There is, in fact, an irreconcilable conflict in the Middle East, but it is not one between different peoples or faiths. It is instead the struggle between imperialism, Israel and the dependent Arab regimes on the one hand and the oppressed peoples of this oil-rich and strategic region fighting for liberation and progress on the other. 

At the very heart of this conflict is Palestine. The Palestinian struggle is a struggle against Western colonialism. It has been this way from the beginning, more than a century ago.

As is the case with all conflicts and world events, what is going on today in Palestine and the Middle East can only be understood in its historical context. 


"Palestine, Israel, and the US Empire", written by Richard Becker
E-book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B094YL965G

Ch. 1 - 'A struggle against Western colonialism' (Palestine, Israel, and the US Empire)

On February 22nd of 2014 five artists came together to give their performances.

Marathon

Dr. Responsible

Despite its association with sovereign nations involved in wartime alliances, the term “ally” has become influential in activist circles on the US left. Attention to debates over what it means to be an ally reveal the limits of the politics of allyship. They also provide an opportunity to reflect on the difference between allies and comrades. Allyship is anchored in liberal politics. People committed to revolutionary politics need to be comrades.

Over the last decade, there have been intense discussions on social media and among community organizers who can be an ally. Generally, allies are understood to be privileged people who want to do something about oppression. They may not consider themselves survivors or victims, but they want to help. So allies can be straight people who stand up for LGBTQ people, white people who support Black and brown people, men who defend women, and so on. I have yet to see the term used for rich people involved in working-class struggle. Allies don’t want to imagine themselves as homophobic, racist, or sexist. They see themselves as the good guys, part of the solution.

As is frequently emphasized in debates around allyship, claiming to be an ally does not make one an ally. Allyship requires time and effort. People have to work at it. Much of the written and video work on allyship is thus instructional, often appearing as a how-to guide or a list of pointers—how to be an ally, the dos and don’ts of allyship, and so on.  The instructions for being a good ally are mini lifestyle manuals, techniques for navigating (but not demolishing) settings of privilege and oppression. Individuals can learn what not to say and what not to do. They can feel engaged without any organized political struggle at all. The “politics” in these allyship how-tos consists of interpersonal interactions, individual feelings, and mediated affects.

The pieces on how to be a good ally that circulate online (as blog posts, videos, editorials, and course handouts) address the viewer or reader as an individual with a privileged identity who wants to operate in solidarity with the marginalized and oppressed. This potential ally is positioned as wanting to know what they can do right now, on their own, and in their everyday lives to combat racism, sexism, homophobia, and other forms of oppression. The ally’s field of operation is often imagined as social media (in knowing the right way to respond to racist or homophobic remarks on Twitter, for example); as charitable contribution (in donating to and setting up GoFundMe campaigns); as professional interaction (in hiring the marginalized and promoting the oppressed); as conversations at one’s school or university (in knowing what not to say); and, sometimes, as street-level protests (in not dominating someone else’s event). Even more often, the ally’s own individual attitude and behavior is what is targeted. The how-to guide instructs allies on how to feel, think, and act if they want to consider themselves as people who are on the side of the oppressed. Their awareness is what needs to change.

Read the full article here: https://www.liberationschool.org/from-allies-to-comrades/

From allies to comrades

I selected two tracks that I liked from last week's assignment:
admiral bellybutton's "Fline"
https://soundcloud.com/admiralbellybutton/fline-disquiet0153-groovelock
AND
mrach's "Glitch the Groove Locked Loop"
https://soundcloud.com/martinrach/glitch-the-groove-locked-loop-disquiet0153-groovelock

Per the assignment, the two were pasted together and that pairing repeated. You will hear an iteration of each [first "Glitch..." then "Fline"] unaltered before another track of the of the combination comes in. The second track starts with "Fline", so that both loops can be heard continuously. 
Distortion is added to one track, reverb, then a multi-band resonator are added to the other. 

In the spirit of last week's assignment-- of which, this week's can be considered a sequel-- this piece can also be approached as a loop. 

I recommend headphones or a wide stereo field in a quiet space. 

Image lifted from ifeelretro.com.

My thanks to mrach & admiral bellybutton for their work and their express permission to make use of it. 

Please enjoy! 

-ZKM


------

More on this 154th Disquiet Junto project — “Create a track from two locked grooves” — at:

http://disquiet.com/2014/12/11/disquiet0154-grooveunlocked/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

http://disquiet.com/junto

Join the Disquiet Junto at:

http://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet-junto/

Disquiet Junto general discussion takes place at:

http://disquiet.com/forums/

Image associated with this project by Risa:

https://flic.kr/p/7SVf4L

- end -

Secular Edict at The Math Lab 10/13/12

yobkrz

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