Michael Moore is an accomplished thought provoking shock jock and his new offering is no exception from the looks of the previews.  This time he has capitalism in his sights and particularly takes issue with the free market’s lack of compassion for the less fortunate and inherent exploitative tendency. Specifically the growing gap between the haves and the have nots which is being made even more prominent by the global recession. In light of widespread economic downturn; Moore’s points are bound to capture the attention of the masses especially when he uses emotive evidence (such as the statistic that the richest 1% of Americans have more than the bottom 95% combined) to challenge capitalism morally. These points also directly tie into the ongoing firery U.S. healthcare debate and outrage about large banker bonuses that reward financial speculation (which the G20 have coincidentally just agreed on). However when inevitably challenged about an alternative, Michael Moore can only suggest democratic capitalism…

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In the 1970s a group of surfer/skaters from Venice Beach, California revolutionised and popularised the sport with their audacious tricks and turns. Their aim was simple: to replicate the quick turns and flexibility on land that surfers had on water. This group of skaters were known as the Z-Boys, members of the Zephyr Skateboard Team and were recently popularised in the documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys and the film Lords of Dogtown which were both written by real life Z-Boy Stacey Peralta. The aerial and sliding skate moves that the Z-Boys invented were the basis for the aerial skateboarding and surfing still popular today. Considered the most influential skateboard team in history, the Z-Boy movement continues to this day as an expression of performance, innovation and style. Peralta was one of the best freestyle skaters of his era also had a hand in the development of a certain Tony Hawk and sponsored the young Rodney Mullen when he first turned professional as a member of the Bones Brigade. Mullen, who is credited with inventing thirty-nine distinctive tricks, is perhaps the epitome of evolution from the days of the Z-Boys.

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Wim ‘the Iceman’ Hof is a wonder of nature, a superman of sorts. He’s a man who incredulously bucks the trend by being able to withstand excruciatingly cold temperatures (that are likely to kill you or I) by regulating his inner/core temperatures with his mind. He has managed to, sit in a bin full of ice cubes for more than an hour, climb Mt Everest (and other mountains like Kilimanjaro) wearing only a pair of shorts and boots, swim 57 and a half meters under a metre thick ice flow (as cold as water gets without freezing) and run a half marathon barefooted and only wearing his trademark shorts in Finland’s sub-zero temperatures.

It does not stop there. It seems that Heros (tv show) is not so far-fetched either as the Discovery Channel has a series entitled the Real SuperHumans which [read more..]

K’naan’s latest project is a mixtape series paying tribute to three iconic musicians and exemplary human rights activists: Fela Kuti, Bob Marley and Bob Dylan. They were all true global citiizens; with the common thread between them being their use of music to highlight injustice and cultivate social consciousness (globally) through a message of equality between people. The fact that (regardless of their messages) each was a master of their distinct musical genres means that this tribute series also takes on the role of an enlightening cross-cultural excursion and socio-political education. On another level, the project also asks broader questions about the substance of musical content at large and whether it should be held to a higher (moral) standard or judged purely on entertainment value. These musicians’ stories are enthralling and too expansive to cover in this post or a tribute series but definitely worth researching and/or catching up on. The Messengers series is available for free download from here.

Fela Anikulapo Kuti – pioneer of Afrobeat music:

“Yes, if you are in England the music can be an instrument for enjoyment, so you can sing about love. You can sing about who you are going to bed with next. My society is underdeveloping because of an alien system on our people now so there is no music for enjoyment. There is nothing like love, there is something like a struggle for people’s existence. So, as an artist, politically, artistically the whole idea about your environment must be represented in the music, in the artist. So I think as far as Africa is concerned music cannot be for enjoyment. Music must be for revolution.” – Fela (Quoted from a skit on The Messengers: Episode 1)

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Say hello to Nandor Tánczos, New Zealand’s first and only Rastafarian Member of Parliament, well at least up until 2008 when he resigned his seat in order to concentrate on more grassroots endeavours. Tánczos, by his own admission comes from an anarchist background politically and he had to consider what appeared to be contradictions between this background and his own Rastafarian philosophy before entering Parliament in 1999. However, he reconciled these difference by striving to change what he considers to be an elitist power structure that is designed to maintain the status quo. He asserts that “True power does not reside in Parliament. It lies in the hearts and lives of ordinary people. That’s why most of my life has been committed to supporting grassroots participation in decision-making. At the same time it is useful to have allies in Parliament who support community participation.”

Far from being a mere political activist and dangerous radical (as his opponents sometimes characterised him), Tánczos holds a Bachelor of Social Sciences degree from the University of Waikato, and a diploma in sustainable land management at Unitec. Whilst an MP he was the only parliamentarian in the world with a qualification in permaculture design. He also co-founded Hempstore Aotearoa, a business that produces hemp-related products such as cosmetics and clothing. So this is a man who really knows what he is talking about.

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