Monday, 31 March 2014
Friday, 28 March 2014
The sheets of life and death
Franco Pagetti - VII [TIME LightBox]
Oversized striped sheets such as curtains and store awnings are suppossed to provide shade; but not in the city of Aleppo in Syria. Thousands have been killed or 'disappeared' under the country's dictatorial regime, and a subsequent state of internal warfare has led caravans of refugees to flee the embattled areas.
These fabrics are the subject of a series of haunting photographs by Franco Pagetti published by TIME LightBox. The purpose of the sheets is to protect residents from being shot when they need to get out of their houses; and as Franco Pagetti characteristically adds, one must be aware of the sun and the wind - if a shadow becomes visible on the fabric, or if a gust of wind blows it up, their life may be at stake.
These fabrics are the subject of a series of haunting photographs by Franco Pagetti published by TIME LightBox. The purpose of the sheets is to protect residents from being shot when they need to get out of their houses; and as Franco Pagetti characteristically adds, one must be aware of the sun and the wind - if a shadow becomes visible on the fabric, or if a gust of wind blows it up, their life may be at stake.
This post is dedicated to the memory of Ahmed, to Mohamed, and their familes.
Tuesday, 25 March 2014
Sunday, 23 March 2014
Thursday, 20 March 2014
Never again: fascism in Ukraine and Europe
For the past couple of months street protests in Ukraine have been played out through the western media according to a well-rehearsed script. Pro-democracy campaigners are battling an authoritarian government. [...]
[...]You'd never know from most of the reporting that far-right nationalists and fascists have been at the heart of the protests and attacks on government buildings. One of the three main opposition parties heading the campaign is the hard-right antisemitic Svoboda, whose leader Oleh Tyahnybok claims that a "Moscow-Jewish mafia" controls Ukraine. But US senator John McCain was happy to share a platform with him in Kiev last month. The party, now running the city of Lviv, led a 15,000-strong torchlit march earlier this month in memory of the Ukrainian fascist leader Stepan Bandera, whose forces fought with the Nazis in the second world war and took part in massacres of Jews.So in the week that the liberation of Auschwitz by the Red Army was commemorated as Holocaust Memorial Day, supporters of those who helped carry out the genocide are hailed by western politicians on the streets of Ukraine. But Svoboda has now been outflanked in the protests by even more extreme groups, such as "Right Sector", who demand a "national revolution" and threaten "prolonged guerrilla warfare".
Fascism traditionally has a twin track approach, with both electoral and street fighting wings. In Ukraine, the fascists have made a huge leap forwards – in addition to their successful electoral breakthrough in 2012, they are now set to enter the government.And they now have armed, paramilitary troops – proven in pitched battle with the forces of the state, and admired as militant fighters and heroes.While before, Svoboda kept the Patriots of Ukraine at arms length and the nazi groups that make up Right Sector carried out their combat training quietly under the radar, now they are recruiting openly. Right Sector as well as Svoboda is a big player now.In recent years, fascists have not achieved anything like this elsewhere in Europe.The violence on the streets of Ukraine is far more than an expression of popular anger against a government. Instead, it is merely the latest example of the rise of the most insidious form of fascism that Europe has seen since the fall of the Third Reich.[...]
Ukraine and the rise of right wing extremism there cannot be seen, let alone understood, in isolation. Rather, it must be examined as part of a growing trend throughout Europe (and indeed the world) – a trend which threatens the very foundations of democracy.In Greece [...] Golden Dawn [...] has grown to become the third most popular political party in the country [...] – in effect a Nazi party that promotes anti-Jewish, anti-immigrant, anti-women chauvinism [...].[...] As with many fascist movements in the 20th Century, Golden Dawn scapegoats immigrants, Muslim and African primarily, for many of the problems facing Greeks. In dire economic circumstances, such irrational hate becomes appealing; an answer to the question of how to solve society’s problems. Indeed, despite Golden Dawn’s leaders being jailed [after a Golden Dawn Nazi fatally stabbed an anti-fascist rapper], other party members are still in parliament, still running for major offices including mayor of Athens. Though an electoral victory is unlikely, another strong showing at the polls will make the eradication of fascism in Greece that much harder.Were this phenomenon confined to Greece and Ukraine, it would not constitute a continental trend. Sadly however, we see the rise of similar, albeit slightly less overtly fascist, political parties all over Europe. In Spain, the ruling pro-austerity People’s Party has moved to establish draconian laws restricting protest and free speech, and empowering and sanctioning repressive police tactics. In France, the National Front Party of Marine Le Pen, which vehemently scapegoats Muslim and African immigrants, won nearly twenty percent of the vote in the first round of presidential elections. Similarly, the Party for Freedom in the Netherlands – which promotes anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant policies – has grown to be the third largest in parliament. Throughout Scandinavia, ultra nationalist parties which once toiled in complete irrelevance and obscurity are now significant players in elections. These trends are worrying to say the least.
See also:
Sunday, 16 March 2014
Just the tip of a disturbingly racist iceberg
Addressing Tom Humberstone as one of the most interesting contemporary comic book artists and illustrators seems to be more of an understatement. The above panel demonstrates both the stellar aesthetics and the insightful political engagement characterising his artwork; and he has also contributed to the development of alternative comics in the UK as the editor of the Solipsistic Pop anthologies. More of Tom Humbestone's work is available through his website, facebook and twitter accounts, while his In the Frame series in the New Statesman is available here.
Thursday, 13 March 2014
Not turning a blind eye: fascism in Ukraine
It has been claimed that the role of fascists in the demonstrations has been exaggerated by Russian propaganda to justify Vladimir Putin's manoeuvres in Crimea. The reality is alarming enough to need no exaggeration. Activists report that the far right made up around a third of the protesters, but they were decisive in armed confrontations with the police.Fascist gangs now patrol the streets. But they are also in Kiev's corridors of power. The far right Svoboda party, whose leader has denounced the "criminal activities" of "organised Jewry" and which was condemned by the European parliament for its "racist and antisemitic views", has five ministerial posts in the new government, including deputy prime minister and prosecutor general. The leader of the even more extreme Right Sector, at the heart of the street violence, is now Ukraine's deputy national security chief.Neo-Nazis in office is a first in post-war Europe.
To understand what is happening in Ukraine, we have to understand what the Euromaidan movement is – and what it is not.Euromaidan has been in effect a mass mobilisation behind the pro-EU faction of the ruling oligarchy. It has been dominated from the top by the politicians of the three pro-EU opposition parties, Batkivshchyna (Fatherland), UDAR (“Punch”) parties – and Svoboda.Fatherland and UDAR are conservative, neoliberal parties. Just like Yanukovych’s party, they are tied to the ruling oligarchy, but they represent its western-oriented, pro-EU faction.Svoboda – originally known as the Social-National Party – is fascist. It is allied with the British National Party, Hungary’s Jobbik and the Front National in France. Like many fascist organisations across Europe, it dumped its old name and its traditional nazi Wolfsangel logo and formally distanced itself from its paramilitary wing, the Patriots of Ukraine – a strategy that succeeded as it won 10.4% of the votes in the 2012 elections. It has 36 MPs and a slew of councillors, with its base in western Ukraine.A three-way alliance between these parties normalised Svoboda’s role. It has been a prominent and accepted part of Euromaidan since the start. Svoboda’s position provided legitimacy for a new alliance of hardcore nazi groups – Pravy Sektor (“Right Sector”) – to become an accepted part of the movement too. Right Sector, incidentally, has no interest in the EU, but seeks a fascist “national revolution”.Euromaidan was not like the Occupy or Indignados movements – nor the workers’ protests now in Bosnia. Unlike these movements there were no democratic assemblies or forums to debate and formulate independent, working class demands. This movement has been used as a lever by the pro-EU politicians in their power struggle with Yanukovych and his pro-Russian backers.And the prominent role of fascist organisations sets it clearly apart from the wave of progressive anticapitalist and anti-austerity movements that has broken out across the world in the past few years.
See also:
Ukraine protests: fascists at core of huge new paramilitary force
Tash Sifrin, Dream Deferred, 17.02.2014
Tash Sifrin, Dream Deferred, 17.02.2014
Sunday, 9 March 2014
Thursday, 6 March 2014
Tuesday, 4 March 2014
Not with those tears in your eyes
A homeless man attends to a stray dog while the police swarms behind them; this photograph was taken by Petros Giannakouris (AP) during a protest outside the Greek finance ministry in Athens on
27.09.2011. And it reminded me of another dog: Constance, or the dog of tears, in José Saramago's Blindness and Seeing; the following excerpt is from the latter (London: Vintage, transl. Margaret Jull Costa, 2007, p. 251):
The dog had come closer and was almost touching the superintendent's knees with its nose. It was looking at him and its eyes were saying, I won't hurt you, don't be afraid, she wasn't when I found her on that other day. Then the superintendent slowly reached out his hand and touched the dog's head. He felt like crying and letting the tears course down his face, perhaps the marvel will be repeated. The doctor's wife put her book away in her bag and said, Let's go, Where, asked the superintendent, You'll have lunch with us, won't you, if you've nothing more important to do, Are you sure, About what, That you want to have me sitting at your table, Yes, I'm sure, And you're not afraid I might be tricking you, Not with those tears in your eyes, no.
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