Drone warfare - killing by remote control

Medea Benjamin
OR books
ISBN-13: 978-1-78168-O77-3

As far as this blog is concerned it goes without saying that the current upsurge in the use of drones for killing, making war as un-involving and casual as a shopping-mall game, is a genuine evil which too few people recognise as such. Medea Benjamin has been on the road introducing her book on the subject, and recently appeared at Bristol Foyles bookshop as part of that city's innovative Festival of Ideas.

Weeks after the 2002 American invasion of Afghanistan, she visited that country. There, on the ground, talking with victims of the strikes, she learned the truth about the “smart bombs” on which U.S. forces claimed to be increasingly reliant. Now, with the use of drones escalating at a pace unthinkable just a few years ago when this was science-fiction, Benjamin has written this highly readable, hard-fact book as a call to action: “It is meant to wake a sleeping public,” she writes, “lulled into thinking that drones are good, that targeted killings are making us safer.” 

Medea Benjamin is also a driving force behind Code Pink, which is well worth visiting if you want to know more or better still, be active.

Mumbo Sauce

Ron English and Clark Fox

Washington DC is well-known for its phoney classical  monuments and for links to Superman, through DC Comics or being a contender, with New York, for being the original of the City of Metropolis. But like any city of any size it has a life of its own, and its own cultural proclivity. A new show opening there in April, Mumbo Sauce, includes one artist personally known to this blog, Clark Fox, well-known for his finely-crafted Pop since his Manhattan days. Plus BORF, Richard Colman, Cynthia Connolly, Tim Conlon, Cool "Disco" Dan, Globe Poster Archive, Mark Jenkins, Rosina Teri Memolo, Mingering Mike and Robin Rose. It's called after a local favourite relish... I'll let the curators take over here: Mumbo Sauce is a part of the African American culture and is the flavour of home for true D.C. natives.The exhibition was planned in response to another local show,  Pump me up – D.C. subculture of the 1980s, an art exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery of Art  It's a survey of artists who have, or once had, deep roots in Washington, D.C. The exhibition will be an exploration and commentary on how the environment of Go-Go, graffiti, punk, hardcore, graphic design and fine art has influenced their work.
Mumbo Sauce is a red, sweet, and tangy sauce, thinner than barbeque sauce and similar to plum sauce. Arguably indigenous to Washington, D.C., the condiment is found in carry outs throughout D.C. and the surrounding metro areas.
Like the sense of identity that Mumbo Sauce carries for the District of Columbia, the artists featured in the show will be creating new works and 'tribute' installations surveying their relationships and remembrances from living and working in the Capitol. The art will be in various media and (of course) for sale.
Visit them online at www.contemporarywing.com/projects/mumbo-sauce.
And if you're in Washington any time before April 21st, the place to head for is 906 H Street, NE Washington, DC 20002