Cor, there's some serious spam on blog coments. I dunno whether word verification or membership will prove to be the best way, but O guess I'll find out.
That's from Calivn & Hobbes above, BTW. The best strip ever written.
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Spam
Cor, there's some serious spam on blog coments. I dunno whether word verification or membership will prove to be the best way, but O guess I'll find out.
That's from Calivn & Hobbes above, BTW. The best strip ever written.
Saturday, October 29, 2005
More Persons Unknown
I just found out about the two women who refused to give up their seats on a Montgomery bus before Rosa Parks.
They were Claudette Colvin and Mary Louise Smith.
Fascinating what you can learn. Apparently Claudette Colvin was a High School student, and she resisted arrest less than non-violently. So she was convicted on an assault charge, and not the Jim Crow laws. Seems the same group of people that were behind Rosa Parks, were also there behind Claudette Colvin, including Martin Luther King, but they figured this wasn't as politically an appealing case as Rosa's later. See here. In fact, according to this site, she was 15 and pregnant, so obviously totally unsuitable for the Christian face of passive resistance! In fact, she was discriminated against by the middle class leaders of the Black community - not only was she working class, but she was also of a dark colour, and she got pregnant by something she now describes as 'Statutory Rape'. I don't know what she means by that.
But she wasn't dumb - her reasoning was "I do not have to get up. I paid my fare...It's my constitutional right." This is also a good site for a few other untold stories.
And here's a real interesting article. In fact, Claudette Colvin is bloody amazing. What's also interesting is the way she tells the story - shorn of the mythology of Rosa and her tired feet. She was sat with a pregnant woman, whose name is remembered only as 'Mrs Hamilton'. But what I noticed in her story was this: "I thought he would stop and shout and then drive on. That's what they usually did." So there wasn't a case of this one off act of rebellion at all, but this was a regular thing. They "would stop and shout and then drive on". This is what I truly appreciate - that the things that change the world are not some mythological acts, but tiny moments of coincidence, incidents of mood and human interaction.
Then there's Mary Louise Smith. Definitely NOT this woman - the first and only woman to chair the Republican National Committee.
There's little to be found about Mary Louise Smith. She was only18, and was arrested in October 1955, just weeks before Rosa Parks, but apparently her father was rumoured to be an alcoholic - a wino, in other words - and so she was not deemed to be a suitable candidate for martyrdom. Yet she said he was teetotal, so what the story was there, Ihaven't yet found.
It seems, there was a campaign awaiting to happen for months in fact, involving not just King, but very influentially, a guy called Edgar Daniel Nixon (unfortunate surname really!). (For links - here and here) There's also two other women who were apparently also involved, who I haven't got time to investigate now: Aurelia S. Browder and Susie McDonald.
All of which does not diminish the bravery of Rosa Parks, but points clearly in the direction that she was seen as a suitable candidate by the (male) political leadership of the Black community, who wished to find some way to oppose the racist laws in Montgomery, Alabama at the time. In fact, as Rosa Parks was a faithful member, and Montgomery Secretary, of the NAACP and King's church community at the time, I'm now presuming that this was all a bit of a set up!
And then, here's a bit from The Guardian article: "Betty Shabbaz, the widow of Malcolm X, was one of them. In a letter published shortly before Shabbaz's death, she wrote to Parks with both praise and perspective: "'Standing up' was not even being the first to protest that indignity. Fifteen-year-old Claudette Colvin was the first to be arrested in protest of bus segregation in Montgomery.
"When ED Nixon and the Women's Political Council of Montgomery recognised that you could be that hero, you met the challenge and changed our lives forever. It was not your tired feet, but your strength of character and resolve that inspired us."
No disrespect at all to Rosa Parks, and it was a totally worthy cause, but what I'm reading justifies even more my point that it isn't "one individual's actions changing history" as is often put about. It is, in fact, the result of a carefully considered political campaign of action.
The problem with that "one person changing the world" thing, is it's basically the same as the "kings and queens" attitude to history: that only powerful or super-able individuals change things, and the rest of us can basically rot in hell for all our capacity to change things. Without getting into a rant on dynamics, that's obviously a load of tosh, as - apparently - an examination of the Montgomery, Alabama movement in 1955 would show!
At the end of the Guardian article, Claudette Colvin, summarises the change in the last 4 decades: "What we got from that time was what was on the books anyhow. Working-class people were the foot soldiers, but where are they now - they haven't seen any progress. It was the middle classes who were able to take advantage of the laws." And she concludes: "There is no closure. This does not belong in a museum, because this struggle is not over. We still don't have all that we should have. And, personally, there can be no closure. They took away my life. If they want closure, they should give it to my grandchildren."
I think I'm a bit in love with that woman.
They were Claudette Colvin and Mary Louise Smith.
Fascinating what you can learn. Apparently Claudette Colvin was a High School student, and she resisted arrest less than non-violently. So she was convicted on an assault charge, and not the Jim Crow laws. Seems the same group of people that were behind Rosa Parks, were also there behind Claudette Colvin, including Martin Luther King, but they figured this wasn't as politically an appealing case as Rosa's later. See here. In fact, according to this site, she was 15 and pregnant, so obviously totally unsuitable for the Christian face of passive resistance! In fact, she was discriminated against by the middle class leaders of the Black community - not only was she working class, but she was also of a dark colour, and she got pregnant by something she now describes as 'Statutory Rape'. I don't know what she means by that.
But she wasn't dumb - her reasoning was "I do not have to get up. I paid my fare...It's my constitutional right." This is also a good site for a few other untold stories.
And here's a real interesting article. In fact, Claudette Colvin is bloody amazing. What's also interesting is the way she tells the story - shorn of the mythology of Rosa and her tired feet. She was sat with a pregnant woman, whose name is remembered only as 'Mrs Hamilton'. But what I noticed in her story was this: "I thought he would stop and shout and then drive on. That's what they usually did." So there wasn't a case of this one off act of rebellion at all, but this was a regular thing. They "would stop and shout and then drive on". This is what I truly appreciate - that the things that change the world are not some mythological acts, but tiny moments of coincidence, incidents of mood and human interaction.
Then there's Mary Louise Smith. Definitely NOT this woman - the first and only woman to chair the Republican National Committee.
There's little to be found about Mary Louise Smith. She was only18, and was arrested in October 1955, just weeks before Rosa Parks, but apparently her father was rumoured to be an alcoholic - a wino, in other words - and so she was not deemed to be a suitable candidate for martyrdom. Yet she said he was teetotal, so what the story was there, Ihaven't yet found.
It seems, there was a campaign awaiting to happen for months in fact, involving not just King, but very influentially, a guy called Edgar Daniel Nixon (unfortunate surname really!). (For links - here and here) There's also two other women who were apparently also involved, who I haven't got time to investigate now: Aurelia S. Browder and Susie McDonald.
All of which does not diminish the bravery of Rosa Parks, but points clearly in the direction that she was seen as a suitable candidate by the (male) political leadership of the Black community, who wished to find some way to oppose the racist laws in Montgomery, Alabama at the time. In fact, as Rosa Parks was a faithful member, and Montgomery Secretary, of the NAACP and King's church community at the time, I'm now presuming that this was all a bit of a set up!
And then, here's a bit from The Guardian article: "Betty Shabbaz, the widow of Malcolm X, was one of them. In a letter published shortly before Shabbaz's death, she wrote to Parks with both praise and perspective: "'Standing up' was not even being the first to protest that indignity. Fifteen-year-old Claudette Colvin was the first to be arrested in protest of bus segregation in Montgomery.
"When ED Nixon and the Women's Political Council of Montgomery recognised that you could be that hero, you met the challenge and changed our lives forever. It was not your tired feet, but your strength of character and resolve that inspired us."
No disrespect at all to Rosa Parks, and it was a totally worthy cause, but what I'm reading justifies even more my point that it isn't "one individual's actions changing history" as is often put about. It is, in fact, the result of a carefully considered political campaign of action.
The problem with that "one person changing the world" thing, is it's basically the same as the "kings and queens" attitude to history: that only powerful or super-able individuals change things, and the rest of us can basically rot in hell for all our capacity to change things. Without getting into a rant on dynamics, that's obviously a load of tosh, as - apparently - an examination of the Montgomery, Alabama movement in 1955 would show!
At the end of the Guardian article, Claudette Colvin, summarises the change in the last 4 decades: "What we got from that time was what was on the books anyhow. Working-class people were the foot soldiers, but where are they now - they haven't seen any progress. It was the middle classes who were able to take advantage of the laws." And she concludes: "There is no closure. This does not belong in a museum, because this struggle is not over. We still don't have all that we should have. And, personally, there can be no closure. They took away my life. If they want closure, they should give it to my grandchildren."
I think I'm a bit in love with that woman.
Persons Unknown
Just thought I'd add this photo . Rosa Parks' body will be lying in state at the Capitol; the first woman this has ever happened to - after presidents and soldiers.
Which I guess makes her semi-officially the most important woman in American history. Fair assessment I'd say.
Friday, October 28, 2005
Antici-pation!
Civilization IV was launched a couple of days ago in the States. It's not even out over here till next month, but I'm going to be waiting even longer. That's my big Christmas present from the wife this year. It looks fantastic though, so I'm pleased I've got a week off after Christmas to give it a good go.
Just before Christmas, Peter Jackson's 'King Kong' is out. It's just been reported that it's a 3 hour epic - like his Rings films - and from following the production diaries, it looks about as perfect as I could have hoped. I'm an old Kong fan too - like Jackson, it inspired me to make films. My old mate Jon, who I first made films with, was also a huge Kong fan. Unfortunately, neither of us had quite Jackson's career! I haven't made a film in 7 years, and the last I heard Jon was attempting his comeback as a stand-up comic.
Anticipating these entertainments is fun, but it's as a kid that you truly experience anticipation. This weekend kicks off the two month party period that stretches from Halloween to New Year. Willow is now familiar with the sequence "Halloween, Sint Maarten's, Sinterklaas, Willow's Birthday, Christmas, New Year". At it's best this time of year can be one of dark nights, a nip in the air and the cosy indoors, the lure and danger of the unknown. It's the only time left in a modern, Western, atheist's life when we celebrate the magical, and I like to retain that feeling for the kids. To give them the understanding that life is bigger than 24-hour TV and junkmail advertising.
Willow's full of beans this morning, because she knows that I'm taking her to see "Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit" this evening. Seems like a perfect start to the party season.
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Maintenance
I haven't got round to fiddling withthe formatting and possibilities of this blog yet - after all, it's not yet public! To be honest, I'm on a week's holiday from work, and I'm kind of enjoying doing little, staying up late and drinking too much beer (hence th late posts :-)
2001 - Like Soldiers Do
Yesterday, the Pentagon announced the death of the 2000th dead American soldier in Iraq. Actually, he'd died on Saturday, 4 days earlier, of wounds suffered a couple of weeks ago.
The Pentagon spin merchants had tried to defuse attention to the 'milestone' figure, by saying the 2000th was no more nor less important than any other death; that it should not be hyped, simply put. And of course the usual media repeated the story - after all, they're too scared to go out of their protected little world in Baghdad - and as that is even coming under attack, I guess we'll soon see media withdrawing from Iraq almost completely. Then we'll only get the Pentagon spin, and we can all shut up and swallow what we're told.
So here, for the record, is the 2001st American death. His name was Jonathan "JR" Spears, from North Florida, and he seems to have been about the All-American boy. High School Football star, US Marine, the regular Yankee invader. He was killed by small arms fire in Ramadi, a single shot, "conducting combat operations". He was on his second tour of duty.
Right now then, I'm not going into how Bush's puppeteers started a war of aggression to control oil assets (oil that New Orleans can really be grateful for, BTW, but I'll come to that another day). I'm not going into how there's going to be thousands of other dead American soldiers in the months and years to come, or of how the people sending them over there to die are exactly the sort of rich arsehole that would never be caught dead sending their own children to war. (No, they'd rather pay for their advancement in politics!)
I'll say two things today.
Firstly, JR Spears was a Lance Corporal when he was killed. Which is the rank my own father had on my birth certificate. I wouldn't be here today if my own dad had been a little unluckier, or he'd been sent to an even more suicidal war, and I guess there's a lot of JR Spears future that will never come to pass.
Secondly, alot of Iraqis, and Afghanis, are wondering who the hell is counting their dead. We don't even know. Is it 30,000 or 100,000 - both recent estimates by the way - or is it even more horrific. Does anybody really care or count any more. At what point does the act of war become an act of genocide? When do the hundreds of thousands of dead - of non-combatant dead - become a war crime? Do the Americans remember the 2 million dead Vietnamese? Will there be a brief comment in the evening news and a touch of Pentagon spin on the day the millionth Iraqi dies? Well, no, because nobody's really keeping count - except these guys, who only count direct military casualties. 2,000 Amrican dead seems to equal a hell of a lot more Iraqi dead. And alot more Iraqis will be dead before the next milestone gets a passing mention in the Western press.
Of course - remember Rosa Parks: just talking about things isn't going to make any difference. If you want to stop the war, you've got to act.
Preferably before the next number we stop to remark upon, is 3,000.
The Pentagon spin merchants had tried to defuse attention to the 'milestone' figure, by saying the 2000th was no more nor less important than any other death; that it should not be hyped, simply put. And of course the usual media repeated the story - after all, they're too scared to go out of their protected little world in Baghdad - and as that is even coming under attack, I guess we'll soon see media withdrawing from Iraq almost completely. Then we'll only get the Pentagon spin, and we can all shut up and swallow what we're told.
So here, for the record, is the 2001st American death. His name was Jonathan "JR" Spears, from North Florida, and he seems to have been about the All-American boy. High School Football star, US Marine, the regular Yankee invader. He was killed by small arms fire in Ramadi, a single shot, "conducting combat operations". He was on his second tour of duty.
Right now then, I'm not going into how Bush's puppeteers started a war of aggression to control oil assets (oil that New Orleans can really be grateful for, BTW, but I'll come to that another day). I'm not going into how there's going to be thousands of other dead American soldiers in the months and years to come, or of how the people sending them over there to die are exactly the sort of rich arsehole that would never be caught dead sending their own children to war. (No, they'd rather pay for their advancement in politics!)
I'll say two things today.
Firstly, JR Spears was a Lance Corporal when he was killed. Which is the rank my own father had on my birth certificate. I wouldn't be here today if my own dad had been a little unluckier, or he'd been sent to an even more suicidal war, and I guess there's a lot of JR Spears future that will never come to pass.
Secondly, alot of Iraqis, and Afghanis, are wondering who the hell is counting their dead. We don't even know. Is it 30,000 or 100,000 - both recent estimates by the way - or is it even more horrific. Does anybody really care or count any more. At what point does the act of war become an act of genocide? When do the hundreds of thousands of dead - of non-combatant dead - become a war crime? Do the Americans remember the 2 million dead Vietnamese? Will there be a brief comment in the evening news and a touch of Pentagon spin on the day the millionth Iraqi dies? Well, no, because nobody's really keeping count - except these guys, who only count direct military casualties. 2,000 Amrican dead seems to equal a hell of a lot more Iraqi dead. And alot more Iraqis will be dead before the next milestone gets a passing mention in the Western press.
Of course - remember Rosa Parks: just talking about things isn't going to make any difference. If you want to stop the war, you've got to act.
Preferably before the next number we stop to remark upon, is 3,000.
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks died this morning at the age of 92.
She was already 42 when she acted in the way that made her immortal and helped a little bit to change the world.
I don't go for the theory of "one person can change the world". Rosa Parks herself said the only reason her action got noticed is because the masses got behind her. Masses mobilised by Martin Luther King, her church, the NAACP and many others.
She was never alone or isolated; she'd been an NAACP member for more than a decade; and it wasn't as if the Civil Rights movement got born in that instant. Take the Washington march of '47 for instance, the Detroit uprising of 43, and many other forgotten moments of the movement.
And that myth of one person changing the world is a dangerous and foolish piece of propaganda. My clearest image is of the guy who stood before the column of tanks heading out of Tiananmen Square, the morning after the massacre. Everybody knows the shot and the footage. I don't know what happened to the guy - some say he was never caught, some say he was imprisoned or executed, some that a patsy paid for his actions. I do know what happened to the tank commander though. He was executed about 3 months later. For not following orders. For not riding the guy down. For embarassing the state and for unwittingly providing a lasting image of resistance.
I think the concept of idolising one individual is both a result and a function of our culture.
In fact, there had been two women earlier in 1955 in Montgomery who had refused to give up their seats. I don't know their names, and probably you don't either. They had been fined, and not imprisoned; but I believe they also weren't members of the same church as Rosa Parks. But they were heroes just as much as she was.
Still, when Rosa Parks was on that busy bus, and told the driver that she would not give up her seat for a white man, and then that, yes, he could go ahead and call the police to arrest her, that was an act of incredible bravery. Remember - this was a time of casual lynching. Emmett Till had been murdered just over a month earlier and the photos of his disfigured corpse were still being distributed by the NAACP. Still, Rosa Parks sat, and politely explained that the colour of your skin is irrelevant.
She was an amazing woman and the world owes her an enormous debt. Not because she showed that one person can change the world, but because she showed that one person can inspire the world, can move us all to action.
She was a queen. Our own shining, Black Queen.
Monday, October 24, 2005
Well that worked...
I eventually managed to get that uploaded today.
Not much to relate, I'll try to get the links and layout etc... sorted tomorrow.
That's Luna dog BTW.
Sunday, October 23, 2005
Debut
This first post is a test, to see how this blogging thing is going to work for me. I guess patience would be advisory. Especially as the blogger.com database seems to be playing silly buggers and i can't get this published!
It strikes me as weird that once people used to keep diaries and they were the most private thing in the world. Today, we keep blogs, and publish them for all the world to see.
I was always useless at keeping a diary, so i presume this will be no different.
It strikes me as weird that once people used to keep diaries and they were the most private thing in the world. Today, we keep blogs, and publish them for all the world to see.
I was always useless at keeping a diary, so i presume this will be no different.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)