Re: Not One

[Ryan Griffis]

Zak McGregor wrote:
> 
> Then the cycle will never end. For people outside the USA, Biden poses 
> probably an even greater risk to their lives than Trump. The US left needs to 
> realise that they a. can't effect meaningful change through the ballot, and 
> b. need to bring the entire system down from within.

I think I’ll stick to listening to those who have historically suffered the 
most under the “system” and who have led/are currently leading the fight 
against it (and have always had the most significant expressions of 
international solidarity), but thanks for your suggestions.
Ryan
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Re: Not One

[Christiane Robbins]

Zak,

Not certain that I am following you accurately, as it seems as if you are 
presenting us with the devil’s choice - choosing between one’s own survival or 
perishing for the sake of your unspecified “greater risk”.

I’m not sure of your citizenry but as a woman living in the USA at this moment, 
amongst other significant factors, I am subject to the distinct threat of the 
overt forces of misogyny ( see the attempt to kidnap and Lynch the Gov. of 
Michican as a most recent example).  

Make no mistake these are not illusionistic threats.  They are real, they are 
deliberate and they are growing …and their intent is to "bring the entire 
system down from within."

> On Oct 7, 2020, at 2:29 AM, Zak McGregor  wrote:
> 
> On Tue, 6 Oct 2020 19:00:39 -0400
> Keith Sanborn  wrote:
> 
>> We are talking about the death of even the semblance of bourgeois democracy. 
>> And in its place not revolutionary socialism, or an anarchist utopia, but 
>> death-dealing fascism. Given the choice, I will vote for bourgeois democracy 
>> any time. 
> 
> Then the cycle will never end. For people outside the USA, Biden poses 
> probably an even greater risk to their lives than Trump. The US left needs to 
> realise that they a. can't effect meaningful change through the ballot, and 
> b. need to bring the entire system down from within. 
> 
> -- 
> Zak McGregor 
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your response

[Keith Sanborn]

Hi Zak,

I wd like to know why you think Biden is worse. A Biden regime wd at least 
repress the growing fascist militias here. Perhaps news didn’t reach you about 
the plot to kidnap and try (implicitly then execute for treason) the female 
Democratic  governor of Michigan foiled by the FBI. Her crime was making people 
wear face masks by executive order The Supreme Court of that 
Republican-dominated state struck down that lapse into sanity. Trump has 
encouraged these groups.

I don’t want to live with the daily levels of violence reported in the media 
and by friends in South Africa. Your situation is a bit different I think. But, 
perhaps those levels of violence are exaggerated. In that situation I might 
think differently. 

Keith 
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Re: Not One

[Joseph Rabie]

Dear Zak,

Your insightful comments below would make all self-respecting revolutionaries 
proud.

> Then the cycle will never end. For people outside the USA, Biden poses 
> probably an even greater risk to their lives than Trump.

Could you be more specific about this?


> The US left needs to realise that they a. can't effect meaningful change 
> through the ballot, and b. need to bring the entire system down from within.

How should they go about this? Normally when you bypass the ballot, you end up 
in the Gulag, or whatever the local equivalent is.

Cheers! -
Joe.


> -- 
> Zak McGregor 
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Re: Not One

[Zak McGregor]

On Tue, 6 Oct 2020 19:00:39 -0400
Keith Sanborn  wrote:

> We are talking about the death of even the semblance of bourgeois democracy. 
> And in its place not revolutionary socialism, or an anarchist utopia, but 
> death-dealing fascism. Given the choice, I will vote for bourgeois democracy 
> any time. 

Then the cycle will never end. For people outside the USA, Biden poses probably 
an even greater risk to their lives than Trump. The US left needs to realise 
that they a. can't effect meaningful change through the ballot, and b. need to 
bring the entire system down from within. 

-- 
Zak McGregor 
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Fwd: In response to the censored art under the threats of the French Minister of Interior Gerald Darmanin

[Paolo Cirio]

-- Forwarded message -

*Open letter by Paolo Cirio.*
Press Release Oct 6, 2020.

*Addressed to Roselyne Bachelot, French Minister of Culture.*

In response to the censored art installation at the exhibition Panorama 22,
programmed at Le Fresnoy - Studio national, under the threat and pressure
of the French Minister of Interior Gerald Darmanin.

Gerald Darmanin: « Paolo Cirio: An unbearable pillory of women and men who
risk their lives to protect us. I request the deprogramming of the
"exhibition" and the removal of the photos from its site, under penalty of
seizing the competent courts. » October 1st, 2020.
https://twitter.com/GDarmanin/status/1311688550073724931

I am a professional artist and an activist whose projects have
international scope. I created the artwork *Capture* to comment, as a
European citizen, on mass surveillance police brutality in France.
https://paolocirio.net/work/capture/

This art installation is meant to address the danger of Facial Recognition
technology and how it can also endanger the police officers safety. I aim
to protect the privacy of all citizens, including the police. The
installation is composed of public photos of police officers found on the
Internet and acquired from members of the press. This installation
doesn’t endanger the privacy of anyone because the officers are not
identified and their names don’t compare anywhere in the installation.
These photos are displayed without dates, locations, and any context of
sources, they are simply portraits of faces of police officers.

The take down of this installation from the exhibition at Le Fresnoy -
Studio national is a pure act of censorship forced directly by the French
government. This censorship puts in perils the very principles of democracy
in which art as free expression must exist to debate, comment, and condemn
governments and their institutions, including the police uncivil behaviors.
Le Fresnoy - Studio national’s communication regarding the take down of my
installation from the exhibition:
https://twitter.com/PoliceSynergie/status/1312024085447180290

The simply display of public photos doesn’t constitute a crime by law, as
the lawyer Raphaël Kempf states : “The display of photos taken in public
space are allowed both in artworks and in the media. […] In similarity with
street photography, artists and journalists are allowed to take photos of
public events and publish them without the permission of the subjects
photographed in such public space. […] This proves how the artist Paolo
Cirio has done nothing illegal”. Public events are allowed to be reported
photographically and eventually the circulation of such photos are
necessary documents for society in political debates and oversight.

The minister Gerald Darmanin forcing the take down of artwork from an art
institution in France is not only censorship, but also a demonstration of
incompetence, naiveté, incapacity of participating in a debate, and
understanding the basic principles of democracy and free expression. Gerald
Darmanin's aggressive response didn’t include any reference to police
brutality in France, the increasing attempt of officers to cover their face
to use violence against citizens in anonymity. Also he didn’t explain how
such images belong to the French media and free press, nor could he respond
to the main claim of the project addressing the technology of Facial
Recognition and its use in France to perform mass surveillance without
public scrutiny. At this time the reaction of Gerald Darmanin is similar to
a dictator of countries like China and Russia where the police live in
impunity, the government surveils their citizens, censors artists
and suppresses free speech.

I demand from the minister Gerald Darmanin responsible answers and
behaviors as a competent democratic politician must do. I demand the
ministry to retreat his demand for censorship of the art installation at Le
Fresnoy - Studio national and I invite the minister Gerald Darmanin to
respond to the questions that this artwork brings to the French citizens
and all of Europe.

Given the initial support by the institutions Le Fresnoy - Studio national
and la Condition Publique for this important art project, I would also
bring to attention their dependency to toxic political environments and
reclaim their necessary freedom to support critical art. In a country like
France where public funds are fundamental for the creation and promotion of
art and culture, I demand that art institutions must take a stand against
influence from the politics in the government. Le Fresnoy - Studio national
and La Condition Publique must resist the call for censorship and
separate themselves from problematic populist and authoritarian
politicians. The presence of Gerald Darmanin as Vice-President of Le
Fresnoy - Studio national, until lately, is outrageous and highlights a
political model that is unacceptable for a democracy such as France where
the creation and support of culture 

Re: The Zombie Public – Or, how to revive ‘the public’ and public space after the pandemic.

[Eric Kluitenberg]

Hello Michael,

Let me try then to clarify my position a bit further.

First about the lockdowns. I have conceded already that the lockdowns were 
probably necessary / inevitable because of the care system being totally 
overburdened. So in the first phase of this pandemic (I consider where we are 
now still in the early phase of the pandemic) this was an immediate response. 
This should have been used mostly to prepare for what woud come next.

Already very early on science journalists writing for a wider non-expert 
audience (such as myself) were warning that the lockdown might only be a 
temporary solution to fend off the worst, and that most likely the moment they 
would be suspended infection rates would go up. A good source for me on 
research on the pandemic was Science News - their overview page of coverage of 
the crisis is here (but there are of course many more):
https://www.sciencenews.org/editors-picks/2019-novel-coronavirus-outbreak 


And it was I think this early assessment that made me think about how effective 
/ ineffective lockdowns might be:
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/covid-19-when-will-coronavirus-pandemic-social-distancing-end
 


I did not state anywhere, nor do I hold to the position that "there is no 
possible protection against it, such as that provided by lowering the 
transmission rate through SIP and masking, etc..”  - quite the contrary, I have 
adhered quite strictly myself to social distancing, I think that a reliable 
vaccine is badly needed and should be made available in the public domain to be 
able to make it accessible to as wide a share of the global population as 
somehow possible and not be locked behind Intellectual Property walls.

Next to that I think much more needs to be done to find and distribute better 
treatment measures. We already see a global shortage now of Remdesivir, partly 
because the US bought up large stockpiles of the drug. I hear in reports that 
it is apparently helpful in the treatment of covid-19. 

But much more needs to be done to protect vulnerable sections of the 
population, also and even in a well-off country like The Netherlands, but think 
about less fortunate places in the global south  / the majority world, and what 
is needed there. All relevant medicinal drugs in the public domain would be a 
gigantic step forward there. We can pay the developers for their efforts and 
then make the results freely available to everyone - much like the system of 
open access publishing.

Now all that said, I was originally asked about my position towards the 
lockdown and I gave a concise answer to that question, despite the unpleasant 
tone of the message - only to be derided for using too many words… sorry, but I 
like nuance in the discussion so I’m now responding with as many words as I 
need.

This is not a ‘scientific’ treatise, I clearly marked it as a private opinion. 
So I’m asking to think through how we can get to a responsible end of the 
lockdowns and shift to strengthening our care system.

The point that the vaccine is not the ’silver bullet’ (several so called 
experts have already stated that broadly in various media reports) is not a 
made up fact, but a very real worry. Anti-bodies in former covid-19 patients 
have been shown to decline rapidly, which calls into question the possibility 
of developing a lasting immunity. At the same time we see there are already 
many mutations of the virus (as one would expect), but not all of them affect 
the effectiveness of the vaccines currently under development. However, it is 
likely that this will be the case in the (near) future. That would suggest that 
the vaccines need be tweaked regularly to deal with those mutations and 
possible changes in the virus’s behaviour - much like the annual flu vaccine. 
But we already know now that the virus keeps spreading also in the warmer 
season and therefore the urgency of this question is greater than with the flu.

I’m not inventing ‘facts’, but looking very real problems in the eye. Disagree 
with me, fine. Don’t say I’m inventing or fabricating. I’m trying to have an 
open and critical debate, so I welcome the critiques, but want to keep the 
discussion clear.

—— 

Then on the question of the ‘freedom of assembly’ – total freedom of assembly 
never existed and never will. That’s just not how power works. Also not in the 
most ‘democratic’ or ‘liberal’ societies around right now. As a ‘civil right’ 
(for lack of a better word) the right to a relative freedom of assembly has 
been severely curtailed because of the measures in response to the covid-19 
outbreak. Taking The Netherlands as a case, as I live here, there is still an 
allowance of demonstrations, but they need to ask permission to appear and must 
adhere to strict social distancing rules (1,5 meters