Who else loves Gramsci? Show of hands?
Note: this comes purely from va dare - who couldn't post it personally due to intertubez problems. This is a work-in-progress - trying to correct error messages.
Top Comments was prepared and written by va dare. But, because of technical difficulties Ed Tracey posted for her.
=========================================
|
Antonio Gramsci (January 23, 1891 - April 27, 1937) was an Italian philosopher, writer, politician and political theorist. A founding member and onetime leader of the Communist Party of Italy, he was imprisoned by Mussolini's Fascist regime. His writings are heavily concerned with the analysis of culture and political leadership and he is notable as a highly original thinker within the Marxist tradition. He is renowned for his concept of cultural hegemony as a means of maintaining the state in a capitalist society.
|
(More on Gramsci at Wikipedia, The International Gramsci Society, his writings at MIA, & misc. stuff at Gramsci Links Archive.)
I love Gramsci. And I'm not the only one apparently.
There's an amazing vitality in Gramsci studies in Europe. For trade unionists, especially, Gramsci's teachings are very much alive.
Today I started clicking through the images uploaded into his Facebook account. I had no idea that his likeness and ideology informed so many garage doors and other visual arts on the European landscape.
This is some truly cool vernacular Art. |
|
|
LOVE the virile, strongly gendered imagery here. Haven't seen this kind of art in America since the New Deal hired up all the starving artists and their graffiti-prone cousins and put them to work on murals for every post office and train station.
I Want A (new) New Deal!
|
GRAMSCI ART on the Landscape. More representation of Labor flexing its power. |
|
|
DITTO Another view of GramsciPower in the Vernacular. Can ANYONE Translate?
Gramsci's writings are well known to the Right - there's a major examination over at Free Republic but from the comments, it appears that they are totally mis-using and mis-understanding him. (The downside of Gramsci is he's accessible) But I digress...
|
For an Appalachian scholar like myself, Gramsci's writings on hegemony (getting it, keeping it) and the subaltern class are especially relevant.
Think of it like this: the DLC act as subaltern on-the-ground shock-troops on behalf of globe-trotting Capital but they are nothing more than temporarily useful clerks and 'housekeepers.' The DLC are hardly the first such grouping in American history but they seem genuinely clueless when their future utility is rudely dismissed by their big Capital bosses/owners. Today the official positions of the United Mine Workers may read better than those of the DLC but in practice, the two are virtually indistinguishable on the ground from MY perspective. Gramsci would say that we are truly fucked.
Here (at right) is some handiwork of the subaltern class and their natural collaborators on the ground. THEY call this an Economy. I say it's more a sign of spiritual surrender but damn! it does display vividly the unfathomable levels of self-delusion into which Capital has forced us.
THEY call THIS an economy? I call this death with nary a stick left to remind us of what was. Too many workers are trapped in this kind of wage serfdom, buffeted by poisonous winds and all manner of toxic byblow(s) from global Capital.
I want to reclaim Antonio Gramsci for Appalachia's sake. The war over cultural hegemony - ie, the power to NAME - is fierce and bloody in my home-region where so many are fighting to rein in Mountaintop Removal. The Internet has widened our audience so that a real international conversation can be held on the destructive impact of MTR upon commonwealth and health. The industrial/political complex - let's just call it 'Capital' - defines MTR in terms of growth, progress, and profit (to someone). Gramsci would say (and I'd agree) that this may pay a wage but it sure ain't making a living. While some may indeed profit, too many more are dispossessed and sent packing on down the road.
Appalachia is not alone in this struggle. All over the globe, ravenous Capital is devouring our habitat, depleting our water, and erasing our landmarks.
WE MUST FREE THE WORKERS!
FREE THEIR OFFSPRING, FAMILIES, AND HAIRDRESSERS!
FREE (even) THE SUBALTERNS FROM THEIR BONDAGE!
Can I get an Amen?
|
|
~~~~~
On to Top Comments!
Here at Top Comments we round up some of the site's best, funniest, most mojo'd and most informative commentary. We depend on your help with talent spotting. If you see a comment that deserves recognition, please send it to topcomments at gmail by 9:45pm Eastern. Please please please include a few words about why you sent it in as well as your user name (even if you think we know it already :-)), so we can credit you with the find!
From bronte17:
Mother of Zeus speaks of the tragic waste in our juvenile detention centers in response to dkistner to be born smart and impoverished from the gem of a diary Southern history repeating itself: Descent into madness by Old Redneck.
StPeteDave recirculates this Brzezinski truth - delivered straight to Scarborough's face - in MSNBC must fire Joe Scarborough by CodenameV. Would that we could have more truths delivered to the stuffed-shirt phony news anchors of our infotainment system.
~~~~~
From blueoregon:
I read this too late to send in yesterday. I felt this comment from Fabienne in Black Kos, Tuesday's Chile diary encapsulates what many of us see in this administration's impact on our culture at large, and the hope it still carries.
~~~~~
Greetings from Thinking Fella!
Today, I nom. nom, nominate this as a top comment - Ann T, Bush in reference to Sarah Palin's 'refudiate' being an actual word. (was posted in Cheers & Jeers this morning)
~~~~~
zenbassoon wrote:
In the pie fight in deaniac83's diary diary on purity tests, slinkerwink takes umbrage at being called a "Left Puritan" and interjects some humor as the pies are flying left and right.
~~~~~
Submitted by Commonmass:
This comment was funny enough that I had to submit it. For Hate Mail fans, this is very funny.
~~~~~
From Eddie C:
My very own comment about my very own diary that was titled Help the 9/11 First Responders and Heroes. Because it was the diary that received the least amount of views on jotter's list today and also because ignoring such a comment is so much easier than a "progressive community" looking in the mirror.
~~~~~
MY OWN PICKS!
comment by Sirenus re: Bush & Co. was brilliant. Vile, but brilliant.
I want to ride the choo choo too!
I think Hillbilly Dem is brilliant.
A much needed morality check by
BeninTN (I am sympatico!)
Do read Limelite on the age of telepolitics
Is it 'Democrat' or is it 'Democratic?' It depends! TrueBlueMajority explains.
Brillant Oh SNAP by GussieFN
Kingsmeg on the status of health carein the Western Hemisphere.
~~~~~
Top Mojo (cskendrick/sardonyx-style) excluding search-identifiable tip jars, first diary comments, Cheers and Jeers, and various pootie::
q 1) Sometimes I read good diaries on Daily Kos. by Fishgrease — 194
2) Ahem, we are the Frustrati, not by slinkerwink — 141
3) Beautiful, very moving diary. by LanceBoyle — 136
4) WOW! And I mean WOW! by Yosef 52 — 114
5) Actual insights into the American South by recontext — 113
6) You do read Faulkner... by David Kroning II — 112
7) Ignore slinkerwink's hijack attempt. by Musket Man — 111
8) This has been the problem all along by Fe Bongolan — 107
9) You continue to earn my respect, Mike by MinistryOfTruth — 106
10) There is a reason some of our very best writers by dkistner — 100
11) This kind of response by bleeding heart — 99
12) Loved your diary, and especially your references by allep10 — 93
13) Thank you. by deaniac83 — 93
14) Difference is I don't go into your diary by deaniac83 — 93
15) Michael, they bought off the Senate by FishOutofWater — 91
16) If not for the Right Wing Noise Machine by Jeff Y — 77
17) The Goal of Capitalists... by Mr X — 75
18) Me as well, Nurse Kelley by Dallasdoc — 74
19) The difference may have something to do with... by bogbud — 74
20) Bloomberg/Scarborough = BS in 2012! by citizenx — 72
21) Neither are we :-) by slinkerwink — 72
22) I think you just proved by Musket Man — 72
23) Generally, black people have each other. by vacantlook — 71
24) See, when you take on critters like Cigna by DelicateMonster — 70
25) LOL! I used to run into the by MadGeorgiaDem — 69
26) What saddens me the most... by David Kroning II — 69
27) Read Howard Zinn by jeffinfremont — 68
28) Honest to flamin' god. by mofembot — 67
29) that's not what Soros said. by Adam B — 67
30) Another fantastic diary by Kristina40 — 64
Top Mojo with No Exclusions:
1) Tip Jar by Old Redneck — 1005
2) Tip Jar by Michael Moore — 542
3) Tip Jar by pkohan — 378
4) Tip Jar by sostos — 311
5) Tip Jar by slinkerwink — 279
6) It is a big deal. by vacantlook — 278
7) Tips for thoughts by deaniac83 — 274
8) Tip Jar by CodenameV — 221
9) Sometimes I read good diaries on Daily Kos. by Fishgrease — 194
10) Tip Jar by Democrats Ramshield — 174
11) Tip Jar by AnnetteK — 169
12) Tip Jar by bobswern — 141
13) Ahem, we are the Frustrati, not by slinkerwink — 141
14) Beautiful, very moving diary. by LanceBoyle — 136
15) If you think that writing a diary about DWTS by Seneca Doane — 127
16) Tip Jar by it really is that important — 118
17) WOW! And I mean WOW! by Yosef 52 — 114
18) Actual insights into the American South by recontext — 113
19) You do read Faulkner... by David Kroning II — 112
20) Ignore slinkerwink's hijack attempt. by Musket Man — 111
21) Tip Jar by KosAbility — 110
22) This has been the problem all along by Fe Bongolan — 107
23) You continue to earn my respect, Mike by MinistryOfTruth — 106
24) There is a reason some of our very best writers by dkistner — 100
25) This kind of response by bleeding heart — 99
26) Loved your diary, and especially your references by allep10 — 93
27) Thank you. by deaniac83 — 93
28) Difference is I don't go into your diary by deaniac83 — 93
29) Michael, they bought off the Senate by FishOutofWater — 91
30) Tip Jar by kestrel9000 — 90
~~~~~
Always the mountains,
va dare
Note: this comes purely from va dare - who couldn't post it personally due to intertubez problems.