It is impossible to overstate the intellectual daring required to institute a new form of government. The Founders’ courage was physical, too: they were not exaggerating when they pledged to one another “our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.” If their bid to win independence failed, their names at the foot of the Declaration of Independence were the signatures to their own death warrants. Benjamin Franklin meant it when he said that if they did not hang together they would hang separately. —Democracy Awakening, Heather Cox Richardson
1.
We just finished watching Little Bird on PBS Masterpiece, a stunning and eye-opening mini-series of the consequences of the residential schools set up by the Canadian government and administered by churches that had the nominal objective of educating Indigenous children but also the more damaging and equally explicit objectives of indoctrinating them into Euro-Canadian and Christian ways of living and assimilating them into mainstream white Canadian society. The mini-series stars Darla Contois, an Indigenous writer and actress from Misipawistik Cree Nation, Grand Rapids, Manitoba, Canada, as Esther Rosenblum/Bezhig Little Bird.
NPR's Steve Inskeep interviewed Andre Bear, special advisor to the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Canada, a couple years ago. He said that the assimilation policies, many believe, even have evolved. They're not as explicit. But it is more on the down low where these children are discriminated, underfunded and where the provinces will not let go over the jurisdiction that they have. We have an alarming rate of First Nation children that are apprehended. This is one of the many ways governments discriminate against the poor as pointed out in my post on Monday.
Just as it was with African-Americans in our country, and Native Americans, the Indigenous of Canada do not have access to the intergenerational wealth that so many other “Canadians” do. In an article in Indiginews, a single mother of four, Zahra Bearspaw, currently lives in the Metro “Vancouver” area. For many reasons, this is the territory she chooses as home. She uses a wheelchair and doesn’t have a car, but the Lower Mainland is a fairly accessible place to live — especially in comparison to her home community in small-town “Alberta.” But the rent is expensive, and trying to live on a disability pension with four children is not easy here. In fact, it is becoming almost impossible. With monthly rent of almost $2,300 for their modest two-bedroom apartment near a SkyTrain station, Zahra struggles to pay the bills and feed her family.
The Canadian government has committed $40 billion to address this problem but, as Andre Bear says, I'm hoping that money will go specifically towards decolonizing these policies and the behaviors and mindsets of government decision-makers, policymakers, that have created this vicious industry for Indigenous children that are apprehended. But again, I don't think money will ever solve the problems from the harms caused by the child welfare system.
2.
Can we be weaned from our phone addiction? According to one report, people spend, on average, 3 hours and 15 minutes on their phones each day in the U.S. A recent article in the Guardian features a school in Massachusetts that decided to ban smart phones and gave everyone on campus – including staff – a Light Phone, that is, a “dumb” phone with limited functionality. The devices can make calls, send texts (slowly) and can’t load modern applications. And come to find out, most everyone agrees that the school is better off with these hell devices. (And yes, that includes students.) There are fewer interruptions during class, more meaningful interactions around campus, and less time spent on screens. The head of the school, Peter Beck, said “People are engaging in the lounges. They are lingering after class to chat,” said Beck, who estimates that he’s now having more conversations than ever at the school. “All these face-to-face interactions, the frequency has gone through the roof.” And he now estimates that he’s having more conversations than ever at the school.
A year ago there were several articles pointing to the fact that many Gen Z users have ditched the smart phones and switched to flip phones and old Nokias. (I still have both of my first Nokia phones…hmmmm) The trend toward using “dumb phones” can be attributed in part to the rising awareness of the harmful effects of social media and digital devices on mental health. Research has revealed that excessive use of smartphones can cause anxiety, depression and other mental health problems. As a result, many members of Generation Z are acknowledging the importance of a digital detox and are turning toward using basic phones as a viable solution.
An article in the New York Times tells of a band of teenagers in Brooklyn who created the Luddite Club (no relation to the Determined Luddites in Tucson, who all now have smart phones) and meet weekly to promote a lifestyle of self-liberation from social media and technology. And yes, these are the youngsters that read books such as Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment,” Art Spiegelman’s “Maus II” and “The Consolation of Philosophy” by Boethius…and can cite authors such as Hunter Thompson, Jack Kerouac, and Kurt Vonnegut. Lola Shub, then a senior at Essex Street Academy, said “When I got my flip phone, things instantly changed. I started using my brain. It made me observe myself as a person. I’ve been trying to write a book, too. It’s like 12 pages now.”
My weekly smart phone stats report that I’m on mine about an hour and a half per day. Maybe charging up my old Nokia wouldn’t be such a bad idea…
3.
Need further proof that our politicians are easily purchased by corporations to advance their agendas? I didn’t think so. But I found it interesting to know how much the corporations that have infiltrated all of our lives are giving to the Election Deniers class of 2021.
For instance, my health insurance right now (through the University of Arizona) is UnitedHealth. Shortly after Jan. 6, UnitedHealth Group pledged to suspend political contributions to all federal candidates for an unspecified period, according to CNN. By Oct. 28, 2021 — nine months, three weeks and four days later — the company had resumed political giving to members of Congress who objected to certifying the 2020 presidential election results; $272,000, or 15% of total company contributions.
Do you use a product called gasoline? Some of us who drive older vehicles and/or cannot afford EVs, do so. Most petroleum companies have also given a percentage to these politicians. Between 2021 and 2023, Chevron, for example, gave a whopping 45% of its total ‘giving’ ($350,000) to the likes of Kevin McCarthy, Steve Scalise, Elise Stefanik, Debbie Lesko, Ron Estes, Rick Scott; the list goes on. Other givers are companies we all use; Comcast, FedEx, Home Depot, AT&T, Delta, Exxon, Pfizer, Verizon, International Paper, Amazon, Ford Motor…you get the picture.
Here’s a comprehensive list of corporations and their Election Denier war chest contributions. As Robert Reich points out in yesterday’s Substack post, Note that these numbers show only the donations that corporations are openly disclosing — not funds they’re channeling through trade associations, super PACs, and dark money groups. As to your wallets, you might think twice before buying anything from a big American corporation that’s using some of the profits from its sales to destroy trust and destabilize American democracy.
Easier said than done.
4.
The number of people who have been facing a backlash for their criticism of Israel and support of the Palestinian people is not limited to University Presidents. According to the Guardian, David Velasco, the editor in chief of Artforum magazine, was reportedly fired after the magazine published an open letter in response to the war. And Michael Eisen, editor-in-chief of eLife, an academic science journal, was removed from his position. He wrote, “I have been informed that I am being replaced as the Editor in Chief of [eLife] for retweeting a piece [from satirical US website the Onion] that calls out indifference to the lives of Palestinian civilians.”
And yesterday as reported on Democracy Now, two prominent Palestinian artists have had talks and performances canceled, artworks deinstalled, exhibits removed, and livelihoods threatened.
Samia Halaby is a renowned Palestinian visual artist, activist, educator and scholar. Her first U.S. retrospective, which had taken three years to organize, was abruptly canceled by Indiana University’s Eskenazi Museum of Art over her criticism of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, which she has described as a genocide. She said, “What happened to me, is that the administration has lost sight of their responsibility to the community, to the students who are there. They’re trying to stop students from moving forward with thinking with their creative process politically. I would like to say some more about what’s happening in Gaza, because it connects to art. First of all, I do want to say that this is much larger than I am. There’s suppression of students throughout the U.S. There’s suppression of faculty. There’s one faculty member at Indiana University who’s been censored for — censured for a very minor thing, as an excuse for his true open-mindedness and support of young students.”
Also featured was artist and filmmaker Emily Jacir, whose event in Berlin in October was canceled after Israel launched its ongoing assault on Gaza. She’s the recipient of prestigious awards, including a Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale, a Prince Claus Award from the Prince Claus Fund in The Hague, the Hugo Boss Prize at the Guggenheim Museum, and most recently she won an American Academy of Arts and Letters prize and received an honorary doctorate from the National College of Art and Design in Dublin, Ireland. She is the founding director of Dar Yusuf Nasri Jacir for Art and Research in Bethlehem, where she was born. She said, “The situation in Germany, as we all know, is one of the most extreme cases of silencing Palestinians. But it’s part of a larger war effort targeting Palestinian voices and intellectuals, using various methodologies, including harassment, baseless smear campaigns, canceling shows, canceling talks. So, it’s very much part of a coordinated movement.”
5.
It’s time for the mundane post of the day. I clean my 2000 Toyota Clown Car about every five years or so. I had an excuse to do so yesterday as it was time to install two seat belt receptacles that had broken; the passenger seat side a couple years ago and the drivers seat receptacle a month or so ago. I’m nothing if not expeditious. I decided it was a DIY project so I ordered the two identical parts online from American Toyota in Albuquerque.
To my surprise, it was easier than I thought it would be. The seats are anchored with four bolts each. Removed them, removed the seats (as there is no access to the receptacle anchor otherwise), replaced each new part, vacuumed the entire carpeted area to remove years worth of desert dust and grime, replaced seats, buckled up to test new receptacles, took a nap. Ahhhh…$70 car repair.
And now…
Thanks again for providing a little gristle to chew on. kw