U.S. Department of Art & Technology
Press Secretary
press@usdept-arttech.net
For Immediate Release: June 14, 2002
APPOINTMENT OF NEW
POST
CONFRONTS NATIONAL INSECURITY
ABE GOLAM, DIRECTOR
OF THE
OFFICE OF POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC INSECURITY
WASHINGTON, DC - Responding to criticism of
the Bush Administration's handling of national security in its recent
proposal to create the Department of Homeland Security, Secretary Randall
M. Packer has called for the creation of the Office of Political and Economic
Insecurity within the Department of Art & Technology, to confront
rising insecurity in the nation and around the world as a result of the
administration's plan to restructure the US government. The Secretary
has appointed Abe Golam, legendary info-shaman, cracker of the sorcerer-code
and creator of Nanoscript, as its Director.
Mr. Packer's proposal would place into a single office the Department's
Office of Artist & Homeland Insecurity, Bureau of Cultural Transformation
and Paradigmatic Shifts, the Bureau for the Protection & Immunization
Against Mediation & Alienation, the Bureau for Rhizomatics, Community
& Generative Data, and the Office of Freedom of Speech.
"Since September 11, all levels of government
have been pointing fingers like never before while our airports become
Keystone cop scenarios and our border security remains a farce,"
Mr. Golam stated in a recent memorandum to the Secretary. "Even as
they pretend to be taking steps toward improving information sharing among
our intelligence agencies, and suggest in their media-manipulated spin
doctoring that we are beginning to deploy more resources and personnel
to protect our critical infrastructure, our federal investigators are
still working with computer technology manufactured in the dark ages.
Our children have access to better technology than our federal intelligence
agents."
Mr. Golam expressed his anger at the administration
for not seeking support from the nation's artists in its response to recent
international crises, "The changing nature of the threats facing
America requires a new government, a new administration, a new way of
looking at the world that protects the environment, that celebrates diversity,
takes care of the poor, and prioritizes the development of new forms of
art using advanced digital technologies that will help us find a cure
to the 'death-denial' of our present leaders." In a stinging acknowledgment
of failures that took place during the administration's watch, Mr. Golam
directly attacked Bush's new homeland policies and its impact on civil
liberties, "Our domestic agenda has been hijacked by far right wing
ideologues and military-religious zealots who are trying to whittle away
at the basic rights of all US citizens as guaranteed by our Constitution."
Under Mr. Packer's proposal, the new office
would put at least 22 separate bureaus, programs and media research centers
under one umbrella group. But the conceptual framework of the new office
is clear: each division is supposed to handle a different element of the
country's ability to confront the administration's emerging death-wish
before it happens, or respond to it should prevention fail. Mr. Golam's
memorandum notes that "The one thing Americans, perhaps more than
any other nation on the planet, fear - is death itself. Under the protective
guise of 'Homeland Security', we find ourselves primarily a nation of
insecure workers scared to death of our future, of our ability to consume
corporate food at any cost, of our right to buy gas guzzling vehicles
that double as tanks."
Mr. Golam's memorandum concludes with an existential
portrayal of the administration's position as he warns, "For those
of our fellow citizens who fear death, we should ask them to remember
that death is an advisor. Death is always there, always with you, watching
your every move. Death has only one thing to say to you and says it over
and over again: live this life to its fullest and find security in your
own heart, the way you act toward others, the things you create."
For the full transcript of Abe Golam's Memorandum
to the Secretary: http://www.usdept-arttech.net/golam.html
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The US Department of Art and Technology is
the principal conduit for facilitating the artist's need to extend aesthetic
inquiry into the broader culture where ideas become real action. It also
serves the psychological and spiritual well-being of all Americans by
supporting cultural efforts that provide immunity from the extension of
new media technologies into the social sphere.
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The US Department of Art and Technology is
the principal conduit for facilitating the artist's need to extend aesthetic
inquiry into the broader culture where ideas become real action. It also
serves the psychological and spiritual well-being of all Americans by
supporting cultural efforts that provide immunity from the extension of
new media technologies into the social sphere.
US Department of Art & Technology: http://www.usdept-arttech.net
Contact: Press Secretary of the US Department
of Art & Technology
press@usdept-arttech.net
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