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Title: Emma Goldman for Sale Author: Anonymous Date: 1993 Language: en Topics: academy, commodification, Emma Goldman, Fifth Estate Source: Retrieved on 17 January 2011 from http://www.spunk.org/texts/misc/sp000175.txt Notes: From Fifth Estate
everyone has long known that nothing is sacred in the modern era so only
a few are shocked when everything is marketed. currently, a mini-debate
is raging over the propriety of selling a large range of products
bearing an “X” on them with the advent of the release of “Malcolm X,”
Spike Lee’s cinematic depiction of the slain black leader’s life.
it is ironic that the symbol taken by members of the nation of islam to
their “slave name” and widely publicized by a man reviled by white
society and parts of the black community as well, now appears on
everything from baseball caps to potato chip bags. Betty Shabazz,
Malcolm’s widow, even has a lawyer tracking down those who use the
trademark “x” without compensating her and director Lee who hold
copyrights on the mark.
can you copyright a letter or a roman numeral? that’s a question for
their attorneys and the potato chip processors.
in a smaller version of the same hustle, Candace Falk, curator of the
Emma Goldman Papers collection in Berkeley, CA, offers “Emmarabilia” for
those who view the radical anarchist as merely an “interesting rebel or
feminist.” not content with cornering the market on goldman’s papers,
falk will sell you coffee mugs bearing emma’s face as well as posters
and buttons adorned with her militant (but never anarchist) statements.
falk recently has been asked by a consortium of 28 los angeles high
schools to develop a “goldman curriculum” to “show how goldman
maintained a vision of hope while expressing the alienation of a
marginal member of society.” couldn’t you puke? the invitation came
following the LA riots, but falk will undoubtedly hide goldman’s anarchy
as she usually does and ignore her support for such events as alexander
berkman’s armed attack on the industrialist frick and leon czolgosz’
assassination of mckinley.
LA kids, like any others, would greatly benefit from exposure to
goldman’s life and anarchist writings, however it wouldn’t be to any
school principal’s liking nor would falk be able to pick up her
consulting fees if she was to present the “real” emma. what would have
been goldman’s opinion of the recent LA riots?
one of her quotes suggest the answer: “ask for work. if they won’t give
it to you, ask for bread. if they deny you that, take it!” we’ve always
thought the equation would be best practiced in a reversed form, but a
domesticated emma, now in service the state, is unrecognizable to us.
if you want to see the hideous emma-rabilia catalog or just tell candace
what you think of her efforts, the address is: the emma goldman papers,
uc berkely,
2372 ellsworth,
berkeley ca 94720.