What’s the most important thing for us to understand going into the Iowa primary like tomorrow, a single vote that may be among the most important ones of 21st century? Who will lead us to reverse course as a society and as a species to prevent the end of life as we know it on the planet. In all the years that we have explored, observed, and listened to outer space, we have yet to detect the existence of even a single virus on any place except Earth. This scintillatingly beautiful thing that we call Life may be just that […]
Reparations and Bernie Sanders
I’ve thought and written a lot about reparations. Last year, I developed a blog called The Reparations Fund. To be honest, I became somewhat discouraged when I put a copy of my blog in the hands of Cornell West when he spoke in Oakland and never heard from him. I’m glad the issue has come up in the campaign. I agree completely with Ta-Nehisi Coates in his Atlantic article that “Reparations is not one possible tool against white supremacy. It is the indispensable tool against white supremacy.” I agree that Bernie should have responded differently when asked about reparations by […]
Reaching out to Trumpistas
When the red scare heats up again to try to derail Bernie’s campaign, we need to have answers ready. There really haven’t been any communists in the world, at least not yet. What there have been is movements of people who want to focus on sharing rather than competing. That is so self-evidently the path of social evolution that I don’t think I need to argue it, at least not with the people likely reading this. These movements have in many instances seized the power of the state. USSR, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Cuba, Venezuela. With the exception of Venezuela, the […]
End the War on Drugs
One of the first things Bernie needs to do on his first day in office is end the war on drugs. It could be done by executive order. Justice Dept.: no more enforcing drug laws period. I’ve been watching Narcos on Netflix. I’ve been re-watching the Wire recently. I’m hearing about 100,000 people in Mexico dying in the cartel wars. Fuck terrorism. It’s the war against drugs that is perpetuating the worst terror. LEGALIZE THEM! All of them. Heroin, cocaine, lsd, xtasy, methamphetamine, all of them. Do it just like medical marijuana in California, set up a system of phony […]
Revolution and the united front
The human as an individual, as s/he exists today, in isolation and competition with fellow humans, is fully an artifact of Capitalism. Since at least the sixteen hundreds, people have considered themselves the center of the universe, of their reality. The new society that is slouching to be born puts the interests of the community above its individual members. Individualism doesn’t disappear. We will still have our adorable quirks and serendipities. They just won’t be primary. What will be primary is our connection to others, to our neighbors, to our community. This is the revolution Bernie is talking about. We […]
Connection
Reality inheres in the connections between us. Let me say it again: reality inheres in the connections between us. What do you think of as “reality?” Those things we share with each other, our consensus. This is a chair. This is a bear. Dreams, our personal internal reality, are not real. The people we see muttering to themselves in the streets they don’t share our reality. But of course your reality depends on who you’re connected with. Think about this for a minute. Language, which dominates our consciousness (and even our dreams) is only a function of our connection. If […]
Ho, ho, hum
Like many of us in the Northern Hemisphere this solstice time, I’m suffering from the oh so aptly named SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder. The nights grow long. For some reason, instead of sugar plums dancing round my head, I have the holocaust, slavery, and the endless war inflaming North Africa and the Middle East. Add some racism, police brutality, mass incarceration for Christmas dinner dressing. Terrorism is down on the list. All violence is terrorism. A crazed couple killing 14 people is terrorism, but the bombing of Iraq killing a million civilians – that’s not terrorism? Really? No, that’s just […]
Go see Chi-raq now!
I saw Spike Lee’s new masterpiece Chi-raq last Monday. The next day, I called the Grand Lake Theater owner and got him to donate 30 tickets. We (Oakland Parents Together) are inviting the parents we work with in West Oakland to a showing on Saturday. The movie is not just a masterpiece, it’s a revolutionary masterpiece. Please go see it forthwith. It’s a comedy about urban/gang violence – and world wide violence. Who can do that? A comedy, with deeply tragic moments. It’s also a blueprint for revolution, metaphorically, at least. I think the idea of a sex strike by […]
The Collapse of Capitalism
One of the mysteries of the 20th Century right up there with wireless printing (how does that work?) and the location of Amelia Earhart is “How the fu*k is it possible that ‘Communism’ (which was really just an oppressive form of socialism) collapsed in the late 80’s with barely a shot fired?” This goes against everything we know about human nature and politics. It’s a magnificently hopeful thing. Think about it. It is possible to have a gigantic political and economic transition without a bloodbath. This is huge, people. Even if you think the transformation of the USSR was a […]
We need to revitalize internationalism
For as ardent Bernie fan as I am, the 2nd debate was an eye-opener. To quote the man himself, “It’s not enough.” While Bernie’s domestic program may seem radical to some, his foreign policy will be a continuation of perpetual war in the middle east. We’re really good at blaming Bush and the Iraq war on the current situation with ISEL. But now what? Maybe we should once again start addressing the real problem in the middle east and around the world, American Imperialism. I think we need to think about the current situation as our failure, call it the […]