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Today's Stories November 19, 2009 Christopher Ketcham Shamus Cooke John V. Walsh John A. Murphy Jayne Lyn Stahl November 18, 2009 Uri Avnery John Ross Conn Hallinan Mike Whitney Ray McGovern Nelson P. Valdés Ramzy Baroud Ron Ridenour November 17, 2009 Mike Whitney Jayne Lyn Stahl Brian M. Downing Jonathan Cook Joanne Mariner Dean Baker Martha Rosenberg Danny Weil David Macaray Laura Flanders Walter Brasch November 16, 2009 Alan Nasser Jonathan Cook Mark Weisbrot Carol Miller Gary Leupp Harry Clark Ray McGovern Norman Solomon Ron Ridenour Norm Kent Brenda Norrell November 13-15, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Patrick Cockburn Tariq Ali Douglas Lummis Vijay Prashad Carl Ginsburg Manuel García, Jr. Rannie Amiri Mary Lynn Cramer Fred Gardner Dave Lindorff Robert Jensen David Macaray Corporate Crime Reporter Ron Jacobs David Model John V. Walsh Jon Mitchell Stuart Easterling Dan Bacher Franklin Lamb Farzana Versey Charles R. Larson Saul Landau David Yearsley Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement
November 12, 2009 Robert Weissman Franklin Spinney Nadia Hijab Afshin Rattansi Paul Craig Roberts Ralph Nader Belén Fernández Allan J. Lichtman Dave Lindorff Jayne Lyn Stahl November 11, 2009 Andrew Cockburn Mike Whitney Rev. Jesse Jackson Jeff Nygaard Stewart J. Lawrence James Ridgeway Eamonn McCann Michael Ortiz Hill Shepherd Bliss Walter Brasch November 10, 2009 Ellen Cantarow Dean Baker Rose Ann DeMoro Ramzy Baroud Peter Lee Dave Lindorff Roberto Rodriguez Winslow T. Wheeler Alan Farago Joseph Grosso November 9, 2009 Patrick Cockburn Linn Washington Carl Ginsburg Jeff Leys John A. Murphy John Halle Bouthaina Shaaban James Ridgeway Dave Lindorff David Macaray Stephen Fleischman Website of the Day November 6-8, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Mark Grueter Paul Craig Roberts Patrick Cockburn Gareth Porter Mike Whitney James Bovard Dean Baker Robert Lawless Saul Landau Jayne Lyn Stahl Stephanie Westbrook M. Shahid Alam Marc Levy Franklin Lamb Ron Jacobs David Ker Thomson John V. Whitbeck Julien Mercille Rannie Amiri John Ross David Michael Green Carl Finamore Farzana Versey Missy Comley Beattie Charles R. Larson David Yearsley Kim Nicolini Poets' Basement November 5, 2009 Pam Martens Vijay Prashad Brian Gallagher Norman Solomon Nadia Hijab Joseph Shansky Andy Thayer Tracy Rosenberg Website of the Day November 4, 2009 Stan Cox Andy Worthington From Gitmo to Palau: Who are the Uighurs? Robert Weissman Susan Galleymore Ralph Nader Michael Leonardi Bitta Mistofi Robert Bryce Martha Rosenberg Dave Lindorff Website of the Day November 3, 2009 Patrick Cockburn Mike Whitney Franklin C. Spinney Laura Carlsen Serge Halimi John Stanton Sophia Weeks Dave Lindorff November 2, 2009 Steven Higgs Ishmael Reed David Macaray Bouthaina Shaaban David Michael Green David Swanson Ellen Brown Adam Federman James McEnteer Stephen Fleischman Website of the Day October 30 - Nov. 1, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair / Carl Ginsburg Mike Whitney Joe Bageant Gareth Porter Saul Landau Anthony DiMaggio Dave Lindorff Rannie Amiri Niranjan Ramakrishnan Jayne Lyn Stahl Rev. William E. Alberts Alvaro Huerta Martha Rosenberg Binoy Kampmark Norm Kent Charles R. Larson Roth's "The Humbling:" Nothing Like a Novel From an Old Pro Ron Jacobs David Yearsley Lorenzo Wolff Kim Nicolini Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend October 29, 2009 Michael Neumann Mike Whitney Gary Leupp Conn Hallinan Marshall Auerback Laura Flanders Eamonn McCann David Macaray Mark Weisbrot Stephen Soldz Christopher Brauchli Website of the Day October 28, 2009 Moshe Adler Dave Lindorff Frank Joseph Smecker Alexandra Early M. Shahid Alam Vijay Prashad John Ross Franklin Lamb Gregory Travis Susan Galleymore Website of the Day October 27, 2009 Mike Whitney Patrick Cockburn Stewart J. Lawrence Alan Farago Ralph Nader Dave Lindorff Bouthaina Shaaban Brian M. Downing Elections in Afghanistan, the Second Time Around Iain Boal Carl Finamore Jayne Lyn Stahl Website of the Day October 26, 2009 Bill Quigley / Paul Craig Roberts Uri Avnery Mike Whitney Michael Snedeker Shamus Cooke David Michael Green Martha Rosenberg Patrick Bond Binoy Kampmark Website of the Day
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Mia Kirshner's "I Live Here"Voices of the SilencedBy CHARLES R. LARSON Celebrity chic, however well intended, always risks of the unexpected. It’s hard to feel otherwise, as I Live Here, by the American actress Mia Kirshner and a group of talented artists and writers, clearly illustrates. The four sleek pamphlets relating stories of the displaced from the war in Chechnya—and comparable atrocities in Mexico, Burma, and Malawi—burst with creative energy but simultaneously fall flat on the emotional level. The empathy they are intended to elicit in readers is largely missing, having been displaced by a numbing emotional distance. In an interview that appeared in Glamour.Com (September 2008), Kirshner stated that in 2001, after a series of successful movie and TV roles, she felt that her life was empty and she needed to explore something more meaningful. Thus began a seven-year journey that took her to some of the world’s most troubled places, where she met and interviewed displaced people typically ignored by the complacent inhabitants of the stable Western world. The result became four “graphic” narratives, a project of the I Live Here Foundation in Vancouver. The nonprofit is “dedicated to telling stories of silenced and unheard people through a series of books and other projects about our world. We establish creative writing programs where we work, building an artistic dialogue between strangers.” Part of the problem for me is Kirshner’s presence at the beginning and sometimes in later sections of each story. I found her perspective intrusive, bordering on the “oh gosh” level: “Is this really me observing all this misery?” That may sound unfair because the goals of the foundation are worthy and there is ample documentation that if traumatized people can put their feelings into words, illustrations, even photographs, catharsis may result. Second, although the stories of several abused and afflicted peoples are related here, sometimes quite powerfully, how can catharsis for the victim result if it is western artists who create the illustrations or even record the narratives of their misery? The four booklets read together depict a world where the downtrodden have few options that can lift them beyond their oppressive environments. The first booklet traces the lives of thousands of refugees who have fled from Grozny, Chechnya to Ingushetia, the nearby city in Russia. There, they live in squalor and a refugee status that has undermined any possibility of family stability. Men in these conditions appear to live by their worst instincts. Women, usually left to take care of children, become possessive caregivers. One woman remarks that if “her daughters had stayed with her husband, they would not have been virgins for their wedding days.” Thus, refugee status brings out irreconcilable tensions within families, to say nothing of the authorities who want to control them. The lengthy graphic narrative called “Chechen War, Chechen Women” not only chronicles the misery of the Russian/Chechnya war but describes a history of negative encounters between the two populations. The repetitions of history are particularly depressing in this sequence, as one is reminded of other global hotspots that have become little more than replications of earlier events—the endless nightmare of repression from encounters between one cultural or ethnic group and another. A second booklet chronicles the stories of young (often pre-adolescent) boys conscripted into military action for the warring factions in Burma. In these camps, traumatized children are initiated into adulthood by the violent brutalities they observe around them. A second part of the Burma sequence describes the brothels on the Thailand/Burmese border where young girls—like the young boys kidnapped to become soldiers—are forced into prostitution and often early deaths from AIDS. The focus on the abuse of women continues in the narrative closest to our own borders: Ciudad Juárez, in Mexico. Ostensibly a commentary on the disappearance of hundreds of young women in the city, the focus is primarily on one young woman named Claudia and her mother’s attempt to grapple with her disappearance. I found the reality of the story belabored, felt it would be much better served by mainstream journalism. The final booklet utilizes the convention of an illustrated children’s storybook to narrate the sad account of a Malawian child’s awareness of his pregnant mother’s “wasting disease,” AIDS. Malawi’s a pretty sad country these days, not just because of AIDS but also because of extreme poverty. I’d like to think that some good will come of Mia Kirshner’s project for the I Live Here Foundation, but I’d need to be more of an optimist than I am.
Charles R. Larson is Professor of Literature at American University in Washington, D.C.
Inside the New Print Edition of Our Subscriber-Only Newsletter! Why the Bush-Cheney Gang Stephen Green details the crimes that opened the Bush gang to arrest warrants and sealed indictments. Eamonn McCann describes how a secret state scheme saw 150,000 children “exported” to Australia to stock that continent with white Christians. No, Barack Obama isn’t the best guide to Saul Alinksy’s ideas on organizing. Mike Miller on movement building in the 1960s and today. Get your new edition today by subscribing online or calling 1-800-840-3683 Contributions to CounterPunch are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! CounterPunch books and t-shirts make great presents. Order CounterPunch By Email For Only $35 a Year !
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Now Available from CounterPunch Books! Yellowstone Drift:
"Powerful and shocking ..
Waiting for
Lightning
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