Protest for Gaza in Philly 12/29 & 12/30

We are out there in the freezing wind, holding signs at the Israeli Consulate and chanting. Do they see us inside I wonder? What do they think when they see us- are we angry leftists who can't accept reality? Are we too young to know any better? Are we too poor to be complicit in oppression and therefore silent? Are we misguided radicals who cannot see the forest for the trees, or perhaps that is our mistake, to see the forest instead of the trees. 

I am happy because Israel has finally lifted the blockade to allow trucks carrying humanitarian aid into Gaza. At the same time, I wonder why this cat and mouse game, why feed them in order to kill them later? If Israel is dedicated to the eradication of Hamas and the Palestinian resistance (which includes everyone because to be a Palestinian is an act of resistance) then why keep anyone alive at all? 

The issue of Israeli/Palestinian memory is large and intricate, too large for me to do it justice here but I will say that in certain places, between certain enemies, there grows a bond that is not unlike love. Time intertwines their histories so that difference becomes the ground of faith, it draws people together instead of pushing them apart. Israel does not want the Palestinians to disappear despite their efforts to the contrary. Like distant cousins (which the Palestinians and Israelis are), no amount of ill will or violence can completely alienate them from each other. 

Don't tell me that the beast has no heart. I know that people of conscience exist everywhere just like their opposites. The heart of Israel is like the heart of America, silenced by the majority or by political maneuvering. Every country with a stake in this conflict must step up and press both sides to accept a cease fire. The incoming administration of Barack Obama must compel Israel to enter peace talks with real dedication and commitment to compromise and encourage its allies to do the same with Hamas. That is what I hope we are today, a tiny shivering but resolute piece of America's heart. 

Review: Slumdog Millionaire

Finally, after all my friends have seen it, I went to see Slumdog Millionaire with my family. At first I was blown away by the volume of the opening song (our theater must have been experiencing technical difficulties). But after that, I really enjoyed it and was happy to see a collaboration between an Indian and an American director that did not end up completely Westernized (Guru, Bollywood Nights.) (unfinished more soon)

Here are some questions:

1. How many times has Irfan Khan played a police inspector in a movie? A. Four B. Five C. Six D. Seven plus

2. The catchy track played in the train scene where the boys are hustling for money is by which hot South Asian female singer? A. Nadia Ali B. Maya Angulprasam C. Sophie Choudry D. Nazia Hassan

3. The dance that Jamal and Latika were doing at the end is? A. Tango B. Salsa C. Waltz D. Bump N. Grind

4. Who is on the thousand rupee note? A. J. Nehru B. AP Kalam C. Chandra Bhose D. M. Gandhi (trick question!)

If you win I'll give you however many rupees I have left over (probably not many) Good luck!

A Shoe For Me, A Shoe For You...

I'm sure by now, you've all heard of Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi who shot to fame when he hurled a pair of shoes at wildly unpopular and blithely obdurate American president George W Bush at a press conference on Sunday. 

Well, he is spawning copycats, for good reason. Yesterday, union activist and member of the Bail Out The People Campaign, Steve Millies was imprisoned for removing his shoes and "intending to incite a public disturbance" at the MTA board meeting in New York. He said the shoe reference was planned with Mr. Zaidi in mind. 

So, I got to thinking, who would I most like to hurl a shoe at and why? They would have to do something pretty bad, after all, a shoe at high velocity could hurt a lot. Especially, a size 10 Oxford...

I had trouble coming up with my top five... I was going to say Dick Cheney but then I realized that any attack on him would have to come from extra-human sources. He may even be dead by now, for all we know, like Vladimir Lenin. Then, I don't want to be too mean, but there is a line between a shoe and a bullet, a very important line. 

1) George W. Bush (shocker... but honestly, who else?)

2) Ann Coulter

3) Sean Hannity

4) David Horowitz

5) White supremacist guy who randomly shot black looters during Katrina. read the Nation article.

Who would you like to throw a shoe at? Have you ever thrown a shoe at someone? Discuss. 

Ballet Flats- August 2008

Ballet Flats: Changing the Nature of Power

During Barack Obama’s acceptance of the Democratic nomination for president, seeing Michelle Obama in ballet flats brought home to me a real sense of equality grounded in the practicality of something so simple as what a woman may choose to wear on her feet. Being “on one’s feet” for many hours a day has come to symbolize the working woman and man’s sacrifice and dignity, however for women it has also connoted a special type of pain. 

Perhaps this pain was connected to Mater Eve’s pain in childbirth, given to her by an angry vengeful God. Or to a sadistic Frenchman’s appetite for elevated legs. We have been fed since then a steady diet of images of powerful women walking around in heels, raising children in heels, striding proudly into the future in heels. Whether or not that accurately reflects a woman’s reality is debatable yet heels remained the only choice for women who wanted to present a put-together image, an image of beauty and strength tied together by the social, biological or psychological need to attract and please men. 

Heels remained the only choice for an night out, a date, or a wedding. Worn with a power suit, heels made women taller and more savage. It does take a certain amount of grit or masochism to wear them for a whole eight hours. Recently however the tides have been beginning to turn. As an homage to punk, worn with leggings, ballet flats emerged onto the scene in late 2006. They were comfortable, chic and innocent. Teenagers embraced them in droves. Then professional women started wearing them to work. They hung on tight until designers started paying as much attention to flats as they did to heels. They are now available in any color, material, and price. At present, heels on the runway have reached catastrophic heights, perhaps because they sense their own obsolescence? 

Women will always continue to wear heels but like the women on NBC’s Lipstick Jungle (a successor to Sex and the City’s outdated moral code), they will wear them for their own pleasure as part of a carefully considered outfit and no one will tell them otherwise. Famous tall women including Carla Sarkozy, Michelle Obama and Angelina Jolie can now wear flats in public, on very official occasions while still maintaining a polished image. Admittedly, this is (at least in Mme. Sarkozy’s case) a calculated attempt not to overshadow men but it is an achievement nonetheless for the millions of career women who now have a comfortable option to wear with their power suits and pencil skirts. 

As any woman will tell you, that comfort cannot be overstated- three cheers for the ballet flat and for the changing nature of power! Next up- media pundits will criticize John McCain for not getting Botox or a personal stylist... Obama’s GQ image will usher in an era of male masochism that will help to even the scales, and, God willing, someone will hire a babysitter. We can’t be everything you know, us modern women, but spared of a little foot deformation, we are on our way to the top of the world. 

Teaching- August 2008

Teaching and Learning as an Act of Resistance

This essay is inspired by some of the people who have shaped my intellect and my sense of compassion to a precision that I could never have imagined. It is also informed by a sense of injustice. In the four years I spent at a small liberal arts college, no less than three of my beloved professors were denied tenure and summarily dismissed. The reasons for this may be complex, but we as students felt that no adequate explanation could replace the guidance and support of these professors. If academia is disconnected from the daily lives and experiences of its students then what does it accomplish? It is only a small jump from there to an academy which does not critically engage with society. 

One of those teachers was a man who considered himself an eternal student. His insight into the struggles and inner worlds of his students made him an effective counselor and a trusted friend. His dismissal sparked an outcry among the students who held a community meeting to inquire into the matter. Some explanations were offered but ultimately, nothing was done. It is this sense of propriety, this sense of politeness that I abhor. I would rather the honest authoritarian nature of these people to be made plain instead of cloaked in administrative civility. 

Another one of my teachers knew better than to let the tension in the room get too high. She often diffused the situation with a joke, sometimes at her own expense, sometimes at the expense of the most dense and frustrating material. There is a feeling between laughter and crying, it is called vertigo and it works by destabilizing your senses and your reaction time. Once, I had an inner ear infection that made me feel like I was lying down when I was standing up and vice versa. My doctor told me that this feeling is related to the one where you are lying down to sleep and all of the sudden sit up with a jolt feeling as though you had just tripped into a bottomless pit. I take vertigo here as a metaphor for disenchantment, the kind we so desperately need. 

The third professor that I have mentioned was a radical with a distinguished pedigree. He did not hesitate to call a fish a fish or imperialism just that. In the few months since I graduated from the aforementioned college, I have met other students struggling with the same dichotomy between the ideals imparted in their education and the day to day world in which they find themselves struggling to earn a living. It might be easy to assume that there is no place for bold gestures, no room for the kind of inspired “examined life” of the liberal arts. This kind of education is a luxury, still it is only a drop in the bucket of the long road towards a self-knowledge and knowledge of the world that will allow us to craft real, enduring solutions to its problems.

If this is so, the rage that I feel can only form itself into that of the anarchist’s gutting a Starbucks. The renowned sociologist David Graeber was denied tenure at Harvard when his connection to the anarchist Black Bloc was discovered. I am not an angry or a violent person. I only object to the double standard in teaching our children the best of human nature when we do not allow those ideals to be practiced in the “business” world. Is there anyone out there who can tell me that the nightmare I have woken into can be salvaged? 

Palin- November 2008

Can We Get Over Sarah Palin, Please?

I’m aware that the possibility of a conservative “folksy” woman is still too comical or otherwise to pass up. That time, however, is over. Her continued presence in our national heart is a distraction from the challenges that lie ahead. I am aware that 2012 will be a turning point for our current world age. If the Mayan end times coincide with the evangelical ones, then Sarah Palin might be a perfect choice for the leadership of the most powerful nation on the planet... Until then, let’s turn to Obama. 

Barack and Power- 30th Jan 2008

Part 1: Throwing the Baby out with the Tea

Many of the articles for this week seek to find in what ways our own policies reflect or reject the legacy of Europe. In some ways we act as the younger brother who strives to prove that he is bigger, better, etc. American human rights have always displayed a bizarre sort of amnesia, a selective morality that lingers from the era of slavery. What we do, in our own homes is private, and the domestic labor and parts of the Third World (particularly Latin America) that we think we own or possess (America's backyard) are immune to our overtures of peace, democracy and freedom. Halper's book warns us that the major tool of the Bush administration; the "Big Idea," is responsible for this amnesia. We should be skeptical of these claims, because they "create false realities (and)... lead to truncated thinking." 

American exeptionalism is the founding principle of our country. Whatever we are, we are not Britain and we are not George III. “The plate at right, from 1776, depicts American liberty as Hebe, the goddess of youth, who treads on chains, a key and a scepter- symbolic objects of the old world." Why don't we have cool political art anymore? The class discussion about federalism vs. renegade states brought the image to my mind of the "Don't Tread on Me" snake. The message of this snake, from the 1780's, is that the 13 colonies must stick together in order to survive. Perhaps more enduring images could be marshaled during our campaign?

Part 2: A New Historic Race for a New and Inspired Generation filled with Transformative but not Radical Ideology

Barack Obama's campaign positions him as the "movement for change." "The choice in this election is not about regions or religions or genders," Obama said. "It's not about rich versus poor, young versus old and it is not about black versus white. This election is about the past versus the future." It is not clear however, whether Obama in fact stands for the past or for the future. His website is full of references to American history, from Patton to Pearl Harbor. His "Change" coalition, therefore, hopes to jog American memory about the beneficial and nostalgic moments of their past in order to imagine a similarly rosy future. 

My first question in researching Barack was to find out at what point he decided to become a politician. I knew from reading his autobiography at my Grandpa's house over break that he had had a rough childhood, being abandoned by his father and struggling in school. Then he moved to New York for a sort of Zen-like inner cleansing and re-dedication to work. He then entered Harvard Law School where he met his wife Michelle Robinson. The autobiography had a weird phrase here, like so on and so forth, therefore it made sense for Barack, when it came time for him to choose a wife, would choose a high- powered black woman. This is a quote from a friend of his, who knew him at the time. For, after all, they are running for the post of the American President, a poster- family- something which Bush has done with aplomb, in scenes from the Crawford Ranch, his daughters attending designer shows and parties with David Lauren and the strangely silent and robotic Laura, the Chanel- wearing Stepford wife. In a bizarre sense, they are a microcosm of the American family. Lately, Mr. Bush has reflected on his drinking days. As a biracial man, Barack chose to become black in a way that only he could. His voice is always deeper than I expect, he can be sharply mean but is also vulnerable in an odd way. 

Barack has a BA from Columbia in political science and international relations. His thesis was on Soviet nuclear disarmament. It was in Chicago, then, that he decided that he could make a bigger impact of people's lives as a politician than as a community organizer. At Harvard, he was elected president of the Harvard Law Review, in a cut- throat competition. He later joined a historic black church in Chicago in order to be a more effective leader. His journey from sensitive young man to shrewd (or scripted) politician is very interesting. Why does campaigning cost so much money? Are all the ads, press conferences, speeches, holding babies, etc. really worth it in terms of voter loyalty or allegiance? In recent news, Barack Obama has denied taking special interest money but is spending it anyway. He is part of a network of black entrepreneurs, from his basketball playing days, all of whom now make sizable donations to his campaign. 

Previously, the reforms in the primary process that limited campaign spending and allowed each candidate to receive funds from the government. Is it still necessary to receive celebrity endorsements, and private donations? Or is it something like a glorified popularity contest, with groups weighing in with their opinions.... The air of scandal and propriety. Are further primary reforms necessary? 

Part 3: "Entirely Unmerited Authority."

My major question in this campaign, however, is foreign policy. I carefully scrutinize every word that Hillary, Barack and (until lately) John Edwards make about the war on Iraq or the global economy. Since I like to read the New York Times, there was an article recently about the end of the US era as superpower to the world. "Those yearning faces beyond our shores" may not, in fact, be so yearning anymore. This, for me, is very exciting because I have always felt our position on this end of the world to be precarious as the increasing pace of globalization alters and links our allies and enemies together in ever differing ways. The same article emphasized the US's need to develop a diplomatic corps capable of functioning in the new multi-polar world. 

The Menand article, however, hit a sensitive issue spot on. It is true, based on whatever I know of people's political habits, that a large majority of voters never consider the nuanced issues involved in the selection of their president or other elected officials. Whether they are too busy, lazy, unintelligent or self- absorbed, most voters go to the polling place with " opinions that are essentially meaningless... derived from no underlying set of principles." This might explain the power of Bush's "success." If "49% of the population believes that the President has the power to suspend the Constitution," then why can't he and who is going to stop him? This is problematic because Barack Obama's campaign promises a politics that "no longer settles for the lowest common denominator." How are they going to do that? He also will "finish the fight on Al- Qaeda." But how? I am annoyed that he supports Israel, but then again, so does everybody. If voters care about the issues over parties, but take only a minimum of time to research and consider those issues, does it really matter what a candidate stands for at all? A candidate's ideology must be broadly palatable to the electorate yet different enough to distinguish him from the others.  "For among the means of power which now prevail is the power to manage and to manipulate the consent of men. That we do not know the limits of such power, and that we hope it does have limits, does not remove the fact that much power today is successfully employed without the sanction of the reason or the conscience of the obedient." Mills does an excellent job of tracing the murkiness of real politics behind it's smooth facade. Between what we desire and what we think we know lies an army of little clouds, each ready to rain on our parade or to shower us with silver. "Some men are indeed much freer than others." This truth about the nature of power flies in the face of our American Dream. The presidential hopeful, therefore, is in the strange place of belonging to that elite while having to cultivate the background and the conscience of someone who is (has) not. Our democracy is "more a fairy tale than a useful approximation." I would like to return to Mill's suggestions for a true democratic society in crafting our imaginary candidate. 

Something that really annoys me about this country is everyone's "meaningless opinion;" pundits expounding forth on issues like foreign policy, terrorism, free trade. They are encouraged by waves of books and tv specials that purport if you read it or watch it, you too can be an expert. Think tanks and public policy institutions and also even many university seminars fail to educate the American public. "Those who attended left with their prejudices intact. The event was less a seminar than a pep rally with croissants." So then, my candidate's views on education and the media will be very important as well. Perhaps I can explore this in my next paper. 

So my lingering question is why does politics, and human nature in general, have to swing back and forth between prejudices, between blundering and recovering, between the old generation and the new? Is there some way that we could avoid repeating the mistakes of the past and not "become our mothers" or are we hooked to the cycle because it is our desire to find balance and that somehow in going back and forth we are advancing a little? I think I've asked this question before. To Be Continued...