We W.A.N.T. No More War
Sorry things have been a bit quiet round here of recent. I had this crazy election thing going on and then as soon as that was over we skipped over to Vanuatu to spend 10 days working with the local community on economic sustainability issues. More on that later when I’ve edited up video and photos! I have some serious craft loveliness from my trip to share!
We’ve also been pretty busy with the Craft Cartel summer market series. We had the first market (in the cold!) on Sunday at the Bicycle Film Festival B.est F.riends F.orever Street Party and it was an extreme amount of fun! Great to meet some new cartel members and awesome to see some mad bike fun going on. The Craft Cartel was sponsoring the market, Art Jam, the Bike Beauty Pageant (which I got to judge!) and the Bicycle Mating Project. Here’s some pics:
This is Dan from Nearly Road Kill with his best bad-ass face on. His belts made from old bike tyres were a serious hit with the BMX kids. This market was made for Dan!
My lovely wee stall set up on a plastic kids table which we grabbed from Savers on the way there!
They had Bike Polo too. It was mental. I actually thought it could be a bit more violent. But they tried their best. And I did admire the sticker on the bike in the foreground of this pic which read ‘One Less Horse’. Nice. If you find the thought of riding around on a bike while chasing a plastic ball to be your ultimate idea of thrillseeking, check their website for training and playing times.
(note the blue skies in that photo for all you who stayed home ’cause of the ‘rain’)
Some of the Craft Cartel crew have been busy over the last couple of weeks attaching gorgeous crafty valentines to bikes all over town. If you found one on your bike and also managed to find it’s matching pair, you could come claim a prize. These two bikes found each other and decided to come to the street party on a date. It got a bit risque…
There’s more pics on our Facewank group if you’re wanting more.
So while the cool kids of Melbourne have been celebrating all the different fossil fuel-free ways to get around and have fun, some crafty Iraq War vets have been bringing attention to the human costs of filling up your car. Called Operation W.A.N.T. (We Are Not Toys), this ace crew went and did an installation at their local gas station to show people just how many US soldiers have been buried during this state sponsored corporate resource grab.
Awesome pics by Jonas Lara
Props Groundswell
So now all my winter business has passed and my summer business is beginning I should be posting a lot more stuff on here. And we’ll be doing more work on the Craft Cartel site so you should get on the mailing list!
Iraq I Knit
Well I don’t but Lisa does.
Lisa is also the only person in the world who has ever convinced me I should take up knitting. I’ll get there one day….
These amazing pieces have been made for the 5th Anniversary and they are so so gorgeous.
I would just love to own a jersey aka sweater like that!
While I’m on the topic of Lisa’s stuff I was gonna post about this one the other day but never got to it. This was the tribute knit dress for the Obama campaign
Now THAT makes politics sexy eh?
I reckon it’s time I had a little rant about the primaries ’cause I’ve had a number of people ask me recently what I reckon. I don’t really care who wins the Democrat race (don’t care about the elephants). And I think the whole conversation about what’s more important the first black guy or first white chick is absolute trash. As far as I’m concerned, they may as well be white men ’cause they’re not acting ANY DIFFERENT.
I have never been a fan of equality. I am a fan of liberation. As a feminist I have no desire to be free to be like a man, I want to be free to be a woman. And I assume if I was African American I would have a similar sentiment. Hilary and Obama don’t offer any reform to the fundamental system which oppresses women and people of colour. Quite the opposite if you ask me.
I thoroughly recommend you read this piece from the Indigenest Intelligence Review on the Obama ‘promise’. It is well written and gives brilliant historical context. And it makes me ask the questions about what either candidate is offering to the indigenous people of North America? Do either of them acknowledge that the ‘great’ nation of the United States of America is built on stolen land and fuelled by genocide?
Obama, whom one would expect to have some level of sympathy at least has a campaign tshirt that looks like this
these were part of a series that featured other such moments of genius as “Ghettobama” “Frobama”, “Showbama” and “Unabama”.
This tshirt has demonstrated such a high level of ignorance and disrespect. The Navajo people do not wear headdresses and those people who do only do so in ceremony. So this is insanely offensive. And compounding this is of course is Obama’s complete lack of policy in relation to indigenous people.
If I was American I wouldn’t be very inclined to participate in a presidential election. Despite attempting to be the global voice of freedom, the US has one of the least democratic electoral systems in the world. Electoral reform is a far more worthy campaign to invest energy in, if you’re into voting that is. But if I was gonna vote, it would definitely go to Cynthia. The only true pro peace candidate.
Respec’
Iraq I Roll
Yesterday (otherwise known as today in the rest of the world who haven’t caught up yet) was the 5th Anniversary of the US Invasion of Iraq. So I’ve been thinking about what my contribution was gonna be to the blogswarm.
I thought I could discuss how ironic it is that many on the right – and I’m talking outside of the US here, I have long since given up trying to figure out the thought logic of the US right – are now calling the war a disaster. I mean, what did they think was going to happen? Maybe the US Army would skip in and take out Saddam and give all the kids soft toys and look like heroes?
I thought about discussing the original debate about how it was all about access to resources and now it appears the war is costing more than it’s making. Which is of course the reason why the right is now starting to think it’s all a waste of time.
I thought about discussing how disgusting it is that there isn’t even a record of how many Iraqi people have died during their alleged liberation. It’s a bit hard to call it a liberation when the liberators have taken out more people than the original dictator.
Well I reckon there’s a lot of people talking about that stuff so instead, here’s my contribution
Oh and while we’re on the topic of liberating people
