Let me hold up my own pen in the spirit of Liberté. And since French president François Hollande now honors insolence in journalism, let me speak frankly. How do you say in French not everything that glitters is gold? Sometimes it’s just the sun reflected off merde. Every crowd that gathers is not an expression of human solidarity nor every “Je suis Charlie” sign a defense of civil liberties under attack.

The suspects are not apprehended with French police reportedly violating all sorts of search & seizure rights to find them. They’re having as hard a time as the US Pentagon when it hunted down Osama bin Laden in the caves of Afghanistan. But it didn’t take long for the collective outrage to begin to shake out & take on something of a clamor. We see behind that furor not just defiance of terrorist acts but a cacophony of objections to religion & mostly a chance to have a go at Muslims. Remarkable when they still don’t have the suspects in hand & we don’t know if they’re actually guilty or if either has ever seen the inside of a mosque.

Let me say to those who oppose religion, this is not the time to express your critique. It should not be difficult to understand that when people are under attack you stand with them, not provide more ammunition for persecution.

As for those who go after Muslims under the guise of Liberté? Islamophobia is the ethos of neoliberal capitalism used to justify massive restrictions on civil liberties & scare-monger us into supporting unspeakable crimes against humanity. Those who do not stand with Muslims against this choose to stand with tyranny, war, colonialism. There are unsavory comparisons in history for this perspective. German fascism comes to mind but there are others as odious.

You can’t stop this crap by speaking truth to power–unless when you speak truth to power you bring a million people with you. It can only be defeated by mobilizing the power of human solidarity against social hatreds of every kind & standing against their murderous wars. For those who think that too daunting & can’t be done, think again. Over a million people around the world stood with Gaza last summer; the antiwar movement is weak now but in the past has mobilized millions on a single day around the world.

The world is changed not by those who give up without a fight but by those who believe in the possibility of social transformation. Is there any proof of that? Is there any proof it doesn’t? Is there any reason not to try?

The victims aren’t yet buried nor the suspects apprehended but the tsunami of backlash crescendoes. There are many questions involved in this barbarous episode including not just Islamophobic cartoons in a country persecuting Muslims but also the character of art–in this case cartoon art.

Art is not sacrosanct nor artists immune from social responsibility. Political cartoons reached apotheosis with Honoré Daumier skewering politicians in 19th century France & bottomed out in “pickaninny” caricatures of Black infants in 20th century America under Jim Crow. The difference between them is striking because the former is satire & social criticism & the latter is hateful propaganda.

Political cartoons by their very function exaggerate what they are skewering. Daumier’s contempt for French politicians is undisguised but his caricatures are not grotesque. Pickaninny caricature has sweet-faced infants suspended by one arm over a crocodile pit.

The Civil Rights & women’s movements of the 1960s-1970s threw cartoon art for a loop because new sensitivities were required. Many cartoonists have let their consciousness lag behind their art form which means a good share of caricature is unusable by progressives if you want to post on political figures like Obama, Clinton, or Netanyahu. They’re too racist, misogynist, antisemitic. And many cartoonists continue to mask social hatred behind caricature–like the sweet-faced infants in Jim Crow “art”.

This cartoon is from the recent The New Yorker magazine. Is the cartoonist proclaiming the death of cartoon art without the possibility of vulgarity, over-sized noses, & giant breasts? Because Daumier did thousands of caricatures subtle in their skewering, devastating in their critique, & damning of their venal subjects. Just saying.

(Cartoon from The New Yorker)

Today is the 80th birthday of Elvis Presley. We know he’s still alive because of sightings all over the US. Skeptics claim it’s like UFO sightings. Is there a problem with that?

It’s now clear to those of us unfamiliar with Charlie Hebdo before the massacre that it was a xenophobic, racist, Islamophobic journal that pandered to the most reactionary political forces in France. It wasn’t so much satirical as it was scurrilous hate-mongering. That doesn’t mitigate one iota the outrage of the massacre.

Those who want to change the world don’t have to be pacifists or sheep led to slaughter. Self-defense is a human right, as Palestinians well show. But we don’t use the death squad methods of terrorist states like Israel, the US, Mexico, & so many other regimes because thuggery & barbarism are incompatible with social transformation.

The way to shut down racist journals is to create a movement–like the massive protests held in Paris (& around the world) last summer in solidarity with Gaza. The way to oppose their xenophobia is to build solidarity with Afghanis, Iraqis, the Black community in the US, the disappeared in Mexico. The only way to defeat social hatred politically is to out-mobilize its proponents.

So many achievements of the US Civil Rights Movement have been reversed but not the essential lesson that a united massive social movement can change the world.

As for who carried out this massacre? It wasn’t Islam. And that’s all we know.

One hopes the millions tweeting “Je suis Charlie” will be at the next antiwar protest chanting “Je suis Afghani & “Je suis Iraqi.” And that those tweeting “Today we are all French” will remember Palestinians the next time Israel goes on a murderous rampage & tweet “Today we are all Palestinians.”

The attack by gunmen on the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo was barbaric. Twelve people were mowed down with assault weapons in cold blood. Charlie Hebdo is a satirical & iconoclastic weekly newspaper that gained notoriety from mockery & insults to Islam. If you haven’t read the paper it’s not possible to assess if it pandered to Islamophobia in the French political climate where Muslims are under attack. But even if it expressed fanatical Islamophobia, freedom of speech is an achievement of the French Revolution that ended feudal rule & introduced popular democracy. If it is abridged in an ill-conceived attempt to defend Islam, it will be abridged most of all for those who oppose Islamophobia– because Islamophobia is the guiding ethos of neoliberal politics & military policy today.

The paper was prosecuted & acquitted in 2007 for inciting social hatred against Muslims & firebombed in 2011. It’s editor, killed in the attack, was under police protection from numerous death threats. They paid a heavy price for freedom of speech.

Police & witness reports conflict. Witnesses report two gunmen; the police report three. Two got away in a car & no one knows where the third disappeared to. They don’t know much about this crime at all. Most of all they don’t know who committed it. But of course the assumption is that it was Muslims–as if Islamic theology dictates a resort to mass murder when offended.

It may turn out to be a couple Muslim guys but their religion is not what is salient so much as their commitment to violence as a political method. Whoever they are, they should be hunted down & prosecuted in a court of law.

The tsunami of condolences & outrage pouring in from murderous regimes–the very regimes using Islamophobia to conduct barbarous wars–mocks freedom of speech & most of all is contemptible mendacity.

Those regimes will use this incident to whip up suspicion & hatred of Muslims & we’ll likely endure another round of alarmism about ‘creeping Sharia law’ & ISIS infiltrators coming across the border. Freedom of religion is another achievement of the French Revolution.

(Photo is cover of Charlie Hebdo from AFP)

The world has been too much with us lately, with the foul taking up too many headlines. We always need catch our breath & pay attention to what makes political struggle worth commitment & life worth living.

These little girls live in Gaza. The older one is protecting her younger sister from the bitter cold. We want a world where all children are safe & cherished, a world suitable for children to live & love in, where the violence & ugliness of social hatred cannot thrive & certainly doesn’t profit. Some say that can only happen in heaven or utopia. But what’s to stop us from trying here on Earth?

(Photo thanks to Mohammed E Jaber)

Contrary to media obsession with the salacious details, the federal lawsuit filed in Florida against the 2008 plea deal made between billionaire child trafficker Jeffrey Epstein & federal prosecutors is extremely important legally. It isn’t about outing Andrew Windsor or Alan Dershowitz as pedophiles & neither is criminally charged in the suit. Despite the latter’s narcissism, the suit isn’t all about him–even though he brokered the agreement for Epstein & is cited in the suit for raping minors.

Epstein was under FBI investigation for several accusations of sexual violence against children. To avoid prosecution for all of his crimes, he agreed to plead guilty to a state felony charge of soliciting an underage prostitute & in return federal prosecutors agreed not to bring charges against him for the rape & trafficking charges.

Why would federal prosecutors do that? Why would they turn their backs on the more serious crimes & ignore the allegations of victims? The Florida lawsuit provides insight by alleging Epstein procured children for some of the most powerful people in the world. The unidentified have an enormous stake in avoiding exposure as pedophiles. The plea deal wasn’t just about letting a billionaire walk away scot-free. If prosecuted rather than protected by his powerful clients, Epstein could have brought a lot of other people down with him. It’s certain Dershowitz made that perfectly clear to the prosecutors.

This is not the first lawsuit challenging the plea agreement. Two victims filed suit against the US government in 2008 claiming victims’ rights were violated with the refusal to prosecute. (It isn’t certain where that suit stands.) Legal experts can go back & forth about the procedures & laws involved. It might be injudicious to make accusations when your career is at stake. But when federal prosecutors did not consult with victims about the deal, it would suggest they were pulling a fast one–what is called a cover-up.

Both suits want a federal court to invalidate the plea agreement. It’s not certain how that will affect Epstein’s accusers but it will certainly advance victims’ rights in general. Following the suits through the maneuvers of the courts will require the services of a legal detective. When the salacious has exhausted itself, the reporting will disappear.
All of this would be so discouraging if one looked solely to the courts to end crimes of any kind against children. It will take a lot more action & involve a lot more people than that.

We now have proof positive confirming the widespread suspicion that Phil Windsor passed away years ago. Thank God for taxidermy. He was only 50 when he died but corruption takes its toll. If they let him go on aging he could have brought disgrace on the entire palace–& lord knows they already have enough.

The taxidermist did a good job. He was commissioned & flown in special from Texas where he did the same treatment on Dick Cheney. Phil & Dick share the same contemptuous sneer not uncommon among the elite & the taxidermist was able to capture that for posterity. It’s so special. Without it, no one would have believed Phil or Dick were still alive.

Phil is kept in a broom closet most of the time but gets wheeled out for ceremonies so no one gets suspicious. You can tell he’s dead by the lack of flatulence in the air. He was known for that & could clear a room of courtiers faster than you could say “Buckingham Palace.” The only ones who don’t take the hint are US congressmen who don’t even fare well standing next to dead Phil.

(Photo from Reuters)

This is such an endearing picture of Betty. It’s her “mum’s the word” face after British politicians exempted the moochocracy from the Freedom of Information Act. They now have “absolute protection from public scrutiny” & not a moment too soon–what with all the plebeian litigation implicating Andrew in unsavory & criminal acts. It just seems that all that confidentiality is at odds with the Kate & Willy thing & all that talk of a modern feudalism.

But this is certainly no time to go after Betty who despite having all the time & money in the world to raise decent kids turned out a pedophile & likely lives in close proximity to others. Parenting isn’t the same when you’re a moochocrat. You have to teach them to be predators so guilt from freeloading is no part of their nature. And they’ve got to learn that some are born to sit on their lard asses & be waited on hand & foot while others are meant for servitude. That’s just the way things are under feudalism & colonialism.

The moochocracy has all sorts of immunities–& why not? Betty can’t be arrested for anything. But the poor girl wouldn’t survive in a prison anyway since she’d have to brush her own teeth & wipe her own ass. Apparently her criminal offspring can’t be arrested in her presence or within the palace. That would mean Andrew was moving back in if US courts didn’t have their own special way of dealing with criminal confidentiality for the elite. Thank God capitalism retained some of those features from feudalism & didn’t actually believe all that democratic crap.