molded resin lighted behind a beautiful stretched blue scrim. The work is one of four mixed media pieces in which the artist gently references traditional devotional objects both sacred and profane.
The damage done to much of the work when it was carted out of the War Memorial gallery was clearly evident however even in Marin’s own piece, which had suffered a tear when it was pulled from the wall. More here later about other, more serious damage and about some works in the current show which specifically address New York City government censorship and its destructive handmaiden Brooklyn College. We’re hosting Barry’s Mother this week so posting will have to be minimal for the next few days.
Oh, and as for all those editorials and letters referring to these graduate students as spoiled “kids”, maybe some people should do some fact checking. I know that several artists within this MFA group are old enough to have college-age kids themselves, and last night I spoke to one of them who had been absolutely shocked to hear the school’s own lawyer describe her class as “young kids”. Susan C. Dessel let the attorney know she herself was 60.
Brooklyn College MFA “Plan B Prevails”
WHEN DOES A PHALLUS DESERVE RESPECT?*
Robert Mapplethorpe Louise Bourgeois 1982 [image of Bourgeois holding her “Fillette”]
Now it’s official. Er, maybe I should write “anti-official”: The Brooklyn College 2006 MFA thesis show is re-opening, mostly. It was shut down by the City of New York for not being “appropriate for families” on May 6, the day after it opened. Shortly after that everything was hauled away by the school which sponsored it, and in the process some of the work was damaged or lost. Tomorrow night the exhibition is finally going to re-open in DUMBO – this time on private property. The opening reception is from 6 to 9 pm and it will include a live performance.
The reassembled and necessarily reworked show will include new pieces made in response to the censorship and thuggish trashing of the original installation. The students, who re-gained posession of their work only four days ago, are calling the new exhibition, “Plan B Prevails“.
*
One of the works included in the original MFA show was a sculpture by Augusto Marin which included a representation of a phallus.
THE SHOW DETAILS:
The artists are: Carla Aspenberg, Jill Auckenthaler, John Avelluto, Zoe Cohen, David Davron, Susan C. Dessel, Carl James Ferrero, Carrie Fucile, Pamela Gordon, Yejin Jun, Diane Kosup, Marni Kotak, Augusto Marin, Akiko Mori, Christopher Moss, Sarah Phillips, Megan Piontkowski and Tamas Veszi. The show will occupy 6,000 square feet of space donated by Two Trees Development.
Plan B Prevails is located at 70 Washington Street, Brooklyn, in 6,000 square feet of space donated by Two Trees Development. The entrance is located on Front Street. The exhibit is free to the public and is open Wednesday through Sunday from May 24 to June 16, 2006 from 12 to 6 pm or by appointment at Brooklynmfa@gmail.com. Take the F to York Street or the A/C to High Street.
[image from Georgetown]
UPDATE: In a comment which appears below Chris Moss points out that Louise Bourgeois used to teach at Brooklyn College herself! No, I can’t pretend I knew just how appropriate the image was!
postponed: Brooklyn College MFA students press conference
I’ve just gotten word that the Brooklyn College MFA Press Conference originally scheduled for 1 pm today has been POSTPONED. Details to follow.
I’m not going to speculate here, but I find this last-minute change very interesting.
On a related note, I’ve attended at least dozens of press conferences involving civil rights issues in New York, many of them enjoying the participation of Norman Siegel. They are very often if not usually held on the steps of City Hall, and not [never?] inside a law office. Even though access to the people’s house in New York is not free, and even if groups sometimes have to take a number to reserve a spot, those columns make a good visual if you can get in and the media knows exactly where you’ll be.
My understanding is that this particular conference relates to a civil rights suit against the City of New York as one of the defendents. Any reason why City Hall might be off-limits this time? Perhaps someone should ask the Mayor’s office.
Douglas Kelly as proper political pundit
and I also have a bridge you can buy
Gee willikers, Uncle Sam! It’s as if up to now we’ve only had to worry about the civil rights of our native Al Qaedans!
Why is it we don’t hardly hear a peep from our politicians or our media, even from the few progressive elements that remain on the outskirts, about the real reason for this administration’s interest in our converstions and our associations? I’m talking about our government’s five-year-plus orgy of domestic wiretapping and the tracing of tens of millions of phone records. Hint: It’s not because the Bushies are just nosy, and it’s certainly not because they’re trying to protect us from anything.
This evening Douglas Kelly breaks the media silence with a note which precedes his visual arts newsletter, the the “Douglas Kelley Show List”. I’m copying the note’s entire text, but it’s the last paragraph [with my italics] that shatters the let’s-just-continue-to-play-nice game:
May 18th, 2006, NEW YORK- Years ago during the Reagan era when the late Senator Daniel P. Moynihan quit as head of the Senate Select Committee on Foreign Intelligence he said to the effect, “Why should I waste my time, they only they only come here and lie over and over again, what is the point?” The ability to sincerely lie to Congress and the American people on national TV has been a career qualification for head of C.I.A. since I’ve been watching and on the basis of what I’ve heard so far, he’s qualified, I don’t believe a word he said.
Our new four-star chief spook looks like what members of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles must look like these days down at the Children’s Memorial Saturday Morning TV Retirement Home in Boca Raton Florida? General Turtle looks a little hungry, will somebody please put a leaf of lettuce in this guy’s cage?
Why would the N.S.A. go for everybody’s phone records in the U.S.A.? Great Caesar Nixon’s Ghost! What a stupid question? To go get after those pesky untrustworthy troublemakers; the press, the leakers, the whistle blowers, the protesters, the gays, women, mothers, Democrats, Lib-ber-rals, artists, any of those terror enablers who question an open ended war beyond the realm of oversight or accountability? (Besides the political intelligence from an analysis of such lists could be very helpful in the next election.) “Thank you General Bobble J. Turtle Head, sir! You’re doing a heck of a job!”
It’s not enough to control every branch of government; you gotta make sure it’s permanent, especially if your players would all be subject to criminal prosecution under any responsible Department of Justice and Congress.
Why doesn’t anyone seem to understand what’s going on? The stakes could not be higher, yet what passes for the opposition plays the game as if the other side had any interest in the rules.
Uncle Sam is leaving.
[image from Micah Wright]
Brooklyn College MFA students announce press conference
UPDATE: [noon, Friday, May 19] The Brooklyn College MFA Press Conference originally scheduled for 1 pm today has been POSTPONED. Details to follow.
FIGHTING THE CENSOR’S (ST)INK
Brooklyn College MFA students, members of the faculty and attorneys Norman Siegel and Steven Hyman will hold a press conference tomorrow afternoon announcing the filing of a lawsuit against the City of New York, the New York City Parks Department and Brooklyn College.
The location is the Law Offices of McLaughlin & Stern at 260 Madison Avenue (Betw. 38th and 39th) on the 20th Floor. The time is 1 pm.
I’ll be there.
For the background, see this blog and my six subsequent posts linked there at the bottom of the text.
our own wall of shame, and an army to guard it
United States Border Patrol agents make use of All Terrain vehicles as they patrol along the U.S. border with Mexico in this undated photograph provided by the Border Patrol. [Reuters caption]
The Great Wall of China, Hadrian’s wall, the Berlin Wall and the Apartheid Wall in the West Bank were and are all monuments to the failure of societies to relate to the other. Our own wall of exclusion along borders we captured from Mexico by force is an equally crude weapon and, like all the others, it’s intended to separate people who are otherwise essentially indivisible. Some day we will understand this, but at the moment our ignorance and our fears are being successfully manipulated by demagogues.
[image from “US Border Patrol Handout” by James Tourtellotte via Reuters]