Celebrate the Revolution!

It's been nearly ten years since Napster came online. June 1999 changed the world in no small way.
Mp3's were allready available but most people had never heard of them. Downloading was allready there, with mp3.com as the hubstar, but most people didn't bother, and most musicians were oblivious to what was going on.

Back in the late nineties I was turned on to the anti-copyright movement, and felt strongly for taking down the record industry. I still do.
Back then I thought we were going to do this by recording and trading cd's. CD-r was the biggest thing since tape. It was swiftly surpassed. Napster came along and the record industry was shaking in its parasitic knees. We all remember the trials and Lars Ulrich and all that. The record industry thought they had won, but they overlooked two very important details:
We now knew it could be done. Music (and other electronic media) could be traded without the middle man. We knew it could be done easily too.
The other thing more and more people started realizing was that the record companies weren't there for the artists, but for their own sake. The record companies exploited the artists and after Napster more and more of them started releasing their music online in one form or another. Now, ten years later, they all do it - or they don't get played.

While I personally had released mp3's on the internet, for free, as early as 1998 I didn't really see the onset of the revolution that was going on around me. Not that I was in any way alone about that. Hardly anyone had come to realize the opportunity we had been presented as musicians. Even IUMA.com, by far the best music site on the internet to date, had to close down because of lacking interest from sponsors. I, and many with me, still saw burning cd's and creating elaborate profesional looking jewel cases as the way to bring down the record industry - or just spreading their music. Man oh man were we wrong.

The ongoing trial against Pirate Bay in sweden is the newest in a long line of attempts to retain control of our media consumption, by the faceless corporations. Their opponents are mere kids, but are certainly no longer portrayed as a bunch of delinquents, or "cyber terrorist hackers", by the media. Nope. The populace is surprisingly sympathetic to taking the rights away from the corporations and giving it to us: the listeners and musicians.

The last ten years have been nothing short of a real electronic revolution. We now control the horizontal and the vertical, not Them. The can actually go fuck themselves and consider getting a new job. They corporations wont go away for many years, not even the dinosaur record labels, but they are obsolete and it's more evident by the day. Even if they should win this trial it would be a pyrrhic victory at best. Downloading and distributing free content can't be stopped.

Thank you Napster! We will never forget!

Cultural Terrorist Manifesto

It's time to take out the record industry people. And in these days of copyright piracy lawsuits I thought it would be appropriate to post a text that has been influential in my work as a counter culture musician and anarchist, namely the Cultural Terrorist Manifest.

The manifesto was put together by a group called the Grey Wolves, a power electronics/death industrial duo from the UK. You can read more about them here or here.

Without further ado, the text:

Cultural Terrorist Manifesto

A terrorist who hijacks an airplane or plants a bomb in a crowded shopping centre apparently doesn't care who gets hurt as long as he (sic) achieves his aim. That innocent people are turned into bloody corpses or maimed for life is not his concern. The cultural terrorist is no different. The cultural terrorist, an assassin of the future, an executioner of morality. Cultural terrorism, an attitude, a state of mind - not a set of values to be dogmatically followed. Cultural terrorism is a celebration of the power of the individual.

Our aim is to pollute the minds of the public, to sow the seeds of insanity into society. Our victims are of all ages - everybody from the cradle to the grave. Man cannot bear too much reality and as a result of this the cultural terrorist is in the business of providing a reality attack. An over exposure of reality - the dirt behind the day dream. No subject is taboo, all must be exposed. No one is sacred. Everybody as well as everything should feel the wrath of the cultural terrorist. The object of cultural terrorism is to exploit situations and people in order to cause a reaction, preferably negative. Our aim is to make money in order to finance our war which we wage upon society, The money is required so that we can purchase the technology which will tear into the heart of all that is considered normal. We are the cancerous cell that would painfully destroy all that is in contact with it. We are working to erase the conforming instinct. To prevent humanity from ever acting with a common will.

The cultural terrorist's weapons are anything that enables him to inflict his views upon others or make him money. Be it film, video, audio cassettes, music, photocopiers, printed words, pictures - any media whatsoever is acceptable as long as it achieves the objective. We are little concerned how violent, how perverted, how degenerate, how much our material appeals to the very lowest of emotions, or how much the material twists and pollutes fresh young minds and further warps those already in trouble. If it makes money it will eventually achieve our aim and we will use it. We believe nothing is impossible, there is no god, there is no morality so we manipulate our environment to its fullest extent. Plagiarism is not only acceptable it is welcomed with open arms. We believe that you should not be afraid to steal from anyone. Our way is that of the liar and deceptor. We also know that the bigger the lie the better the chance of people believing it. Under cover communication is enemy crime not politics.

Elaborate safeguards may be placed at airports to separate would-be terrorists from their weapons. But we the cultural terrorists are free to distribute our soul destroying weapons to whom and where we choose. The cultural terrorist is both benevolent and evil. Pull the wool over your own eyes in a call to arms. We feel very strongly that an active role of participation should be taken in this struggle by people already interested in this form of warfare. The cultural terrorist is involved in an act of revolutionary suicide protesting the conditions of an inhuman world. Cultural terrorism is alien to this society and our technology will tear into it to open up wounds that may never again heal. Tomorrow belongs to us.Confusion as a weapon / Confusion the key word.

Healthy confusion, some call it "evil". Confusion that sparks the need to question. Confusion calling fear, the adrenalin to flow, the blood rush and the life force to sit up and take notice. Confusion making us question everything in search of some (un)sense. Everything to be probed into. Indulging into whatever subjects we feel like. Making our lives that much more interesting for ourselves. No subject should be taboo. Spewing it out in our writings, in our "artwork", in our aural pieces. Digesting and regurgitating, sometimes in almost original form and other times in unrecognisable confusion. Leading to questions from others, not sure of where we stand, their need to know, pretending not to care, yet seeking the safety of answers that fit their way, the safe way of thinking. We stand everywhere and nowhere. We wade in cool rivers / we tread in dogshit. Creating only for ourselves. Taking anything from our surroundings we desire or find necessary ... Alternative media ... Mindfuck to oblivion ... A disjointed, chaotic view of this fucked up, ever decaying globe. Gladly we take our part in the information / disinformation war in a fearless way. Ours is a wide open mouth sucking deadlife media cock. Ours is a wide open arsehole shitting out deadlife media junk food. This here is the stink and defiance of a blanket protest. A big fuckoff to "peer group pressure". No attempt is made to conform, to speak your / their words. Always the fight against those who would control our minds and our bodies. In this our weapons are our very lives.

Clash of the Civilizations

Several years ago I gave a few lectures on cultural understanding with regards to Islam and prejudice. At the time Taliban had just recently captured Kabul, and I was a volunteer in an NGO promoting education for girls in Afghanistan. As you can expect there was quite a bit of fuzz over this, as several people were afraid that the funds we collected would end up in Taliban's hands. (They didn't.)

The world has changed since then. The Twin Towers have fallen to the ground and the Taliban has yet again been reduced to a rebel army. Still however I believe the lecture bears repitition. Atleast what I remember from it.

Let it first be said however that I am an atheist, and my sympathies for Islam are exactly the same as they are for Christianity or Judaism: deism is nonsensical. However I do believe in respect and understanding, and that is what I hope to further here.

If we look at Islam through our own media we can easily sum up the presentation: war, terrorism, poverty, sharia, burka, outlawed alcohol, dictatorship and not eating pork etc.
To most people these terms are (mostly) strongly negative. However let us look at how europe would look in a foreign newspaper:
Religious and ethnic conflict (the war in bosnia was raging at the time, as well as northern Ireland, Kosovo came soon thereafter), terrorism (IRA, ETA and historically the RAF are well known.), poverty (we have some pretty decent slums in our cities), rioting (Soccer matches in the UK, streetfighting between nazis and antinazis, or police), political chaos (several countries have a hard time putting together functional governments and chaos ensues, Italy and Belgium are good examples) and so forth.
The media reports what people find interesting, and people seem to find violence and conflicts to be interesting. Still to a certain level they do report the truth, but only to a certain level.
Islam is the second largest religion in the world, with app a billion adherents spread out over more or less the entire globe. Let us look a little closer at the islamic customs and countries.
Several of the countries are democracies, and atleast as secular as my own home country. Granted many of them have limited political freedom, and some have nearly none whatsoever. This is however changing rather rapidly. Indonesia is the third largest democracy in the world, and an islamic state. Pakistan has recently taken steps towards becoming a full fledged democracy once again. Afghanistan is being reformed as is Saudi Arabia. Heck even Iran has some sort of democratic reform going on. Turkey is a secular democracy, a nato member and possible future EU member.Most of the countries are also peacefull, and haven't experienced war since world war II or before. Several of the countries are also among the world's richest.

Terrorism is certainly one of the words we have come to associate more and more with Islam after the founding of Israel in 1948, and yes there are a great deal of Islamic terrorist in the world. They are not alone however, and historically speaking neither are they special in any way. We certainly have our share of terrorists in Europa, as previously mentioned, and there is hardly anything that points to terrorism being particularly linked to Islam. Most islamic countries are indeed in peace, and there is a great deal of evidence showing that many islamic terrorist are indeed from western countries. The world is complex.

Many would point to the concept of Jihad as a special link between Islam and terrorism, and yes Jihad is often used to legitimate terrorism. However even this term is complex. The most exact translation of this term would be 'struggle', and there are several types of jihad. Most important to all muslims is the inner, or small jihad, the struggle for oneself to be a better muslim. Most known to us however is jihad as holy war, a war that can be declared when an islamic country is under attack by non-muslim invaders. Islamic theologians disagree on exactly when this form of jihad can be declared, but a very famous example was during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Not even that jihad was uncontroversial though, and Bin Laden's holy war on the USA is a flat out misinterpretation of jihad in its entirety.

I could go on and on. Burkas are only used by the Pashdun tribe in Afghanistan and Pakistan, female circumsicion is uncommon outside of Sudan and Somalia, sharia is different for each country and can only apply to a muslim etc etc. Islam is also very complex, and while some muslims are reactionary, violent and fanatic - most are respectfull, progressive and likeable people.

I have known several muslims from many parts of the world in my life. Iranians, Afghans, Pakistanis, Albanians and Kosovans, as well as Iraqis, Kurds and Turks Some of these have been jerks, but most of them have been very OK. More than anything working with and talking to and knowing muslims has taught me that Islam is about respect and tolerance. Muhammed (peace unto him) and his followers granted foreigners religious freedom while we Europeans burned people for dissent. The books we burned as blasphemous were stored and studied in the Caliphate and the prophet himself had higher thoughts on women than were common in his time. It's a shame that our image is Islam is dominated by Taliban's destruction of the Bamyan buddhas, and other such repulsive acts, and if you read this, please reconsider. The world needs reconciliation and respect, not conflict.

False Awareness strikes back

Today's subject is Habermas and False Awareness.
While I cannot say I'm en expert on Habermas I have picked up a thing or two in my long time as a student.
Primarily his term False Awareness.

Habermas belongs to the marxist group of philosophers known as the Frankfurt School (as does Theodor Adorno), and is an exponent of Critical Theory, in which his term false awareness is a more or less central concept.

False Awareness, in short, means that what you think is right is a product of your mind being conditioned to a certain state of affairs. While functioning normally you would reject said state, but being unable to do so, you adapt. Cognitively speaking: if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
In a marxist world view this is a handy way of explaining why the "working class" would readily embrace capitalism rather than marxism. The workers are being lulled into a false awareness where they themselves think they have reached a definition that marxism is wrong, and capitalism is right.
Usually the various types of cultural industry takes the blaim here. Hollywood and music industry in particular.

While I certainly see Habermas' point, I disagree somewhat. We have all encountered people who seem to extoll thoughts that sound like sound bites from television or some other source. In fact it seems to be quite common. "Democracy might not be perfect, but it's the best we have" for instance is a good example of this. It's easier to adopt a commonly held belief, than it is to create your own. And certainly less time consuming.

However, my main problem with habermasian thought is that it lends itself very easily to ad hoc analysis and totalitarian dogma. "If you don't agree with my carefully constructed analysis, it's clearly because you have false awareness!" It doesn't allow for disagreement, but rather blames such discordant thoughts on what is, in effect, brain washing by the ruling class and its ownership of the media. For instance, something I often encounter: left wing feminists who claim that ALL female sexworkers are oppressed by men. If they are exposed to a female sexworker who disagrees they do not reassess their view, but rather changes the terrain to fit the map. The sexworker simply doesn't realize that she is oppressed, even though she feels entirely free. People's experience is second to ideology, and when they don't match ideology wins.

By no means do I wish to undersell the media as a source of thoughts, but this is simply going much to far. Try discussing with someone who implicitly claims that your oppinions are not oppinions, they are a cognitive process by which you fail to realize reality.

To me False Awareness is clearly an ad hoc hypothesis. It's not critical at all, rather it is some sort of defense mechanism. Ironically, rather than admit the very real failures of marxist theory a logical moebius strip is created to save it. "We were right all along, but people cannot realize it, because their oppinions are being created and upheld by the entertainment industry." The matrix has you my friend!
False Awareness becomes an easy way out. Instead of analysing your opponents views and adjusting your own (if necessary) you blaim the cultural industry for ruining all possibilities for freedom.

Personally I would like to claim that all oppinions and concerns need to be addressed on equal terms. Discounting someones beliefs on the basis that they are not themselves the progenitor of that belief is arrogant and cowardly. Not to mention, it defeats the purpose. If your goal is to change the opposition's minds you clearly need to defeat their line of arguments, not run away from it.

Just a post to say I'm here.

I'm here. Expect random thoughts soon.