A picture is worth a thousand words

Via jtf and Dr Sito.

Edit: Thanks to S in the comments for the link to additional inspirational, revolutionary art from the class antagonism archives of agitprop.
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Antagonista TV 2K+9: Antagonista ON the TV!

It's hard to believe it's been almost two months since the last post here on Reason, but how about this for breaking the silence....

If you're not yet familiar with the "micro-blogging" world of madness that is Twitter, Suspect Paki, who first pointed yours truly in its general direction and whose own #Gaza Tweets were featured in the New York Times, explains what it's all about: If blogging was cocaine, then Twitter is crack.

Eagle-eyed Reason readers will already have noticed a new feature in the left hand sidebar of Reason, Antagonista Reason'd Tweets which contains real-time updates of The Antagonist's latest witterings on Twitter.

Running in parallel, yesterday, a little discussion about the position of poet laureate was instigated by laureate candidate in the running Wendy Cope, who suggested that the post of laureate should be abolished because poetry can't be written to order. The Channel 4 News team (who produce by far the best news programme on any UK TV channel) begged to differ and farmed out a couple of Tweets to their 2,800 or so followers on Twitter:

channel4news So the favourite to succeed Andrew Motion as poet laureate says you can't write poetry to order. We think otherwise, oh Twitter-verse

11:19 AM yesterday from web

channel4news ...so, Twitter-verse: 'A poem to lift the spirits of a nation'. Up to 140 characters minus @channel4news The best featured tonight.

11:20 AM yesterday from web

'A poem to lift the spirits of the nation' seemed like an interesting challenge, as well as an opportunity to reach the Channel 4 News audience with a message of hope and a succinct synopsis of the ethos behind this blog. So, text editor and character counter at the ready, a short entry was soon submitted.


At 5.30pm yesterday, things began to roll. The daily Snowmail arrived containing a link to "some of the best entries so far: http://bit.ly/Foge", which amazingly included the entry above, and a Channel 4 News Tweet advised:

"Studio run through of our Twitter verse feature. Time allowing Krishnan will read two of our favourites. Stand by @antagonise, @supercoolkp"

Surprised? Yes, very! Then, when Channel 4 News went to air, viewers were treated to the amazing sight of Channel 4 News' anchor man Krishnan Guru-Murthy sat in front of a revolutionary meme:


Below is a brief video snippet in which the daily news' requirement for the repeated repetition of "boom and bust" subliminally replaces the "bust and boom" that was actually written, taken from the full report that can be seen here courtesy of Channel 4.

Congrats also to fellow Twitterer supercoolkp for making it onto the show. Top marks to the Channel 4 News team for embracing the interactivity of cutting edge Internet technology and, of course, for their excellent taste in poetry. Thanks folks!

Viva la people's revolution!

New Banksy artwork hits the streets walls

The cheeky but elusive plaything of the middle-class art pretender, the graffiti artist Banksy, unveiled a new piece of artwork that passes comment on Britain's surveillance society. It is the second piece of Banksy artwork to appear in as many months. Last month the piece below appeared on the wall of a London chemist shop:

Banksy celebrates 60 years of Israel

There are many ways in which the image of children raising and pledging allegiance to the plastic bag flag of Israel Tesco could be interpreted, but it takes a touch of real genius to dumb commentary down to the level that the mainstream media did. News stories reporting on the appearance of the graffiti held that, "It was interpreted as support for the growing campaign to ban free plastic bags." Of course it was. Banksy 'backs ban on plastic bags'. What else could it be?

In a book displaying some of his work, Banging Your Head Against a Brick Wall, Banksy writes how "We can't do anything to change the world until Capitalism crumbles." Whether Capitalism crumbles, or destroys itself -- as it is in the process of doing via a global economic crisis that requires the robbery without limit of the taxpayer, in tandem with 'wealth' creation through the invention of endless yet worthless money -- or whether Capitalism is smashed by the greater mass of humanity that seizes the enduring moment of Capitalism in crisis to overthrow once and for all the system that enslaves it, remains to be seen. Either way, it is clear to all that the personal and private interests of States and Corporations no longer offer any viable or tangible solutions for people or the planet.

Yet the daily diet of mass media mental floss has deleted from history Banksy's wealth of work that contains an inherent anti-capitalist bent and perverts his artistic statements to conjure a world view where there is nothing to worry about other than the annihilation of plastic bags. In the world of media darlings and art snobs Banksy has recanted his anti-Capitalist stance. He is committed to ridding the world of the plastic bags Capitalism produces in order to render the world a better place. Which is, unsurprisingly, utter rubbish, even if Banksy's work, which he donates freely to communities, is changing hands in private monied circles for stupid amounts of cash.

Banksy's latest work rails against what the media term the Big Brother society. Like the 'Nanny State' before it, the familial tag of Big Brother somewhat nullifies the harsh reality that the unbounded implementation of technologies of political control by State and Corporate entities represent. Even if you've read Orwell. The omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent tools of oppression, the prospect of which Hitler would have salivated at, are no longer invasive, intrusive and offensive monstrosities, but instead are divested of their true horrors.

Hello and welcome to Britain. It's only subliminal if you don't notice it.


Below is a similar sized piece that Banksy never quite got around to finishing.


Perhaps he might have finished it if he hadn't given up on anti-Capitalism.