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Lorna Mills and Sally McKay
Digital Media Tree this blog's archive OVVLvverk Lorna Mills: Artworks / Persona Volare / contact Sally McKay: GIFS / cv and contact |
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Excerpts from Naomi Klein at rabble.ca, Mutiny Is The Only Way Out
"The last month of U.S. aggression in Iraq has inspired what can only be described as a mutiny: waves of soldiers, workers and politicians under the command of the U.S. occupation authority suddenly refusing to follow orders and abandoning their posts. First Spain announced that it would withdraw its troops, then Honduras, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Kazakhstan. South Korean and Bulgarian troops were pulled back to their bases, while New Zealand is withdrawing its engineers. El Salvador, Norway, the Netherlands and Thailand will likely be next."
"And then there's the U.S.-controlled Iraqi army. Since the latest wave of fighting, its soldiers have been donating their weapons to resistance fighters in the south and refusing to fight in Falluja. By late April, Major General Martin Dempsey, commander of the 1st Armoured Division, was reporting that “about 40 per cent walked off the job because of intimidation. And about 10 per cent actually worked against us.”
"And it's not just Iraq's soldiers who have been deserting the occupation. Four ministers of the Iraqi governing council have resigned in protest; and half the Iraqis with jobs in the secured “green zone” — as translators, drivers, cleaners — are not showing up for work. Minor mutinous signs are emerging even within the ranks of the U.S. military: privates Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey have applied for refugee status in Canada as conscientious objectors, and Staff Sergeant Camilo Mejia is facing court martial after he refused to return to Iraq on the grounds that he no longer knew what the war was about."
[...]
"There is a way that the UN can redeem itself in Iraq: it could choose to join the mutiny, further isolating the United States. This would help to force Washington to hand over real power — ultimately to Iraqis, but first to a multilateral coalition that did not participate in the invasion and occupation and would have the credibility to oversee direct elections. This could work, but only through a process that fiercely protects Iraq's sovereignty." [details follow: ditch the interim constitution, put the money in trust, de-Chalabify Iraq, demand the withdrawal of US troops]
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cyborg notes:
I recently saw Logan's Run again for the first time since I was a teenager. It's a curious film. I remembered it as a tight little dystopic narrative, a neat, discrete vision of the future to stack up with Andromeda Strain and Planet of the Apes. The first third fits this model, but as the protagonists approach and breach the boundaries of the city, the story becomes more and more surreal. Eventually Peter Ustinov shows up, talking in cryptic verse. There are serveral highly choreographed modern dance type scenes, such as the carousel, where costumed folks in tights are hauled upward on not-so-invisible wires.There is also a truly strange A.I. moment in which the computer at a security checkpoint grills Michael York about consorting with lefties (Runners) while at the same time re-assigning him to a top secret mission, and changing the colour of his palm crystal (or life clock), thereby significantly shortening his life. The computer, passive/aggressive and omniscient, says very little while Logan stumbles and staggers through a series of "questions" that seems far too evocative for effective communication with a machine. I've excerpted this discussion below. The entire transcript has been made available online by Joe Rauner. There is a pretty thorough synopsis of the film (with images) here, at transparencynow.com.
C: Logan 5, approach and identify. (APPROACH AND IDENTIFY) Sit facing the screen, Logan 5. (IDENTIFY) Identify. (IDENTITY AFFIRMED: PROCEDURE: 033-03). Logan 5, do you identify this object?
L: Negative. Question, what is it?
C: That is the name of the object, "ankh". (ANKH, SANCTUARY) Do you identify this word, "Sanctuary"?
L: Negative.
C: “Sanctuary” is a pre-catastrophe code word used for a place of immunity.
L: I don’t understand.
C: The object “ankh” has been identified with the code word “Sanctuary”. The object and the word both relate to runners who have not been accounted for.
L: Question.
C: Hold. (UNACCOUNTED RUNNERS: 1056) Unaccounted runners 1056. You may state your question.
L: 1056 unaccounted for?
C: The number is correct.
L: That’s impossible. Question, maybe they weren’t all runners. Maybe most of them reached life renewal on Carousel. (UNACCOUNTED RUNNERS: 1056) Question, nobody reached renewal? But, everybody believes that, that some ...
C: The question has been answered, Logan 5. (PROCEDURE: 03303)
L: You mean, nobody’s ever been renewed?
C: The question has been answered. You are authorized to penetrate City seals and search outside the Dome. (PROCEDURE: 033-03)
L: Umm, seals? Question, what seals? Outside? Well, there’s, there’s nothing outside.
C: You will find Sanctuary, and destroy. (PROCEDURE: 033-03)
L: Question, what if I need help from another Sandman?
C: Negative. You will begin assignment by becoming a runner seeking Sanctuary.
L: Question. I’m only a Red 6 now. How can I pretend that I’m approaching Lastday?
C: Identify. (PROCEDURE: RETROGRAM) [Red crystal below Logan glows. He is age-progressed. His life clock now blinks]
L: My life clock. Question. My life clock!
C: (RETROGRAM COMPLETE) Retrogram complete. Proceed 033 03.
L: But am I still Red 6? But I had 4 more years! I will get them back, won't I?
C: You will take the object "ankh" with you for identification.
L: Question. Do I get my 4 years back? [computer falls silent]
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Please have a look at my ongoing art and physics project, The Trouble with Oscillation. I am launching this phase of the storyboard as part of this weekend's weewerk exhibition in Toronto (with Rebecca Diederichs, Gordon Hicks and Corinna Ghaznavi). Please have a browse through the story and leave your trace (ie: make comments, post links). If you are in Toronto, come down and see the show. Many thanks to everyone on Digital Media Tree, Joe, Kristin, Mark,Tom, and other posters to this blog who have been helping me shape the project since November. |
image, Ambition, c.1998. From mrnobody.org
I admit, about 5 years ago I figured Mr. Nobody for a charismatic flash in the pan, but the dude (Tanya Read's creation/alter ego?) just doesn't go away. Missing Krazy Kat and Ignatz? How about Felix, or Steamboat Willie. Willy Loman? Rosencrantz and Guildenstern? You need a dose of Mr. Nobody. This catlike everyman cipher has Toronto wrapped around his little ...uh...finger. Now he's got telephone poles in Korea covered too.
Wow. There's a really nice spot about this blog in the current issue of THIS Magazine. I've always had a great deal of respect for THIS because of their probing, left-wing take on politics and alternative culture. It's a bit of a thrill to be on their pages again (first time was in '98 when I was quoted saying "beauty is boring." Try living that down. And yes, I said it. I'm a dork). The current issue looks really good. There's a guide to religious troublemakers, the groups who are "working to promote international debate" and who "simply refuse some of the official tenets of their faith." There's a piece on Tooker Gomberg, and an article by Clive Robertson that I can't wait to read defending the cultural value of science to left-wing activists. There's much more of course, including a really positive little write up about digitialmediatree.com/sallymckay by Joyce Byrne. Thanks Joyce! I hope it brings new people to the blog.
I do have a few small additions. Lola (the art magazine I used to work on) was co-founded by myself, Catherine Osborne and John Massier (readers of THIS might think from the piece that it was all me -- so very much not the case.) The piece also quotes me as saying that this blog is the "most intellectually stimulating thing I've ever done." I'm sure I said it, cause I do say things like that, but it's no slur on Lola. That magazine had me all fired up 24-7. Anyhow, the write-up makes me proud, and it's nice to show up in ink on paper once in a while. Thanks THIS!