Where comedy meets sharks: The 10 O'Clock Show
Submitted by Rob Ray on Jan 30 2011 09:59
I can't tell whether the 10 O'clock Show is going to be any good in the long run, but I can spot a piece of new Labour bullshitting from a mile away - and David Mitchell's interview with Alistair Campbell contained a particular gem.
The problem with comedians doing live news telly, particularly with interviews, is that they sometimes don't know a great deal on their subject.
Anti-cuts fronts: A left wing disease
Submitted by Rob Ray on Jan 25 2011 14:40
One of the more entertaining elements of hanging around on the political left is the insistence of the various leftie parties that they are “open and democratic,” usually moments after they’ve been caught out playing silly buggers within a broad church movement.
"Open and democratic" is a phrase which obviously has a lot of baggage when it comes to any democratic centralist (Trotskyist, Stalinist, Socialist etc) outfit, tarred as they are by years of capitalist propagandising on the failings of the Soviet Union.
Top ten tracks of 2010
Submitted by libcom on Jan 23 2011 19:59
Libcom's favourite music of 2010.
Best Coast - When I'm with you
Yeasayer - O.N.E.
Rihanna - Only girl (in the world)
Arcade Fire - We used to wait
http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/ [best with Google Chrome]
Tinie Tempah - Pass out
Made in Dagenham, directed by Nigel Cole
Submitted by Tom Jennings on Jan 15 2011 20:44
Its producers claimed inspiration from resistance to injustice, but this film’s sentimental spin is fundamentally flawed.
Flattering to Deceive. Film review – Tom Jennings
Libcom library archiving to do list
Submitted by libcom on Jan 15 2011 19:10
An updated list of documents and websites we would like to archive in our library.
Here are a list of links to websites and articles which we would like duplicated in our library.
This is to help ensure that as many people as possible read them, and also to ensure that the documents stay online, in case other websites disappear - as has happened to so many other radical sites in the past couple of years.
Police shoot demonstrators in Tunisia
Submitted by Django on Jan 11 2011 12:58
Some thoughts on the UK Uncut demonstrations
Submitted by Django on Jan 3 2011 00:48
The UK has seen a wave of high-street demonstrations under the banner of the UK uncut campaign, many of which have been organised locally following call outs distributed through the internet. The protests have seen a number of stores associated with Tax-Dodging picketed, occupied and flyered in cities and towns up and down the country.
The targets of the campaign have been pretty specific. The most high-profile company to be taken on has been the UK-based telecoms giant Vodafone, which is the most profitable mobile phone operator in the world.
This Is England ’86, by Shane Meadows
Submitted by Tom Jennings on Dec 31 2010 18:15
Two heavily-hyped British media events – this TV series and the film ‘Made in Dagenham’ – link economics and social reproduction with sharply contrasting uses of nostalgia.
Ghosts of Crisis Past. Television review – Tom Jennings
Workers' struggles in Asia (December 2010)
Submitted by Spartacus on Dec 31 2010 04:42
Summary and links to news stories of workers' struggles around Asia (focusing on East Asia) during December 2010 and related resources. The most important stories appear on my Twitter feed as soon as I find them: http://twitter.com/spartacusnews.
This month has seen strikes in Bangladesh, Indonesia, South Korea, and Vietnam , while in the Philippines the president forced the cancellation of a strike by flight crew (although in the end they appear to have come out best for the moment.
Top ten most read libcom articles of 2010
Submitted by libcom on Dec 27 2010 21:13
Our most popular articles you nerds have been reading this year.
Articles
10. 1970-1987: The contra war in Nicaragua
9. Prison survival guide
8. The Third Wave, 1967, an account - Ron Jones
7. Loukanikos, the Greek anarchist dog
Top ten music videos of 2010
Submitted by libcom on Dec 26 2010 18:33
Libcom's pick of the best music videos of 2010.
Hot Chip - I feel better
With a cameo from Moby!
LCD Soundsystem - Drunk girls
Pandas gone wild.
Das Racist - Who's that? Brooown!
Not racist, just awesome.
Lady Gaga ft Beyonce - Telephone
Christmas libcom donation appeal
Submitted by libcom on Dec 24 2010 18:38
A Christmas appeal to our users and readers for donation pledges to help keep libcom.org running and improving!
Hello all,
Last Christmas, we asked for your time. This Christmas, we are asking for your money!
As you will probably be aware, libcom is funded overwhelmingly by donations.
The Real Broken Society: the Cinema of Bourgeois Misery
Submitted by Tom Jennings on Dec 17 2010 17:37
Must ordinary people pay for not only the financial fiascos of the rich, but their social failures too?
Film review essay – Tom Jennings
The world vrs Wikileaks
Submitted by Rob Ray on Dec 12 2010 23:14
Assange is a distraction from the real revelation of Wikileaks - that our lords and masters are utterly terrified by the holes they see appearing in the carefully crafted story of Western democracy
As Libcom's resident big-mouth blogger on the subject of the media I've been a bit wary of touching the Wikileaks/Assange story, in part because I'm reluctant to throw in on the subject of Assange's legal case.
Aaron Porter's "apology" fits his agenda
Submitted by Rob Ray on Nov 28 2010 15:40
The NUS President’s mea culpa today that he and his careerist cronies have been “spineless” in their approach to students taking direct action is a simple bid to grab back his status as leader and curb activity into more “constructive” (read: ineffective) avenues.
Apt name, Porter. From the start of the student struggles he’s been carrying the sputtering flame of “reasonable” dissent on his shoulders. Nice neat rallies, fun for all the family and of about as much use as a Stop The War march in stopping the government from doing what it wants.
So Flexible it is Bent out of Shape
Submitted by akai on Nov 20 2010 00:51
How far can one go with "diversity of tactics" before diverging with anarchism?
As groups call for entrance into politics or make coalitions with nationalists, this question has shown the urgency for tactical debate based on empirical experience.
The title of this text refers to a long-time trend in the Polish anarchist movement to be "politically incorrect" and enjoy fighting the "dogma" of anarchist thought.
Red and Black (and Brown) Hypocrisy
Submitted by akai on Nov 16 2010 04:30
Turning a blind eye to right-wing involvement in syndicalist movements.
A few months ago it came out that there were some nazis inside the CGT in Spain. They were expelled after a media scandal, with the CGT claiming it was infiltrated, it didn't know and reacted immediately. Others from inside the CGT complained that people knew, but nothing was done about it. Of course the latter scenario would imply that the union was tolerant of this right wing presence.
Kropotkin and the science of altruism
Submitted by Choccy on Nov 15 2010 22:39
Science historians Oren Harman and Mark Borello discuss the science of altruism and the relationship between politics and science.
Oren Harman recently authored a book on the bizarre and tragic life of George Price and has also written on 'mavericks' in biology including Richard Lewontin.
Telegraph et al: Put up or shut up
Submitted by Rob Ray on Nov 14 2010 12:49
The trashing of Tory HQ has thrown up piles of shoddy reportage which should shame the people writing it.
Notable in today's hilarious Daily Telegraph "scoop" is that the paper's reporters have been reading Libcom's forums in an attempt to track down the ringleaders of the direct action at Tory HQ this week.
Given this fact I'd like to invite you, Daily Telegraph reporter, to:
France - Brief Outline Of Some Of The Most Recent Events
Submitted by Samotnaf on Nov 6 2010 05:18
Though the international mainstream media presents France as having returned to peace and tranquility, with the oil depots, petrol stations, refineries and tankers all returning to normality, functioning according to the law of value, bourgeois reality is still being contested in different forms.
The following is just a very superficial outline of some recent events. It is impossibe to verify how much these events are being exaggerated or distorted through the rose-tinted glasses of various revolutionary ideologists, as the alternative media is often desperate to pump up the actions of a few people to make them out to be far bigger than they are, just as the mainstream minimises things.
At that time, the surrealist refusal was total, and absolutely incapable of allowing itself to be channelled at a political level. All the institutions upon which the modern world rested - and which had just shown their worth in the First World War - were considered aberrant and scandalous to us.
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