It’s Still the Economy, Stupid! No, Seriously. I Mean It.

(Some Thoughts on the HIV Epidemic, Social Problems, and Capital)

Deric Shannon

I picked up a copy of the International Herald Tribune recently on a flight from Madrid to Paris. My friend and co-conspirator, Abbey, and I have been doing a lot of traveling lately and a free copy of an English-language newspaper is a hot commodity for an hour and a half plane ride, particularly this one since I left the “Marx for Beginners” book I was reading at home! I nestled into my seat, prepared for being a little unsettled—what counts for “news” is usually disturbing as all hell, after all. (more…)

We are looking for any number of different forms of expression, including cartoons, poetry, essays, stories, personal narratives, prose, news stories, art (black and white) and most likely whatever else you can come up with.

As far as content, our very favorite stuff has political struggle and personal experience go hand-in-hand, connecting the dots between different (but related) struggles, and particularly when yours is a voice that is generally excluded in the LGBfakeT mainstream–people of color, immigrants, women, workers, homeless, youth, sex workers, trans people, BDSM perverts, fairies, boi dykes, drag kings and queens, polyamorous folks, and any number of the people that wage the fight to live and love freely.

Deadline is August 22nd 2010. Send submissions to QueersWithoutBorders@gmail.com.

Queer is many things. It’s a critique of identity– critiquing/questioning the boxes and categories we are given to cage ourselves with. Example, we can be gay, straight, or bi. These are the choices we have. But they don’t describe reality and they do more to contain us than to liberate us. (Although, I have to note that people do find empowerment and community within these identities and I don’t mean to downplay that.) It’s a critique of the construction of sexuality– formed by the ideas we have to conceive of it. If who you fuck is what you are (i.e., “gay”) — then that’s a sexual identity. Or we can do sexuality differently– it’s not who we are but what we do– our acts. I may engage in homosexual acts, but what does it mean to say “I am gay”? And how does that identity restrain me? (Also, many argue that asserting an identity like “gay” or “bi” actually uphold the binary of “hetero/homo” and, as with all binaries, one will be privileged over the other. Therefore it can be argued–and I agree with this–that upholding a gay identity can actually work against liberation by reinforcing heternormativity and asserting, rather than destabilizing, the hetero-homo binary.) If you’re interested in that, read Jagose’s Queer Theory: An Introduction (I love this book but it’s dense and heavily theoretical and some people hate theory). Also, the notion of the “homosexual” was actually invented in the mid 1800s. Gay people didn’t exist before that. I’m not saying women didn’t fuck women and dudes didn’t fuck dudes, but they were engaging in *acts* and didn’t label themselves something because of it– they didn’t *identify* by what they did erotically. (more…)

Tivoli Gardens is a manipulation
To create the outrageous situation
For a ‘legitimate’ American invasion

Sugarcane, bauxite, tourism - all locked up tight
Deep, deep oil - now seeing the light
Poverty and oppression - things still not right
Freedom from Babylon - bubbling into sight

Politicians in power - caught in a trap
Reaching for gold - can’t give it back
Jamaica’s new wealth - Babylon wants to tap
Satellite blackmail - no stopping that

 As the Dudus saga plays itself out in Kingston, two of the questions that remain unanswered are ‘why is the United States pushing so hard?’ and ‘why now?’. The world is full of dons and drug lords, not to mention the fact that the American plate is full with wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a billion Muslims who are being encouraged to attack anywhere at anytime. You would think that they had more immediate things to concentrate on.

Yet they continued to poke and push, treating every Jamaican that went through U.S. customs like a criminal, openly questioned the personal honesty of the the Prime Minister Bruce Golding and even suggested that the Jamaican Labor Party were in violation of their mandate to govern Jamaica. In fact, the Americans haven’t even got an Ambassador to Jamaica anymore. Obama has left the position open, a serious diplomatic slap in the face. All of this tension is for the Don of Tivoli Gardens? Something isn’t right. Dudus just isn’t that big of a problem.

The idea that outside interests have manipulated the situation for a long time begins to form when you question the truth of what we are being told. For two years now Dudus has had an excellent run, controlling the docks in Kingston (on Tivoli Gardens turf, and the true value of the constituency) with his buddies running the government. He has grown more powerful than ever before, with so much money that he doesn’t have to rely on politicians for anything. In the old days back in the 1970’s, when the street gangs were first created by the political parties, they had to get their weapons and cash from the JLP or the PNP, but since the cocaine business showed up, that relationship has slowly turned full circle. Now the politicians need the gangs to control the vote, but the gangs don’t need the politicians for support. They have become an independent power. (more…)

Here is the documentary description from Al Jazeera.

Almost a year ago the inauguration of President Barack Obama was hailed as a turning point in US race relations. The country was said to be entering a new era of post-racial politics, on the path to a future of greater diversity and tolerance.

But while crowds flocked to Washington to witness the swearing in, others were refusing to join the party. Racially motivated threats against Obama rose to new heights in the first months of his presidency, with the US seeing nine high-profile race killings in 2009.

Meanwhile white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups claim their membership is growing and that visits to their websites are increasing.

Is the racial undercurrent that has long structured US politics reasserting itself?

Filmmakers Rick Rowley and Jacquie Soohen went inside the white nationalist movement to investigate.

Some of the images seen and opinions heard in the film are disturbing.

A great piece below titled The Greeks Get It ~ cross-posted from Truthdig.org.

Posted on Truthdig.org on May 24, 2010

By Chris Hedges

Here’s to the Greeks. They know what to do when corporations pillage and loot their country. They know what to do when Goldman Sachs and international bankers collude with their power elite to falsify economic data and then make billions betting that the Greek economy will collapse. They know what to do when they are told their pensions, benefits and jobs have to be cut to pay corporate banks, which screwed them in the first place. Call a general strike. Riot. Shut down the city centers. Toss the bastards out. Do not be afraid of the language of class warfare—the rich versus the poor, the oligarchs versus the citizens, the capitalists versus the proletariat. The Greeks, unlike most of us, get it.

The former right-wing government of Greece lied about the size of the country’s budget deficit. It was not 3.7 percent of gross domestic product but 13.6 percent. And it now looks like the economies of Spain, Ireland, Italy and Portugal are as bad as Greece’s, which is why the euro has lost 20 percent of its value in the last few months. The few hundred billion in bailouts for other faltering European states, like our own bailouts, have only forestalled disaster. This is why the U.S. stock exchange is in free fall and gold is rocketing upward. American banks do not have heavy exposure in Greece, but Greece, as most economists concede, is only the start. Wall Street is deeply invested in other European states, and when the unraveling begins the foundations of our own economy will rumble and crack as loudly as the collapse in Athens. The corporate overlords will demand that we too impose draconian controls and cuts or see credit evaporate. They have the money and the power to hurt us. There will be more unemployment, more personal and commercial bankruptcies, more foreclosures and more human misery. And the corporate state, despite this suffering, will continue to plunge us deeper into debt to make war. It will use fear to keep us passive. We are being consumed from the inside out. Our economy is as rotten as the economy in Greece. We too borrow billions a day to stay afloat. We too have staggering deficits, which can never be repaid. Heed the dire rhetoric of European leaders. (more…)

This post would have appeared earlier, but I only just now got the gore and debris cleaned up. I allude to the obstreperal lobe tissue dripping from the bunkhouse rafters. That’s right, I blew another lobe, and no doubt you did, too, when you heard about the insane bill that just passed in Missouri.

Missouri’s state legislature, like that of many states, has invaded the personal bodies of its citizenry and enslaved their uteruses. Without compunction of any kind, this cruel and bloated governing body swaggers around the countryside, snapping its fingers, yelling “jump,” and smirking when the captive uteruses ask “how high?”.

There was already an extremely obnoxious law in Missouri forcing women seeking abortions — 24 hours in advance of the procedure — to sit through a lecture (bring a book) on the supposed mental and physical devastation that abortions supposedly cause. The idea being that, after a heartstring-tugging indoctrination with patriarchy-replicating, godsick disinformation about the certainty of a post-abortion lifetime of regret, cancer, depression, infertility, desperate yearning and insanity, women would voluntarily abdicate their personal bodily sovereignty in order to incubate fetuses for the state, which state would then abandon all parties concerned at the conclusion of gestation.

So things were bad enough in Missouri before, but with this new law they’re even worse. Instead of being forced to endure this patronizing abortion-is-bad-for-you crap via telephone, women are now required to audit in person. Providers must also describe the adorable little fingers and toes, the teensy little heartbeat, the precious little turned-up nose of the “unborn child.” Then they have to offer the woman an ultrasound and a chance to hear for herself how adorable the teensy heartbeat is. Then — no shit — they have to hand over “a state-produced brochure proclaiming: ‘The life of each human being begins at conception. Abortion will terminate the life of a separate, unique, living human being.’” If the woman is pretty young, they have to show her a couple of seasons’ worth of “Gilmore Girls,” because that’s such a realistic portrayal of the long-term results of teen pregnancy. Then they lock her in a room for an hour or two with a statue of the Blessed Virgin who weeps tears of blood. (more…)

I have copied below Jimmy Centola’s poem written in the seventies called the “Divas of Sheridan Square” which pays homage to the denizens of Sheridan Square, Marsha “Pay it No Mind” Johnson [and Sylvia Rivera] among them!

THE DIVAS OF SHERIDAN SQUARE

HAVE YOU SEEN ALL THE DIVAS OF SHERIDAN SQUARE

KROOZIN DOWN TO THE RIVER BY MORTON STREET PIER

SOME ARE DARK, TOUGH AND TAKI, SOME FLAWLESSLY FAIR

I AINT DISHIN

JUST WISHIN

I COULD BE STANDIN THERE

DEAR MISS LANCE, TALL AND TRASHY AND EVER SO PROUD

SHE’S STILL KROOZIN AND LOOSING AND BEING QUITE LOUD

AS SHE SWIHSES BY GAYLY ON HER PINK FAIRY CLOUD

SHE’S A MYSTIC MIRAGE

TO THE WHOLE JOHN WAYNE CROWD

ARE THERE THOSE HOT LEATHER NUMBERS STILL DOIN THE ROCK

ARE THE STREET PEOPLE KROOZIN, THEIR BLUES SHOVED IN HOCK

EACH ONE PAYIN HIGH DUES

IN A HIGH CULTURE SHOCK

IS MISS MARSHA STILL TIPPIN AND SPREADIN GAY JOYS

AINT A THING THAT SHE’S MISSIN, CANT GET FROM THE BOYS

EITHER WORKING THE HIGHWAY OR CHECKING THE SCENE

MISS THING ALWAYS SPARES CHANGE

FOR SOME STONE DYING QUEEN

IS THE FAIR ROLLERINA STILL SKATING AROUND

IS SHE STILL MAKING MAGIC ALL OVER THE TOWN

SHE CAN ROLL UP A RAINBOW AND ROCK IT BACK DOWN

IN HER WHITE FAIRY GOWN

IS MISS BAMBI STILL SLEEPING ALL OVER THE STREET

CAN I STILL COP SOME POPPERS WITH ALL THE ELITE

ARE THE OLD GIRLS STILL TRIPPING, THE CHICKENS STILL SWEET

MISSING ALL THAT’S DISCREET

HAVE YOU SEEN ALL THE DIVAS OF SHERIDAN SQUARE

KROOZIN DOWN TO THE RIVER BY MORTON STREET PIER

SOME ARE DARK, TOUGH AND TAKI, SOME FLAWLESSLY FAIR

I AINT DISHIN

JUST WISHIN

I COULD BE STANDIN THERE

(more…)

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Tonight’s tragic deaths in Athens leave little space for comments – we are all very shocked and deeply saddened by the events. To those (on the “Occupied London” blog even) who speculate that the deaths might have been caused purposefully by anarchists, we can only reply the following: we do not take to the streets, we do not risk our freedom and our lives confronting the greek police in order to kill other people. Anarchists are not murderers, and no brainwashing attempted by Greek PM Papandreou, the national or the international media should convince anyone otherwise.

That being said, and with developments still running frantically, we want to publish a rough translation of a statement by an employee of Marfin Bank – the bank whose branch was set alight in Athens today, where the three employees found a tragic death.

Read the letter, translate it, spread it around to your networks; grassroots counter-information has a crucial role to play at a moment when the greek state and corporate media are leashing out on the anarchist movement over here in Greece.

I feel an obligation toward my co-workers who have so unjustly died today to speak out and to say some objective truths. I am sending this message to all media outlets. Anyone who still bares some consciousness should publish it. The rest can continue to play the government’s game.

The fire brigade had never issued an operating license to the building in question. The agreement for it to operate was under the table, as it practically happens with all businesses and companies in Greece.

The building in question has no fire safety mechanisms in place, neither planned nor installed ones – that is, it has no ceiling sprinklers, fire exits or fire hoses. There are only some portable fire extinguishers which, of course, cannot help in dealing with extensive fire in a building that is built with long-outdated security standards.

No branch of Marfin bank has had any member of staff trained in dealing with fire, not even in the use of the few fire extinguishers. The management also uses the high costs of such training as a pretext and will not take even the most basic measures to protect its staff.

There has never been a single evacuation exercise in any building by staff members, nor have there been any training sessions by the fire-brigade, to give instructions for situations like this. The only training sessions that have taken place at Marfin Bank concern terrorist action scenarios and specifically planning the escape of the banks’ “big heads” from their offices in such a situation.

The building in question had no special accommodation for the case of fire, even though its construction is very sensitive under such circumstances and even though it was filled with materials from floor to ceiling. Materials which are very inflammable, such as paper, plastics, wires, furniture. The building is objectively unsuitable for use as a bank due to its construction.

No member of security has any knowledge of first aid or fire extinguishing, even though they are every time practically charged with securing the building. The bank employees have to turn into firemen or security staff according to the appetite of Mr Vgenopoulos [owner of Marfin Bank].

The management of the bank strictly bared the employees from leaving today, even though they had persistently asked so themselves from very early this morning – while they also forced the employees to lock up the doors and repeatedly confirmed that the building remained locked up throughout the day, over the phone. They even blocked off their internet access so as to prevent the employees from communicating with the outside world.

For many days now there has been some complete terrorisation of the bank’s employees in regard to the mobilisations of these days, with the verbal “offer”: you either work, or you get fired.

The two undercover police who are dispatched at the branch in question for robbery prevention did not show up today, even though the bank’s management had verbally promised to the employees that they would be there.

At last, gentlemen, make your self-criticism and stop wandering around pretending to be shocked. You are responsible for what happened today and in any rightful state (like the ones you like to use from time to time as leading examples on your TV shows) you would have already been arrested for the above actions. My co-workers lost their lives today by malice: the malice of Marfin Bank and Mr. Vgenopoulos personally who explicitly stated that whoever didin’t come to work today [May 5th, a day of a general strike!] should not bother showing up for work tomorrow [as they would get fired].

- An employee of Marfin Bank [greek original]

KKE/SYRISA:

1. In Parliament the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) has accused the government for the deaths, claiming it was a result of agents provocateur fascist groups. The claims of the Communist Party are based on the fact that 50 fascists tried to enter the PAME demo bearing the flags of the union earlier in the morning. The fascists were spotted, chased and sought refuge behind riot police lines.

2. Accusing the extreme-right as being behind the deaths, the Coalition of Radical Left (SYRISA) has declared in Parliament that the government cannot pretend to be in grief for the loss of life, as it has been attacking human life by all means possible.

Parents have a new and welcome option this summer for their transgender or gender non-conforming child — a weeklong, overnight summer camp called Camp Aranu’tiq. Its organizers recently held a reception in the Boston area to introduce the program. In attendance were several new-age parents who, instead of rejecting their child’s persistent gender non-conformity, are seeking ways to be understanding and helpful.

Parents have traditionally been told gender non-conformity is “just a phase,” and psychiatric studies back that up assessment. Yet the research comes in part from the work of Dr. Kenneth Zucker, whose Toronto clinic provides treatments that encourage the child to accept their natal sex and associated gender. One has to wonder if Zucker’s research is truly without bias.

New-age parents, frustrated at seeing their child become even more miserable after trying this approach, have begun looking elsewhere for help. And they have good reason to. Dr. Caitlin Ryan, head of the Family Acceptance Project, says that gay and transgender children rejected by their families were three times more likely to use illegal drugs, six times more likely to report high levels of depression and eight times more likely to have attempted suicide. No parent wants this for their child.

The professional consensus on how to treat gender non-conforming and transgender children comes from The World Professional Association for Transgender Health. WPATH’s Standards of Care require significant involvement and guidance of a behavioral health professional to treat the trans child. But Dr. Scott Leibowitz, a new breed of sympathetic psychiatrist working at Children’s Hospital Boston, points out that no process exists to train and certify professionals to play this role.

Fortunately, there are an increasing number of resources to help. Trans Youth Family Allies will work with organizations and individuals to help identify the services and support needed, and to provide the education and training useful to parents. TYFA’s tireless Executive Director and Founder, Kim Pearson, is herself the mom of a transgender son.

Parents may also find their way to the free Philadelphia Trans Health Conference, which this June will have expanded programming for children, youth and families.

Another great resource for parents is the groundbreaking book The Transgender Child: A Handbook for Families and Professionals by Stephanie Brill and Rachel Pepper.

A child may become even more distressed when sex characteristics start developing that don’t align with the child’s sense of gender. New-age parents are increasingly turning to programs like the Gender Management Service clinic of Children’s Hospital Boston to delay puberty, and if indicated, start cross-hormones to trigger the right puberty. GEMS founder and endocrinologist Dr. Norman Spack recently observed:

We are beginning to see great success. Patients aren’t trying to commit suicide, they’re bullied less at school, relationships are better and mammoplastic surgery may not be necessary.

Armed with these new resources, parents are becoming more visible and vocal in advocating for their children. Brave parents and their children first appeared on television in 2006 in an episode of 20/20 that Barbara Walters devoted entirely to the subject of transgender children. Others have since appeared on Oprah, Maury Pauvich, and, in the last few months, on the Tyra Banks Show and the Doctor Oz Show.

Unfortunately, parental support does not free a child from discrimination by the world at large, but caring parents have become powerful non-transgender allies in the drive for change. Carol Rose, Executive Director of the ACLU of Massachusetts, recently spotlighted the poignant testimonies of three parents in the hearing for proposed transgender non-discrimination legislation in Massachusetts:

Listen to the words of Ken and Marcia Garber, of Quincy, whose 20 year old son died after years of harassment based on his gender identity. Ken, a square-jawed fire fighter with a grey crew-cut, spoke at the State House today about how hard it was for their son to live as a second class citizen. “When you discriminate against transgender people, you discriminate against everybody who loves them,” said Ken.
A mother, Marion Freedman-Gurspan, said “In my wildest dreams, I never thought that I’d have to stand here and beg for basic civil rights protections for my child. I thought that went out in 1964!”

Another father, David Hardy, spoke about his concern for the safety of his three kids: the one who is on duty in Kabul, the one who is a rock-climber and the one who is transgender. “We really worry about him,” said Hardy.

Transgender people have had a tough time being recognized as ordinary citizens. The presence of supportive parents changes everything. These parents lend critical third-party credibility to our quest for basic human rights and dignity. With them leading the way, there is no doubt that we’ll see social advances for transgender people at what feels like warp speed compared to what we have seen so far.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joanne-herman/new-age-parenting-for-tra_b_561688.html?view=screen

We’re still looking for workshops and people to be on panels! The deadline to submit a workshop proposal is this Friday! Email bbworkshops (at) gmail (dot) com. For more info on the convergence check out http://bashback2010.org/

Submit workshops for anything, really! This is YOUR convergence and we want YOUR voice heard! We are also looking for people to be on our panels. One panel in particular that needs folks is an Older Queers panel.

Also, we are looking for people to facilitate the caucuses. The format is a little complicated so here’s the explanation: http://bashbacknews.wordpress.com/2010/04/01/bash-back-convergence-caucus-proposal/

Hope to see you in Denver!

XO

~Saffo

Sylvia Rivera, transliberation, and class struggle.

(more…)

It has become custom among pro-Israelis to falsely accuse BDS promoters of practicing censorship, while actually all BDS promoters do is ask artists and intellectuals to act on their own conscience and political motivation. On the other hand, BDS promoters and other human rights solidarity groups and activists are the ones who face real threats and acts of censorship, directed against them, involving authority and budgeting mechanisms. Perhaps people at the City of Toronto are taking their lead from the Israeli Knesset, who recently has passed another one of its apartheid laws against Palestinian citizens of Israel, known as the Nakba law. The Nakba law prohibits government budgets or sponsorship for organizations who commemorate the 1948 ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians by Israel.

In this atmosphere of silencing and denial, in Israel and across the Western world, it is of vital importance to remind people the atrocities that are performed by Israel and encourage them to get involved, as done by QuAIA. Israel still rejects the Palestinian refugees’ right of return as stipulated by UN resolution 194. It violates numerous international laws and court of justice decisions in its settlements and apartheid wall enterprises, confiscating Palestinian lands and resources and segregating populations. Israel applies a cruel siege on Gaza which puts the population on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe. It executes Palestinians without trial, imprisons thousands, destroys homes and terrorizes communities.

It is due to these crimes and atrocities that QuAIA is desperately needed in Toronto’s pride parade, doing their indispensable solidarity work against all forms of censorship and oppression. QuAIA’s work is in line with queer struggles going on also within Israel. These struggles join the struggle of the Palestinians, a struggle that should be shared by all queers to end oppression and injustice.

In solidarity,

Israeli Queers for Palestine