now given the fact that i’ve gone on about this stuff below - i reckon its not long before some crazed International Relations or Government Studies -type person comes along and quotes the Clash of Civilizations thesis at me. well to pre-empt that ( ha ha) let me just say that my point was not about such and such a country setting out to cause trouble. its highly likely that someone will come along and think - ah yes - what i read in that Huntington’s book - about the balance of power and clash of civilizations - yes that’s what its about. no it bloody well isn’t. its precisely the opposite. Let me say very clearly here and now Samuel P. Huntington’s thesis is a lot of bollocks. i shall explain in suitable academic detail very soon.

in the meantime this is an article that is certainly worth reading - Edward W. Said on the clash of ignorance.

so much for the Harvard Academy of International and Area Studies. how sad that an academic institution should be so influenced by inside- the- box -patriotism. And also in tandem - people at academic institutions worldwide have been forced to listen to silly people who ought to have thought for themselves independently- quoting Huntington. i cannot say strongly enough how much damage this man has done.

in the meantime please feel free to blast me with any invective.

i hear a lot of people from certain countries who seem to have a similar argument with regards to the UN- that why do they need it, they ought to opt out etc. etc. ( india and the USA) now the UN sure ain’t an efficient institution. hell there aren’t many efficient institutions around. ( good instititutions are a damned difficult thing to sort out - not least because loads of people seem to overlook the fact that they actually need work and thinking about)

seriously though - the UN isn’t the problem - its the symptom. yes it isn’t much of a useful institution but that’s because of the problems of the world - it reflects us. people don’t like the UN cos they don’t want to admit the world is unequal and rubbish. and they expect somehow that without changing their views somehow the UN is automatically going to be the wonderful representative organization its meant to be. and its not because some countries are ‘terrorist’ and others are peace-loving - that’s bollocks. all countries are capable of behaving in the same war-like obscene way - what are standing armies for otherwise?

its the system of organizing ourself into hostile nations-states that is the fundamental problem. well one of the fundamental problems. one of the others is that a lot of narrow-minded people have been influenced by this and want to keep it that way. which makes change hard.

need to think outside the box.

collaboration NOT competition.

latest issue of The Idler magazine.

read the fantastic book ” how to be idle” by tom hodgkinson, speaking out against the frenetic pace of modern life.

Lao Tzu would have been pleased.

why indeed? what they seem to encourage on the bbc website are these “Have your say” forums - at the end of a news article - which really seems to be aimed at encouraging the most right-wing, dictatorial and incredibly prejudiced fuck-wits of the world to write in. Now i may be wrong of course, and they just happen to publish whatever anyone writes in - but its not as simple as that - as its moderated - and i’ve tried soo many times to get a comment in - but failed apart from one time. So obviously, whoever the moderator is - decides. fine - but they still jolly well ought to have some proper blogs - like the Guardian does - lots of lovely blogs - where we can all come along and say what we think - and it would be easier to see actually are all the people who comment on those forums a bunch of right-wing nutters or if its just the moderators who like to spice up the reading with a lot of invective.

and if the BBC has got some blogs - well they need to then highlight them clearly to us poor people. i’ve just been searching and searching and all i can find is other people saying much the same thing. now the only thing i’ve just found is something called Ouch! which is part of the BBC site - and has a weblog as part of it. thats great - and they’re looking for guest bloggers - good - but what about BBC news blogs - surely they’d be really popular. just think about the kind of raging debates ( and no doubt some flame wars..he heh) we could have with these psychos that live in the ‘have your say’ forums.

this gets even better. perseverance pays off - found out about the Comedy Blog - but it takes ages to see if they let us post comments or not ( on first sight it appears not to be the case) but again rooting around, i found a page where it says - hey send us your comments - but! it looks unfortunately very much like where they say on those forums - send us your comments and we’ll publish the best - what the fuck is this - some kind of writing competition??? –> ” Thank you for your comments. The BBC reserves the right to modify any messages before appearing on this web page.” not very friendly is it?

i think the BBC needs to wake up and stop thinking old broadcast media and fully embrace the interactive age they go on about. mind you, im not anti-bbc or anything ( if you might think that from the tone of my comments!) its just frustrating when they insist on this old-fashioned monolithic organization -type stuff.

wake up

Amnesty International - fundraiser this saturday 1st October

“DJs Shakti, Principal, and Tom Lloyd on the decks, Comedy and MCing from Birmingham’s Craig Deeley. Conjuring and magic from Champagne Bobby and and THREE live bands: Lofi Americana from The Sways, Blondie-esque girl pop from the Bright Lights, and maniac Rockabilly stray-cats-meets-primal -scream rock n roll from Ludes (fresh from their appearance at TDK cross central festival).

Water Rats Theatre, 328 Gray’s Inn Road. 7.30 p.m. - 2.00 a.m. £10. All proceeds to Amnesty

courtesy of Flora @ Metroblogging London

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Synergy event @ LSE : sunday 2nd october

“This coming Sunday also sees the launch of the Synergy Sunday, a more chilled-out equivalent of The Synergy Project, held at the London School of Economics on Houghton Street.”

4-11pm £7

featuring :

Kakatsitsi, Master Drummers from Ghana, traditional set /’Make Poverty History - Happening or Not ?”- A panel discussion with speakers from leading members of the coalition. /Indymedia films - grassroots films and documentaries/ Ambient, World, Reggae and Trance music from DJs. Pavi (Alchemy Records/UK) /Christian Davies (IDSpiral)/Pete Ardron/Mudra/Steve Indigenous /

and performances by : Wemoonspiral - a magical journey in shadow puppetry /Sandra - visionary dance performance/Inside us All - Conscious Visuals /African Drum Workshop by Kakatsitsi - drums provided /United Diversity Sustainable Living Info Shop/Paradox - philosophical and political poetry. /Zen Art Deco by ID Spiral/ Mali Mudcloth, Ghanaian Tie-Dye, Masks and Statues.