Caliban and the Witch

I’m still reading Caliban and the Witch. It’s a bit slow going because a) I’m really busy right now; and b) it’s a very detailed analysis of the objectification of bodies and their subsequent exploitation at the dawn of capitalism. Kind of a dry topic for many of us. But it’s important in several ways.

First, for as many witches (freaky or otherwise) out there, and especially for as many politically aware and active witches that are out there, this book is essential. We must know our history.

Secondly, this book reinforces the idea that capitalism did not come out of nowhere. There are centuries of bloodshed, torture, war, oppression, repression, persecution, injustice, colonialism, imperialism, racism, sexism, and all the rest that go bundled with the rise and sustenance of capitalism. This is important to remember. Despite any good that has come from capitalism, these details of capitalism’s legacy of violence must not be forgotten.

If you are interested in learning more about why things are the way they are, if the election of 2004 disillusioned you in any way, if you are asking “Anybody But Bush didn’t work; now what?” then I would urge you to check this out. It might take you to a place where you can begin to build answers to these most fundamental questions.

Intellectual Property Protection Act

It looks like the next phase of legal code for advancing the Virtual Enclosures is in the works. This article by Eric Hellweg explains the new “Intellectual Property Act[IPPA]” that is in the legal pipeline. Apparently under this new act, fast-forwarding through recorded commercials would be illegal, and p2p networks would become illegal.

Now, speaking as an artist, I find this utterly objectionable. Because some corporations who represent artists don’t want p2p around, then I as an independent artist would be deprived of my main avenue for finding my audience. This is just wrong.

Look at the language used by an RIAA spokesperson:

“We certainly support it,” says Jonathan Lamy, spokesperson for the RIAA. “It includes a number of things to strengthen the hand of law enforcement to combat piracy. Intellectual property theft is a national security crime. It’s appropriate that the fed dedicate resources to deter and prosecute IP theft.”

The “War On Nouns” mindset is leaking: we need to “combat” “piracy” for national security. Amazing.

For more information on the IPPA, look on the Public Knowledge site.

writing, and primitive accumulation

Not much going on here. Had a fruitful day in the studio last night. I’m really pleased with the recorded sounds my new gear is producing. Yay.

I’m also working on a longer article, sort of summarizing and extending some of the random political thoughts I’ve expressed here. When it’s done I’ll link to it. Watch this space.

I’m still reading Caliban and the Witch. It’s very good; like any good Marxist Federici really takes things from a class perspective, painting a nice picture of the serfs and their struggles in the transition to capitalist economy. I may post a more detailed review in due course, but this book strikes me as being very important on my levels.

Caliban and the Witch

I just got a copy of Caliban and the Witch by Silvia Federici. I’ve just begun it, but from the back cover:

Caliban and the Witch is a history of the body in the transition to capitalism. Moving from the peasant revolts of the late Middle Ages to the witch-hunts and the rise of mechanical philosophy, Federici investigates the capitalist rationalization of social reproduction. She shows how the battle against the rebel body and the conflict between body and mind are essential conditions for the development of labor power and self-ownership, two central principles of modern social organization.

Federici is a noted Marxist and Feminist scholar. She has also written several articles with George Caffentzis and the Midnight Notes Collective. Thus far it seems to be similar in scope to Carolyn Merchant’s book, The Death of Nature.

I’ll report back after I’m further into the book.

Electile Dysfunction

Well, there seems to be
plenty
of
evidence
that
the
election
results
are
tainted. The question is, how bad is the problem? Note that this is a very different question from “were the results tainted?” It is clear that they are. The only question is the extent of the tampering. One observation that has been made elsewhere: it seems that every voting discrepancy is in favor of the BuShites. What does that say? I have no reason to believe that this “election” is genuine, or that the BuShites have, as they are claiming, a “mandate” from the American people.

If you steal the election, you have committed a coup d’etat. Of course, we learned this in 2000. My country has indeed left me.

Fortress America?

This article has much food for thought:

After September 11, America basically wrote off the rest of the world as a reliable partner. The ultimate goal was no longer the Fukuyama utopia of expanding universal liberal democracy, but the transformation of the United States into “Fortress America,” a lone superpower isolated from the rest of the world, protecting its vital economic interests and securing its safety through its new military power. This new military not only includes forces for rapid deployment anywhere on the globe, but also the development of space weapons that enable the Pentagon to control the global surface from above. This strategy throws a new light on the recent conflicts between the United States and Europe: It is not Europe that is “betraying” the United States. The United States no longer needs to rely on its exclusive partnership with Europe. In short, Bush’s America pretends to be a new global empire but it is not. Rather, it remains a nation-state ruthlessly pursuing its interests. It is as if U.S. politics is now being guided by a weird reversal of the ecologists’ well-known motto: Act globally, think locally.

Within these coordinates, every progressive who thinks should be glad for Bush’s victory. It is good for the entire world because the contours of the confrontations to come will now be drawn in a much starker way. A Kerry victory would have been a kind of historical anomaly, blurring the true lines of division. After all, Kerry did not have a global vision that would present a feasible alternative to Bush’s politics.

I’m beginning to see that the Democratic party is doomed. If a Kerry victory would have been a historical anomaly, then one must conclude that the Clinton years, and the Carter years, were also anomalies, mere distractions from the aggressive forward advancing of the neoliberal agenda in place since the mid-70s. If you examine the past 30 years, each Republican regime pushed the line, and each Democrat regime held the line where it had been drawn. Almost a collective good cop, bad cop act.

It seems to me that until the Democrats rebel against the neoliberal status quo, and embrace real, progressive, even radical agendas, they will be nothing more than the whipping boy of the neocons. The “election results” from Tuesday only reinforce this notion.