Linked with Let the House of Cards Tumble.
Marcel Votlucka is a writer living and working in New York City (yes another one). His work has appeared in the Stony Brook Press, the Stony Brook Independent, the Suffolk Standard, and Strike the Root. As you might’ve guessed, he’s a graduate of Stony Brook University. His passions include writing (duh!), Japanese language and culture, and cooking. Most of the articles and essays on here focus on politics and society, but also LGBTQ issues. You’ll also find the occasional bit of satire, as well as some fiction. Neverland: Voices from the Holocaust was part of a project started several years ago in the wake of 9/11. It’s been long discontinued in favor of other ventures, but some of the completed chapters are available on the site. Eventually we’ll get around to putting some more cool (IMHO) stuff in the Extras section … (full text on his homepage).
He writes: The hegemonic powers that be hate, above all else, the following question: « Why? » And we the people are more than happy to avoid asking it. For that dangerous question is often the first step toward any positive personal, political, or social transformative process … (full text, July 22, 2008).
His Homepage.
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Sorry, no photo found for Marcel Votlucka – USA
If Only the Super Bowl Could Replace Politics, February 4, 2008.
… How much blood will continue to be spilt because people refuse to see themselves as individuals first and foremost; because loyalty to their own lives and values, their family, friends and kin is not good enough for them? How much blood will have to be spilt over feuds between one « team » and another –Muslims, « Westerners, » Tutsi, Hutu, Sunni, Shi’a … How much good comes of this? Even if your « team » is victorious over the ethnic, political, or religious « opposition, » in a conflict that should never have had to exist in the first place, you’re not free, you’re not liberated; you’re still just a pawn in the machine, a brick in the wall … (full text, February 19, 2008).
My Million-Yen Naoki Prize Money is Taking a Nap, english translation.
Marcel Votlucka understands that the true meaning of the July 4th is the assertion of our unalienable rights, including the right to secession: A recent poll on this site asked if respondents planned to observe (U.S.) Independence Day this year. My belated response is a “yes,” I did observe Independence Day as I always do and not just because I like having a day off from work. I did so because I know what the holiday really means … (full text, July 9, 2008).
I’m an Anarchist, and I Don’t Hate the Troops, Jan 30, 2008.
Marcel Votlucka of SB Independent, a publication of the Stony Brook University chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, offers a good analysis of the Downing Street Memo for students and faculty at the university. The writer noted in a June 18, 2005 post: … (full text).
Arrogance, Abuse, Fraud, and Medical Malpractice.
… It is the proposed databases that the bill’s opponents find particularly disturbing. Section 203 of the Real ID Act provides for a “Driver’s License Agreement,” in which states will maintain databases and share information with other state agencies—including records of motor vehicle violations, suspensions and points on licenses, in addition to addresses, Social Security numbers and information on immigration status. If states do not comply, they will be ineligible for certain federal funds. Opposition comes from a broad range of groups, liberal and conservative alike. In particular, firearm rights groups such as Gun Owners of America and civil libertarians such as the ACLU contend that the new regulations make state DMVs agents of the federal government, a situation which they contend is a violation of Constitutional principles. Gun Owners of America argues that the new regulations could mean that the federal government could gain total control over who may obtain a driver’s license and abuse that power … (full text, March 30, 2005).
The Psychology Behind the State, August 20, 2007.
… In the Wizard of Oz books by L. Frank Baum, Emerald City’s walls are green-tinted, but the actual buildings within are not. Special glasses that visitors must wear (supposedly in order to protect their mortal eyes from the « brightness and glory » of the city around them) make everything appear in green tones. These « green glasses » are one of many illusions the Wizard arranges to inspire awe and respect. Moreover, in the books it is suggested that death does not exist in the land of Oz. Meat even grows on trees, so that animals need not be killed and no mortal price be paid for such delights. So here we have a shared illusion of splendor, wealth, and immortality, which parallels a refusal by our real-life « wizards » in D.C. and Wall Street to face the unintended consequences of their rash policies, the loose credit they dole out, and the fake, worthless paper money they print … (full text, April 4, 2008).
Downing Street Memo Examined in Capitol Hill Hearing, June 18, 2005.
… Unfortunately, though, many attacks on Blackwater are motivated more by an anti-business, anti-market mentality than by a clear understanding of politics and economics. I don’t doubt the critics’ sincerity in wanting to end the Iraq war and occupation, but some of their arguments only feed into the debilitating notion that inherently peaceful and productive free enterprise is suspect, while inherently violent and destructive states are sacrosanct. The problem isn’t Blackwater per se, but the U.S. government’s war. The war is what has bankrupted our country morally and financially, the war is what has decimated Iraq’s infrastructure, the war is what is causing the chaos. Blackwater’s abuses and cronyism wouldn’t be an issue if the government’s damned war hadn’t occurred in the first place. (full text).
I.D.P. Day, July 9, 2008.
… Free market advocates (real ones, not Republican posers!) are hardly utopians because all of the principles Block cites are already essential aspects of a free society and a free market. If anything, we are pragmatic; we recognize that while this will have its problems, overall it could be much better than the system we have now. On the other hand, the State spits upon those lofty four principles in everything it does, so we can’t depend on it to grant unto us moral principle from above. States and governments don’t make people or the economy moral; neither does the market. The choices individual people make, and how they impact others, make them moral. So there is no such thing as a « moral economy, » and even if there were, the State couldn’t hope to create one. (full text).
Find him and his publications on ChainsawTwins.com; on Strike the root; on Geocities.com; on Google Group-search; on Google Blog-search.
links:
The website: No taxation without Representation;
Arrogance, Abuse, Fraud, and Medical Malpractice: How Some Physicians Beg for Lawsuits, May 11, 2008;
The transfer of moral corruption, Sept. 14, 2008.