Talking Cuban Crisis

Another nothing less than brilliant way of dealing with high politics: singing, irony, melody, strong story. But of course, the sarcasm and wit of Phil Ochs can do the trick of keeping this story alive decades after.

It was just a little while ago i glued my ears to the radio
The announcer was sayin' we'd better beware
A crisis was hanging - a wave from the air
Crawlin' on the ground
Swimmin' in the sea
Headin' for me

Well, i didn't know if i was for or agin' it
He was yellin' and screamin' a mile a minute
Well, he said "here comes the president
But first this word from pepsodent
Have whiter teeth
Have cleaner breath
When you're facin' nuclear death"

And then president john began to speak
And i knew right away he wouldn't be weak
Well, he said he'd seen some missile bases
And terrible smiles on cuban faces
Close pictures
Carryin' land reform too far
Giving land to the ussr

Well, he said we mustn't be afraid
We're settin' up a little blockade
Put our ships along the cuban shores
And if the russian bear yells and roars,
We'll let him have it

From turkey and greece, formosa and spain
The peaceful west european plain
From alaska and greenland we'll use our means
And twenty thousand submarines
We're gonna teach the russians a lesson
For trying to upset the balance of power

Now most americans stood behind
The president and his military minds
But me, i stood behind a bar
Dreamin' of a spaceship getaway car
Head for mars
Any other planet that has bars
Like gerde's folk city

Yes, it seemed the president's stand was strong and plain
But some republicans was a-goin' insane
And they still are
They said our plan was just too mild
Spare the rod and spoil the child
Let's sink cuba into the sea
And give 'em back democracy
Under the water

Well, the deadline was set for ten o'clock
For a cold war it was a-gettin' hot
Well, the russians tried, the russians failed
Homeward bound those missiles sailed
Mr. khruschev said, "better red than dead."

Spanish Civil War Song

Phil Ochs again:

And don't forget the churches and the sad role that they played:
They crucified their people and worked the devil's trade;
But now the wounds are healing with the passing of time,
So we send them planes and rifles and recognize their crime.

Did you wonder why?
Did you ever pause and cry?

So spend your tourist dollars and turn your heads away.
Forget about the slaughter, it's the price we all must pay,
For now the world's in struggle, to win we all must bend:
So dim the light in freedom's soul: sleep well tonight, my friend.

Love me, I'm a liberal

a mighty good song by Phil Ochs, sense the sarcasm:

I cried when they shot Medgar Evers
Tears ran down my spine
I cried when they shot Mr. Kennedy
As though I'd lost a father of mine
But Malcolm X got what was coming
He got what he asked for this time
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

I go to civil rights rallies
And I put down the old D.A.R.
I love Harry and Sidney and Sammy
I hope every colored boy becomes a star
But don't talk about revolution
That's going a little bit too far
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

I cheered when Humphrey was chosen
My faith in the system restored
I'm glad the commies were thrown out
of the A.F.L. C.I.O. board
I love Puerto Ricans and Negros
as long as they don't move next door
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

The people of old Mississippi
Should all hang their heads in shame
I can't understand how their minds work
What's the matter don't they watch Les Crain?
But if you ask me to bus my children
I hope the cops take down your name
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

I read New republic and Nation
I've learned to take every view
You know, I've memorized Lerner and Golden
I feel like I'm almost a Jew
But when it comes to times like Korea
There's no one more red, white and blue
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

I vote for the democratic party
They want the U.N. to be strong
I go to all the Pete Seeger concerts
He sure gets me singing those songs
I'll send all the money you ask for
But don't ask me to come on along
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

Once I was young and impulsive
I wore every conceivable pin
Even went to the socialist meetings
Learned all the old union hymns
But I've grown older and wiser
And that's why I'm turning you in
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

Victorian Monsters

You can visit his website at  Dan Hillier. I find the mix of Victorian style and the colonial logic of the outside monster as tongue-in-cheek (I remember the good old imperialist saying of those lands that were not part of the empire yet: where dragons live). These colages express the schizofrenic condition of the bourgeoisies, exploring the monster within the polite society.

rules of golf

Golf is slowly becoming a very popular sport all over the global North, class-based of course. What are the rules for playing it? Thanks to "Married to the Sea", now we know:

rules of gol:

Next episode explains the rules of winter sports ;)

Invitation to War

we went to voina with guns

On Friday, the 16th of March 2012, the artist activist group Voina (Russian: „war”) had a public presentation at the National Museum for Contemporary Art situated in the House of People in Bucharest. Each person attending this event had to pass through a control of his/hers belongings and a body control through a metal detector, including the Voina artists. They were even longer and more thoroughly searched. The reason for this is that the building is a military objective. A space totally dedicated to State authorities, it hosts various institutions of „national importance” like the Parliament.

We consider the event a invitation to war.

The war is against today's form of the Romanian State, a police state that has progressively straighten its repressive character in the last six months. The fundamental right to protest and contest state authority has been and still is seriously broken. Too many activists and not only have been picked up and fined abusively and even physically assaulted by the military arm of the State, the privileged Jandarmeria.

Inside the House of People, the war can only be symbolic, a representation of that real war through which the protest is, as each day passes, domesticized and annihilated. We have come to war in the only way we can: with toy guns. Just as freedom of speech is just a toy and protest just a simulacra in the eyes of the authorities. We played the role of harmless harlequins, toy-terrorists, a role that the same authorities attribute to artists. Responding to a symbolic war invitation, we try to push the limits of security and surveillance at the security check of the Museum.

The toy guns are confiscated at the entrance, the art gesture is amputated in the hallway of the Great House. The reason: with toy guns one can threaten and create panic. In the space that the State dedicated to contemporary art, contemporary artists are not welcome if they undermine its authority. Two pistols out of five manage to get across the tough security check. Throughout the presentation, anyone could observe the other guns left next to the metal detector.

At the first floor of the Museum, the Voina presentation is about to begin. At this moment, we place ourselves in front of the obedient audience, two of us holding our guns at sight. The others are wearing the message: „I came to Voina, but this plastic gun had to stay at the security check of the Museum”. Although we threaten the audience with our guns, nobody panics. We are perfectly safe in the most guarded building in Romania. The limits of security and surveillance seem unreachable.
A threatening as a simulacra and the neutralization of any conflict, this is the only Voina possible at the House of People.

Arnold Schlachter
Bogdan Draganescu
Mihail Bumbes
Mihai Lukács
Veda Popovici

Fascist reunion under the BMW logo in Bucharest

On March 14, the Christian Democratic Foundation led by the ex-Minister of External Affairs, Teodor Baconschi, organized jointly with the Organization of Women of PD-L, the Hanns Seidel Foundation and two ultraconservative groups (the Pro-Life Foundation and the Family Alliance), a conference called "family and life ethics" under the patronage of Bavaria Motors and the big BMW logo.

A big moral dilemma for the speakers. What would BMW do? 

The discussion between various religious  fundamentalists and conservative politicians had many fascist aspects: a strong nationalist discourse, the anti-choice radical view, homophobic statements, the social eugenics project of a woman MP (Ms. Turcan), the "good"example of the new Hungarian constitution, the presence of a fascist leader that was using "classic" nazi citations to make his argument.  All under the German brotherly support of the Hanns Seidel Foundation, whose representative used his time to explain that "abortion is murder".

Bogdan Stanciu, the Pro-Vita representative, made a presentation in which he praised the current Constitution of Hungary, emphasizing its focus on Christianity, nation, anti-choice and anti-gay marriage. Baconschi congratulated his presentation by using the words "articulate, coherent and true", adding that Stanciu's references are also "our references" (the Goebbels reference also, I assume).

The old cliche of the "liberal holocaust" that destroys the greatness of the Romanian nation, together with demographic fears and the apocalypse-to-come, was connected again to the disappearance of the conservative family and religious beliefs.

As a sort of conclusion to the anti-women-anti-gay-anti-poor talk, Baconschi closed the hateful monologues by stating the alliance between the ruling party (which he represents as vice-president) and the ultraconservative group Pro-Vita, whose president comes also from the New Right fascist organization. He also mentioned that those who look for tolerance can go to a brothel (a pun in Romanian, the expression "tolerance house" means brothel).


Nevertheless, the audience was allowed to comment for the last 10 minutes when several feminist voices attacked this event harshly and they encountered an unexpected support from the crowd, most of the audience was cheering their in-your-face comments. 




thanks to Medusa for her coverage and here is the page of the event [both in Romanian].