Sunday, October 16, 2011
http://www.laprogressive.com/elections/gop-panic-sets-in/
“GOP Panic Sets In”
October 14, 2011 By Tom Degan
“If you read the newspapers today, I, for one, am increasingly concerned about the growing mobs occupying Wall Street and the other cities across the country. And believe it or not, some in this town have actually condoned the pitting of Americans against Americans.” – Eric Cantor
Damn! I nearly spit out my coffee when I read that one. At that exact same moment, the pot that I had brewed the coffee in called the kettle “black”. Aren’t these the most interesting of times? They are, you know. They really are!
Here is a question that I am hard-pressed to avoid: Is there a bigger worm slithering though the halls of Congress than Eric Cantor? If there is I sure as hell would like to know about it. It has always amused me to watch him on the tube trying to defend the morally indefensible. He always has this weird look of cherubic contentment on his clueless face. It really is something to behold. To the credit of Mitch “The Plutocracy’s Bitch” McConnell, he at least has the decency to look somewhat ill at ease when having to vomit forth their nonsensical talking points. Cantor, on the other hand, is right at home with their delightfully twisted agenda. Too weird!
Consider Eric Cantor’s burden, if you will. The little freak wants us to swallow his definition of the people down on Wall Street who now hold up a mirror to the plutocracy’s face. Eric defines them as a “mob”. He actually made a very good point – although I am certain that it was accidental on his part. This IS the pitting of “Americans against Americans. It’s the ninety nine percent against the one percent. Cantor and his people are calling this “class warfare”. Guess what. It is class warfare! And they’ve been waging it against us since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution.
For the first century, it was a covert war. On January 20, 1981 (Guess what happened on that day? Hint: “Ronnie”) it became completely and unabashedly overt. On 17 September 2011, the sleeping giant of the American Left was awakened from a long and troubled slumber. Cantor and his gang shouldn’t even dream about putting an end to what is now happening. This revolution is unstoppable. The line it is drawn; the curse it is cast. The good folks whom at this very hour are occupying Wall Street are bearing witness for all the world to behold, what 30 years of deregulation – and the resulting economic plunder – have done to the working people of this once-great nation. The American people have had it up to here and they’re taking long-overdue action. The old world is rapidly fading. Please get out of the new one if you can’t lend a hand.
Memo to Cantor: You’re absolutely correct, Eric. We are a mob. AND WE’RE PISSED, BUSTER.
You can almost feel the panic reverberating from both sides of the aisle in Congress this week. They’re trying to convince themselves that this is a passing fluke, that we’re not yet at the point of no return. If these corrupt nitwits know a damned thing about history (and sometimes I wonder if these knuckleheads know anything) they must realize that – if this isn’t the end of the right wing’s 30-year-long orgy – it is most definitely the beginning of the end.
[....]
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Published on
“'Indignant' Protests to Sweep Across World”
by Elodie Cuzin
It is the first global show of power by the protest, born May 15 when a rally in
As governments cut deep into welfare spending to try to trim huge sovereign debts, protests have grown and this weekend's demonstrations are being organized in
"United in one voice, we will let politicians, and the financial elites they serve, know it is up to us, the people, to decide our future," organizers said in a statement on http://15october.net/.
"We are not goods in the hands of politicians and bankers who do not represent us."
The organizers, relying heavily on Facebook and Twitter, say street protests will be held October 15 in 719 cities across 71 countries in
The protests first took hold in
Then they spread to
In
Three marches will converge on the city's emblematic
The Occupy Wall Street protest, which started September 17 with a camp of several hundred people in a small square in the
Organizers called a rally in
"This movement will soar to completely mark the downfall of the West and the capitalist regime," he said.
Anger over unemployment and opposition to the financial elite are common themes in the otherwise disparate movement.
But while
The outlook for the "indignants" is not clear.
French economist Thomas Coutrot, co-head of the ATTAC movement seeking alternatives to market-ruled policies, said the indignant movement had a healthy "allergy" to being represented by any person or group.
"But it is true that it is not easy to build a movement without a representative," he added.
http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/2011/10/14/perverts_guide_to_cinemas_fiennes_and_zizek_reteam_for_perverts_guide_to_id/
Pervert’s Guide to Cinema’s Fiennes and Žižek Reteam for Pervert’s Guide to Ideology
Sophie Fiennes has wrapped shooting The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology, her new feature documentary collaboration with philosopher Slavoj Žižek, who has been called both “the closest thing philosophy has to a superstar” and “the undisputed spritz master of cinema studies.” The pair worked together on The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema (2006), which Variety called “a virtuoso marriage of image and thought.”
Pervert’s Guide to Cinema’s Fiennes and Žižek Reteam for Pervert’s Guide to Ideology
Sophie Fiennes has wrapped shooting The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology, her new feature documentary collaboration with philosopher Slavoj Žižek, who has been called both “the closest thing philosophy has to a superstar” and “the undisputed spritz master of cinema studies.” The pair worked together on The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema (2006), which Variety called “a virtuoso marriage of image and thought.”
Ideology explores some heady stuff, using psychoanalysis and cinema to explore the mechanisms that shape what we believe and how we behave.
Fiennes’ latest, Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow, played at Cannes 2010.
A UK-Ireland co-production of P Guide Productions and Blinder Films, Ideology was financed by the BFI Film Fund, Film4, Channel 4 and the Irish Film Board and new UK equity company Rooks Nest Entertainment, with its development funds coming from the UK Film Council funded the development. Fiennes produced with James Wilson, Martin Rosebaum and Katie Holly.
Fiennes’ latest, Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow, played at Cannes 2010.
A UK-Ireland co-production of P Guide Productions and Blinder Films, Ideology was financed by the BFI Film Fund, Film4, Channel 4 and the Irish Film Board and new UK equity company Rooks Nest Entertainment, with its development funds coming from the UK Film Council funded the development. Fiennes produced with James Wilson, Martin Rosebaum and Katie Holly.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Slavoj Žižek hosts
COMMUNISM, A NEW BEGINNING?
with Verso Books
at Cooper Union,
In response to publication of The Idea of Communism, edited by Slavoj Žižek and Costas Douzinas, Verso Books, Slavoj Žižek and Cooper Union host "Communism, A New Beginning?" this weekend, October 14th to 16th.
A LIVE STREAM of "Communism, A New Beginning?" will be available from Friday, October 14th at
A new conference with leading thinkers to discuss the continued relevance of the communist idea.
“The long night of the Left is coming to a close” wrote Slavoj Žižek and Costas Douzinas in their introduction to The Idea of Communism. The continuing economic crisis, the shift away from a unipolar world defined by American hegemony, and the ecological crisis mean that growing numbers of people are keen to explore an alternative, and to rediscover the idea of communism. With the advent of the Arab Awakening, millions have sought new ways to overcome corruption and dictatorship—and they’ve now been joined by the wave of occupations in the
Responding to Alain Badiou’s proposition of the ‘communist hypothesis,’ the leading thinkers of the Left convened in
Organized with Verso Books, eight leading thinkers will be discussing 'Communism, A New Beginning? at Cooper Union on the weekend of October 14th-16th. Entrance is by ticket only, and all tickets are now sold out. Please register on the Verso website to watch the event LIVE on Verso's discussion page.
With great regret we have to announce that, due to illness, Alain Badiou will not be able to attend the conference this weekend. We are all extremely disappointed but we hope you'll join us in wishing Alain a swift recovery. He has prepared a text to be read by Bruno Bosteels—so he will still contribute to the conference, and we expect the conference to be an extraordinary event despite his absence.
PROGRAM
COMMUNISM, A NEW BEGINNING?
COOPER UNION, New York, NY October 14-16, 2011
Organizers: Slavoj Žižek and Alain Badiou
Session 1: Friday, Oct 14, 6:00 pm–9:00 pm EDT
Slavoj Žižek: Short Introductory Remarks
Frank Ruda: Remembering the Impossible: For a Meta-Critical Anamnesis of Communism
Alain Badiou: Politics and State, Mass Movement and Terror (read by Bruno Bosteels)
Session 2: Saturday, Oct 15, 10:00 am–1:00 pm EDT
Bruno Bosteels: On the Christian Question
Susan Buck-Morss: Communism and Ethics
Session 3: Saturday, Oct 15, 3:00 pm–6:00 pm EDT
Adrian Johnston: From Scientific Socialism to Socialist Science: Naturdialektik Then and Now
Étienne Balibar: Communism as Commitment, Imagination, and Politics
Session 4: Sunday, Oct 16, 10:00 am–1:00 pm EDT
Jodi Dean: Communist Desire
Slavoj Žižek: Conclusion: Freedom in the Clouds
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