Needless to say, the media environment was one of rah-rah flag-kissing zaniness. So, it was with little surprise that I opened the Washington Post’s World News section to find a steaming heap of blather that had to be some of the worst “safari journalism” I’d yet encountered, at least in the Post. With the predictable headline starting with “Lifting The Veil…” in what had to be the most cynical ever attempt to rope Liberals into supporting the brutality, the article attempted to indicate that one of the major “war aims” of the US was to restore “women’s rights” in Afghanistan, citing as “success” the fact that the beauty parlors had re-emerged from underground, and that the local video-rental shops had re-opened. Never mind that the Taliban were still forcibly keeping girls from going to school, or forcibly keeping them shrouded in burquas, at least the women of Afghanistan could go out and have their nails done, or rent the entire first season of Sex And The City on high-def DVD.

This piece attempts a more accurate portrayal of the state of “liberation” of Afghan women.

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Continue reading "Afghan Women’s Liberation" »

Tragic though the event may have been, I got tired quickly of all the TV talkers howling about the thousands who died at the Pentagon and World Trade Center without once considering the USA was responsible for at least a hundred times as many over the course of Hiroshima/Nagasaki, ten years of Vietnam, the 1991 bombing of Baghdad, and the decade of sanctions against Iraq following Iraq War I.

Also — stop me if I’m wrong — but didn’t Bin Laden’s targeting of the World Trade Center classify as targeting on a “military asset” under the Pentagon’s own current rules? Was he really doing anything different from the US in Iraq Wars I and II, or the US/NATO action against Belgrade?

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Continue reading "America’s Towers O’Terror" »

Gotta hurry on back to my hotel room,
where I got me a date with a pretty little girl from Greece;
she told me she would be there with me
when I paint my masterpiece!
–Dylan.

I try to think more about the guy we met at Dupont Circle who was overjoyed to have finally discovered where these posters came from, or the students from the George Washington Action Coalition out for a late-night bicycle ride on P Street who stopped off and jazzed us up with a quick blast of solidarity (“Yo, wheatpasters!”) to take my mind off the “neighbor” on Connecticut Avenue who stalked us — tearing down posters — for two blocks, and the DC cop who became frustrated with his own piss-poor knowledge of the law and inability to cite us for anything and proceeded to stalk us and tear down posters all the way down P Street from Dupont Circle almost to Georgetown, committing no less than half a dozen separate basic Constitutional violations in the process against our crew.

So, the next time you bump into some pacifist liberal who wants to “negotiate” with the police, direct them to this video.

Continue reading "Out With the Crew for an Evening’s Postering, Fall 2001" »

The Fall 2001 IMF/World Bank mobilization was to be our blockbuster sequel to A16, rumored by many to be the biggest mass mobe in town since Vietnam — Lord willing and the creek don’t rise, barring any sudden freakish turn of events — such as, say, a large airliner or two or three diving into a few really large buildings.

Needless to say, the wheels pretty much came off The Movement’s™ wagon very soon after 9/11; the Mobilization for Global Justice and Ruckus Society practically tripped over each other while backing out, citing (as I recall) “respect for the victims” — even as the neocons and other right-wing freaks at the time were preparing for endless war overseas and endless abuse of the Constitution at home, also out of consideration for “the victims”. Luckily, there was ANSWER, which went on with its events, shifting to a pro-civil liberties, anti-war focus for what was previously an anti-globalization mobe, so at least the Left hadn’t been totally bullied off the streets by the Neocons and their brownshirt pals in Free Republic and Gathering Of Eagles.

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Demand Justice, high-res jpg image, 645k
Take Back Your Dignity, high-res jpg image, 1mb
Defend Democracy, high-res jpg image, 1mb
Restore Your Planet, high-res jpg image, 839k

Continue reading "Fall 2001 IMF/World Bank Series" »