Signs of life | Cerebral Activity

Alarm tomes: literary bricks written specifically to crash through the windows of your comfort zone

Though this post will not be published for a few days, I am writing it on the sixth of August, the day they buried Alexandr Solzhenitsyn in the Donskoy Cemetary in Russia. Solzhenitsyn will of course be remembered as one of the greatest dissident writers of any age, receiving the 1970 Nobel Prize for First Circle and filling the pages of Cancer Ward and Gulag Archipelago with dissent against the corrupt tyranny rife in the totalitarian Stalinist police state. However, the burial of this body is, thankfully, just that - there is no space here for metaphors on the burial of written dissent. That, thanks to the labours of writers up to the current day, lives on.

[Noam Chomsky]

Noam Chomsky has enjoyed world-wide recognition for his cutting analysis and criticism of US policy across decades. He is also the author of many books on the subject which, while perhaps not penned with the same edge of disdain and anger we revel in on this blog, command respect and warrant mention.

noted titles

Profit Over People: Neoliberalism & Global Order

Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance

Chronicles of Dissent: Interviews With David Barsamian

The Shock Doctrine [Naomi Klein]

The name Naomi Klein will be known to many thanks to her arresting work No Logo on the ugly secrets of the global sweatshop industry, a world of exploited workers in developing countries sewing and manufacturing for pennies items that, with the magic touch of a brand logo, retail for many times the wage paid for them. Almost certainly her latest book of revelations, The Shock Doctrine, will broaden her exposure and expand her acclaim. It will also sicken any reader with a conscience as it charts the history of an evolving dogma of systematic piracy, terrorism and plunder. This Shock Doctrine honed at the Chicago School of Economics seeks to hijack the recovery process of those countries and communities unfortunate enough to suffer calamities deemed 'opportune' by its proponents. Their pursuit of a world whose people obey the 'signals' of unfettered markets facilitating pure capitalism has lead them to see the period of disorientation after some massive social shock [a coup, a flood, the collapse of an ideology, or the aftermath of a denounced invasion] as the best, even only, conduit to reengineering a national economy along such lines. Apparently, in a stable, operative democracy where people are aware of what is happening around them, and their ability to affect it, nobody ever agrees to switching the roles of people and market between 'master' and 'slave'.

Klein aptly marries the economic shock policies in each case, from the Southern Cone Juntas to ex-Soviet economies, to post-invasion Iraq, with the political shock programs, and electric shock torture administered to their opponents in cells designed along CIA manual guidelines. The economic piracy could never occur without the attendant intrigue and social terrorism that accompany it. The parallels drawn between the economic doctrine itself, and the electro shock therapy developed by Dr Ewen Cameron from which the torture techniques applied to dissidents in its victim territories were extrapolated, are stark and deserved - neither achieves the aims it is claimed to strive for. Electro shock 'patients' were not healed, but destroyed. Shocked economies suffer scars, and free markets everywhere, in direct correlation to the determination with which the policies are implemented, precipitate imprisoned peoples. Enduring Freedom is a grotesquely fitting name for Washington's Iraq adventurism, if this be freedom, Iraq can only hope to endure it.

But this is no simple Iraq Invasion-bashing jolly. The Shock Doctrine stays on the hunt to the end and elaborates on the accompanying development of the military-industrial complex into something more elegant and odious, the disaster-capitalism complex. Now the same companies [and politicians] who profit from the fighting of wars and bombing of homes, schools and hospitals, can reap the riches of government contracts for re-building them too, 'better' than they were before, accessible to a narrower, richer clientele than before. That wall casting its shadow on the land, and inclination toward a peaceful settlement for all, in Gaza, the West Bank and so forth; consider it a prototype for the high-tech fence to go up against Mexico and be guided by Israeli expertise. Those cameras that we don't even notice anymore because they're as abundant as TV sets in the home - a multi-million pound industry. Software for sharing information gleaned from the content of your emails and phone conversations, cross-checked against whether you buy baklava - already generating arrests in the War on Terror. Who's doing the terrorising?




Globalization and its Discontents [Joseph Stiglitz]

Joseph Stiglitz was chief economist at the World Bank from 1997 to 2000 and won the Nobel Prize for Economics a year later. In Globalisation and its Discontents, Stiglitz defends the basic concept of globalisation, [a process which is defended to the hilt by international financial institutions and trumpeted as the path to a gleaming global economic future, but which has drawn fire from streets in all corners of the globe] and seeks to identify where the problems have come in implementing it. Stiglitz concentrates on the actions of the World Bank and the IMF in projects for development in the economies of Africa, Asia and to a lesser extent Latin America, and the transition from command to market economies in former communist states. From the first chapter, he cites the points the finger to the IMF, to its departure from purely interesting itself with financial stability [the cause for which John Maynard Keynes pushed its creation in 1944] and its imposition of conditions on the liquidity it was set up to provide, originally to avert crises but recently, to assist in development and transition projects. Stiglitz accuses the IMF of overstepping its competencies and infringing national sovereignty in providing or suspending aid, and imposing a miss-judged and flawed 'one-size-fits-all' approach to economic development in countries all over the world with ideological rigidity. While the relatively mild tone of this dissection of the failings of globalisation sounds almost defensive against the vitriol that drips from the pages of The Shock Doctrine, and the language in general is unlikely to win him another Nobel Prize, the book is nonetheless a valuable admission of the discord between two of the chief institutions responsible for what of the world has been so angry about over the past decade. The main concerns of this book are the economic and political-bureaucratic betrayals and failures of globalisation, which are acknowledged to be responsible for impoverishing so many millions and incubating instability when the people they touch find their teeth, the only individual's story explored in depth being Stiglitz's own, it is not an accusation of outright criminality in any sense. However it nonetheless provides enlightening reading and insight into the discontent at the top of this food chain among economists and advisors. That offers hope to the rest of us outside those closed doors behind which notoriously devastating decisions have been made and demonstrably misguided plans have been drawn up [such as the shock therapy administered on Russia and other post-communist states]. There is a potentially receptive audience for street demonstrations behind those uber-reflective cold glassy exteriors on Washington DC's 19th street and elsewhere in the world. next time you're nearby maybe take along a hard-back edition, it stands a better chance of getting through that glass and doing some creative destruction.

The Strange Death of David Kelly [Norman Baker]

Any ordinary citizen of the UK dies an everyday death, there is an investigation, and inquest, an analysis of exactly how they died. The body of the country's top weapons inspector and expert in the field of science upon which the UK government bases its justification for war against Iraq is found slumped against a tree near his home in an extraordinary and macabre end to his life. The coroner's inquest is mishandled and never completed. The government is accused of complicity in the death or obfuscation of the facts surrounding it, it appoints a judge to preside over hearings purporting to uncover those facts. This book will unsettle any level headed member of the country governed by the usually PR-savvy Labour party whose image was forever indellibly tarnished by these events and the war they preceeded. Norman Baker apparently delves into more detail than Lord Hutton required of his witnesses when compiling that seemingly farsical report from august 2003 to january 2004 for an inquiry conducted outside the parameters of normal UK legal procedure. The holes in the procedures followed and the malice with which this respected scientist was regarded by that government are almost as unnerving as the details of the possible ways in which this man died as explored with the help of experts in the field of suicides and 'suicides'. So much of the official account of this saga does not add up, it decidedly appears to amount to an affront to democracy and the social contract between government and its people as much an insult to the memory of a dead man.

Also of interest

War on Terror, Inc. Corporate Profiteering From the Politics of Fear [Solomon Huges]

No Logo [Naomi Klein]

Signs of life | Pupillary Reflex

Extraordinary renditions: the [moving] imagery you'll want in your video/graphics gallery of dissent

Image is everything, this we know. By now, if you want to get the attention of the masses you have to have the slickest visual style your talent, or equally often your money, can buy you. Be warned that politicians and policy makers intent on convincing you of the sound WMD-hunting basis for their illegal war, or that what the world needs is more surveillance and less dialogue, will use very flashy power point presentations and imaginative graphics to do so. Be comforted that those who are determined to help keep your head screwed on and your eyes open to a different world, can do the same. The look of dissent is not uniform, on its side are graffiti artists, filmmakers, video editors and a sea of other such talented individuals. It is often said that images are most interesting when they're open to interpretation. Maybe they're most successful when they crowbar your will and ability to interpret wide open.

The Design of Dissent
In this book published by Rockport, Milton Glaser and Mirko Ilic present a rich collection of graphic design projects voicing dissent against conflicts, economic/political systems, prejudices and oppression all over the world. The bulk of the works presented are from the modern era, concerned with events and developments of the past eight years though there are examples of campaigns dating from the seventies and earlier. Though not an individual work in itself, this book is included here because of its impressive reach, and because it demonstrates that today not only the economic or foreign policy of a handful of nations can wield global reach, but also awareness of their consequences too. Magazine covers and spreads, postcard projects, parodies of ad campaigns by large well-known companies, poster runs and more all meet in this volume to produce a cacophony of angry, derisive and arresting messages. The inspiration to be found here for aspiring artists to express their discontent rivals the outcry pouring forth from every page.

Graphic Agitation [2]
Another book, in fact a pair of, published by Phaidon and worthy of a dedicated entry. The Graphic Agitation books provide not only a rich visual catalogue and wealth of inspiration for those interested in the art of agitation and dissent. In Graphic Agitation 2, Phaidon also goes under the surface of the visual products of a number of campaigns dating from the 70s through the 90s to tell the story behind the movements and social reactions which authored them. The examples included and their explanatory notes will educate the reader on issues and campaigns from Bosnia to Outrage, the anti-fur trade movement to violent anti-capital protests of the late 90s. On top of that this book also describes the ways in which the protest and agitation scene itself has changed over the decades [making it something of an encyclopaedia], and the impact that the 'digital revolution' and dawn of the information era have brought to bear upon it. Examining a broad range of media including websites, magazine ads and graffiti, Graphic Agitation 2 celebrates the development, blossoming and recent vitality of this phenomenon, and does so in a layout and typeface that match the originality of the campaigns it documents. This is a book with many strengths and which would make a pretty backbone to any stay-at-home [or sneak-out-at-night-with-spray-paint-, or stay-up-online-doctoring-images-] dissident's bookshelf.

Banksy

Staying with the still-image, the work of Bristol-nurtured street artist/satirist/activist Banksy must by now be known to very nearly all. Having been just a part of the vibrant Bristol graffiti/hip hop scene which grew over the eighties and nineties, Banksy has made his indelible mark on Britain with nothing more than black spray paint and witty, iconic stencils. Famous around the world now for some years he has become part of the 'Cool Britannia' brand, and was even voted third in a YouGov poll to find art heroes among the under 25s, putting him above Leonardo da Vinci. But what earns Banksy his place on iDissent is the content of his work, the subjects at which he takes aim. The full range of this artist’s targets is too broad to do justice to here and is no doubt better discussed on a hundred or more specialist sites if not already familiar. Protests against the Iraq war in the UK have teemed with placards painted with Banksy's Girl with Bomb, Americans Working Overhead and the Smiley Reaper. His Rioter throwing a bunch of flowers, promoting peaceful left-wing resistance has found its way into the general consciousness even being appropriated for the Birmingham Critical Mass sticker campaign. Stencils of shark fins lurking under the stripes of a barcode, or animals tearing through them project his anti-consumerist message to us. For participants of the St Paul's riots of 1980, Banksy's Mild Mild West mural serves as commemoration and badge of character for the area, while according to the man who asked him to paint it, the piece epitomises the feelings surrounding the police break-up of the party at Winterstoke Road on New Year's Eve 1997/8. Whoever it 'belongs to', the Mild Mild West mural has come to be taken as a Welcome to Bristol sign and clearly denounces the use of force to break up the harmless partying of consenting individuals. On the international stage Banksy has taken his talents up against the West Bank wall in Palestine, with mixed results. While drawing the attention of more people to that monstrosity and satirising it in his own unique way, Banksy has also been asked to stop by the Palestinians living in its shadow who don't want it to be beautiful, but want it to be gone altogether.

Back home, one of Banksy’s latest works, near King’s Cross station in London, adds to his long-running campaign of ridicule against the surveillance society being built around us. The very slogan ‘One Nation Under CCTV’ deftly satirises the perpetuation of this paranoid Big Brother complex and its intrinsic links to the UK’s general policy of parroting the States in the matter. The final touch? Banksy painted it on a wall right next to, yet out of the view of, yet another CCTV camera. It’s only fair to note, the fact that Banksy has for a time now enjoyed the ability to put up scaffolding and take his time to produce his works [as he did for ‘One Nation Under CCTV'], and that they sell at auction houses for hundreds of thousands of pounds lifts him out of the ‘traditional’ graffiti world. However, the nature of painting artworks on walls in public view, and his dogged maintenance of anonymity carry through their credibility, and his.

For some, of course, Banksy is more or less just another trendy brand, easily recognisable and a slick looking cultural phenomenon to buy into, for posterity or to show your art-loving/youth culture credentials [a practice and a mindset he mocks and derides as much as the auction houses profit from]. For others, he’s made dissent trendy, cool and stylish with the dashing of an anonymous villain known only by a chosen pseudonym. He’s the modern highwayman of dissent in the UK, in the areas he chooses to comment on at least, thrusting humorous and thought-provoking images at us. While we just stand and stare, he’s sure to keep delivering.

V for Vendetta

Originally a graphic novel by David LLoyd and Alan Moore, this is a story that the Wachowski brothers of Matrix Trilogy fame transposed to the big screen in 2006. It is the film version which will be touted here, as it is almost definitely the more famous, and more appealing to the iGeneration than reading an entire book, or even several! Based on an original story couched in the Thatcherite UK, the film presents a 128 minute essay on a near-future England under a paranoid regime of cameras, curfews, patrols, one party tyranny and censorship. A population governed for their own good by a security obsessed committee beholden to its leader and his fanatical politics is addressed by a masked hero who urges them to see through the security they enjoy to the freedoms they have lost. Invoking the example of Guido Fawkes’ November 5th attempt to dynamite the Houses of Parliament on, this hero V, and the film, employ instantly recognisable symbols and icons from the past and our present in the battle to reclaim the soul of a nation from those who have hijacked it.

Of course, perhaps this is just a film. But that’s very hard to believe when you’re looking at someone in an orange boiler suit being tortured for information, or hearing speeches and announcements calling the people to recognise that their state has curtailed their freedoms and outlawed certain lifestyles in the interest of security. Am I talking about the film or real life today in the global North and West now? Even I’m not certain of the line between the two. This is definitely a dissent film, because it mirrors the real life trends we see in the UK, the States and other countries today, and takes them to their logical conclusion, revealing the dangers undeniably inherent in them all.

War Corporatism - The Knife Party political broadcast

It’s amazing what you can find on the internet, especially when you’re not looking for anything in particular. That’s how iDissent discovered the exquisitely turned out video purporting to be a message from the Knife Party on YouTube. In this short controversy-reel, a calm and measured sounding narrator is aided by what can best be described as wonderfully well produced moving graphic illustrations in unmasking the policies, policymakers and mechanics behind the United States’ internationally hated foreign policy trajectory. Animated lines, text and images, [including swastikas, nodding donkeys, military hardware and portraits of key players] help to explain that US foreign policy is driven by a corporate-military complex seeking to advance US economic interests globally, even using war to clear a path. Given Benito Mussolini’s famous qoute that “Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power”, and the corroboration for this being the trend in Washington given in The Shock Doctrine [Naomi Klein] it becomes difficult to dismiss this clip out of hand as mere fanciful video art and conspiracy theorising. On the contrary it may be one of the most succinct, and definitely one of the most artistically impressive, examples of visual media dissent against one of the most disturbing developments of the present day.

projection in support of civil partnerships for same-sex couples on the Houses of Parliaent

Positive projections

Perhaps one of the most innovative forms of visual protest to appear in recent years is the large-scale projection. A number of landmarks have been targeted lately by high-intensity light beams in order to raise a dissenting voice or draw attention to or support for a particular cause. Several times has the Palace of Westminster, where the House of Lords and the Parliament of the United Kingdom meet, been illuminated with graphics speaking out against the war in Iraq, or for gay rights in the form of the Civil Partnership Bill. Even the Thundercats have made their mark.

Signs of life | Pulse

The soundtrack of dissent, must-haves for your iDissentPod [or similar]

Proven fact: any protest is more fun if it has a good song. The Beatles generation had Imagine, Zombie [The Cranberries] simultaneously stripped any illusions of honour from the sectarian maelstrom of Northern Ireland and catapulted it into the public conscience, and the karaoke booth. Despite its involvement in the mercenary, even criminal acts of aggression and inhumanity which they decry, the UK can be proud that the talents of native artists have produced two of the best songs of dissent of the current day.

Mass Destruction

That hot summer of the invasion of Iraq rang with the arresting and moving words of Faithless’ Mass Destruction voiced by Maxi Jazz. So eloquent is the deconstruction of that famous jargon term ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction‘, [coined and repeated unendingly, it turns out without reference to anything in existence, to frighten us into acquiescence to military belligerence], that the provocative accompanying video can barely compete with the listener‘s imagination. As if to highlight the aptness of the track’s content, it was lifted from the album version’s meditative tempo by P*nut and Sister Bliss’ remix whose distinctive percussion make it ideal for blasting out loud [to yourself] as you take up the banner of reason, peace and good will to all men women and children.

The song came from a seminal album itself inspired by the untold stories of war and inequality. Other songs spoke for the displaced, the refugees and orphans [No Roots], or dissected the politics of tyranny by fear [Love Lives on my Street/Bluegrass], which by the way is the original definition of ’terrorism’. In The End exposed the gulfs between society’s winners, and those we try to walk past in the street. Also demanding acknowledgement are Bombs, illustrating how the War on Terror will most likely recruit its own ‘enemy combatants’, and for the emotionally masochistic, To All New Arrivals catalogues all the worst symptoms of the modern world’s socially diseased condition.

Illegal Attacks

More recently, and more damming, Ian Brown has enlisted the help of Sinead O’Connor to attack through song the kind of brutal mercenary political-economic architecture that will be familiar to all who have read Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine [to be discussed later]. From his new album, The World is Yours, the abrupt, and satisfyingly bluntly titled Illegal Attacks rapidly brings the blood to a fearsome boil that only the elegantly simple video might have the impact to chill. It’s rare for dissenting artistic work to incorporate references to the traditionally emotionally uninspiring territory of the Dow Jones and Nasdaq, but lines like ‘These are commercial crusades, ‘cos all the oil men get paid’ help to successfully integrate the economic aspect, without which, as it seems unanimously agreed and understood, there would be no such war to dissent against. Ian Brown’s distinctive style, somewhere between indie, hip hop and orchestral [comparable to Rob Dougan] sets him apart and really takes flight on this snarling right hook for conscientious objection.

So there are the top two of iDissent’s music charts, but they are by no means the only good ones out there. You might also want to arm yourself with the following:

Bomb The World --- [Michael Franti & Spearhead]
Prayer for England ------------- [Massive Attack]
False Flags --------------------- [Massive Attack]
You Make Me Like Charity ----------- [The Knife]
Dance 4 Life ---------------- [Tiesto ft. Maxi Jazz]
I Want More -------------------------- [Faithless]
DIrty Ol’ Man ------------------------- [Faithless]
Six Days ----------------------------- [Dj Shadow]
Some Folks Are Hollow -------------- [Ian Brown]

Save Us ------------------------------ [Ian Brown]

On the live circuit, any dissident will enjoy a good Massive Attack concert. These heroes of trip hop, hailing from the infamously non-aligned Bristol scene of creative individuals, make it into our top rated with Prayer for England and there's even more to them than that. While the majority of their music is not overtly political, their gigs are synonimous with the scrolling text display which reels off statistics and facts on world inequalities, defence spending and so forth behind them as they perform. A previous incarnation of their official website took a very minimalist form, featuring almost only a reproduction of that scrolling display. Not just wonderful music and a fantastic night out, a Massive Attack gig also provides a lesson in the underbelly of world politics and of course a great opportunity to meet like-minded folks while you're soaking in the sounds.

the massive attack stage display at Glastonbury 2008

cf '68

Let's get straight into it then. I'm currently wearing a black t-shirt with neon pink lettering that says 'Famous for nothing generation'. Why?

1968 saw a catalogue of independent spontaneous and surprising popular people's movements across the world. From protests against the war in Vietnam to the events of the Prage Spring, through to the Stonewall Riots in New York in 1969, all and more were examined in a fine article in Русский Репортер [Russian Reporter] 1968: год великого перелома

Дмитрий Великовский, Руслан Хестанов, Григорий Тарасевич, Павел Бурмистров, Дар Жутаев

1968 год называют «загадочным», «мистическим», «таинственным». Исследователи и сегодня не могут объяснить, почему именно в этом году люди в разных точках планеты одновременно впали в революционный раж. Недовольство существующим порядком вещей охватило самые разные социальные слои и приняло формы студенческих волнений, забастовок рабочих, партизанских войн, национально-освободительных революций. США, Западная Европа, Советский Союз, Китай, другие страны столкнулись с вызовом самому своему существованию. И справились они с этим вызовом по-разному: к примеру, США пережили эту лихорадку и устояли, а СССР загнал болезнь внутрь и через 20 лет распался. Но тектонические социальные сдвиги, начавшиеся в конце 60-х, все еще продолжают оказывать влияние на ход мировой истории

The article looks into the dissatisfaction with the status que in each society that aggravated the movers involved in each case as well as asking why it was that in that twelve-month period, people decided something had to, and believed could be, done. Apparently, not only Русский Репортер noticed that 2008 marks the fortieth anniversary of this wave of rage and free love sentiment. The popularity of plain coloured t-shirts with bright neon letters spelling out such slogans as 'Drop beats not bombs' and 'Make music not war' in the UK seems to have reached something of a zenith this summer. Cute.

In a year when protests against the situation in Iraq grumble on, and on, and everybody desperately hopes Tehran will relinquish it's 'unquestionably' evil pursuit of nuclear power while Israel continues to devour Palestinian settlements like some kind of military pacman armed with the highest technology in the region, the spirit lives on. Or at least you can buy into it on the highstreet. It seems that's the age the brands are happy to sell, these days we belive we can buy an iPod that will cure Africa of all kinds of diseases, as long as it's the right colour. Maybe if we buy a t-shirt with the appropriate snappy slogan those nasty men in power will think, 'oh wait, the kids are right, let's sit down and talk instead'. Then again, maybe we're just buying clothes we like the look of that massage our consciences and our egos at the same time. And you have to admit, it's much less threatening than the risk of being arrested or roughed up for making a direct stand for what you believe in, like being forcibly removed from a military base or broken off from a march that didn't ask for permission

Prague citizens fight back at tanks deployed to crush the relaxation of Czech socialism under Dubček

Perhaps that's what the people of 68 did for our generation. They tought us that even putting yourself on the line, standing in front of tanks, chaining yourself to fences around missile sites or throwing molotov cocktails at your own police doesn't get the message through and wont change the world. Better to just buy a shirt with it printed on, at least your mates will see what you think, and maybe there is someone looking through all those cameras at us after all.

Either way, it seems that, despite there being a lot to pick up your placard and shout against, at 40, the spirit is just too old and would rather settle down to the quiet life now. Keep shopping and don't think about the fact that those tax pennies are going straight to pay for the policies your new wardrobe addition is decrying. It seems there'll be no revolution on our watch, not against the warmongering, international bullying, encroachment of civil liberties and growth of observation police states anyway. Meet the Famous for nothing generation.

The shame is that there is plenty to dissent against in this world still. Happily, some are of course still at the front in one form or another, shooting films, writing books and speaking out against the things we should be taking issue with. This blog will add its voice to theirs. The internet gives every armchair social revolutionary the opportunity to vent to all the world, if theyre reading, and really feel that s/he's done their bit.

Welcome to iDissent, the Thích Quảng Đức for the iGeneration, that would rather google the link, download the podcast and add it to their entertainment library to enjoy next time they go out clothes shopping. After all, you can't hear your mp3s with tear gas canisters blasting and water canons clearing you from the streets anyway.