Sunday, December 20, 2009
Hope
Friday, October 9, 2009
Congratulations! Wait really???
To many Barack Obama was and is an anti-war president. Many anti-war groups backed him during the campaign as did many individuals claiming to be pacifists. This has lead to a widespread belief that he himself is anti-war (one would think this should be a prereq of sorts for the Nobel Peace Prize). This however could not be farther from the truth. Currently we are bombing Pakistan, considering ratcheting up the war in Afghanistan, and supporting Israel. Not to mention the hypocrisy of stock piling nuclear weapons while demanding non-proliferation from other countries. If these are not enough let’s look at some closer to home examples of the violence supported by Obama and his administration: single payer universal healthcare was not even considered, housing is still not considered a human right, a livable wage has yet to enter the political discussion. As Gandhi famously stated "poverty is the worst kind of violence". In the interest of fairness these are not new to Obama or his administration these have long been characteristics of the American Empire.
I don't write this to try and burst any bubbles, or be a "hater". I am not looking for reasons to "bitch"; I do not want to find the negative in everything, or anything similar to these responses. The truth is actually quite to the contrary- I want a world of peace, a non-nuclear world. I want a world free from war and oppression, free from greed and poverty. I just received a text from my fiancĂ©e which says it the best “the wonders of the world we may never understand, but the mind possesses the capability of imagination, which is far more interesting. The world we can imagine can become our reality. Never give up, never stop fighting, keep revolting because God gave us a voice and life gave us the right!" I ask only this- that we have the courage to recognize and speak truth even in the face of facades that make it easy to become comfortable.
In Solidarity,
Ryan "BUGS" Virden
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
For clarity
From what I can see the major argument being made goes something like this... the constitution limits government involvement in the citizens lives, the health care reform bill equates to a government take over, violating the constitution and will leave us with national socialism in all areas, similar to Nazi Germany. Included in this group are those people that are waving copies of the constitution at town halls, because we apparently need a visual for the argument, or the ex-marine that demanded his congressman uphold the constitution, implying the health care bill was in violation of it. These arguments are so foolish and illogical if it wasn't so scary it would be comical. Lets deconstruct the lunacy. First and most importantly to view the constitution as a fixed document with no flexibility is absurd, it was written in 1787, pretty sure our world has changed since then. Health care is actually a great example of this, in 1787 the field of medical science was lacking to put it lightly, costing little money. It only makes sense with all the advancements that have been made in medical science, and what we know now about health that we spend money on it. Perhaps we can treat these peoples illness with similar tactics as the time they would like us all to stick too....where are the leeches? This also goes for the idiots bringing loaded guns to rallies; when the second amendment was penned there is no chance that AK-47s and automatic weapons were being imagined in the wildest of imaginations. Certainly the new massive potential for death needs to be considered. But hey if you want to adhere to the 2nd amendment that's fine, but then don't get all pissy when groups like the Black Panthers or MOVE arm themselves, after all they are just exercising their rights.
This brings me to the next aspect. This is not so much about ignorance as it is hypocrisy. A major aspect that, if not out rightly expressed is underlying these arguments, is one of free markets over a planned economy. The connection is made that free markets equal democracy and controlled economies (socialist) equal tyranny. This is hearkening back to the cold war and the red scare. It was foolish then, and is even more foolish now as we have clear proof free markets can not be left to there own devices (see the presidency of Ronald Regan or the current recession). However, beyond that simple observable fact there is another issue.... these very people who are so adamant about keeping the government out of their lives have no problem calling the police when in danger, calling the fire department if their house is on fire, sending their kids to public school, and maybe, just maybe (but I doubt it) they utilize the public library! You guessed it all of these things fall under the category of socialized! See as a country we have decided that some things are not a commodity and should be made available to everybody such as: saving your house if it is on fire, or calling the police if you have been a victim of crime. The problem, as I have stated before ,is health does not fall under that category, plain and simply there is too much money to be made from it. Imagine if we applied this way of thought to the above mentioned situations... you have just lost somebody to a violent crime and rather than calling 911 right away you have to consider how you will pay for the police to investigate- instead of calling the fire department when you come home to your house being on fire you have to borrow the money it will take to get them out to your house. Foolish right? Then I ask why do we take this approach with our health?
To deal with the Nazi comparison is simple. We live in a democracy which is a political philosophy. It is in no way an economic one. Nazi Germany was not a democracy, that is why the Nazis did what they did, not because of the economic system they chose. In fact material democracy (true socialism) is, in my opinion, the purest expression of democracy.
To sum it all up, the constitution was not written in stone for a reason ,and it should reflect our reality, secondly we already have socialized many many things and health should be included on that list!
Ryan "BUGS" Virden
Monday, August 17, 2009
R.I.P. Universal Health Care You Never Had a Chance
This last weeks news coverage has been dominated by the town halls taking place across the country. By far the majority of people at these town halls were skeptical of the proposed bill, mainly because they were/are afraid of government taking over health care, and of socialism in general. Lets look at some of these fears and arguments. First, we live in a democracy (at least that is what they tell us, and that is indeed the belief of those attending these meetings) in a democracy the government is made up of the people... so then I ask -how can it be a bad thing for the government to meet the peoples needs? Unless of course the said democracy is an unhealthy one. The second problem with many of these arguments is this, socialism is accepted in many, many other areas, the police, fire department, public schools, libraries, parks, all of which you would be hard pressed to find support for dismantling (with the possible exception of the police). The fact of the matter is this- Republicans are taking advantage of the ignorance and miseducation of many of their supporters in order to serve the needs of big business, specifically the insurance companies. The largest lobbying group in the country belongs to the health care industry. There is no way, without a huge popular movement, that health care reform would be passed if it did not increase their profits. Which is exactly what would happen with this current bill (see "health insurers have already won" http://www.democracynow.org/). They knew they could count on the deeply seeded fears and prejudices of the Republican party's base. Enter this past week, and any of the examples of racism, hatred, stupidity, and foolishness that you would like. Capitalism runs on private ownership and free market. It is not concerned with anything but profit, the idea of human rights is antithetical to capitalism. Therefore as long as there is the current mix of a) deep fear of anything anti-capitalist and b) the lack of a viable non-capitalist political party there is little hope of ever seeing a single payer system in this country, or for that matter the realization of other human rights such as housing. It is worth noting we could pay for single payer now simply by diverting funds from military spending, but alas due to the imperialism and exploitation necessary for capitalism's continuation this is not even considered in this country.
By far the majority of people want to do the right thing by each other, there are countless examples of this I could point to. The problem is the people profiting from our collective ignorance. Make no mistake this is deliberate, and if we truly want to create a better world this will have to be the first thing that changes. Educate yourselves and each other and together maybe we can revive not only health care but create a truly beautiful world. Peace Love Respect
Ryan "BUGS" Virden
the federally budgeted (see below) military expenditure of the United States Department of Defense for fiscal year 2009 is[1]:
Components
Funding
Change From FY08
Operations and maintenance
$179.8 Bil.
+9.5%
Military Personnel
$125.2 Bil.
+7.5%
Procurement
$104.2 Bil.
+5.3%
Research, Development, Testing & Evaluation
$79.6 Bil.
+4.1%
Military Construction
$21.2 Bil.
+19.1%
Family Housing
$3.2 Bil.
+10.3%
Resolving and Management Funds
$2.2 Bil.
-18.5%
Total Base Spending
$515.4 Bil.
+5.7%
Not included in the DoD budget is $23.4 billion to be spent by the Department of Energy to develop and maintain nuclear warheads.[3]
Thursday, August 6, 2009
What are we waiting for?
In hope and solidarity
Ryan "BUGS" Virden
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
An Open Letter: Listen White People!!!!
Let me start by apologizing if this comes off as too rough, but I believe it is necessary. STOP IT! Please! Stop saying you had nothing to do with slavery therefore you have no privilege, or you are poor and struggling so "how the hell do you have privilege" you do, end of story! It has nothing to do with your personal experience, it is simple you never have to consider your race. YOU have never had your skin color associated with evil, YOU have never been considered 3/5 of a human simply due to your skin color, YOU have never been systematically excluded from housing, education, or jobs because you were white. YOU HAVE however been able to blend in with the crowd at any college, walk into a corner store without being followed, drive your car without having to worry about being pulled over for being brown, been able to identify physically with the vast majority of the characters in your American History book, saw yourself in the heroes of Disney movies, in the 43 previous presidents, in the majority of CEO's, YOU get to be a jury of your peers, YOU also get to call the police when you see two black men struggling to open the front door to a house in a neighborhood and city that well let’s just say lacks diversity, YOU also get to be the cop that arrests one of those two men for disorderly conduct even though it is his home, he is a professor at Harvard, and one of the most well respected thinkers of the time; when he becomes a little irritated at you not leaving his home after he has proven it to be so. YOU get to claim that he is being ridiculous when he says race played a part in how he was treated. YOU will go on Fox news and woof all day and night about who the hell knows what, as long as it makes you feel comfortable. White people if we don't start acknowledging our privilege and actively working against it WE will never see an end to the hate and anger that has dominated our country for so long. WE will only see more and more Fong Lee's, Oscar Grants, Sean Bells. WE will have more and more Assata Shakurs, Mumia Abu Jamals, Leonard Peltiers, and Troy Davis. WE will see more events like what happened to Professor Gates in Cambridge. PLEASE white people do your part!!
In suspended hope,
Ryan "BUGS" Virden
Monday, June 22, 2009
Lets not judge Iran quite yet
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Live Poetry
It’s one of those nights… you know the ones where you want to go to sleep, but every time you close your eyes your mind goes into overdrive. Yeah it’s one of those nights. Instead of fight it I got up and decided to enjoy some poetry maybe that would rest my mind (I knew better). I found myself listening to one of my favorite pieces “Poetic Bloodline” by Gemineye. I had heard the piece close to 1,000 times, but tonight it was like the first time, and as I sat there trying to sort out in my head what was different it hit me…. I understand it. The piece is an ode to the poets of the past framed in an encounter Gemineye is having with God in which poetry is the tool that has been, and will be used again to create change and bring positivity (of course there is more to it like being a poet is a sacred charge not to be disrespected by misrepresenting yourself, but that is a whole different issue any way back to the point). One of the lines in particular struck me “I need poets to take the world back and undo the curse”, and I understood then more clearly than ever before why the world needs poets. We have a responsibility, an opportunity to leave this world a better place in a way that very few have the chance to ever even think about. Our job is to be the voice for those who cannot use or do not have their own. It is up to us to tell the stories of those who would otherwise be easily forgotten, to unveil the beauty in the seemingly ugliest places, it is up to us to manifest love and freedom. It seems so often we lose ourselves in slam scores or booking shows or writing the illest metaphor or whatever, that we forget our only true responsibility is to live as honestly as possible. This is the true meaning, I think of taking art to action without this everything else is hollow. Now it is not my place to tell anybody what this does or doesn't look like I am simply saying without connecting the art to your community, and eventually the larger community of humanity, we have missed the point.... we missed what God told Gemineye and what Gemineye in turn showed me, mainly poetry has a purpose, and that purpose is to create and build community. It is important to note that I believe all of us in some way or another are poets, whether we write or just get up every morning to face the daily grind we make something beautiful and unique. Our pencils might be a smile to a stranger or not lying to a friend, but somehow we are all contributing to the creation of our reality, and it is important to remember we share in the responsibility of living honestly and representing our community. I believe that when we truly own this responsibility greed, and hate and all the other things that serve to keep us so numb to one another lose their hold, and will eventually disappear. Notice this does not demand time from schedules, or money, just a commitment to positivity and community. So to my fellow poets, writers, humans I thank you and encourage all of us to Live Poetry. Sai Werd
Friday, May 29, 2009
Fong Lee Verdict
Lets start with what I believe is the most ridiculous claim, and perhaps the most disturbing aspect to come out of this debacle (at least in terms of implications for the future). The idea that what is key is whether or not Officer Andersen perceived Fong had a gun. If this is the standard we are holding for the taking of life, we are in serious trouble. It is not unrealistic to imagine a similar case five years from now where another young non-white male has had his life ended by the MPD, and we are told it is acceptable because he was thought to be a gang member and the officer perceived he had a gun. This should scare everybody if for no other reason then we don't need to look five years in the future, on the contrary just a few months in the past, to a Bart station in Oakland and a young man named Oscar Grant. Add this to what can only increase the aura of invincibility enjoyed by police forces across the country, and we are not far at all from what can only be described as an occupation.
I am not going to pretend to have any big ideas for what we should do as concerned citizens. I will say this we need to do something. Please if you feel the same way find the time and energy to make it known because believe it or not
next time it could be you. Ona Move!
Peace Love Respect!
Friday, May 15, 2009
Day of Awareness for Troy Davis
Peace Love Respect
Justice For Troy Davis
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
For Real... Boycotting Conference on Racism??
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Knaan on the Somali Pirates
Why We Don’t Condemn Our Pirates in Somalia by Knaan
By K’Naan , URB Magazine. Posted April 14, 2009.
Can anyone ever really be for piracy? Well in Somalia, the answer is: it’s complicated.
http://www.alternet.org/story/136481/why_we_don%27t_condemn_our_pirates_in_somalia/?page=entire
Somalia has been without any form of a functioning government since 1991. And despite its failures, like many other toddler governments in Africa, sprung from the wells of post-colonial independence, bad governance and development loan sharks, the specific problem of piracy was put in motion in 1992.
After the overthrow of Siyad Barre, our charmless dictator of twenty-some odd years, two major forces of the Hawiye Clan came to power. At the time, Ali Mahdi, and General Mohamed Farah Aidid, the two leaders of the Hawiye rebels were largely considered liberators. But the unity of the two men and their respective sub-clans was very short-lived. It’s as if they were dumbstruck at the advent of ousting the dictator, or that they just forgot to discuss who will be the leader of the country once they defeated their common foe. A disagreement of who will upgrade from militia leader to Mr. President broke up their honeymoon. It’s because of this disagreement that we’ve seen one of the most devastating wars in Somalia’s history, leading to millions displaced and hundreds of thousands dead. But war is expensive and militias need food for their families, and Jaad (an amphetamine-based stimulant) to stay awake for the fighting. Therefore a good clan-based Warlord must look out for his own fighters. Aidid’s men turned to robbing aid trucks carrying food to the starving masses, and reselling it to continue their war. But Ali Mahdi had his sights set on a larger and more unexploited resource, namely: the Indian Ocean.
Already by this time, local fishermen in the coastline of Somalia have been complaining of illegal vessels coming to Somali waters and stealing all the fish. And since there was no government to report it to, and since the severity of the violence clumsily overshadowed every other problem, the fishermen went completely unheard. But it was around this same time that a more sinister, a more patronizing practice was being put in motion. A Swiss firm called Achair Parterns, and an Italian waste company called Progresso, made a deal with Ali Mahdi, that they could dump containers of waste material in Somali waters. These European companies were said to be paying Warlords about $3 a ton, where as in to properly dispose of waste in Europe costs about $1000 a ton.
In 2004, after Tsunami washed ashore several leaking containers, thousand of locals in the Puntland region of Somalia started to complain of severe and previously unreported ailments, such as abdominal bleeding, skin melting off and a lot of immediate cancer-like symptoms. Nick Nuttall, a spokesman for the United Nations Environmental Program, says that the containers had many different kinds of waste, including “Uranium, radioactive waste, lead, cadmium, mercury and chemical waste.” But this wasn’t just a passing evil from one or two groups taking advantage of our unprotected waters, the UN Convoy for Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, says that the practice still continues to this day. It was months after those initial reports that local fishermen mobilized themselves, along with street militias, to go into the waters and deter the Westerners from having a free pass at completely destroying Somalia’s aquatic life. Now years later, that deterance has become less noble, and the ex-fishermen with their militias have begun to develop a taste for ransom at sea. This form of piracy is now a major contributor to the Somali economy, especially in the very region that private toxic waste companies first began to bury our nation’s death trap.
Now Somalia has upped the world’s pirate attacks by over 21 percent in one year, and while NATO and the EU are both sending forces to the Somali coast to try and slow down the attacks, Blackwater and all kinds of private security firms are intent on cashing in. But while Europeans are well in their right to protect their trade interest in the region, our pirates were the only deterrent we had from an externally imposed environmental disaster. No one can say for sure that some of the ships they are now holding for ransom were not involved in illegal activity in our waters. The truth is, if you ask any Somali if they think getting rid of the pirates only means the continuous rape of our coast by unmonitored Western vessels, and the production of a new cancerous generation, we would all fly our pirate flags high.
It is time that the world gave the Somali people some assurance that these Western illegal activities will end, if our pirates are to seize their operations. We do not want the EU and NATO serving as a shield for these nuclear waste-dumping hoodlums. It seems to me that this new modern crisis is a question of justice, but also a question of whose justice. As is apparent these days, one man’s pirate is another man’s coast guard.
K’naan is a Somali-Canadian poet, rapper and musician.
Below are links to the interviews we did with Knaan a couple of weeks before all this drama unfolded
In the first clip he talks about Somali Pirates
In the second clip he talks about the US attempts to classify Somalis here in the US as Terrorists
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
FDA Blood Donor Restrictions
Monday, March 16, 2009
What can we learn from Northern Ireland
It does not matter if we are talking about Belfast or Baghdad, Gaza, Oakland or north Minneapolis there will never be peace when the people of the area have no control and are constantly being manipulated and oppressed for the benefit of others. This occupying force can come in a number of forms: the United States military, the Police, or multi-national corporations, but without exception the common bond is control for selfish purpose. Our history is rich with instances of the United States (and other European white countries) using its military powers to impose policies beneficial to them but harmful for the invaded country; for a prime example look at our seizure of Mexican land we now call California, Colorado, Arizona etc. etc. you get the gist. The police perform much the same task on a smaller scale. Instead of a country the police control a specific population mainly poor black communities, but specifically poor. Whenever these communities have joined together to demand equality without exception the police are there to put them down. Still perhaps the most dangerous form of occupation comes in the form of multi-national corporations that operate for the sole purpose of profit, leaving entire populations living in conditions of crushing poverty. You only need to look at the effects of World Bank and IMF policies to see the proof of this. What is interesting is that in all cases without exception violence plays a major role in implementing these systems of control. Either through military attacks (Iraq), police violence(murder of Fred Hampton) or sponsored coups so favorable policies can be implemented (Pinochet in Chile) violence is an essential ingredient to maintaining the order, even when those dissenting are doing so non-violently (Civil Rights Movement, Gandhi in India). So, does it make sense then to expect those that have been the victims of constant violence to not react in the same way; I would say no. We can see this playing out currently in Northern Ireland and all across the globe in groups like the real IRA, Hamas, and the Zapatistas. In our own country we can see this manifested in street gangs; which are largely a response to domestic oppression and an often times justified feeling of marginalization due to exclusion from opportunities such as quality education, jobs, and healthcare. There then becomes an overwhelming feeling of anger, disrespect, and worthlessness that all get fulfilled with- in the gang. All of these are very real and current examples of the cause and effect relationship between imperialism and its resulting occupation and the violence that is seen in reaction to it (which interestingly enough dominates the news and mainstream discussion on the subject).
I want peace just as much as anybody and I know the only way to reach peace is to stop the manipulation and exploitation of those countries and peoples that do not have the privilege of a lack of melanin. Only when all peoples have the right to self-determination can there be realistic talks of sustainable peace world wide. But until then you can count on very real cries of "NO JUSTICE NO PEACE!!"