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Le Grand Soir, one of the good news sites I visit too rarely, has a series of two interesting articles on Yves Klein, depicted in a new book as a charlatan and plagiariser.
But I stole it first!
That might not be sufficient to write off Klein, although there are more piquant revelations that speak in his disfavour. In retrospect, and from an art history perspective, what matters more is his influence on other artists.
The same writer, Maxime Vivas, also engages in a diatribe against two other independent media platforms, Le MĂ©dia and Blast. Vivas admits that both cover domestic politics very well from a leftist perspective, but also claims they often fail miserably when it comes to geopolitics.
C’est bien beau de traiter l’actualité sociale de notre pays en se démarquant des autres médias (c’est le cas, je le concède), mais si le boulot est de dégommer la principale force de gauche et l’homme qui l’incarne, si sur l’international, toute voix qui se dit nouvelle s’aligne sur les positions des autres, celles des milliardaires, celles des États Unis, on a déjà ce qu’il faut en rayon. Au bout du compte, le nouveau média sera plus nocif que les médias des milliardaires en cela que, paré d’une aura de probité pour les informations sociales nationales, il pourra faire avaler mieux que quiconque la propagande sur la marche du monde. Dénoncer le Venezuela, Cuba, la Chine (le Tibet, le Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Taïwan...), la Russie (Poutine), la guerre en Ukraine (mais pas Zelensky, 8 ans de bombardement du Donbass...), dénoncer tous les pays qui sont dans le collimateur de Washington, sans leur donner un espace, sans mise en perspective, sans analyse de la lutte des classes au niveau mondial, tous les médias savent excellemment le faire aujourd’hui. Mettre à égalité l’imaginaire génocide ouïghour et le réel génocide israélien, c’est bien ce qui se fait déjà . Pour nous empêcher de comprendre l’influence des États Unis, de leur armée, de l’OTAN, de l’Union européenne (appendice états-unien) dans notre vie de tous les jours, dans les décisions de nos gouvernants (de gauche et de droite), dans le destin (et le déclin) de notre pays, nous n’avons besoin de rien. Pour que nous ne voyions pas les préparatifs d’une possible troisième guerre mondiale, la machine à décerveler est opérationnelle.
https://www.legrandsoir.info/blast-le-souffle-de-l-infaux.html
The Ubuesque reference to "la machine à décerveler" seems apt in times when "your brain is the next battlefield of war" as some strategy document puts it. Clearly China is in the crosshairs, it must irk those with terrible amounts of capital to invest that their markets can't just be bought up like they are used to. And since China is the next big target we must expect a barrage of accusations, finger pointing about any flaws one can think of, and blatant lies, grotesque lies that commentators will be reluctant to debunk. This has already gone on for some years (with similar campaigns directed at Russia, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, and possibly we'll see a few other BRICS countries treated the same way in the future). But the tarnishing of China's reputation can be expected to intensify. Of course one can have legitimate concerns with various Chinese policies too, as with those of any country. But in this case the ambition is more totalitarian. First, to borrow a phrase from Mark Sleboda, a "no thought zone" is imposed, the nation is painted in a monochrome ugly light without room for nuance, til the populace no longer minds if the government sends a few troops their way.
How are the Uighurs of Xinjiang actually treated? Although I haven't been there to see for myself, I suspect Maxime Vivas is right to speak about a totally imaginary genocide, the real genocide being committed in Gaza anyway. Despite all efforts to kill each and every journalist who enters Gaza we get to see more images of destruction than anyone can bear. But the assumption of a genocide of Uighurs, regardless of the paucity of direct documentation, easily slips into discussions and is almost never questioned. That is the tangible effect of a "no thought zone." I think even Yves Cochet made a passing reference to it in this _must see_ interview where he lays out why our entire civilisation will collapse within ten years.
These left-leaning media that get domestic politics right but stand with Empire and oligarchs on matters geopolitical are sometimes described as controlled opposition. That description may be valid insofar as they receive funding through opaque channels from some billionaire. Or perhaps the journalists are only desperate for a job and too stupid and/or lazy to find out how the world outside their own country actually works. The net result is the same. Controlled opposition doesn't mean that someone stands behind the journalists and whispers in their ears what they must write. They are selected for financial support because they already have the correct world view. Jonathan Cook often comes with harsh criticisms of The Guardian and Monbiot. Democracy Now! and The Intercept attract similar complaints. Although there is some valuable reporting in all of those media, their good reputation earned simply by being better than average mainstream media on certain issues, such as domestic politics, can easily be used to deceive their audience on geopolitical issues unless they have the habit of checking a few other independent sources. Which of course is highly recommended, as long as they are available.
Consortium News was recently hacked, most likely by someone who is bothered by too much free speech. After a few days they were back online. Why the Internet Archive was taken down doesn't seem to be known. However, for anyone interested in large-scale history revisionism there might be a certain utility of having such an archive dismantled. Mere speculation; at this point some other explanation seems more likely.
In my previous post I announced the album release of Un coup de dés. By now it should be available on CD as well.