New Media We Recommend

Below is a list of new materials that we have read/watched in recent weeks. The comments are not a “review” of the material, instead sort of an endorsement of ideas and investigations that can provide solid analysis and even inspiration in the struggle for change. All these items are available at The Bloom Collective, so check them out and stimulate your mind.

Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics and Big Business Re-Create Race in the Twenty-First Century, by Dorothy Roberts – Institutional racism and White Supremacy are very resilient and always seem to be manifesting themselves in ways that are not easy to detect. Black scholar Dorothy Roberts has been keeping an eye on these more subtle forms of institutional racism by looking at what the scientific and corporate pharmaceutical world has been doing in recent decades. Robert’s assertion is that the old racist propaganda promoted through eugenics is alive and well in scientific research, particularly in the medical field. Roberts investigates the research being done in genetics and exposes the racialized research that argues in part that black people are less healthy because of their genes and not because of social forces. Roberts demonstrates that institutional racism is deeply entrenched within some sectors of the scientific community, particularly those working for pharmaceutical companies. A must read for people who care about confronting institutional racism.

Global Slump: The Economics and Politics of Crisis and Resistance, by David McNally – Global Slump is one of the best books I have read that looks at both the 2008 global economic crisis and the response from the public. McNally provides an important anti-capitalist analysis that re-frames how we understand the 2008 economic crash. He argues that is wasn’t so much about corruption and greed as it was an intentional crisis created by centers of capital as a mechanism of transferring more public wealth into private hands. McNally says this is evident with the use of the term “austerity measures,” where governments are eliminating public sector jobs, drastically reducing funds for public social programs, privatizing public services and changing policies and tax structures which benefit the rich. This effort to move more public funds into private hands has met significant resistance around the world in places like Greece, Iceland, Spain, the UK and Madison. McNally devotes several chapters to this resistance and suggests that this is the only real mechanism to fight global capitalism.

Homocons: The Rise of the Gay Right, by Richard Goldstein – Even though this book is nearly a decade old, it provides important analysis for those concerned about the future of the LGBTQ movement. Goldstein, an editor with Village Voice, argues that there are several writers within the LGBTQ community that have increasingly become “stars” of right-wing and conservative sectors. In fact, Goldstein argues that some of these writers have even adopted self-hating LGBTQ positions. Writers like Andrew Sullivan and Camille Paglia, according to Goldstein, have become what Ward Connelly is to the Black community – a neo-conservative who spends most of his energy trying to dismantle the gains made by Black Americans. However, Goldstein notes that the embrace of the likes of Sullivan and Paglia are not just with the right, but more often within liberal circles. Sullivan and Paglia argue that the LGBTQ community has asked for too much and pushed to hard, so much so that they have done damage to those in the gay community who just want to be “tolerated.” A quick read, Homocons is important for the continued discussion around whether or not the LGBTQ community wants to be assimilated or liberated.

Will the Real Terrorists Please Stand Up (DVD) – A fabulous documentary that looks at the recent case of the Cuban Five and in the process provides a detailed look at the US response to the Cuban revolution since 1959. Saul Landau, who has produced numerous political documentaries, presents us with an important critique of 5 decades of US policy towards Cuba. Landau uses Cuban nationals, Cubans in exile, US officials and political analysts in this in depth film. A must see for anyone who is interested in Cuban history and for those who are willing to come to terms with how US foreign policy functions.