The brilliant installation pictured above, as reported by Lisa Goldman, was up for about 5 hours in one of Tel Aviv’s streets before it came down, perhaps fulfilling in this instance the hopeful prediction by the artist, Ehud Segev: “… in general I am against walls. They always fall in the end.”

Ehud went on to say, “In the meantime, [walls] just create disconnects and misunderstandings between people.”

Create? … or are created by? The causal structure is not entirely clear to me.

(This post is brought to you by the egg and the chicken.)

Exercise your democratic rights!, Your creativity!, And the power of the internets! (which is more than just a series of tubes.)

The Call:
As you might ‘ve already anticipated, the current civil conflict in Iraq is likely to cause a partitioning of the country to three or more territories; and as the government of the USA is likely to outsource the partitioning project; it might help to be first on the ball.

This is a great opportunity for your voice to be heard! This is not 1920 anymore, when people didn’t have any say in the partitioning of their land (or the land their governments assumed control over after a gruesome war.)

Supplementary material and winning criteria:
Here is a blank map for the area to be partitioned, and, to get you started, some accompanying maps of oil infrastructure, land use, and population density. These might not be entirely accurate, as they are from 2003, and what ensued since might have had some impact.

I would expect the winning entry to be equally unfair to all implicated parties, while having an element of arbitrariness to it. It must also include enough vagueness to provide for never-ending conflicts, which would be reasons for possible future interjection.

You win:
Be the first to come up with a winning partitioning of Iraq, and your name might be etched in the history books. In addition, to the entity with the winning entry, if you mention that you first got the idea from this blog, I am promising you your choice of either a used copy of Orwell’s 1984, or a spanking new copy of Chomsky’s Hegemony or Survival.

Good night, and good luck.

Robert Newman gets to grips with the wars and politics of the last hundred years - but rather than adhering to the history we were fed at school, he places oil [at] centre stage as the cause of all commotion. This innovative history programme is based around Robert Newman’s stand-up act and supported by resourceful archive sequences and stills with satirical impersonations of historical figures from Mayan priests to Archduke Ferdinand. Quirky details such as a bicycle powered street lamp on the stage brings home the pertinent question of just how we are going to survive when the world’s oil supplies are finally exhausted.

Absolutely brilliant, and very very funny. Link.

Remember Banksy? onegoodmove has a recent report on his work in Palestine and LA, including a brief audio interview with the man.

Via Arabist:

Activists are organizing a sit in at the Press Syndicate, 12 noon, on 9 November, to protest the sexual assaults against women during Eid. The activists are demanding the resignation of General Habib el-Adly, the Interior Minister whose security forces stood by watching the assaults without intervention.

A few days ago, I watched–on some local channel–an interview with Jack Silberman, the director of the documentary Raised to be Heroes, produced by the National Film Board of Canada:

They will fight for their country, they will die for their country, but not in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. And although they act on conscience, they pay a steep personal price. Featuring haunting accounts from the front lines, Raised to Be Heroes introduces the latest generation of Israeli soldiers to selectively object to military operations undertaken by their country.

I haven’t seen the film yet (I’m keeping an ear out for it) but from what clips I’ve seen, and the interview, I’ve extrapolated this: Despite the specific story that the film tells, the message is broadly applicable; This is but one instance of the fight against indoctrination; It’s a call for the personal examination and, if necessary, re-evaluation, of instilled doctrines that conflict with moral principles.

We’ve got some homework to do.

The cover of The Independent for July 21st, 2006. (thanks N)

SHOW YOUR SOLIDARITY WITH IMPRISONED EGYPTIAN DEMOCRACY PROTESTORS
On the one-year anniversary of Black Wednesday in Cairo
And in solidarity with demonstrations in London, Paris, Seoul, and New York

details at forsoothsayer’s.

Location: Egypt Air Office, 151 Bloor St. West (East of Avenue Rd.)
Date: Thursday May 25, 2006
Time: 5:30pm – 7:00pm
For more information contact the Toronto Egyptian Solidarity Campaign at: torontoesc@yahoo.ca