Dangerous Ideas

Edge has put a call out for scientists to submit 'dangerous ideas' - its a good read and here is one I liked by MIHALYI CSIKSZENTMIHALYI who is the director of the Quality of Life Research Center, Claremont Graduate University...

"Generally ideas are thought to be dangerous when they threaten an entrenched authority. Galileo was sued not because he claimed that the earth revolved around the sun — a 'hypothesis' his chief prosecutor, Cardinal Bellarmine, apparently was quite willing to entertain in private — but because the Church could not afford a fact it claimed to know be reversed by another epistemology, in this case by the scientific method. Similar conflicts arose when Darwin's view of how humans first appeared on the planet challenged religious accounts of creation, or when Mendelian genetics applied to the growth of hardier strains of wheat challenged Leninist doctrine as interpreted by Lysenko.

One of the most dangerous ideas at large in the current culture is that the 'free market' is the ultimate arbiter of political decisions, and that there is an 'invisible hand' that will direct us to the most desirable future provided the free market is allowed to actualize itself. This mystical faith is based on some reasonable empirical foundations, but when embraced as a final solution to the ills of humankind, it risks destroying both the material resources, and the cultural achievements that our species has so painstakingly developed.

So the dangerous idea on which our culture is based is that the political economy has a silver bullet — the free market — that must take precedence over any other value, and thereby lead to peace and prosperity. It is dangerous because like all silver bullets it is an intellectual and political scam that might benefit some, but ultimately requires the majority to pay for the destruction it causes.

My dangerous idea is dangerous only to those who support the hegemony of the market. It consists in pointing out that the imperial free market wears no clothes — it does not exist in the first place, and what passes for it is dangerous to the future well being of our species. Scientist need to turn their attention to what the complex system that is human life, will require in the future.

Beginnings like the Calvert-Henderson Quality of Life Indicators, which focus on such central requirements as health, education, infrastructure, environment, human rights, and public safety, need to become part of our social and political agenda. And when their findings come into conflict with the agenda of the prophets of the free market, the conflict should be examined — who is it that benefits from the erosion of the quality of life?"

Indeed.

From The Wires...
A few links from the web I've been reading and would recomend...

ANTI-WAR BEYOND ANTI-BUSH
There are three forces that can end this war and bring the troops home. The first is the Iraqi people themselves, who can defeat the American army through a war of attrition and general resistance. The second is a movement of the American people that builds its own autonomous power and forces American elites to abandon their imperial project in Iraq. And a third movement could involve American soldier resistance and refusal. In all likelihood, it will be a combination of all three that will end the war.

A good article, though about the US has lots of valid points for UK too. Robert Fisk has written a new article, and as usual its an amazing read. I got his book 'The Great War for Civilization' for Xmas (Fanks xxxx!!) and so far its an amazing read. Its rare you get both an amazing grasp of language, a deep intellectual insight and historical roots in one book - this has. Recommended. Anyhow, this is also a good review of the Middle East/Iraq in '05:

War without End
My year began with a massive explosion in Beirut, just 400 metres from me, as a bomb killed the ex-prime minister Rafiq Hariri. It continued on 7 July when a bomb blew up two trains back from me on the Piccadilly line. Oh, the dangerous world we live in now. I suppose we all have to make our personal choices these days. Mine is that I am not going to allow 11 September 2001 to change my world. Bush may believe that 19 Arab murderers changed his world. But I'm not going to let them change mine. I hope I'm right.

And finally Aaron Spectre has got some amazing mixes you can download from his site - check out the 'Live @ Brussels Breakcore Gives Me Wood' which is him under the Drum Corps banner – wikkid.

A Christmas Message - Ignore the Bombs

I am about to head into Broadmead – not hat I want to, but I stuff to do and so need to step back into the consumer maelstrom. Watching Xmas TV I noticed that the air-wave assault of consumerism did not lull – as the 25th arrived, the adverts changed from Xmas to January Sales with practiced ease, like a well oiled military operation. Indeed the Guardian had a column describing the pre-xmas shopping period as 'war'; "...shoppers force themselves forward at the furious pace of commuters...anxiously debating presents on their mobile phones as if calling in a missile strike. This is guerrilla Christmas shopping, a deadly serious exercise in brinksmanship, consumers pitted against their favourite shops...". On the day I read that piece I had the misfortune to end up in the massive Tesco Eastville, and while I waited for a friend I could not help be notice how little like a war, and how much like a process the whole thing was: Huge lines of people were processed through the isles, stripped of individuality as their purchases are scanned into stock and marketing data and then their money (aka time spent earning it in wage-slavery) was handed over for the privilege. It is no wonder that one in every eight pounds spend in the UK goes to Tesco. They process consumer units like a well oiled military machine

But to describe this was war or war-like is to demean the terror of war.

For example: At the moment Broadmead, as the so-called Bristol-Alliance development gets underway, looks a bit like a bomb-site. Thought-connections: The Weather Underground, a US radical group of the 60s and 70s, used to perform bombings in the US mainland under the slogan 'Bring the war home'. That war was Vietnam and their bombs were an attempt to make people sit-up and realise that there were civilians dying in their name. We should not need a Weatherman to tell us which way the wind is blowing; in Iraq, the bomb-sites are not metaphorical: "Until the end of August, US warplanes were conducting about 25 strikes a month. The number rose to 62 in September, then to 122 in October and 120 in November." These war planes are dropping 500 pound bombs – these are military munitions designed to attack other military forces. In Iraq they are being dropped on houses and fields against insurgents. If a 2000-pound bomb has a blast radius of about 4000 feet, it is reasonable to assume that a 500-pound one has a blast radius of about 1000 feet. If insurgents were in a safe-house, would that house, and only that house, be destroyed in the air-strike? Does your home fit into a neat 1000 feet radius? Unless you are in a Clifton mansion you will see why so many civilians are dying as Bliar and Bu$h clear Iraq of terrorists.

How much did Bliar spend on an xmas present for Bu$h? 500 pounds?

No! Wait! But they have had elections! Yes – that is democracy in action. Amidst the re-runs of the Two Ronnies and the Queens speech did anyone notice that Qusay Salah al-Din, a guy organising protests against what he saw as rigged elections was found dead. Hands tied behind his back and a bullet in his head.

And the prices fall in the January sales.

And the bombs fall in Iraq.

Xmas Links

Well its xmas time so here's a few links to mull over with your mulled wine...

The Pantera stuff I donated for the GM Benefit auction sales went for £41!!! Cool!

The NYC police have had undercover people in protests. Nothing new there. They have also been 'influencing' events - i.e. acting as agent-provocateurs - nothing new there. What is new, is that the huge amount of digital media around means it can be proved. Check it out on gnn.tv

Class War have given an ace Xmas TV guide for the radical! See it on Libcom.org

Finally - Laff your ass off with Bash.org

Child Abuse by Coalition
I had reported some time ago about Seymour Hersh talking about the child-rape being perpertualted by the coalition - but this was only in a talk he gave. Now I've seen the same sickening allegations into torture in the main, not in a speech:

"A Sunday Herald investigation has discovered that coalition forces are holding more than 100 children in jails such as Abu Ghraib. Witnesses claim that the detainees – some as young as 10 – are also being subjected to rape and torture..."

But then, as Naomi Klein notes; The U.S. has used torture for decades. All that's new is the openness about it.