On a related note, don’t miss Ben Metcalf’s deviously satirical piece at Harper’s: Why I Pay My Taxes. Also, there’s an article in the current issue of the Brooklyn Rail called Paying for War that provides some sympathetic coverage of our group.

Luckily I won’t be moving on the exact same day as the bookfair this year, so I can actually attend. If you’re in NYC this Saturday definitely check it out, it should be awesome. There’ll be much, much more than just books. From the website:

The Second Annual NYC Anarchist Bookfair (2008) will host a one-day exposition of books, zines, pamphlets, art, film/video, and other cultural and very political productions of the anarchist scene worldwide, on Saturday, April 12, 2008 at Judson Memorial Church in Manhattan. The Bookfair will also feature two days of workshops and presentations on Saturday, April 12, and Sunday, April 13, 2008.

The Second Annual NYC Anarchist Bookfair will feature over 40 tables as well as an art gallery. Panels, presentations, workshops, and skill shares will provide further opportunities to learn more and share your own experience and creativity. You know you should attend the 2st NYC Anarchist Bookfair if … * You’re an anarchist publisher, zinester, film/videographer, artist * You’re a member of the worldwide anarchist community * You’re an anarchist based in NYC and looking to connect with other anarchists here * You’re anarcho-curious and looking to find out more about the contemporary anarchist movement, its ideas, ethics, activism or just to find out more about the community.

// top image is from last year’s fair, courtesy of bluecinema’s flickr page.

In three parts:

(1) Melanie Morgan, from the esteemed Move America Forward, thinks she has solved the mystery of the Times Square recruiting station bombing that has so far eluded FBI investigators (the very same ones who have visited several of my friends at WRL, SDS, and PMR). Her answer: Why, it must have been the oldest secular pacifist organization in the nation, the War Resisters League! Her baseless accusations have spawned some rather entertaining hate mail directed our way (which, hilariously enough, was CC’d to several email addresses at Fox News — they must be so proud!):

Subject: To the Disgusting Cowards Who Attack Military Recruiting Stations

To the war criminals at the NYCWRL,

Your actions speak volumes about the cowards you are.

Legislation is being formed right now to treat you all as war criminals and send you to Gitmo where you belong, indefinitely. It won’t be long before you get your one way ticket to Cuba.

Where did you pathetic people come from, and who raised you miserable poor excuses for humans? From a practical point of view, I’ve never seen such moronic, twisted, and demented behavior. Ultimately, your only danger is to yourselves. Believe it!!!

Where to begin? I’m certainly curious about this new legislation he’s referring to. But it’s better not to feed the trolls, I guess — even though it’s heartening to me that some in our group actually wanted to send a thoughtful reply to this person, despite the fact that he not only makes no attempt to appeal to rational thought, but also considers us to be pathetic, moronic, twisted, and demented war criminal cowards who belong in Gitmo, indefinitely.

(2) On a more cultural note, I actually went to see a movie — Chicago 10. It’s a creative retelling of the Chicago 7 (which is actually the Chicago 8, but which the movie refers to as the Chicago 10 in order to include the trial’s lawyers), combining animation and documentary footage to recreate the events surrounding the protests of the 1968 Democratic National Convention, and the subsequent trial of several principal agitators (including, most notably perhaps, Abbie Hoffman). The film is pretty good, although it might be better as a rental. The voice actors are nothing less than an all-star cast, including Roy Scheider, Jeffrey Wright, Hank Azaria, Nick Nolte, and Liev Schreiber.

The animated recreation of the trial is entertaining and often hilarious, but the real power of the film lies in the documentary footage of the protests and rallies. It’s useful — or, more accurately, extremely depressing — to compare the anti-war movement of that summer to the one we have today. Theirs was more tied into the youth culture, and much more anarchistic (well, the yippees at least: I was struck by how many times I heard someone from the 7 disavow any kind of leadership role for the movement). I kept thinking — now that’s the kind of rally I want to be at, not these boring-ass ones we have today.

Of course, it took a damn near perfect storm of events to create the widespread radicalization of the cultural moment of that time — a hugely unpopular war, the advancement of the civil rights movement, multiple assassinations within a relatively short period of time, and the concurrent emergence of a genuinely anti-establishment counterculture. The national character of the anti-war movement today seems lifeless, stale, and conservative by comparison.

(3) Finally, I actually made it to the Met to see the excellent exhibition of Courbet paintings. Most of his major works were there, excepting a few that are unable to travel due to their condition. One of my favorites is his funky portrait of the anarchist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon — I wonder, is this the most famous work of art ever made about an anarchist? The only other moderately famous one I can think of is Ben Shahn’s painting of Sacco and Vanzetti.

Also of special note was a room that I lovingly refer to as The Porn Room: Courbet’s renderings of female nudes, lesbian lovers, and of course, The Origin of the World. It’s amusing to watch families of tourists, who no doubt would find such content horribly offensive in a different context, closely inspect the “paint quality” or “brush strokes” as they lean their faces to within inches of a vagina painting.

And speaking of FBI agents, the highlight of our afternoon, by far, was the coolest celebrity-spotting I’ve experienced in my 6 years of living here in NYC. We were amazed to discover that our appreciation of Courbet’s talents on that day were being simultaneously enjoyed by Twin Peak’s special agent Dale Cooper, otherwise known as Kyle MacLachlan. He was plainly dressed and wore an exhibition headset, but appeared to be enjoying himself immensely.

Thanks to Chuck0 for introducing me to the coolest fucking cartoonist on the planet. For all things Mr. Fish, check out his blog, as well as some archives at Harpers. Some of my other favorites so far:

I’m really not sure where this blog is headed, as my interests continue to be focused elsewhere. But I’m not quite ready to pull the plug just yet. Who knows, maybe blog-spiration will strike an any moment!

In the meantime, here’s an image of a new painting/drawing/collage of mine. Regardless of the fact that victims sometimes do suffer death from waterboarding, Senator Lieberman feels that the technique does not amount to torture. Unlike real torture, waterboarding only inflicts psychological damage, he argues. It’s a disgusting attempt to justify a despicable act, even if he feels it should only be used in the most extreme circumstances.

First, there is nothing simulated about waterboarding. Its victims are actually drowning. The only difference between “being drowned” and waterboarding is that the waterboarding process is stopped before the victim dies.

Second, Lieberman’s logic belies the fact that the whole point of torture — even in the case of techniques that leave permanent visible signs of physical damage — is to inflict psychological damage. That is, the threat of pain or death is used to create such an intense psychological fear in the mind of the victim, that they are willing to do or say almost anything.

That’s the reason why so many experts say that torture doesn’t even work. Since its victims are forced into such a psychologically damaged state — that they’ll say or do almost anything to avoid more torture — they often give false confessions or misinformation.

So why then do so many members of the U.S. government continue to support the use of techniques that are not only widely condemned by every standard of international human decency, but don’t even result in accurate information?

Because torture does work, just not in the way that most people think it does. The intense psychological fear exacted by torture is intended for a much wider audience than just the prisoners facing the prospect of being waterboarded. It’s intended for anyone who would even consider disobeying our government, even you and me — to let people know what happens to people who fuck with The Big, Bad, Torturing, United States of America.

It’s the same reason why hundreds of innocent people were rounded up and placed in Guantanamo along with actual terrorists. The majority of them weren’t there because they had any useful information, or because they posed any kind of actual threat. They were there to serve as a constant, visible warning of the kind of abusive inhumanity our government is capable of when it gets pissed off.

So, torture, secret prisons, the suspension of Habeas Corpus, and even wiretapping, are as much about deterrence as they are about anything else. I realized this on a more meaningful level while I was spending the night in DC jail last January, getting my own small taste of what happens to people who disobey. And it all works quite effectively, in fact, because it’s as scary as hell.

// top image: Not Like Putting (Lieberman), ink, gouache, and collage on paper, 10 x 11.5 inches, 2008.

// Courtesy of my favorite Greenpoint blog, New York Shitty, as seen on a mailbox on Willoughby Avenue (for non-New Yorkers, Bed-Stuy is a neighborhood here in Brooklyn).

I wonder how well these things really work? They say 99% accurate, but . . . So, for those of you still hanging around waiting for me to check in on my blog once and a while, posts will most likely become even more infrequent, as my attention diverges even further away from this blog. I’m hoping to have some new artwork to announce soon (that will possibly even see the light outside my studio??) — I’m working on it (and no, I’m not using ‘artwork’ as a metaphor for human reproduction, although, if the above photo is any indication, it looks like there’s going to be a little bit of that around here as well).

I spent most of last weekend in jail. It was easily the most important thing I’ve done in my life so far.

As part of the group Witness Against Torture, and in solidarity with numerous groups performing similar acts around the world on that day, thirty-seven of us marched up the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, DC wearing orange jumpsuits and black hoods to protest the torture and indefinite detainment of the captives at Guantanamo prison.

Another forty-five of us waited inside the Court, disguised as tourists, until the opportune moment arrived to spring into action with our outrage, our protest songs, and our demands for justice. The Supreme Court was evacuated and then closed for several hours. We were detained, processed, and held in jail until the following afternoon. Each of us used the name of a Guantanamo prisoner, refusing to reveal our true identities until the final moment of our release, because we were determined to get these names into the U.S. court system ourselves.

Our action was timed to coincide with the six-year anniversary since the first prisoners arrived at Guantanamo, where there are now nearly 300 persons still imprisoned. The United States government, under the direction of President Bush, officially considers them to be unlawful combatants, and therefore unworthy of humane treatment. They face brutal living conditions and brutal treatment by their American captors, and are being held without any charges filed against them and without any access to legal recourse.

All of this is well-known, and yet it continues. While such injustices are abhorrent wherever they occur, it became increasingly important to me that these crimes at Guantanamo are not only carried out by Americans, but are funded by American taxpayers. This includes me (though not for long!). So while it may be everyone’s responsibility to act against torture and unlawful imprisonment, I felt that as an American I bear a direct culpability, and an even more urgent responsibility to act.

But turning words, and an increasing sense of personal responsibility, into action has not been easy for me. I don’t come from a family of activists, and I’d never been arrested before. In fact, my family has always attempted to be so apolitical that I’m not sure if any of them have ever even voted for President. And while I have little doubt that each of my closest friends would gladly denounce the treatment of the prisoners at Guantanamo as repugnant and shameful, I didn’t personally know anyone who had ever tried to do anything about it.

I’m still trying to figure out why that is. Is it that my generation is too afraid to stand up to the government? Are we out of ideas? Or, is it that my generation is too self-consciously cool and ironic to do something as sincere as putting one’s own freedom on the line for the justice and freedom of another? I struggled with this myself.

There is a feeling of inevitably among many people I know – that the world and its problems are too big for us, and that there’s no way to stop what has been set in motion, whether it be the war in Iraq, or the environmental destruction of our planet. One of my friends summed it up best when he recently told me, “You know, I basically feel the same way you do about everything, the only difference being that I don’t think there’s anything we can do about it.”

And who can blame him? It seems like an eternity now since a majority of Americans became opposed to the continuation of the war in Iraq, and yet it continues with no end in sight. We are told over and over that we live in a democratic society, the greatest in the world, and yet we are so easily ignored, time and again. How is it that our individual financial resources are so easily used for purposes that we find abhorrent? How is it that our government is able to force us, against our will, to support torture, indefinite detainment, foreign invasion and occupation?

From a young age we are told to equate democracy with voting. We are told that we have the opportunity to participate in our government only once a year, on election day, when we cast a vote for our representative leaders. But last weekend, by acting against the will of my government, and in disobeying its laws that attempt to curb our freedom and demands for justice, I experienced, first hand, the true nature and power of democracy.

Democracy is not about voting, democracy is about acting. Democracy is not about waiting for representative leaders to act; it’s about taking direct action ourselves, often in opposition to the will of such leaders.

Last weekend, we failed to close Guantanamo and end torture. At best, I can only hope that the actions of our group, and those of the other groups acting in similar fashion around the globe, may have aided in some small way towards eventually alleviating the pain and suffering of those unjustly abused at Guantanamo.

But sitting in jail, and experiencing the unjust criminal process first hand – one that willingly punishes those opposing injustice – I got a glimpse of something. They’re scared of us. They’re terrified of us disobeying en masse. The DC Metropolitan jail system was practically bursting at the seams with a mere eighty extra occupants. What will they do with a thousand? What about ten thousand? How will they ignore us then?

As long as we limit our dissent to permitted demonstrations and confine our protests and outrage to the confines of the metal barriers set up for us, then our unjust government has little to fear. As long as we limit our political participation to the electoral process, they point to us as a glowing endorsement of democracy, a sign that all is well and just in democratic, free America.

But when we disobey, they tremble. We must stop the war in Iraq ourselves. We must shut down Guantanamo ourselves. We have waited patiently for too long. We may have failed to close Guantanamo this time, but we’ll be back, and next time we’ll bring larger numbers. The world is waiting.

// Top photo is from the Associated Press (I’m in the bottom row, second from the right; they were rather slow to arrest us because of the simultaneous action going on inside the Court). For more info about the action, including photos and links to media coverage, visit the Witness Against Torture website.

The new issue of World War 3 Illustrated was released recently, and is excellent. If for nothing else, at least check it out for Peter Kuper’s journal of his stay in Oaxaca, Mexico, during the contentious teacher’s strike there. He offers a very personal narrative, detailing how the annual, and normally peaceful, teacher’s strike was turned into a violent standoff (including the death of American journalist Brad Will) due to the heavy-handed tactics of both the local and federal authorities.

Another highlight is a comic by artist Susan Simensky Bietila, who relates her experience at Brooklyn College during the Civil Rights/Vietnam War era. You may remember her from my earlier post about the book Art and Anarchy.

A more thorough synopsis of the issue’s contents can be found at WW3’s website. The current issue, as well as back issues, can be ordered online at Top Shelf. I recommend purchasing several, if you don’t have them already. They’re only $5 a piece!

// Top image is a cropped version from Peter Kuper’s Nov. 26, 2006 online journal entry.

First it was their rather positive coverage of 2007’s Anarchist Book Fair here in New York, and now it’s a somewhat lighthearted, yet provocatively titled, look at the shopdropping phenomenon: “Anarchists in the Aisles? Stores Provide a Stage.”

In truth, the article is only kinda sorta about anarchism. The title refers to artist Packard Jennings’ recent project, just in time for the Christmas shopping season, where he produced a series of Anarchist dolls, black clothing, Molotov cocktail and all, and placed them alongside other would-be presents in the toy aisles of unsuspecting stores. He then documented an attempt to purchase one of the dolls at a Target store, where the manager hilariously spots the unfriendly-to-families poleeemical text. Must be one of those crazy anti-globalization kids, he suspects!

And perhaps he’s right (although Mr. Jennings is much closer to 40 than 18). I love much of his work, especially the pamphlet for his “A Day at the Mall” project, but I’m still not even sure if his Anarchist doll is meant to be a stereotype-affirming, satirical ribbing of anarchists, or a genuine attempt at political (or economic) subversion. The packaging features some rather esoteric political commentary (for the lay-shopper), including such gems as:

“Pretend to denounce Kropotkin and the other prominent Anarchists who declared their support for the Allies in the First Imperialist World War.”

A rather insid-y, inside joke from one radical to another, to say the least. Apparently the whole thing is just meant to mess with the head of the average consumer, who couldn’t possible know (or care) what to do with this statement if it were even read in the first place. The article attempts to explain Jennings’ motives:

“When better than Christmas to make a point about hyper-consumerism?” asked Mr. Jennings . . . [he] said he hoped to show that even radical ideology gets commercialized.

Eh? Maybe I’ve had ten too many vegan egg nogs this holiday season, but it seems like the only one attempting to commercialize radical ideology in this situation was Packard Jennings (and why would that be such a bad thing, if sincere?). Last time I checked, radical ideologues only pop into the commercial realm when some hack director needs a paper-thin villain for a James Bond flick. Corporations are pretty good at aping the look and tactics of radical ideologies (most notably, the very concept of culture jamming itself — think the Aqua Teen fiasco), but if they ever actually embraced, say, radical libertarian or genuinely egalitarian ideology — let’s just say I’d like to see how that all plays out.

Nevertheless, Jennings’ Anarchist dolls are hilarious, if nothing else, and any time the New York Times mentions anarchism without either (a) linking it to destructive chaos, or (b) re-hashing the assassination of President McKinley, then it should probably be heralded as a resounding victory for the side of the anarchists. But sadly no, the Times isn’t quite ready to endorse a society without rulers just yet.

// image ripped from Packard Jennings’ website.