A Man Called Hawk: Goodbye Scorpion

Adam — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 12:49:22 +0000

A Man Called Hawk: Goodbye Scorpion
[for my niggaz Fanon, JayZ and the World Bank]
by colony [aka Adam Haupt]
7 July 2009

…. hawks coming down on small fry rodents from a dizzy height /
whilst skanky hyenas guffaw at the rotting carcass of the rule of law in spite /
of our best efforts justice to expedite / and policies ensure capital flight /
and housing ministers evict citizens to face cold winter nights /
in spots like / happy valley / mass rallies /
forgotten by the self-same niggaz / who defied the self-same trigga /
of an unjust government / to become just like that self-same government /
it’s too much to bear / like the H1 scare /
this verse doesn’t run over sixteen bars /
it’s no curse, we can fill it with sixteen cars /
courtesy of our ministers / who’d be well-advised to administer /
advice from our eco-scientists about our environment /
or go into early retirement / without the golden handshake /
let’s make / a real break /
with the past / inequalities vast /
and prove Fanon wrong / singing the song /
of the colony / the postcolony /
becoming the conveyor belt of capitalism

Mickey Mouse lockdown for life

Adam — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 21:58:06 +0000

So we live in a world where our kids will grow up on Mickey Mouse, Hannah Montana and all sorts of Hollywood fabrications. We live in a world where our kids will grow up on CSI, Heroes, 50 Cent, Beyonce and you name it. But they will be told that they cannot use any aspects of these Hollywood creations in their own creative expressions. They will be told that sharing these creations would constitute a crime, which has been framed as such by a great deal of MPAA and SAFACT print, TV and film advertising. If the budget for such advertising campaigns were spent on denouncing the unilateral invasion of sovereign nations and the subsequent killing of countless civilians, then perhaps public opinion on social (in)justice in the world may very well have turned the tide a long time ago.

Imagine being raised into a culture, but then being told that you may not use it or share it. Imagine being told that your very acts of criticism, exchange, creativity and debate constitute copyright or trademark violation. Welcome to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act and the trade agreements that globalise these narrow and self-interested understandings of intellectual ‘property’. Welcome to the end of the public domain (and civil society)… welcome to lockdown culture.

“How much is it gonna cost you to buy your way out of a culture that originally bought you?
…
Penny for a thought, nigger, penny for a thought.
What the fuck have you bought into?”
– Saul Williams