Some Of Those That Burn Crosses
New Drop, Hots Shots E5, Burn Down Silicon Valley, Notes From Vijay Prashad, The Hood Communist and more.
Morning Comrades!
Excited to share a new design for Black Lodges with you all today before we get into the rest of today’s topics. The graphic itself is a rendition from the 1968 Parisian Atelier Populaire and the lines are from Rage Against The Machine. But wait, are they? They are, however, it was pointed out to me from a friendly comrade at a record company that should I use the lyrics from the record, chances of getting sued will be more than high- so I am using a rendition of the infamous line that Zach used live a number of times when I saw them. It’s a little twist that works almost better if you ask me and there we are. This is available now through to Monday. Thank you for your interest and support as always.
Hot Shots Episode 5
Back again with a live video from my home - I tried to stick to a singular topic this time rather than going through the 400 screenshots of hot shots from this week. Yes, it was all triggered by the Rogan/Young/ Spotify debate but I tried to approach it from a different angle and offer a few potential solutions that are open for discussion. View at your own pleasure and feedback is as always appreciated.
Blow Up Silicon Valley
Now for the millionth example of how awfully corrupt and inhumane seemingly everything out of Silicon Valley is and this ties in extremely well to the above Hot Shots episode, this article- or rather result of some good investigative reporting definitely made it on to my list of things I wanted to scream about all week.
Crisis Text Line is one of the world’s most prominent mental health support lines, a tech-driven nonprofit that uses big data and artificial intelligence to help people cope with traumas such as self-harm, emotional abuse and thoughts of suicide.
But the data the charity collects from its online text conversations with people in their darkest moments does not end there: The organization’s for-profit spinoff uses a sliced and repackaged version of that information to create and market customer service software.
Read the article by all means, but the above does sum it up nicely. We really need to have an urgent talk about what it is that we are going to do about these tech firms. If everything being offered as a solution to the effects of existing under capitalism only serves to make shit even worse than it is up to us to say, no more. That time is now.
Make the Whole World Know that the South Also Exists
This is a most remarkable essay by Vijay Prashad for the Tricontinental Institute. As I have so often remarked our job here in the heart of the empire is to disrupt the machinery whilst amplifying, supporting and listening to our comrades from the Global South. This here is one of those moments and I urge you all to read it. Not only for the analysis, which is wonderful but more so for the very clear and direct, realistic call to action. This essay ties into the few times we have spoken about the line Biden drew in regards to the Monroe Doctrine and the subsequent perception the U.S. government has, has had and clearly continues to have in regards to their relationship with the rest of the world.
The United States continues to think of the entire hemisphere, from Cape Horn to the Rio Grande, not as sovereign territory, but, in one way or the other, as its ‘yard’. It meant little that Biden followed this up by saying, ‘we’re equal people,’ since the metaphor he used – the yard – indicated the proprietary attitude with which the United States operates in the Americas and in the rest of the world. It is this proprietary attitude that inflames conflict not only in the Americas (with epicentres in Cuba and Venezuela), but also in Eurasia.
Later on the essay, issues surrounding the reality of this attitude become clearer when you view the current situation in Ukraine, Iran, Venezuela and so so. Again aside from the very accurate analysis of what is actually going on, the 10 Point Plan put forward is an excellent starting point.
Black History Month & The Hood Communist
I have been trying to figure out how to put this and I am not entirely sure how to exactly approach this correctly, so keep that in mind. Yes, it is Black History Month, something that isn’t part of the cultural narrative in Germany ( and that’s all you need to know about where this country is at in regards to racism and it’s own colonial history ) but I do realize it is a big moment in the UK and the US. A couple of thoughts: Firstly, I do firmly believe that people such as myself, white Europeans ( and yes, for once I do consider white people of the US to be part of that ) need to “celebrate” White European History all year around - not that way, but in the way that we start learning, earnestly about our colonial destruction of the entire planet and the long line of racism, murder, exploitation - capitalism in short - and not shoulder this responsibility on the people still to this day suffering from these crimes. Secondly, as essentially everything in the West, these “events” let’s call them offer too much opportunity to be abused by those in power, as this is. Thirdly, I am the last person to talk about Black History and Black Diasporic Reality. I do believe it is partly our role to amplify it but its way past time to sit down and listen.
With that I wanted to point you all to a platform that I respect a great deal. I am sure some of you know it already but if not, get into it.
The Hood Communist blog is a revolutionary African nationalist political organ created with the express intent of advancing the struggle for African liberation by providing independent anti-colonial and anti-capitalist revolutionary political analysis by and for African people.
With that I am going to leave you with some another round of A/V Infotainment for the weekend. Thanks for being here, tuning in, sending comments and questions and maybe even picking up a shirt.
Until next time, I remain yours and without compromise,
V