Through my larger interest about the commodification of information, I have been following the introduction of new copyright legislation in Canada, Bill C-61. Both traditional and Internet media outlets, academic, and individuals are condemning the legislation as a “Canadian DMCA“. For the best coverage one should follow the blog of Michael Geist from […]
I love the subtle social commentary that the old animators had. A great mashup.
The records of a government are what give it legitimacy (good reading is the beginning portion of Derrida’s Archive Fever). These archives, going back 100 years, document the current and previous residents of the area, including now absent Palestinian refuges. Documentation is the source of these people’s claims, without which they become homeless and voiceless. Regardless of what side one takes, such destruction is illegitimate, and harms not only the people of the area, but our entire collective memory.
Elayne Riggs noticed this article from the New York Time which begins: Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon have amassed thousands of surface-to-surface rockets, including missiles with the range to strike cities in northern Israel, according to senior Israeli and Western officials.However, the very next sentence reads: “As the Bush administration moves to confront Iraq, some officials are concerned that Hezbollah could step up its attacks on Israel.” Something amiss here.Still, officials worry that the buildup of so many rockets could tempt Hezbollah to expand its operations. Adding to this worry is the fear that Iran or Syria might encourage Hezbollah to stir up tensions along Israel’s northern frontier to divert attention from Iraq and complicate the Bush administration’s plans to topple Saddam Hussein.
The topic of his speech was that we, as Canadians, shouldn’t think we are without blood on our hands, and then he went on to list about 40 minutes worth of contemporary examples of oppression, both internally and externally, domestic and abroad, that “Canada” (I didn’t understand if he was talking about Canada the society or Canada the government, or both) is actively involved in. And, that was basically the end, with no theory, no philosophy, no plan of action, except the standard Michael Moore type complaining, without any form of positive plans.Which is not to say I didn’t agree with him…. At an even whose fliers demanded an end uniquivicol to violence at the university (not just one type of violence), I found that calling US and Canadian oppressors “murderers” and those who retaliate with violence, such as the leaders of the Haitian revolution, “unequivocal”.(Jaggi called Toussaint L’Ouverture a hero).I got up and tried to point out the slight hypocrisy in that statement…. Later I discussed a wonderful Derrida essay with a member of the audience, “The Force of Law”, which, in short, says that all critique, all revolution, begins with a kind of Divine violence that does away with law, but that same movement of violence eventually sets up and enforces new law, defeating its original purpose.The end of violence, Derrida writes, exists in this messianic time (not a specific messianism) that is always in the future, but it never arrives.
