Idea Fix - The Blog

Come on, he’s surely the coolest Dictator this Feb? Castro doesn’t die, he retires and lets his brother take over. I’m sure that’s not how the CIA imagined him going out from the sixties onwards, they apparently tried to kill 638 times. Thats got to be a record, Guinness? Retired and beloved in his eighties, Castro is Cuba. They say Emperor’s don’t die in their sleep, but Castro just might.

Castro is a great revolutionary leader, with some slight reservations. i.e. his misguided abuses of homosexuals and his ill treatment of some anti communists and dissidents. That aside he is a true classic Political figure to be openly admired. He stood up to the US for 50 years and still lives to write his autobiography and smoke his famous Cubans in his 80’s. While an avowed socialist, then Marxist/Leninist communist, some have noted a certain Fascist ’spirit de corp’ to his dictatorship of over 50 years not that dissimilar to Mussolinian notions of corporatism, national syndicalism, charismatic leadership and myth, land reform and many other issues of comparison. Indeed, Castro has mixed ideas from both the Left and Right in his own mix tape of a decade’s long reign at Cuba’s DJ decks, lately embracing even some aspects of Capitalism and the free market.

Friend of the poor People of Cuba and Che Guevra, victorious over thrower of the corrupt regime of Batista, Castro strikes a distinct pose in late 20th century politics and casts a guiding shadow into our own century. The Bay Of Pigs, The Cuban Missle Crisis, the opening of Cuban prisons and expelling of their contents on the USA. Great (and dangerous) historical moments all.

He has the air of a true revolutionary, too. When Forbes magazine put him amongst the Wealthiest people on Earth list claiming he owned Cuba’s businesses, Castro got pissed off and considered suing, “If they can prove that I have a bank account abroad, with $900m, with $1m, $500,000, $100,000 or $1 in it, I will resign.”. Some revolutionaries are exactly that. They don’t want money, they don’t want swiss bank accounts with gold, they want justice, they want freedom for a Volk. Sometimes, they get a little carried away in their zeal for their specific political project, we admit… but their true calling as revolutionaries cannot be doubted.

Here is his abstract from wikipedia (with my own tiny edits):

Castro first attracted attention in Cuban political life through nationalist critiques of Batista and the United States political and corporate influence in Cuba (Good on him). He gained an ardent, but limited, following and also drew the attention of the authorities.(Yikes)^[6] He eventually led the failed 1953 attack on the Moncada Barracks, after which he was captured, tried, incarcerated and later released. (Boo hoo) He then travelled to Mexico^[7][8] to organize and train for the guerrilla invasion of Cuba that took place in December 1956 (Yea!).

Since his assumption of power in 1959 Castro has evoked both praise and condemnation (hooray, hooray, whinge, whinge). Opponents characterize Castro as a dictator, (Dictator… or Philosopher King?) claiming that he has not risen to power through open, public elections, and some contend that his rule is illegitimate because the socialist system itself was not established through what they considered to be legal means. (Crap, Power is self legitimising or at least can be made easily so, see Schmitt) ^[9] Supporters, on the other hand, see Castro as a charismatic leader^[10] whose presidential authority has been acquired through legitimate elections. (Yes, Like us here at Idea Fix, Go Fidel baby!)^[11]

Outside of Cuba, Castro has been defined by his relationship with the United States and the former Soviet Union, both of whom courted Cuban attentions as part of their own global political agenda. (Double Dating?) While Cuba’s relations with countries of the Soviet bloc were generally cordial during the Cold War, the Castro-led government has had an antagonistic relationship with the United States since the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961 by U.S.-backed forces (bye, bye JFK).

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union and Cuba’s one major Latin American ally, Sandinista Nicaragua, in the early 1990s, the Cuban government found itself in a precarious spot. However, in recent years, Castro has found new regional allies in Latin America. Regional socialist and nationalist figures such as Hugo Chávez in Venezuela and Evo Morales in Bolivia have been ready allies (That’s right boys, just March Northward into North America and we’ll have something). Castro also holds currently the title of Secretary-General of the Non-Aligned Movement  (and why not too!).

At home, Fidel Castro has overseen the implementation of various economic policies, leading to the rapid centralization of Cuba’s economy, land reform, collectivization and mechanization of agriculture, and the expropriation of leading Cuban industries. Opponents claim that these changes have at best maintained Cuba’s pre-1959 level of development, but at an “extraordinary” cost to the overall welfare of Cubans. (sound like pretty good ideas to us)^[12] Conversely, supporters attribute the U.S. embargo for some or all of Cuba’s shortcomings, but maintain that Cuba’s economy has expanded and grown at a more than acceptable rate since the revolution (Fuck the US and its sham democracy).

The expansion of publicly funded health care and education has been a cornerstone of Castro’s domestic political program (Better than the US’s). Cuba ranks better than many countries on the United Nations’ list of countries by infant mortality rate, which is claimed by Castro’s supporters as a success of his government. (More babies live under Castro, cool)

So Castro Enjoy being Idea Fix’s Feb centrefold Dictator of the Month.

You deserve it!

He’s Even trying out now for American Idol. See below…

I followed a controversy late last year regarding Morrissey’s views on immigration in Britain and Identity politics. It stemmed from an interview he did with the NME, where he complained that Britain had lost its cultural identity due to its excessive multicultural policies and open immigration.

Here are some of his quotes on the issue:

“Also with the issue of immigration, it’s very difficult because, although I don’t have anything against people from other countries, the higher the influx into England the more the British identity disappears. So the price is enormous.

“If you travel to Germany, it’s still absolutely Germany. If you travel to Sweden, it still has a Swedish identity. But travel to England and you have no idea where you are.”

“You have to be sensible about everything in life. You can’t say ‘Everybody come into my house, sit on the bed, have what you like, do what you like’. It wouldn’t work.”

He also stressed his anti racist position, claiming there is a difference between the loss of National cultural identity through over immigration and that of racist beliefs, which Morrissey claims he finds absurd and untenable.

Having been to London four times over the past 20 years …the last in 2004. It is hard to disagree that the England of Empire and political standing the world, of its National cultural, artistic and even pop culture significance … is now dead or dying. As a colony or outpost of this former Empire, where do we in Australia stand in this quagmire?

Here are two articles on the Morrissey controversy.

Article 1

Article 2

Morrissey songs in the past had hinted at his interest in right wing ideas with tracks like Bengali in Platforms about an immigrant who doesn’t “belong here” and National Front Disco with its catch cry of “England, for the English”. All these issues now seem to have embroiled him in the UK immigration debate.

It raises interesting issues…

Where do you draw the line with immigration? A limited multiculturism like in Australia is acceptable, but how long should it be allowed to continue unchecked? Until a nation’s whole identity is altered?. Should a country to loose its cultural identity with excessive influxes of refugees from any culture, any where in the world? Isn’t Japan great because its full of Japanese people in touch with their own culture? There is also the issue of originary population’s general acceptance of multiculturism? And the issue of cultural hegemonic integrity raised by new immigrants sticking exclusively to their foreign national, cultural and ethnic values and not even adopting, say, the National language? Or the issue of harboring religious ideas at odds with the Wests current campaign against extreme Islam?

The influx of refugees from future resource wars, third world misery and poverty and the potential of global warming displacement is clearly a sign of the times.Above all this an ominous Malthusian concern for general human overpopulation and its sustainability on our Gaia. All these issues need to be explored beyond the blinkered impulses of talk back radio shows and other forms of reactionary media, they need to be raised in youthful, new, vital and invigorating political paths, realities and discourses.

I hope to explore some of these issues here on Idea Fix in the future.

In the meantime enjoy Morrissey’s new Greatest Hits, out now and featuring a cool new song “That’s How People Grow up”. Indeed!

As apologies are in vogue this week, why don’t we get one from the Japanese for their treatment of Australian POW in WW2?

Like any self respecting pervert I love Japan. I have been there four times and dig, dig, dig its post war culture, cinema, night life and literature, especially Yukio Mishima, who I love - Banzai! I also dig its pre war Emperor worship, Samuari spirit, Zen Buddhism, architecture, theatre and many other traditional elements of Japan.

But I will say this - the Japanese treatment of Australian POW is a disgrace. Kokoda, The Burmese Railway over the River Kwai (which I visited in early 2007), The Banka Island nurses…it’s a long list. And if Sorry is all in vogue at present. I think Her Majesty’s Government of Australia is owed one here.

I was spurred onto this opinion today by watching a documentary on SBS about the nurses who were taken POW during WW2 in Indonesia and the Banka Island Massacre. Vivian Bullwinkle, who survived a mass shooting in the sea of 22 nurses, lived to tell the tale of woe and as she said in the doco, ” If anyone thinks the Japansese weren’t barbarians, I’m here to tell them the truth”.

While her opinions are shaped by deeply unpleasant experiences in extreme circumstances, one can’t help notice the lack of respect, outright torture and abuse shown to Aussies and other Allies in the Pacific Theatre of War by Imperial Japan.

I know we want the Japanese tourists, investments, imports/exports, etc… but perhaps a little Sumimasen or Moushiwake arimasen, might not be bad for the events that disgraced the Emperor’s name, origato.

For the story of Vivian Bullwinkle and the Banka Island Massacre:

Article 1

Article 2

Diggers who wanted any apology last year- Diggers Article

Anyone know what happened here? Did the Japanese PM say anything?

See also the Bruce Beresford’s film Paradise Road, which tells about how the Australian nurses were treated like shit.

Kevin Rudd apologised today to the Aborigines of Australia, I thought he didn’t go far enough. He should have apologised on behalf of the British Crown for invading this country in the first place and taking it from the Aborigines by force and guile. He should have apologised for one of the world’s only completely successful genocide’s of Tasmanian aborigines.

He could have then apologised for building cities and penal colonies and establishing western culture here in the South perhaps. Why not apologise also for the poetry of Henry Lawson or Banjo Paterson that came from this? Or Waltzing Matilda, the Eureka Stockade or Ned Kelly? He could have probably apologised for the British Empire itself. He could have also by default apologised for the middle ages and the Roman Empire for founding Britain and instilling it with its character, virtues, vices and culture. Hell, why not apologise for the entire course of Western History? Or the invention of Science and its theories of Evolution and Progress or for Western Culture itself?

Why not? For it will mean as much as his apology today. Nothing. Tokenistic bullshit to make idiots grin.

As a Transcendental Fascist, I would act more decisively and actually give the Aborigines back part of their land. Say the Northern Territory? To be ruled as a Sovereign Aboriginal State. Until the Aboriginals have at least part of their own country returned to them as a Sovereign entity under their own rule, this is just window dressing. The maintenance of an originary population’s relationship with its land is an important facet of Transcendental Fascism. While Australia, America and other colonial countries can’t turn back the pages of History and should not, they can in the present restore at least partly some of the original Volk’s relationship with its Soil. The same can be said in many other similar colonial situations that cause discord around the globe.

But I’m afraid these few words are all our Aboriginal comrades are going to get. A Flowery speech of less than two minutes in Parliament and then back to business as usual.

Sorry for fucking up your entire world. Here’s some words, a little cash for some who deserve it and some more for people who pay lip service to our bullshit, forget about what you had. Forget about your primary relationship with the Being of this land. We are the good Cop, to Howard’s bad cop. We are Sorry. Western History has run over you, we are so deeply Sorry about it, but lets face facts, it has. It has consumed you, as it has so many cultures, hey, as it is consuming them now! Really… we truly are very, very sorry about it all. Now go away,we have a mining deal to organise…

You never know do you? While I still feel Hillary has some new (and some Diebold illegal perhaps?) tricks up her sleeve it seems that actual good old fashioned democracy might actually be working in the US election this year. Obama is Idea Fix’s prefererred winner of the US election in 2008. Obama seems actually committed to change and revitalizing America. His voice, style and policies are refreshing. He’s also African American so we can finally have a cool moral Black President… like in those good first three seasons of Keither Sutherland’s terror opus “24″.

I still think something will derail Obama, as the last eight years has made me a slight pessimist in US politics, but I damn sure hope I’m wrong. Obama might have the Republicans on his side at present, strangely enough. Because if he defeats Hillary, the Republican’s can then play the race, the experience, the war, the drugs and morality cards on Senor Obama. They will do all this to get old Warhorse John McCain into the ‘White’ House for ‘four more years of war’. The later phrase could be a Republican slogan?

I’m no big fan of capitalist democracy but my basic Romanticism can’t help but be moved by Obama’s victories, so I too will try and believe his victory is possible. My main problem with Democracy in Capitalist countries is that the outcome is so easily influenced by the media, corporate interests and secret agencies. But at the moment things seem to be running in a way a real democracy might work. So go Obama, maybe there’s some old real life in the US Republic yet. Idea Fix certainly hopes so.

Obama news here.

More intellectuals, celebrities and artists need to speak out like this!

Well, we all know plane 77 hit the Pentagon on Sept 11, right? Wrong.

The hole the supposed plane made was too small for comerical Jet airliner 757. Security camera’s that pepper the landscape around the Pentagon either show no evidence of any plane or are not released to the public. Eye witness reports are scant and contradictory. Photo’s of wreckage and engine remains seen in photo’s point more to a missile strike. Missing bodies abound that should have been found in the wreckage in some form. The Black Box is missing. On and on it goes.

If a missile hit the Pentagon what happened to flight 77? These and many other disturbing questions arise once you examine the event in detail.

But like many other official stories, we are told Popular Mechanics or some ‘official’ body can prove things and move on. Just because the mainstream media tells us things are proved and beyond doubt does not make it so. This can be applied to many conspiracy theories.

Again, we state the obvious that what is interesting here is the US covert Fascist apparatus that must have been in place to have orchestrated such an event and also to cover up such an act.

The level of complicity in the media is amazing. The media exist to question and it is their duty. Locally, why are these issues not in local papers and radio media week after week demanding answers? That is a very interesting question also.

Here is some informational videos and text on Flight 77 facts that don’t add up:

911 Article

Play the funny “find the Boeing” game also here:

Boeing Game link

As Idea Fix predicted, old Hillary wins Super Tuesday. California and large number of Super Tuesday states fall to Queen Hillary The 1st. Well, its over not yet..it’s ‘close’ but soon. Bye, bye Obama baby eventually I feel. Hillary vs McCain awaits. Mad or Madder. The Dynastic family trip is in play due to a secret deal between Bush Snr and Mr. Clinton.

See our post here

See Clinton news here

Dear Citizens,

The following ten mandates are compulsory activities that you must participate in to be considered normal between the ages 18 to 35. Failure to do so in extreme cases may require certain measures to be taken by us (only if necessary and only if your actions get out of hand… which we admit is extremely rare these days). The Action we take will not always be in your best interest. You have been warned. Citizens obey these goodly laws!

1. You must fall in love and spend all your time consumed with feelings and thoughts of love. When one exchange ends desperately seek another. Love is all you need, remember, what the Beatles said! Love. Love. Love. Puppy dogs. Furry Cats. Cute ducks all in a row. Spend all your time thinking of love and pursuing love interests. Do not get disillusioned when reality intrudes on you. Love, love, love… then die.

2. You must stay juvenile and play all kinds of games that amused you as children. Enjoy liberally video games, mild sports, light entertainment, pop and rock music and concerts galore, comedy shows, festivals of all sorts, etc., etc… especially those of a childish and innocent nature. Stay young forever. Never grow up. Remain a child in your heart. Children are much easier to control than adults. We saw what happened at the beginning of the last century when you grow up into dreaded adults. Anyway, we are the adults. Since WW2 and the baby bomber generation it has been decided you all must remain children. Do so.

3. You must protest peacefully in the streets any human rights abuses or wrongful actions by us whether we come from the USA or Europe. Do all this while you safely sit behind the protection of the walls of the West in the giant Green Zone we have created for you that extends from the former walls of Eastern Europe to the waters of Perth. You are safe here. We respect and duly note all your objections to our policies and apologize in advance for any upset or angst it may cause you. Please do not hesitate to write your thoughts and feelings to our Propaganda department. We will happily publish and share your feelings with others for polite discussion and debate.

4. You must always uphold the principles of democracy and democratic rights. So what if, as some dissidents may say, democracy is mob rule, the lowest common denominator, populism or maintenance of the status quo. You get to change our representative every ten years or more. So quit complaining. It will do no good.

5. You must never believe in any forms of truly revolutionary government against the benign Western Capitalist system. To do so is tantamount to terrorism. To even write about such, a potential thought crime. Remember you are all children in love and that all you need is love and that love is all that we give you. Do not get frustrated by the system. Do not ever think for yourselves. Do not ever use Violence. Do not ever support Terrorism in any form. Or else you will end up like David Hicks. Even though we admit his treatment was a little unfair and worthy of financial compensation perhaps.

6. Socialism and Communism are encouraged and de riguer in your twenties until you marry, mate and have a mortgage. Read Marx and the vast literature that surrounds him. But do not become a true revolutionary. Marx and others are really like a fashion statement like that Che T Shirt. Enjoy it as aesthetics and then forget it. Then it’s Labor or Liberal, Republican or Democrat, Tory or Labor …sorry.

7. You must all read literature and introduction books to Philosophy, Politics, Ethics and Human Rights. Especially Alain De Botton style works and BBC style introductions, these are perfect for your needs. Do not read too closely, though, we advise. Remember Post Modernism’s main dictums: there is no truth, if there is any it’s all relative, everything has already been done and thought… so all that remains is to sort through the wreckage of our culture. Sort away. Sort away forever and ever. We have given you an endless task with no meaning. Enjoy! Read only the most famous book of a well known author. Only read books that exist or at least can co-exist within the Western Liberal Humanist Canon. Only read books published by mainstream publishers. Other books can be read, but to condemn them only and to see what evil is truly like.

8. Do not believe in anything religious and if you must believe in religion do so as a fashion or outward sign of conformity like going to Church on Sundays to alleviate your conscience and beg for your sins. You are a human being descended from apes. A tiny piece of dust in the universe that is utterly meaningless. We have worked everything out and there is nothing more you need know. Religion is interesting from a historical perspective only. Give generously though to religious and all charities… not from a belief in a god but from your belief in the brotherhood of all humanity. From Love. It will make you feel so much better. If you are a celebrity like Bono, Bob Geldof or Oprah make sure all your giving is fully broadcast and duly recorded so you can be praised by us while alive and beautified by us after you are gone. You are not a real saint, just a top notch A list celebrity. Hallelujah!

9. Do not hold any elitist beliefs on religion, race, nationalism, culture, gender. Unless covertly sanctioned by us.

10. You must all take drugs of some sort. Whether it be alcohol, cigerettes or light recreational drugs like E and marijuana. When these get too much for you we recommend prescription medication for all your needs. Valium or Xanax for mild anxiety. Anti Depressent’s later if needed. The world is not depressing… it is you that are depressed. The world is not wrong, you are. You are sick. You need our help, our technologies will keep you well. Lie back take a pill, feel better, everything is under control. Go to sleep, go to sleep.

More instructions to follow. Obey them. Complain a bit if you like online. The internet is freedom. It is the ultimate democracy. You are all allowed to speak, just no one of any import will every listen. Just don’t do anything to really change things. Do not crave power - Ever. Do not read Histories of people who have changed things or achieved real power and change - Ever. Do not whatever you do ACT on these ideas - Ever, Ever. Just sleep. We love you so very, very much.

Channelled (unwillingly) by Richard Wolstencroft, under psychic duress, from the ether.

I am fond of conspiracy theories but I do acknowledge they can’t all be true. The 911 conspiracy theory while it seems grandiose is one of the more compelling theories in recent years. I shall examine here in coming weeks some major questions that need answering.

The first is building 7. Few people who know the event know about Building 7’s collapse. It was not hit by a plane and it collapsed in on itself after no more than a half dozen hours after the twin towers concertinaed. The problems this causes are threefold. How did it collapse? If it was a controlled demolition who set it up so fast and why is it not admitted? If time was not available to set up a demolition then it was set up before the 911 events… therefor providing proof of a conspiracy in the 911 events.

I will say that if a conspiracy exists I do not have a problem with it the way most people do. This simply shows the extent of US capitalist fascism (let’s call a spade a spade) hegemony and intention in the 21st century. Another example from history of power exerting itself in a self-justificating way. The mainstream media’s compliance in the official story of Osama Bin Laden is no more surprising than Nazi news papers reporting the Reichstag fire as an act of a Dutch/Jewish terrorist Marinus Van Der Lubbe .

Apropos, I am neither for or against the events of 911. I am simply fascinated by the act as a political sign post in the coming world revolution that exhibits strong traits of fascist political theory. 911 after all is a purely political act. Who caused it is only window dressing…the ramifications are obvious in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon and the future conflict expected in Iran, Pakistan and Syria. These wars are the real significance and importance of the event Sept 11.

I will attach two clips on the 911 building seven conspiracy, one which focuses on Larry Silverstein’s (the 911 owner’s) faux pas when he refers to the ‘pulling’ (i.e.controlled demoloition) of building 7 made by the slightly hysteric conspiracy crusader Alex Jones. The second shows the BBC propaganda department announcing the building 7 collapse before it happens. Building 7 is seen to the right of the reporters head…until the feed suddenly goes dead. Very funny. Godspeed, you Black Emperor!