Violet_Crumble
Violet_Crumble's JournalRock’s ‘secret feminism’
I found this earlier this evening when I was googling for guitar tabs. It's written by someone called LonerGrrrl and I thought it was pretty good, seeing it involved my favourite band of all time and feminism. I'd always been aware that they'd done Rock For Choice and Eddie wrote an article about reproductive choice, which I'll post if I can dig it up, but I'd never listened to a song like 'Why Go' and picked up that it was in any way pro-feminist, but I blame that on all the mumbling with the lyrics. The video linked to in the blog is a crap version of 'Daughter' so click on the one in this post to get a really awesome version of 'Why Go'I really liked this article by Amanda Marcotte, Nirvanas Secret Feminism. Not only because it focuses on Nirvanas, and more specifically, Cobains, pro-feminist ethos (something too often overlooked in those umpteen the REAL story of Nirvana! features malestream rock journalists like to trot out over and over again); but also because she highlights the profound impact a male rock band can have on the lives of their female fans and the pleasure and validation we can get from listening to their music (something too often overlooked in those umpteen Riot Grrrl RULES! Dude music does nothing for us grrrls! features feminists like to trot out over and over again).
But why only focus on Nirvana? Pearl Jam also, broke with the sexist norms of the era, choosing instead a pro-feminist public stance and song lyrics. (And like Nirvana have also reached a 20-year anniversary- though not just that marking the release of their seminal album, but the successful 20-year career that followed too. Dont burn out before your time. Steel yourself & bust through the bad. Know the joy of survival, of being Alive.)
Songs such as Why Go, Daughter and Betterman are as feminist as anything Bikini Kill ever put to tape. Eddie Vedder has made pro-choice and anti-rape statements on stage. He scrawled Pro-Choice on his arm during the bands MTV Unplugged performance in 1992. Theyve Rocked for Choice. Theyve hung out with Gloria Steinem. Toured with and heart Sleater-Kinney (Id never heard of Sleater-Kinney until I got into PJ. Now I heart them too). And you can find ripostes to this generally fucked-up capitalist war-mongering patriarchal world in which we live in a fair few of the bands song lyrics and from other stuff theyve said over the years.
In fact, that whole grunge/early 90s alt rock/whatever-you- want-to-call-it scene was largely pro-feminist. Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden too, all consciously set out to do rock n roll in a different way to the hair metal bands that dominated rock before them. Out went the shit lite riffs and unoriginal lyrics, and in came guitars that soared and sludged and rattled raw and heavy in a myriad interesting and beautiful ways; songs that struck the whole heart/mind/soul. Here was a bunch of male rock musicians who were openly sensitive and intelligent, who werent afraid to wear their hearts on their sleeves. Yet Cobain/Vedder/Cornell were also still quite masculine. But its this man-womanly/woman-manly (to quote Virginia Woolf) combination, which for me, made grunge music, and the men who made it, so different, sexy, inspiring and feminist.
http://lonergrrrl.wordpress.com/2011/10/06/rocks-secret-feminism/
Chilling effect of the Nakba Law on Israel's human rights
By Roni Schocken | May.17, 2012 | 4:25 AMThe court ignored the infringement of free speech stemming from the very existence of the law, as opposed to one stemming from the law's application.
By rejecting the petition calling for the repeal of the Nakba Law in January of this year, the High Court of Justice ignored the violation of human rights inherent in the danger that institutions may now preemptively refuse to fund activities that involve the exercise of free speech, for fear of financial sanctions.
The High Court argued that time was not yet "ripe" for such a request in its ruling against the petition filed by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and Adalah, the legal center for Arab minority rights. The Nakba Law grants the finance minister the authority to impose harsh fines on government-funded organizations that budget expenses for (among other things ) marking Independence Day as a day of mourning.
"The petitioners request the repeal of sections of the law that have not yet been used by the finance minister, and there is no way of knowing whether, when and under what circumstances he will use the authority granted to him," the decision read.
Since the petition was rejected with the argument that it was premature, the High Court did not hold any sessions on the substantive issues the petition raises, despite the court's noting that they "are likely in certain situations to go to the root of problems dividing Israeli society."
"Nakba" ("catastrophe" in Arabic ), is a term used to describe the suffering of Palestinians, including the 700,000 who lost their homes, in the war that led to the establishment of the State of Israel. The short decision, just 19 pages, not only failed to address arguments that the Nakba Law infringes on the Palestinian Arab minority's right to free speech and equality with regard to its historical memory; it also refrained from dealing with the important argument raised by the petitioners: the chilling effect of the law on carrying out various activities for fear of financial sanctions.
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/chilling-effect-of-the-nakba-law-on-israel-s-human-rights-1.430942
Thank you, Russian immigrant to Israel, for Nakba Day (Bradley Burston)
Alex Miller will go down in history as the Israeli politician who tried his damnedest to erase the memory of the Nakba - and, in doing so, made the Nakba an indelible part of our lives.It is customary for our people to honor fast days, memorial days and festivals by studying commentaries on their origins, the symbols and rituals of their observance, and the ways in which they connect to our own lives.
Therefore, this week, to mark Nakba Day, I've been learning about the events of 1948, and the heritage and the sorrows of Palestinians thanks in no small part to a Russian Jewish immigrant to Israel, Alex Miller.
If for nothing else, Miller will go down in history as the Israeli who tried his damnedest to erase the memory of the Nakba - and in so doing, more than anyone, made the Nakba an indelible part of our lives.
In 2009, Miller introduced a Knesset bill which would have made taking part in a Nakba Day event punishable by arrest and up to three years in prison. The prison sentence was later struck from the bill in order to pave way for its becoming law in 2011.
But Miller's Nakba Law still casts a shadow over events marking the day. Legal experts have noted that if schools or other state-supported institutions merely read the names of Palestinians killed or forced to leave their homes in 1948, they could be fined at the discretion of the Finance Minister.
Is it relevant that Miller, a resident of the settlement city of Ariel and a senior member of Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu party, was born and raised in Leonid Brezhnev's Moscow?
http://www.haaretz.com/misc/article-print-page/thank-you-russian-immigrant-to-israel-for-nakba-day.premium-1.430577?trailingPath=2.169%2C2.240%2C2.243%2C
btw, I just noticed you have to pay to subscribe to Ha'aretz to read full articles. Is there some way around it other than googling for the article title and hope it's been posted somewhere else?
Hatred of women exists in the West as well as the Arab world
Ruby HamadMay 3, 2012
Opinion
'WOMEN have very little idea of how much men hate them,'' wrote Germaine Greer in The Female Eunuch. So outraged were men that wives reportedly took to concealing their copies by wrapping them in plain brown paper.
More than 40 years later, Egyptian-American commentator Mona Eltahawy has caused a storm with her Foreign Policy essay, Why Do They Hate Us? ''They'' being Arab men and ''Us'' Arab women. Forget America's so-called inequality, Eltahawy implores, ''The real war on women is in the Middle East.''
<snip>
As an Australian woman of Arab Muslim background, I have often been struck not by how different but by how similarly women are treated in the West and in Arab/Islamic cultures. In both societies women's sexuality is treated with suspicion and distrust.
Muslim women are required to dress ''modestly'' to ward off attention from men. With the onus on women to alleviate male desire, victims of sexual assault are likely to find themselves blamed for their attack.
So too in the West. How many rape victims have had their sexual history and choice of clothing called into question? How many times have we wondered if ''she asked for it''?
They may not be required to cover their hair or faces, but Western women are derided for being sexually active in a way men never will be, as Sandra Fluke, the US college student who testified before Congress about the necessity of including birth control in health insurance, can attest. Fluke was called a prostitute and a slut by shock jock Rush Limbaugh.
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/hatred-of-women-exists-in-the-west-as-well-as-the-arab-world-20120502-1xz7a.html#ixzz1tnwjzFdJ
Beirut back to its glamorous glory
DOWN a ramp from Beirut's clamorous seaside road, motor yachts bob along a curving waterfront promenade. Tablecloths gleam white, and bottles of wine sweat in silver coolers. The boardwalk's rough planks, a nod to maritime authenticity, present a design flaw perhaps foreseeable in this city: women with Louis Vuitton handbags are forever extracting their spike heels from the cracks.
This new luxury playground, Zaitunay Bay, is Lebanon's latest effort to recapture the prewar 1960s - when Brigitte Bardot was a regular and Beirut was a fashionable port of call. But for Arab visitors seeking respite from fear and uncertainty around the region, and for Lebanese content to stay out of the storm, Beirut is already back.
''Lebanon brings together the European, the Mediterranean, East and West,'' said Noor al-Tai, strolling the boardwalk in a leather miniskirt, thigh-high boots and a fur vest, by way of explaining why Beirut was the logical destination when she fled violence at home in Iraq. ''There is a very friendly atmosphere.''
Beirutis barely pause to remark that Zaitunay Bay sits on the Green Line, the boundary between East and West Beirut that was a deadly no man's land during Lebanon's 15-year civil war.
In many Western minds, Lebanon's image remains frozen in old snapshots: sectarian massacres, hostages tied to radiators, the Israeli invasion, smoke billowing from seafront high-rises. But, for the wealthy at least, the country long ago regained its spirit of fun and glamour.
Read more: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/travel/beirut-back-to-its-glamorous-glory-20120414-1x05t.html#ixzz1sA0BEU6o
Daniel Pipes' attack on Israeli Arabs is baseless and inflammatory
Pipes has written an aggressive and confused jumble of half-truths and misunderstandings about the Arabs citizens of Israel in an article published in the Washington Times.By Carl Perkal
Middle East expert Daniel Pipes was in Israel recently and subsequently published an article entitled Israels Arabs, living a paradox in the Washington Times. I dont know Dr. Pipes personally, but I feel compelled to call him to task for his baseless and inflammatory attack on the Arab citizens of Israel.
Pipes has written an aggressive and confused jumble of half-truths and misunderstandings about the Arabs citizens of Israel.
Middle East expert Daniel Pipes was in Israel recently and subsequently published an article entitled Israels Arabs, living a paradox in the Washington Times. I dont know Dr. Pipes personally, but I feel compelled to call him to task for his baseless and inflammatory attack on the Arab citizens of Israel.
Pipes has written an aggressive and confused jumble of half-truths and misunderstandings about the Arabs citizens of Israel.
I refer Pipes to a speech made by Yoram Cohen, the head of Israels Shin Bet internal security service in which he said, " as a community, Arab Israelis are not a target of Shin Bet. They are not a fifth column and we do not view them as such "
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/daniel-pipes-attack-on-israeli-arabs-is-baseless-and-inflammatory-1.423718
The link to the Pipes article
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/mar/21/israels-arabs-living-a-paradox/
Pearl Jam Are the Most Boring Band in 20 Years
I found the link to this article over at the Pearl Jam forums, where a humour-impaired fan had been organising a lynch-mob ready to ride out with their hate mail ready to go. The article's really funny, as is the related Alanis Morissette oneAugust marked the 20-year anniversary of Pearl Jam's Ten. Yes, for 20 soul-crushing years we've listened to Eddie Vedder mumble. Which is somehow even worse than Jeff Ament's endless procession of silly hats. Somehow Pearl Jam enjoy more acclaim than ever these days; it seems that mediocre rock bands, like ugly buildings, become respectable if they stick around long enough.
How did they get to be so boring? Let's explore their pedigree. Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard (is there a douchier name?) played in a group called Green River alongside Mark Arm and Steve Turner. The latter two went on to form Mudhoney. Ament and Gossard jammed with some dudes from Malfunkshun, a band even more terrible than its name, and later formed Mother Love Bone, who are most noteworthy for straddling the fence between grotesque '80s glam rock and pretentious '90s grunge rock. Eventually, the pair found self-important San Diegan Eddie Vedder, a name which has terrified children ever since.
Critics lumped Ten in with grunge, despite the fact that it has nothing in common with grunge standard bearers Mudhoney, the Melvins, Tad or Gruntruck. Grunge never had much homogeneity, but Pearl Jam can't be explained away as an outlier. Ten sounds more like if your dad's classic rock cover band decided to give the "kids' music" the old state college try.
If Ten sounds like rehashed AOR bands, their public image represented the worst of major label committee think. Vedder played the brooding, tortured frontman, constantly brushing hair from his face, affecting shyness that would make the most twee indie pop bands blush. The others stood around like grinning simpletons in Body Glove shorts and bajas. Collectively they mouthed all the shibboleths about gun control and "white male dominance, maaaaaaan ..." Seriously, who did they think they were fooling?
A lot of people, apparently. Ten sold almost that many million copies. The singles are merely pedestrian, but the album cuts are downright embarrassing. It's amazing the band did anything other than play a grunge band in a made-for-TV movie. Performing "Black" at a coffee shop open mic should be grounds for a restraining order. "Why Go" becomes irritatingly repetitive upon a single listen.
http://blogs.laweekly.com/westcoastsound/2012/01/pearl_jam_worst_90s_band.php
Architecture in Helsinki....
I don't know if anyone at DU's heard of them, but they're my choice when I'm wanting some happy music happening...
And a much older one that's my favourite - It's 5!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Architecture_in_Helsinki
Israel: Palestinians Cut Off From Farmlands
A Year After Court Ruling, a Worsening SituationApril 5, 2012
(Jerusalem) A court ruling upholding a military permit system has had the result that a year later West Bank Palestinians in one affected area are virtually unable to work on their farmlands, Human Rights Watch said today, on the anniversary of the High Court of Justice ruling.
The system, which requires Palestinians to obtain special military permits to access their lands on the Israeli side of the separation barrier in the West Bank, in effect treats all Palestinians living in or seeking to access farmlands in these areas as though they were security threats, and imposes unnecessarily severe restrictions on their access, harming their livelihoods, Human Rights Watch said. Such a system violates the requirement under international law that security measures must be narrowly tailored to the threat that they aim to meet.
The permit system needlessly prevents Palestinians from working their own farmlands, said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. Israels highest court upheld a system that applies a broad brush to isolate Palestinians from their lands without a narrowly tailored security rationale as should be legally required.
Israel claims that the permit regime is necessary to prevent Palestinians from attacking Israeli civilians. However, Israel uses a different, less restrictive system to grant permits to Palestinians who work in Israeli settlements, often as construction workers. It has rejected applications by Palestinians for permits to access land on the basis of restrictive bureaucratic criteria rather than for specified security reasons.
Israeli citizens, including settlers, and non-Israeli nationals visiting Israel, are exempt from the requirement to obtain military permits.
http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/04/05/israel-palestinians-cut-farmlands
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