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Full Spectrum Disorder

Drawing show marks the opening
of the Bread and Roses Art Collective

Spearhead’s Michael Franti speaks out

Clamor Magazine hosting simultaneous parties

 

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Full Spectrum Disorder

By Stan Goff
Soft Skull Press,
New York, 2004, 203pp.

Review by John Brinker

(AGR) — “The first time I felt like I was universally validated,” writes Stan Goff, “was when I joined the Army and went to Vietnam.” Goffís military career spanned three decades and several wars, including actions in Panama, Haiti, Grenada, Somalia, and Colombia. Its end came in 1996, after Goff served in a “humanitarian” mission in Haiti and — as one of the men under his command complained — he “turned Haitian,” and learned to find his validation elsewhere.

Goff’s conscience, long suppressed by the Army indoctrination, found its way to the surface. He embarked on a quest for a new worldview, one in which he could gain perspective on the military that he had served. Unfortunately, the deepest levels of Goff’s programming remain intact, and he is now immersed in a second career, advocating authoritarian Marxist revolution.

His first book, Hideous Dream, examined Goff’s experiences (and the US colonial/imperial project) in Haiti, and looked at the military through the lens of memoir. The new book lacks this kind of focus, and is a sprawling polemic on various aspects of military culture and the practice of modern warfare, from the Pentagon to the battlefield. Goff examines several recent and ongoing conflicts to draw out lessons for would-be revolutionaries, but Goff’s conclusions may chafe many radicals’ ideals.

One chapter of Full Spectrum Disorder contrasts Mexico’s EZLN resistance with Colombia’s FARC. While the EZLN enjoys more support from liberal and radical milieu worldwide, Goff dismisses the revolutionaries as being unwilling to obey “the iron logic of war,” something the FARC has done very well, as the population of rural Colombia can attest. “There is a naive and dangerous faith,” Goff asserts, “that ‘righteousness’ will win out. Failing to grasp the full context of the nonviolent struggle against British Colonialism in India and against Jim Crow in the US, where neither could have happened except against the backdrop of a well-armed socialist bloc, there is an ahistorical faith in nonviolent resistance, combined with moral imperialism, which leads progressives to distance themselves from aggressive armed resistance.”

Naive and dangerous? Giving credit to the Soviet Union for every inch of ground gained for human rights is just that, as if the horrors of Stalinism could ever be justified. And the idea that a military force like the FARC could ever install a just government doesn’t bear up under the most casual reading of history. How many revolutionary armies have established equitable governments and open societies? Pedantic Marxist jargon cannot hide Goff’s blind faith in doctrine. As Goff says in the introduction, “I am still one who believes in the necessity of revolutionary vanguards.” As long as he does, he will remain mired in the discredited leftism of the 20th century, dismayed at a new radical movement that lacks the hard-headedness to commit (or blandly accept) acts of brutality.

Ideology aside, Goff has an insider’s perspective on many aspects of military culture and practices, and the book contains valuable analysis of the failures of the US military. He faults the military (especially under the despised civilian leadership of Donald Rumsfeld) for being overly dependent on technological solutions and top-down decision-making systems. Several stories from the battlefield illustrate the problem of an out-of-touch officer corps making tactical decisions out of a textbook, allowing the “enemy” (usually a guerilla insurgency) to anticipate their every move. A technology-addicted, top-down organization is highly susceptible to unpredictable factors; sandstorms, e-coli, and enemies who are able to think intuitively all pose great risks to the US military. Their only true advantage is in the means of force: sheer numbers, firepower, and the financial resources to acquire them (thanks to the taxpayers and US economic hegemony).

While armed struggles for autonomy continue (and must continue) around the world, those who fight for their freedom are continually faced with the danger of forgetting the value of human life and becoming the enemy themselves. While Stan Goff reminds us constantly that war is hell, not something to romanticize or to treat lightly, he also asserts that a warrior must be inhuman, and that the power of the State is the only true prize in war. It is impossible to challenge Goff on the basis of his first-hand experience of war, but we must challenge ourselves to look beyond deeply ingrained assumptions about how wars of resistance can be waged. Look to Full Spectrum Disorder for a stinging critique of the US military, but look elsewhere for visions of revolution.

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Drawing show marks the opening of the
Bread and Roses Art Collective

By Susan Pepper

Feb. 25 (AGR) --The Bread and Roses Art Collective will hold its premiere event, an all-day benefit entitled, “The Superfantastic Drawing Show, featuring drawings of all shapes and sizes by you and your friends,” on Sunday, Feb. 29. Expect an eclectic mix of works donated by people in the community from ages three to eighty with a range of interests and experience levels. All artwork in this show will be sold for $3 and proceeds will benefit the new Bread and Roses Art Collective.

In February, the collective began to lease a space in the same building as the Asheville Community Resource Center (ACRC) on Lexington Avenue. Due to the recent eviction notice received by the ACRC, whether or not Bread and Roses will remain in the space is also up in the air. However, one thing is certain, the Bread and Roses Art Collective will find a space to show its members’ artwork and to promote its mission of empowerment for local emerging, conceptual and political artists. Nine artists have joined the collective so far with an expertise ranging from painting and photography to printmaking and multi-media art.

Ursula Gullow, one of the founding members of Bread and Roses, hopes that the collective will provide a network and ultimately a revenue service for artists who are not in the mainstream and thereby, often remain isolated. “We want to provide a place for artists to express their voice, and not just to make art for decorating living rooms,” Gullow said. “Just the act of being an artist is political and we want to support that act.”

Many locals are fearful that the city will cater to the growing tourism industry in Asheville and compromise the interests of the poor and more fringe segments of the population. In the process, Asheville would risk losing the diversity that attracted outsiders in the first place. According to Gullow, Bread and Roses is a force that counters the trend towards gentrification in Asheville. Gullow said, “I want to keep Asheville a diverse and do-it yourself community. And that’s what kind of organization we are.”

The benefit on Leap Day will help Bread and Roses recuperate costs from the money they have put into the space, should they need to move. It will also raise funds for the general costs of starting a new gallery. Most importantly, the inaugural event will stir up excitement about this new collective as well as generate community participation.

Art donations will be accepted at Malaprop’s Café through Saturday or bring your artwork to the gallery on the day of show. Bread and Roses assures you that “there will be no discrimination; all donations will be hung.” Contact Ursula at 251-1543 for more information.

The Superfantastic Drawing Show will be held at the Bread and Roses Art Gallery. February 29, noon-9pm 61 N. Lexington Ave.

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Spearhead’s Michael Franti speaks out

By Tamiko Murray

Michael Franti has a lot to say. A radical spoken word artist, Franti is armed with a revolutionary message of human rights and global justice.

The current Spearhead tour landed Franti in Asheville, where he spoke candidly with Asheville Global Report about gentrification and race, commercialization of the music industry, and finding truth through music.

AGR: I wanted to know a little bit about your background and how you became politicized.

Michael Franti: When I was born, I was given up for adoption, and I was raised in a family that I didn’t always feel comfortable in. And so, when I was 22 years old, I searched for my birth parents, and I found them. When I met my mother -- my mother’s white, my father’s black -- my mother said: “You know, when you were born I was going to have to go live with my parents, and they were very racist and wouldn’t have accepted you.” And so for as long as I can remember, I always felt like an outsider growing up, and that’s led me to be the political person that I am today. I believe in speaking up for people, for the underdog, and for the natural world that doesn’t have the opportunity to have a voice.

AGR: How has your music evolved since Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy?

MF: When I started making music, I was in another band before that: the Beatnigs. I was writing and performing poetry on the street, and we had a few drummers. We started making musical instruments out of found objects ... pieces of metal, using grinders, and all kinds of things. With Disposable Heroes, we started sampling those sounds. And then eventually, I started playing guitar myself. So, throughout my time in music, I’ve always tried to remain a student of music. I always try to learn something new. I’m like, what’s the next thing for me to be turned on to….Gil Scott Heron says the role of the poet is to make complex things easy for people to understand. And so, that’s what I’m trying to do lyrically…make complex issues easier to understand. So, when you write lyrics, the responsibility is not necessarily to be political, but to make the best art you can. And intrinsic in making great art is some form of truth, whether it’s a religious truth, a spiritual truth, a sexual truth, a political truth. That’s how I write my songs.

AGR: Do you feel like your music is more accepted by a white audience than by the black community?

MF: We have more white people than black people that come to our shows. We aren’t played on black radio ever.

AGR: Why is that?

MF: Well, I’ve made music now for almost 20 years. I started my first band in 1986. During that time, I’ve always followed my own path. I never said I want to get on this radio station or that radio station. I never formatted a song by market analysis or cause I’m black. I [don’t] have to use this drum machine sound and work with Dr. Dre and the Neptunes to make an album. I want to make the music that’s in my heart, and so be it. Whoever finds it, finds it. I’m not here to please anybody but the goddess of music. So, you know, it would be great to be on every radio station, but I’m sort of like philosophically against the division of black music and white music. I don’t believe there should be black radio stations and white radio stations any more than there should be black schools and white schools, or a black government and a white government. There should be opportunities for everybody to have their voice heard in all those areas. I want to make a body of music that has integrity that I can look back on in another 20 years and say: “Hey, the music I made then had integrity too. I put my heart into it. I believe in every word and every note.”

AGR: Do you feel like the commercialization of hip-hop music has influenced mainstream culture?

MF: The thing that happened with music --not just hip-hop music, but music as a whole -- is the [dominance] of the major labels. The major labels, there used to be 30 or 40 of them. Now there are 5. What happened was a result of globalization, the same way globalization affects the food we eat, the economy, the environment, also has affected music. Island Records, which is what I was signed to with Disposable Heroes, had Bob Marley, U2, Black Uhuru, and Steel Pulse, all very political groups. Right when I got with them, and we put out our first single, Television, Drug of the Nation, they merged with Polygram. Then they merged with Def Jam. All that got bought out by Interscope. All that got bought by Universal. All that got bought by the Vivendi Corporation. And then, this last year it all got bought by NBC and General Electric.

So, now you don’t have people at the labels who are trying to satisfy the goddess of music. They’re trying to satisfy the shareholders at the end of every quarter. They’re looking for the next “American Idol”… the next 5 million seller that’s here today and gone tomorrow. It’s disposable music. It’s not saying how are we going to find the next Bob Marley, John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Chuck D. They’re just saying: “Hey, what’s selling right now and how can we ram that down people’s throats?”

I feel it’s very destructive. It’s destructive to the souls of the people who consume the music, destructive to the souls of the ones making the music. And with hip-hop, I love the voice, I love the music, I love the people who are involved in making the music. I have a lot of friends who are hardcore rappers, but I don’t like the message that’s in the music. It’s really far from who I am and what I would want to say to the world. Call me idealistic but I still believe in the power of love. I still believe it’s something that’s worth saving.

AGR: Have you noticed any patterns of gentrification of communities since you’ve been on tour?

MF: That’s the way the whole country, the whole world, is going. I mean, it’s no different anywhere. Belize… I spend a lot of time there and it’s happening in Belize. It’s happening in Asia, Africa, everywhere there’s nice affordable places to live, eventually there’s a group that finds that attractive. It happens all the time, and it’s sad wherever it happens. It’s unfortunate where ever it happens. I’m dealing with it in my own neighborhood in San Francisco, Hunter’s Point. I don’t have an answer to it, except….

AGR: Make music?

MF: Well, make music is one thing; make art is one thing, to help us emotionally to find the fortitude to deal with any problem. In any situation you always have to say, “Well, where do we want to see our community five years from now? Do we want to see it be Gap or Starbucks, or do we want to see our community centers thrive, our health clinics thrive, and if that’s the case, then all of us have to become involved in those things. That’s the hard thing. It takes organization, it takes getting involved and becoming active. It’s easy to sit around and yell and bitch and bicker and complain, and it’s another thing to make what we have work.

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