France's real threat from within | by David Rothkopf

By a vote of 246 to 1 the French Senate voted Tuesday to excise the word's liberté, égalité, and fraternité from the country's soul. With the vote to ban the wearing of burqas in public, France took a step back into the Dark Ages. Furthermore, the country revealed a deep seated insecurity about the strength of its culture… while at the same time weakening that culture by reinforcing intolerance.

It is estimated that fewer than 2,000 Muslim women in France would be affected by this law. This only underscores the degree of fear driving French lawmakers. Do they really believe these 1,900 or so women can actually undermine thousands of years of national culture or threaten France's national identity? If so, the problem isn't burqas. It's paranoia. Or it's a sense that French culture is soufflé -- so fragile it will fall at the sound of the first whisper.

Combine this with the French government's recent treatment of Romas and you have a pattern of behavior that echoes many of the darkest motifs in European history. Forcing my father to wear a yellow star on the streets of Vienna when he was a boy is the flip side of this coin

More: France's real threat from within | David Rothkopf

Pipilotti Rist

I have always found her work, especially her treatment of colors mesmerizing.  Infact sometimes I find myself wishing I was her.  well - you know what I mean.

some pics of her past and present work -- details of current installation -- and a clip of her Just  Released film “Peperminta”.

BIO--PDF    

Pipilotti Rist
Friendly Game – Electronic Feelings
8 July – 1 November 2010
Press Preview:
Wednesday, July 7 at 12 noon
Opening:
Wednesday, July 7 at 8:30 p.m.

Fundació Joan Miró
Parc de Montjuïc s/n, 08038 Barcelona
www.fundaciomiro-bcn.org
Centre Cultural de Caixa Girona
C/ Ciutadans, 19, 17004 Girona
www.fundaciocaixadegirona.org

Pipilotti Rist — Images and clips — Hauser & Wirth

Where Is My Vote? Posters for the Green Movement in Iran

 

August 30 - September 25, 2010
Reception: Thursday, September 16, 6-8pm

 

Exhibition Statement

Steven Heller on "Where Is My Vote?"
DNAinfo profiles "Where Is My Vote?"

School of Visual Arts (SVA) presents "Where Is My Vote? Posters for the Green Movement in Iran," an exhibition of 150 political posters by graphic artists world wide created in support of the protests in Iran that followed the 2009 presidential election. The exhibition is the first public viewing of these posters in printed form and was organized by designers Anita Kunz and Woody Pirtle along with Francis Di Tommaso, director of the Visual Arts Gallery, and Steven Heller, author, design historian and co-chair of the MFA Design Department at SVA.

"Where Is My Vote?" highlights the unique role that socially responsible designers can play in rallying support for free speech, and the power of design to inspire political activism. The exhibition features posters by some of the most celebrated graphic artists working today, including R. O. Blechman, Cathie Bleck, Seymour Chwast, Ivan Chermayeff, Milton Glaser, Robert Grossman, Anita Kunz, Yossi Lemel, Jennifer Morla, István Orosz, Woody Pirtle, Andrea Rauch, Ralph Steadman, Gary Taxali, James Victore and Massimo Vignelli, among others.

Steven Heller Discusses "Where Is My Vote?" from School of Visual Arts on Vimeo.

Following the elections in Iran in the summer of 2009, an Iranian photographer who goes by the name of Green Bird urged graphic artists from all over the world to create posters in support the Green Movement in Iran. One of the artists he approached, Italian designer Andrea Rauch, volunteered to host all of the posters on the web site SocialDesignZine, the blog of the Association of Italian Graphic Designers, where Rauch serves as editor. Over 200 posters have been collected on the site and can be viewed here: http://sdz.aiap.it/gallerie/11538

"SocialDesignZine, which has an English language version, was visited by very many Iranians," commented Rauch, "Friends in Iran told us that many of our posters were 'self-printed' and used at the demonstrations. At the end of September 2009, when the number of posters submitted numbered more than 100, SocialDesignZine was  blocked in Iran."

In the fall of 2009, Green Bird asked Kunz if she knew of a venue that would be interested in exhibiting the posters collected on SocialDesignZine. Kunz then brought the works to the attention of SVA and soon the planning for "Where Is My Vote?" began.

More here: SVA > Exhibition > Where Is My Vote? Posters for the Green Movement in Iran

And here: Gallery

Top Ways 9/11 Broke Islamic Law | Informed Comment

Fear mongering by the Republican Party in an election year -- how deep does the hole go in the Republican Party?

by Juan Cole

On the ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, it is clear that al-Qaeda was a tiny fringe terrorist movement, not a globe-straddling threat to Western societies. The organization has been decisively disrupted and now lacks command and control. Its leader, Usama Bin Laden, has not been seen in a video since 2004, and is either dead or horribly disfigured. Its number 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, is dangerous only in the way that any other terrorist crank is, firing off crackpot messages to his dwindling band of followers from time to time. With the startling rise of anti-Muslim bigotry in the United States, fanned in large part by Republican Party fear mongering, it is worthwhile underlining the ways in which September 11 contravened Islamic values and Islamic law. (For a modernist, liberal interpretation, see this pdf file, “Jihad and the Islamic Law of War.”

1. It is forbidden to attempt to impose Islam on other people. The Qur’an says, “There is no compulsion in religion. The right way has become distinct from error.” (-The Cow, 2:256). Note that this verse was revealed in Medina and was never abrogated by any other verse of the Quran. Islam’s holy book forbids coercing people into adopting any religion. They have to willingly choose it.

2. Islamic law forbids aggressive warfare. The Quran says, “But if the enemies incline towards peace, do you also incline towards peace. And trust in God! For He is the one who hears and knows all things.” (8:61) The Quran chapter “The Cow,” 2:190, says, “Fight in the way of God against those who fight against you, but begin not hostilities. Lo! God loveth not aggressors.”

3. In Islamic war, not just any civil engineer can declare or launch a war. It is the prerogative of the duly constituted leader of the Muslim community that engages in the war. Nowadays that would be the president or prime minister of the state.

4. The killing of innocent non-combatants is forbidden. According to Sunni tradition, ‘Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, the first Caliph, gave these instructions to his armies: “I instruct you in ten matters: Do not kill women, children, the old, or the infirm; do not cut down fruit-bearing trees; do not destroy any town . . . ” (Malik’s Muwatta’, “Kitab al-Jihad.”)

5. Muslim commanders must give the enemy fair warning that war is imminent. The Prophet Muhammad at one point gave 4 months notice. Sneak attacks are forbidden.

The World Trade Center had a mosque in it, which Bin Laden destroyed, and he killed dozens of innocent Muslims in the attack along with thousands of others. All of this is an abomination in Islamic law.

By the laws of classical Islam and the instructions of the Quran, then, the September 11 act of terrorism was illegal. It is not an affirmation of Islam but a departure from its laws of war. That is why, contrary to popular belief, Muslim authorities have roundly condemned al-Qaeda’s actions in no uncertain terms. See also the Amman statement, to which large numbers of prominent Sunni and Shiite leaders subscribed.

More on: Top Ways 9/11 Broke Islamic Law | Informed Comment

The Path to a High-Wage Society | The American Prospect

 

The Path to a High-Wage Society

The explosion of low-wage jobs is due, for the most part, to the declining bargaining power of America's employees.

Peter Dreier | September 3, 2010

American workers today face declining job security and dwindling earnings as companies downsize, move overseas, and shift more jobs to part-time workers. Last year, a survey by the Economic Policy Institute found that 44 percent of American families had experienced either the job loss of one or more members, a reduction in hours, or a cut in pay over the previous year. For the vast majority of workers, the costs of basic necessities are rising faster than incomes.

As this special report of The American Prospect has demonstrated, government has ample powers to change these trends for the better. Back in the days of Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty, Republican critics liked to say that the best anti-poverty program is a job. The federal government has the capacity -- and responsibility -- to promote full employment, where everyone who wants to work has a job. But the kind of job -- the pay, benefits, security, and prospects for advancement -- are as important as the job itself.

A good job means one that pays enough to allow a family to buy or rent a decent home, put food on the table and clothes on their backs, afford health insurance and child care, send the kids to college, take a yearly vacation, and retire with dignity. A good job means that two parents don't have to juggle three jobs to stay afloat, and that they still have time to spend with their kids.

The Path to a High-Wage Society | The American Prospect