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Classic Film Review: Anarchism In America

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Full Title: Anarchism In America
Director(s): Steven Fischler and Joel Sucher
Year: 1983
Grade: B
Comments:AIA is a good starting point for those that want to learn about Anarchsim, because (as displayed in the documentary) most people have little to no idea of what it really is. The doc does a good job of explaining to viewers that anarchism is a strong social, political, economic, and spiritual philosophy and/or movement built on individualist principles and the belief that society would be better off without the state. The filmmakers distinguish this from the narrow minded view that anarchists are just about chaos and throwing bombs, which unfortunately most folks believe. The film features various anarchsits including, Emma Goldman, returning to America after having been deported for years in rare video footage, veteran Murray Bookchin, tax resisting, “market” anarchist, Karl Hess, the Dead Kennedys (interview and performance), amongst other famous and unknown anarchists. The film also shows various implicit anarchists including American workers committed to the rugged individual ideals of America and they associate this with anarchism, or at least the filmmakers do as well as a sowing company in which the workers run the show a la Chomsky! Speaking of Noam, he is nowhere to be seen and other prominent anarchists and related groups/organizations like the trailblazing paper, Fifth Estate>. I suppose they can’t document everything, but still they focused too much on the implicit Americanism rather than the explicit characteristics; albeit a nice feature. In addition, we see footage of the Liberatarian Party and how this connects to the anti-government (or anti-state power) stance of anarchism, historical events such as the Spanish Civil War, Russian Revolution, and the execution of Sacco and Vanzetti. Lastly, my only other complaint is the fact that they didn’t include any anarchists that used violence or force as a political means, justified or not. Granted, this might reenforce the negative connotations of the philosophy that naive viewers have, but at the same time, it would be nice to provide a balanced picture, considering some anarchists are violent. Overall, it was worth a watch and I would recommend it, not for those who want an in depth history of anarchism, but rather for those who are curious or unaware of it and want to learn about the philosophy/movement, at least the American aspects up to the early 1980s.

The following site has a lot of information on this documentary as well the film itself, which can also be viewed on Youtube as seen below.

http://alexpeak.com/art/films/aia/

Here are some cool quotes from the movie, which also appear on the above site.

“Almost anyone, I suppose, can call himself or herself an anarchist, if he or she believed that the society could be managed without the state. And by the state—I don’t mean the absence of any institutions, the absence of any form of social organisation—the state really refers to a professional apparatus of people who are set aside to manage society, to preempt the control of society from the people. So that would include the military, judges, politicians, representatives who are paid for the express purpose of legislating, and then an executive body that is also set aside from society. So anarchists generally believe that, whether as groups or individuals, people should directly run society,” Murray Bookchin

“My understanding of anarchism has as part of its element a connection between ends and means. To me, if one is an anarchist, then, from my point of view, one also must be nonviolent, and if one is nonviolent, one must be an anarchist—I see the linkages very clear[ly]. A person who believes in nonviolence is a person who believes that the sort of society we want to achieve is a society without violence, without wars, and without injustice; and to use wars, violence, and injustice to achieve that society is to be counterproductive,” Ed Hedaman

“Well, it’s hard to tell on the basis of the Party’s rhetoric, after all they’re running for state office, but my experience is that most people who are in the Libertarian Party have pretty decent anarchist impulses, even if they do not say they are anarchists—most of them will say they are libertarians, at any rate. And one thing that is useful is that they have a fairly well-refined analysis of why they aren’t conservative. It took the New Left to do a proper analysis on American liberals, it seems to me, and I suspect that the libertarians are doing the best analysis of American conservatives. I think that they are quite good people, and that the Party contains within it probably more people of an anarchist tendency than any other organisation in the country,” Karl Hess

Here’s Part I

Chris

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Kucinich On Afghanistan

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This is a bit old, but I’m using it for Poli Sci debate, so I figured I’d post it here for the hell of it. I like Dennis Kucinich a lot and really admire him for his integrity, but I always hate the way him and others like Ron Paul treat these conflicts as “issues” when they discuss them. Don’t get me wrong, they are extremely rare for their comparitively radical views as Congressmen, but comments such as “I like Obama…” blows my mind. HE’S A WAR CRIMINAL, MASS MURDERER! Perhaps they can’t speak out in that manner because they are public officals. I mean they have the right ideas with the knowledge and evidence to back up their platforms, but it’s as if they treat the president’s policies as poor political moves rather than crimes against humanity. Then again, Kucinich valiantly proposed impeachement of Bush as a War Criminal, so kudos to him. I also dig O’Reilly’s line about Obama being closer to Bill on the War, which is absolutely true. Oboma cheerleaders should take note. If you’re Antiwar and support Obama, then that’s fine for you, but it ain’t my cup of tea. I think y’all better choose a side soon.

Chris

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Free Market Anti-Capitalism

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Say what? Read:

Vulgar libertarian apologists for capitalism use the term “free market” in an equivocal sense: they seem to have trouble remembering, from one moment to the next, whether they’re defending actually existing capitalism or free market principles. So we get the standard boilerplate article in The Freeman arguing that the rich can’t get rich at the expense of the poor, because “that’s not how the free market works”–implicitly assuming that this is a free market. When prodded, they’ll grudgingly admit that the present system is not a free market, and that it includes a lot of state intervention on behalf of the rich. But as soon as they think they can get away with it, they go right back to defending the wealth of existing corporations on the basis of “free market principles.

That was Kevin Carson, a free market anti-capitalist. He’s kind of an anarcho-capitalist meets libertarian socialist, which some might say is not possible. He’s an interesting fellow and I’m sure to do some more reading on the man.

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Summer 2009 Blockbuster Comparison

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The following essay was for my Cultural Studies class, therefore it’s not of the same quality as my other material. Read it anyway lol.

Inglourious Transformers
I see a few newly released films each year and sadly most are of average quality. Last Summer, I saw two movies in particular that stood out; one was quite exceptional and the other was pure garbage with some mild entertainment. The former was Quentin Tarantino’s war film, Inglourious Basterds and the latter was Michael Bay’s Science Fiction film, Transformers: The Revenge of the Fallen. Both pictures are similar in some ways and at the same time, there is a world of difference between them. In terms of culture, Inglourious Basterds is of much higher art than it’s counterpart, Transformers because director Quentin Tarantino has far more “cultural capital” than his rival, Michael Bay.
Both Inglourious Basterds and Transformers are action films in their own unique ways, but Basterds does not rely solely on special effects and fun filled mayhem to dazzle it’s audience. There are various similarities between the two movies and it should be noted that each obtained well beyond it’s fair share of box office/commercial success. Both had gun shots, explosions, “good guys, “bad guys,” gorgeous females in leading roles, and a healthy chunk of humor. Without seeing both features, a cultural theorist may rush to rule both films as equally “mass art,” merely manufactured products to be gobbled up by millions of dumb Americans as Matthew Arnold would contend. Of course major corporations financed both films and as I previously mentioned each profited quite well at the box office, but it seems clear that there is much more to IB than simply “action” that makes up most of Transformers. IB focuses on World War II and particularly the fall of the Third Reich at the hands of the “Basterds,” a band of Jewish American soldiers. Of course this is not historically accurate at all, but it still gives the film more depth than a light hearted flick about robots. IB also features various references to older, spaghetti western films and obscure war films as well as other aspects of both American and European culture. Tarantino’s cultural capital certainly adds to the “higher quality” of the film.
As I previously explained, both movies can fall under the action genre, but the styles of action displayed in each film makes one high art/culture and the other low art/culture. In Inglourious Basterds, scenes are built up with suspense and clever dialogue. This suspense then erupts into bloody battles and shoot outs and so on. In contrast, in Transformers, the action is not stylized and is mostly non-stop, relying on special effects and very little suspense. The film utilizes most of the conventional techniques Hollywood blockbuster/popcorn movies usually employ, but no substance to balance out the mindless mess. The old phrase, ” a spoon full of sugar makes the medicine go down” comes to mind. In this case, there is no medicine and moviegoers are being inundated with pounds and pounds of sugar, mentally consuming as much junk as they purchase in movie snacks. Clearly, if Arnold was alive today he would use Transformers as a chief example of low/mass art.
In short, although both films, Inglourious Basterds and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen can be seen as action movies and worthy of commercial success, Basterds definitely is of higher art/culture than Transformers. Writer/Director, Quentin Tarantino effectively used his cultural capital of historical and cinematic knowledge to make a greater film. The action was entertaining, but carefully balanced with extraordinary acting, memorable dialogue, and superb character development. Michael Bay, on the other hand, merely made a big special effects movie, he knew people would rush to the theaters to see, enjoy, and never ponder over anything meaningful to the human experience.

Chris

business, economics, Random

Question of the Day

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Should workers be allowed to work as much as they want OR should vacations and holidays be mandatory? Let’s think about it. At companies like Lincoln Electric and General Electric, systems are in place where workers are paid according to performance. Essentially, if you work your ass off and produce X units of a good, you will be highly rewarded in pay. It could even get to the point where you don’t have to do any performance and still get paid for doing nothing, which is something that’s been discussed among KLYAMers in the past. With a performance based system (Piece work, as it is called), it becomes almost unreasonable for workers to complain about their pay. Yes, I could see them complaining about getting no vacations, holidays, working conditions, etc but in terms of actual pay it’s YOU making it or breaking it. At any rate, giving the worker complete freedom over how he or she wants to work is an individualist concept. It’s an egalitarian concept if workers and upper management are treated the same way. In fact, if production workers really sweat their ass off, they could make more $$$ than upper level management. Sacrifices would have to be made in social and family life and some people just wouldn’t want to make those BUT maybe that option is attractive for some people. Who’s to decide? If you think the government should set limits on work, isn’t that a case of intruding on somebody’s liberty?

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Classic Album Review: Revolutinary Vol. 1

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Artist: Immortal Technique
Full Title: Revolutionary Volume 1
Label: Viper Records
Year: 2001
Grade: B+

Keyword: REVOULTIONARY. Many refer to themselves as revoltuionaries, whether it be a Republican Congressmen from Texas or a radical nerd on his blog, but few can back it up. Immortal Technique is part of this rare breed. He is the closest example of a musical Che Guevara, if there ever was one. Before the listener even hits play, he/she is already bombarded by tech’s intense dissidence in the cover art: masacred police officers and the hammer and sickle a la Soviet Union. But, unlike dem pinko commie fags, tech’s Revolution (at least musically) succeeds because as he says it is, “built out of love for his people and not hatred for others.” The album opens with a solid 9 in “Creation and Destruction.” It basically foreshadows everything the MC is notorious for: violent lyrics, intimidating delivery, and uncompromising politics. This continues throughout the record, while he delves into such untouchable topics as police brutality, corporate media bias for the elite (“The Getaway”), the racist, White, economic, class structure which leaves poor people, mostly blacks and latinos, but also whites, and millions in the Third World concerned only with day to day poverty rather than developing Socialista philosophy to rise out of this trap (“The Poverty of Philosophy”- Spoken Word), and the harsh and regrettable reality of thug life, (“Dance With the Devil”). The latter is arguably one of the most horrifying tracks I have ever heard. Tech’s disturbing lyrics paint a petrifying picture of rape and murder. Overall, this is a sound record one of the finest from today’s greatest hip hop star. You would be hard pressed to find another rapper with as much skill, integrity, and hardcore style. To add to this hardcore reputation, all of the raps were created while he was in prison. Take that Fat Joe, you Fake, Fat, Fuck! Not that I’m in any position to criticize, with absolutely no street credibility WHATSOEVER! But, that’s alright, at least I’m not Billy Jacobs. You’ll have to listen to this album to know who Billy Jacobs is!

VIVA LA REVOULTION!!!

Chris