When we stop eating with people. When we start shooting strangers.

Nicky Hager recently published a book, Other People's Wars, in which he demonstrates New Zealand's true war "aid". With stats from the Ministry of Defence, private testimony and other sources, he shows the SAS are not there to reconstruct. Instead they take an active part in the war in Afghanistan. This is known to many left wing activists, but to some it has always had the ring of a conspiracy theory. Now they could be proven wrong.
As Nicky says, very few people know what is actually going on in Afghanistan. All we get is "candy-flossed" media coverage, always showing the New Zealand troops as didactic peace-keepers. Why then do they die "in combat"? We all thought they weren't combating? You see the media does not lie, but it may often hide the truth. Peace-keepers are sometimes described under the term "peace enforcers", this would be a much more accurate representation of their role. NATO is enforcing our defenition of peace, our defintion of society and to our economical or political benefit. This is New Zealand's longest war, yet we have nothing to do there. The war on terror, whatever that is, finished 4 months ago with the death of Osama.
Nicky tells us that the SAS are not just in Afghanistan and Iraq, we have a presence in Oman and Yemen too as well as other regions of the world. We are lied to in this case, but mainly it is because of politicians and a corrupt media system, no longer a watchdog of public interests but a lapdog of private greed.
Here is a Press interview with Nicky about his book.

Politicians also lie to us about the policy that gets passed in parliament, or that which is still on the books. A food bill will go through soon, it is vague and weighs a ton and a half and we wouldn't be wrong to see it as our own food bible. It tells us what we will and will not be able to do, for our health and security. There is the potential that food stalls, sausage sizzles, lemonade stands, community gardens etc., will be closed or restricted to only a few sellers and users. If not it will definetly be covered and wrapped with thick red tape.
In the US people have already been arrested for sharing food, bartering and growing it in their own gardens/manufacturing it. We do not want a law like this to pass,  even especially if it has been created by the WTO.

Last, New Zealanders will soon have to vote in a referendum. Many of us do not know, but we are going to have to vote on our system of vote. According to Metiria Turei, the referendum is being pushed by National because FPP (First past the post) would give it an absolute majority in parliament. ACT is also behind it, even though FPP would destroy its presence in parliament, just like it will destroy the presence of all minor New Zealand parties, possibly even the Greens. A voting system that does not allow a party with 8% of the vote to get in is far from representative.
In the referendum we will be asked whether we want to keep MMP or not. MMP is the current system. It is much more representative as it allows the presence of minor parties. While it could become more representative, even if we decide to keep it it will be reviewed in order to improve it.
Become informed, you will be asked to vote in a month's time. The campaign has been shortened because of the rugby so you should inform yourselves, it is to National's interests to keep you apathetic.
Here are some short youtube vids on the referendum, MMP anf FPP.

These issues and a couple of others were talked about on the Social Justice League, on radio 1 10-12 Fridays.

Beating the pans.

How's it going? -"Oh, alright for a Friday"...

It wasn't any Friday. And he wasn't alright. The mood in the radio this morning was down, very down. Someone didn't turn up for work, there were few jokes, coffee wasn't being brewed. Coffee in Radio 1 is like a pair of scissors that quickly snip the wick just before it defuses the bomb. Today there was no bomb, nor scissors or wick. It was an odd day. Conversations were muffled, in low voices or seemingly unspecific. When I got added to a conversation I became aware why and I became aware that this wasn't Friday. No one was expecting the weekend, there was no excitement. A financial review of OUSA has ordered Radio 1 to be closed.

In Spain they beat pans and pots in protest. Shall we beat and pluck and dance instead? On the street?

It is not quite an order just yet, VSM may not go through and if it doesn't, OUSA will still have funding next year and thereafter. There doesn't seem to be a plan B though. Even though Radio 1 is the heart of the Dunedin music scene, even though it offers opportunities to anyone, is involved in the community and props up stations across New Zealand, it has no value- financially at least. It is up for sale and the buyer will do what? Cut the ties with the community? Are we hearing dead air?

Next week Radio 1 will run a full week of main steam shite, in protest. Without Radio 1, Dunedin has lost its soul, its rock is gone- swallowed by popular culture, mainstream capitalism.
Money is full of value... I do not value it.

Revolting.

Apparently my blog isn’t working, I cannot write anything. If I were a conspiricist I’d probably think the government is monitoring my activity with such excitement that they’ve caused my blog to crash. Tough luck for them as my activity lately has been relatively low. We have arrived at that time of the year when we walk out of the library every day with four new books, balancing them on the jacket it’s too hot to wear and limping with our laptop bag that makes us walk lopsided. It is both cold and warm, the rising mists in the morning though should be a warning to not bring a jacket, it’s just too cold though. I wake up shaking and a shower in the nude just doesn’t sound appealing, it doesn’t help that the water practically scalds me as it falls onto my chest- I’m probably only asking for the cold to come back, cling on and want some warmth too. Years ago, a teacher in Lleida told us that it is more rational to take cold showers in winter, because then the temperature difference isn’t as great. Well, easier said then done. I’d much rather boil! My activist-tivity has been low too, I have a radio program though! Me and a socialist comrade are running a show about politics, radio1 on Fridays-10 to 12am. Having done my advertising for the day, Oh! Tune in! 91fm, I’ll jump on to more important issues.
The world is being forced to accept the ACTA bill, its name may be different in your country but do not be fooled, it is no cute and fuzzy four-letter acronym! The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement is an excuse to shut down our freedom of speech and shut us off from a growing culture. Its excuse? Those poor artists: singers, writers, etc. Now don’t get me wrong, I love music and books and photography and painting, I really do! I have not been to an art gallery in a wee while but I hardly have less than a few hours and what’s the point? I would want to appreciate it. I wish I were an artist. This bill though is not actually in their benefit, it is in the benefit of corporations. If it was actually in the benefit of artists the CEOs of Sony et all may choose to cut their salaries a bit, who are we kidding though, these corporates have worked their arses off to get where they are haven’t they? They themselves are probably musicians and have gone through it all already. Meeeek, no wrong. These corporates have simply done a couple of courses in marketing at the local branch of a little known university, their degrees unfinished.
Artists earn shit all from their record sales, it takes them more effort than anything else. Starting off unknown, the first thing you want is to get your name out there, you want to hear your music is being played in Timbuktoo. For every sold song on iTunes, artists get 9 cents, only 10% of the profit, and believe me, that is a lot to music standards. They earn much less off record sales. Many artists are against this law coming in, they have been using alternative ways of spreading their music for free, or for donations and a much higher profit. This law has been put in place to keep the industry on stilts even when it’s being sawed down with every technological change. There have been bands that have ripped fresh music from the concert onto blank cds and giving them to the spectators as they walk out the door. Other bands give free poor quality downloads or payable high quality ones, giving a chance for all incomes and a taster of what the album tastes like. Writers have published their works online, photographers theirs on Creative Commons. Creating an audience is the first step to stardom is it not? And if you are small in this everexpanding world, isn’t it first just a pleasure to know you are wanted, to know people believe you are talented too? After an audience is created one can ask for donations. Artists sell their own locally made merchandise now, the corporations are the only ones missing out.
I don’t feel sorry for them. As an article on Critic says, artists now have to continuously tour, not for the audience but for themselves, to make money from door entries. The profits from cd sales get siphoned away into all sorts of hidden holes.
This bill will restrict us from sharing music or videos, it will not only detain the uploader, it will fine and impinge the downloader’s privacy-potentially cutting him/her off from the internet altogether. It has been said the internet is becoming a fundamental right, on the one hand we applaude when we hear small third-world countries can finally surf the web, on the other we get fined for sharing what we enjoy most? This seems incompatible. With books there are no restrictions to sharing, I can give my book to anyone, I can found a library, with music I’m not allowed to. My preferences must be kept private, I must hide in  this socially created bubble a bit more- we must stop sharing, enjoying and laughing together. Even though sharing is what we do and culture is built through references to older material. Mesh-ups are a new thing, born with the rising internet culture. One can now create art through the internet, by picking a song from here, a rift from Japan, a sound effect from Star Wars, put it all together and voila. Here we now have something personal, but global and for everyone. If we can write books referencing Shakespeare, why can’t we make music referencing our favourite band?
With this law we will lose our privacy, possibly our rights to the internet, we will all lose out on music but culture will be affected deeply too. We are being forced into individuals by a system that doesn’t believe in “mass” in any context other than profit and entertainment. We are being dumbed down, we are being titty-fed and milked at the same time and we will never get out of this tiring cycle unless we stand up. Internet has been called a revolution in terms of communications and human interaction, for some reason though we are letting them take it off us.

Radio and the Catalan Protest Music.

I'll soon be going to the radio as I've started that again. If I want to be a journalist/reporter the best thing is to get myself a name. So I do the news, this year I'm hoping to write some for critic, of course I'm in the ISO mag and I may soon be involved in a politics program on the radio. Exciting!

The radio has always been a medium for change. Especially as in the 40s and 50s it was possible to broadcast under the radar, this is how the Catalan language was able to survive its prohibition for the first 20 years of Franco's regime. Speaking the language in public could land you in prison, especially in the bigger Catalan cities. However there were multiple clandestine gatherings across the nation and the continued presence of the Catalan government in exile gave strength to those fighting against fascism.
In the late fifties an article came out in a clandestine magazine published by the monks of Montserrat close to Barcelona. The article, by a singer called Serrahima said that "we need present songs [in Catalan]". From this article musicians started to get together and soon the group els setze jutges was born in Lleida. Its goal was to create Catalan music that was relevant to the times. Under the umbrella of this group dozens of musicians appeared. They would use the relative weakening of the regime to normalize Catalan. Or at least, make those too young to hear it in the street aware that it was also spoken outside of their houses or farms, that Catalan had its own existence as a language and its existence would only survive with the toppling of Franco and his cronies. The lyrics of these songs were extremely rich in metaphor. People knew what they actually meant but as they weren't explicit and sometimes non-understandable to the authorities, the singers were granted permission to tour. Sometimes their songs would be prohibited in one town, but allowed in another 30 km down the road. It all depended on the strength of the authorities around.

Father, tell me what they have done to the river,
that has ceased to sing.
It slips like a thorn, dead under an inch of white foam.
[...]
Father, the fields are no longer the fields,
Father, from the skies blood rains,
and the wind sings this crying.
[...]
Father, they're killing the earth,
Father stop crying,
they have declared war on us.

The snipets of this song by Serrat, called Pare, show how there is something wrong with this land, Catalonia & Valencia. We are not allowed to look after it any more and it is dying, the language is dying, as is the culture. With the song L'Estaca, by Lluis Llach, Franco is mentioned directly. The name Siset is a loving Catalan form of Francisco.

Siset can you not see the stake,
to which we are all tied?
If we can't undo ourselves 
we'll never be able to walk.
If we all pull
it'll surely fall
and much more time it cannot hold.
Surely it'll fall, fall, fall,
it must be rotten enough by now.

This song calls for everyone to help pull down the regime, the protest song called for civil liberties and a social welfare unknown of and only imaginable across those borders it was so hard to cross. It helped re-liven Catalan nationalism and it helped to topple the regime, or at least keep peoples' hopes up until the time was adequate.

Citizen Journalism and Sentimental Education.

A few weeks ago I did my last news reading at radio 1 for the year. Now I’m in Spain, time flies! I’ve been doing the radio for more than a year now. I want to become a journalist, so it only makes sense to take all the opportunities that I can now, while they’re still free. Thanks to the radio I’ve managed to meet people from other radio stations, so next year I may have a program of my own on Radio Toroa, but we will see. I will also try to write for the student mag ‘critic’.

It makes sense for me to do so, of course, after all this is what I want to do. This is me. I write, I talk, I criticize, I ask, I assess, I reason. But this is also what I want everyone else to be able to do. I want everyone to be who they are, to reach their potential. Everyone should be able to write and talk and criticize and ask; but above all to assess and reason, as these stem from the others. I’m a firm believer in equality and freedom, everyone should have a right to education and everyone should be able to use this education to make the world a fairer, better place. This is where citizen, or grassroots, journalism comes in. If every individual could publish their thoughts, by definition there would be equality and full literacy. Citizen journalism doesn’t work though. First of all not everyone has access to education because not everyone has the same opportunities. Second, there aren’t many publications that do pick up unprofessional articles. Because they are unprofessional, they are likely to have bias or be badly written. Also, they may go against what the backers of the publications believe in. This here is the most important issue. Because all publications are biased, but probably not explicitly. You can tell through hints, like when TVONE interviews little girls who don’t like teachers striking because they fear for their grades. What utter bullshit. I think if you are worrying about your grades at the age of 7, not only you but your whole family has a problem.

If people have an access to education they’ll have an improved ability to reason. With reason comes the ability to see what is good and bad. Everyone should be able to criticize what they see as bad and show their idea of good. This breaches journalism’s golden rule of objectivity, some would say. I don’t think so: I think it is much better for a journalist two expose to sides and then defend a favourite than to show one as best without actually giving arguments for the other. The latter is what actually takes place. Newspapers will say that it is bad for nurses to strike because it is putting aside the lives of millions, but not that their own lives are constantly put aside because of their services to those millions. This is why so many are wary of striking, the media gives it a bad name. I think people should be able to openly give their assessment of the world. For example, if the Taliban are again doing atrocities, we should mention the ones we do, we should mention how we do not improve Afghanistan either and how we also kill innocent people. In fact we should say that we too are taliban, that women also have less rights in our world *High Five, Diplomacy, Diplomacy, Shake Hands* We should be able to say that they don’t have education, live in poverty and have no food, maybe have a passing reference on how we have kept the country in war, and thus no education, for thirty years.

This sort of journalism is much more sentimental. And much more real. Richard Rorty defended a sentimental education, thanks to which we would feel more attached to people we do not know. We will see that they are in fact like us, but different. Highlighting the similarities, which outnumber the differences is better than doing the opposite. If everyone had the access to this sentimental education, the world would be better. Journalism should have a tinge of sentimental too, because readers like that shit, as well as exposing two sides of a story. Many of these accounts we can pick can come straight out of citizen journalists. They can provide blurbs of information which we can fit into a good article, acknowledge them and voila, the world is slightly fairer, and people happier. At least those who contributed.