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Mickey Z. -- World News Trust
Sept. 29, 2014
“Indian Removal, as it has been politely called, cleaned the land for white occupancy between the Appalachians and the Mississippi, cleared it for cotton in the South and grain in the North, for expansion, immigration, canals, railroads, new cities, and the building of a huge continental empire clear across to the Pacific Ocean.”
- Howard Zinn
According to the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, the estimated pre-1492 population of what is now called the United States ranges from 5 million to 15 million. By the late 1800s, the number of indigenous people was down to 25,000. Such a holocaust is only possible if the long traditional of dehumanization is utilized as a shield of denial.
"There is a profound historical legacy in the United States, going back to people like George Washington, for example, describing Indians as ‘wild beasts of the forest’ and ‘savage as the wolf,’” explains Ward Churchill.
Broken treaties (more than 400 signed and every single one broken), innumerable massacres (from the deliberate genocide of Powhatans to the slaughter at Wounded Knee), forced marches (i.e. the Trail of Tears relocating the Cherokee Nation from Georgia to Oklahoma), and federally sanctioned dehumanization… the treatment of Native Americans reads like a hideous catalogue of crime.
Speaking of hideous crimes, a man by the name of Adolf Hitler took notice of how America’s indigenous people were nearly exterminated in the Home of the Brave™.
Ward Churchill explains how der Führer “ used the treatment of the native people … the policies and processes that were imposed upon them, as a model for what he articulated as being … the politics of living space.”
In essence, says Churchill, Hitler took the notion of “a drive from east to west, clearing the land as the invading population went and resettling it with Anglo-Saxon stock … as the model by which he drove from west to east into Russia -- displacing, relocating, dramatically shifting or liquidating a population to clear the land and replace it with what he called superior breeding stock … He was very conscious of the fact that he was basing his policies in the prior experiences of the Anglo-American population.”
To get a good idea of how and when this got started, as we approach yet another Columbus Day, let’s contemplate how -- upon encountering the Arawak people in 1492 -- the venerated Mr. Columbus noted that they “would make fine servants,” adding, “with 50 men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.”
For that, he gets a day in his honor… and a square triangle.
Below the elevated platform at the Astoria Boulevard N/Q train station, my neighborhood plays host to Columbus Square -- which is actually shaped like a warped triangle. Let Manhattan have its rather simplistic circle… we in Queens are far more geometrically sophisticated. It’s a square triangle for us.
Naturally, a statue of Christopher Columbus adorns this triangular square. If one were to believe this sculptor’s rendition, Chris spent plenty of time in the Santa Maria Tennis and Fitness Club. This statue is pumped. He’s got biceps to die for and a set of pecs that are literally bursting out of his manly shirt.
Yep, Columbus is buff and ready for genocide.
An engraved plate on the ground under the aforementioned statue reads: “But not for Columbus, there would be no America.” As I stomp on those intolerable words with my dirt-infested sneakers, I envision that first conversation:
COLUMBUS: Red man, we want your land and everything on it.
ARAWAK: But, muscular paleface, what could you possibly offer in return for all these wonders?
COLUMBUS: Venereal disease, small pox, the destruction of your culture, genocide, Christianity, and a really bad image in John Wayne flicks.
The Arawak starts backing away slowly before taking off in a full sprint.
COLUMBUS: (yells after him) But I promise we’ll toss in some casinos in about 500 years! (Arawak keeps running) How’s about I get DiCaprio to walk with you at a big parade one day?
With that conversation in mind, I ascend the stairs to the train -- muttering to myself: "Oct. 13 is Indigenous People’s Day, Oct. 13 is Indigenous People’s Day..."
Mickey Z. is the author of 12 books, most recently Occupy this Book: Mickey Z. on Activism. Until the laws are changed or the power runs out, he can be found on the Web here. Anyone wishing to support his activist efforts can do so by making a donation here.
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Mickey Z. -- World News Trust
Balance: A harmonious or satisfying arrangement or proportion of parts or elements
In early 2000, I was walking through Manhattan with three friends on our way to meet a fourth member of our party. This was well before cell phones had become so completely pervasive, but, still, I was the only one in our group without one. I sarcastically commented on this and was promptly mocked as a Luddite. Then it was on to the essential business of figuring out how to meet up with friend #4.
Out came a cell phone. A call was placed to another cell phone. A meeting place was agreed upon, and we were on our way. Friend #1 hung up his phone and turned to me, declaring that this was "one of those times" when a cell phone was indispensable. To which I replied:
"If we didn’t have access to your cell phone or any cell phones at all, we would've been simply been more creative in order to come up with a plan that would've gotten all of us together without a major hassle. Instead, the phone made us lazy, because we knew we could just wing it. Instead of problem-solving, we opted for reliance on consumer electronics."
A similar rant, of course, could realistically be applied to calculators. Not to mention, the spell-check function on your computer, most software programs in general, and yeah…the computer itself. We no longer have to learn how to spell or remember phone numbers or do math in our heads or memorize directions or even walk up a single flight of stairs. Thanks to the marvels of industrial civilization, we happily delegate such tedious tasks to technology, so we can have time to focus on the truly important stuff, like…um…well…uh...removing 90% of the large fish from the ocean, perhaps?
Harmony: Agreement in feeling or opinion
We each possess a physiology that evolved to negotiate the Stone Age. Unfortunately, we live in the Space Age. There’s the rub. We are urban cavemen -- overmatched in our daily battle to navigate an artificial reality because we have lost contact with our instincts.
"Pediatricians nowadays see fewer kids with broken bones from climbing trees and more children with longer-lasting repetitive-stress injuries, which are related to playing video games and typing at keyboards," writes Sally Deneen at The Daily Green. Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods, calls this "nature deficit disorder." As a fourth-grader quoted in Louv's book explains: "I like to play indoors better, because that's where all the electrical outlets are." Nature deficit disorder is obviously not a medical term; it's more of a social trend...a trend that plays in factoids like this: American children between the ages of 8 and 18 spend an average of 6.5 hours a day indoors using computers, video games, television, and MP3 players.
The payoff for all this spectatorship is a lifestyle based on imitation, competition, materialism, and self-delusion. The dominant culture keeps us inactive while our biology desires movement. The dominant culture sells us junk food while our bodies crave nutrients. The dominant culture trains us to be obedient while our minds yearn for freedom. The dominant culture teaches conformity while our souls demand individuality. The dominant culture denies our biology and puts us out of balance with nature.
Among many others things, it can be posited that we did not evolve to experience artificial light after sundown, live inside four walls under that artificial light, eat processed and refined food products, ingest chemicals and pharmaceuticals, sleep during the day and stay up all night, drive cars, travel in an airplane across time zones with such rapidity, become obese, remain sedentary, consume animal flesh or mammary secretions, usurp our immune system with toxic vaccines, exist on a man-made time schedule, be surrounded by copious human-induced electromagnetic radiation, climb giant mountains, travel to space or underwater, wear shoes or eyeglasses, lift weights and develop hypertrophied muscles, exist without community, give birth lying down, live in a world devoid of top soil and nutrient-rich food, smoke cigarettes, be hyper-exposed to toxic pesticides, endure global warming and the greenhouse effect, use cosmetics, or manage the high level of stress and noise that is synonymous with our so-called progress.
Koyaanisqatsi…this is what the Kogi Indians of Colombia call "life out of balance," and this is what we have created as our culture. When I say "culture," I am referring to what Jason Miller calls "the pitiless, soulless, murderous machine of capitalism and industrial civilization [that] inculcates, indoctrinates, entices, bribes, and coerces nearly everyone to participate in its bloody, rapacious, and relentless assault on the Earth and its sentient inhabitants." This culture has quickly fucked up the entire planet. So much so that the elusive Kogi have issued a warning to us, their Younger Brothers.
Equilibrium: A condition in which all acting influences are canceled by others, resulting in a stable, balanced, or unchanging system
Even the eyes of veteran activists glaze over when I talk about 80% of the world's forest being gone. They want to debate the latest political minutia while all life on this planet is under relentless assault. It's cliché to declare that our problems cannot be solved by the same type of thinking that created them. Cliché but accurate. Elections, legislation, protests, petitions, and so on will not stop the flow of pesticides or the use of nuclear power or the glorification of war and its volunteer soldiers or our culture's relentless march toward total destruction.
Life on Earth is out of balance. Corporations, politicians, judges, cops, and soldiers can't fix this. In fact, most of them can't even perceive the imbalance. The change has to come from somewhere else. The change will come from somewhere else…of that we can be sure. The details of outcome, however, are far less certain.
Symbiosis: A relationship of mutual benefit or dependence
One final note, on the medium by which I have shared these thoughts: The aforementioned Kogi have no written language. In part, this is to assure they remember. They talk, they pass down stories, and they remember. "The Kogi attach great importance to memory," explain the editors of Ode Magazine. "The memory of events with which the community has been confronted, the memory of social regulations within the group and so forth. 'Memory,' they say, 'is like eyes which were made to see. If they close, everything becomes darkness.' For them, this memory cannot be written down, it must be spoken, passed down by members of the group. In writing, memories are separated from the people and lose their effectiveness."
So, I ask: what memories are we creating and what are we doing to ensure there will be someone left to appreciate and remember them?
Synergy: Cooperative interaction among groups
Mickey Z. is the author of two upcoming books: Self Defense for Radicals (PM Press) and his second novel, Dear Vito (The Drill Press). Until the laws are changed or the power runs out, he can be found on the Web at http://www.mickeyz.net- Details
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Mickey Z. -- World News Trust
Dec. 1, 2013
Balance: A harmonious or satisfying arrangement or proportion of parts or elements
In early 2000, I was walking through Manhattan with three friends on our way to meet a fifth member of our party. This was well before cell phones had become so completely pervasive but still, I was the only one in our group without one. I sarcastically commented on this and was promptly mocked as a Luddite. Then it was on to the essential business of figuring out how to meet up with friend #4.
Out came a cell phone. A call was placed to another cell phone. A meeting place was agreed upon and we were on our way. Friend #1 hung up his phone and turned to me, declaring that this was “one of those times” when a cell phone was indispensable. To which I replied:
“If we didn’t have access to your cell phone or any cell phones at all, we would’ve been simply been more creative in order to come up with a plan that would’ve gotten all of us together without a major hassle. Instead, the phone made us lazy because we knew we could just wing it. Instead of problem-solving, we opted for reliance on consumer electronics.”
A similar rant, of course, could realistically be applied to calculators. Not to mention, the spell-check function on your computer, most software programs in general, and yeah… the computer itself. We no longer have to learn how to spell or remember phone numbers or do math in our heads or memorize directions or even walk up a single flight of stairs. Thanks to the marvels of industrial civilization, we happily delegate such tedious tasks to technology so we can have time to focus on the truly important stuff, like… um… well… uh… removing 90 percent of the large fish from the ocean, perhaps?
Harmony: Agreement in feeling or opinion
We each possess a physiology that evolved to negotiate the Stone Age. Unfortunately, we live in the Space Age. There’s the rub. We are urban cavemen -- overmatched in our daily battle to navigate an artificial reality because we have lost contact with our instincts.
“Pediatricians nowadays see fewer kids with broken bones from climbing trees and more children with longer-lasting repetitive-stress injuries, which are related to playing video games and typing at keyboards,” writes Sally Deneen at The Daily Green.
Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods, calls this “nature deficit disorder.” As a fourth-grader quoted in Louv’s book explains: “I like to play indoors better, because that’s where all the electrical outlets are.”
Nature deficit disorder is obviously not a medical term; it’s more of a social trend, a trend that manifests in factoids like this: American children ages of 8 to 18 spend an average of 6.5 hours a day indoors using computers, video games, television, and smart phones.
The payoff for all this spectatorship is a lifestyle based on imitation, competition, materialism, and self-delusion.
The dominant culture keeps us inactive while our biology desires movement.
The dominant culture sells us junk food while our bodies crave nutrients.
The dominant culture trains us to be obedient while our minds yearn for freedom.
The dominant culture teaches conformity while our souls demand individuality.
The dominant culture denies our biology and puts us out of balance with nature.
Among many others things, it can be posited that we did not evolve to experience artificial light after sundown, live inside four walls under that artificial light, eat processed, refined, and GM food products, ingest chemicals and pharmaceuticals, drive cars, travel in an airplane across time zones with such rapidity, become obese, remain sedentary, consume animal flesh or mammary secretions, usurp our immune system with toxic vaccines, exist on a man-made time schedule, be surrounded by copious human-induced electromagnetic radiation, climb giant mountains, travel to space or underwater, lift weights and develop hypertrophied muscles, give birth lying down, live in a world devoid of top soil and nutrient-rich food, smoke cigarettes, be hyper-exposed to toxic pesticides, endure climate change, use cosmetics, exist without community, or manage the high level of stress and noise that is synonymous with our so-called progress.
Koyaanisqatsi… this is what the Kogi Indians of Colombia call “life out of balance” and this is what we have created as our culture -- a culture that has quickly fucked up the entire planet. So much so that the elusive Kogi have issued a warning to us, their Younger Brothers.
Equilibrium: A condition in which all acting influences are canceled by others, resulting in a stable, balanced, or unchanging system
Even the eyes of veteran activists glaze over when I talk about 80 percent of the world’s forest being gone. They want to debate the latest political minutia while all life on this planet is under relentless assault. It’s cliché to declare that our problems cannot be solved by the same type of thinking that created them. Cliché but accurate.
Elections, legislation, protests, petitions, and so on will not stop the flow of pesticides or the use of nuclear power or the glorification of war and its volunteer soldiers or our culture’s relentless march toward total destruction.
Life on Earth is out of balance. Corporations, politicians, judges, cops, and soldiers can’t fix this. In fact, most of them can’t even perceive the imbalance. The change has to come from somewhere else. The change will come from somewhere else, of that we can be sure. The details of outcome, however, are far less certain.
Symbiosis: A relationship of mutual benefit or dependence
The aforementioned Kogi have no written language. In part, this is to assure they remember. They talk, they pass down stories, and they remember. “The Kogi attach great importance to memory,” explain the editors of Ode Magazine. “The memory of events with which the community has been confronted, the memory of social regulations within the group and so forth. ‘Memory,’ they say, ‘is like eyes which were made to see. If they close, everything becomes darkness.’ For them, this memory cannot be written down, it must be spoken, passed down by members of the group. In writing, memories are separated from the people and lose their effectiveness.”
So, I ask: What memories are we creating and what are we doing to ensure there will be someone left to appreciate and remember them?
Synergy: Cooperative interaction among groups
Note: To continue conversations like this, come see Mickey Z. in person on Jan. 11 at Bluestockings Bookstore in NYC.
-***
Mickey Z. is the author of 12 books, most recently the novel Darker Shade of Green. Until the laws are changed or the power runs out, he can be found on a couple of obscure websites called Facebook and Twitter. Anyone wishing to support his activist efforts can do so by making a donation here.
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Mickey Z. -- World News Trust
Oct. 23, 2014
"The only thing we have to fear…”
- the guy who signed Executive Order 9066
Halloween is an odd holiday. The ostensible concept -- as it has evolved to become -- is to shock, startle, frighten, petrify, horrify, and/or terrify... all while consuming enough high fructose corn syrup to keep the American Dental Association content for another century or two.
Step away from the candy corn…
Every year, as Oct. 31 nears, loyal consumers squander a small fortune to adorn their soon-to-be-foreclosed-upon abodes with Made-in-China images of tombstones, skulls, ghouls, goblins, monsters, zombies, and even the occasional bloody severed limb or two. But let's face it, none of these cardboard depictions remotely compare to the real-life horrors we passively accept as normal.
Who needs Dracula when we've got ruling-class vampires sucking us dry -- stealing not only our blood but also our jobs, homes, health, and future?
Why bother with Saw when legions of ghouls unleash far worse cruelty -- every minute of every day -- via slaughterhouses, vivisection labs, fur farms, and other perfectly legal houses of horror?
No zombie is more frightening than corporations transformed into "persons" -- set free to co-opt our minds and pillage the ecosystem.
Never mind Jason and his hockey mask when you've got Obama playing left wing.
Who's afraid of UFOs or evil space aliens when the skies are filled with predator drones, cruise missiles, and fighter jets?
Elm Street's Freddie ain't got nothing on extraordinary rendition, NSA spying, and the PATRIOT Act.
Witches, bats, pumpkins, and skeletons vs. nuclear contamination, climate change, deforestation, ocean trawling, GMOs, and the Sixth Great Extinction? No contest.
And I'll take Godzilla's side over pesticide, genocide, and ecocide.
Here's one more 24/7 real-life nightmare far more dreadful than anything Halloween can conjure up: When all those kids come knocking on your door, expecting brightly colored toxins called “candy,” you might wish to remind yourself that across the globe, an estimated 30,000 children under the age of 5 die from preventable causes every single day.
Cue the ominous music: 30,000 dead. Under the age of 5. Every single day. From preventable causes.
The next time you're at a sporting event or a concert, take a good, slow look around you and get a feel for what 30,000 looks like.
It's a whole lot more terrifying than the whir of a chainsaw echoing down a desolate Texas highway.
#shifthappens
Mickey Z. is the author of 12 books, most recently Occupy this Book: Mickey Z. on Activism. Until the laws are changed or the power runs out, he can be found on the Web here. Anyone wishing to support his activist efforts can do so by making a donation here.
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