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Category: 1212DC (December)
Piers Stefan Pughe-Morgan, known professionally as Piers Morgan, the 47 year old British journalist and television host working in the United States is the subject of a petition to the Obama Administration to deport him back to Great Britain for Attacking 2nd Amendment. In the wake of the December 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting Morgan criticised American gun laws when interviewing Larry Pratt on his gun control views, calling him a "stupid man" and "a dangerous man espousing dangerous nonsense" after Pratt argued that the best way to combat crime in the USA was to have more guns. The petition at this time has gathered 88,485 signatures, exceeding the 25,000 threshold which requires a response from the White House. Tommy Christopher in a Mediate article titled ‘Anti-Piers Morgan Petitioners Are A National Embarrassment’ states “This is why we can’t have nice things. A little over a year ago, the White House announced an innovative way for Americans to engage with their government by creating online petitions that the White House would have to respond to if enough signatures (25,000) were gathered. One consequence of the “We the People” program, however, is that a relatively small number of Americans now have the ability to shame the entire nation before the world, as is the case with the gun-loving morons… While obvious, it should be noted that Piers Morgan is “attacking” and “targeting” with speech, an activity that, if memory serves, is addressed somewhere in that Amendment-thingy. It might even be somewhere near that 2nd Amendment, I’ll have to check. That First Amendment also protects the right of these 82,000 people to be idiots in public, but that doesn’t mean the rest of us have to be happy about it. What these petitioners have done is tell the world that when Americans don’t like your ideas, they try to get the government to silence you. It’s true that these people represent a mere fraction of a fraction of our population, but the petition amplifies their voices well beyond what they could ever have hoped for.” Inspired by Tommy Christopher ow.ly/gpLjV image source Facebook ow.ly/gpLiT Dangerous man espousing dangerous nonsense (December 31 2012)

Piers Stefan Pughe-Morgan, known professionally as Piers Morgan, the 47 year old British journalist and television host working in the United States is the subject of a petition to the Obama Administration to deport him back to Great Britain for Attacking 2nd Amendment. In the wake of the December 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting Morgan criticised American gun laws when interviewing Larry Pratt on his gun control views, calling him a “stupid man” and “a dangerous man espousing dangerous nonsense” after Pratt argued that the best way to combat crime in the USA was to have more guns. The petition at this time has gathered 88,485 signatures, exceeding the 25,000 threshold which requires a response from the White House. Tommy Christopher in a Mediate article titled ‘Anti-Piers Morgan Petitioners Are A National Embarrassment’ states “This is why we can’t have nice things. A little over a year ago, the White House announced an innovative way for Americans to engage with their government by creating online petitions that the White House would have to respond to if enough signatures (25,000) were gathered. One consequence of the “We the People” program, however, is that a relatively small number of Americans now have the ability to shame the entire nation before the world, as is the case with the gun-loving morons… While obvious, it should be noted that Piers Morgan is “attacking” and “targeting” with speech, an activity that, if memory serves, is addressed somewhere in that Amendment-thingy. It might even be somewhere near that 2nd Amendment, I’ll have to check. That First Amendment also protects the right of these 82,000 people to be idiots in public, but that doesn’t mean the rest of us have to be happy about it. What these petitioners have done is tell the world that when Americans don’t like your ideas, they try to get the government to silence you. It’s true that these people represent a mere fraction of a fraction of our population, but the petition amplifies their voices well beyond what they could ever have hoped for.”

 

Inspired by Tommy Christopher ow.ly/gpLjV image source Facebook ow.ly/gpLiT

Asim Waqif the 34 year old Indian video and documentary artist whose projects have attempted a crossover between architecture, art and design has been featured by Gayatri Rangachari Shah in an article for the New York Times titled ‘Indian Artist Looks to Bring Works to the Everyman’. Shah states “…with his elaborate sculpture "Bordel Monstre," at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris … Waqif, a former architect, said he felt limited designing within the confines of an office, and about seven years ago he started producing avant-garde installations …has used unconventional material, weaving debris — like discarded wood panels, wiring, plastic waste, metal and dry waste — into an elaborate, interactive sculpture. The 34-year-old multidisciplinary artist described the exhibit as a “means of making people aware of their own movement, to take into account an element of risk in their lives, of being careful and conscious.” In an effort to stimulate all five senses, he built mechanical pedals and electronic panels into the mazelike structure so that spectators could actively engage with the work. “People will be actors in the work, which includes light and sound,” said the show’s curator, Daria de Beauvais, by telephone. “It will be a unique experience for the audience because they will be able to hear, see, walk, feel and smell the work.” “Bordel Monstre” is the culmination of Mr. Waqif’s fall residency in Paris, which was supported by SAM Art Projects, and is the first exhibition to be displayed in the recently expanded Palais’s Music Temple room, a space originally dedicated to creating electronic music. Describing the large room as “challenging to work in,” Ms. Beauvais said she was impressed by the artist’s ability to make it his own. “The way some people work with canvas, Asim works with space”.” Inspired by Gayatri Rangachari Shah ow.ly/gdOGc image source SamArtProjects ow.ly/gdOCp In an effort to stimulate all five senses (December 30 2012)

Asim Waqif the 34 year old Indian video and documentary artist whose projects have attempted a crossover between architecture, art and design has been featured by Gayatri Rangachari Shah in an article for the New York Times titled ‘Indian Artist Looks to Bring Works to the Everyman’. Shah states “…with his elaborate sculpture “Bordel Monstre,” at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris … Waqif, a former architect, said he felt limited designing within the confines of an office, and about seven years ago he started producing avant-garde installations …has used unconventional material, weaving debris — like discarded wood panels, wiring, plastic waste, metal and dry waste — into an elaborate, interactive sculpture. The 34-year-old multidisciplinary artist described the exhibit as a “means of making people aware of their own movement, to take into account an element of risk in their lives, of being careful and conscious.” In an effort to stimulate all five senses, he built mechanical pedals and electronic panels into the mazelike structure so that spectators could actively engage with the work. “People will be actors in the work, which includes light and sound,” said the show’s curator, Daria de Beauvais, by telephone. “It will be a unique experience for the audience because they will be able to hear, see, walk, feel and smell the work.” “Bordel Monstre” is the culmination of Mr. Waqif’s fall residency in Paris, which was supported by SAM Art Projects, and is the first exhibition to be displayed in the recently expanded Palais’s Music Temple room, a space originally dedicated to creating electronic music. Describing the large room as “challenging to work in,” Ms. Beauvais said she was impressed by the artist’s ability to make it his own. “The way some people work with canvas, Asim works with space”.” Inspired by Gayatri Rangachari Shah ow.ly/gdOGc image source SamArtProjects ow.ly/gdOCp

Tomas Magnusson the 62 year old Swedish co-president of the International Peace Bureau has published an article on the Inter Press Service titled ‘why isn’t the Nobel Peace Prize for the champions of peace? Magnusson states “Leaders of the European Union (EU) will gather … to receive an increasingly controversial Nobel Peace Prize. Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor and industrialist, established the five prizes by his will in 1895 and there is a growing international awareness that his prize “for the champions of peace” does not go to the recipients Nobel had in mind. …nowhere has the EU declared a political ambition to promote the global peace order of demilitarised nations that Nobel described with unmistakable clarity in his will. ...Norwegian politicians are entitled to have their opinion on the EU as a contributor to “peace” and they are free to throw great parties for political friends. But they are not free to use the entrusted money and the prestige of the Nobel prizes to promote their own agendas. A will is a legally binding instrument, yet, in the last decade, the prize has become totally disconnected from Nobel’s disarmament purpose… …In the will, Nobel formulated his purpose in unmistakable terms: he wished to free the world from the scourge of militarism and wars and ensure that resources were used for the benefit of people rather than feeding the voracious appetite of arms races. Nobel gave his peace prize to the world, wishing to foster innovative changes that would “confer the greatest benefit on mankind”. …The legitimate Nobel winner should be an opponent rather than a proponent of military programmes and policies. The world spends exorbitant amounts on a busted model of security and an illusion that it can be achieved in confrontation rather than cooperation. To use the peace prize to promote the visionary peace plan of Nobel would be the best thing that could happen to the poor and unhappy of the world, to the environment, human rights, democracy, women and children, victims of war ¬ everywhere, every year.” Inspired by IPS News ow.ly/gdN5e image source Facebook ow.ly/gdMSu Nobel Peace Prize for the champions of peace (December 29 2012)

Tomas Magnusson the 62 year old Swedish co-president of the International Peace Bureau has published an article on the Inter Press Service titled ‘why isn’t the Nobel Peace Prize for the champions of peace? Magnusson states “Leaders of the European Union (EU) will gather … to receive an increasingly controversial Nobel Peace Prize. Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor and industrialist, established the five prizes by his will in 1895 and there is a growing international awareness that his prize “for the champions of peace” does not go to the recipients Nobel had in mind. …nowhere has the EU declared a political ambition to promote the global peace order of demilitarised nations that Nobel described with unmistakable clarity in his will. …Norwegian politicians are entitled to have their opinion on the EU as a contributor to “peace” and they are free to throw great parties for political friends. But they are not free to use the entrusted money and the prestige of the Nobel prizes to promote their own agendas. A will is a legally binding instrument, yet, in the last decade, the prize has become totally disconnected from Nobel’s disarmament purpose… …In the will, Nobel formulated his purpose in unmistakable terms: he wished to free the world from the scourge of militarism and wars and ensure that resources were used for the benefit of people rather than feeding the voracious appetite of arms races. Nobel gave his peace prize to the world, wishing to foster innovative changes that would “confer the greatest benefit on mankind”. …The legitimate Nobel winner should be an opponent rather than a proponent of military programmes and policies. The world spends exorbitant amounts on a busted model of security and an illusion that it can be achieved in confrontation rather than cooperation. To use the peace prize to promote the visionary peace plan of Nobel would be the best thing that could happen to the poor and unhappy of the world, to the environment, human rights, democracy, women and children, victims of war ¬ everywhere, every year.”

 

Inspired by IPS News ow.ly/gdN5e image source Facebook ow.ly/gdMSu

David Lister the British Arts Editor for The Independent and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, has published an article in The Independent titled ‘The Turner Prize and its judges have painted themselves into a corner’. Lister states “I have never fully "got" the Turner Prize. This week, as every year, it certainly made a stir and found an interesting winner in Elizabeth Price, a 45-year-old video artist formerly of the eighties pop band Talulah Gosh (I must have been washing my hair during their 15 minutes of fame, because I can't recall them at all). But with or without memories of Talulah Gosh, the Turner Prize, presented by the statutory celebrity, this year Jude Law, proved again one of the biggest and glitziest events in the arts calendar. …It has a mission. Other arts awards don't. The Oscars and Baftas don't have a stated purpose to encourage people to debate and love film. The Comedy Awards don't solemnly claim that their objective is to get the populace discussing what makes them laugh. But the Turner Prize comes with a mission statement. It professes that it is, "intended to promote public discussion of new developments in contemporary British art". …two of the four on this year's shortlist were video artists, the third was a performance artist, and the fourth an artist who drew with a hint of excrement. There was no painter. I suspect that there is still puzzlement in public understanding about video art, just as I suspect there is still puzzlement over why painting is the poor relation in contemporary art. How helpful it would have been this week if the chair of the Turner Prize judges, Penelope Curtis, the head of Tate Britain, had "promoted public discussion of new developments in contemporary art" by addressing that publicly. Is there a crisis in British painting, Penelope? Does that make you sad, as the head of one of the most famous homes of painting in the world? Sure, let's have the parties, and the prizes presented by actors. But let's have the real discussion too. Remember that mission statement.” Inspired by The Independent ow.ly/gdKYA image source Twitter ow.ly/gdKW3 Turner Prize judges painted selves into a corner (December 28 2012)

David Lister the British Arts Editor for The Independent and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, has published an article in The Independent titled ‘The Turner Prize and its judges have painted themselves into a corner’. Lister states “I have never fully “got” the Turner Prize. This week, as every year, it certainly made a stir and found an interesting winner in Elizabeth Price, a 45-year-old video artist formerly of the eighties pop band Talulah Gosh (I must have been washing my hair during their 15 minutes of fame, because I can’t recall them at all). But with or without memories of Talulah Gosh, the Turner Prize, presented by the statutory celebrity, this year Jude Law, proved again one of the biggest and glitziest events in the arts calendar. …It has a mission. Other arts awards don’t. The Oscars and Baftas don’t have a stated purpose to encourage people to debate and love film. The Comedy Awards don’t solemnly claim that their objective is to get the populace discussing what makes them laugh. But the Turner Prize comes with a mission statement. It professes that it is, “intended to promote public discussion of new developments in contemporary British art”. …two of the four on this year’s shortlist were video artists, the third was a performance artist, and the fourth an artist who drew with a hint of excrement. There was no painter. I suspect that there is still puzzlement in public understanding about video art, just as I suspect there is still puzzlement over why painting is the poor relation in contemporary art. How helpful it would have been this week if the chair of the Turner Prize judges, Penelope Curtis, the head of Tate Britain, had “promoted public discussion of new developments in contemporary art” by addressing that publicly. Is there a crisis in British painting, Penelope? Does that make you sad, as the head of one of the most famous homes of painting in the world? Sure, let’s have the parties, and the prizes presented by actors. But let’s have the real discussion too. Remember that mission statement.”

 

Inspired by The Independent ow.ly/gdKYA image source Twitter ow.ly/gdKW3

 

Charlotte Silver the American journalist based in the Palestinian West Bank has published an article on Aljazeera titled ‘Will Monsanto destroy Mexico's corn?’ discussing the introduction of GE corn to Mexico would sound the death knell for the country's precious ecology. Silver states “When GE corn was introduced in the mid-90s, Mexico was inhospitable to the new-fangled crop. The country's National Biosecurity Commission established a (non-legally binding) moratorium on genetically engineered corn in 1998 as a means to safeguard what is considered to be the planet's cradle of maize cultivation. Corn has been carefully tended in Mexico for eight millennia and environmental conservationists report that thousands of peasant varieties are still grown throughout the country. With an estimated 75 per cent of the planet's biodiversity vanished as of 1995, Mexico's heterogeneous corn fields are a rare vestige of the age prior to the "Green Revolution" era that is responsible for the artificially and unhealthily homogenous industrial agriculture that is prevalent now. Introducing GE corn to Mexico would sound the death knell for this precious ecology as it is widely agreed that GE crops cannot co-exist with conventionally bred seeds. Despite institutional protections against GE corn, neoliberal policies have already enabled certain strains of GE corn to intermingle with Mexican maize… Thousands of tonnes of corn that began inundating Mexico from, primarily, the US (mostly for non-human consumption) after the signing of NAFTA in 1994 ensured that the promiscuous plant's pollen blew onto the pristine fields of small farms. As of today, it is estimated that at least one per cent of Mexico's corn has traces of GE. But perhaps of more immediate threat to the magnificent biodiversity of Mexico's maize is the country's politicians' willingness to succumb to the pressure of big biotech companies. …As long as politicians do not stand up for the health of their citizens or their land, biotech companies will reap profits in the grim wake of human and ecological destruction.“ Inspired by Aljazeera ow.ly/gdJyl image source Twitter ow.ly/gdJT9 Will Monsanto destroy Mexico’s corn (December 27 2012)

Charlotte Silver the American journalist based in the Palestinian West Bank has published an article on Aljazeera titled ‘Will Monsanto destroy Mexico’s corn?’ discussing the introduction of GE corn to Mexico would sound the death knell for the country’s precious ecology. Silver states “When GE corn was introduced in the mid-90s, Mexico was inhospitable to the new-fangled crop. The country’s National Biosecurity Commission established a (non-legally binding) moratorium on genetically engineered corn in 1998 as a means to safeguard what is considered to be the planet’s cradle of maize cultivation. Corn has been carefully tended in Mexico for eight millennia and environmental conservationists report that thousands of peasant varieties are still grown throughout the country. With an estimated 75 per cent of the planet’s biodiversity vanished as of 1995, Mexico’s heterogeneous corn fields are a rare vestige of the age prior to the “Green Revolution” era that is responsible for the artificially and unhealthily homogenous industrial agriculture that is prevalent now. Introducing GE corn to Mexico would sound the death knell for this precious ecology as it is widely agreed that GE crops cannot co-exist with conventionally bred seeds. Despite institutional protections against GE corn, neoliberal policies have already enabled certain strains of GE corn to intermingle with Mexican maize… Thousands of tonnes of corn that began inundating Mexico from, primarily, the US (mostly for non-human consumption) after the signing of NAFTA in 1994 ensured that the promiscuous plant’s pollen blew onto the pristine fields of small farms. As of today, it is estimated that at least one per cent of Mexico’s corn has traces of GE. But perhaps of more immediate threat to the magnificent biodiversity of Mexico’s maize is the country’s politicians’ willingness to succumb to the pressure of big biotech companies. …As long as politicians do not stand up for the health of their citizens or their land, biotech companies will reap profits in the grim wake of human and ecological destruction.“

 

Inspired by Aljazeera ow.ly/gdJyl image source Twitter ow.ly/gdJT9

Lee Fang the American investigative reporter and blogger has published an article in The Nation Magazine titled ‘Does the NRA Represent Gun Manufacturers or Gun Owners?’ Fang states “Over the last four years, Congress and the Obama administration have only enacted laws that have deregulated gun use in America. It’s no secret why. As pundits love to note, the gun lobby is incredibly influential. But as we consider the potential for reform … one of the first questions we should ask this time is: who does the gun lobby really represent? The National Rifle Association portrays itself as an organization that represents “4 million members” who simply love the Second Amendment. The truth is much more murky. In reality, the NRA is composed of half a dozen legal entities; some designed to run undisclosed attack ads in political campaigns, others to lobby and collect tens of millions in undisclosed, tax-deductible sums. …Despite the grassroots façade, there is much evidence to suggest that corporations that profit from unregulated gun use are propping up the NRA’s activities, much like how the tobacco lobby secretly funded “Smokers Rights’” fronts and libertarian anti-tax groups, or how polluters currently finance much of the climate change skepticism movement. …The Violence Policy Center has estimated that since 2005, gun manufacturers have contributed up to $38.9 million to the NRA. Those numbers, however, are based on publicly listed “sponsorship” levels on NRA fundraising pamphlets. The real figures could be much bigger. Like Crossroads GPS or Americans for Prosperity, or the Sierra Club for that matter, the NRA does not disclose any donor information even though it spends millions on federal elections. And like other industry fronts, the NRA is quick to conceal its pro–gun industry policy positions as ideological commitments.” Inspired by The Nation ow.ly/gdIgD image source Verum Serum ow.ly/gdIc8 NRA Represent Gun Manufacturers (December 26 2012)

Lee Fang the American investigative reporter and blogger has published an article in The Nation Magazine titled ‘Does the NRA Represent Gun Manufacturers or Gun Owners?’ Fang states “Over the last four years, Congress and the Obama administration have only enacted laws that have deregulated gun use in America. It’s no secret why. As pundits love to note, the gun lobby is incredibly influential. But as we consider the potential for reform … one of the first questions we should ask this time is: who does the gun lobby really represent? The National Rifle Association portrays itself as an organization that represents “4 million members” who simply love the Second Amendment. The truth is much more murky. In reality, the NRA is composed of half a dozen legal entities; some designed to run undisclosed attack ads in political campaigns, others to lobby and collect tens of millions in undisclosed, tax-deductible sums. …Despite the grassroots façade, there is much evidence to suggest that corporations that profit from unregulated gun use are propping up the NRA’s activities, much like how the tobacco lobby secretly funded “Smokers Rights’” fronts and libertarian anti-tax groups, or how polluters currently finance much of the climate change skepticism movement. …The Violence Policy Center has estimated that since 2005, gun manufacturers have contributed up to $38.9 million to the NRA. Those numbers, however, are based on publicly listed “sponsorship” levels on NRA fundraising pamphlets. The real figures could be much bigger. Like Crossroads GPS or Americans for Prosperity, or the Sierra Club for that matter, the NRA does not disclose any donor information even though it spends millions on federal elections. And like other industry fronts, the NRA is quick to conceal its pro–gun industry policy positions as ideological commitments.”

 

Inspired by The Nation ow.ly/gdIgD image source Verum Serum ow.ly/gdIc8

Nassim Nicholas Taleb the 52 year old Lebanese American essayist and scholar whose work focuses on problems of randomness, probability and uncertainty is the subject of a critical review from Michiko Kakutani in the New York Times for his latest publication ‘Antifragile’. Kakutani in the article ‘You Are All Soft! Embrace Chaos!’ states”A reader could easily run out of adjectives to describe Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s new book “Antifragile: Things That Gain From Disorder.” The first ones that come to mind are: maddening, bold, repetitious, judgmental, intemperate, erudite, reductive, shrewd, self-indulgent, self-congratulatory, provocative, pompous, penetrating, perspicacious and pretentious. …Taleb contends that we must learn how to make our public and private lives (our political systems, our social policies, our finances, etc.) not merely less vulnerable to randomness and chaos, but actually “antifragile” — poised to benefit or take advantage of stress, errors and change… For the most part, however, the author is way better at identifying examples of fragility than he is at laying out specific strategies to become more antifragile. Often the narrative hops and skips from broad-stroke hypotheses to personal anecdotes …Taleb seems to revel in being contentious and controversial, perhaps betting that such notoriety will win him and his book some added buzz. He consigns television, air-conditioning, newspapers and economic forecasts to the category of “offensive irritants.” And he talks about rationing the supply of information because, he insists, “the more data you get, the less you know what’s going on.” “Antifragile” is also riddled with contradictions. Mr. Taleb offers predictions about the future, though he keeps talking about the unreliability of predictions. He repeatedly attacks theorists and academics as the sorts of people who would presume to “lecture birds on how to fly.” And yet he’s an academic himself (whose main subject matter, his book jacket tells us, is “decision making under opacity”), and the book he’s written is nothing if not one big, hyperextended, overarching theory about how to live in a random and uncertain world.” Inspired by Michiko Kakutani ow.ly/gdCWq image source Sarah Taleb ow.ly/gdDij Things that gain from disorder (December 25 2012)

Nassim Nicholas Taleb the 52 year old Lebanese American essayist and scholar whose work focuses on problems of randomness, probability and uncertainty is the subject of a critical review from Michiko Kakutani in the New York Times for his latest publication ‘Antifragile’. Kakutani in the article ‘You Are All Soft! Embrace Chaos!’ states”A reader could easily run out of adjectives to describe Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s new book “Antifragile: Things That Gain From Disorder.” The first ones that come to mind are: maddening, bold, repetitious, judgmental, intemperate, erudite, reductive, shrewd, self-indulgent, self-congratulatory, provocative, pompous, penetrating, perspicacious and pretentious. …Taleb contends that we must learn how to make our public and private lives (our political systems, our social policies, our finances, etc.) not merely less vulnerable to randomness and chaos, but actually “antifragile” — poised to benefit or take advantage of stress, errors and change… For the most part, however, the author is way better at identifying examples of fragility than he is at laying out specific strategies to become more antifragile. Often the narrative hops and skips from broad-stroke hypotheses to personal anecdotes …Taleb seems to revel in being contentious and controversial, perhaps betting that such notoriety will win him and his book some added buzz. He consigns television, air-conditioning, newspapers and economic forecasts to the category of “offensive irritants.” And he talks about rationing the supply of information because, he insists, “the more data you get, the less you know what’s going on.” “Antifragile” is also riddled with contradictions. Mr. Taleb offers predictions about the future, though he keeps talking about the unreliability of predictions. He repeatedly attacks theorists and academics as the sorts of people who would presume to “lecture birds on how to fly.” And yet he’s an academic himself (whose main subject matter, his book jacket tells us, is “decision making under opacity”), and the book he’s written is nothing if not one big, hyperextended, overarching theory about how to live in a random and uncertain world.”

 

Inspired by Michiko Kakutani ow.ly/gdCWq image source Sarah Taleb ow.ly/gdDij

Mary Louisa Toynbee, known as Polly Toynbee the 65 year old British journalist, writer and President of the British Humanist Association has published an article in The Guardian titled ‘Atheists are better for politics than believers’. Toynbee states “'If you're not religious, for God's sake say so," we implored, and many did. Over a quarter of the population registered as non-believers: more might have done were the census question unambiguous about whether it meant cultural background or personal belief. …Some religions argue they have a God-given right not to be caused offence, to give legal weight to fatwas against those who offend their prophets. But in the rough and tumble of free speech, no one can be protected against feeling offended. …the charge that without God, unbelievers have no moral compass. Hitler and Stalin were atheists, that's where it leads. We can ripost with religious atrocities, Godly genocides or the Inquisition, but that's futile. Wise atheists make no moral claims, seeing good and bad randomly spread among humanity regardless of faith. Humans do have a hardwired moral sense, every child born with an instinct for justice that makes us by nature social animals, not needing revelations from ancient texts. The idea that morality can only be frightened into us artificially, by divine edict, is degrading. …there is enough wonder in the magical realms of human imagination, thought, dream, memory and fantasy where most people reside for much of their waking lives. There is no emotional or spiritual deficiency in rejecting creeds that stunt and infantalise the imagination. Liberated by knowing the here and now is all there is, humanists are optimists, certain that our destiny rests in our own hands. That's why most humanists are natural social democrats, not conservatives.” Inspired by The Guardian ow.ly/gdC1F image source Wikipedia ow.ly/gdBLx Atheists are better for politics than believers (December 24 2012)

Mary Louisa Toynbee, known as Polly Toynbee the 65 year old British journalist, writer and President of the British Humanist Association has published an article in The Guardian titled ‘Atheists are better for politics than believers’. Toynbee states “’If you’re not religious, for God’s sake say so,” we implored, and many did. Over a quarter of the population registered as non-believers: more might have done were the census question unambiguous about whether it meant cultural background or personal belief. …Some religions argue they have a God-given right not to be caused offence, to give legal weight to fatwas against those who offend their prophets. But in the rough and tumble of free speech, no one can be protected against feeling offended. …the charge that without God, unbelievers have no moral compass. Hitler and Stalin were atheists, that’s where it leads. We can ripost with religious atrocities, Godly genocides or the Inquisition, but that’s futile. Wise atheists make no moral claims, seeing good and bad randomly spread among humanity regardless of faith. Humans do have a hardwired moral sense, every child born with an instinct for justice that makes us by nature social animals, not needing revelations from ancient texts. The idea that morality can only be frightened into us artificially, by divine edict, is degrading. …there is enough wonder in the magical realms of human imagination, thought, dream, memory and fantasy where most people reside for much of their waking lives. There is no emotional or spiritual deficiency in rejecting creeds that stunt and infantalise the imagination. Liberated by knowing the here and now is all there is, humanists are optimists, certain that our destiny rests in our own hands. That’s why most humanists are natural social democrats, not conservatives.”

 

Inspired by The Guardian ow.ly/gdC1F image source Wikipedia ow.ly/gdBLx

The Internet of Things Is Finally Talking (December 23 2012) The Internet of Things Is Finally Talking (December 23 2012)

Clive Thompson the 44 year old Canadian freelance journalist, blogger and science technology writer has published an article on the Wired titled ‘No Longer Vaporware: The Internet of Things Is Finally Talking’. Thompson states “…The Internet of Things is the long-prophesied phenomenon of everyday devices talking to one another—and us—online, creating odd new behaviors and efficiencies. Fridges that order food when you’re almost out of butter! Houses that sense when you’re gone and power down! Back in the ’90s, big companies built systems to do tricks like this, but they were expensive, hard to use, and vendor-specific. The hype eventually boiled away. The Internet of Things turned out to be vaporware. Until the past few years, that is, when the landscape shifted from below. … After the Fukushima nuclear disaster, many Japanese worried that the government wasn’t providing adequate data on areas outside the evacuation zone. So some hackers designed customized Geiger counters that automatically updated radioactivity levels on an online map. Soon there were more than 300 jury-rigged all over the country, so the public could see real-time radiation levels. “It was the largest nongovernmental radiation-monitoring network in Japan,” says Chris “Akiba” Wang, one of the hackers. A similar example recently emerged in earthquake prone Chile, where a student modded a seismometer to tweet its readings. It quickly amassed more than 300,000 followers, who were grateful for the early alerts. In essence, the Internet of Things is happening because it has reached the “Apple II stage.” This is the moment when a new technology finally becomes easy enough to use that thousands of people start doing experiments to scratch a personal itch—like Sande with his fan. And the pace of experimentation is going to accelerate, as new gear arrives that makes it even cheaper and easier.”

 

Inspired by Wired ow.ly/g2h7N image source Twitter ow.ly/g2h1M

Profound sense of loss and disillusionment (December 22 2012) Profound sense of loss and disillusionment (December 22 2012)

Yue Minjun the 50 year old Chinese contemporary artist best known for oil paintings depicting himself in various settings, frozen in laughter as a sort of logo that can be attached to any setting to add value, has been profiled by Nazanin Lankarani in a New York Times article titled ‘The Many Faces of Yue Minjun’. Lankarani states “…The notion of risk is well known in China, where artists can be subject to state censorship in various forms. Recent widely-reported examples include the artists Ai Weiwei, who has faced accusations of crimes ranging from tax evasion to bigamy and pornography, and Zhang Huan, whose 2008 show at the Shanghai Art Museum was canceled in 2008 by local authorities, with no reason given. A prolific painter since the early 1990s, Mr. Yue, 50, belongs to the generation of artists marked by what he calls a “profound sense of loss and disillusionment” after the crackdown at Tiananmen Square in 1989, in which popular demonstrations culminated in the massacre of protesters. “I feel that those years enabled us to find a new energy,” Mr. Yue said in a conversation in July with a friend, Shen Zhong, included in the catalog of the Paris show. “We discovered that the ideas and assumptions we had about a lot of things were no longer credible.” For the artists who chose to stay in China after 1989, the Cynical Realism movement, which Mr. Yue joined, was a possible path to express their experience in post-Tiananmen Chinese society. “Those who stayed experimented with a new iconography lush with signs of a disenchantment in confronting their society and assessing their own status,” said Grazia Quaroni, a curator at the Fondation Cartier. But, she added, “30 years later, Yue Minjun’s work exudes a sense of melancholy rather than cynicism.”

 

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Will a continent turn its back on democracy (December 21 2012) Will a continent turn its back on democracy (December 21 2012)

Antony James Beevor the 65 year old British historian and author has published an article in The Prospect titled ‘Will a continent turn its back on democracy?’ Beevor states”…We again face the danger of a world depression and we are beginning to see mass unemployment in some countries, especially in southern Europe. Last year, Giles Paxman, the British ambassador in Madrid, pointed out how remarkable it was that despite the terrifying levels of youth unemployment in Spain, there had been an astonishingly low level of social disorder. The demonstrations of the “Indignados,” the young Spaniards who have taken to the streets to protest against austerity measures and unemployment, have been passionate but not violent. His theory is that the memory of the horrors of the Spanish civil war is acting like a nuclear threat in the background. He may well be right. Greece also suffered from a civil war, and although there have been a considerable amount of violent protests in Athens, folk memory is likely to hold the country back from outright conflict. …What are the dangers and threats to parliamentary democracy in Europe? Can the fundamental contradictions in the euro project be overcome? The dynamic of the moment seems to be that political integration must be drastically accelerated to make up for the flagrant paradoxes that existed from the euro’s very foundation and were scandalously ignored. The same foreign minister argued to me last autumn that the economic situation was so grave that Europe must adopt a presidential system with direct elections. That idea is now becoming general currency in top European circles. Economic and political control would be drastically centralised with virtually no accountability. This would be nothing less than an elective dictatorship bringing with it the threat of nationalism, the very thing the European project intended to avoid.”

 

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Every meal is a potential still life (December 20 2012) Every meal is a potential still life (December 20 2012)

Laura L Letinsky the 50 year old Canadian contemporary photographer best known for her still lifes, has been interviewed by Allison Meier for Blouin Artinfo article in which she states “…every meal is a potential still life, but only so far as anything and everything is fodder for the camera. In terms of my interest in photographing after the meal, I was interested in the photograph as an event always in the past, only as the past. These ideas have been beautifully articulated by Roland Barthes in Camera Lucida. Photographing this scene after meals were eaten was a way to think about remains, stains, and what resists, including what resists photography. …I’m continuing with my photographic work, building on what I’ve begun with the “Ill Form Void Full” work. I’m hoping to do some travelling, particularly in Istanbul as I’m interested in its place as a juncture between pictorial conventions of Islamic decorative practice and Western European narrative depictions. I don’t want to be simplistic in my observations, and so want to do more research about this as it relates to gender, architecture, domesticity, and psychology. …I try not to have anything so valuable that it hurts if it’s lost. It’s not possible, and I do have objects that although not of marketable value, have great sentimental value. I’m not methodical in my collecting, rather it’s things I adore. I’ve amassed sets of dishes that are different whites and ivory, but similar because of a gold line around the rim which has extended into other not-quite-matching-but-related porcelain and glassware.”

 

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Massive German Tax Evasion Probe (December 19 2012) Massive German Tax Evasion Probe (December 19 2012)

Hans Leyendecker the 63 year old German political editor and columnist at the Munich-based Süddeutsche Zeitung, has published along with Claus Hulverscheidt an article on Worldcrunch titled ‘Massive German Tax Evasion Probe, Billions Stashed In Swiss Banks’ with one estimate is that some 150 billion euros have been stashed in secret Swiss accounts. Leyendecker and Hulverscheidt states “The German prosecutor’s office in the western city of Bochum announced it had uncovered proof of massive tax evasion, with billions of undeclared euros deposited by German investors in Swiss bank accounts. The prosecutor in the state of North Rhine Westphalia analyzed the contents of a CD with data from German clients, including 750 foundations and 550 individuals. The data showed secret accounts with Swiss banking giant UBS totaling 2.9 billion euros. The foundations alone are alleged to have evaded 204 million euros in German taxes. Since 2007, the western state of North Rhine Westphalia has been buying CDs containing information about alleged tax evaders. The practice by the state’s Social Democratic Party (SPD)-led government has met with criticism from Germany’s Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, who believes it adversely affects the chances of getting a global German/Swiss tax agreement signed. Meanwhile, the SPD and Greens believe the draft agreement Schäuble has negotiated with the Swiss is too lax and are blocking its passage in federal parliament. There are no official estimates of how much “black” money Germans have in Swiss accounts, though this latest probe, one of the largest to date, offers further signs that the amounts may be enormous.”

 

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More settler than the settlers (December 18 2012) More settler than the settlers (December 18 2012)

Jon Elmer the Canadian writer and photojournalist specializing in the Middle East and Canadian foreign and military policy, has published an article on Aljazeera titled ‘”More settler than the settlers”: Canada’s UN policy and Israel’ claiming since Israel’s inception, Canada has been at the forefront in its unwavering support of the Jewish state. Elmer states “Even before Canada officially cast its “no” vote at the United Nations, Palestinians knew which way the Canadian wind would blow. At the gates of Canada’s heavily guarded “embassy” in Ramallah the day before the vote, protesters carried signs of Prime Minister Stephen Harper emblazoned with a dogs snout and the dismissive slogan, “this dog doesn’t hunt”. The next day in New York, Canada joined Israel, the US, the Czech Republic, Panama and four small countries in the Pacific Islands – including Nauru, population 10,000 –  in voting against a General Assembly resolution granting Palestinians Non-Member Observer State status. The final tally was 138 to 9 in favour. Before the vote, analyst Mouin Rabbani aptly characterised the antagonists: “Those openly opposing this vote can easily be counted on the fingers of an amputated hand: Israel; the United States, which is more pro-Israel than Israel itself; Canada, which is more pro-Israel than even the United States.” Indeed, the very next day Canada voted against six more resolutions on Palestinian rights that were adopted, including one on the “peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine” (163-6). Canada opposing resolutions dealing with Palestinian rights is not new, nor is it the effect of a particular government or another. Opposing such resolutions has been a core Canadian diplomatic tactic since the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 – by both Liberal and Conservative governments.”

 

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These will become subjects of the privileged (December 17 2012) These will become subjects of the privileged (December 17 2012)

Elizabeth Price the 46 year old British artist and former member of indie pop bands having been awarded the Turner Prize for her video trilogy, the first video artist to win for over a decade. The jury “admired the seductive and immersive qualities of Price’s video trilogy, which reflects the ambition that has characterised her work in recent years. They were impressed by the way Price creates a rhythmic and ritualistic experience through her film installations combining different materials and technical vocabularies from archival footage and popular music videos to advertising.” Charlotte Higgins in a Guardian article states “Were she starting out now, her career in art – one that has just been crowned by her winning this year’s Turner prize – would be impossible, Elizabeth Price has said. The artist, who was awarded the £25,000 prize on Monday, criticised the government’s introduction of the Ebacc qualification in schools. …Price, who attended a comprehensive school in Luton before studying art at the University of Oxford, where she also now teaches, criticised the withdrawal of state funding for humanities and arts at universities. The result, she said, is that “these will become the subjects of the privileged, and history-writing and novel-writing and art-making and poetry-writing will become homogenous in terms of class and social background”. Her career – making video art whose value in the commercial world is insufficient to support her – has been possible only because of publicly funded arts institutions, she said. “If you look at my CV, just about everything I have done has come through a publicly funded institution; it is a career entirely built on that sort of support.” It would never have happened without the “generous opportunities I’ve had through education and public funding”.

 

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Israel keeps us imprisoned in an enclave (December 16 2012) Israel keeps us imprisoned in an enclave (December 16 2012)

Yasmeen El Khoudary the Palestinian cofounded Diwan Ghazza, a cultural and knowledge-exchange platform for youth in Gaza, runs a project to preserve Gaza’s cultural heritage and history.  El Khoudary has published an article on Aljazeera titled ‘Steal what you will from the blueness of the sea and the sand of memory’. El Khoudary states “In the Middle Ages, Gaza was home to countless treasures, including rich agriculture, pottery making and wool weaving, with exports along the famous Silk Road. In 1660, a French visitor compared Gaza’s baths and markets with those of Paris and noted that Arabic, Turkish and Greek were all spoken in the streets. Where was Israel then? …our faith in humanity will not be restored if countries of the world vow more money for rebuilding Gaza. It will only be restored once the world starts looking at our cause with its brains and not with its donations, in which case, no donations will be required. The fact that the Gaza Strip is still besieged by Israel from land, sea and air, should mean that we are still under occupation and under the responsibility of the Israeli government. If Israel argues otherwise, saying that we are not under Israeli occupation, then it should relinquish its control of our borders and leave us to handle our own business. But as long as Israel keeps us imprisoned in an enclave of ambiguity, the world will keep paying and Israel will keep destroying. …I would like to prepare the international community for another Israeli argument that they will likely be hearing in a couple of years, when today’s children become the leaders of future Palestine. “We have no peace partners in Palestine,” you will hear every Israeli leader say. When you hear that, I want you to think of the 350 Palestinian children who were injured by Israel during the last six days…”

 

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Asia is experiencing an economic slowdown (December 15 2012) Asia is experiencing an economic slowdown (December 15 2012)

Supachai Panitchpakdi the 66 year old Thai Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has published an article on IPS News titled ‘Global Rebalancing – Implications For Asia’. Panitchpakdi states “Although it remains the fastest growing region, Asia is already experiencing an economic slowdown, with gross domestic product (GDP) expected to fall… In China and other major economies in the region, however, internal rebalancing remains unfinished as private consumption should take on a greater role relative to investment. High wage growth will help to support this goal as well as helping to promote further external rebalancing. High and volatile commodity prices also present a risk to the rebalancing process for the Asian region, because they can be a drag on growth. Rising oil prices, for example, act as an immediate dampener on aggregate spending in fuel-importing countries, contracting spending more or less immediately, whereas any spending expansion from fuel-exporting countries occurs only after a lag. However the main risk continues to be concentrated in the developed economies, where the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has long been concerned that premature and excessive fiscal austerity is choking recovery and growth unnecessarily. The developing economies in Asia have played a major role stoking the engine of growth since the crisis, but this could be derailed if there continues to be a decline in consumer demand from their traditional markets in the advanced economies, and the effects of a reduction in this demand would of course have further spill-over effects if it provoked a downturn in Asian household and investment demand. … Ultimately, what is most important is that regional markets remain open, so that rising domestic demand in each country is met not only by domestic enterprises but also by those operating in other countries of the region.”

 

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I believe it is time to regulate the press (December 14 2012) I believe it is time to regulate the press (December 14 2012)

Will Hutton the 62 year old columnist for the Observer and former stockbroker and investment analyst has published an article in The Guardian titled ‘Why I, as a journalist and ex-editor, believe it is time to regulate the press’ claiming the Leveson report is a much-needed opportunity for newspapers to abandon the excesses of the past. Hutton states “Leveson’s report… is being portrayed across great swaths of the British print media as the greatest threat to freedom of speech in modern times. The abuses Leveson was set to up to rectify – industrial-scale phone-hacking and the emergence of News International as a de facto state within a state, along with the more widespread culture and ethics that produced them – are deemed to be yesterday’s problems. What is left is the prospect of state regulation of Britain’s proud free press. …To strengthen press freedoms, he may propose stronger public interest protections for newspapers that want to publish what the powerful try to muzzle. The case against is that the proposals are unworkable, slow and legalistic and address practices that are now supposedly defunct and which they would not have prevented. Above all, the charge runs, they represent state limitation of freedom of speech. Such criticisms are bunk, tired and born of special pleading. The whole exercise smacks of doctors, the Lloyds insurance market, trade union barons, the police and various other special interest groups over the years trying to protect self-regulation that had palpably failed. The brutal truth is that British newspapers have become far too careless about the boundaries between news and comment, too ready to use innuendo to prove a point, too fast to phone-hack/pay for information to stand up hunches that have little or no public interest defence but which serve the political and cultural interests of proprietors.”

 

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A human will always decide when a robot kills you (December 13 2012) A human will always decide when a robot kills you (December 13 2012)

Spencer Ackerman the American national security reporter and blogger has published an article on Wired titled ‘Pentagon: A Human Will Always Decide When a Robot Kills You’. In the article Ackerman states “The Pentagon wants to make perfectly clear that every time one of its flying robots releases its lethal payload, it’s the result of a decision made by an accountable human being in a lawful chain of command. Human rights groups and nervous citizens fear that technological advances in autonomy will slowly lead to the day when robots make that critical decision for themselves. But according to a new policy directive issued by a top Pentagon official, there shall be no SkyNet, thank you very much. …the Pentagon wants to make sure that there isn’t a circumstance when one of the military’s many Predators, Reapers, drone-like missiles or other deadly robots effectively automatizes the decision to harm a human being. The hardware and software controlling a deadly robot needs to come equipped with “safeties, anti-tamper mechanisms, and information assurance.” The design has got to have proper “human-machine interfaces and controls.” And, above all, it has to operate “consistent with commander and operator intentions and, if unable to do so, terminate engagements or seek additional human operator input before continuing the engagement.” If not, the Pentagon isn’t going to buy it or use it. …Human Rights Watch…among the most influential non-governmental institutions in the world, issued a report warning that new developments in drone autonomy represented the demise of established “legal and non-legal checks on the killing of civilians.” Its solution: “prohibit the “development, production, and use of fully autonomous weapons through an international legally binding instrument.”

 

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China's one-child policy conundrum (December 12 2012) China’s one-child policy conundrum (December 12 2012)

Anne Gonschorek the German multimedia freelance journalist and video reporter for China Radio International has published an article on Aljazeera titled ‘China’s one-child policy conundrum’ stating that amid a soaring population of elderly Chinese, new leadership in Beijing is expected to review the decades-old policy. Gonschorek states “China’s fast-ageing population threatens a demographic disaster with too few young people to care for the elderly – a major problem that may lead to a review of the country’s contentious one-child policy. One-third of Chinese will be 60 or older by 2053, according to estimates by the National Committee on Ageing. There will be more than 200 million senior citizens in the country by the end of 2013. While the one-child policy has been recognised for limiting China’s population to 1.3 billion people, its demographic ramifications are now becoming clear. Many researchers are of the opinion that the policy has profoundly aggravated China’s ageing crisis. The China Development Research Foundation, a think-tank with close ties to China’s leaders, recently wrote a surprising report denouncing the one-child policy and calling for its abolishment. “China has paid a huge political and social cost for the policy, as it has resulted in social conflict, high administrative costs and led indirectly to a long-term gender imbalance at birth,” the report said. According to the government, the one-child policy reduced hundreds of millions of births since it came into effect in 1979 under former leader Deng Xiaoping, and helped to lift countless families out of poverty. However, the policy has now burdened a young workforce. The one-child generation must support the large, ageing population. Effectively, the one child will now have to care for two parents and four grandparents.”

 

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Youngest CEO of a Fortune 500 company (December 11 2012) Youngest CEO of a Fortune 500 company (December 11 2012)

Marissa Ann Mayer the 37 year old American business executive has been appointed the CEO of Yahoo, making her the youngest CEO of a Fortune 500 company, having been ranked at number 14 on the list of America’s most powerful businesswomen by Fortune magazine. Profiled by Nicholas Carlson for Worldcrunch, Carlson states “Yahoo is deep in the process of looking at ad tech companies to acquire… Yahoo’s business is pretty simple. It makes money by selling ads on Web pages. This is the formula: Number Of Visits To Web Pages X Rate Yahoo Can Charge For Ads On Those Pages = Revenues. That formula means there are only two ways for CEO Marissa Mayer to grow the business. Method One: She can increase the number of visits to Yahoo Web pages. The way Yahoo does that is by creating new popular products and media. Method Two: She can increase the rate Yahoo charges to put ads on Web pages. The way Yahoo does that is by using ad tech to find out as much as it can about the people looking at its Web pages, and, in “real-time” sell that inventory to buyers willing to pay more to reach certain demographics. Mayer is going to embrace both methods. Mayer’s favorite thing to work on is consumer-facing products. So she’s going to personally invest lots of time in “method one.” As for “method two,” Mayer would like to delegate. …So Mayer’s plan, according to our sources, is to buy an ad tech company with a strong executive bench, and install it as the new leadership of Yahoo RMX.”

 

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Enabling the continuation of my long cooperation (December 10 2012) Enabling the continuation of my long cooperation (December 10 2012)

Udo Kittelmann the 54 year old German curator and museum director has been announced as the first non-Russian commissioner to curate the Russian pavilion for the 2013 Venice Biennale. Stella Kesaeva the Commissioner of the Russian Pavilion announced the appointment stating “It was decided in April 2012 that the artist Vadim Zakharov would represent Russia at the Venice Biennale in 2013. The idea of inviting Udo Kittelmann as curator followed from the choice of the artist. As a result, the Russian Pavilion will be curated by a citizen of another country for the first time in its history. Udo Kittelmann is one of the most renowned curators in the art world and his appointment is an important and conscious step, reflecting our principal objective, which is to bring Russian art out of isolation and secure for it the attention that it deserves at the highest international level.” Kittelmann responded with “I am greatly honoured that Vadim Zakharov proposed me as candidate for the curatorship and that the commissioner, Stella Kesaeva, supported the idea, enabling the continuation of my long cooperation with Vadim, which dates from the 1990s. I greatly admire the contribution, which Vadim Zakharov has made to contemporary art. His work has a continuity of development and is marked by a unique outlook and independence of artistic thought. His constant role as thinker and protagonist of the Moscow Conceptualist movement from the end of the 1970s remains a hallmark of his work right up to the present. As a curator, it gives me joy to be able to present this outstanding artist to a broad public. It would be hard to find a better place for an international exhibition of Vadim’s work than the Russian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale.”

 

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Oligarchs and dictators are not cool (December 9 2012) Oligarchs and dictators are not cool (December 9 2012)

Sarah Thornton the British Canadian writer and sociologist of culture, writing principally about art, artists and the art market, has detailed a list of the top ten reasons from potentially ‘hundreds’ of reasons for her decision to quit the art market beat. Blouin Artinfo has reprinted two of the reasons, being (A) It enables manipulators to publicize the artists whose prices they spike at auction. Tightknit cabals of dealers and speculative collectors count on the fact that you will report record prices without being able to reveal the collusion behind how they were achieved. …It’s a shame when good artists’ careers are made volatile by speculation.  And (B) Oligarchs and dictators are not cool. I have no problem with rich people. (Some of my best friends are high net worth individuals!) But amongst the biggest spenders in the art market right now are people who have made their money in non-democracies with horrendous human rights records. Their expertise in rising to the top of a corrupt system gives punch to the term “filthy lucre.” However, the astronomical prices paid by these guys do have a positive trickle-down effect. When they buy a Gerhard Richter for $20m, the consignor of the painting will likely re-invest some of their profit in younger art (particularly if they are American and keen to defer capital gains tax). These Russian, Arab and Chinese collectors bring liquidity to the art world and allow more artists, curators and critics to make a living in relation to art.”

 

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Figures I make always resist all classifications (December 8 2012) Figures I make always resist all classifications (December 8 2012)

Bharti Kher the 43 year old British Indian contemporary artist whose work encompasses painting, sculpture and installation has been profiled by Carla Raffinetti in an article published on Artlyst titled ‘Bharti Kher’s Surreal World Of Cyborgs Bindis And White Elephants’. Raffinetti states “Bharti Kher’s is one of India’s best-known contemporary artists. …Although the artist was born and bred in England, she settled in India permanently in 1992 after meeting her future husband there, the Indian artist Subodh Gupta.  As the daughter of first generation Indian immigrants to the UK, Kher’s work explores themes of identity and belonging, of being of Indian descent but of not quite being Indian, of being raised in Great Britain but not being quite British either. Kher’s world is a place where all metanarratives have broken down.  Her work collages an uneasy mix of socio-cultural memes together.  As an Indian insider-outsider, Bharti Kher questions cultural and social rules through her art.  Taking her own disjointed identity as a starting point, Kher’s work walks the tightrope between ancient Indian customs juxtaposed with modern Western values.  Outside of the narrow frame of Asian art, her work serves more broadly as a metaphor of the multiple meanings that can be ascribed to an object or a situation, depending on its context. … whilst Kher delves into her ethnicity for imagery, she does not do so exclusively, preferring an approaching that is more culturally ambiguous.  Says the artist, “The figures I make always resist all classifications of class, race, time – they could be anybody at any time.”

 

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Why email is and must remain private (December 7 2012) Why email is and must remain private (December 7 2012)

Sarah Kendzior the American Anthropologist who studies politics and the internet in the former Soviet Union has published an article on Aljazeera titled ‘Why email is and must remain private’ on the premise that private communication, if monitored, will damage trust between individuals, making it harder to form relationships. Kendzior states “When I was a child, my grandfather offered me some advice: “Don’t do anything you wouldn’t want to read about in the newspaper”. To my nine-year-old self, this advice seemed strange, almost flattering. What could I possibly do that would be worthy of public interest? Why would anyone care? Decades later, this advice still seems strange, but not for the reasons my grandfather envisioned. The internet has made us all the media, able to broadcast the indiscretions of ourselves and others with ease. What seemed horrifying to him – transgressions exposed to an audience of thousands, maybe even tens of thousands – now seems like a comparatively good deal. How quaint to experience personal humiliation on a local level, endured for a day instead of preserved for eternity. The aftermath of the Petraeus scandal, in which the CIA director’s emails to his mistress biographer were considered grounds for his resignation, has sparked debate on whether email should be considered private communication. …The expectation that private communication will be monitored will damage trust between individuals, making it harder to form relationships and exchange ideas. Email, the most intimate form of online communication, should be considered private by default and legal rights to privacy must be strengthened. The self-censored life is not worth living.”

 

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Art is essentially a sensual relationship (December 6 2012) Art is essentially a sensual relationship (December 6 2012)

Lawrence Weiner the 70 year old Conceptual Artist whose work often takes the form of typographic texts, has been profiled by Louisa Buck for an article in The Art Newspaper titled ‘Lawrence Weiner: man of his word’. Buck states “For nearly half a century, the texts of Lawrence Weiner have been painted on the walls of cities and public buildings from Halifax to Hong Kong and galleries from Beijing to Mexico City. They have been spelled out in cobblestones, printed on beer mats, cast into iron manhole covers, floated inside souvenir Biros and sung as lyrics by a country and western band. Rendered in a utilitarian yet elegant typeface that is instantly recognisable, his cryptic but suggestive phrases operate simultaneously on several levels, whether spatial, poetic or political. …These constructions of what Weiner calls “Language + materials referred to” …Or, more specifically, a sculptor who works with words. “I never quite understand why the shit hits the fan when sculpture is presented within the form of language,” he says. “The use of language is the same as the change to being able to use acrylic or light to make things—it’s not exotic.” Weiner may not make objects per se, but he is adamant that the stuff of the world is always at the centre of everything he does. He defines his art as “the relationship of human beings to objects and objects to objects in relation to human beings”, and insists that “art is essentially a sensual relationship between materials and objects”.”

 

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Nails that stick up will be hammered down (December 5 2012) Nails that stick up will be hammered down (December 5 2012)

Ian Bremmer the 43 year old American political scientist specializing in US foreign policy and global political risk has published an article on Reuters titled ‘What do we know about China’s new leadership?’. Bremmer states “As China obsessives know, it is tough to read tea leaves when the water is as opaque as that surrounding China’s Politburo. In the wake of the Chinese leadership transition, we’re left to sift through the news in search of answers. There is plenty we do not know about the process or what its outcome will bring, but when it comes to underlying themes we can understand, it is possible to make some predictions. Start with solidarity. In the most telling example of Chinese political unity, the Politburo, the elite political body that makes all of China’s major decisions, went from nine people to seven to consolidate control of the political process. The Communist Party is now more unified than before and is less likely to tolerate dissent from within. The stability of the Communist Party is paramount. All else will fall in line. Note what happens to those who don’t. If the Bo Xilai incident demonstrated anything, it’s that, in China, nails that stick up will be hammered down. There is no room for leaders who stray from the party platform. Need more evidence that power is being consolidated? Hu Jintao recently surrendered his military position sooner than expected so Xi Jinping, the incoming president, could have more control. Li Keqiang, Xi’s incoming deputy, got the nod to run the economy rather than Wang Qishan   the most senior and noted market reformer of the lot. Three of five of the remaining standing committee members seem to be protégés of former President Jiang Zemin, a sign that the leadership is looking to past success as much as to the future.”

 

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The rule laid out for the average individual (December 4 2012) The rule laid out for the average individual (December 4 2012)

Corban Walker the 45 year old Irish Sculptor has been profiled by Blake Gopnik in an article published in The Daily Beast titled ‘Sculptor Corban Walker Explores Size And Scale’. Gopnik states “Corban Walker has something every artist needs: a critic trap, stretched taut across the ground floor of his studio in Brooklyn. A barrier of steel wires runs the width of Walker’s front room, from about chest height to the level of a tall man’s head; in a moment of distraction, this critic almost got his face egg-sliced. Walker, however, doesn’t have to worry about his own safety, because the bottom wire is set at what he calls “Corbanscale”—it barely grazes the top of his head as he passes back and forth underneath. …Walker was born with achondroplasia, the major cause of dwarfism. He is four feet tall. “The core of what I’ve been doing over the last 20 years is about this: my measure and the rule laid out for the average individual,” he says. And his art is about how that “rule” doesn’t fit him. He says that the wire piece, called “Latitude,” is possibly the most confrontational of his works about stature: “You could grate yourself [on it]—but I can’t.” But just about everything he’s made is a nod to his height, or at least to the number four, which describes it. A work in progress in his studio is a latticework cube made of plastic orange rods, designed so that there’s one natural viewpoint at Walker’s eye level and another at a more “standard” level—the confrontation of “Latitude” seeming to yield, in this piece, to conciliation.”

 

Inspired by Blake Gopnik ow.ly/fKd9N image source Facebook ow.ly/fKd98

All created an atmosphere of despair (December 2 2012) All created an atmosphere of despair (December 2 2012)

Muhammad Abdul Bari the 59 year old British Bangladeshian secondary school teacher has published an article on Aljazeera titled ‘Israel’s scorched earth policy in Gaza could prove fatal’ discussing how the US and other western governments have failed to publicly criticise Israel for its iron-fist policy on Palestine. Bari states “Beyond Gaza, the situation in historic Palestine is not much different. Israeli land grabbing, illegal settlements and ethnic cleansing in occupied territories, forced removal of families from their homes, the increasing refugee problems, massive unemployment, daily humiliation of Palestinian people in the crossings, the erection of the “apartheid wall” – have all created an atmosphere of despair. As in its 2009 operation, Israel is trying to match its overwhelming military might with its superior media outreach in the western world. As a result, and due to what seems to be America’s depressingly unquestioned support for Israel, many in the West buy in to the Israeli narrative claiming Hamas as a “terrorist” organisation. Sadly, people have a short memory. They forget that Hamas, for all its flaws, formed the legitimate Palestinian government after winning an internationally-accepted election in 2006. The fear of being accused as anti-Semitic has inhibited many in the West from publicly criticising Israel’s historic injustice to the Palestinians. Some try to be ambivalent; in order to prove their neutrality, the only thing they do is offer some advice to Israeli and Palestinian politicians to sort out the mess on the negation table. However, an overwhelming majority of people in the Muslim world and many in Asia, Africa and Latin America consider Israel a Pariah state, supported by the world’s sole superpower, the United States. Many consider Israel as a Goliath when it comes to the Palestinian people.”

 

Inspired by Aljazeera ow.ly/fuNhQ image source Facebook ow.ly/fuNMd

Champion of degrowth, less is much more (December 1 2012) Champion of degrowth, less is much more (December 1 2012)

Erik Assadourian the American Senior Fellow at the Worldwatch Institute where he studies cultural change, consumerism, degrowth, ecological ethics, corporate responsibility, and sustainable communities, has been profiled in an article by Malgorzata Stawecka for IPS News titled ‘For Champions of Degrowth, Less Is Much More’. Assadourian states “…intentional societal shifting is essential for a world where seven billion humans are depleting Earth’s biocapacity and threatening the collapse of key ecosystem services, like climate regulation, fisheries, pollination, and water purification, by not proactively pursuing a path of degrowth, then we accept that instead of degrowth we’ll have an uncontrolled global contraction that will lead to much more discomfort and human suffering than degrowth ever would. … The main challenge degrowth entails is the obvious one: how do we convince those with wealth and power to be willing to redistribute this to others – both within and across societies. All would benefit if that dynamic were altered … supporting efforts to create informal economic opportunities like small-scale farming and community gardening, bartering, and repair could help in creating new means for people to sustain themselves … As people worked less, they’d earn less, in turn reducing their overall luxury consumption; fewer people would fly, they’d buy smaller homes, they’d choose smaller cars or car-free lifestyles, and so on, while this would be seen negatively by some, the newfound leisure time and less-stressful lives would offset this – especially if governments also strengthened their traditional role of providing a robust set of public goods: libraries, public transit, safe drinking water, and so on. And these public goods could be funded by increased taxation of the wealthiest, which would also help reduce luxury consumption by the very segment of society having the largest ecological impact on the planet…”

 

Inspired by Malgorzata Stawecka ow.ly/fuLN7 image source Linkedin ow.ly/fuLL2

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