Jim Pascual Agustin's Blog, page 50
July 13, 2011
Not a review of LYRICS FROM A DEAD LANGUAGE
Lyrics from a dead language: Poems 1977-1991 by Eric Gamalinda
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
One of the books I keep going back to. Luckily I brought it with me to South Africa. 
A proper review one day.
Filed under: Asia, Influences, Literary News & Articles, poetry Tagged: Contemporary Philippine Poetry, Eric Gamalinda, Lyrics from a Dead Language
June 22, 2011
Naomi Klein's THE SHOCK DOCTRINE
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is the first Naomi Klein book I have read. I might look out for more.
Klein starts with a clever, very intimate portrait of a Canadian woman who was given shock therapy for many years. The attempt was to erase her memory, make it like a blank slate, so that a new self could be created to replace the broken one she had. Sounds very sci-fi, really, but what horror. This woman has resorted to a strange ritual of trying to recover her memories by writing on bits of paper memory fragments that come to her out of the blue. This is the tortured self trying to piece together what had been damaged by "treatment," an experiment fully funded by the CIA.
With this personal narrative set, Klein moves from country to country, examining dictatorships, invasions, disasters, and other nasties that have been splashed on most TV screens. She throws in astounding yet little known facts, or facts that were omitted by the perpetrators in order to support the myth of free capitalism's shoulder to shoulder march with democracy.
It's an intriguing book and does not apologize for its stance. Perhaps not as well written as Arundhati Roy's The Ordinary Person's Guide to Empire, but the ocean of information that Klein has put together here makes it a worthy read.
Filed under: Africa, Asia, Bush legacy, Capitalism's greed, environment, Europe, Imperialism, Influences, Latin America, Middle East, North America, politics, Sanaysay / Essays, terrorism Tagged: Arundhati Roy, Naomi Klein, Shock Doctrine
June 6, 2011
Body Bereft, first reading
Body Bereft by Antjie Krog
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Took me longer to read this than Krog's Selected Poems (which I liked more). Some very good poems alongside rather pedestrian ones. Worth another read to see if my views change. The last part, on Table Mountain, was more uneven than I felt it should have been.
Filed under: Africa, Influences, Literary News & Articles, Mga Tula / Poetry, poetry, Sanaysay / Essays Tagged: Antjie Krog, Body Bereft, Table Mountain
May 14, 2011
No! No! Noynoy
Philippine President Benigno (Noynoy) Aquino III made a mockery of the nation's constitution by not just allowing a nuclear-powered ship into our territorial waters. He even boarded it and had smiling photos taken!
The ship is no ordinary nuclear weapons carrier. The USS Carl Vinson is apparently the one that took Osama Bin Laden's body (or what was declared by Washington, following the murder in utter violation of international law, among other atrocities that are being ignored by the media) and dropped it somewhere in the North Arabian Sea.
Here is a link to the full article.
Mr. President, please review your actions. It took the eruption of a volcano to finally get rid of US Military presence in our country, and here you are all smiles. I wonder if you hugged one of the nuclear weapons like it was a teddy bear. Cute.
Filed under: Asia, Imperialism, North America, politics, terrorism Tagged: American terrorism, International Law, media lies, murder, Noynoy Aquino, Osama Bin Laden, Philippines, President Aquino, territorial violation, terrorism, United States, USS Carl Vinson, VFA, Visiting Forces Agreement, war on terror
Forgetting Friday the 13th
I totally forgot the dreaded day – Friday the 13th.
I should have remembered it when I drove past another major car crash as I took the kids to school. It had just happened, the emergency crew were busy treating the injured. I glimpsed someone covered in blood in one of the wrecked vehicles, a bakkie (pickup truck) – luckily the kids didn't notice. Another police car came around to close off the road to traffic as soon as we'd passed the scene.
The thick fog could have made it more difficult for the drivers to see what lay ahead, perhaps they were going too fast (not unlikely) on that stretch.
After dropping off the kids I went to the post office, thinking maybe something was waiting in the mailbox. And surprise of all surprises, there was a small, very beaten up parcel with official Post Office packaging tape that said it had been resealed because the parcel was found open. Maybe someone thought there was something to nick – a sample perfume or sachet of moisturize? 
Luckily, the parcel only had books.
My books! Yehey! Posted on the 11th of April, they finally, finally, finally arrived! My publisher could only send just a copy each of Alien to Any Skin and Baha-bahagdang Karupukan because of the prohibitive cost of air mail from Manila to Cape Town.
My newborn paper children
So this past Friday the 13th was not unlucky at all – at least for me.
Filed under: Africa, Asia, Creatures, Life in a different world, Literary News & Articles, Mga Tula / Poetry, poetry, Silly Babble Tagged: Alien to Any Skin, Baha-bahagdang Karupukan, Jim Pascual Agustin, Philippines, poetry, South Africa, UST Publishing House
April 30, 2011
Influence: A Martian Sends a Postcard Home
A Martian Sends a Postcard Home by Craig Raine
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This was the first book by Craig Raine that I read. The world he showed me was so alien that it took me a long while to understand his work. I was in my first year at university and none of his work was included in the curriculum, so I felt I was on my own trying to crack a mysterious code that would reveal a whole new universe. Looking back, I am glad I persisted.
I know this is not a proper review of the book, I'm still waiting for my own personal copy to arrive delivered by a UFO.
Filed under: Europe, Fragments and Moments, Influences, poetry Tagged: A Martian Sends a Postcard Home, Craig Raine, Jim Pascual Agustin
April 19, 2011
Big Ears, Big Clubs, and the Fifth Fleet…Ssshhhh
Bahrain, do the big ears of Washington not hear you?
Here's part of an article from the Independent. Now tell me they are playing it fair, these so-called do-gooders of NATO and the armed Western powers?
-o-
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Bahrain escapes censure by West as crackdown on protesters intensifies
The Shia were already angry at the ferocious repression by Bahraini security forces of the pro-democracy movement, which had sought to be non-sectarian. After the monarchy had rejected meaningful reform, the wholly Sunni army and security forces started to crush the largely Shia protests on 15 and 16 March.
The harshness of the government repression is provoking allegations of hypocrisy against Washington, London and Paris. Their mild response to human rights abuses and the Saudi Arabian armed intervention in Bahrain is in stark contrast to their vocal concern for civilians in Libya.
The US and Britain have avoided doing anything that would destabilise Saudi Arabia and the Sunni monarchies in the Gulf, to which they are allied. They are worried about Iran taking advantage of the plight of fellow Shia, although there is no evidence that Iran has any role in fomenting protests despite Bahraini government claims to the contrary. The US has a lot to lose because its Fifth Fleet, responsible for the Gulf and the north of the Indian Ocean, is based in Bahrain.
-o-
from Wikipedia: The Fifth Fleet
Filed under: Africa, Capitalism's greed, Europe, Imperialism, Middle East, North America, politics, terrorism Tagged: Bahrain, human rights, human rights violations, Saudi Arabia, Shia, Sunni, US Fifth Fleet, US imperialism, war on terror
April 18, 2011
RHINO 2011!!!! Yipppeeeeeeeeee!!!!
RHINO 2011 has published my poem "People Like You" which is included in Alien to Any Skin. They are putting up an mp3 page of authors reading their poems – I am yet to submit my croaky voice.
Filed under: Mga Tula / Poetry, poetry, Silly Babble Tagged: Alien to Any Skin, Baha-bahagdang Karupukan, Jim Pascual Agustin, People Like You, Rhino 2011, UST Publishing House
April 12, 2011
Transnational Mining Companies GO AWAY!
Sorry for shouting there. But these firms ignore the basic rights of indigenous people all over the world. Here is a quote from another website – I hope you go and read the whole article. It falls short of naming all the greedy mining companies and specific Philippine government officials though.
-o-
Mining operations and applications are in Abra, Benguet, Apayao, Kalinga, Ifugao and Mountain Province. Jaime said that mining corporations have also entered the coastal areas in Ilocos region. She added that the mining projects will eventually poison the Abra river, a major river system in the north. "Mining TNCs have destroyed the mountains, the rivers and the sea," Jaime said.
Besides mining, there are existing and proposed dam projects in the Cordillera.
"The whole of Cordillera region is being sold out," Jaime said.
In Cagayan Valley, there are two FTAAs covering more than 20,000 hectares of land and eight MPSAs covering more than 21,000 hectares. Jaime said among those affected are the Bugkalot and Ilongot tribes in Nueva Vizcaya and Quirino, the Agta, Aggay and Ayta in Cagayan, Quirino and Isabela and the Igorots who were displaced from Cordillera and have settled in the provinces of Cagayan Valley.
"These Igorots are again facing the threat of being driven away by mining," Jaime said.
In Central Luzon, there are 18 MPSAs and 5 EPs mostly in Zambales province. Indigenous tribes such as Ayta, Dumagat and Igorot are most affected.
Jaime said mining TNCs are also targeting Mindoro and Palawan. More than 99 mining applications cover more than 51 percent of Mindoro and Mangyans comprise 21 percent of the population in the province. In Palawan, meanwhile, 14 towns are covered by existing operations and mining applications. There are more than 280,000 indigenous peoples subdivided into six groups.
"Foreign large-scale mining would wipe out indigenous peoples in these areas. It is tantamount to ethnocide," Jaime said.
FROM: Cordillera: Indigenous Peoples Raise Alarm Against Aggressive Mining Policy of Aquino
-o-
(Ang Pag-uwi ng Bangkay)
Filed under: Asia, Capitalism's greed, environment, Imperialism, politics Tagged: destruction of the environment, human rights, human rights violations, indigenous people, mining, Multinational Mining, transnational mining corporations, US imperialism, violence
April 6, 2011
Burnt Bridge April 2011 Online Issue
Two poems from my book Alien to Any Skin got accepted by Burnt Bridge Online. A new poem, "Imagining Crumbs," was also accepted. You get a free PDF download of the issue.
Filed under: Asia, Capitalism's greed, environment, Fragments and Moments, Influences, Life in a different world, Literary News & Articles, Mga Tula / Poetry, North America, poetry, politics, terrorism Tagged: Alien to Any Skin, Baha-bahagdang Karupukan, Burnt Bridge, coalition of the willing, human rights, human rights violations, Jim Pascual Agustin, murder of civilians, Philippines, terrorism, United States, UST Publishing House, war on terror
