Integral Psychosis

[Note: This is the first of a mini-series of previews I'm going to do about bands at the upcoming Northeast Kingdom Music Festival in Albany, VT August 1 & 2)

For the first installment of this preview series you get a hybrid preview/show review.  What I’m not able to give to you is the kick fucking ass experience of seeing The Mathematicians for yourself.  These guys have played at the Langdon Street Cafe a few times now, but until last night I haven’t had the opportunity to see them.  Boy have I been missing out.  If you’re able to image a perfect hybrid of the Beatsie Boys meeting Devo Meeting Revenge of the Nerds (with a twist of real, early 80’s punk energy thrown in there) than you might be able to catch a glimpse of the kind of show these three guys put on.

They’ve played at LSC a couple of times before but each time I’ve missed it.  The next day or two, I’ve heard pretty much nothing but raving, boisterous cheers about The Mathematicians’ show.  So despite being zombie-like following a long week of house re-siding I made my way over to check these guy’s out.  Shit.  Really, I just can’t get the image out of my head of the big ending scene from Revenge of the Nerds where they all perform that ridiculous rap song in their super-nerdy glory, but nonetheless it rules the day and everyone goes home a champion of the universe:

But these guys are much better than that (obviously).  Honestly, the energy they created through their combination intense, keyboard-bass-drum punk music, Beastie Boys-style three white MC badasses, and innovative post-modern electronic stylings was enough to make any party happen.  I can’t wait to check ‘em late night on the main stage at NEKMF.

A recent article in the Baltimore Sun, “Spying Uncovered: Documents Show State Police Monitored Peace and Anti-Death Penalty Groups“ by Nick Madigan, details a document released by the ACLU of Maryland that shows undercover State Police officers infiltrated various anti-war and anti-death penalty activists for the past few years.  While in no way shocking to those of us who have sent much time in left-activist circles, the article highlights an important aspect of State and governmental authority and its inherent tension with that of individual freedoms.  For instance, this sentence from the article:

…But none of the 43 pages of summaries and computer logs - some with agents’ names and whole paragraphs blacked out - mention criminal or even potentially criminal acts, the legal standard for initiating such surveillance. (emphasis mine)

Should be troubling to everyone of us.  Of course, I emphasized those lines for a reason.  If the State, particularly under the auspices of it’s law enforcement agencies, is bend on selling us on the idea that they, above and beyond all else, are in place to protect us from the many dangers that may exist in the world, I wonder how it is that they can justify thousands of dollars worth of effort and manpower to “infiltrate” groups of people who are breaking no laws whatsoever, but rather, are guilty of the crime of advocating- passionately and sometimes aggressively- a vision for society that runs counter to the financial interests of those who have the power; namely, the State and it’s capitalistic sponsors.  In the article, the above sentence is followed by this:

State police officials said they did not curtail the protesters’ freedoms.

So, it is within the right of the State to spy and meddle within the affairs of ordinary citizens if those citizen’s viewpoints are contrary to the desires of the powers that be, just so long as in doing so the “freedoms” of the dissidents aren’t immediately and directly curtailed?  

This is (one of the many reasons) why, I would argue, the State is an undemocratic, inhumane function that at its root is contrary to the human impulse and inherently oppressive.  When power is concentrated towards some at the expense of others, those who have that power will inevitably use it to work against any people who do not agree or support their program.  Whether overt or subtle, the capitalist State will never have room in it’s vision for dissent from its systematic inequalities and failures, and because of that, it will seek to oppress and suppress any possible challenges to its rule.  Thus, a free society must be a stateless society.

Just a quick note for y’all, that I’ve *officially* hit the high and busy stretch of my summer and things might (actually, certainly) be a bit sparse around here for the next couple of weeks.  I’ve got big projects going on at the house (new siding! no more plastic!), new responsibilities at work, a music festival to pull off, a garden full of weeds, and plenty of reading and beer drinking to fill the quieter hours with.  Not to mention that I’m starting to feel bad about how long its been since I promised Part 3 of “An Integral Politic”, so I’ll have to get motivated and write that one.  In the meantime, don’t lose track of everything that’s happening out there in the real world:

- The London Times is reporting that Bush has given Israel the near go-ahead on a preemptive strike on Iran, which some friends might know that I’ve been saying for almost eight years now was a likely (though not certain) just before the election move.  I’m not a big fan of conspiracy theories, but at the same time, we know that these assholes have little to know respect for the Constitution, rule of law, or elections in general.  They came to power illegally, and they’ve proven without a doubt they’re willing to do whatever it takes to get what they want…. though perhaps unlikely, none of us should rule out the possibility of cancelled presidential elections due to some sort of national/global emergency (like an Iran-Israel war).  Again, a possibility, not certainty.

-Speaking of Israel, R.A. Forum has a nice little piece about Yiddish anarchism.  Be sure to check that out, if it sparks your interest.

-Speaking of anarchism, I’ve been meaning to give a mention to the early June founding of the pro-platformist anarchist organization, Class Action Alliance in the Northwest of the U.S..  There have been a few NEFAC-inspired organizational anarchist federations that have tried to get something going on the West coast over the past few years.  Good luck to CAA- lets hope they have a long, bright future ahead of them.

-And finally, speaking of the West Coast, Bush is set to lift the ban on off-shore oil drilling, a welcome development for absolutely no one except the oil tycoons.

However, it was El Salvador’s 2004 elections they “intervened” in.  While the news itself may not be too shocking to those of us paying attention to what Bush and his administration are willing and able to pull off, the fact that Ambassador Charles Glazer admitted to U.S. intervention in the 2004 Salvadoran Presidential Elections is a bit of a surprise.  The State Department, and the Bush Administration, didn’t seem very interested in letting “democracy run its course”, as they used very public statements about their preferred winner and the threat of back-door economic sanctions against the people of El Salvador if the left candidate were to win-out over the conservative Antonio Saca (who, of course, did go on to win).  Apparently Glazer’s admission came during a recent meeting with outraged community leaders:

In their meeting with the Ambassador, the group focused specifically on the history of U.S. political and military intervention in El Salvador. They cited statements made by US State Department officials denouncing the leftist Farabundo Marti Liberation Front (FMLN) party during the 2004 presidential campaign. The delegates also referenced legislation put forward in Congress by Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) that threatened to cut off remittances sent by Salvadorans in the U.S. to their families in El Salvador should the FMLN win. “The U.S. Embassy in El Salvador never countered this absurd threat or clarified the impossibility of such legislation being passed,” said Rosa Lozano, a delegate from Washington D.C. “Ultimately, such intervention helped turn a close race for the presidency into a decisive victory for the right-wing National Republican Alliance (ARENA) party.”

Read the rest of the article here.

So the people of a country- a poor country- want to hold elections and there’s the now classic Latin American dichotomy between the business-oriented, conservative and the populist/socialist candidates.  Then the U.S. State Department, through the Embassy, denounces the left candidate while a Republican Congressman introduces legislation that would stop Salvadorians in the States from sending money home to their families- essentially economic sanctions directly targeting the poorest and most vulnerable people of El Salvador.  Despite the fact the Bill had no chance of passing, the U.S. Embassy fails to adhere to its diplomatic mission of encouraging communication and positive relations in hopes that the news of the proposed legislation would scare people from voting for the “wrong” candidate.

The U.S. Embassy claims there will be no chance of a repeat in El Salvador’s 2009 elections, since they will be heavily monitored by U.S.-supported (quasi-) NGO’s like the IRI:

In 2007, the IRI (International Republican Institute)– headed by Republican presidential candidate John McCain – presented President Saca with its ‘Freedom Award’, showing its clear ideological preference in the polarized Salvadoran political process

God, I love this country.

Ugh.

Obama is very exciting as an orator, as an individual, as a politician (especially within the context of the past 30 or 40 years), as a leader, and as the embodiment of “change” and anti-status quo.

Voting for McCain, or any of the other candidates, is absurd.  Anyone who would lives in a self-destructive universe.

Not voting for Obama, particularly in the “swing states”, is a vote for war with Iran and essentially Armageddon (cause Iran is backed by China & Russia, who have ‘nukes; cause hitting Iran would almost certainly bring in Israel, who have ‘nukes; etc).

Not voting for Obama, in Vermont, doesn’t matter either which way and if you think it does your sense of self-import is over the top.  Obama will win VT in a landslide and it is almoststatistically zero that this post, anything else I say or do, or anything that anyone else says or does will effect that reality.

So what good (or bad) will an Obama Administration do for you, me, the suffering masses, the general population, the environment, humanity or the world in general?

Who knows?  Very likely much better than what McCain would do.  But more importantly, what we do know for absolute certainty, is this: the most progressive, revolutionary, effective, beneficial, substantive, lasting, and evolutionary changes that have ever happened, in human history, are the direct result of people taking action- themselves- to demand it; not through ballot boxes, not through vigils, not through quaint marches or petitions, but through insisting that something about the way things are is un-exceptable and antiquated.  Vote for Obama (or, if you live in Vermont, vote for whoever the fuck you  want)- order, sensibility, fairness, equality, peace…. these things will only happen (in all of history have only happened) when “the people” make everyday an act of creating and living the world that we know is possible and is better, and different, than the one we know today.

On the heals of the entirely outrageous, fear-mongering/security-state feeding reporting done by the local Times-Argus of Santa Clause’s gubernatorially-placed pie, I gave a mention to the laziness of coverage in the same paper regarding a new program in which the Central Vermont garbage collector’s will now be officially “trained” to keep an eye on things for the police (see post bellow).  Since quality journalism is clearly in the front of my thoughts right now (um, news to me, but maybe that means my own self-reflection has gone corporate!) I figure I’ll pass on the following statement from the RNC Welcoming Committee, on the heals of some more sensationalist, poorly-researched, “our lives are in grave danger from the most trivial of incidences” reporting that’s been happening of late in the St Paul, MN area:

RNC WELCOMING COMMITTEE SPEAKS ON ALLEGED “LEAK” OF GOP TRANSPORTATION
DOCUMENT

Late last week, news media outlets throughout the Twin Cities metro area
covered a story about an allegedly “leaked” document concerning RNC
delegate transportation, provided to the public by the RNC Welcoming
Committee. It is an early version of a proposal for transporting thousands
of delegates to and from Downtown St. Paul’s Xcel Center, where the
Convention is to be held, and includes maps, photos, and descriptions of
potential bus formations. News reports portrayed the dissemination of
information as a breach of convention security, intermingling sparse facts
and fear-mongering hyperbole.

Asked to comment, Welcoming Committee spokesperson Jesse Helmsted said,
“That document was and is a public document, produced in response to a
Data Services Act request and accessible to anyone who asks for it.
Anyone, even self-proclaimed journalists, could have brought this document
to the attention of Twin Cities residents, as delegate transportation will
certainly inconvenience all of us who live here. That so-called reporters
would rather engage in fear-mongering and sensationalism than, say, tell
the truth, only speaks to the dangers of trusting corporate media.”

The document in question, a scanned PDF of a print-out of a PowerPoint
presentation called “GOP Express,” is one of many documents produced by
the City of St. Paul in a lawsuit brought against them by groups planning
an anti-war march for the first day of the Republican National Convention.
The Welcoming Committee, an anarchist organizing body preparing for RNC
protests, has positioned itself as a clearinghouse for convention-related
information, and provides any and all relevant material through its
website, http://www.NoRNC.org.

On Friday, July 5th, St. Paul Police dared the Welcoming Committee to use
the document. “Go ahead, plan off that,” said Pete Panos, St. Paul Police
spokesman. “That would be great for us.”

Helmsted responded, “Far out, Pete! We’ve been seeking endorsements of our
Call to Crash the Convention, but the backing of the St. Paul Police
Department is more than we’d dared to hope for. Now that we’ve got it, all
bets are off.”

In today’s Barre-Montpelier Times-Argus there’s a story on the front page about new program between Casella Waste Management (the local trash collector’s) and the Vermont State Police.  The article details, without a single critical word, a new collaborative effort which will have the trash haulers, as they go about their regular duties, keeping a watchful eye on the neighborhoods they travel through.  Specifically, the article explains that Casella’s trash haulers have recently been trained in a “Neighborhood Watch”- like program to notice any suspicious activities, things out of the ordinary, and criminal behavior and to either call 9-1-1 in an immediate emergency or to radio in to their dispatchers with less immediate but nonetheless “concerning” or “unusual” instances.  It will then be at the dispatcher’s discretion as to when, and if, to notify State or local police authorities.  I have a few reactions/concerns about this that I’d like to share.

First, while I feel like the reactionary elements of the left have watered-down (through over-use) the severity of the charge of “fascism”, this particular instance does seem to warrant a charge of quasi-fascist behavior, or at least a notable movement towards it.  By its classical definition, fascism is a merging together of private, corporate functions and interests with that of the public (government).  Leaving aside more ideological comments about the police in general, I for one am loath to see law enforcement agencies training and relying on private sector enterprises (that are entirely disassociated with any kind of “security” function no less) as a part of their general strategy towards combating crime.  Not only does this program beg for comparisons to Orwellian ideas such as the post 9/11 TIPS program and red-scare era “spying on your neighbors to root out communists”, but in general it fosters an atmosphere of distrust amongst neighbors and communities.  With trash collectors, postal workers, perhaps soon landscapers and whoever else in formal cooperative agreements with police and other government agencies to “keep an eye” on things, when is enough enough?  Will it be long before our thoughts, ideas, and opinions are enough to get us hauled away for being “suspicious” or “out of the ordinary”.

The depth of the problem of this kind of relationship (the one between Casella and the State police) may be lost on some, especially those who will make the usual “only law breakers have anything to be concerned about” argument.  But I wonder: waste collection and disposal are highly regulated for their impacts on public and environmental health and safety, is there really any way to trust that Casella is going to be held to task by the State and law enforcement agencies if they go astray of the law?  Just like cops who don’t give speeding tickets to other cops (on or off duty) how (or why) are we to trust that the appropriate people/agencies won’t do the same in the face of having to enforce the law against what could now be considered “one of their own”.  This is the problem of government and private sector collusion, and it’s why fascism is wholly rejected by nearly everyone the world over.

Speaking further to those that will argue that “only criminals” have anything to be concerned by here, or that such measures will help reduce crime and make our communities safer: I see the exact opposite.  I see the perceived need for a program such as this to be a sad and even dire statement about the state of our communities and our collective sense of humanity and social responsibility to each other.  Trash collectors, postal workers, landscapers, painters, neighbors- we should all be keeping an eye out for each other, and we should all take the appropriate actions when we see crime or concerning and suspicious behavior.  These are, after all, our communities, our homes and neighbors.  One thing I got from reading the TA article about this is that, before the “training” and implementation of this program, Casella drivers weren’t necessarily inclined to take action if, while going about their routes, they witnessed something criminal or disconcerting.  It is not a police sponsored or endorsed program we need to make our neighborhoods safer, it’s common sense, a notion of connectedness to place and people, and a personal recognition that we are each responsible for the quality of the places that we live.

Finally, I find the Times-Argus article on this matter to be an illuminating example of not only the increasingly poor-quality of journalism that they are offering Central Vermont residents, but of the exact problem of the Fourth Estate for the past several decades.  There is, of course, a noticeable difference between editorializing and journalism, but there is also a noticeable- and equally important- difference between reporting on a story and merely regurgitating the information handed out by those involved or “of authority” on a matter.  The “new journalism” which portends some kind of “objectivity” is a scam and an abomination.  The lie of human “objectivity”, in any kind of absolute sense, has done nothing but water-down and pervert what we have come to expect by the very medium which is charged with keeping us informed and protected from the worst that the government or Big Business will try to pass onto us.  Journalism, besides just giving us “the facts” (i.e., “President Bush signed this today”, “IBM announced that today”) should also put the events of a story into context; what’s the history of the issue? what’s the theoretical as well as practical context for such? what’s being gained and lost? who’s affected? what’s the dissenting or minority viewpoint? what do “officials” say about it? where do such officials derive their authority (and is it warranted)?  As I regularly read the Times-Argus at my local coffeeshop, I often ponder seriously whether or not to get a home subscription.  Tellingly, nearly every time I’m on the verge of making that investment, I am put face-to-face with some form of disappointing to abysmal reporting which turns me off.