Comments on “Demonstrations at China's Toronto...”

1. dude come on… you actually buy this bobo crap? The chinesse are doing what the US has done, what Canada has done etc etc… its pretty obvious. and your reference to the call to arms of the international community is a bit naive no? Is that not what has gotten us to this point- the elusive international community that creates arbitrary rules for the ruled and legitimate rules for the rulers?

   iv on March 18th, 2008 at 5:32 pm

2. I’m relatively well aware of the extent to which state violence is the norm. Oddly though, it was exactly this signature of “normalcy” that I found awful enough to get me out there today. That along with the inspiring chant of something so simple — “stop the killing” — was fundamental enough to overcome my own cynicism and “outrage fatigue.” Trust me, I was surprised too. It doesn’t happen that often. Felt good though. What’s a bobo?

   Ryan on March 18th, 2008 at 7:04 pm

3. This should give u the answers u seek. http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2000/may/28/focus.news1

   iv on March 19th, 2008 at 3:50 pm

4. Haha — that bobo article is pretty funny! But no, I don’t think a massacre of Tibetan people by Chinese goons is “bobo crap” just as I don’t think Canada’s extraordinary rendition of Benamar Benatt is, or America’s “enemy combatants” are. My motivation that morning wasn’t fashionability or, I think, a misguided apprehension of the political world. Rather it was my own vision of the endless repetition of state violence, in all its forms, as something that seems to be becoming routine and acceptable like some kind of policy-based “collateral damage.” What a dangerous precedent that is, and what a dangerous lack of consequences there has been for China. So yes, I was out there for Tibet, but also for all the other kinds of “acceptable” bureaucratic violence I’ve seen in the last six months of filing human rights claims here in Ontario, have read about in the media, understand from philosophers, and so forth. Back to the bobos though. I am reading a lot about the relationship of activism to aestheticism right now. One pretty solid book, “Constituent Imagination”, might offer a flip-side to some of the broadly brushed claims made in the bobo article that seems to try and subsume the aesthetic within capitalist terms.

   Ryan on March 19th, 2008 at 6:00 pm

5. Lol- I dont think I was referring to the ‘massacre of Tibetans’ as being bobo but rather our incestuous need to align ourselves (myself included) with these arguments for statehood and sovereignty, especially when a regime has been vilified within our accepted media outlets. My only concern/thought was to point out the obvious: where are those that are trying to save Darfur (I think that fade boat has left the building and oh yes ‘SAVE’ is the word they used to describe themselves), Lanka, Chad, Congo, Aborigines etc etc. I dont see them and I dont hear them… Hmm sounds interest- we need to discuss that in more detail.

   iv on March 20th, 2008 at 6:30 pm

6. Maybe we should head downtown and propose a five-part segment for The National on deconstructing state violence? :D

   Ryan on March 20th, 2008 at 7:40 pm

7. lol- sure and then my poor brown ass will be vilified as being anti-democratic and anti-capitalist, leaving me with no job and no prospects etc…

   iv on March 21st, 2008 at 8:42 pm