Who lives in North Korea?

Recently someone wrote an article that was in the New York Times that called for bombing North Korea before it is too late. The urging of hasty violent actions by our government against anyone should always be questioned. Who will be harmed and who will benefit? North Korea is probably one of the least understood places on earth. It is isolated and demonized and unknown by most people. It's existence as a separate country from South Korea goes back only to World War Two when the victorious countries divided up the spheres of influence of the defeat nations. Korea was, against the will of it's people, separated into separate nations by the USA and the USSR. Before long there was war between them and the US turned North Korea into a moonscape. Every building above a few stories in the entire country was destroyed. If this was a part of US history, would we be nervous about wargames off our coast? Would simulated invasions and bombing be seen as provocation? Obviously yes, yet our government pleads ignorant of any reason for the actions of the US military to be seen as anything but ordinary. Ordinary is a way of putting it. The US government uses it's vast military resources to get what it wants. It acts with impunity and has directly harmed countless people over the years. Now our government without our consent and without our suggestion has decided that the priority for our resources to be allocated towards is a movement of forces from other areas to the Pacifc and Asia. This pissing match provides easy justification for what plans were already on the books. Even if the US does not bomb North Korea in some form in the next few months, the potential for harm from the largest military in the world is always there. Here is a documentary from someone who actually went to North Korea. Take a look at the people who were destroyed once by our tax dollars and, if certain people have their way, may once again.

Revolution on the Radio

There is power in a voice that can be missed when when those words are on a page or a screen. My writing here will be affected. I feel I could convey the meaning better if I spoke to you. The words sit there and you merely consume them and digest them. Words spoken aloud have a life of their own. They enter through your ear and into you mind and they affect you as you listen and consider. There is a difference between a book of poems and a poetry slam, between a quotation of a speech and it's original oration. Words are affected as the speaker lets them loose from their lips, they are filled out, colored in, animated with infliction, pause, pronunciation. Words are more than just words then. Spoken words were one of the first and most important steps in the advancement of human intelligence. Spoken words are an essential part of the process of political organization. The internet is a conduit of voices of protest, of outrage, of teaching, of truth telling.

Access to the air waves has been barred from people wishing to fundamentally change the world for a long time. I'm not talking about so call 'progressive' talk radio or public radio or evening locally controlled community radio. Some of such shows are better than others, sometimes the radicals can carve themselves out a place for awhile. But were can the revolutionaries be heard consistently? Where can those who seek the unmaking and transforming of this society have all the time they can handle to promote their views? The internet of course.

I have been combing the interwebs for revolutionary podcasts here are some I found.

The first is a well polished and put together weekly radio show by the Party for Socialism and Liberation. There are interviews and some back and forth conversation that is reasonably engaging.  I need to say that I am opposed to a number of the political positions of this organization including their support for a number of repressive governments described as somewhat socialist or anti-imperialist. However on most things I agree so I think this show is worth a listen as always with a critical mind. http://www.liberationradio.org/

Another podcast by an established socialist group is one by the World Socialist Web Site. This group once again is good on some things and bad on others. I found this show to be a bit weaker because it consists of the reading of two articles available at wsws.org rather than something more unique. I think that the articles can be valuable so therefore I think that these readings can be as well.

The next two are more interesting to me however. These are both new, each have only two and three episodes. Both have news and interview features. Both I think will only improve with time and experience. I see a lot of potential in them. I guess what is most interesting is that they are independent efforts by a couple political individuals and a small group meaning that they are not associated with an established national group which has already defined it's political thinking. It has been my experience that a number of larger established socialist groups have already figured everything out, in their minds anyways, and then are less open to new thoughts especially if they go against the old thoughts. Local groups and individuals have to be humble about their knowledge and their place in the world. They can be and often are more open minded than members of groups with established orthodoxy. These are very important revolutionary traits. No one group or individual has all the answers. Socialist groups, even tiny ones, often have the unfortunate habit of believing they do.

The first socialist podcast comes from some people I know in Madison WI. The show is called Black Sheep. These are good folks and I look forward to more episodes.

The last socialist podcast is called Anti-Capitalist Radio and it's by a group in Iowa called the Socialist Peoples' Party but they recently changed names to Movement for Socialism. I don't know much about them but I also look forward to more.

I think all these radicals do well to use the medium of the podcast radio show to spread their views. I hope you check these out and that these shows help advance the struggle for a better society.

*note that these most of these shows are available on iTunes

638 Ways to kill Castro

Just how much does the US government embrace killing as the solution to it's problems? One long a bizarre tale of the US rulers quest for vengeance because of the revolution and the colony that got away. "I got 638 problems but a successful assassination ain't one," says Fidel.

Eat the Rich (the movie)

Inspired by a chant I saw on facebook here is the ever classic subversive film Eat the Rich. A story of a person driven a bit mad by the injustices experienced in daily life and their own private rebellion. A strange parody of real life from 1987. Every radical needs to watch this one; it's a a bit silly, a bit crazy, and just a bit gratifying.

Eat the Rich

Democracy Right Now!!!

Long ago when I was a wee teenager, in the days of a president whose war mongering policies were criticized by liberals, I would explore a vast information super highway that some have come to call the internet. I was on one left leaning site or another when I chanced to gaze upon a list of links to dozens of other sites. I don't know if it was the symbol of exclamation or the demand attached but Democracy Now! caught my eye. Maybe it just fit so well with my political mindset. Coming of political age in the Bush Era meant defining yourself as opposed to a political system that just could not be real democracy. I saw the farce. I cut my teeth through Bill O'reilly every other night. I saw how through repetition and flair the population was molded to accept, no, to embrace polices that would hurt them and others. I sort of despised them for it, for not thinking for themselves. What else could I think as an ignorant kid in an ignorant small Wisconsin town?

Democracy Now! was what I felt as the sabers rattled to be thrust into another group of people in order for the few to profit from the life blood of their flesh and soil. It spoke the truth confidently. An honest and assertive presentation of facts. Sometimes that is the most important and radical thing to do. All other news was quite pathetic by comparison. Where Democracy Now! meant to illuminate, mainstream news meant to obfuscate. Where Democracy Now! presented an actual debate other shows brought you 'fair and balance'. Where Democracy Now! presented facts and events and interpretation and opinion other shows handed out pure ideology unadulterated by reality. Democracy Now! was and is part of an opposition to the way things are. It's part of the struggle for a better place.

If you don't regularly check this show out I suggest you do. The daily headlines alone make it worthwhile. Not all the feature stories are always good but some of them are quite good and at the least they are usually interesting. This week there has been several features that stood out to me that I will list with links.

New Era of Nuclear-Armed North Korea Forces U.S. to Reconsider War Games at Regime’s Door

NRA’s "School Shield" Call for Armed Guards Seen as Path to Further Criminalize Youth of Color

Digital Disconnect: Robert McChesney on "How Capitalism Is Turning the Internet Against  Democracy"  (haven't watch this yet but seems relevant to to this blog eh?)

The Monsanto Protection Act? A Debate on Controversial New Measure Over Genetically Modified Crops

National Conference For Media Reform 2013 *LIVE NOW*

What is this?

The distribution of radical ideas is of central importance to the struggle for a better world. Humans are social creatures and any transformation of this society be it revolutionary change or reform necessitates communication amongst those who seek it. The big mediums of information exchange, television, radio, newspaper, have traditional been held almost exclusively in the hands of the ruling class. It was not an accident that these information resources push the ideological line when it is required of them. Where were the critical voices raising opposition to the initiation of the new American militarism? Where did people dare to question the orthodoxy of austerity? Where does one learn the truth anymore? The streets, the books, the activist meetings and organizations, and the internet. The internet changes things quite a bit. You can communicate with people that you never would have met around the world. It allows the easy sharing of information in video and audio forms, something not so possible before now. While there still are large discrepancys in access to the internet, and good face to face organizing is still very important, the internet is an essential tool for organizing.

The purpose of this blog is to help facilitate that a bit by amassing a collection of mostly video and audio activist resources that I think are helpful towards the cause of societal transformation. I will be posting stuff that I find interesting even if I don't entirely agree. I encourage the development of creative political expression in media forms like video and audio that radicals have had a hard time presenting to a larger audience in the past. What used to require a physical copy of a political film to pass around can now be shared with hundreds or thousands of people simultaneously. Now anyone can create a radio or video show to communicate their views to the world. I will be posting things here such as documentaries, films, news shows, songs, presentations, the occasional article and more. Hope you like it.