Blog Day 2008
Who knew such a thing existed? I heard about it from Ari Herzog.
Five blogs I like (which are, obviously, listed under “blogs I read,” but here is some more detail):
- Bitch Magazine Blogs: This group blog by people associated with Bitch Magazine covers all things pop culture and feminist, and has tons of great insight. I love it. A good place to read up on current events, find out about calls for submission, and find links to other cool stuff on the interweb.
- Kenyon Farrow: Kenyon used to be an editor for Clamor Magazine. I love his witty writing and great perspective – he blogs most days (so prolific) on AIDS, race, and politics.
- Praxis Makes Perfect: Joshua Kahn Russell is one of my closest Bay Area friends and comrades, because he’s young and smart and radical.He writes about his work in the social justice movement, from SDS to environmental activism.
- It’s Getting Hot In Here: A group blog of the youth environmental movement (I think youth is loosely defined here), not only can you read about current events and news stories, but you can find out where the movement is heading. What are people talking about?
- Bag News Notes: This blog analyzes images from the day’s news – and the comments from readers are almost as interesting sometimes. Today’s post is analyzing a post of W and David Paulison of FEMA from a Gustav press conference.
Focusing on Climate Change
West Coast Climate Convergence
So, I’ve been trying to write this post for weeks, and I’m finally doing it. I also have this post about the RNC/DNC and Obama rattling around in my head, and I’m hoping to get that on (virtual) paper this weekend. Since, you know, pretty soon the conventions will be over. Regardless…. we were talking about Climate change, right?
So, in late July/early August I headed up to Coburg, OR to attend the West Coast Climate Convergence, part of a series of Climate Camps happening around the world at the same time. You can read a report from the UK camp in this recent Yes! Magazine article, which also gives a list of the camps around the world.
I found out about the West Coast Convergence through the group Rising Tide, which was one of the major sponsors of the U.S. camps. The point of the camps is to bring together activists working on climate change and related issues for training, networking, and action. Almost all the camps culminated in a direct action in the area where the camp was located. More on that later.
I’ve been impressed with RT because of a few things, tops of which is the organizational focus on linking climate change activism with communities that are directly impacted by climate change issues, such as working in coalition with local groups fighting the expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure in their neighborhoods. Their mission statement is just so right on: “Rising Tide is a grassroots network of groups and individuals who take direct action to confront the roots causes of climate change and promote local, community-based solutions to the climate crisis.” and “Rising Tide North America’s strategy is based on a no-compromise approach of stopping the extraction of more fossil fuels and preventing the construction of new fossil fuel infrastructure.” Um, yeah. Hell yeah.
And I like their organizing model, too, of a decentralized network that allows local “chapters” to differentiate… from working against mountain-top removal mining in West Virginia and the Southeast U.S., to supporting efforts that draw out the links between climate change and war here on the West Coast. Read the rest of this entry »
Write for these Magazines!
Call for Submissions from Bitch and Make/Shift:
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Bitch’s extra-special Noir issue (Winter 2009) is under way, but we’re still looking for a few great pieces.
In this issue, we’ll be exploring the dark side of popular culture: the dames and broads of cherchez la femme noir films, paperbacks, and TV procedurals. The occult. Women in cults. Addiction. Suicide. Secret confessions. You know—fun stuff like that. But we’re also seeking much less literal interpretations of the Noir theme; as ever, the theme is meant to be a jumping-off point and not a prescription.
CrimeThinc Makes it Big
I just want to point out that this news article in yesterday’s San Francisco Chronicle refers to CrimeThinc’s “Days of War Nights of Love” as “a well-known collection of anarchist essays.”
Well, alright then.
China in the U.S.
OK, here’s one of those reverse-chronological order posts.
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Now that the Olympics are going on, a lot of people talking about China and their human rights record. Hint: It’s not so good.
I’ve mentioned Students for a Free Tibet before, and they’ve coordinated actions all over the world to highlight China’s actions in Tibet, timed to start with the beginning of the games. You can read reports on their website.
But, I did want to call attention to China’s actions in the U.S. – last Monday, officials at the Chinese consulate in San Francisco basically attacked nonviolent protesters there – including cutting the rope suspending one woman,
causing her to fall about 15 feet. Here’s a photo of her before the incident:
On Money and Power
OK, so we’re gonna have few posts in reverse order here.
Last week I spoke at the Black Rose bookstore in Portland, Oregon. First of all, thanks to Kevin for setting it up and the crew at the bookstore for hosting, and for running a great space.
Ostensibly, the talk was about two projects I’ve worked on recently: the Clamor pamphlet, and the article I wrote on independent media for In The Middle of A Whirlwind. I chose to focus on two issues common to these pieces: money and power.
In both, I talk about how I feel that within activist culture, we focus on the evils of money and power, and often resist understanding them and using them to our advantage. I know that because our knowledge of financial matters was so limited, we made many mistakes at Clamor that hurt us later. This is perfectly illustrated by Stephen Duncombe, whom I quote in the Whirlwinds article: “Progressives worry about abuse of power before we have it, this is a sign of our reluctance to pursue it.” When I asked Duncombe to expand on this point, he replied:
Power is scary. With it comes responsibility. As with leadership, if you don’t acknowledge that power is necessary then you won’t do anything about re-imagining it. I think leftists have gotten very comfortable being critics of power. Criticism on the road to power may be useful, but criticism by itself, in our day and age, is actually an attendant to dominant power. “Look,” the powers that be argue, “we have critics, that means you have freedom and democracy, right?” Criticism, by itself, is just self-serving politics: it makes the critic feel better about their non-compliance but changes nothing. Therefore I’m interested in moving past criticism and really thinking about what is necessary to win power. For without power you can’t change things. And I’m in this game to change the world, not just comment about how bad it all is.
Speaking at Black Rose in Portland, OR Friday August 8
Independent Media Activist Jen Angel to speak on “Becoming the Media”
Friday August 8th
6pm for a lecture, discussion and workshop.
Black Rose Collective Bookstore & Community Resource Center
4038 N. Mississippi Avenue Portland, OR 97227
Come to a lecture, discussion and workshop with independent media activist Jen Angel, who has recently written a pamphlet on PM Press titled “Becoming the Media: a critical history of Clamor Magazine”. Jen will speak to both her experiences in running a national magazine as well as the current state of independent media.
Jen Angel will address the current independent media environment, opportunities and challenges, and to her experiences in independent media and as the co-editor of Clamor Magazine. Clamor was a movement publication that existed between 2000 and 2006, covering radical politics, culture, and activism. Clamor published 38 issues and featured over 1,000 different writers and artists.
Read the rest of this entry »
