On the subject of YouTube, I'm glad to see they appear to have removed the appalling "Sparkling Wiggles" video.
If you aren't aware, "Sparkling Wiggles" has a 4 year old girl with a speech disability being encouraged to say "Sparkling Wiggles", because her pronunciation makes it sound like a racist phrase.
Some have argued it's not racist because the girl doesn't know what she's saying. What is true is that the girl isn't being racist.
But the video is racist, and the adults (parents?) encouraging the kid to say "sparkling wiggles" are being racist by treating it as a huge joke.
And disablist. I myself have a speech disability, so I know how it feels. Throughout my life, I've had problems with brainwashed morons encouraging me to say phrases which I have difficulty saying, just for a few alienated laughs.
In fact, this video and other cases (such as the recent case of two adults who were prosecuted for goading their kids to fight while being recorded with a camcorder) have made me question my belief that non-pornographic video recording of children is virtually harmless.
Then again, I still think it's sheer hypocrisy that Establishment TV stations get away with broadcasting reactionary carp (typo) like Brat Camp and I Smack And I'm Proud - both of which show cruelty to kids, to a massive audience. After all, if theres any truth in the Establishment's assertation that paedophiles may get sick fantasies from watching recordings of Nativity plays etc., I dread to think what must run through the same nonces' minds after watching the aforementioned video nasties masquerading as "reality TV" :-(
Tuesday, 15 May 2007
YouTube and whose army?
I see the US military have banned their soldiers from using YouTube, as well as several other websites - including social networking sites such as MySpace. (BBC News: US blocks soldiers from websites)
I think this is appalling. Whatever my views on war and the role of the military (UK, US and weherever), I do think soldiers should be entitled to certain rights. Such as the right to communicate with their family and friends, when they are stationed abroad.
What's more, it seems hypocritical for the US military Establishment to ban their soldiers from using such sites when, as the same article states, "The Pentagon only recently started posting its own videos on YouTube, showing soldiers in action in Iraq in a move designed to reach out to a younger audience and to show the successes of the US military" - ie for recruitment and propaganda purposes.
The excuse given for the ban is "they've (sites such as YouTube and Myspace) had an impact on bandwidth resources and network availability". Considering the sheer amount of money spent bombing Iraq and Afghanistan, I am incredulous that the military can't afford a few more gigabytes of bandwidth for their own soldiers.
In the past, videos from Iraq - taken on mobile phones - have appeared on video sharing sites similar to YouTube. Some of these show the less pleasant reality of life in Iraq, rather than the sanitized view we so often see on the Establishment TV stations.
The ban couldn't possibly be to stifle any news and views contrary to the official line - ie that of Bush, Bliar and the Establishment in both the US and UK - reaching the public gaze. Could it?
I think this is appalling. Whatever my views on war and the role of the military (UK, US and weherever), I do think soldiers should be entitled to certain rights. Such as the right to communicate with their family and friends, when they are stationed abroad.
What's more, it seems hypocritical for the US military Establishment to ban their soldiers from using such sites when, as the same article states, "The Pentagon only recently started posting its own videos on YouTube, showing soldiers in action in Iraq in a move designed to reach out to a younger audience and to show the successes of the US military" - ie for recruitment and propaganda purposes.
The excuse given for the ban is "they've (sites such as YouTube and Myspace) had an impact on bandwidth resources and network availability". Considering the sheer amount of money spent bombing Iraq and Afghanistan, I am incredulous that the military can't afford a few more gigabytes of bandwidth for their own soldiers.
In the past, videos from Iraq - taken on mobile phones - have appeared on video sharing sites similar to YouTube. Some of these show the less pleasant reality of life in Iraq, rather than the sanitized view we so often see on the Establishment TV stations.
The ban couldn't possibly be to stifle any news and views contrary to the official line - ie that of Bush, Bliar and the Establishment in both the US and UK - reaching the public gaze. Could it?
Thursday, 10 May 2007
Shirebrook Respect victory in Derbyshire Times
It's not often I have anything good to say about the local press. But the Derbyshire Times (based in Chesterfield) did have good coverage of Ray Holmes' victory for Respect in Shirebrook.
What's more, they referred to Respect as the "left wing Respect party" - makes a pleasant change from the press' usual habit of referring to us as the "anti war Respect party", which implies (wrongly) that we are a single issue party.
By contrast, the Mansfield Chad concentrated more on Labour's loss of the seat than on Respect's glorious victory:
What's more, they referred to Respect as the "left wing Respect party" - makes a pleasant change from the press' usual habit of referring to us as the "anti war Respect party", which implies (wrongly) that we are a single issue party.
By contrast, the Mansfield Chad concentrated more on Labour's loss of the seat than on Respect's glorious victory:
Tony Blair, you are the weakest link ...
Today, Bliar announced he is to quit as Prime Minister on 27th June. Good riddance (although, sadly, it means we've still got to put up with the right-wing, closet Tory, warmongering, capitalist bastard for another 7 weeks). Needless to say, I won't be "wanting more" as the media seem to think we will (RU listening Gordon Brown ?!?).
Across the English Channel, it seems to be a different story. The right-wing French Tory Sarkozy has won the French presidential elections, beating the Socialist Party (French equivalent of our Labour Party) candidate Royal (I never thought I'd prefer a Royal to a president!).
Among those to congratulate Sarkozy on his victory, with a fawning speech on YouTube, is none other than Tony Bliar. Hardly surprising really, Bliar has a long and sorry history of sucking up to right wing members of the Establishment, both at home and abroad.
The epitome of this is Bliar's craven support for the US president George W Bush, including sending our troops to fight in the murderous and immoral (and in the case of Iraq, illegal) wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But there are countless other examples.
Soon after Bliar entered Downing Street in 1997, he met Margaret Thatcher - the Tory prime minister responsible for butchering the coal and steel industry, taking us to war in the Malvinas, and privatising everything that wasn't nailed down. Since then, he certainly seems to have taken Mrs Thatcher's advice to heart!
In 2000, he praised Army chief General Guthrie for his appalling speech which sneered at the "culture of litigation" and belittled the idea that people with disabilities could be employed in the Armed Forces. (My views on the latter subject can be found my Disability and the British Armed Forces article on the Red Disability website).
Then in 2005, he was quick to defend Ian Blair, the chief of the Metropolitan Police, after the Brazilian worker Jean Charles de Menenzes was shot dead by the Metropolitan Police. (Thought you didn't like gangs with guns, Mr Bliar!)
Throughout his reign, he seems to have been a fan of the right-wing Australian media baron Rupert Murdoch, no wonder this government's policies sometimes seem to have been influenced by The Sun and the Snooze of the World newspapers :-(
Then there's the former Italian prime minister Silvio Burlusconi, who is not only a media baron (this time associated mostly with owning several TV networks in Italy), but who invited the fascist MSI and the (similar to the Ulster Unionists) Northern League, into his government coalition. Not to mention alleged links with the Mafia.
Ah well, I guess Bliar has at least admitted making a mistake. Not for taking us into the illegal war in Iraq, pissing on the working class by sucking up to the rich, or belting our civil liberties. His biggest mistake, he says, was being too soft on poor people and thinking he could solve anti social behaviour in poor areas by investment and increasing the living standards of the most deprived people in society! He now thinks he can hold back the tide of social decline, like a Cnut (the ancient Briton king that is!), by more repressive laws, increased use of ASBOs etc.
His resignation is long overdue. As I've already stated, however, I'm very sceptical whether Brown will be much better.
I'll be celebrating the end of Bliar. But the fight against Blairism goes on!
Across the English Channel, it seems to be a different story. The right-wing French Tory Sarkozy has won the French presidential elections, beating the Socialist Party (French equivalent of our Labour Party) candidate Royal (I never thought I'd prefer a Royal to a president!).
Among those to congratulate Sarkozy on his victory, with a fawning speech on YouTube, is none other than Tony Bliar. Hardly surprising really, Bliar has a long and sorry history of sucking up to right wing members of the Establishment, both at home and abroad.
The epitome of this is Bliar's craven support for the US president George W Bush, including sending our troops to fight in the murderous and immoral (and in the case of Iraq, illegal) wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But there are countless other examples.
Soon after Bliar entered Downing Street in 1997, he met Margaret Thatcher - the Tory prime minister responsible for butchering the coal and steel industry, taking us to war in the Malvinas, and privatising everything that wasn't nailed down. Since then, he certainly seems to have taken Mrs Thatcher's advice to heart!
In 2000, he praised Army chief General Guthrie for his appalling speech which sneered at the "culture of litigation" and belittled the idea that people with disabilities could be employed in the Armed Forces. (My views on the latter subject can be found my Disability and the British Armed Forces article on the Red Disability website).
Then in 2005, he was quick to defend Ian Blair, the chief of the Metropolitan Police, after the Brazilian worker Jean Charles de Menenzes was shot dead by the Metropolitan Police. (Thought you didn't like gangs with guns, Mr Bliar!)
Throughout his reign, he seems to have been a fan of the right-wing Australian media baron Rupert Murdoch, no wonder this government's policies sometimes seem to have been influenced by The Sun and the Snooze of the World newspapers :-(
Then there's the former Italian prime minister Silvio Burlusconi, who is not only a media baron (this time associated mostly with owning several TV networks in Italy), but who invited the fascist MSI and the (similar to the Ulster Unionists) Northern League, into his government coalition. Not to mention alleged links with the Mafia.
Ah well, I guess Bliar has at least admitted making a mistake. Not for taking us into the illegal war in Iraq, pissing on the working class by sucking up to the rich, or belting our civil liberties. His biggest mistake, he says, was being too soft on poor people and thinking he could solve anti social behaviour in poor areas by investment and increasing the living standards of the most deprived people in society! He now thinks he can hold back the tide of social decline, like a Cnut (the ancient Briton king that is!), by more repressive laws, increased use of ASBOs etc.
His resignation is long overdue. As I've already stated, however, I'm very sceptical whether Brown will be much better.
I'll be celebrating the end of Bliar. But the fight against Blairism goes on!
Saturday, 5 May 2007
Fascist Bastards
At midday today on BBC2, See Hear - a programme aimed at deaf people - had a feature about the deaf survivors (and victims) of Nazi Germany. It was one of those programmes which was both interesting and disturbing at the same time.
Jewish deaf people obviously were targeted worst by the Nazis, but all deaf people in Germany at the time were in danger. As well as the 6 million Jews and millions of Communists and Trade Unionists who were murdered by the Nazis, hundreds of thousands of people with disabilities ("useless eaters" as the Nazis called us) were similarly exterminated in the gas chambers.
As both a communist (I'm not ashamed of the term!) and a person with disabilities, I have an interest in making sure the horrors of Nazism are never repeated. (For my views on Nazis, see my article on the Red Disability website). So last Saturday and Sunday I was one of the group of Unite Against Fascism members who leafleted Alfreton and South Normanton (where the BNP stood, and thankfully failed to win) with anti-BNP literature.
Unite Against Fascism is a united front, a broad group of people from several political parties and other groups, whose sole aim is the defeat of fascism. Which is why SWP, Respect and Labour Party members and supporters work alongside each other while leafleting and organising against the BNP.
Whatever my views on Labour as it stands, I'd rather be ruled by Labour - or indeed by the Lib Dems, Tories or even UKIP - than by the BNP. In the same way that I'd rather have a nimbostratus cloud above me than a cumulonimbus thundercloud. Both may piss on me from a great height, but only one risks killing me!
Jewish deaf people obviously were targeted worst by the Nazis, but all deaf people in Germany at the time were in danger. As well as the 6 million Jews and millions of Communists and Trade Unionists who were murdered by the Nazis, hundreds of thousands of people with disabilities ("useless eaters" as the Nazis called us) were similarly exterminated in the gas chambers.
As both a communist (I'm not ashamed of the term!) and a person with disabilities, I have an interest in making sure the horrors of Nazism are never repeated. (For my views on Nazis, see my article on the Red Disability website). So last Saturday and Sunday I was one of the group of Unite Against Fascism members who leafleted Alfreton and South Normanton (where the BNP stood, and thankfully failed to win) with anti-BNP literature.
Unite Against Fascism is a united front, a broad group of people from several political parties and other groups, whose sole aim is the defeat of fascism. Which is why SWP, Respect and Labour Party members and supporters work alongside each other while leafleting and organising against the BNP.
Whatever my views on Labour as it stands, I'd rather be ruled by Labour - or indeed by the Lib Dems, Tories or even UKIP - than by the BNP. In the same way that I'd rather have a nimbostratus cloud above me than a cumulonimbus thundercloud. Both may piss on me from a great height, but only one risks killing me!
Joys of spring but bored with Bliar's arrogance
So Blair describes the recent election results as "a perfectly good springboard" for Labour to win the next general election, does he?
Whether or nor Labour escaped a "rout", it was hardly a resounding victory, even less a resounding endorsement of his policies (or those put forward by Gordon Brown)!
By contrast, I am moderately encouraged by the results, at least in England and Wales. (Not so in Scotland, sorry to see Tommy Sheridan and the newly formed Solidarity party fail to gain any seats there).
Don't get me wrong, it's not the Tory gains that are encouraging for me. As I've already stated earlier, I don't see the Tories as a preferable alternative to New Labour. But I am pleased with the gains Respect has made (eg in Shirebrook), and the gains by other parties to the left of Labour. Such as the Green Party, who have gained 17 seats nationally (and have 2 seats on Sheffield council).
I'm also pleased the Nazi BNP have failed to make the breakthrough many feared. In some areas they made unwelcome gains this year, such as North West Leicestershire, but in others - notably Burnley - they lost seats. Let's hope this year's gains for them are similarly short-lived!
As for Labour's prospects, they may have a hope of winning the next general election.
But not if they continue with Blairite policies :-P
Whether or nor Labour escaped a "rout", it was hardly a resounding victory, even less a resounding endorsement of his policies (or those put forward by Gordon Brown)!
By contrast, I am moderately encouraged by the results, at least in England and Wales. (Not so in Scotland, sorry to see Tommy Sheridan and the newly formed Solidarity party fail to gain any seats there).
Don't get me wrong, it's not the Tory gains that are encouraging for me. As I've already stated earlier, I don't see the Tories as a preferable alternative to New Labour. But I am pleased with the gains Respect has made (eg in Shirebrook), and the gains by other parties to the left of Labour. Such as the Green Party, who have gained 17 seats nationally (and have 2 seats on Sheffield council).
I'm also pleased the Nazi BNP have failed to make the breakthrough many feared. In some areas they made unwelcome gains this year, such as North West Leicestershire, but in others - notably Burnley - they lost seats. Let's hope this year's gains for them are similarly short-lived!
As for Labour's prospects, they may have a hope of winning the next general election.
But not if they continue with Blairite policies :-P
Friday, 4 May 2007
Ray of hope in Shirebrook
Congratulations to Ray Holmes for winning for Respect in Shirebrook! After many weeks of campaigning, all the hard work of Ray (and those who helped with leafleting, canvassing etc) has paid off. I think there's likely to be a few changes in Shirebrook (about 6 miles south of Clowne), possibly on Bolsover District Council in general (which covers Clowne), in the near future :-)
Also really good to see Michael Lavalette retain his seat in Preston, and Respect's number of seats on Birmingham council rise to 2 with the election victory of Mohammed Ishtiaq in Sparkbrook.
Back to near my own backyard - Sheffield this time - good results for Maxine Bowler in Sheffield Burngreave and Miron Rahman in Sheffield Darnell, both of whom came second.
For more details on how the Respect candidates fared across the country, click here.
Also really good to see Michael Lavalette retain his seat in Preston, and Respect's number of seats on Birmingham council rise to 2 with the election victory of Mohammed Ishtiaq in Sparkbrook.
Back to near my own backyard - Sheffield this time - good results for Maxine Bowler in Sheffield Burngreave and Miron Rahman in Sheffield Darnell, both of whom came second.
For more details on how the Respect candidates fared across the country, click here.
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