Anti-Americana: Enemy of Humanity

From 1983, a poster from the Cuban "Anti-Imperialist Tribunal of Our America." Bearing completely still-relevant text, it reads:

WANTED

Charge: Enemy of Humanity

Reward: Peace, Sovereignty, Freedom

In a country where the media narrative routinely suggests down is up and up is down,  it's worth remembering how warped American perspective is. Things look different from outside our borders. U.S. foreign policy isn't quite the gift to world progress it's made out to be.

In compiling the beginnings of a reading list on the Occupy movement, I ran across this brilliant passage:

"The American population, the 1% of the world, is wrapped in a skin filled with memory we must shed. Memory of false historical narratives, of manipulations we knowingly uphold, of dreams about “making it” and of an existence that seems to have stopped evolving. These false memories require our collective insomnia. We are not at the end of history, as some would have us believe. Our current society does not represent the best we can do. There is nothing inherent to human beings that allow some to achieve financial success by their own volition and others to remain stagnant in reaching an acceptable quality of life."

That's by Sandra Mae Nurse, from the article "On Losing Fear and Complacency" in issue 2 of the Occupy Wall Street theoretical journal Tidal, downloadable here.

"Anti-Americana" is a series featuring Anti-American propaganda art here at The Cahokian.

A Few Modest Suggestions for a Very Proper Jubilee Celebration

Happy jubilee Queen Elizabeth! Thinking of you and your cousins! What could one possibly give one of the world's richest welfare parasites other than a few heartwarming tales?

"Arriving at the foot of the guillotine, Louis XVI looked for a moment at the instruments of his execution and asked Sanson why the drums had stopped beating. He came forward to speak, but there were shouts to the executioners to get on with their work. As he was strapped down, he exclaimed "My people, I die innocent!" Then, turning towards his executioners, Louis XVI declared "Gentlemen, I am innocent of everything of which I am accused. I hope that my blood may cement the good fortune of the French." The blade fell. It was 10:22 am. One of the assistants of Sanson showed the head of Louis XVI to the people, whereupon a huge cry of "Vive la Nation! Vive la République!" arose and an artillery salute rang out which reached the ears of the imprisoned Royal family." —eyewitness Charles Henri Sanson, 1794

"Nicholas, facing his family, turned and said "What?"[1] Yurovsky quickly repeated the order and the weapons were raised. The Empress and Grand Duchess Olga, according to a guard's reminiscence, had tried to cross themselves, but failed amid the shooting. Yurovsky reportedly raised his gun at Nicholas and fired; Nicholas fell dead instantly. The other executioners then began shooting until all the intended victims had fallen. Several more shots were fired and the doors opened to scatter the smoke.[1] There were some survivors, so P.Z. Yermakov stabbed them with bayonets because the shouts could be heard outside.[1] The last to die were Anastasia, Tatiana, Olga, and Maria, who were carrying several pounds (over 1.3 kilograms) of diamonds within their clothing, thus protecting them to an extent.[8] However, they were speared with bayonets as well. Olga sustained a gunshot wound to the head. Anastasia and Maria were said to have crouched up against a wall covering their heads in terror until Maria was shot down, and Anastasia was finished off with the bayonets. Yurovsky himself killed Tatiana and Alexei. Tatiana died from a single bullet through the back of her head.[9] Alexei received two bullets to the head, right behind the ear.[10] Anna Demidova, Alexandra's maid, survived the initial onslaught but was quickly stabbed to death against the back wall while trying to defend herself with a small pillow she had carried that was filled with precious gems and jewels." — description based on eyewitness accounts, Yekaterinberg, Russia, 1918

"The king adjoins, 'I go from a corruptible to an incorruptible crown; where no disturbance can be, no disturbance in the world.'The bishop: 'You are exchanged from a temporal to an eternal crown, - a good exchange.' Then the king asked the executioner, 'Is my hair well?' And taking off his cloak and George [the jeweled pendant of the Order of the Garter, bearing the figure of St. George], he delivered his George to the bishop. . . Then putting off his doublet and being in his waistcoat, he put on his cloak again, and looking upon the block, said to the executioner, 'You must set it fast.' The executioner: 'It is fast, sir.'...Then having said a few words to himself, as he stood, with hands and eyes lift up, immediately stooping down he laid his neck upon the block; and the executioner, again putting his hair under his cap, his Majesty, thinking he had been going to strike, bade him, 'Stay for the sign.' Executioner: 'Yes, I will, and it please your Majesty.' After a very short pause, his Majesty stretching forth his hands, the, executioner at one blow severed his head from his body; which, being held up and showed to the people, was with his body put into a coffin covered with black velvet and carried into his lodging." — eyewitness report of the execution of King Charles 1, 1649

Still, perhaps this tale of compassion offers hope. Chin up!

"Next, testimony came from 27 teenagers and young adults who were former school children who testified to being the only survivors of the 180 children who were arrested and died in April 1979 after they threw rocks at Bokassa's passing Rolls-Royce during the students protest over wearing the costly school uniforms which they were forced to purchase from a factory owned by one of his wives. Several of them testified that on their first night in jail, Bokassa visited the prison and screamed at the children for their insolence. He was said to have ordered the prison guards to club the children to death, and Bokassa indeed participated, smashing the skulls of at least five children with his ebony walking stick....One of the most lurid allegations against Bokassa was the charge of cannibalism, which was technically superfluous. In the Central African Republic, statutes forbidding cannibalism classified any crime of eating human remains as a misdemeanour...Former president Dacko was called to the witness stand to testify that he had seen photographs of butchered bodies hanging in the dark cold-storage rooms of Bokassa's palace immediately after the 1979 coup. When the defence put up a reasonable doubt during the cross-examination of Dacko that he could not be positively sure if the photographs he had seen of dead bodies were used for consumption, Bokassa's former security chief of the palace was called to testify that he had cooked human flesh stored in the walk-in freezers and served it to Bokassa on an occasional basis. The prosecution did not examine the rumours that Bokassa had served the flesh of his victims to French President Giscard d'Estaing and other visiting dignitaries....On 12 June 1987, Bokassa was found guilty of all but the cannibalism charges. The court acknowledged that many individual allegations of murder had been levelled at Bokassa but found that the evidence was unimpeachable in only about 20 cases. Bokassa was said to have wept silently as Judge Franck sentenced him to death....On 29 February 1988, President Kolingba demonstrated his opposition to capital punishment by voiding the death penalty against Bokassa and commuted his sentence to life in prison in solitary confinement. With the return of democracy to the Central African Republic in 1993, Kolingba declared a general amnesty for all prisoners as one of his final acts as President, and Bokassa was released on 1 August 1993." — the fate of Jean Bedel Bokassa, the late self-crowned monarch of the former "Central African Empire

Can You Handle Candy's Sweet Scandal?

I'm excited to present the latest video from my super-talented drag queen friend Candy Samples. It's for her just-released new single (available on iTunes!) "Sweet Scandal," and the song was co-written by Candy with two of her frequent collaborators including my boyfriend. I've got cameos in this video as well as all her previous ones.

This daring new video is filled with more gun-pointing attitude than Miranda Richardson shows off in "The Crying Game," as Candy takes what she wants with no apologies. It was fun being a part of her video cast again, and I'm always amazed at the talent and creativity of Candy's whole production team. The special effects in this one (including a crucifixion scene!) are really fun and over the top. She is super wigged out!

It's become a yearly tradition for Candy to produce a new song and video for her appearance down at the Southern Decadence gay street party in New Orleans each Labor Day; we're willing to share her but we're glad this is her home town. The video was filmed on location in Astoria, Queens.

I can't wait for the next one!

My boyfriend, an e-crime victim

Hey my boyfriend is famous (and cute). His hotmail account was hijacked and some guy from Morocco demanded $100 ransom to un-hijack it. Read all about it in The Washington Post online!