Monday, December 05, 2005
Snippets
Victor reads the news for you...
Narnia - the untold story
Finally, Polly Toynbee said something I agree with. Here she exposes the dark, missionary impulse of C.S. Lewis' Narnia series, in particular his rigid, moralizing religiosity: "of all the elements of Christianity, the most repugnant is the notion of the Christ who took our sins upon himself and sacrificed his body in agony to save our souls. Did we ask him to?"
I've often wondered this myself. Jesus was a kick-ass anti-imperialist, for sure - he organized the oppressed Jewish masses against the occupying army. He's up there in the pantheons of revolutionary heros. But to worship him because of it? He's no better than Wat Tyler, les sans culottes, Emma Goldman and Trotsky in my books. And none of those people blamed me for their sacrifices.
This is yoooouuuur fault! - Trotsky on his deathbed
Keep up the good work, boys - Monty Python's Life of Brian
Imperialist empor
By now you've probably received many emails asking for your bank account so the deposed leader/former industrialist can spirit funds out of the country. Apparently the scam is so popular in Nigeria there's a hit song about it, the chorus of which goes:
Exploit me! I don't mind! - South African miner makes sure Mr. Seaman's bank account is full
Knowing a little about the hellish inferno of African diamond mines, I wrote back:
NDP, we hardly knew ye
Canada's stalwart social democrats have now declared they won't oppose private, for-profit healthcare clinics. New Democratic Party chief Jack Layton suffers from voter perceptions that he's as slimy as a used car salesman; not wanting to disappoint, he declared private health care isn't a bad thing in principle, only when it's funded by public money. This puts him to the right of Ujjal Dosanjh, ex-NDPer and Liberal Health Minister, who points out, "If that [private health care] goes on and on and on, you are then by default building up a robust second tier". Obviously - let the rich opt out of the system and it will collapse. Besides, it's small recompense for the vast sums they've stolen from poor people, to make them wait 6 hours in the emergency room like everyone else.
Have I got a deal for you! - Jack Layton
I usually hold my nose and vote NDP at election time - not because they'll change anything, or indeed that elections are anything other than an occasional ritual to choose who to oppress us. However, I've consoled myself with the thought they represent an organized layer of the working class, formed in opposition to ruling class parties - they're a tiny sliver of working class consciousness in the fat, gristly pork pie of electoral politics.
But this time around I'm not going to. There's nothing to distinguish them from the other pro-privatization, pro-imperialist parties. Which Canadian Auto Workers president Buzz Hargrove recognized last week, when he called for tactical votes for the governing Liberals. Yes, he's a class traitor, tying working people further to capitalist parties. But he also recognizes most working people don't vote NDP.
Knowing this, you could take a principled stand and ask why a party of workers, the downtrodden and oppressed has jettisoned all its principles in a race to the right. This would get into the despicable role the NDP has played in shutting down social struggles throughout its history, let alone its failure to protest Canada's warmongering in Iraq (yes, Iraq). Layton has already called for increased military spending to fund more 'peacekeeping' atrocities like Canada is perpetrating in Afghanistan and Haiti.
Or you could just throw up your hands like Hargrove, accept the inevitable and give in to the capitalists without a fight. Or you could claim you're still fighting, like Layton, while ceding ground at the same time. Either way, the NDP has ceased to be anything more than an excuse for mealy-mouthed jacuzzi socialists to salve their consciences over breakfast at Dooney's.
Svend Robinson, former NDP left-winger, is still OK, 1) because he's the only NDP MP to publicize Israel's atrocities in Palestine, and 2) he stole a $50,000 ring for his lover. I want my elected representatives to be passionate and impulsive.
Narnia - the untold story
Finally, Polly Toynbee said something I agree with. Here she exposes the dark, missionary impulse of C.S. Lewis' Narnia series, in particular his rigid, moralizing religiosity: "of all the elements of Christianity, the most repugnant is the notion of the Christ who took our sins upon himself and sacrificed his body in agony to save our souls. Did we ask him to?"
I've often wondered this myself. Jesus was a kick-ass anti-imperialist, for sure - he organized the oppressed Jewish masses against the occupying army. He's up there in the pantheons of revolutionary heros. But to worship him because of it? He's no better than Wat Tyler, les sans culottes, Emma Goldman and Trotsky in my books. And none of those people blamed me for their sacrifices.
This is yoooouuuur fault! - Trotsky on his deathbedChrist should surely be no lion... He was the lamb, representing the meek of the earth, weak, poor and refusing to fight... [but] here in Narnia is the perfect Republican, muscular Christianity for America - that warped, distorted neo-fascist strain that thinks might is proof of right.I loved the Narnia series as a kid, and thankfully I never got any of the Christian references. Learning that it was a thinly disguised attempt at indoctrination ruined them for me. I do remember thinking it strange that, at the end of 'The Voyage of the Dawn Treader', the children are overjoyed to discover they've been killed in a car accident. (i.e. so they can live with Aslan/Christ forever.) And the 'The Final Battle', in which the forces of good militarily defeat the forces of evil, has too many queasy parallels with today. Let's not forget those Christian generals who think they're fighting a holy war in Iraq. No, this holiday season I'll be restricting my imperialist fantasies to re-viewing the Lord of the Rings.
Keep up the good work, boys - Monty Python's Life of BrianImperialist empor
By now you've probably received many emails asking for your bank account so the deposed leader/former industrialist can spirit funds out of the country. Apparently the scam is so popular in Nigeria there's a hit song about it, the chorus of which goes:
White people are greedy, yes I can say they are greedyI have no pity for people stupid enough to pay strangers over the internet on such obviously flimsy premises. Particularly when white ruling classes have, in conjunction with their local flunkies, stolen billions from Africa. I received a novel twist on the usual scam, when I received the following request to help transfer $26 million U.S. out of South Africa:
White men, I will eat your dollars
I will take your money and disappear
The owner of this bank account is Mr. Allan P.Seaman, a foreigner, and an industrialist, and he died, since 1996.... my investigation proved to me as well that Allan P. Seaman until his death was the manager Diamond Safari [pty]. S.A.
Exploit me! I don't mind! - South African miner makes sure Mr. Seaman's bank account is fullKnowing a little about the hellish inferno of African diamond mines, I wrote back:
I think any profits from the diamond industry shouldI never heard back from them - fancy that.
be put into building South African trade unions that
fight the horrific work conditions of miners, and try
to overthrow the system of profit & exploitation that
enriches the few at the expense of the blood & sweat
of the many.
Africa! Amandla!
NDP, we hardly knew ye
Canada's stalwart social democrats have now declared they won't oppose private, for-profit healthcare clinics. New Democratic Party chief Jack Layton suffers from voter perceptions that he's as slimy as a used car salesman; not wanting to disappoint, he declared private health care isn't a bad thing in principle, only when it's funded by public money. This puts him to the right of Ujjal Dosanjh, ex-NDPer and Liberal Health Minister, who points out, "If that [private health care] goes on and on and on, you are then by default building up a robust second tier". Obviously - let the rich opt out of the system and it will collapse. Besides, it's small recompense for the vast sums they've stolen from poor people, to make them wait 6 hours in the emergency room like everyone else.
Have I got a deal for you! - Jack LaytonI usually hold my nose and vote NDP at election time - not because they'll change anything, or indeed that elections are anything other than an occasional ritual to choose who to oppress us. However, I've consoled myself with the thought they represent an organized layer of the working class, formed in opposition to ruling class parties - they're a tiny sliver of working class consciousness in the fat, gristly pork pie of electoral politics.
But this time around I'm not going to. There's nothing to distinguish them from the other pro-privatization, pro-imperialist parties. Which Canadian Auto Workers president Buzz Hargrove recognized last week, when he called for tactical votes for the governing Liberals. Yes, he's a class traitor, tying working people further to capitalist parties. But he also recognizes most working people don't vote NDP.
Knowing this, you could take a principled stand and ask why a party of workers, the downtrodden and oppressed has jettisoned all its principles in a race to the right. This would get into the despicable role the NDP has played in shutting down social struggles throughout its history, let alone its failure to protest Canada's warmongering in Iraq (yes, Iraq). Layton has already called for increased military spending to fund more 'peacekeeping' atrocities like Canada is perpetrating in Afghanistan and Haiti.
Or you could just throw up your hands like Hargrove, accept the inevitable and give in to the capitalists without a fight. Or you could claim you're still fighting, like Layton, while ceding ground at the same time. Either way, the NDP has ceased to be anything more than an excuse for mealy-mouthed jacuzzi socialists to salve their consciences over breakfast at Dooney's.
Svend Robinson, former NDP left-winger, is still OK, 1) because he's the only NDP MP to publicize Israel's atrocities in Palestine, and 2) he stole a $50,000 ring for his lover. I want my elected representatives to be passionate and impulsive.
