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Last night I saw Capital, Michael Moore’s new film. Like his other films, this one jumped around frequently, I assume as a tactic to keep viewers’ interest. Moore’s basic thesis is “Capitalism is bad,” not a very refined thesis, but he doesn’t present a very refined argument. While he does spend some time presenting the basic tenants of Capitalism (free enterprise, free market, etc), Moore’s main focus throughout is really on the deregulation of the financial system since Reagan. (There is an article/book by Thomas Frank on this very topic in an issue of Harper’s magazine.) As such, he spends lots of time connecting the dots between the bad mortgage crisis last fall and the politicians and lobbyists in Washington who made literally millions and millions of dollars off of it and then bailed themselves out with public money when it went sour. He makes his argument not so much through stats, reason, or logic (though there is some of this), but through a series of anecdotal stories of the struggles of real people (family in Peoria, MI who lost their home to rising mortgage payments, workers in a window and door factory who after the factory closes stage a prolonged sit down until their back wages are paid, etc.). I don’t at all mean to sound derisive of this approach. I think it is valuable not only for its effectiveness, but also for its refusal to play by the established (or establishment) rules of how you are supposed to present an argument and to whom you are supposed to go to for evidence (surely, not the people themselves). In this way it reminds me of Zinn’s approach to “the people’s history.”

Moore also, as in other films of his, makes some sweeping comparisons between the USA (failing, foolish) and the EU and Japan (utopian, enlightened), and eventually eases his audience towards the use and possible understanding of the dreaded “S word”. The film culminates in a Moore’s plea to his fellow Americans to join him in the struggle for…Democracy! But for those of us disappointed with his last-second lack of courage to proclaim what he really wants us to struggle for, the closing music takes the form of a bizarre, big band version of the Internationale, further evidence of what Moore really meant to say.

Blow by blow of ongoing resistance:
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefield/

Howdjadoo!

03 Howdjadoo

I recently finished Ricci`s bio of Trudeau, which is a part of JR Saul`s Extraordinary Canadians series, which is itself, i think, an offshoot of Saul`s most recent book/thesis that Canada is a “Metis nation.”

While I found this an interesting read, I found it odd and a little annoying how Ricci purported to be breaking down the mythology surrounding Trudeau, when in actuality seemed to do more to enhance and glorify the image (as opposed to the reality) of Trudeau. Ricci successfuly presents the fascinating narratuve of Trudeau’s gifted and previledged youth. This youth included things both strange (Trudeau’s admission in his journal’s that he was not writing his true thoughts, but rather the thoughts that he wanted the future archivists of his famous life to read), to the frightening (his denial of Nazi attrocities, his anti-semitism, and his membership in an anti-democratic, pro- quebec nationalism cell).

But, Ricci throughout the book seems to be in awe of Trudeau, from the introduction where he claims that as an immigrant kid in grade two he remembers his first sense of being Canadian coming after hearing Trudeau, to somewhere in the middle of the book where he compares Trudeau to Jesus, all the way to the final page of the book where Ricci walks longingly past the Montreal home of the recently deceased Trudeau. This mood of adoration to me undercuts the seriousness of Ricci’s attempt to discover what Trudeau means to us as an iconic Canadian.

Overall the book is a psychological biography, and not a political one, which is perhaps disappointing to me as it doesn’t spend much time describing and evaluating Trudeau’s policies.

I read this several months ago, and the strongest memory I have now is Orwell’s description of visiting a coal mine and the physical agony involved in the kilometer (or more) long walk from the bottom of the shaft to the coal face. the passage would be 4 feet high, or less where the braceing came down and likely scraped your spine as you passed under it.

Also what I remember is Orwell’s description of the conditions of the boarding house that he stayed in; filthy eating conditions, bad food, rooms packed with beds, shared beds (either at the same time, or in shifts i.e. I sleep there while you work at night and you while i work at day), bedbugs, etc. What strikes me now that I think of it is the frightening similarity to the boarding house for ex-psychiatric patients in Toronto described by Pat Caponni in her book Upstairs in the Crazy House (which I comment on here)

Pat Caponni’s book on her experiences living in a boarding house for discharged psychiatric patients is a painful, uplifting, and ultimately very important book. Caponni displays with both subtlety and honesty the feelings and opinions that she held, and which changed so incredibly, during her time in the ‘crazy house.’ The feelings of fear, disgust, revulsion, etc., towards the other denizens that she admits to having felt upon her arrival, becuase of its honesty, makes her ultimate transition to the caring warden of these same people all the more striking and inspiring.

This book shows how easy it is to accept poverty when we don`t see it, when we succeed in hiding it away, but also how hard it is to not become a compasionate activist when we are forced to see it in an intimate way.

Here is a biography of “Canada’s Greatest Canadian.” The fact that Tommy was voted ( albeit, i assume, by a biased pool of CBC listeners) best Canadian, gives me hope in the face of the other group of Canadians–the hundreds of thousands of Canadians who vote for Stephen Harper. But the real value of this book is that, as the title suggest, it situates T.D. in the context of the various major political events and issues during his long political carreer. From the Great Depression and support for food relief and labour efforts, to early condemnation of Trudeau’s use of the War Measures Act, the book shows how T.D., while he had his faults, was generally ahead of the curve.

Douglas’s unflinching committment to making political decisions based on moral and ethical factors (i.e. the wellbeing of his fellow men and women) is an inspiration to me, as a young person interested in politics, but repulsed by the pettyness of party politics, and the lack of moral leadership/righteousness displayed by our ’socialist’ party, the NDP.

I read this book a little while ago. It is a graphic novel biography of Loius Riel. I thought it was well done, the graphics are great and the narrative flows along. But i think perhaps Brown focused too much on the religious fanaticism of Riel, portraying him as mad and delusional, and not as an inspired political mind and leader. Despite his religious views, i think that Riel must have had an inpressive political intellect in order to have accomplished the things that he did (leading the rebellion, anticipating numerous government moves, strategizing, becoming elected to parliament in Ottawa while an outlaw, etc.). I would have liked to have read more about the political context of the time, and perhaps less about Riel’s personal inner turmoil and revelations…

I watched this move, Snowcake, last night and i found it inspiring. Technically i guess it is about autism, but i think it is more about how to live one’s life in a world filled with other people. The character with autism, Linda, played by Sigourney Weaver, because (not in spite) of her autism is able to remind Alex (Alan Rickman) that life is beautiful, especially in the form of snowflakes, flashing balls, and trampolines.

I recently finished  A People’s History of American Empire by Howard Zinn, which is a graphic novel adaptation of part of his larger book A People’s History of the United States. The book covers the history of American “adventures,” from the indian wars and the American domination of the continent marked by the Massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890 to the invasion of Iraq and Afganistan following 9/11. One general comment of mine is that I was surprised to learn that American corporations had been for so long tied into American imperialism and general warmongering. For example, the invasions of the Phillipines and Cuba in 1898 were encouraged by american business interests…

This book to me reinforces the value of “people’s history,” which I would define as the telling of history through the actions of average people acting in extraordinary ways against state or military power. As opposed to conventional history, which seeks to make forgotten the stories of the people who were there on the ground. Lately, in my studies of the Canadian working class during the years 1930-36, I have been amazed by how little I (and presumably that average person) know about what actually happened to average people during this time. Or more so, shocked by the incompassionate, selfish, violent, and occasionally murderous actions of the political class and their main weapon, the RCMP.