The game everyone's playing!

BANZAI7'S OCCUPY USA MONOPOLY BOARD GAME
Originally uploaded by Colonel Flick

A revolution against neoliberalism? - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

A revolution against neoliberalism? - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

Two observations about Egypt’s history as a neoliberal state are in order. First, Mubarak’s Egypt was considered to be at the forefront of instituting neoliberal policies in the Middle East (not un-coincidentally, so was Ben Ali’s Tunisia). Secondly, the reality of Egypt’s political economy during the Mubarak era was very different than the rhetoric, as was the case in every other neoliberal state from Chile to Indonesia. Political scientist Timothy Mitchell published a revealing essay about Egypt’s brand of neoliberalism in his book Rule of Experts (the chapter titled "Dreamland" — named after a housing development built by Ahmad Bahgat, one of the Mubarak cronies now discredited by the fall of the regime). The gist of Mitchell’s portrait of Egyptian neoliberalism was that while Egypt was lauded by institutions such as the International Monetary Fund as a beacon of free-market success, the standard tools for measuring economies gave a grossly inadequate picture of the Egyptian economy. In reality the unfettering of markets and agenda of privatization were applied unevenly at best.

The only people for whom Egyptian neoliberalism worked "by the book" were the most vulnerable members of society, and their experience with neoliberalism was not a pretty picture. Organised labor was fiercely suppressed. The public education and the health care systems were gutted by a combination of neglect and privatization. Much of the population suffered stagnant or falling wages relative to inflation. Official unemployment was estimated at approximately 9.4% last year (and much higher for the youth who spearheaded the January 25th Revolution), and about 20% of the population is said to live below a poverty line defined as $2 per day per person.

For the wealthy, the rules were very different. Egypt did not so much shrink its public sector, as neoliberal doctrine would have it, as it reallocated public resources for the benefit of a small and already affluent elite. Privatization provided windfalls for politically well-connected individuals who could purchase state-owned assets for much less than their market value, or monopolise rents from such diverse sources as tourism and foreign aid. Huge proportions of the profits made by companies that supplied basic construction materials like steel and cement came from government contracts, a proportion of which in turn were related to aid from foreign governments.

Friday Random Ten

Andrews Surfers...Go!
Rip-Off (1999)
Thee Andrews Surfers



Tetsu
Candi and the Strangers (2009)
Candi and the Strangers



You're So Cruel
Hard Times (2010)
The Blue Squares



Vår Del Av Stan
Vår Del Av Stan (2008)
Masshysteri



Love to Love
Strangers in the Night (1979)
UFO



Ten Things
Cafe Istanbul (1987)
The Mad Turks From Istanbul



Sarah Smiles
Strange Man, Changed Man (1979)
Bram Tchaikovsky



Porchlight
Furnace Room Lullaby (2000)
Neko Case & Her Boyfriends



FFM Punkarmee
Die Birne ist reif (2001)
Das Bierbeben



Drunk In Yr Uggs
Sorcerers of Madness (4rd Year In a Row) (2010)
Guinea Worms

New Garage Explosion

My Favorite Albums of 2010

Chinawoman
Show Me the Face (self released)



Magic Slim & the Teardrops
Raising the Bar (Blind Pig)



Klaus & Kinski
Tierra, trágalos (Jabaline)



The Blue Squares
Hard Times (self released)



Cyanide Pills
Cyanide Pills (Damaged Goods)



The Ex
Catch My Shoe (Ex)



The Fall
Your Future Our Clutter (Domino)



Cheese People
Well Well Well (self released)



Bare Wires
Seeking Love (Castle Face)



Laura Marling
I Speak Because I Can (Virgin)



Bettie Serveert
Pharmacy of Love (Palomine)



The Besnard Lakes
The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night (Jagjaguwar)



Boston Spaceships
Our Cubehouse Still Rocks (Guided By Voices)



Pikelet
Stem (Chapter Music)



Howe Gelb and a Band of Gypsies
Alegrias (Eureka)



ミドリ
Shinsekai (SAR)



Clogs
The Creatures in the Garden of Lady Walton (Brassland)



Robyn Hitchcock & the Venus 3
Propellor Time (Sartorial)



Guinea Worms
Sorcererers of Madness (4rd Year in a Row) (Columbus Discount)



The Fresh & Onlys
Play It Strange (In the Red)



Giant Sand
Blurry Blue Mountain (Fire)



Club 8
The People's Record (Labrador)



Swans
My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky (Young God)



Elephant9
Walk the Nile (Rune Grammofon)



White Fence
White Fence (Woodsist)



Carolina Chocolate Drops
Genuine Negro Jig (Nonesuch)



Summer People
Good Problems (Red Leader)

friday random ten

[Note: This is a randomized list of some of my favorite albums of 2009 so far...]



She's a River
Gurf Morlix
Last Exit to Happyland (Rootball)




Dirty Water
Shemekia Copeland
Never Going Back (Telarc)




Turbine Womb
Soap&Skin
Lovetune for Vacuum (Play It Again Sam)




Dos Fridas
The Diamond Center
My Only Companion (self released)




Norman Bleik
I Was a King
I Was a King (Hype City)




Get Yo Shit
Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears
Tell 'em What Your Name Is! (Lost HighwayRecords)




Dues Paid In Full
Ruthie Foster
The Truth According to Ruthie Foster (Blue Corn Music)




Hallway Master
Pikelet
Not So Still [EP] (Special Award)




In a Day
Girl in a Coma
Trio B.C. (Blackheart Records)




Lorca and the Orange Tree
The Mummers
Tale to Tell (Big Bass Drum)


bonus track:


Fuck Your God
The Callas
The Callas (Out of Tune Records)