The Insurrectionary People's Picture Show Theater

My Oma came straight from post-war Germany. She is a very traditional German woman. When I was a child, she would read a German children book about a boy who would suck his thumb getting them cut off with giant scissors. The illustrations in the book had this little boy bleeding with no thumbs. Why this stands out was, as a child I DID suck my thumb.

I recently found out the name of this traditional German childrens book: Struwwelpeter. Here is an animated interpenetration of the story that still haunts me, The Story of Little Suck-a-Thumb.

Last night, it was 11:30 at night, and my wife was sound asleep. I was flipping though the channels, tiered and board, but not sleepy. I flipped to PBS, Detroit public broadcasting, and they had a program celebrating the 90th birthday of Pete Seeger. I was a marvelous program. On that program, Bruce Springsteen sang a duet with Tom Morello, of the classic "The Ghost of Tom Joad".

Enjoy!

This is a great film. I've been somewhat hesitant to post it, as it's not political, and I was worried that some folks would think it "ableist". I would argue that it is the opposite. It does not demonize those with deformities, rather celebrates there differences. The physically deformed "freaks" are inherently trusting and honorable people, while the real monsters are two of the "normal" members of the circus who conspire to murder one of the performers to obtain his large inheritance.

Freaks is a 1932 United States horror film about sideshow performers, directed and produced by Tod Browning and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, with a cast mostly composed of actual carnival performers. Director Browning took the exceptional step of casting real people with deformities as the eponymous sideshow "freaks," rather than using costumes and makeup. Browning had been a member of a traveling circus in his early years, and much of the film was drawn from his personal experiences.

This song was submitted to the CBC's Hockey Anthem Challange, but it was not posted to their website for voting. Which is a shame, 'cause it's a pretty catchy jingle that could have won!

Thanks to Brian for sending me the link.

Salt of the Earth was produced, written and directed by victims of the Hollywood blacklist. Unable to make films in Hollywood, they looked for worthy social issues to put on the screen independently. This film never would have been made in Hollywood at the time, so it is ironic that it was the anti-communist backlash that brought about the conditions for it to be made. In many ways it was a film ahead of its time. Mainstream culture did not pick up on its civil rights and feminist themes for at least a decade. This film entered the public domain in 1982 and was selected for the National Film Registry in 1992.

According to the Wikipedia entry, "This song chronicles the Easter Uprising of 1916, and encourages Irishmen to fight for the cause of Ireland, rather than for the British, as so many young men were doing in World War I." The wiki entry also very helpfully links many of this historical and geographical references in the song, so check it out.

Sinéad O'Connor is best known in North America for the hit Nothing Compares 2 U. After she tore up a picture of the pope on SNL, she fell off the North American map. Few people here would know that she went on to have a very successful reggae career, as well as continuing anti-catholic activism.

Ryan Harvey is a Baltimore-area musicians and activist apart of the Riot Folk Collective. There's allot of his music floating around on torrent. The Riot Folk site used to have all his songs for free download, but it's down at the moment.

Prisons: A Social Crime and Failure
is an essay written by Emma Goldman published in 1910.

One of the idea I really thought should be explored more is how prison labor should no be seen as scab labor or against the established labor market, and that unions should try and create solidarity with our brothers and sisters in jail being used as essentially slaves.


Listen to Prisons: A Social Crime and Failure at Audio Anarchy

Breaking the Spell is a 1999 anarchist documentary, directed by Tim Lewis, Tim Ream, and Sir Chuck A. Rock.

Using amateur camera footage recorded by protesters at the scene of the 1999 WTO protests, it documents the events from the perspective of the anarchists, their opinions of fellow protesters, local politicians, and includes footage which aired nationally on 60 Minutes.

The film is currently distributed by CrimethInc. on the CrimethInc. Guerilla Film Series, Volume One DVD.

To kick off the 2009 Winnipeg D.I.Y Fest and Anarchist Book Fair, the Manitoba Craft Council is having a screening of the documentary Handmade Nation. Handmade Nation documents a movement of artists, crafters and designers that recognize a marriage between historical techniques, punk and DIY (do it yourself) ethos wile being influenced by traditional handiwork, Modern aesthetics, politics, feminism and art. Fueled by the common thread of creating, Handmade Nation explores a burgeoning art community that is based on creativity, determination and networking.

Here's the event info and a trailer:

When: June 19th @ 7:30 pm
Where: Ellice Theatre, 585 Ellice Ave, Wpg
Cost: $5 @ the Door
DIY Craft Salve @ 7 pm

Tom Morello, Guitarist of Rage Against the Machine and Audiosalve, launched his solo carreer under the name "The Nightwatchman" in 2003 as an outlet for his political views while playing non-political music with Audioslave. Morello describes The Nightwatchman as "the black Robin Hood of 21st century music".

"Road I Must Travel" is from The Nightwatchman's first album, One Man Revolution. He has a second one out called The Fabled City. I own both, and I would definitely recommend them to anyone looking for radical left analysis in there folk/rock music.