Category Archives: Zeitgeist Movement

Girlboss confuses being an independent human being with acting like a total twit. Photograph: Karen Ballard/Netflix

Really, it was only a matter of time: the #empowerment movement now has its own teen drama. The meaningless offshoot of feminism best summed up by Kim Kardashians naked bathroom selfies, Chanels line of protest placards and various other vapid acts in political clothing comes to our screens courtesy of Netflixs Girlboss. In true #empowerment style, the show takes the recent splurge of feminist-minded TV, annexes it of all progressive principles and uses the remaining husk to sell dated ideas in a fun and fashionable new way.

The tat pedalled by Girlboss comes in two varieties. The first is the vintage clothes that the titular protagonist, Sophia Marlowe, hawks online to make money and eventually start a business (and hence become a female boss, as Tulisas debut album opted to articulate this complex role). The second is the heady stew of consumer capitalism and patriarchal indulgence that recommends women ape the behaviour of men, never complain about inequality and become an active participant in their own objectification by getting regular waxes which was able to masquerade as feminism in the 90s and 00s, and sometimes still manages to in the forgiving lighting of Kim Kardashians bathroom.

Girlboss is actually set in this time making it a period piece in more ways than one. Based on the true-life story of Nasty Gal founder Sophia Amoruso, Girlboss joins her 23-year-old fictional equivalent in San Francisco in 2006. She decides to open an online store selling vintage clothes she has thrifted for a massive markup. Noticing that other eBay users photograph their items unappealingly, one of Sophias first business decisions is to flog her finds using sexy pictures of herself. Take that, patriarchy.

It is not the mere existence of Girlboss and those kind of plot points that is disappointing after all, thats the sort of narrative our culture is built on, and its the reason why shows such as Girls have felt so radical. Its because it is leeching off the feminist zeitgeist and infecting it with its inanity. That is something most obviously achieved by the title, which presumably intends to jump uncomplicatedly on to the feminism bandwagon, yet hammers home the idea that girl and boss are mutually exclusive terms (which, actually, they kind of are, considering girl is a term for a female child).

There are a few other things that make it clear Girlboss has that trendy feminism thing in its sights. First is the relationship between Sophie and her best friend, Annie. It has been extremely cathartic to see a new wave of female characters frankly discuss sexuality and bodily functions on screen something that probably reached its apex in Broad City, but can also be found in shows such as Fleabag, Catastrophe and Raised by Wolves. In Girlboss, however, this mutates back into bawdy posturing that apes ladette (and, by extension, male) behaviour: the pair swap crude soundbites (Get over here you total slut! is Annies opening line) with all the intimacy and warmth of an afternoon in Currys PC World.

One of the other hallmarks of feminist-minded TV has been the antihero. Shows being dominated by pliant and apparently selfless women who no builder need ever bother requesting a smile from is something that golden-age TV has sought to undermine with female characters who are flawed and unapologetic. Girlboss tries to muscle in on this, but sadly confuses being a complex and independent human being who isnt afraid of confrontation with acting like a total twit (aside from being aggressive and rude, Sophia steals a sandwich and a rug in the first episode, for no discernible reason in either case). To be fair, its a mistake empty feminist offshoots have made before in the video for the Spice Girls Wannabe, Emma Bunton introduced the nation to the concept of girl power by stealing a freezing homeless mans hat. Go girl!

When anything goes mainstream it tends to become less meaningful, so maybe Girlboss is just a natural part of this particular movements life cycle. Yet it would be a shame if teenagers watching thought the shows cack-handed messages about selling your body and being a prat were what feminism was about. One helpful thing it has done, however, is take us back to the dark days of 2006 and remind us how good we (usually) have it now.

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Take that, patriarchy! The horrific, cack-handed 'feminism' of Netflix's Girlboss - The Guardian

Jordan Times

Queen calls for urgent redesign of education in Arab world at Google Zeitgeist Jordan Times She insisted that the world needs to stop thinking of refugees and migrants as a problem and accept the movement of people as the new norm, a by-product of our current global order, calling for an upgrade to global humanitarian systems that would ... and more »

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Queen calls for urgent redesign of education in Arab world at Google Zeitgeist - Jordan Times

There are some teams we dont get to cover all that often, simply because they dont cross paths with the Detroit Tigers on a regular basis. The Arizona Diamondbacks certainly fall into that category. Quick, off the top of your head name a player who isnt Paul Goldschmidt.

Well, you probably did, but you see my point.

Usually, playing within the American League, fans have a passing knowledge of the opponent, whats been going on with the team, what injuries have plagued them. But when we dip into the NL, outside of the big boys like the Dodgers, Cubs, Giants, and Cardinals, it can sometimes be hard to keep track.

We chatted with Charlie Gebow from AZ Snake Pit, SB Nations Arizona Diamondbacks community, about what Tigers fans can look forward to, and whether the DBacks early success is going to be sustainable for a whole season.

BYB: Lets just get this right out of the way to start things off. Can we have Jake Lamb?

AZSP: No

Okay, but maybe?

No, no Jake Lamb to you go to heck do not pass purgatory do not collect salvation.

Fine, lets move on to the real questions. Archie Bradley, do you see him as a long term bullpen arm, or do you think the aim is to move in into a starters role?

Its tough. With this Being a contender thing going on, the bullpen needs all the help it can get, as Bradley is one of the few pieces that anybody is comfortable with at the moment. There have been rumblings of turning him into an Andrew Miller-like fireman/long term stopper, which he has good stuff for. If this were morea rebuilding project, and it may well be in the long-term, then I would be more comfortable throwing Bradley back in the rotation, because life is an ceaseless ball of entropy that we cant escape.

I dont think anyone expected the Diamondbacks to have this kind of a start to their year. Do you see it as being sustainable throughout the season, and what exactly is working so well for the team?

Well, theyre hitting the lights out at home and the pitching has improved enough. Is that sustainable? Maybe? Its hard to tell. The offense is not hitting at all on the road, and that includes a recent series at Coors of all places. I saw a tweet that summarized it well: The Diamondbacks hitting well at home or hitting poorly on the road is due for regression, whichever one hits first and hardest will be the key to the season.

The pitching is regressing in the good way, though. Even without Shelby Miller there are four starters who are legitimately intriguing. One of which is Robbie Ray, who you will see in this upcoming series. Not sure why I would single out Robbie Ray to a Tigers website, but hes been up and down, but his strikeout rate has been phenomenal and he has some Ace potential. Again, not sure why I would bring him up.

Zack Grienke hasnt exactly been a superb starter for you guys since he came over from LA. Do you think thats a natural decline with age, or is their something specific hampering him?

#actually Zack Greinke is good now (at least so far into 2017), the key seems to be that hes getting a lot better movement on his slider, resulting in more strikeouts and other fun stuff. Hes probably not going to perform in a way that justifies a 35 MM+ salary a year, but thats just him taking advantage of the market and its not like ownership would use that money on something more useful.

Paul Goldschmidt has been quietly building a superb career with you guys. Is he really as good as everyone thinks he is, or is it more that hes the best player in a club where not many other players stand out?

He is definitely the best hitting Right-Handed First Baseman in Major League Baseball.

(Pause for trolling)

But seriously, he legitimately has been one of the best hitters in the league throughout his career. Hes 12th in fWAR overall since he debuted in 2011. Hes one of the best defensive 1Bs in the league, and gosh hes just handsome.

best player in a club where not many other players stand out how dare you.

In the AL Central, the Diamondbacks are one of those teams we rarely see, so we dont often think about them. Does that go both ways? Do Arizona fans often forget the Tigers exist?

I dont forget the Tigers exist because of work-related slack channels and the ratio of Tigers writers to others (cough). But I think the Tigers are a team that has contended for the most part over the last decade, so theyre in the larger Baseball zeitgeist.

Which of the Tigers do you think will pose the biggest challenge for the DBacks?

Miguel Cabrera will always be the stuff of nightmares. Theres still some hurt feelings over Justin Upton that havent quite healed, and theres always a fear that your past exes will walk by and youre like Daaaang, youre looking good and ex is like No, youre a scrub now, later!

(See, in this metaphor, Justin Upton is the ex)

However, we can exchange horror stories about the back end of our respective bullpens. Especially with closers with the initials of F.R.

Lets circle back to that Jake Lamb thing

Well let him go for Cabrera, Verlander, and 1984 Whittaker and Trammell. But theres no such thing as a time machine NOT WITH THAT ATTITUDE THERE ISNT!

Thanks to Charlie for taking the time to chat with us, even if he is inflexible about Lamb. The Tigers play two games against the Diamondbacks on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then will meet the Arizona team again on June 13 and 14 in Detroit.

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Behind Enemy Lines: Talking surprise division leads and forgotten teams with AZ Snake Pit - Bless You Boys (blog)

The stakes feel so much higher when youre talking about life and death issues like police violence, war, or even just healthcare.

How do modern-day protest artisans get their music heard above the din of partisan rhetoric without appearing overly preachy?

In the case of the Denver-based alt-hip-hop trio known as Flobots, the key was to start at the grassroots level, and then see their message of active participation get disseminated organically. Thats exactly how they planted the seed for the past two-plus years, working with local artists while preparing the music for their multitiered, Kickstarter-funded new album Noenemies, out in numerous formats today via their own label.

We actually spent a lot of time immersed in building community power through collective singing, Flobots emcee Jonny 5 told Digital Trends. The focus wasnt on performance; it was to get groups of people to claim their own power through singing together.

Flobots Noenemies(2017)

To that end, gospel singers like Spirit of Grace lent their heavenly harmonies to numerous backing vocals and created standalone interludes that appear between various tracks on Noenemies. The result is a bouillabaisse blend of hip-hop, alt-rock, and even jazz, ranging from the built-up drama of Blood in the River to the war machine fallout of Quarantine. In fact, Noenemies is the perfect bookend to Flobots breakthrough 2007 megahit, Handlebars (I can keep rhythm with no metronome I can lead the nation with a microphone).

The album is designed to speak to different emotional moments within the lives of people trying to engage in social movements, Jonny 5 continued. We want those moments to shine through lightly and fully each time theyre happening, so we knew we were going to approach this album a little bit differently. It felt like we were ready to focus more on the emotional arc of the story being told.

Digital Trends got in touch with Jonny 5 (real name: Jamie Laurie) at his homebase in Denver to discuss the balance of the Noenemies music-with-message palette, how to capture the spirit of the zeitgeist before it even happens, and how to centralize a common message through shared sounds.

Digital Trends: One song that encapsulates the albums underlying core ideals for me is near the front of the record Blood in the River. It also covers all the bases sonically, with the acoustic guitar and the choral stuff in the front half, and then that aggressive guitar jam towards the end.

Jonny 5: That song was born out of the songwriting genius of Mackenzie Gault, who was one of our original members and is still a part of this album and its songs in various ways on the one hand, were yelling at each other and saying, How can you be on the other side of this issue? How can you be behaving as an enemy? The stakes feel so much higher than ever when youre talking about life and death issues, whether its police violence, war, or even just healthcare. You just want to scream at people on the other side: How dare you be on the other side?!?

There are so many rich elements to these songs, whether its the percussion or the intent and flow of the vocals. How do you make sure all of those things come across when youre dealing with such layered mixes?

We had to be very deliberate with how far to go with it. There are some obvious places for having big custom group vocals, or just building a chant and response into every song. If it was just me, I might have always gone there. (chuckles) But luckily my bandmate Brer Rabbit, Steve [Brackett, Flobots other emcee], has a real genius for big-picture vision, as does Gabe [Gabriel Otto], our producer. The two of them are very careful to not go to the obvious places.

The album ended up being a lot of subtraction. We recorded horn and string parts, and gospel choir parts for probably 75 percent of the songs. Then it was just a matter of saying, OK, what stays, and what goes? Theres a lot on the cutting room floor because we wanted it to be only what was needed in each place.

I can see some tracks being too dense for their own good.

Even with Blood in the River, towards the end we had to pull out some of its layers. There were a lot of beautiful ideas, but you couldnt have them all at once. Even as it is, its a pretty heavy song. We wanted it to be heavy, but we didnt want it to be overwhelming.

Did you look to other protest music or artists of the past or present as to whom you wanted to align with either philosophically or sonically?

It was different for each song. Actually, one of the records our producer looked to was Porgy and Bess [George Gershwins 1935 opera] just the way the story could be told through the music and the motifs between the songs.

Interesting. And then we get to Carousel, where I feel like youre in that intense, Bob Mould vocal zone. That one pulls me into an 80s, Reagan-era protest vibe.

You bring up the Reagan era, and that song was very much inspired by [Nenas 1983 hit] 99 Luftballoons, a song that just feels like a pop song. But when you listen closely, you realize its deeper than that.

If music is our tool, then we need to be celebrating the human voice.

There wasnt only one place that we looked to, because the protest aspect isnt really something thats new for us. The traditions that were always on our mind for this was the Civil Rights Movement and the Southern Freedom Movement different movements that have had songs front and center as part of the culture they were building as tools for the movement And if music is indeed our tool, then we also need to be celebrating the human voice. Not just conceptually, but literally, we have to invite people to sing along.

So it took us about two years to do that, and it overlapped with the album process. For a while, it was all we were focusing on. And then we wanted to make sure the human voice was present in a variety of ways on the album, in ways that would feel new and fresh.

You dont necessarily have to listen to Noenemies in its exact running order, but are there any albums you consider to be perfectly sequenced?

Hmm. Whats interesting is, when an album is really well-sequenced, you almost dont notice it. Im thinking of OutKast, ATLiens (1996). I would always listen to that album straight through. I had it on cassette, and it never even occurred to me that you would skip around. There was no need.

As for our own sequencing, the decision to put Failure Games first was a bold one on our part, because we had to think, Really? Is that how we want to start this thing out? It felt like it actually drew the listener in because it was disconcerting, provoked some questions, and was out boldest and strangest song sonically.

But by putting it first, it enhanced the symmetry of the album. It used to be in the middle of the album in some of our sequences, but we felt this was the bizarre sculpture you present to people in the beginning so you go, Well, what do you think this is?

The other thing is, we completed the album before the election. We knew the songs reflected the emotions of a movement, and one of those emotions is failure. But we didnt know the emotion of failure would feel so desperate by the time the album came out thats the interesting thing about creating any piece of art that it takes time to release you dont know what the zeitgeist will be when you release something, but you can prepare for it. Some things will be different, but a lot of things will be the same, and some things will line up in ways you didnt expect.

A call-to-action song like Rattle the Cage maybe has even more resonance because of the election result.

That song in some ways builds off of Carousel, in the weird digital landscape we live in. We compartmentalize things in a hall of mirrors where we see distortions of one another through social media filters that demonize one another and make each other into enemies.

Carousel has that late at night, looking on your cell phone feel to it. Theres an illusion that your cell phone contains a window into not feeling lonely, which everyone can relate to. Rattle the Cage is the more grotesque side of that reality, where youre so angry with one another because youre convinced the other person is the enemy and thats just seriously bizarre. That song is really about fear, and being afraid of admitting were afraid. And that can come back and haunt us in one way or another.

Did we all somehow get too complacent in terms of how we deal with each other from a physical distance in the modern digital age?

You dont know what the zeitgeist will be when you release something, but some things will line up in ways you didnt expect.

Theres a laziness in digital culture, and a lack of community. We dont have it, so were finding it in superficial places. And the most superficial is being on the internet, where you can feel quite righteous if you cast blame at people who have violated the bubble of your particular norms. And there are people who are marketing that feeling of righteousness to us.

Whats actually harder is to be in a community in a sustained way with a variety of people with a variety of views, and wrestle with them together in a way that makes everyone stronger.

Music used to be the main thing that brought people together on the national level to have a collective conversation, but we dont all access the same jukebox anymore.

Its the downside of compartmentalization, right? When we only had a few television channels, we had just a few conversations available every night, and you kind of knew where everybody was. The fact that media now has all these ways to cater to us individually has all these upsides. Its exciting that you can find your niche and really delve in and be a part of a community of people who share your values, but if we never have one common conversation, then weve really lost something.

Were all seeing the same world, but were given such drastically different, highly specialized framings of that world. It makes it easier to be on the opposite side of a conversation with somebody you just met instead of having that common ground.

Sad but true. Can albums like Noenemies help centralize that conversation? Was that your goal?

I hope so, yeah. We want everyone to recognize themselves on the album. There are songs about that feeling of loneliness we talked about earlier, songs about desperation, songs about a police officer who just experience a traumatic shooting. When you leave the head and go into the heart to share something with emotional resonance and emotional honesty, that is, hopefully, something everyone can relate to.

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Flobots carry protest from the screen to the streets on 'Noenemies ... - Digital Trends

Kim Ode, Star Tribune (Minneapolis) (TNS) 7:57 a.m. ET May 4, 2017

Judy Seguin,left, and Sue Dergandz are "Resisters" who are working for progressive change in society by participating in marches and writing politicians to hold them accountable. (Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Minneapolis Star Tribune/TNS) (Photo: Richard Tsong-Taatarii, TNS)

MINNEAPOLIS There were women in trees, women on tiptoe atop ledges, all trying to peer over the hundreds of thousands of heads in pink hats filling Washingtons National Mall for the Womens March in January. In all of her 69 years, Judy Seguin never had been part of anything like this.

Seguin had driven from Nowthen with her daughter, teenage granddaughter and friends, saying yes with a newfound impulsiveness.

It was a defining experience for me, she said quietly. The solidarity, the permission to be who you are.

Across the dining room table, Susan Dergantz listened, nodding. She didnt go to Washington, but she also finds herself stepping out of her comfort zone, calling congressional representatives, writing postcards, reading legislation.

With all thats going on this year, I decided it was time to become involved, said Dergantz, 67, of Anoka, Minn. I thought that making phone calls, trying to attend town hall meetings, would, I dont know, make me feel less helpless.

Seguin and Dergantz are afloat in a rather unexpected pool of activism. Its a pool of older women whove raised kids, held jobs, gone to church, kept life going behind the scenes. Now, somewhat to their surprise, many feel energized by issues affecting women and social justice.

We really are issues-oriented, Seguin said. Its not necessarily about whos in the White House. I see what may be coming, and I dont like the plans from our Legislature or Congress or president. They arent listening. Government happens at the lowest level. I think people forget that.

Locals feel hopeful after march in D.C.

Saturday's Women's March reached around the world

So were done. Were done being quiet.

PHOTOS: The Women's March on Washington

Dergantz and Seguin are part of a grass-roots movement of activist older women. Maureen McHugh, a professor of psychology at Indiana University of Pennsylvania whos written extensively on womens issues, said their visibility is a testament to how much womens lives have changed in the past several decades.

There is a larger group of educated, previously employed women who might also have organizational skills around protest than there ever has been in our whole history, McHugh said.

Some of issues theyre mobilizing about now really are the same old issues, which is discouraging. But at the same time, we understand them.

Yet Seguin isnt keen about being considered a rebel.

I dont really like that term activist when I feel like a grandma, she said. Im a grandma who is taking action.

Getting her voice back:Seguin and Dergantz met 10 years ago at their church, the First Congregational Church United Church of Christ in Anoka, which Dergantz calls a beautiful pocket of liberalism. Its not that Im especially religious, she added, but it gave me the permission to be the person I am inside, to be more, to do more.

The two women clicked, partly given their backgrounds. As Dergantz said, I feel like Ive known Judy my whole life.

Seguin worked for 31 years with Hennepin County as a human services supervisor in public assistance. Dergantz taught middle school students in St. Francis for 35 years, and still exudes a wry even-keeledness. She volunteers at the Anoka Metro Regional Treatment Center, an elementary school and a local homeless shelter.

Theyre each attuned to needs of the young and the less fortunate.

Seguin once was young and less fortunate.

She married at 18 after graduating from Robbinsdale High School, but her husband abused her physically and emotionally. My only sunshine in the eight years we were married were my two kids, she said. Shes not sure how things would have ended. All she knows is that a woman and its always been women whove helped me told her that she saw what was going on, and that she was there for her.

That was incentive enough for Seguin to file for divorce. She returned to school, but needed public assistance until she could get a job.

Thats how I could pay the rent, or get clothes for the kids, she said. I was lucky enough to have parents to help, but many do not.

Eventually, she met Dean Seguin. Theyve been married for 39 years, and my life has been pretty darn good.

Then, last year, her ex-husband died and she realized how his influence had subconsciously lurked over the years, how Id always felt a little afraid. His death, she said, gave me my voice back.

Dergantz touched her friends hand and exhaled. Shes heard this story. This time, though, she decided to share her own story.

OK, I dont know if you have ever heard this, Dergantz began, and then told how she had been sexually assaulted during her first summer as a schoolteacher, how its taken her 40 years to come to terms with that violence, how she gained 100 pounds trying to make myself undesirable as a piece of meat, how she lost that weight and like Seguin found her voice.

Id been taking care of other people all my life and now am taking care of myself, she said. I think Im just starting to give myself permission, period.

Seguin touched her friends hand and exhaled.

Nevertheless, she persists:When Seguin says, Were done being quiet, it sounds like an echo from several pasts:

From 1848, and the first womens rights convention in Seneca Falls, N.Y.; among the topics was womens right to vote. After 72 years of lawsuits and protests, the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920.

From 1963, when Betty Friedans The Feminine Mystique told how women felt stifled by expectations to be homemakers.

From 1972, when Congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment, but too few states ratified it by the deadline.

But breaking news the Nevada Legislature ratified the ERA last month, the first state in 40 years to do so. The action is symbolic, yet emblematic of a new phrase in the zeitgeist: Nevertheless, she persisted.

McHugh said the growing presence of older women as social change agents is a result of veteran activists from the Gloria Steinem era joining forces with women for whom activism is as unfamiliar as their grandchilds Snapchat account.

There are those who have been continuously involved in the womens movement, and its their energy and leadership and previous experience that is behind this, McHugh said.

The urgency seen in the Womens March is due, partly, to the fact that activists of the 1960s and 70s actually kind of relaxed around issues such as pay equity, abortion access and child care, McHugh said. They thought of these issues as past, and now they are very anxious to try and fix it.

Oftentimes we cut older women off and put them in a corner to crochet, she added. But its healthy as you age to be engaged. There are many formal groups with names such as Conscious Elders Network, Older Womens League, even the Raging Grannies (whose chapters are called gaggles).

That said, even McHugh was somewhat taken aback by the turnout for the Womens March.

I was totally stunned that it was a snap reaction for some of these women to go, she said. Theres a grass-roots generational feel to it. Its not just that older women are inspired, but that women are united.

Attention must be paid:Temperatures hovered near freezing on the night of Feb. 22, when citizens arrived in Sartell, Minn., for a town-hall meeting with Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn. About 150 people packed into the 76-seat meeting room in City Hall, leaving hundreds more outside.

Instead of heading home, they stuck around, Dergantz and Seguin among them, and there were many women significantly older then us, Dergantz said. Overflow traffic ended up at the sports arena across a wooded area. A pickup truck aimed its lights so people could navigate the pitch-dark walking path.

The gathering was mostly civil. That Emmer scheduled a meeting was a plus; some representatives dont. This was the first such meeting either woman had attended.

Seguin grew up in an Air Force family, spending part of her childhood in England and Pennsylvania before the family returned to Minnesota.

Dergantz grew up in a strong union household on the Iron Range, with her father working the mines around Keewatin. She remembers marveling at the racial diversity at college in Mankato. Living in Anoka, she said, is like returning to her hometown.

Ive never really been involved in politics, she said. Shes made some campaign contributions, and worked a phone bank when the gay marriage amendment was on the ballot in 2012. But what shes doing now is on a whole other level.

Reading what I feel like I need to read to stay informed, its so overwhelming, she said. I cant keep up with it. I was in tears last night, feeling myself slipping to depression at times.

She shook her head, as if shaking away a thought.

Im a fiction reader, she continued, smiling. But these bills, theyre real and the language is difficult. I have to read and reread to understand it.

She finds support on a Facebook page called Stand Up Minnesota. There, she has vented and pondered.

In a recent post, she wrote that shes stayed aloof from politics because I honestly dont understand the hearts of people who dont seem to care: about people, about safety, about health, about the environment, about science, about evidence. I wont give up or give in, but Im hoping not to be broken in the process.

Ive felt so lifted up and supported there, she said. Indeed, the digital age seems to fuel connectedness.

Seeing womens marches convene all over the world, watching them all on TV was just so incredibly she cast about for a word, then smiled soothing. I thought, it really is a movement.

In going to Washington, Seguin marched for Dergantz, but also for their regular Saturday coffee bunch of sister friends. On that morning, they texted a photo to Seguin of them clinking their mugs together in solidarity.

The task ahead:So, whats next?

Barely three months into the Trump administration, networks of internet sites act as digital to-do lists suggesting various actions, such as calling a representative, firing off an e-mail, sending postcards or showing up at an action.

However engaged, Dergantz is selective.

There are some texts asking you to send a message along the lines of, Im not happy about what happened. But Im not going to putz around about things that have already happened. I want to talk about whats ahead. We are for something.

She took part in the March for Science on Earth Day, April 22, in St. Paul, Minn., part of another global action. But her arthritis and joint replacements take a toll.

I believe hope I wont need to be involved to the extent I am now, but I will make sure Im more aware of what my elected officials are up to, she said. I rather like the quick phone calls, e-mails, postcards. I really dont know how influential they may be, but I feel better thinking my voice might be heard.

Im hoping to actually get inside the doors of a town-hall meeting!

Seguin says this life of greater activism feels as if it will persist. Her hair reflects a slight violet tint somewhat at odds with her Swedish reserve, but was inspired by Warning, a 1961 poem by British poet Jenny Joseph that begins, When I am an old woman I shall wear purple.

The issues close to my heart arent going away no matter who our elected officials are, she said. Now my activism is focused on prevention, trying not to go backwards.

Fear got me involved. Love will keep me here. I found my voice and its permanent.

2017 Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

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Joining the women's movement in their 60s: 'We're done being quiet' - York Dispatch

With tumultuous political times come great art. Think of the 1960s and the art and music that came out as a response to the Civil Rights Movement, the sexual revolution and of course, the Vietnam War that became enshrined into American culture and our collective zeitgeist.

In todays tumultuous times where protests again fill the streets and there is a general unease in the social and political world, once again the industries of art and entertainment have responded with great works.

It started back in 2016, with the release of rapper YGs song, FDT (Fck Donald Trump). The song, which criticizes then-presidential candidate Donald Trumps policies, became a rally cry for the anthem searching young, left-rap-listening audience. Kendrick Lamars hit single Alright, off his 2015 album To Pimp a Butterfly, also became somewhat of a protest anthem as it gained usage by the Black Lives Matter movement.

Post Trumps election, further music, especially on the hip-hop side of the spectrum, has continued to both explicitly target the presidents politics, as well as other social and political issues in the country that are relevant to the genres diverse, young audience. Back in November of 2016, the legendary, socially conscious hip-hop group, A Tribe Called Quest, released their final album: We Got it From HereThank You 4 Your Service. The album touches on todays relevant social issues, such as institutional racism, police brutality and gentrification. It also directly criticized the presidents policies with the protest hymn We the people In April of 2017, New York MC Joey Bada$$ released his second studio album ALL-AMERIKKKAN BADA$$, which explored, at times overwhelmingly, themes of political angst.

Outside of hip-hop, other musicians such as Fiona Apple, with her song Tiny Hands, and Locker Room Talk by Cold War Kids specifically target the president, and in the Cold War Kidss case, his comments regarding women.

Beyond music, contemporary artists such as Rirkit Tirvavanija have specifically created work in response to the 2016 election. His collage piece, the tyranny of common sense has reached its final stage, was made using a collage of New York Times articles on the presidential campaign directly following the election. Street artist Shepard Fairey (creator of the famous Obama Hope campaign poster) and Ai Weiwei recently teamed up to launch a series of artwork (printed on limited edition skateboard decks) commemorating Trumps first 100 days in office.

Maybe the piece of recent protest art that has found a place the most in American hearts is the bronze statue Fearless Girl, by artist Kristen Visbal. The 50 inch statue depicts a small girl, chin up, in defiance to the Charging Bull Wall Street Statue. The statue has been granted a year long residence, but many hope for its permanent installation. The statue isnt a direct response to anyone or anything, but instead represents within it a defiance by those marginalized or oppressed in this country. Protest art is American art, as a country based in the ideals of free expression, its continued proliferation and creation is pure patriotism. It does not seem that the politically motivated/protest art movement is letting up soon, and the immediate future will be an interesting time for artistic expression.

Continued here:

Protest art evolving in Trump era - DU Clarion

In 1971, early one morning on a Steinway piano on his resplendent Berkshire estate, John Lennon reflected on the seismic uprising of a peaceful counterculture, of united students and workers, which could have scared a thousand kings by reviving the egalitarian ideals of the 1871 Paris commune.

Against this raw new zeitgeist, and against the backdrop of uprising in America, he sung, famously, to the times: "imagine all the people... living life in peace." Of all the memorable, piquant and mordant comments he made, that one is the one which has most transcended time; everybody is touched by those words with their beauty time can not erase with the bludgeon of her years. They are words worthy of being spelled across the stars.

Moreover, as a form of acknowledgement of the critical influence of the radicals on the febrile atmosphere of protest worldwide, he hailed, in the song's middle eighth, with an equally breathtaking lyricism: "you may say I'm a dreamer... but I'm not the only one," paying heed to a fresh generation of activists who had proclaimed an era of permanent struggle, a species of rebellion in which intellectual renegades like John and themselves saw possibilities for the collapse of the system of domination today.

Within John's diligently - yet spontaneously - developed philosophy of personal and social liberation - evident not only in his literature but his lyrics, letters and interviews - which came to become a highly regarded and influential source of guidance to the oppositional movements of the New Left, the goal of every serious writer and musician became to enlist their progressive arsenal to help establish a non-repressive society based on fundamentally different existential relations to the oppressive ones incarnate in contemporary society.

It was imagined that meditation on revolutionary art could help to manifest this utopia, and so Lennon invested serious time and attention in his development as a writer and musician who could bring his power to bear on peaceful revolution. According to Lennon's view, nascent protest movements brought utopia closer to fruition because they mobilised against all manifestations of oppression perpetuated by the dominant institutions of civilisation, namely money and war and organised religion.

Lennon's meditations on the backlash against imperialism, the craven society it beget, the vast misery it engineered, made in the zenith of the New Left's activity, reveal his thoughts on liberation in their broader cultural and historical context. It was a time of transition, a seismic era: imperialism was increasingly assailed by protest and revolt organised diligently by those no longer invested in the rigged game of society. They worked together towards laying the foundations of a qualitatively different and unique society, one which transvaluated - transformed the values of - the corrupt civic order they lived in.

The 60's counterculture, and the tide of protest movements which succeeded it, were passionately abloom with a protest against imperialism, a movement to: transcend its conditions of alienation which cuts to the roots of its existence, which argued vehemently against its henchmen in the third world, and despised, mocked its culture, its morality of nihilism and wastefulness.

By this point it had become clear to Lennon that the growth and success of the imperial state was an expression of a project at the centre of which is the experience, transformation and organisation of life and people as the mere subjects of domination. Civilisation entrenched tyranny, subjugation, exploitation and alienation of the masses and nature. But Lennon, like the counterculture, was incandescent for bubbling with optimism about change. There was a world to win.

The culmination of Lennon's later lyrics, letters, loves, and learning experiences represented an attempt to realise the revolutionary potential of radical philosophical experimentation that marked Lennon as truly a man of the 60's counterculture. Whilst the historical trend had been towards the continuation of war and aggression as a policy of the dominant powers on the world stage, Lennon nevertheless remained committed to the project of global peace and peaceful enlightenment, in which he saw the potential to manifest a rational and moral utopia banished of social ills and wants such as war, pollution and greed.

He believed in this project because the conquest of the war machine over the natural instincts of love and peace - symbolised most negatively by the atomic bomb - and the exponential development of the productive forces of the war machine in the advanced industrial states signified to him that the utopian designation for revolutionary ideas had ceased to be an operative truth, because the means really existed to rationally and creatively plan society in such a way as to create solidarity, abundance, happiness, and peace.

If that social vision was to be dismissed as utopian, then realism can be called into disrepute. That is to say ideology had concealed the reality of domination and alienation inherent in imperialism. Lennon's message implicitly implored people to think about the terrifying truth of the world we currently live in by imagining one that was better.

The life, lyrics, loves and literature of Lennon place him as the crux of an opposition of youth and intellectuals and persecuted minorities against a corrupt authoritarian state which engaged in military warfare against its own citizens, insofar as it coldly perceived how powerfully they could subvert the continuum of repression perpetuated by the hegemonic and hawkish military-industrial complex.

What made Lennon and his disciples so dangerous to the status quo was the way they acted beyond the continuum of repression, conscientious about liberating themselves from its demanding repressive imperatives, those of a society which they could see was constrained by a carefully managed ideological conformism. Lennon's anger at social injustice and organised repression developed through the sixties and seventies to focus on the ways in which war-makers and the political classes were tightening control of their societies not only through the rule of the iron fist, but also through new technologies like telly, the new religion, which integrated the working classes into regulated modes of thought and behaviour.

Moreover, the doom cloud of the Cold War loomed large on Lennon's mind, in his mind the battle being, like in the mind of the militants, as two systems equal in degrees of totalitarianism, transcending the Cold War demonology which cast communism as the oppressor against the liberal democratic state. Lennon saw that, save for the nascent counterculture movement, liberal democracies were static societies in which there was a dearth of opposition to the status quo, in which people were integrated in to regulated systems of thought and behaviour.

Imagine aimed to surprise and stimulate, and it helped give inspiration and joy to the parties and groupings that constituted the international solidarity movement of the sixties, making stone hearts bleed and people united. In the spirit of a genuinely radical critique of society Lennon bequeathed a vision rare in its passion, a seminal song of the liberation era which distinguished the new vision and ideas of the anti authoritarian left. It pays well to flash our eyes on Lennon's lyrics, for their insight in to the terrifying truth of a culture that alienates the essence of our humanity.

Link:

All Power To The Imagination: Remembering Lennon - HuffPost UK

Social conservatives from around the world gathered in Brussels last week to ask each other, How far can we get? The meeting was convened by the Political Network for Values, which provides a setting for activists to meet with like-minded legislators and plan strategy on issues like abortion, marriage, and religious freedom.

Meanwhile, LGBTI and human rights experts from more than 25 countries gathered in Bangkok to reflect on the 10 years since a group of activists articulated the Yogyakarta Principles on the application of international human rights law to questions of sexual orientation and gender identity.

The U.S. Commission on International Freedom released its 2017 annual report. It was the first report in which Russia was classified as a country of particular concern, defined as a country whose governments engage in or tolerate particularly severe religious freedom violations that are systemic, ongoing, and egregious. So far, Putins increasing suppression of non-Orthodox religions has not noticeably dimmed the enthusiasm with which U.S. anti-LGBT activists like Brian Brown have cultivated ties to Putins anti-gay allies.

ARC International published a reflection on the 61st U.N. Commission on the Status of Women, which was held at the end of March. As we have noted, the U.S. delegation included representatives of the Heritage Foundation and C-Fam, which works to prevent international recognition of or support for the rights of LGBT people. Erin Aylward, author of the ARC analysis, had this to say about the rise of the religious right within the CSW:

The CSW has become a space in which a formidable number of Christian right-wing organizations network and actively work to try and roll back pre-existing international agreements on sexual and reproductive health and rights and recent multilateral SOGI gains. These organizationsthe majority of which are US-based have grown increasingly sophisticated in spreading their activism globally and in engaging youth (particularly from Latin America) in their mobilizing. During this years CSW, these organizations arguably had three main targets: abortion, comprehensive sexuality education, and trans rights. For example, the International Organization for the Family, in partnership with the Spain-based CitizenGo, and the US-based National Organization for Marriage co-organized a tour for an alleged free speech bus emblazoned with transphobic messages. While its not entirely clear how much of an influence these organizations have been able to yield on state delegations, their presence has certainly contributed to making the CSW an unsafe and unwelcoming space for some LBTI folks and SRHR activists. Due in part to these organizations presence, very few sex workers rights organizations choose to participate in the CSW, deeming it to be too hostile and unproductive a space.

And so, the Agreed Conclusions for this years CSW can be considered, on the whole, beneficial and productive. However, the broader context in which these negotiations took place demonstrate some alarming developments for those committed to advancing a rights-based agenda in general, and a SOGIESC or SRHR-focused agenda in particular. In terms of next steps, its clear that womens rights and LBTI rights-focused organizations have an important role to play in protecting civil society space, holding states accountable to previously-negotiated language, and resisting the encroachment of the religious right within these UN spaces and among official delegations.

Europe: Religious Right argues against Court of Justice mandating marriage recognition

The European Court of Justice is considering a case brought by two men, a Romanian and an American, who were married in Belgium but denied recognition of their marriage when they tried to relocate to Romania. They have argued that the refusal violates their freedom of movement within the European Union. ADF International, the global arm of the US-based religious right legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, urged the court not to rule in the couples favor, which it said would amount to EU-wide imposition of same-sex marriage.

Italy: Conservative religious activist charged with taking money to squelch human rights inquiry

BuzzFeeds Lester Feder and Alberto Nardelli reported that Luca Volont, an Italian anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ activist with close ties to American Religious Right figures isunder investigation for allegedly accepting millions in exchange for helping muzzle Europes top human rights body. Volont, who heads the Novae Terrae Foundation,has been accused by prosecutors of taking money from the government of Azerbaijan in return for helping to defeat a European human rights resolution that would have condemned the Azeri government for holding political prisoners. Volont has denied the charges, and his friend Brian Brown, who Volont helped launch the International Organization for the Family in December, dismissed the investigation as a political witch hunt.

Colombia: Human rights activists warn against referendum on adoption

Bill 220 of 2017 would establish a national referendum on a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex couples and single people from adopting children, something they can legally do now thanks to a Constitutional Court ruling in 2015. A group promoting the initiative cites a number of studies to support their argument that the initiative is needed to protect the best interest of children; among them is the widely discredited New Family Structures Study by Mark Regnerus. Their use of other studies has also been publicly challenged.

From Human Rights Watchs April 28 letter to Speaker Pinto [citations removed], which notes that the bill has already passed the Senate:

Proponents have also argued that they seek to limit adoption to heterosexual couples because, as Christians, [they] recognize Gods original design of a family formed by a man and a woman.[10]But international law expressly forbids states from discriminating on the basis of religionsomething that Human Rights Watch has consistently criticized in countries as diverse as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Nigeria, among others.International human rights law supports the principle that everyone should be able form a family as he or she sees fit.

Guatemala: Evangelical leaders back ban on marriage equality, prison sentences for abortion

Legislation banning same-sex couples from getting married was introduced in Guatemala; the bill would also imprison both doctors and women involved in an abortion in which the pregnancy did not put the womans life at risk. A woman could receive five to 10 years in prison, while a doctor could be sentenced to six to 12 yearsup to 25 years if a woman dies as a result of an abortion. The bill also includes a restriction on public and private educational institutions from promoting gender ideology and a provision that no person may be prosecuted for not accepting sexual diversity.

Deputy Anibal Rojas Espino, who introduced the legislation, declared, We believe in a country with values firmly established in God and in Pro Life (not abortion) and in Man woman marriages, as our original design is. (Translation via Google).

The legislation is supported by evangelical leaders. The Guatemalan Association of Secular Humanists said that the so-called northern triangle in Central America already has the highest rate of violence against transgender people in Latin America and that the legislation puts them in an even more vulnerable position.

Russia: More calls for investigation of killings in Chechnya, but is Putin a paper tiger?

CNNs Matthew Chance reported from Moscow on the terrifying death threats made by Muslim clerics against Elena Milashina, the journalist who broke the story about a wave of detention, torture and killing of gay men in Chechnya. More than 20 member nations of the Equal Rights Coalition urged Russia to investigate the reports and hold those responsible accountable. The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum expressed great concern, saying, The Holocaust teaches us what can happen when state-sponsored, group-targeted violence is allowed to go unchecked. But on May 1, police in St. Petersburg detained LGBT activists who were trying to raise awareness about the persecution in Chechnya.

Chechnyas leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who has denied that there are gay people in Chechnya, and suggested if there were, family members would take care of them, reportedly said there were plans to eliminate the gay community before the start of Ramadan on May 26th.

On April 24, the Washington Posts editorial board complained that Russian President Vladimir Putins response has been essentially to shrug:

CHECHNYAS STRONGMAN, Ramzan Kadyrov, hardly skipped a beat when it was revealed that his security forces were kidnapping and torturing gay men in the republic. Instead of investigating and punishing those who inflicted the horrors, Mr. Kadyrov, a violentprovincial bosswho enjoys the blessings of Russian President Vladimir Putin, immediately went after the Moscow newspaper that brought the situation to light. Reporters have been threatened and denounced, andforced to fleeRussia.

Mr. Kadyrov appears to enjoy a certain impunity. His menare suspectedof carrying out the murder of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov in 2015, but somehow Russian law enforcement is unable to bring to justice whoever ordered the killing.

In an open and free society, this chain of events would be cause for alarm: secret torture chambers, runaway authority, intimidation of the press. But Russia is not free, and Mr. Putin hardly seems perturbed. He tolerates brutality and coercion as instruments of state power, deaf to the cries of anguish from its victims.

In a commentary for the European Council on Foreign Relations, Anna Arutunyan explains Why Putin wont get tough on Kadyrov. Recounting a recent meeting between the two leaders, Arutunyan writes:

The sum total of the message demonstrated that Putin has no leverage over Kadyrov: that Russian laws do not work in Chechnya, but at least Chechnya is doing its bit to fight Russias wars (even if the battalion was merely there for protection, not military action), so it deserves every ruble of Russias tribute (and Kadyrov made a point of asking Putin for federal assistance in their meeting) and every ounce of its de facto autonomy.

When Chechen prosecutors launched an investigation into the alleged crackdown on gay people, it was clear from the start that fear and honour codes prevented Chechen men, whether gay or not, from reporting abuses to the same authorities that colluded in persecuting them.

Unsurprisingly, fighting the kind of radical social conservativism that leads to the persecution of gay people and forced marriages is not exactly Putins top priority, given Russias pivot to traditional values. One could even suppose that the Kremlin derives a sort ofdark powerfrom these abuses, which make its own overtures towards traditionalism tame by comparison. But there is also no advantage for Putin in appearing to be not in control.

In light of Putins lack of action in this case and with regard to the killing of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, Arutunyan suggests that Putin has little actual power over Kadyrov:

What if the two wars that Russia fought against Chechen separatists were not, after all, victorious, and, by some unspoken pact, Kadyrov is merely exercising de facto independence?

After all, Kadyrovs gaudy displays of tradition trumping law may be an important mechanism of keeping separatism at bay by signalling, to the constituencies that matter, that Chechnya has something even better than independence: its traditions trump Russian law, while 81 percent of its budget is funded by federal subsidies.

South Korea: Presidential candidate woos conservative Christian voters with attack on homosexuality

Associated Press reports that presidential front-runner Moon Jae-in, a liberal candidate and former human rights lawyer, outraged persecuted sexual minority groups by saying during a television debate that he opposes homosexuality. According to AP, Moon made the comments in response to a conservative candidate who argued gay soldiers were weakening the countrys military.

The New York Times cited critics who called Moons statement a stark tactic to win support among conservative voters.

In South Korea, the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are a largely taboo and politically unpopular subject. In recent years, powerful right-wing Christian groups have intensified a campaign against homosexuality, scuttling a bill that would have given sexual minorities the same protection as other minorities.

The Times notes that the comments come at a time when human rights advocates have charged the South Korean military with a campaign against gay servicemembers:

The army declined to provide details of its investigation. It insisted that it was not cracking down on gay soldiers; instead it said that it was trying to root out sodomy and other homosexual activities, which right-wing Christian groups have called a growing blight on its readiness to fight North Koreas 1.2 million-strong military.

But in the past week, evidence has emerged to support the allegations by gay soldiers that investigators flouted the armys own regulations on how to treat gay service members by preying upon the soldiers fear of shame and abuse if they are outed in the military. Analysts and veterans said bullying, hazing and sexual violencewere chronicproblems.

Zimbabwe: Human Rights Commissioner praises Mugabe opposition to unbiblical practices

Petunia Chiriseri, a preacher and a member of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, sparked protest after she showered praises on President Robert Mugabe for resisting the imposition of un-cultural practices on the country by foreigners. According to New Zimbabwe, Chiriseri had been asked to give a prayer during celebrations of the countrys independence:

But the visibly excited official went far beyond a prayer, giving a lengthy sermon which was full of Mugabe praises and never short of its own share of controversies.

Pastor Chiriseri, sworn into the State rights watchdog in 2016, thanked Mugabe for consistently acknowledging the power of gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

She also blasted unnamed nations that now worship Satan under the so called multi-sectoral approach and freedom of worship.

In remarks that were apparently directed at gays and lesbians, Chiriseri thanked Mugabe for his firm stand against unbiblical practices.

As church, you took a firm stand against unbiblical, un-cultural, unacceptable practices which foreignersseek to impose upon Africa, said Chiriseri to President Mugabe, a rabid critic of gays.

As the Church, we applaud you for your courage which may have cost you and our nation Zimbabwe the popularity which we once may have had.

But it preserved our nation and family values of which we are proud of because they bind us together and they make us who we are.

Brazil: Church baptizes children of gay parents, conservatives decry surrender before the Zeitgeist

A self-described polemical Catholic Royalist blog complained about the baptism in the Cathedral of Curitiba of adoptive children of gay parents. The media gave overall impression that the Church had changed its attitude to homosexuality (tacitly). There was no contradiction or a critical word about the life of the parents from the Church leaders obliged to say something. The conservative blog charged church officials with surrender before the Zeitgeist.

Fiji: Anglican Archbishop ready to talk about LGBTs and marriage

The Fiji Times reports that Archbishop Winston Halapua, leader of the Anglican Churchs Diocese of Polynesia, said the issue of marriage equality is challenging but will be discussed at this weeks general synod.

Norway: Anti-gay Nazi rally planned for the summer

The Nordic Resistance Movement, identified by The Nordic Page as a Nazi organization active in Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark and Iceland, has applied for a permit to hold a rally in Fredrikstad this summer with Destroy the homo lobby. as a theme. The group also opposes immigration and calls for the establishment of a single Nordic state outside the EU.

Saipan: Chinese same-sex couples traveling to U.S. commonwealth to marry

The Saipan Tribune reports a boom in same-sex couples getting married on the U.S. protectorate of Saipan, an island in the Pacific Ocean that is part of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. A majority of the couples being married are Chinese who come to Saipan as tourists.

Canada: Trans legislation introduced in Yukon

The government of the Yukon Territory introduced a trans rights bill, making it the final jurisdiction in Canada to act on trans rights legislation. According to DailyXtra, all provinces and territories except New Brunswick have passed legislation and a bill in New Brunswick is awaiting its final reading. Legislation is also pending at the federal level.

France: Jean-Marie Le Pen unhappy with eulogy by partner of slain policeman

A gay policeman killed in Paris last week by a man carrying a note defending the Islamic State, was eulogized by his partner. On Friday, Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of the far-right National Front and father of the partys current presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, criticized the surviving partners speech for having exalted gay marriage.

Hong King: Court orders partial recognition for same-sex couple married in New Zealand

A civil servant who married his same-sex partner in New Zealand won a court ruling against the government to obtain civil service welfare benefits for his husband. The same ruling denied the couples quest to file taxes jointly.

Read more:

Global Religious Right Asks 'How Far Can We Get?'; And More in the Global LGBT Recap - Religion Dispatches

Ali Abunimah Activism and BDS Beat 28 April 2017

The Reut Institute, founded by former government advisor Gidi Grinstein, has conceded in a secret report jointly prepared with the ADL that Israels efforts to thwart the Palestine solidarity movement have failed. (via Facebook)

Key Israel lobby groups have conceded that they have failed to counter the Palestine solidarity movement, despite vastly increasing their spending. The admission is contained in a secret report that The Electronic Intifada has obtained.

The report, published here in full for the first time, outlines Israels failure to stem the impressive growth and significant successes of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement for Palestinian rights.

It also sets out strategies, endorsed by the Israeli government, aimed at reversing the deterioration in Israels position.

But while calling for harsher measures against the Palestine solidarity movement, the report offers no new ideas to deal with how Israel is beset not by an image problem but a reality problem: its regime of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid is increasingly viewed around the world as reprehensible and unsustainable, even by many of Israels defenders.

The report nevertheless identifies key concerns and likely targets of Israels propaganda planners.

Even while attempting to come up with a formula to defeat it, the report admits that the movement for Palestinian rights is based on appealing and sophisticated arguments which Israel has so far failed to match.

The report is spurred by what it calls the 20X question the fact that pro-Israel groups have increased their spending to combat the Palestine solidarity movement twenty-fold over the last six years and yet despite these tens of millions of dollars, results remain elusive.

The existence of the report had been revealed in February by The Jewish Daily Forward.

It was prepared by the Anti-Defamation League and the Reut Institute, an Israeli think tank founded by former government adviser Gidi Grinstein, with the help of experts from Israel lobby groups and the Israeli goverment.

According to the Forward, Reut and the ADL were only circulating print copies of the report among selected pro-Israel operatives, and the newspaper had received it on condition that it not be published in its entirety.

The full document can be read below.

Key findings of the ADL-Reut report include:

Palestine solidarity activists can boast significant successes, including creating an unfavorable zeitgeist around Israel in many parts of the world.

The Palestine solidarity movement has expanded from Europe to the US and many other locations worldwide and has deepened its alliances with major minority groups and social justice coalitions.

Palestine solidarity has migrated into mainstream left-wing parties in Europe and may be gaining traction in the US.

Israels repeated wars in Gaza in 2009, 2012 and 2014 have boosted support for the delegitimization of Israel.

The targeted boycott effort against Israels continued presence in the West Bank, and particularly the settlements, is gaining momentum.

Most of the collateral damage being done to Israel by the BDS movement is a result of a growing silent boycott groups, individuals and companies who make undeclared decisions to refrain from engaging with Israel, either because of their support for Palestinian rights, or simply to avoid unnecessary problems and criticisms.

As The Electronic Intifada previously reported, based on the Forwards summary, the document advocates driving a wedge between what it says are hard core delegitimizers who lead the BDS movement and soft critics of Israel. It advocates dealing with the hard core leaders uncompromisingly and covertly.

In 2010, Reut advocated for Israeli spy agencies to sabotage BDS as part of an attacking strategy.

The 2010 document shaped the strategy of Israel and its lobby groups around the world. The new report repeats key themes of the earlier document: it smears the Palestine solidarity movement as fostering anti-Semitism and attempts to tie that movement to Iran and terrorism.

This report carries a direct endorsement from a top official in Israels global battle against supporters of Palestinian rights.

The correlation between the ministrys mode of operation and what comes out of this document is very high, Sima Vaknin-Gil, director general of Israels strategic affairs ministry is quoted as saying. I am glad to see that we share a very similar point of view regarding the challenge and desired strategy.

Under its minister, Gilad Erdan, the strategic affairs ministry has been engaged in what one veteran reporter on Israeli intelligence has termed black ops against the Palestinian rights movement.

According to the analyst, Yossi Melman, these attacks may include defamation campaigns, harassment and threats to the lives of activists as well as infringing on and violating their privacy.

The ADL-Reut report also reveals the identity of the strategic affairs ministrys director of intelligence. Shai Har-Zvi is named as one of the many contributors to the document.

The report stresses the importance of gathering intelligence against the movement.

According to Melman, the ministrys intelligence section is run by former spy agency operatives.

The report recognizes that Israel is increasingly seen as a right-wing cause.

In the short term, the election of Donald Trump may lead to a warmer relationship with Israel, as compared with the supposedly stormy Obama years, the ADL-Reut report states.

But in the long run Trump may be bad for Israel by associating it with his right-wing administrations policies that are deeply unpopular with many American Jews and non-Jewish liberals and progressives.

US Jewry is undergoing its deepest-ever identity crisis, in which the future role of Israel in Jewish identity looms large, the report states. It predicts a decrease in mainstream Jewish activism for Israel and says that increased Jewish anti-Israel activism is already evident.

This erosion of Jewish support for and identification with Israel is a result of the perception that Israel is moving away from the image it promotes of a pluralistic, peace-seeking and democratic country.

The government of Israel seems to under-appreciate the collateral damage to Israels standing among Diaspora Jewish communities of its policies, the report states.

Efforts to combat the Palestine solidarity movement will fail if they are accompanied by anti-Muslim sentiments that push soft critics and bystanders towards the Palestine solidarity movement, the report warns. Harnessing and promoting Islamophobia has been a key tactic of Israel advocacy in recent years.

While Israels base of support has become narrower, the report sees a major challenge in the rise of intersectionality the fact that other peoples struggling against violence and oppression see their situations as linked to that of the Palestinians.

The Palestinian cause has been widely adopted by many marginalized groups it states.

The report mentions LGBTQ communities, Latinos and African Americans as groups increasingly sympathetic to Palestinian rights that should be intensively targeted by Israel lobby engagement efforts.

Israel, the report argues, has defined the enemy too broadly, lumping in soft critics who can be co-opted and even turned into allies against BDS, with the delegitimizers and harsh critics who must be fought uncompromisingly.

Yet Israel and some of its most vocal surrogates are ignoring this advice. At a recent Israel-sponsored anti-BDS conference in New York, a panelist attacked a Jewish student from the liberal Zionist group J Street as a representative of an anti-Semitic organization.

At the same conference, Reut Institute founder Gidi Grinstein stressed the need for Israel to win the support of progressives as it is only through progressive groups we can win.

Even more starkly, this week Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu antagonized one of Israels closest allies and arms suppliers when he canceled a meeting with Germanys foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel.

Gabriels crime was that he planned to also meet with two leftist Zionist organizations, the human rights group BTselem and Breaking the Silence, which collects testimonies from Israeli soldiers about their violations of Palestinian rights.

Doubling down, Israels deputy foreign minister termed Breaking the Silence an enemy of Israel.

Gabriel said that if German leaders had acted in the same manner as Netanyahu, they would be called crazy.

The report warns that just such a heavy-handed approach to soft critics may actually drive them away and closer to the anti-Israel camp, rather than bring them closer to Israel.

The report also acknowledges that the anti-BDS laws pushed by Israel and its lobby in various countries have raised concerns regarding their possible violation of free speech, which is also turning off potential supporters of Israel.

The 30-page report devotes a few sentences to acknowledging at least partially some of the root causes of Israels deteriorating global situation: Israels policies regarding Palestinians in the West Bank, the absence of a peace process and the continuation of the settlements policy. It also points to the mistreatment of the indigenous population the Arab citizens of Israel.

But the report ignores the obvious, that Israel can end the BDS movement by ending the reasons for it: the systematic denial of Palestinian rights.

Instead, it recommends that Israel and its lobby double down on positive messaging and branding to portray Israel as a hub of innovation and creativity deflection strategies that have failed so far.

The report acknowledges that what it calls the delegitimization movement is founded on intellectual arguments that challenge the foundations of Zionism. It identifies a need to intellectually match those arguments in an equally appealing and sophisticated manner.

Yet it is readily apparent that Zionist intellectuals have no compelling answer to arguments that there can be no such thing as a Jewish and democratic state without massive and ongoing violations of the basic rights of millions of Palestinians, especially refugees who are barred from returning to their homes solely because they are not Jews.

This is precisely why Israel and its lobby groups are attempting to redefine any questioning of Zionisms political claims as a form of anti-Semitism.

This report sets as a goal to make delegitimization any questioning of the right of Israel to exist as an explicitly Jewish state regardless of what that means for Palestinians socially inappropriate.

By this definition, calling for a modern, democratic state in which Jews, Muslims, Christians and people of all national identities have full, equal and protected rights constitutes an anti-Semitic attack.

The ADL and the Reut Institute effectively acknowledge that Israel has no winning arguments that can sway so-called bystanders, people who dont already have a view on its treatment of Palestinians. They warn that a pre-emptive strategy of showcasing Israels side of the conflict among the bystanders, is unlikely to be effective. Only once the positive emotional connection has been set, then hasbara tactics may be effective.

Hasbara is the Hebrew term for Israels state propaganda.

Asa Winstanley contributed analysis.

Thanks for making the document available in full. It's fascinating to see this double-think in action. On the one hand, smear tactics, bullying, lies and legalized repression don't work. On the other, that's all they've got to offer so it's over the top they go once again, like WWI generals ordering yet another hopeless assault.

You almost have to think that somewhere in the highest recesses of the Israeli establishment they know how it's going to end. But there's so much invested in this doomed project that they're prepared to keep going until they run out of track.

The article makes clear that Israel's desire to end BDS can ONLY be brought about by its full acknowledgement of Palestinian human rights, both inside Israel and in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories. However, since this would end the Zionist project and the Israeli mirage of a 'Jewish AND democratic state', Israel will never effectively end BDS, which will become increasingly more effective.

A great service von ei, giving us access to this report. Many thanks. The Reut Group was called the Reut Institute in 2010 when it did two (very similar) reports on the de-legitimization topic. See http://reut-institute.org/Publ... The current, leaked report refers to the work done then, 7 years ago. If anything, those reports give much more analysis of what Israel sees as its problem, adopts the correct viewpoint that BDS and anti-Zionism do indeed regard Israel as illegitimate, and it even makes in parts for some funny reading. I think the lesson for those who agree with Ali Abunimah that a democracy in Palestine would mean the end of Israel is that we should 'take over' or 'own' with much more courage the epithet 'de-legitimizers'. Let us start consistently calling a spade a spade. Yes, Israel is illegitimate and should not be there. It should be replaced - by a democracy among whose citizens are the Returned Palestinians. We know that we are not motivated by an ounce of anti-semitism, but we have nevertheless have to immediately clarify that our problem is not necessarily with some Jewish state somewhere but with the one in Palestine, far away from where Jewish people suffered persecution, the one which has for 100 years happened step by step at the cost of the Palestinians. Thus we don't even have to get into the issue of the self-determination of the Jewish people. We are talking about Palestine and about the basic, non-abrogable rights of the indigenous people. If this means the state presently ruling there is not legitimate, so be it.

Link:

Leaked report highlights Israel lobby's failures - The Electronic Intifada (blog)

When people think of zines, they might think of the 1970s New York punk zeitgeist. They might also think of the ever-growing do-it-yourself movement or a potentially great skit for a Portlandia episode. Event-goers found all this and more at The Miami Zine Fair April 22.

The fair was a community-based event that offered exposure for zines and other local products. Zines are typically self-published booklets with a small circulation. They are created in small batches and are not intended for profit. Instead, zines aim to advance and share an ideology, issue, art or story important to the creator. Zines are hard to define because they can be anything the creator wants.

According to O, Miami, The Miami Zine Fair is the original and largest gathering of Floridas indie publishers, featuring over 150 local artists, writers, publishers and activists. This year, the fair took place on the lawn near the Lowe Art Museum. From 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., the fair was filled with people discovering Miamis print world.

WVUM, the universitys radio station, played music for the fair while offering a unique virtual reality experience. In the WVUM office, users could play a game to produce the tones and chords of Hot Sugars The Melody of Dust album by using VR controllers to create a soundscape. The experience was an entertaining extension of the fair.

The fair offered an impressive collection of cassettes, shirts, books, comics, art and zines. April 22 was not just the Miami Zine Fair it was also Record Store Day and, more importantly, Earth Day. Earth First brought the environmental activism and excitement of Earth Day to the fair. Walking away from Earth Firsts table, guests could see a zine called Coloring Book for Sad Boys, which featured a real cigarette and relevant pictures, such as Drake crying. Vice Versa Presss Guide to be Being Alone was a notable zine.

Two zines created by University of Miami students Kevin Sands and Ethan Punal were featured at the fair. Sands My Life of Living Ms: A Salute to Taco Bell came as a meal deal, which included three Taco Bell sauce packets and a bag of Doritos. Punals Some Art Youll Probably Care About contained 20 abstract animated celebrity portrayals.

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Miami Zine Fair features eclectic array of locally produced zines, products - The Miami Hurricane