Rad Geek People's Daily

official state media for a secessionist republic of one

Posts filed under Art and Literature

Bomb after bomb

Last weekend, CounterPunch featured Howard Zinn’s introduction to elin o’Hara slavick’s book of cartographic drawings of American aerial bombing, Bomb after Bomb. I agree with Mark Brady that this is one of the best things that Zinn has ever written. Some of the most important stuff in the essay has to do with patriotism, the conflation of the country with the State, and the criminality of aerial warfare as such. A sample:

We have had enough experience, with the Nuremberg trials of the Nazi leaders, with the bombings carried out by the Allies, with the torture stories coming out of Iraq, to know that ordinary people with ordinary consciences will allow their instincts for decency to be overcome by the compulsion to obey authority. It is time therefore, to educate the coming generation in disobedience to authority, to help them understand that institutions like governments and corporations are cold to anything but self-interest, that the interests of powerful entities run counter to the interests of most people.

This clash of interest between governments and citizens is camouflaged by phrases that pretend that everyone in the nation has a common interest, and so wars are waged and bombs dropped for national security, national defense, and national interest.

Patriotism is defined as obedience to government, obscuring the difference between the government and the people. Thus, soldiers are led to believe that we are fighting for our country when in fact they are fighting for the government — an artificial entity different from the people of the country — and indeed are following policies dangerous to its own people.

My own reflections on my experiences as a bombardier, and my research on the wars of the United States have led me to certain conclusions about war and the dropping of bombs that accompany modern warfare.

One: The means of waging war (demolition bombs, cluster bombs, white phosphorus, nuclear weapons, napalm) have become so horrendous in their effects on human beings that no political end– however laudable, the existence of no enemy — however vicious, can justify war.

Two: The horrors of the means are certain, the achievement of the ends always uncertain.

Three: When you bomb a country ruled by a tyrant, you kill the victims of the tyrant.

Four: War poisons the soul of everyone who engages in it, so that the most ordinary of people become capable of terrible acts.

Five: Since the ratio of civilian deaths to military deaths in war has risen sharply with each subsequent war of the past century (10% civilian deaths in World War I, 50% in World War II, 70% in Vietnam, 80-90% in Afghanistan and Iraq) and since a significant percentage of these civilians are children, then war is inevitably a war against children.

Six: We cannot claim that there is a moral distinction between a government which bombs and kills innocent people and a terrorist organization which does the same. The argument is made that deaths in the first case are accidental, while in the second case they are deliberate. However, it does not matter that the pilot dropping the bombs does not intend to kill innocent people — that he does so is inevitable, for it is the nature of bombing to be indiscriminate. Even if the bombing equipment is so sophisticated that the pilot can target a house, a vehicle, there is never certainty about who is in the house or who is in the vehicle.

Seven: War, and the bombing that accompanies war, are the ultimate terrorism, for governments can command means of destruction on a far greater scale than any terrorist group.

These considerations lead me to conclude that if we care about human life, about justice, about the equal right of all children to exist, we must, in defiance of whatever we are told by those in authority, pledge ourselves to oppose all wars.

— Howard Zinn, Introduction to elin o’Hara slavick’s Bomb after Bomb

Read the whole thing.

(Via Mark Brady @ Liberty & Power 2007-12-15.)

Mutual aid for Utah Phillips: a benefit show in Minneapolis, December 15 at 6:00 PM

Sad news to report today. Utah Phillips — folk singer, anarchist, pacifist, and Wobbly story-teller — has been forced to retire from touring by a severe heart condition. The Wobblies in Minneapolis-St. Paul are organizing a benefit concert to help him live a decent life and defray his overwhelming medical bills. Here’s a press release with the details. Spread the word, especially to anyone you know in the Twin Cities.

The Golden Voice of the Great Southwest has a bum ticker:

U. Utah Phillips, a former NPR host who was blacklisted in the state of Utah after an unsuccessful bid for U.S. Senate in 1968 on the Peace and Freedom party ticket can be described as a raconteur extraordinaire, a radical historian well-versed in the sorrowful details of the bloodiest social justice struggles of the last century, a hobo, and one hell of a musician whose songs can break your heart and bring your blood to a boil.

Sadly, Utah Phillips has recently been forced to quit performing because of Cheyne-Stokes – a respiratory condition that causes severe disturbances in breathing and debilitating heart irregularities, leaving him with no means of support.

So on Saturday, December 15th, come join friends, admirers, and kindred misfits at the Eagle’s Club (2507 E. 25th St) at 6 PM for a benefit concert featuring:

  • Duluth’s own favorite son, Charlie Parr (6 PM sharp)
  • alt-country rocker Bernie King
  • the sad folkie from North East, Gabe Barnett
  • fiddle player Mary Dushane
  • the mustachioed man who can tell you a story whilst entangling you in a lasso, Pop Wagner (& friends)
  • the Joan Baez of the Twin Cities, Maureen McElderry
  • a couple who actually hung out with Bob Dylan and aren’t just making it up to sound cool, Judy Larson & Bill Hinckley
  • classically-trained guitarist gone folkster, Phil Heywood
  • the pit bull of folk, Paul Metsa
  • who’s-your-daddy-Papa John Kolstad
  • the mysterious bearded man who plays so well that it requires a different Hawaiian shirt each time, Dakota Dave Hull
  • and Peter Lang whose talent needs no corny bi-line in a press release.

So come on down to the Eagle’s and give a little back to a man whose part in the struggle for justice and whose gifts as a story teller and musician have kept the oral and musical traditions of resistance alive and kickin’!

This event is sponsored by the Twin Cities General Membership Branch of the Industrial Workers of the World.

Utah Phillips can be contacted through No Guff Records. He has a podcast available through his website. CDs of his songs and stories can be ordered through CD Baby or directly through No Guff Records. (Either way you order, most of the money will go directly to Utah.) If you’re not already familiar with Utah Phillips’s music and stories, I especially recommend We Have Fed You All For A Thousand Years and his two collaborations with Ani DiFranco, The Past Didn’t Go Anywhere and Fellow Workers.

The present anarchy of our commerce

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Seeing as it’s the day after Thanksgiving, that makes it time for everybody’s favorite anti-anti-consumerist holiday, Buy Something (if you feel like it) Day!

In the spirit of the occasion, I’d like to note that I’ve added a couple more t-shirts to the Rad Geek People’s Clothing Collective storefront, for celebrating International Ignore the Constitution Day. Enjoy! Each of the shirt designs comes in two styles (sometimes men and women’s; sometimes two unisex styles), so be sure to check out the storefront for the full selection. Enjoy!

T-shirt: War is the Health of the State

War is the Health of the State / The Mirrour which Flatters Not

T-shirt: This is what an Anarchist looks like!

This is what an Anarchist looks like!

International Ignore the Constitution Day / If the Constitution told you to jump off a cliff, would you do that too?

International Ignore the Constitution Day / A Covenant with Death and an Agreement with Hell.

T-shirt: Celebrate Tyrannicide Day

Celebrate Tyrannicide Day!

T-shirt: Rad Geek People's Daily

Rad Geek People’s Daily

Further reading:

More for the Revolution

Ron Paul’s supporters have been putting a lot of volunteer work into amateur ads promoting his campaign. With all this activity, I feel like I ought to set aside my carping, and do my part after all. So here you go, Ron Paul Revolutionaries: a couple of contributions of my own, in accordance with the spirit and the general tone of ads like this recent Land of the Free video. Behold:

Long live our great leader Chairman Ron!

Chairman Ron is the Red sun of our hearts!

Hold high the great red banner of Ron Paul Thought–thoroughly smash the rotting counterrevolutionary revisionist line in Constitutional law!

Wearable Anarchy

For those of you who don’t know, L. and I moved across the country back in August. She’s in grad school; I’m trying to make a living in some way that will let me keep attending to most or all of the different pots that I have on different burners — Rad Geek People’s Daily, FeedWordPress, Fair Use Repository, Feminist Blogs, et cetera. So, I’d like to offer the following wearable propaganda, now available through my CafePress online store. Besides getting a t-shirt, you’ll also be helping to support my work here at the blog. If you’re interested, click through to get more information or a larger view of the shirt. These are all the designs so far, but some alternate styles can be found through the storefront.

T-shirt: War is the Health of the State

War is the Health of the State / The Mirrour which Flatters Not

T-shirt: This is what an Anarchist looks like!

This is what an Anarchist looks like!

T-shirt: Celebrate Tyrannicide Day

Celebrate Tyrannicide Day!

T-shirt: Rad Geek People's Daily

Rad Geek People’s Daily

Let me know what you think. And enjoy!

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