Newtopia | Issue #18 - Sep/Oct 2004: "Ideology"

Newtopia's Editor-in-Chief was one of 2000 people arrested and detained during the Republican National Convention in New York City. This is the story of how peaceful dissent is dealt with in George Bush's America.

While the Democratic Party eschewed Progressives and barricaded themselves inside Boston's Fleet Center, Newtopia was out in the streets.

Photo Essay: "Life outside the Castle" - The American Progressive community gathers in Boston.

Media coverage of Newtopia Publisher Charles Shaw at the DNC.

The Green Party of the United States held their National Convention in Milwaukee, June 23-28 to determine whether to endorse Ralph Nader's independent campaign for President, or nominate one of their own.

The term "ideology" entered the modern vocabulary around the time of the French Revolution. Ideologies - and there is always more than one of them whenever and wherever they appear -are symptoms of a disruption of social and cultural unity that represent actual conflicts of interest among social groups.

Here we have the almost "empty" ideological term greenism. I say almost empty because it is undefined and hardly used. It's not in my Webster. A search engine (Google or Yahoo!) only tells me of various outlier definitions - like greenism is anarchoenvironmental terrorism - which may be true - or that it means, in general, to save the planet - which may also be true. It is this undeveloped wordsmithing that is unacceptable for an ideology. To be an ideology, an ism, the politics must be clear.

The spirit of libertarianism is as old as America itself. The story of Patrick Henry's exhortation "give me liberty or give me death!" is ingrained in the mythology of our country. We are a country steeped in the mystique of the individual, in the value of "rugged American individualism," and the legend of Horatio Alger and the "self made man."

Why shouldn't the slums be self-sustaining? Sovereign! The obscene and wild rosettes of human communities that cluster and bloom under the bridges of Lagos, or are sandwiched between the high brow skyscrapers of the urban metropolis. Why shouldn't they be complete with their own hierarchy of specialists, intellectuals and statesmen? A keen observer of the human society would say I goofed to think that slums do not possesses the motley of lives I have enumerated above but such an observer too would be myopic not to accept the parlous nexus between the slums and their so called more 'humane' environment.

In early 2004, I traveled to Israel and the occupied territories with a cousin who is a professor and member of the Faculty for Israeli-Palestinian Peace (FFIPP), a coalition that opposes Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. It should be noted that the delegation could not enter the Gaza Strip, which Israel has basically closed off to the international community. From most accounts the conditions there are deplorable, but that is another subject. Here I'll focus on what I saw and the people I met in the West Bank, a perspective rarely or unfairly covered in American mass media, which is ironic considering that each year the U.S. gives more money to Israel than to any other country in the world. Americans should know where their taxes are going.

Phillip Munger, moved by the story of Rachel Corrie-the young Chicago activist who was killed last year by an Israeli bulldozer while trying to stop the illegal demolition of Palestinian homes-composed ãThe Skies are Weeping,ä a cantata in her memory. The cantata contains the setting of a contemporary poem by Thushara Wijeratna and also includes Rachel's own words gathered from her emails, Psalm 137, and a poem each by contemporary poets Linda McCarriston and Phil Goldvarg. It's a moody and evocative stream of modern composition, ominous yet shot through with a surprising beauty that meanders here and there unexpectedly through the elegiac progression as beauty does in real life.

In his recent address to the 2004 Democratic National Convention, former President Jimmy Carter's blistering critique of the Bush foreign policy underscored many of the fallacious neo-conservative philosophies that have been the Administration's guiding principles. Carter maintained that the radical impulses within the Bush White House have had negative effects on the execution of national security objectives, and in the negative global perceptions that many U.S. allies have formed about the superpower. This viewpoint, according to Carter, had the net effect of damaging cooperation on the War on Terrorism, in spite of previous support after the 9-11 attacks.

The concept of creative destruction got a lot of play during the Internet Boom when start-ups crowed that they were going to be the instrument that would creatively destroy their land-based competitor and skyrocket into market prominence on the strength of their Internet-enabled business models. Well, looking back we can see who was creatively destroyed and who was left standing.

Removed from its cultural and ideological context, the drug war is impossible to understand. Questions about why a non-lethal drug like marijuana is illegal, while drugs linked to hundreds of thousands of deaths each year, like tobacco, are legal cannot be answered with facts or reason. Yet drug war ideology has dominated drug policy since the early twentieth century. The National Institute on Drug Abuse is one of several government enterprises that exist to maintain drug war ideology. But in 1979, a NIDA publication exposed the perilously thin foundation on which prohibition rests.

In terms of general policy formation, the influences of conservatism we see today are the result of the emergence of a mature ideological formation. That is, what the 1960s were to the Left the 1990s and early 2000s have been to the Right. Clearly, the influence of the Left and the civil rights movement in the 1960s provided a shock to the Right and conservatives began to entrench themselves under the banner of reclaiming (their) America and restoring it to its rightful place as God's chosen land. Just as unions were the mechanism by which the Left preached to the converted (ideology is, after all, more concerned with mobilizing the faithful than with conversion), churches across the country provided the forum where the Right could preach about secular attacks against traditional values. The current polarization around gay marriage is one among many issues that Christian conservatives have been preparing to address via political institutions.

As one of the loudest voices defending ruinous suburban sprawl, Wendell Cox needs scrutiny. In a new Heritage Foundation report, he fabricates three Current Urban Planning Assumptions and then shows that they "are of virtually no value." The real message of this latest publication is how scared the pro-sprawl community is. . Clearly, the smart growth argument that sprawl's need for new physical infrastructure is costing government and taxpayers too much money has been effective. . By paying attention to language, it is clear that Cox is once again practicing "intellectual terrorism" to frighten Americans about smart growth.

In the wake of the '90s anti-sweatshop campaigns, a new brand of capitalist has appeared on the garment industry scene, promoting a kinder, gentler form of the corporate order. The four biggest names in the game: the Blackspot sneaker, being marketed by the makers of Adbusters magazine, the No Sweat clothing line, the now defunct SweatX collective, and American Apparel all have their own philosophies of production, with a varying mix of ideological and entrepreneurial motives for their existence.

Attempting to understand a person without understanding their psychology is like trying to see what is behind a window when you can only focus on the glass. In the case of George W. Bush, the glass - that which is projected by Bush - is all that we are intended to see, as it is the public persona of the President that our foreign and domestic policy is built around. But, for those who are concerned about the welfare of the country, attempting to understand the man, outside of the cult of personality that surrounds him, is compelling.

Ethics training becomes vital when companies need to answer challenges: from employees, stock/shareholders, governmental regulations etc., He adds: "Although ethics programs cannot change personal values, or cure all the ills of men, women, and the world, they can offer us a platform for discussing moral issues and questions - to arrive at optimally viable choices.

Ideologies continue to influence and shape every day interpretations of social realities, globally. Ideologies maintain a firm, controlling grip on self-determination, self-consciousness, political awareness and action of the popular masses, average Joe and Jane alike. When it comes to ideologies in our lives, there simply is no place to run, no place to hide. Very much to the detriment of invigorating, expanding, rekindling of democracy, as to the realization of social, racial, ethnic equality and justice.

Does getting a tattoo or piercing constitute an ideology? Perhaps not, if an individual modified his or her body in total isolation from society. However, when people modify their bodies by tattooing, piercing or scaring (and, more recently, nullification) they do so with the knowledge of - or in the indirect presence of - a large and rather loose network of people that are also modified. When such a network, however loose, exists, it becomes a noticeable social phenomenon that must be addressed.

"Today's progressive movement, for its part, gives feminism a passing nod and then keeps on going; after all, we've got financial institutions to overthrow, corporations to fight, politics to commandeer! So here we are, with feminism low on the list of trendy ideologies or left off lists entirely. "Feminism isn't my issue," said a male friend recently when I asked him to go to a Code Pink event. He doesn't get it that, without feminism, his issues don't matter. Without feminism, he could (but probably won't) accomplish the objectives of his issue but still not achieve fundamental, sustainable change."

"On the issue of beheadings, our "bewildered" media asks again and again, "What Kind of Monsters are These?' There's a quick and painful answer to this question. They are the same kind of monsters we armed and trained and set like attack dogs on Russians and Afghani supporters of the Soviet Government in Kabul. The same kind of monsters our CIA bought school books for their childen that extolled "holy war" and to "kill the infidels." Children now coming of age and who've learned the lessons of the books our CIA skillfully placed in their hands 20 years ago, to enrage them to kill Russians. They are the same kind of animals we sicked on the Iranians when Rumsfeld and the Reagan Administration helped Saddam Hussein target and gas Iranians during the Iraq/Iran war. They are the same kind of animals we actively support with massive weapons and troops and money in the brutally repressive government of Saudi Arabia."

"With the nomination of David Cobb as the Green Party's presidential candidate, the debate over party strategy for 2004 has taken a potentially very destructive turn. While the debate was already quite negative prior to the Party convention in Milwaukee, it has now sunk to a new low. Indeed, for many, it appears that the overriding goal is not to persuade fellow progressives with a well-reasoned argument regarding the best way to build the Green Party and advance a progressive agenda, but rather to score points against others in a battle in which "anything goes," particularly ad hominem attacks."

"An optimist is always enjoying the sunshine and a pessimist is always waiting for the rain. Me, I'm waiting for it to stop raining.That's cynicism made simple right there. It's not pessimism, as most people imagine. It's a guarded sort of optimism that is tempered by the reality of the world we live in. It isn't sunshine and roses out there, people. Between terrorism, drug wars, the end of the middle class, and Jesus in the White House, it's raining cats and dogs out there. But we have to hope that one day that sun is going to burn away the clouds again."

"Inequality starts at the bottom and results in inequality at the top of American corporate leadership. A February 2004 report issued by Catalyst Research states that women hold only 13.6 percent of corporate director positions of Fortune 500 companies. Yet the same research company found that companies with more women in senior management positions financially outperform companies with proportionally fewer women at the top. How high? Would you believe a 35% higher Return on Equity and a 34% higher Total Return to Shareholders."

"In analyzing the array of historical literature specific to Australia, it becomes obvious that the colonizers, missionaries, explorers and others had little regard for any patterns of communal relationships amongst Aboriginal peoples. The British Eurocentric view of Aboriginal male and female relationships denied an important reality. Aboriginal women's position and participation in productive activities was parallel to that of men, rather than subservient, subordinate or oppressive. As a result of colonization Australian Aboriginal gendered realities were greatly affected. They still exist but colonization had a profound impact upon the cultural development of gendered realities and how they manifest themselves within broader Australian society."

"To me, capital punishment and stripping the rights of dissidents are not only wrong when the perpetrator is George Bush or John Ashcroft. They are wrong, period. I do not sympathize with any oppressive leader just because he is an enemy of a United States that is itself an oppressor on the global stage. Things are just too complicated for that. Things are also to complicated to equate left opposition to Castro, on the grounds that his government is oppressive and intolerant, to opposition to Castro on the right and in Washington, simply because Fidel is not an unquestioning ally of the United States and an unquestioning booster of global capitalism. Indeed, he does not boost it at all, but neither do I."

Once they stood like seven pines, / voices loud in every breeze. / Resin of evergreen filled the air.

Yes indeedy, I've got the trailer trash blues. / A contrapuntal dirge regarding Western Civilization. / A cantata for a hell fire season.

In the city / we imagine / the cars are wild horses

If organizational behavior relates itself to the study of how human beings behave in an organization, as individuals or in groups, not to speak of how organizations themselves behave, it goes without saying that we are all organizational creatures, born not only into a society and culture, but also into a specific/complex organization: ; call it family, marriage, schools, businesses, or what you may.

Pamphleteering has a long history in shaping the American political landscape. Widely circulated, they give marginalized voices a platform to shape political ideology, often providing the needed catalyst to spark heated debate by offering insight into society as a whole. As Thomas Paine’s Common Sense proved, these pamphlets could bring about profound social change, though often at the expense of the author’s reputation and public standing.

An interview with filmmakers Michael Galinsky and Suki Hawley on the two year anniversay of the release of their tragic documentary Horns & Halos, about the Bush biography Fortunate Son and how it destroyed its author and publisher.

A grassroots response to war and occupation.

13 Half Hour Programs for Community Channels and Free Speech TV.

Where movies meet myth and become much more than you thought they were.

CinemaShrink Says, "How lucky we are to live in a country where we can go to a local movie theatre and see behind the scenes of an independent news service in the Middle East, Al Jazerra. The documentary, Control Room, offers a rare opportunity to see ourselves as Americans reflected back in eyes of journalists quite definitively not our own while we are at war in Iraq. And, if we are looking for a vision of world peace, the faint sketch emerging in the lines drawn between foreign and familiar in Control Room is definitely worth discovering."

Typical dictionary entries offer rather static explanation of the term ideology, one that would perhaps explain past ideologies in a “common sense” manner. Ideologies today are complex, dynamic phenomena that owe their existence in means that rely far beyond any systemic and rational application of ideas.

What strategy should progressives follow in 2004? In attempting to answer this question, we need to begin by clarifying just what it means to be "strategic." In essence, strategic action consists of two basic elements: conceiving of a vision of the future; and devising a series of steps aimed at getting there. Without a vision of the future, political action is aimless, or at best reactive and defensive. But a vision of the future is of little use if it is not accompanied by a clearly elaborated understanding of what it would take to make it a reality. Unfortunately, in recent decades, progressives in the US have largely failed to think and act in this way. Instead, the greater part of our political activity has been devoted to limiting the worst effects of the things we oppose, rather than to working pro-actively to construct an alternative reality. More often than not, we find ourselves caught in a short-term defensive holding action, and we devote little attention to the long-term implications of our actions.

Africa is being re-wired a second time. And African women (perhaps more than any other social group on the continent) have their first chance at claiming some relevance in the political processes of clarification and active participation from which they have been direly excluded in modern times. The historical dimension of the grossly exacerbated socio-economic conditions of Africa's 60% population of women has roots in the forceful and politically manipulated colonization of the continent by imperialistic interests. This political marshalling and hectoring made it impossible to have a coherent and projected spreadsheet of social planning for a sub-group that has always (in many Sub-Saharan African societies) suffered from some measure of social inequality.

A strait-laced writer and, therefore, "touchy," Graham Greene's clearly-worded works of gripping, or ethical ambivalence, bordered on a fine balance--of both gloom and salvation. His novels were replete with a sense of outspokenness and foreboding, no less. Besides, they also scrutinized self-deception, drawing upon the upsurge of their own primal missionof sin, mental darkness, human mind, and failure. As a critic aptly echoed--Greene was "the electric hare [of English literature] who[m] the grey-hound critics are not meant to catch."