TRAVEL LOCKDOWN

Sigh.

U.A.E., home of Dubai, sends a tourist to prison for 4 years [BBC]– because he had 0.003g of cannabis stuck to his shoe. At a pre-outrage level, i find it amazing that 0.003g of anything can be legally illegal. As the BBC reports, the mandatory 4-year sentence can be levied to those with bloodstream or urine traces and other micro-amounts (or instrument misreadings!!). I won’t even mention the Swiss doing his 4 years for having breadroll poppyseed crumbs on his clothing etc. Secret Dubai Diary tells it like it (always) is.

Meanwhile George Bush — no stranger to drug & alcohol law evasion — is trying to put armed men on an transatlantic flights [Guardian] and bullying European airlines for other ridiculousness. Anyone who’ll feel safer with a patriotic American cop packing heat on an airplane, please use the emergency exit.

Seriously, as someone who travels a lot and knows many individuals (including some amazing musicians) who simply won’t enter the USA because of the fingerprinting and photos and rigamarole, it is crushing to watch borders tighten, suspicion a coral reef turning us island.

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returning to Dubs: On thursday April 3rd, I will be participate in a panel discussion at Harvard University about “the unique challenges the landscape of places like Dubai present to our ability to talk about or theorize them.” Followed by a low-key afterparty with… Details soon.

Next thursday, feb 21 I’ll be giving a talk on globalization & music at the Eindhoven University of Technology (Netherlands). followed by a duo set with Andy Moor on guitar.

and on saturday feb 23, i’ll be DJing on a boat in Copenhagen. I’ve never been to Copenhagen! Reports say the boat people are good people. A small crew of New Yorkers are coming out for this, should be lively.

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Yes, DA TV #3 just lept out! This one focuses on Dexplicit, club footage preceding an interview excerpt. i broadcast the interview on my radio show last week [streamable in its entirety, edited podcast version of the show goes out this wed.] Cincinnati listener DJ Empirical taped the show, then removed the most of words and music, leaving us with 2 weird minutes: um, uh, mmm, er.

8 thoughts on “TRAVEL LOCKDOWN”

  2. go dj empirical, go o-hi-o, go globalization, we need new televisual rulers, go dutty artz

  3. Re: the tightening of travel. I wonder if a golden age of unfettered travel has now passed us (residents of the U.S.) by, and if it’s time to say bye bye to the relatively low cost of plane tickets and low political restrictions that made jetting around the country and globe so easy. Now the costs of air travel are ticking back up (charges to change seats, a certain airline now charging non-frequent fliers to check a 2nd bag, etc) and border barriers are expanding (fingerprinting, photos, passport required to reenter the country). And as you mentioned it’s not just the gabachos that are feeling this. All in all, it doesn’t bode well for the future as it can be argued that the ease in transportation of the past several decades has been a key factor in the good times the US has enjoyed since WW2.

  4. Drum and Bass DJ Grooverider is still in a Dubai prison awaiting trial because he went there to spin and they found a bit of spliff in his bag. Be very damn careful if yer heading out that way.

    As for the proposals re. travelling to the US, pfft! it´s up to y´all over there, and governments around the world to put pressure on the US gov´t and say bollocks to your proposals, enough is enough. I have a Cuban stamp in my passport so i am not allowed in the US….how juvenile is that?
    Maybe with peak oil hitting soon, it won´t be a problem at all, we won´t be going anywhere, period.

  6. I’d decided against visiting the States after they imposed the fingerprinting regime. Then they went and did the same thing in Japan, the country I’ve been living in for the last five years. Even permanent residents have to supply mugshots and give their prints – and not just once, but every time they enter the country. I was livid until I discovered what the UK, where I hail from, is doing to everyone who applies for a visa. Now I worry more that this type of thing will become totally standard, to the extent that, a decade down the line, all of the fuss people are making now seems strangely quaint.

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