Refreshed by a certain extremism

[imomus]

Urgh, I've spent the day writing about "viral marketing" (also known as astroturfing, sock puppetry, stealth marketing, shilling, product placement, vlog-flogging etc) for Wired and am thoroughly minded to say -- with a great sweep of the hand -- "Away with the lot of this stuff!" (Which was also very much the vibe of yesterday's anti-capitalist Mayday celebrations in Kreuzberg, by the way.)

I've also been watching the big French presidential debate, and finding it disappointingly mealy-mouthed, as both candidates made a rush for centre ground. The candidate of the left spent much of her time praising entrepreneurs, promising to check immigration "on a case-by-case basis" and saying that Turkey's admission to the EU should be delayed and "thought about very carefully". I still hope Ceres wins on Sunday, naturally, but... how boring!

For truly red-blooded, unapologetic socialism -- the socialism of the future, according to British Army futurologists -- you have to travel to South America, where red presidents Chavez and Morales are happily -- and popularly -- re-nationalizing telecoms and energy companies in Venezuela and Bolivia.



Or how about Brazil, where the Sao Paolo government recently banned all billboards -- the "delete all option", as the International Herald Tribune calls it, conjuring images of other satisfyingly Draconian legislation like China's one child policy and Arnold Schwarzenegger's zero emissions target for California.

"The billboards were very very very ugly and for sure nothing besides visual pollution," my Sao Paolo spy (an art student at the university) tells me, when I suggest that Tokyo would be diminished by the removal of its neons and signs. "Tokyo seems to have a diverse homogeneity (it sounds paradoxical, but I hope you get it)... here everything was alike but there was no homogeneity... It wasn't nice at all. Now it's still ugly, but at least people are invited to think again about facades and advertising... Maybe it can turn into something better... Sometimes we need some radical decisions here."



"A rare victory of the public interest over private, order over disorder, aesthetics over ugliness, and cleanliness over trash," is how weekly newsmagazine Veja greeted the decision. "For once in life, all that is accustomed to coming out on top in Brazil has lost."

And it's true that you can't see any billboards whatsoever in the Sao Paolo pictured in CSS's Let's Make Love video. Not because they weren't there -- the video was shot last year -- but because they obviously didn't add anything aesthetically to the city's skyline or enhance its sexy young ambassadors. Now all we need to do is make cities as car-free as this video suggests Sao Paolo's freeways might be!

While we're in Brazil, being refreshed by a certain extremism, here's an extremely refreshing video of a re-enactment of a performance piece by Tropicália artist Hélio Oiticica. It's called Parangolés:

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Comments

[niddrie-edge.livejournal.com]

Just watched Storyville's two parter on Cuba's involvement in Africa.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/storyville/
Its hard not to see Castro as some kind of hero.

Storyville now has a myspace page (http://www.myspace.com/storyvilledocs)!

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Castro is very much a hero.

Also, if we're collecting satisfyingly extreme views, after hearing Sego and Sarko vying with each other to contain Iran's nuclear program ever-more-effectively, it's nice to re-read Zizek's Give Iranian Nukes a Chance (http://www.lacan.com/zizekiranian.htm).

I think we need some "Extremism Brainstorming" classes to break out of the kind of stolid half-percentile concensus politics that prevails in Europe. 35 hour working week? Yes, says the left, Yes But says the right!

[dmlaenker.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, but I can't see Castro as a hero after the ways he treats queers in his country. Are you familiar with Before Night Falls?

Also, I thot you liked billboards? Not to be too confrontational, but I'm a little confused.

[(Anonymous)]

What's so bad about delaying Turkeys entry into the EU? As long as they raid newspapers for writing non-groveling about the military, or throw people in jail for "insulting turkishness", why the hell would we want them?

[colinmarshall.livejournal.com]

Castro's a hero if you're a European medical tourist, I suppose. (If you're Cuban, be prepared to bring your own sheets. No, really.)

[lord-whimsy.livejournal.com]

The notion of Castro as hero is an obsenity. I lived next door to a Cuban family, and I could tell some first-hand accounts of people who have experienced Castro's so-called "heroism".

(I'm sure they were right-wing zealots, though. They had jobs and children.)

[jannavarro.livejournal.com]

oh... i wish i could find a oiticica's movie with oiticica himself "playing" with the parangolés... it's so cool. (you know, more than some kids doing that at school...)

nbc - the more you know

[ex-newironsh15.livejournal.com]

Billboards are also banned in hawaii, which had a socialist-lite revolution in the 50s and 60s, led by the japanese.

[peacelovgranola.livejournal.com]

castro is, like most things in life, a mixed bag. his story is amazing, he's done some very good things, and some very bad things (the past treatment of homosexuals being just one). after he's very dead, it will be interesting to see what his brother is like--i've heard he's not a big orator, but may be even more of a military-hard-liner-type. who knows.

in general though, i do respect those who've held out in this hemisphere against america's meddling in their internal politics.

[jannavarro.livejournal.com]

btw, do you know that site? http://www.ubu.com/film/
there's no oiticica's movie, but they have a lot of interesting art-stuff.

[wildbirdcall.livejournal.com]

Okay, blame the US for global warming and then criticize the governor who takes steps to abate it. There's a winning equation!

[peacelovgranola.livejournal.com]

not to worry. for example both noam chomsky and howard zinn both have jobs, wives and several children. and not the least bit right-wing (but full of zeal, maybe...).

[saruryujin.livejournal.com]

The 15 of March Ségolène want to accelerate Turkey's inclusion in the EU and just yesterday she feel to delay it! An opportunistic bitch with a nihilistic political agenda won't help France at all and France strongly need a change of mind, that won't happen either with a population of aesthete like you who rather dumb down socio-economic-political urgency for the celebration of crude urban facelift.
Momus like Ségolène retourne sa veste and foster the aesthete nihilistic multicoloured world in most of his
arty farty LJ post but then take stand for the removal of street billboards if it comes from left oriented lands…

Les stupéfiants propos de Ségolène Royal:

Ségolène Royal à la télévision ce jeudi 15 mars, souhaitant que la Turquie vienne « s’arrimer à l’Europe », a doctement professé qu’elle est « un grand pays laïque défendant les valeurs d’humanisme et de tolérance de notre Révolution française ». Elle a même précisé lesquelles : liberté, égalité, fraternité…

Elle a réalisé ainsi un tour de force de l’aberration politique en concentrant autant d’inepties en deux phrases. La Turquie est en effet un pays profondément islamique et qui s’islamise toujours plus avec un rythme de construction de mosquées de quartiers qui en ajoute chaque année plus de trois cent aux dizaines de milliers déjà existantes.

Mais la laïcité dans ce pays n’a fait qu’ajouter à la haine antichrétienne traditionnelle. Après les grands massacres du XIX° siècle, la Turquie des « Jeunes-Turcs » laïques, admirateurs de la révolution française, a perpétré le génocide des Arméniens et des Assyro chaldéens. Le régime de Mustapha Kemal a terminé le travail en massacrant notamment les dizaines de milliers de Grecs de Smyrne. C’est ainsi 30% de la population turque du siècle dernier qui a été anéantie, ramenant le pourcentage des chrétiens à moins de 0,5%.

Or la Turquie refuse toute repentance pour cette abomination et on y assassine ou on y emprisonne ceux qui la souhaitent.

De deux choses l’une: ou Ségolène Royal croit ce qu’elle a dit au sujet de la Turquie et son ignorance est consternante ou bien elle méprise totalement la mémoire du génocide et injurie ainsi les peuples chrétiens, et notamment le peuple arménien, anéantis dans ce pays.

Quant aux valeurs transmises à la Turquie par la révolution française, en fait d’humanisme et de tolérance ce sont celles des massacres de septembre et du génocide vendéen, modèles pour le docteur Nazim Bey, le Eichmann trop oublié de l’exterminationnisme Jeune-Turc: liberté pour les colonnes infernales, égalité par la guillotine, fraternité dans l’ivresse des supplices. On ne sait donc s’il faut reprocher à Ségolène Royal beaucoup d’ignorance ou beaucoup de mépris négationniste.

Source: B. Antony
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I don't want to read you nor buy your records anymore Momus, you feel to me like a nihilistic socio-fart, you dicator of 'good' taste!

[dignified-devil.livejournal.com]

"The notion of Castro as hero is an obsenity. I lived next door to a Cuban family, and I could tell some first-hand accounts of people who have experienced Castro's so-called "heroism"."

Keep in mind those are the people who left, many Cuban expats in Miami hate Castro etc., but regardless for the contraints he's been put under his consistent resourcefulness has been amazing or at least so goes his image, Cuba is completely feed by organic farms due to embargoes on fertilizier, Cuba has a huge health care industry, etc. He's had quite a few good ideas, if those ideas are out numbered his human rights record etc. is another question.
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A

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Ubu is one of the treasures of the web. It was the first place I went when I was searching for Oiticica films. II was quite surprised to see they had none.

My last Ubu viewing was some short films by Tadanori Yokoo, an Anton Corbijn film about Captain Beefheart, and a documentary about Jean Cocteau.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

I'm not criticizing Schwazenegger, quite the contrary! He's a breath of fresh air (well, his zero emissions policy, anyway).

[imomus.livejournal.com]

I am pro-Turkish EU inclusion, and tant pis if you don't like that! I live in a brilliant Turkish area of Berlin, and I see the laicity of the Turks every day -- women, for instance, range from veiled (a small minority) to provocative Western fashion. (I personally like best the colourful headscarves, Islamic but not puritan.) I also hear from my next door neighbour beautiful soft devotional singing which enhances our courtyard. In Friedrichshain I would probably have to suffer some ghastly punk band being played too loud.

The EU has a chance to pull Turkey one way rather than the other by including it, and also has a chance to become a multi-cultural super-power if it can include one Islamic nation (the world's most tolerant Islamic nation). But even without EU membership, Turkey will never become an Islamic republic. The Turks are more like the Greeks than the Saudis.

Segolene has to capture Bayrou's voters, so naturally she's moving tactically towards his positions. It's disappointing, but it's politics. In power, she would revert to her convictions, I'm sure.

about cocteau

[jannavarro.livejournal.com]

i don't know if you know that (unfortunatly, they don't have it on ubu), but i just downloaded an amazing movie by jean cocteau and hans richter, called "8x8: a chess sonata in 8 movements"... it reminds me a little of rené clair, wich i like...

[mcgazz.livejournal.com]

And all hispanics in the US live lives of unparalleled freedom, security and luxury.

No one from the country which has effectively been at war with Cuba for over half a century has any right to criticise the place, especially not if all they've got is anecdotal evidence from disgruntled ex-pats.

[mcgazz.livejournal.com]

> In power, she would revert to her convictions, I'm sure.

We all thought that about Labour in 1997.

[zenicurean.livejournal.com]

Aw, come now. Apples and oranges, surely. For instance, Mr Chávez might be popular, but his economic policy is unfortunately based on rather inexpertly wielding a very large and menacing club and then hitting things with it. This is not sustainable in any shape or form and French voters would not go for such a swindle. There is and should be no comparison to miss Royal, whose slightly more enlightened Third Way credentials, insofar as they are genuine, impress me a great deal more.

[sarmoung.livejournal.com]

Since I'm not aware of my country of origin and residence being at war with Cuba, might then I enjoy such a right to criticise? Although I'm not sure why anyone should be denied such a right.

There are many hues to America, including that most dangerous chartreuse of Lord Whimsy, and some may be bolder in the fabric than others, but I can't see why you find criticism from any of these such a threat. Surely noble, free, poor, fertilizer-rich Cuba can withstand such an indignity as criticism.

I meet a number of people in my everyday life. Old and withering Russian emigrés with their memories of Stalinism, various members of the Jewish diaspora, numerous Armenians and other Caucasians, refugees from wars in the Balkans and Africa. Evidently I should tell these people, such as the Somali gentleman who served me coffee this morning, to bother me no more with their woeful tales of pain, hurt and loss. "Shut up! This is just anecdotal evidence and you are just a disgruntled ex-pat!"

I rather thought that through listening and talking to such people I was communicating with fellow humans, rather than pouring over statistics or moving toy figures around a table map. What all this anecdotal evidence seems to confirm in me is that politics in its current bipolar form is something that should vigourously resisted. Feel that kneejerking? Go for a long walk instead.

Therefore, provided I may enjoy such a right in anyone's view, I expose my fundament to Castro, Chavez, Ceres and all other politicians beginning with the letter C and expel as much baboon gas as I can muster.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Wielding a club and hitting things with it is a much better description of what the UK and the US have been doing for the last five years, especially to nations sitting on large amounts of oil. The justification is that we are "bringing democracy" and that there will be "trickledown" to the people. But how long do you need to wait for this "trickledown" to arrive? Chavez' renationalization of 60% of international oil holdings in Venezuela has been accepted by all but one of the oil companies involved. They can still make money even with a mere 40% of their former share, and Chavez can make sure, with the remaining percentage, that the people of Venezuela really do profit. He can do this without invading any nation -- unless we consider the multinationals (BP, Exxon etc) as a kind of nation. If that's the case, this nation invaded the US in 2000 and is still occupying it.

As I commented on Whimsy's blog the other day, "On Chavez we must agree to differ. I see his re-nationalization of large parts of the Venezuelan oil industry as vastly preferable to Bush's oil-industrialization of large parts of American civic and military life."

[zenicurean.livejournal.com]

Of course Chávez's nationalisation projects and budget expansions have in some sense led to all sorts of good and positive things. Construction projects, road building, infrastructure improvements, a degree of rural poverty reduction, and educational programs and so on and so on have all been pushed through during Chávez's Bolivarian revolution.

But he is in many ways fixing the mistakes of his more capitalist predecessors by making more, and even graver, mistakes. The problem is that Chávez is incapable of spending money responsibly, and completely unwilling to normalise - so to speak - his attitude towards businesses. As modern as Venezuela's economy is, it cannot absorb the sort of money Chávez's oil-and-debt-based budgets are pouring into it. Inflation is consistently in two digits which makes life extremely difficult not only for many of the poor, but also for shopkeepers and industrialists, who've seen their domestic costs skyrocket.

Dollars are also surprisingly scarce, despite the official rate pegs, which is leading to all sorts of problems. Chávez appears committed to nationalisation and poor fiscal discipline, and that means investment in Venezuela is an uncertain prospect. To keep capital from leaving the country, as it would naturally do, Chávez has instituted lockdown regulations which have essentially rerouted much of Venezuelan capital to what amounts to government bonds - the return rate of which is practically below the inflation rate. In this particular detail Chávez's noble economic experiment resembles the cannibalistic Soviet economy of the late eighties, with the exception that Venezuela still has much more left to cannibalise.

Sustained price rises, the root cause of which is Chávez's inability to grasp that there is too much money chasing too few goods and that he himself is mostly responsible, have usually been answered with that most sophisticated of economic tools - price controls. These, since they tend to require that capitalists sell at a loss, have in turn created regional shortages and black markets. Chávez has responded mostly by threatening more nationalisations on the assumption that governments can sell food cheaply and cover the difference from oil money.

Venezuela is right now slouching towards the brink of a major economic crisis. When it appears, Chávez will essentially have two options. Hugely cut government spending and raise interest rates, with the knowledge that this will mean a major corrective recession... or appeal once again to the poor voters who put him and his frightfully compliant parliament into power, and go for yet more "emergency powers."

not convinced

[saruryujin.livejournal.com]

So (are we in the EU?) the veil is not provocative but western fashion is! Why don't you work as enuch in a Saudis harem to suit your taste further? I've been to Turkey and it is not like a Turkish hood in Berlin or Brussels, if you are nearby a Mosque you get awaken each time at dawn with Islamic chants. As for a tolerant nation just check the latest weeks news coming from Turkey but also check history (Armenian genocid no one there? It wuzn't us…) … Also, never compare Turk to Greeks if you don't want to offence Greeks by the way. I also talked often with Romanian friends and most oppose Turkey inclusion in the EU, they know why… A multi-cultural super-power! Give us a break, a multi-racist dumbing downer is on the way with such convincing people as Sego and she proved it yesterday on TV.