William Bowles – Essays
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Communicating with the ancestors by William Bowles
14 September 2007 Hip-Hop forever I’ve been a fan of hip-hop music ever since it broke out of the Bronx in the late 70s. In those days it is true to say that hip-hop was very much a New York thing reflecting its Black/Hispanic roots in uptown Manhattan and the Bronx. And then there was… Continue reading
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Economics 10000001 or the revenge of the Ninjas By William Bowles
12 September 2007 Explaining economics is probably the most difficult thing for any writer to undertake, especially if one’s take on things is not in the mainstream, that is to say, not what they call classical economics, which is another way of saying that capitalism is the only possible system, so it’s interesting to see… Continue reading
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Iraq and Oil — Why the mainstream media won’t talk about it By William Bowles
10 September 2007 ‘Order 150 passed in 1987 by Saddam Hussein banned public sector workers from organizing trade unions. Oil Minister Hussein al-Sharistani declared all oil unions illegal in July 2007, using [the same] Ba’ath regime anti-union law'[1] Ever since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the mainstream media have deliberately downplayed the role of… Continue reading
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(Yet More) Rumours of War and other tales from Psy-Ops Central by William Bowles
7 September 2007 “Reports that the Bush administration will put Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on the terrorism list can be read in one of two ways: It’s either more bluster or, ominously, a wind-up for a strike on Iran. Officials I talk to in Washington vote for a hit on the IRGC, maybe within… Continue reading
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Book Review: Who said Marx wasn’t Green? By William Bowles
1 September 2007 Book Review: Ecology Against Capitalism by John Bellamy Foster “An ecological approach to the economy is about having enough, not having more.” — John Bellamy Foster “For the first time — nature becomes purely an object for humankind, purely a matter of utility; ceases to be recognized as a power for itself;… Continue reading
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The BBC’s hall of mirrors By William Bowles
26 August 2007 “However, especially in the years since Hutton, we’ve come to focus on it [public trust or rather, lack of it] first and foremost in the context of journalism. Accuracy, impartiality, resolute defence of our editorial independence, a willingness to acknowledge mistakes when we make them: meeting all these expectations simultaneously is an… Continue reading
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Barbie bites back By William Bowles
Mattel’s double whammy The toy company, Mattel has had to recall 18 million of its products (2 million of them in the UK), all manufactured in China, for various health and safety safety reasons including high levels of lead in the paint and magnets that come off. Coincidentally, the New York Times ran a puff… Continue reading
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No need to panic, let the market decide By William Bowles
14 August 2007 “We’ve got blind panic… and obviously a complete lack of confidence [in the market]” – Tony Craze, Dawntrader.co.uk It should be obvious to all and sundry by now that capitalism is in dire straights. Last week’s meltdown of the world’s major capital markets was only ‘rescued’ by the injection of literally hundreds… Continue reading
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Failing to make the right connections By William Bowles
7 August 2007 I’m torn, really torn between trying to keep up with the deceptions the corporate press keep feeding us and wanting to ignore the entire sorry mess completely, but well you know how it is, almost without exception, everyday there’s a story that grabs my attention because it represents all that’s wrong with… Continue reading
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Blogopopsicles of the world unite! by William Bowles
The Web has opened a veritable can of worms as far as the mainstream media are concerned, even so-called liberal journalists seem to feel threatened by the emergence of a global, independent media, the latest one to emerge being Robert Fisk (who I referred to in my last piece). Now whether, as fellow blogopopsicle Chris… Continue reading
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Letter from a far-off galaxy by William Bowles
1 August 2007 “I despise the internet. It’s irresponsible and, often, a net of hate. And I don’t have time for Blogopops. But here’s a tale of two gutless newspapers which explains why more and more people are Googling rather than turning pages.” — Robert Fisk: “No wonder the bloggers are winning”, Published in the… Continue reading
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An all-consuming greed by William Bowles
26 July 2007 ‘The less you eat, drink, buy books, go to the theater, go dancing, go drinking, think, love, theorize, sing, paint, fence, etc., the more you save and the greater will become that treasure which neither moths nor maggots can consume — your capital. The less you are, the less you give expression… Continue reading
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Total power drives you totally mad by Willliam Bowles
17 July 2007 One tends to think of those who rule as being ruthlessly logical in their application of power; after all, maintenance of the status quo should surely be one of their major objectives? But their loss of legitimacy, obvious to all except the most myopic and self-delusional points to something quite fundamental taking… Continue reading
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The Media on ‘Global Terror’ by William Bowles
12 July 2007 Y’know it’s amazing really, considering that for centuries Europeans have been invading other countries, enslaving their peoples, ripping off their resources and in the process impoverishing much of the planet. And what is more, moving in and taking up residence without so much as a ‘by your leave’ let alone being put… Continue reading
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Completely Carbonated by William Bowles
5 July 2007 — InvestigatingImperialism Well it’s started, in fact it’s more than started and it’s driving me mad. You know what I’m talking about, my fucking ‘carbon footprint’! Every time I hear the phrase, which is every damn day, it really pisses me off. ‘Carbon footprint’ is the new Osama, the new bogie man… Continue reading
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All Aboard! By William Bowles
A couple of facts: The Indian Railway is the single biggest civil employer of people on the planet and the then newly-appointed minister of Transport’s first act was to rescind a decision to replace the locally made pottery cups that everyone traveling on the railway uses, with plastic ones, because the switch resulted in 100,000… Continue reading
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Whose culture is it anyway? By William Bowles
29 June, 2007 “And so, the end of the Blairite decade. Tributes, applause and a standing ovation at PM’s Question Time. Gushing reflections from fellow politicians and sundry acolytes. And, of course, the whole panoply of deferential BBC coverage replete with helicopter ‘reportage’ of official cars going to and from the Palace. How abjectly depressing,… Continue reading
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One square metre and a stool By William Bowles
8 June 2007 ‘All the freaky people make the beauty of the world’ — ‘All The Freaky People,’ Michael Franti & Spearhead For the most part, television is crap, driven as it is either by commercial interests or in the case of the state-run network, by something that tries to mimic the demographically driven commercial… Continue reading
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In His Master’s Voice – The BBC’s Mark Urban does a hatchet job on Media Lens By William Bowles
4 June 2007 I don’t know how many readers follow the exchanges between the BBC and other mainstream media outlets and Medialens (there are number of them archived here in the Media section of the site but please do pay a visit to their site). There’s no doubt that ML perform a valuable service by… Continue reading
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So what’s changed? By William Bowles
30 May 2007 It’s time for some plain speaking about the issue of climate change and capitalism and the progressive movement’s approach to the whole issue, at least in the so-called developed world. (Progressives in the developing world have more pressing needs right now which is why we have to get our act together.) Continue reading
The New Dark Age 