14 posts tagged “politics”

I have a lot of work to do this week...

My first Arabic test is tomorrow, which will be really easy. I've got lots of reading to do (I'm enjoying Palestine, a comic by Joe Sacco) and a couple papers to write this week, including a final research paper proposal. I am thinking about writing about French colonisation, borders, and nationalism (some of my favorite topics!) in regards to Lebanon and Syria (effects/changes in the mindsets/identities of citizens with/and the creation of modern states) for the final paper.

I am shooting for a 4.0 in my SIS class this quarter (taking the tip from WH, shoot for the stars, and you will get closer to them than if you have low expectations). This class is made to weed people out of the Jackson school, so I gotta work hard! Still haven't submitted my application to the major... I have to do all this in the next two days because...

I have a date on Wednesday night!

Thursday is going to be busy. I have a mandatory Comparative Literature meeting for applicants to the major in the evening, then I have to rush downtown to Revolution Books for the open mic. It might be:

1. A complete waste of time
2. Really embarrassing
3. Kind of cool! We'll see

Well, I had better hit the books.

On the first day of school I became familiar with the Revolutionary Communist Party, I saw a friend from an old SIS course (school of international studies) having a discussion with the representatives advertising at our university. I went to greet my friend unaware of his current disposition.

I am left-leaning and interested in socialist economics (not so much communism, as a method of governing people, it is basically fascism to me, not based on individual freedom) so I humored them for a bit. I gave them my name and email address. That night I received a message from one of the girls asking me to join them for a meeting the next day, to discuss "communism, revolution, and changing the world." I was down.

After class on Thursday I ran into my microeconomics teacher from last spring quarter (a graduate school student). I used to always accuse him of being a dirty capitalist and we would argue all the time. I told him I was heading to a communist party meeting that afternoon and he said he wanted to come along. I said, Oh sure, I'd like to see you there, we are going to discuss economics.

We were the only two people in attendance. We watched a video (not very well-made) and then started a discussion, about capitalism, communism, revolution. A lot of questions were posed, I mostly listened and played both sides. It was raining when my teacher and I left the building. He told me he wanted to show me one thing before I went home. We went to Suzallo library and searched for a book. The Road to Serfdom. He wants me to read it, in order for me to understand the realities of communism and socialism.

So I am not ready to sign onto the communist party, but I am actively researching right now. Friday night, my younger brother came to visit me from his college town, Bellingham, a couple hours north of Seattle. He is always taller when I see him! He is driving a new car and looks great.

We drove into downtown Seattle and met up with my half-brother (who apparently has the "chronic hook-up"). Right around the corner from my half-brother's apartment was the Revolution bookstore! I had heard from the communist girl that there was going to be an open mic down there later this month, I was interested! I felt so lucky to be there. I signed up to read some poetry.

My brothers and I smoked some weed, legal stuff from the dispensary. We looked at old photographs of our father and the past, photos I have never seen before. Photos of my mother. It was a nice trip back in time. Before it got too late, my brother and I drove back north to his apartment. It is nice here!

I am still in Bellingham, spending time with my brother is such a pleasure! I am so proud of him and I love to talk with him... Oh he just woke up!

Today I went to all my new classes. Some points:

• The class I was looking forward to the most (International Studies, State and Society in the Third World) was completely canceled after my professor was forced to take emergency sick leave (pneumonia).
• I had to re-register for this Comparative Literature course I had previously been registered for, Comic Cultures. It seems cool, we are going to study graphic novels from different countries and cultures, including France, Israel/Palestine, and Japan (among others).
• My other two classes are a basic International Studies course (States and Capitalism, I was supposed to take a long time ago) and Arabic 411.
• I need to declare my majors! Within the next few weeks.
• Thinking about joining this Communism club at my University. I'm not a Revolutionary Communist, but I think the club would be interesting. I gave them my information and a donation, and they gave me a free newspaper!
• I noticed today that my name is printed and displayed in the Honors office room along with other scholarship recipients. The names were not there last year. It is kind of weird and surprised me.
• Books are costing me hundreds of dollars this quarter (not unusual).
• Americans are so casual!
  

I don't know about you, but I love watching long important speeches for meaning, framing, and implications (I hate watching the short clips they blast at you out of context on TV). Here is one I watched today by President Obama at Cairo University, and I can't express how important it has been for Arabs in the Middle East to hear these things. I think it was a very nice move. No American president has ever communicated to Muslims and Arabs in such a way, with knowledge of the past, of the people, and with respect. Nice job. I have been waiting for this speech since 2001.

It is all part of this administration's strategy to appeal to Arabs for better diplomatic relations that will be mutually beneficial. Good move. I know Arabs all over the Middle East were watching and listening carefully to every word he said for meaning, and I hope they have regained some confidence about the future. With a better relationship and image, I think good things can happen. Waiting for specifics though, naturally. Also, rather than simply calling Iraq a "war of choice" I think there should have been some recognition of the pain and suffering that has plagued Iraq because of the occupation, like he described of the Palestinian situation, and I do not think it would have been too much to ask for an apology.

A life-long friend showed up at my house yesterday night, throwing rocks at my window. I guess she had some fights with her family. She wants to stay over for a while and stayed over last night... but I am leaving to my hometown tomorrow... um yeah. I am kinda too busy to be hosting people. It's finals time and I am in the middle of a transition. Oh well. It is nice to see her.

She told me that it's interesting to see "how comfortable" I am. Comfortable with myself? My situation? My life? Well yes, of course, I am much more comfortable with my life now that I have full control over it and do what I like to do. I am glad she sees that. But saying something like that implies that perhaps I should not be comfortable with myself and the things I do/have done. She is the most judgemental friend I have.

I have been following her story for a while. She is still under arrest in Iran, and decided to go on a hunger strike recently. When she was first accused of spying, the question of whether or not she would go on a hunger strike was posed, and now she has decided to do so. I have always been fascinated with the whole idea, being arrested and held for some crime like espionage and going on a hunger strike. It is very novel to me.

Anyway, the woman, Roxana, seems very interesting and her type of character is a huge inspiration to me, conducting research where no other American wants to go. She is an Iranian-American, but none of the articles I’ve read have mentioned that she is half Japanese. I deducted this from seeing a photo of her mother, Akiko, and it made sense, she does look half! She’s beautiful, really, and brave. I hope she is released as soon as possible, but Iran’s judicial system and the processes she is being put through are so ridiculous and unjust.

I went to see the former president of India, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam speak at my university yesterday. When I arrived at Kane hall, I tried to enter the building from the back, but security told me to go to the front. There was a really long line. As I waited, I saw the really good looking Chinese American dude I met last week walking across mostly empty red square with some of his Japanese friends and a couple girls. I sighed. Look at them going off enjoying and laughing with each other while I stand in line to listen to a defunct politician, I thought, I am such a loser, I hope he did not see me dressed like this, etc.

My spirits were lifted when I got inside the huge lecture hall. There were so many people. I sat down in the second row, and a couple of middle-aged Japanese ladies from the Japan studies department in the Jackson school sat next to me. It is always weird when I overhear Japanese people speak. Two years ago, I would have not have had a clue as to what they were saying.

One of them left to sit farther back, but the librarian stayed seated next to me. She chatted a bit with some people she knew sitting in the vicinity about Japan’s economical ties to India as we waited for his excellency. After a while, I decided to talk to her. I never miss an opportunity for networking. I brought up the same topic she was discussing with her colleagues, Japan’s economy, and expressed a half-genuine concern about its condition since I would be staying there in the summer. I brought up the embarrassing finance minister, and the yen’s instability in the past year.

She seemed pretty confident that Japan would be fine. She was nosy about me though, asking where I was from and why I want to go to Japan. I told her I have spent some time there and that I might be doing a seminar at Waseda. We chatted about Tokyo and she got very excited talking about shopping that she loves to do there as well as some of the dreamworlds she indulges in. She described what sounded a lot like a host club to me, but less seedy, for women like her. She thought that I was Indian (not unusual) and I told her I was actually Arabian. She told me she loves the Arabic language, how it sounds, more than south Asian languages and that she has tried to learn Arabic in the past, but her tutors all quit on her.

Anyway, at the end of the talk (terribly boring, have I ever mentioned how much I hate politicians? His words, read off a teleprompter, were as hollow as any politician’s, just inspirational bullshit about growth and prosperity), the Japanese lady offered me her card. When she gave me the card, I told her that maybe I could help her with some Arabic. She was thrilled.

Thinking a lot about money. Money money money, must be funny, in a rich man's world! Ah-haa All the things I could do, if I had a little money, it's a rich mans world!

Power of money (I have problem with those words, power of money, as I see money and power as being nearly the same thing) is a common theme in most of my classes. Today the topic came up in all three.

After school I went to have lunch with Maryam. We discussed all sorts of things, drugs, god, morality, politics, men, etc. Regular topics of discussion with her as she is religious and I am secular. I was complaining about the price of drugs and cigarettes. New federal tax on cigarettes has got me feeling poor, having just spent sixty dollars on a carton of my usual Marlboro Lights (I joked with a fellow smoker today about not knowing what was going to kill me first, the tobacco or the federal government). I was complaining to Maryam about the price of a gram of molly, pure MDMA powder, (around 80-100 dollars here) as well. After lunch, Maryam said to me you just have some expensive habits. I laughed. I guess I do.

G20 protests starting in London today have me all giddy. Sure, I don't promote violence (from protesters nor police), but I'm happy to see people speaking out and acting out in protest against the crimes of authority. If I were in London, no university responsibilities, I would be there with them, screaming for justice and human rights. I do what I can though, speaking at any opportunity in my classes to express my views, regardless of their provocative nature, regardless of my shyness, and regardless of the isolating consequences. I know what I am saying resonates somewhat with people, they might not say anything in class, but professors and students alike occasionally ask me for more, tell me their views in private, expressing accord and then giving me words of encouragement when the discussion inevitably turns to my personal despair surrounding the current state of affairs. Looking forward to tomorrow's developments.

P.S. I know my birthday was over a week ago. But I have to write a brief memory down.

I remember when I was very young, maybe second or third grade, my late mother was studying for her American citizenship examination. I remember the questions like who was the first president of the United States, when is independence day celebrated and questions about the constitution. I remember learning the dramatic words of Patrick Henry, 'Give me liberty or give me death!' and noting that he said the famous phrase on my birthday, March 23, 1775, right before the American Revolution. For some reason this sentiment was very powerful to me; I had a special appreciation for it and never forgot about it because it happened on my birthday.

My mother's birthday was March 17. The most terrible present was given to her in 2003 on her birthday: broadcast around the world, the president of her adopted nation addressed her home country, threatening war. The first American casualties took place on my fourteenth birthday, 5 days later. Part of me is glad that she is not alive to observe the destruction any longer. I envy that unconsciousness. I believe the war was a big blow to her spirit, along with the family problems that ensued and images of her city turned to rubble. That wonderful, cosmopolitan Baghdad she once adored and called home turning into a battlefield was a shock. Can you imagine your city being bombed?

One of the reasons I am extremely attracted to Japan is that I feel like I can live a postmodern life there. Mostly because of the lack of popular religion and a personal disconnection to any nationality while I'm there. Although I am sort of caught in limbo when it comes to (national) identity, being in Japan makes it easier for me to be that which I am, someone who doesn't fit in anywhere. It's clear and undeniable when I'm there, and for some reason, that makes me more comfortable. Anyway, I was reading the conclusion of one of my textbooks yesterday when they briefly spoke about postmodernism. Thought I'd throw it out there for everyone.

(Re-typed from Jews in Israel: Contemporary Social and Cultural Patterns, Uzi Rebhun and Chaim I. Waxman, Editors)

There has emerged, in the second half of the twentieth century, as Roger Inglehart analyzes it, a major "culture shift" in modern societies. Inglehart's comprehensive cross-cultural surveys and analyses reveal broad international patterns. In his analysis of survey data gathered in twenty-five industrial societies, primarily in Western Europe and the United States, between 1970 and 1986, Inglehart argues that "economic, technological, and sociopolitical changes have been transforming the cultures of advanced industrial societies in profoundly important ways" (Inglehart 1990, p. 3) Following Maslow's need hierarchy, according to which the need for food, shelter, and sex are on the lowest rung and must be satisfied before a person can move up the pyramid to its apex, self-actualization, Inglehart maintains that individuals are most concerned with the satisfaction of material needs and threats to their physical security. "Materialist" values, which are characteristic of less secure societies, economically and otherwise, Inglehart avers, are values that emphasize economic growth and strong individual achievement motivation. In the area of sexuality and family norms, the emphasis would be on maximization of reproduction within the two-parent family. And within the realm of religion, the emphasis is on a higher power and absolute rules.

However, once the basic material needs are satisfied and physical safety is assured, they strive for postmaterialist values that entail the satisfaction of more remote needs, many of which are in the spiritual, aesthetic, and interpersonal realms. Their focus becomes self-fulfillment and personal autonomy, rather than identifying themselves with their families, localities, ethnic groups, or even nations. The "culture shift" is manifested in a declining respect for authority and decreased mass participation; an increasing emphasis on subjective well-being and quality of life concerns; and increasing emphasis on meaningful work; greater choice in the area of sexual norms; declining confidence in established religious institutions and declining rates of church attendance; and an increasing contemplation of the purpose and meaning of life. This shift, which entails a shift from central authority to individual autonomy, has taken place in "postmaterialist" society, that is, the West in the late-twentieth century.

It should be pointed out that greater focus on individual concerns, such as autonomy and self-fulfillment, among "post-materialists" does not mean that they are more selfish or egotistical than materialists; those are normative terms. It does, however, mean that postmaterialists are less bound by group affiliations. Indeed, that should not be so surprising, since one of the basic distinguishing features of modernity, as compared to traditional society, is the greater emphasis on the individual (Bellah et al. 1996; Putnam 2000).

More about Postmodernity

20:43 March 5, 2009
WHITE FINGERTIPS, now before I get to the pretty rhymes and stuff let me say that:

It’s Thursday night and I’m rolling on ecstasy that I swept up into my palm (it was kind of smashed because it was in my pockets), licked every little BITTER PIECE off, and swallowed. But the funny thing is that

I AM SO FUCKED UP THAT IT DOESN’T EVEN MAKE ME HAPPY
and that is sadly ironic, considering the promising name of the drug.
Hey get this! I’m so stupid, why did I ever think that drugs would make me happy. That’s not a question because I know.
But they only remind me of how fucking pathetic I am, that I need to take pills when normal people are happy with themselves and their imperfect, disgusting bodies of flesh and blood. I want to be god. Well, I would settle for being a piece of timeless art. Or a noble thing. But not like those stupid fucks, the nobility who tried their best, because I’ve already tried money, it doesn’t make you better than anyone else, it’s no help, but is a wonderful distraction, at best.

I’m almost twenty years old and I still think like a 13 year old. Oooooh drugs yes.
Anyway, without further ADO!

The Audacity of Hope, by Ukifune

And school isn’t as fulfilling as I make it sound.
How many times do they need to teach us the same histories before people realize how FUCKED UP humans and governments are?
How many times do we need to learn about the terrible things before people GET IT?
Before they finally understand how weak and pathetic humans are.

They still have hope for the future.
Haha HA!
It’s getting harder and harder to breathe
Harder to continue to believe
That all this effort is ever going
To pay off
or that all the tears I’ve shed
would ever be reciprocated
for my own pain.

Hearing (not listening to, but)
Hearing! (there's a difference)
Cars drive by my house as I sit alone in silence
My eyes are sensitive to their purposeful headlights
For god knows I lack what those electric things have
Looking at scars I’ve created in the name of others
My eyes are sensitive to the beauty of suffering.

I think, “Everyone should bleed for their miserable humanity,
Their pitiful selves and imperfection,”
And that ignoring this truth, having hope, is TRUE vanity,
believing your worth is more than brand names
and that you didn't get your degree for marketability,
or that you are more than just a name and number,
is a little bit like denial, undeniably.
It’s not what they’ll have you believe,
Covering it all up with pretty colors and fabrics
Is not vain—that is what we all SHOULD do.
It’s what those in power know TO DO,
in their speeches, figuratively,
in their wardrobes, physically,
They all do it, knowingly,
And see how they profit from it,
From our shame.

And I know the only things that are true
Are the things that stay the same.
The horrors and the wars
The secrets and whores
The old unswept floors
The hidden back doors
The apple rotten dirty cores
Of mine and yours
All the unsightly sores
Of the world we’d like to ignore.

Now I beg of you, please teach me
Something I’ve never heard before,
something to provide to the poor
something made up of more
than the hope and faith and lore
that’s fed to us to hide the gore
of our histories.

And if you have a message,
Trust me when I say, that even before
it’s typed and bound, for sale at the store,
it will have lost every last bit of your
original meaning.

And we all have those certain people,
The glorious heroes we adore,
In whom we search for
Guidance
We implore
For meaning
But don’t realize that
by the time they’ve counted the money we pour
Into their pockets
They’re off in another place
looking for more.
Shore to shore,
where they will find
other miserable fucks galore
to dazzle and awe,
to make another score.

So tell me what all this suffering is for?
Why I should even care anymore?
Tell me that
one day
things will be better.
Tell me that the heavy, chain-locked window shutter
On this ancient, tired house
Will one day
Be blown open
By the winds
Of liberty.
And tell me that all the salt water
That has seeped from between my eyelids
Will help nurture the spores
Of peace.
Please tell me that
The soldiers who sleep grasping guns
Won’t have to die for ideas anymore.
Please tell me that
this world
is worth
living for.

21:53

Today was pleasant; warm sunny weather let me wear my new shorts. I was surrounded by lots of positive people and energy on campus.

I woke up early before my alarm sounded and had a nice morning with Noam Chomsky, reading his recent releases and listening to his latest lectures. (check out news and reports at chomksy.info if you are interested!)

I met up with Ai at 11 or so and we had coffee together, chatting, she showed me a bunch of photos from high school, very cool. We want to organise a party to meet each others' friends. I don't have very many friends to introduce to her but I think it would be fun. She wants to introduce me to some Japanese guys... I think it would be a little awkward, bunch of strangers... but Ai wants to give it a shot. Alcohol wouldn't hurt either.

After my first class, I was rushing up the stairs at Mary Gates Hall to the Honors program office to print some things when I bumped into Ross (goofy guy in this picture), we studied together in France. It was a little bit awkward for me because he has been talking to me online since I came back to America, and there's a little bit of sexual tension, since he's always mentioning "orgies" and other nasty things to me... It's really strange, I know. Not sure if he's just trying to be funny or what. Anyway, I invited him for lunch rather than reading my homework...

On the way to the student union building, I spotted Lisa! Another one of my friends from Paris. I never run into people I know at my university! There are 40,000 undergraduate students so everyone is a stranger to me. Lisa was hanging out with her neo-hippy room mate, Dillon. So after a little bit of chatting and introductions, we all went to have lunch together. I felt very happy because I was surrounded by friendly people who I feel comfortable talking to, no need to act polite or anything. It was so weird for me, two girls and two guys having a friendly lunch. I felt so college-studentish. But it was nice!

After my final class, on the way home, I spotted a few Noam Chomsky books on display in the window of a used book store! They were all on my to-buy list, so I went in and got them for 50% off. Score!

I am awake and genki on a Saturday afternoon. The sun is shining and I haven't taken any drugs in a week. I am eating three meals and about to start my homework, listening to my music with my awesome new DJ headphones. Life is good!

I am going to finish note-taking and begin writing my first serious essay since last June! I have allotted only 24 hours for it and it's going to be very challenging I think. It's on the Robbers Cave Experiment, a real life Lord of the Flies reenactment hidden under the guise of science. Haha, well it is a psychological study of group formation, hierarchy, and conflict. I am supposed to write about whether I believe the experiment's conclusions are legitimate and if the experiment is representative of real, adult, ethnic conflicts... The paper is supposed to be only 5-7 pages; the class and instructor are very... boot-camp like, no bullshit (that's what I get for taking a political science class). The fact that I am enrolled in this challenging class when it's beyond my comfort level makes me kind of happy though. I can do it.

Hajimarimasu!!!!!!!

P.S. Currently trying to ignore an invitation from Osama to a dinner party with a bunch of Saudi Arabian guys tonight.