Canadian Olympics 2010

My grandmother, a lovable but frustratingly conformist person, says I'm against everything.  What she doesn't realize is that every single thing I'm *against* can be flipped around to be something I'm for!  I'm anti-sexism, which means I'm pro woman's rights.  I'm anti-colonialist, which means I'm for Indigenous rights.  I'm against governments, but for decentralization, and community organization.

It's all in the way you look at it (by the way, I've used the positive ways of saying these things when speaking to my grandmother as well, but she seems to only remember the "negative" ones.  I think I need to remember to ONLY say "I'm for..." when talking to her, thus making it much harder for her to accuse me of being negative. ;-)).

 (By Zig Zag, via the site No 2010 Olympics on Stolen Native Land)

What's making her say I'm "against everything" at the moment is the fact that I'm anti-Olympics (also known as FOR the abolition of poverty and homelessness, for the rights of Indigenous peoples, for an end to environmental destruction, for small businesses instead of huge corporations, and for the right for people to live, love, and protest without the fear of police surveillance, oppression, and violence).  Yes, I feel for the athletes who dream of this day and all that.  But I'm afraid I feel a lot more for the people who have lost their homes due to the games (homelessness has more than doubled in Vancouver since they won the bid to hold the games), and feel more for all the other countless people who are being harmed by these games, than the few thousand athletes who want to play sports.  Hell, there's even the issue of elitism: no one I know can afford to spend thousands of dollars on tickets to any of the Olympic events!  This is a spectacle by and for the wealthy only: the rest of us just get to watch it on TV, live it vicariously (which is never the best way to live), and apparently feel some swelling of pride when people we've never met win a race. And, if you're lucky to live in the right area, you also get to pay off a huge debt that the Olympics has created...  Fun!

Or, of course, you could just protest.  Which many people out in BC have decided to do!  Here are just a few interesting links and videos on that subject:

Though most of the protesting has already gone down, you can still find lots of interesting info at the Olympic Resistance Network.

Also check out this video: Weekend Roundup of Olympic Resistance (it won't embed or I'd just put it here), to see what went down in terms of anti-Olympic protesting in Vancouver this past weekend.

...And this interesting video on the BC Civil Liberties associations decision to demonize certain protesters (I liked this video because I felt the guy they talked to has some very important things to say!).



...And this video as well, the latest episode of It's The End Of The World As We Know It, And I Feel Fine, which, though it's not entirely about the Olympics, includes some stuff on it.



For months I've been finding interesting links about the Olympics, but of course I wasn't smart enough to bookmark them, so I can't find them now when I want to...  I guess this will have to do.

So for the first time ever, this year, I am not watching, and not supporting, the Olympic games. I'd much rather support those resisting the games, fighting for causes that are genuinely worthwhile, than support the corporate circus that is the Olympics!

Peace,
Idzie

Political dump (aka interesting stuff to my green anarchist self)

Attractive title, right?

Anyway, I realized that I've only really talked about unschooling for a while now, and been really quiet (for me, anyway) about my political (or lack thereof) views. However, that doesn't mean that I haven't been watching, reading, talking, and thinking about said lack of politics views. So, I decided to share a bunch of stuff that's been interesting to me lately. I hope this is of interest to at least a few of my readers!

Firstly, I absolutely LOVE Submedia.tv. They have a show called It's The End of the World As We Know It every week or couple of weeks, usually around 15 minutes, that just does a wonderful job of putting current events, news, and information on green anarchist (anarchist in general, but with a very definite green lean) stuff in an amusing, engaging, and informative way. You should definitely check it out: Submedia.tv

The newest episode:


Next, I also enjoy watching videos by these two guys on YouTube, AdamHintz and MeursaultBateman. They both talk about issues of green anarchy, sustainability, and similar things.

Something I'm very against is the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia (if you look at the sidebar of my blog, you may have noticed that I have a badge against the Olympics). Lots of people react with surprise when I say that. "What's wrong with the Olympics?", they ask. Well, here's what's wrong with the Olympics: Why We Resist 2010 (taken from the website no2010.com)

I've also been looking into the G20 summit protests since I got home from camp, and there seems to have been the seemingly fairly normal amount of police brutality. Here are a couple of videos showing what I mean:

Police State Uses Violence Against Protesters - Intro by Howard Zinn



Police Attack Students at University of Pittsburgh



Also, I may have mentioned a while back that I really wanted to go to the Rethinking Education conference, especially so I could hear Daniel Quinn speak. Well, I didn't end up making it, but his speech was posted online! Thanks to both Eli and Josh for sending the link to me! :-) Check out part one here.

Oh, and here's Derrick Jensen's newest article from Orion magazine: Side with the Living

FINALLY, for a long time, I didn't like rap or hip-hop music. However, relatively recently I've discovered that there's some really good stuff out there! The main thing I never liked was the lyrics. The whole gansta hip-hop thing, with ho's and money and guns, never appealed to me. Radical political hip-hop, on the other hand, is totally different! So here are a couple of my favorites...

Light It Up 2.0, produced by Ratatat, and as far as I can tell, lyrics and (obviously) sung by zzz33333



You're a Fucking Terrorist by Resident Anti-Hero (you can listen to, and download, all of their music for free at their site)



Annnd that's all for now! Hope I didn't make this too long!

Peace,
Idzie

Super Soak the Olympic Torch

I love this show. I'm sure the style would turn some people off, but if you can get past that, it always has wonderful info, fascinating interviews, and is put together in an engaging way. Check out past episodes and other cool stuff at subMedia.tv.

This particular episode deals with some of the shit that Obama has been doing, as well as having extensive info on the 2010 Olympics and why they're a bad thing. The previous episode, Blame Canada, was also good.



I tried to embed the video from the subMedia site, but since it's not working from there, I embedded it from YouTube. To see the full video, you'll need to go here.

My sister and I have decided that we're going to check out the protest when the torch passes through Montreal, since we both want to lend our support...

Peace,
Idzie