Oct 11 2021
The OAS (Organization of American States) was created in 1948. Over the course of its history, it has been deeply aligned to the White House agenda. Nevertheless, in the previous administration of the Secretary General, Miguel Insulza, who served in the Organization of American States from 2005 to 2015, the Secretary General, Miguel Insulza, maintained a balanced approach, and he condemned Israel, Israel's military actions, and also supported United Nations calls for a ceasefire during the 50 day Gaza war in 2014. And under this administration, the states that belong to this organization were able to condemn the actions of Israel. Now [the OAS] completely silencing them.
Center for Economic and Policy Research's Francesca Emanuele on her article, "Gaza Is Causing Diplomatic Rifts in the Western Hemisphere: The Organization of American States’ pro-Israel stance may erode its legitimacy in the region," at Foreign Policy.
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Heba Gowayed
Sep 11
Wealthy States Outsource Their Borders to Poorer, Indebted States / Heba Gowayed
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Oct 4 2021
Posted by Alexander Jerri
Welcome to the Moment of Truth, the thirst that is the drink.
Over twenty years ago, I started a project I’m still working on, documenting the life and work of an artist, Resh Shaprudhi, who used iconography around the god from the purana literature of what is now Hinduism, the god called Ganesh, or Ganapathi, or Vinayaka, or any number of other names, to explore the nature of oppression. Part of Resh Shaprudhi’s mythos is how and why Ganesh enters the events of the European genocide of WWII, often known as the Holocaust, and how through Ganesh’s intervention, the God of the Jews and the gods of the Hindus agree to bestow moksha upon the impoverished and oppressed. Moksha is the release of the soul from the cycle of metempsychosis, or reincarnation. It’s considered a good thing, to be released from that cycle.
If you’re not familiar with Ganesh, he’s the chunky god with the head of an elephant. He’s really easy to pick out of a crowd. A big part Resh Shaprudhi’s work involved syncretically assembling images, language, and symbols from Hinduism, Judaism, and the European genocide in World War II. So a lot of the art created by Shaprudhi involves Ganesh appearing in scenes of Nazi labor and death camps.
Coincidentally, about a decade-and-a-half after I started working on the Resh Shaprudhi project, an Australian play was touring the world called, “Ganesh Versus the Third Reich,” created by Back to Back theater company. The conceit was this: a theater company is in the process of putting together a stage play about Ganesh coming to Earth to recapture the swastika from the Nazis, who’d misappropriated it. I’m not sure if I was ever in a position to see this work. 2013, the year it toured, was also the year I was in India on the set of a movie, and after the shoot traveling through India, Thailand, and Laos.
Recently I decided to go back into the project, and encountered some clippings on the Back to Back play. I was barely familiar with the company’s esthetic, which is political, experimental, and purposely provocative. The theater company to which I claim membership, Theater Oobleck, boasted a similar esthetic back then. It may still, I don’t know. I know we considered art to be less interesting if it didn’t in some way transgress the everyday.
Back to Back is a company the majority of whose membership are disabled,... read more
Sep 14 2021