A Story of Coincidence and Chance

Linky link link

2009-07-06T12:56:51Z

I've left this comment on that journal:

I think that this is a really good post, and full of a lot of interesting, thoughtful stuff.

Having said that, I do find myself jarred at certain moments. Take this point, for example:

Matthew Shepard wasn't murdered only because he was gay, but because he troubled his murderers' sense of their own masculinity and status as male. This stuff isn't simple. It's not simple at all. So I think it's a good idea to tread a little more lightly on each other's oppressions here while at an intersection.

I totally agree with this point, and think that it's an important point to make.

But when Riki Ann Wilchins made this same point shortly after Shepard's murder, she was criticized, strongly, for trying to appropriate a gay man's death into the struggle for freedom of gender expression / identity.

I guess, if I'm honest with myself, what I feel is that when trans people who have been trying to talk about the complexities of gender identity and the way that gender is read -- not only in the context of trans lives, but also in the context of other intersecting or related identities -- we've either been ignored, or patted on the head and told that our ideas are quaint.

And it's only in the context of talking about cis privilege that all this complexity suddenly needs to be discussed and recognized.

What you're saying is important and I think that it's a great contribution of this conversation. But I can't say that I'm not torn in my reaction to it.

Cis Oppression

2009-07-06T12:32:02Z

dglenn tries to justify horrible cis-oppression by mean trans people. Don't be taken in!

Thought for the Day

2009-07-06T00:47:04Z

At this point, we asked one of the museum guides if there was an easier way to get to the exhibits we wanted to see. (The visitor map provided was of little use; it showed things that looked like ramps but were actually stairways, with no indication of which routes were accessible and which were not.) She explained that Gehry's design was intended to encourage the museum-goer to explore the existing galleries (though one could circumvent more galleries by using the stairs), and that the re-design had taken out most of the ramps. "Frank hates ramps," she explained. She was sympathetic; it was clear that she had heard this question before, and she encouraged us to write letters and provide feedback via the website.
— Frank Gehry hates disabled people

New AGO design: full of fail!

Gar

2009-07-05T23:48:20Z

I've been away for a whole weekend! And the Pam's House Blend commenters are still clueless.

Yes Men

2009-07-04T01:02:15Z

I just watched Yes Men, and all I can think is, "Brüno could have been this clever, but instead it's Brüno."

Links:

Thought for the Day

2009-07-03T03:52:20Z

Indeed, indeed, I cannot tell
Indeed, indeed, I cannot tell,
Though I ponder on it well,
Which were easier to state,
All my love or all my hate.
Surely, surely, thou wilt trust me
When I say thou dost disgust me.
O, I hate thee with a hate
That would fain annihilate;
Yet sometimes against my will,
My dear friend, I love thee still.
It were treason to our love,
And a sin to God above,
One iota to abate
Of a pure impartial hate.
— Henry David Thoreau

A film about a triangle

2009-07-03T01:34:36Z

I love movies. I love the structure of film. I love its conventions. I can sit and admire the assemblage of shots of a well-made film for hours. I love film theory. I love film soundtracks, and great actors. I love a lot of films that are very popular, and I love a lot of films that people avoid in droves. Film is, to me, art.

I can't say, though, that I really understand studios.

Debt relief for Haiti

2009-07-01T20:05:05Z

Holy shit. Progress?

Washington, June 30, 2009 – Haiti was granted US$1.2 billion of debt relief by reaching the completion point under the Enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative approved by the Boards of the International Development Association (IDA) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Haiti is now the 26th country to reach the completion point under the Initiative. Debt service savings result from the HIPC Initiative (US$265 million) and the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) (US$972.7 million).
— Haiti Gets US$1.2 Billion of Debt Relief

I've been pretty skeptical of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative, which has always struck me as a program to force poor countries to adopt pro-globalization economic reforms rather than a way to cancel unfair debt. And I've long believed that much of Haiti's debt could be classified as "odious" (around 45% of Haiti's external debt was acquired during the Duvalier period).

Finally, I find this whole press release very jargon-y and difficult to make sense of. Take this passage:

By reaching the HIPC completion point, Haiti now is eligible under the MDRI for further debt relief from IDA and the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB). MDRI relief would save Haiti US$972.7 million in debt service of which US$486.7 million owed to IDA and US$486 million to the IADB. While the IMF is a participant in the MDRI, Haiti does not have any MDRI-eligible debt to the IMF.

So, um, are they getting the US $972.7M or are they just "now eligible"?

One of the ongoing cricisms of aid (including, for example, a lot of the aid that was promised as a result of last fall's hurricanes) is that it gets promised but not dispersed. I never know when something is positive or not, anymore, since governments are much more about the press release than about the follow-through.

It's like a rock. A really small rock

2009-07-01T18:14:31Z

Haitian police say a demonstrator found slain after a clash with U.N. peacekeepers during a funeral procession was killed by a bullet, and not by a rock as peacekeepers initially reported.
But the police inspector who shared details of the autopsy report on Monday said ballistics tests are needed to determine who fired the fatal shot. The inspector who viewed the autopsy report spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the autopsy. He did not offer any additional details.
— Police: Haiti marcher killed by bullet in UN clash

Busted.

Labels

2009-06-29T13:56:43Z

Trans people: Big old meanies. TRUFAX!

Coup

2009-06-29T01:11:59Z

Who understands what happened in Honduras?

Thought for the Day

2009-06-28T00:58:45Z

What seems to me a -- in a sense -- very terrifying aspect of our society, and of other societies, is the equanimity and the detachment with which sane, reasonable, sensible people can observe such events. I think that's more terrifying than the occasional Hitler or LeMay or other that crops up. These people would not be able to operate were it not for the... this apathy and equanimity. And therefore I think that it's in some sense the sane and reasonable and tolerant people who share a very serious burden of guilt that they very easily throw on the shoulders of others who seem more extreme or more violent.
— Noam Chomsky, in a 1969 interview with William F. Buckley, as shown in the documentary, Manufacturing Consent

Fictionista

2009-06-25T23:56:16Z

I really like this story: "Superhero Girl" by Jessica Lee

Video Footage of UN firing at Haitian mourners

2009-06-25T02:16:22Z

YouTube has the footage of the UN soldiers firing at Fr. Jean-Juste's funeral. As other sources have reported, it's not clear that the UN soldiers hit the person who was killed, but it's hard to imagine what else might have happened -- it doesn't look like the scene was violent or ugly.

One of the things that I used to say to explain the significance of Lovinsky's kidnapping was that, to the Haitians, he was as significant as David Suzuki. Fr. Jean-Juste was even more important to the Haitian people. Other than Aristide, I don't think there's anyone more beloved by the Haitian people. And it pisses me off that MINUSTAH has defiled that funeral. The UN is maintaining that the person who was killed had been hit by a rock, and that they only fired into the air. They shouldn't be fucking shooting at a funeral. Jeezuz.

I got this from a mailing list the other day; it talks about a period in 2005, after the coup:

"[The opposition] stationed a death squad outside the church," Jean-Juste explained. "This was later to become the coup’s terror force, Lanme Timachet . They were trained to get me. Some of them didn't even know me, because at first they went to another priest with a beard. To start the attack, Magalie Comeau Denis and another woman began screaming and accusing me of killing Jacques. Then two leaders from the Group of 184 pointed me out to the death squad and they rushed in my direction. They circled me."
The thugs attacked Jean-Juste as he backed away from them up a staircase toward the rectory. A North American lawyer, Bill Quigley, and a young Haitian woman threw themselves between the attackers and the priest. One of the attackers tried to stab Jean-Juste with a spike, but wounded the woman instead. Another assailant had a gun but apparently became too afraid to use it. The U.N. occupation troops, MINUSTAH belatedly intervened, turning Jean-Juste over to Haitian police, who promptly arrested him because he was accused of Roche’s killing by "public clamor."
"I learned later that it was a 3 million gourdes plot [$77,000 US]," Jean-Juste said. "The thugs got one million up front, but the balance of two million was to come only after delivering my body."
In all, Jean-Juste spent some seven months in jail as what Amnesty International called “a prisoner of conscience.” Under pressure from an international human rights campaign, the de facto authorities “provisionally released” Jean-Juste in January 2006 for health reasons after a surreptitious jailhouse examination and blood-drawing by Dr. Paul Farmer revealed the priest was suffering from advanced leukemia. He was flown to Miami and treated at Jackson Memorial Hospital. The leukemia briefly went into remission.

I've never met Fr. Jean-Juste, although I know a lot of people who were close to him. I've attended his church. I have met Bill Quigley.

I feel very much like I felt in March 2004.

Arrested in Downtown Toronto... Neighbours say "She seemed so quiet"

2009-06-23T13:46:16Z

From jamie_miller: (via sabotabby)

Every now and then the police arrest somebody suspected of some terrible, violent crime, and as a piece of public relations they'll announce all of the horrible books, movies and/or CDs they found in the suspect's house, as if to prove that the suspect is obviously guilty and horrible and monstrous.

So here is my challenge to you. You can either do this from memory or take a moment to look through your book and music collections, and then answer this question:

Name ten books, CDs and/or movies that you own that the police would cite as evidence against you at their press conference.

Hm. Can I name ten? I don't think I'm too radical. But, hey, we're going up against a media machine!

The Qu'ran
The Weather Underground
Hacking: The Art of Exploitation
The Black Jacobins
The Abu Ghraib Investigations: The Official Reports of the Independent Panel and the Pentagon on the Shocking Prisoner Abuse in Iraq
I'm sure that my several books and documentaries by and about Noam Chomsky would be used to show my undying devotion to Hugo Chavez.
And let's face it: the story would almost certainly be about how I got in with radical anti-imperialists, so The Shock Doctrine and Bad Samaritans would probably play into that story. While we're at it: Blue Gold and the Vandana Shiva books would also round out the mix.
I can't leave V for Vendetta (book and movie!) off the list, can I? And, for that matter, won't my Dexter Blu-Ray discs play a role? "She often expressed her admiration for the series, Dexter, about a serial killer."
What'd probably clinch it, though, is some of my (paper) correspondence. I was originally going to be a bit more explicit about that, but I decided to shy away from saying anything more. So that must say something. Google cache, and all.

I have a coupl'a relatively light books on Marxism, but I think they'd be too light. I do own a copy of a book called New World Order and the Rise of the antiChrist. I have no idea where I got that.

Edit: How could I have forgotton Entheogenesis? Or the various decorative skulls in my place? Or Deadly Doses: A Writer's Guide to Poisons? Or the other books in that series?

And I think I even own a copy of GURPS: Cyberpunk.

My angry place...

2009-06-23T12:30:58Z

What is it about men and sentences, anyway? Do they wander around going, "That one! That sentence is in danger of being finished all on its own. I must leap in and act!"

Thought for the Day

2009-06-23T03:25:20Z

I have lost friends, some by death -- Percival -- others through sheer inability to cross the street.
— Virginia Woolf, The Waves

UN Accused of Shooting Protester at Fr. Jean-Juste's Funeral

2009-06-21T21:37:32Z

A large banner waved overhead declaring "[Father] Jerry you left us but the struggle continues" as thousands of mourners streamed out carrying Jean-Juste's casket sparking an impromptu pro-Lavalas demonstration.
[...]
The procession and demonstration were suddenly interrupted by gunfire that could be heard from around the corner. Witnesses report that Brazilian soldiers with the UN military mission opened fire after attempting to arrest one of the mourners. The UN has since denied the shooting and claim that the victim had been killed by either a rock thrown by the crowd or a blunt instrument. Eyewitnesses on the scene have countered that the UN is trying to cover-up the affair as it promises to heighten tensions before Sunday's elections.
— Haiti: UN Peacekeepers Open Fire on Jean-Juste Funeral Protest

A Haitian television station broadcast video Friday that provided new details on a deadly confrontation between U.N. peacekeepers and mourners for a popular priest allied with former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
The Thursday clash, in which a young man was killed, could exacerbate tensions between Haitians and the 9,000-member international force that has been in Haiti since an uprising forced Aristide into exile in 2004. Protesters incensed with the presence of foreign troops burned a U.N. vehicle in a nearby neighborhood the day before.
The video did not appear to show what happened to the man, showing only some U.N. soldiers arresting another man and firing shots into the air.
The station, Radio Tele Ginen, did not comment on the video, but quoted lawmakers and witnesses repeating charges that Brazilian soldiers fired a bullet that struck the man in the face and killed him.
U.N. police spokesman Fred Blaise reiterated the United Nations' position that the soldiers did not kill the marcher. He said the fatal injury was caused by a blunt object such as a rock, not a bullet. He did not say what evidence the U.N. used to reach that conclusion.
The U.N. earlier acknowledged its soldiers fired warning shots, but Blaise said he did not know if they used live ammunition or rubber bullets [...].
— Google News

I wouldn't be surprised if this got pretty ugly.

Give me claws, a hunch...

2009-06-21T19:53:02Z

I'm the witch; you're the world.
— "Last Midnight", Into the Woods

Trans Inclusion: How not to do it

2009-06-20T16:04:15Z

The weirdest trans-inclusive small print I've ever seen.

Thought for the Day

2009-06-20T13:52:32Z

If the individual remains engaged, he or she can turn the discomfort into action. Once they have an awareness of the cycle of racism, many people are angered by it and want to interrupt it. Often action comes in the form of educating others -- pointing out the stereotypes as they watch television, interrupting the racial jokes, writing letters to the editor, sharing articles with friends and family. Like new converts, people experiencing disintegration can be quite zealous in their efforts. A White woman in her forties who participated in an antiracist professional development course for educators described herself at this stage:
What it was like for me when I was taking the course [one year ago] and just afterwards, hell, because this dissonance stuff doesn't feel all that great. And trying to put it in a perspective and figure out what to do with it is very hard... I was on the band wagon so I'm not going to be quiet about it. So there was dissonance everywhere. Personally, I remember going home for Thanksgiving, the first Thanksgiving [while taking the course], back to our families... and turning to my brother-in-law and saying, "I really don't want you to say that in front of me -- I don't want to hear that joke -- I am not interested." ... At every turn it seemed like there, I was responsible for saying something... My husband, who I think is a very good, a very liberal person, but who really hasn't been through [this], saying "You know I think you're taking yourself too seriously here and where is your sense of humour? You have lost your sense of humour." And my saying, "It isn't funny; you don't understand, it just isn't funny to me." Not that he would ever tell a racial joke, but there were these things that would come up and he would just sort of look back and say, "I don't understand where you're coming from now." So there was a lot of dissonance... I don't think anybody was too comfortable with me for a while.

My college students have similar experiences with family members and friends. Though they want to step off the cycle of racism, the message from the surrounding White community seems to be, "Get back on!"
— Beverly Daniel Tatum, "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?"

IADL calls for ending the MINUSTAH mission

2009-06-20T12:35:53Z

The General Assembly of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, at its 17th Congress in Hanoi, Vietnam, having considered the effects of the United Nations Mission for the Stabilisation of Haiti (MINUSTAH) on the human rights and, in particular, the economic, social and cultural rights of the overwhelming majority of people in Haiti:
1. Strongly condemns the continuing use of excessive force by MINUSTAH and Haitian police, resulting most recently in at least five deaths in April 2009, in an attempt to put down justified protests against soaring rents and food prices, extreme food shortages (leading to the increased sales of cakes made of mud, oil and salt), coupled with mass unemployment;
2. Expresses profound concern at reports of increased structural uncertainty resulting from abductions and summary executions, including the "disappearance" in August 2007 of Pierre-Antoine Lovinsky, coordinator of the human rights organisation, September 30th Foundation;
3. Recalls that MINUSTAH, whose present mandate is due to expire in October 2009, is the only UN peace-keeping mission to be deployed in the absence of a pre-existing peace agreement, while the Haitian Constitution prohibits the presence of any foreign force on Haitian soil;
4. Resolves and requests as follows:
a. That MINUSTAH immediately cease and desist from all violations of the rights of the people of Haiti and provide full and fair compensation to victims and the families of those killed and injured by MINUSTAH forces;
b. That the United Nations Security Council shall not renew the mandate of MINUSTAH and order the withdrawal of MINUSTAH forces so that Haiti may recover full sovereignty in accordance with its Constitution.
— From the International Association of Democratic Lawyers website

Thought for the Day

2009-06-18T04:10:57Z

Kurt Lewin, a famous social psychologist, once said, "There is nothing so practical as a good theory."
— Beverley Daniel Tatum, "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?"

Violence during Haitian Elections

2009-06-16T12:14:39Z

A bystander was killed in a clash between rival Haitian political parties this week, adding to growing concerns about potential violence ahead of next week's Senate elections, police said Friday.
Haitian police in the southern city of Jacmel confirmed that a motorcycle-taxi driver was killed as supporters of President Rene Preval's Lespwa movement fought with the opposing Struggling People's Organization, or OPL.
The incident is under investigation and it is not clear who fired the shots that killed him, but officials believe the unnamed driver was a bystander, police officer Mario Pierre said. He died Wednesday.
Isolated but intense protests by university students also have kept an area in downtown Port-au-Prince awash in tear gas, rocks and gunfire. A 10-year-old boy and at least two protesters have been struck or grazed by bullets as police fired warning shots, and tear gas wafted into an elementary school.
Students are protesting budget cuts and curriculum changes at Haiti's state university medical school. As other supporters joined the protest, they demanded that U.N. forces leave Haiti and that President Rene Preval sign a bill the legislature approved to increase minimum wage to $5 a day from less than $2.
Soldiers and police from the 9,000-member U.N. peacekeeping force in Haiti as well as Haitian national police will be sent to every polling place on June 21 to prevent election violence, U.N. police spokesman Fred Blaise said Friday.
Isolated violence was reported in April during the first round of voting for 12 Senate seats. Official turnout was 11 percent. Public transportation was halted that day, making polls unreachable for some, while others chose to stay home and avoid trouble.
Elections were canceled in the central plateau region following unrest and the shooting of a poll worker and have not been rescheduled. Partisans also attacked a rival party worker's car in the Cite Soleil slum.
Police will beef up security this time around, Blaise said.
The elections have been criticized for barring on technical grounds all candidates from exiled former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's Fanmi Lavalas party.
— Miami Herald

The first round of elections failed to result in a majority win. The provisional elections council (CEP) of Haiti cited election turn-out at 11%, although some sources I've seen have suggested a much lower turn-out than that. Haiti uses (non-instant) runoff voting, so they're back for more rounds of elections.

Thought for the Day

2009-06-16T03:05:25Z

The first Pride wasn't a rave; it was a riot.
— Jaclyn Friedman, Speech at the Boston Dyke March

A Story of Coincidence and Chance

Linky link link

Cis Oppression

Thought for the Day

Gar

Yes Men

Thought for the Day

A film about a triangle

Debt relief for Haiti

It's *like* a rock. A really small rock

Labels

Coup

Thought for the Day

Fictionista

Video Footage of UN firing at Haitian mourners

Arrested in Downtown Toronto... Neighbours say "She seemed so quiet"

My angry place...

Thought for the Day

UN Accused of Shooting Protester at Fr. Jean-Juste's Funeral

Give me claws, a hunch...

Trans Inclusion: How not to do it

Thought for the Day

IADL calls for ending the MINUSTAH mission

Thought for the Day

Violence during Haitian Elections

Thought for the Day

It's like a rock. A really small rock