more and more keeps coming... this from indymedia
What did you expect from a man who was appointed to chair the inquiry by Blair's former flat-mate--Lord Falconer? From someone who was counsel for the Parachute regiment at the Widgery Inquiry into the Bloody Sunday massacre in 1971--an inquiry that is now recognised by everyone as a thoroughly discredited whitewash? So much so that they had to repeat the exercise with second, on-going inquiry.
It doesn't surprise me that he is also a Mason. He is also part of the POXBRIDGE (Public school + OXBRIDGE) old boys' network looking after one of his own.
Read the Stop the War's "Alternative Hutton Report" to get the truth.
29.1.04
As any inept DIY bodger could tell you, whitewash, applied carefully and thinly, will last years. Too thick and it will flake off in no time.
David Chapman, Hemel Hempstead... from the Guardian responses to Hutton
Hutton At Widgery report on Bloody Sunday. When the Ulster troubles began in 1969, Lord Hutton was thrust into the spotlight in his role as junior counsel to the Northern Ireland attorney-general. In 1978 he represented Britain when the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Britain had mistreated detainees from the conflict.
Controversy dogged him again in 1999 when he criticised a colleague, Lord Hoffman, for not declaring his links with Amnesty International when Lord Hoffman presided over the extradition case of the former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.
Hutton's conclusions seem at odds with the evidence... he begins to look like the government's trusted hatchet man. In twenty years we will probably have another report to reveal the truth of the issue.
who is Hutton?
Airstrip one another notable neighbour, got some information and links from here...
Kelly stuff... who was he and how did he die, conspiracies...
David Chapman, Hemel Hempstead... from the Guardian responses to Hutton
Hutton At Widgery report on Bloody Sunday. When the Ulster troubles began in 1969, Lord Hutton was thrust into the spotlight in his role as junior counsel to the Northern Ireland attorney-general. In 1978 he represented Britain when the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Britain had mistreated detainees from the conflict.
Controversy dogged him again in 1999 when he criticised a colleague, Lord Hoffman, for not declaring his links with Amnesty International when Lord Hoffman presided over the extradition case of the former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.
Hutton's conclusions seem at odds with the evidence... he begins to look like the government's trusted hatchet man. In twenty years we will probably have another report to reveal the truth of the issue.
who is Hutton?
Airstrip one another notable neighbour, got some information and links from here...
Kelly stuff... who was he and how did he die, conspiracies...
Malone move casts shadow over Murdoch succession, Chris Tryhorn, The Guardian, Thursday January 22, 2004
Malone: speculation he is planning takeover bid for News Corp
Questions were raised today about the future of News Corp after Rupert Murdoch's sometime-ally and sometime-foe John Malone became the second largest voting shareholder in the company through a shock overnight deal.
Mr Malone, a notoriously shrewd dealmaker who made his money in cable TV and owns QVC shopping channel and half of the Discovery network, increased his stake to 9%, a major change for News Corp as Mr Murdoch has never before had a shareholder with almost one third as many votes as him.
The deal immediately raised questions about Mr Malone's plans - some analysts have speculated as to whether he is planning a takeover bid and whether the move could scupper Mr Murdoch's succession plans involving his sons James and Lachlan.
Others believe it could be a sign of a new and formidable alliance between the two moguls.
Malone's company, Liberty Media, now holds 17% of News Corp's ordinary equity, exceeding the Murdoch family's 14%.
Analysts said Mr Malone might be able to outvote the Murdochs, who control about 30% of the voting stock, if he chose to swap more of his holding for voting shares.
more from the Guardian
Sydney Morning Herald
New York Daily News
Malone: speculation he is planning takeover bid for News Corp
Questions were raised today about the future of News Corp after Rupert Murdoch's sometime-ally and sometime-foe John Malone became the second largest voting shareholder in the company through a shock overnight deal.
Mr Malone, a notoriously shrewd dealmaker who made his money in cable TV and owns QVC shopping channel and half of the Discovery network, increased his stake to 9%, a major change for News Corp as Mr Murdoch has never before had a shareholder with almost one third as many votes as him.
The deal immediately raised questions about Mr Malone's plans - some analysts have speculated as to whether he is planning a takeover bid and whether the move could scupper Mr Murdoch's succession plans involving his sons James and Lachlan.
Others believe it could be a sign of a new and formidable alliance between the two moguls.
Malone's company, Liberty Media, now holds 17% of News Corp's ordinary equity, exceeding the Murdoch family's 14%.
Analysts said Mr Malone might be able to outvote the Murdochs, who control about 30% of the voting stock, if he chose to swap more of his holding for voting shares.
more from the Guardian
Sydney Morning Herald
New York Daily News
28.1.04
Hutton whitewash
full report
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Anti-war nations 'took bribes' before war began. Investigation launched into claims that Saddam Hussein used oil to win support around the world. By Anne Penketh in the Independent, 28 January 2004
Claims that dozens of politicians, including some from prominent anti-war countries such as France, had taken bribes to support Saddam Hussein are to be investigated by the Iraqi authorities. The US-backed Iraqi Governing Council decided to check after an independent Baghdad newspaper, al-Mada, published a list which it said was based on oil ministry documents.
more
full report
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Anti-war nations 'took bribes' before war began. Investigation launched into claims that Saddam Hussein used oil to win support around the world. By Anne Penketh in the Independent, 28 January 2004
Claims that dozens of politicians, including some from prominent anti-war countries such as France, had taken bribes to support Saddam Hussein are to be investigated by the Iraqi authorities. The US-backed Iraqi Governing Council decided to check after an independent Baghdad newspaper, al-Mada, published a list which it said was based on oil ministry documents.
more
27.1.04
satan...calling...satan...
HONORARY KNIGHTHOOD FOR BILL GATES
Bill Gates, Chairman and founder of Microsoft Corporation, has been awarded an honorary Knighthood by Her Majesty the Queen. The honorary KBE is in recognition of his outstanding contribution to enterprise, employment, education and the voluntary sector in the United Kingdom. He has also made significant contributions to poverty reduction in parts of the Commonwealth and elsewhere in the developing world.
The Register
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
HONORARY KNIGHTHOOD FOR BILL GATES
Bill Gates, Chairman and founder of Microsoft Corporation, has been awarded an honorary Knighthood by Her Majesty the Queen. The honorary KBE is in recognition of his outstanding contribution to enterprise, employment, education and the voluntary sector in the United Kingdom. He has also made significant contributions to poverty reduction in parts of the Commonwealth and elsewhere in the developing world.
The Register
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Tripping up
New government adverts warning of the dangers of cannabis are so comically patronising they will not deter users, says Richard Morris Guardian Tuesday January 27, 2004
Alright, I admit it. I was a teenage pothead. In fact, to tell the truth, I was still puffing my way through a fair amount of the demon weed well into my early 20s. All my friends were keen cannabis connoisseurs, and whereas our more alcohol-inclined pals would spend their spare time in pubs and clubs, we would gather in each others' front rooms with our Playstations, cups of tea and packs of cards.
Occasionally we would be inspired to create bizarre contraptions designed to carry the smoke from a spliff into our lungs in the most dramatic (and often uncomfortable) manner possible. Sometimes we would paint and draw. We once got so creative we put tin foil over our telly and poked holes in it, marvelling at the way the light from the widescreen gogglebox ebbed and flowed behind its silver surface. Mainly we got stoned and talked utter gibberish.
But it was fun, and we certainly did nobody any harm. On the contrary, I'm sure we did much to boost the local home-delivered fast food industry and should the knowledge of vital matters of trivia - such as the names of the large, stupid, furry monsters from Fraggle Rock (Gorgs), or the delicious Slush Puppy-style drink served by Apu the shopkeeper in The Simpsons (squishies) - ever have become a major life skill we would have been hugely useful members of the population.
This was a youth subculture with its own rules, slang and methods of communication, most of which would have been completely impenetrable to those who had never experienced "whiteys" or enjoyed "munchies" after inhaling a little too much purple haze for their own good.
That is presumably why the government - with its new radio adverts warning "the kids" that the drug is still illegal despite it's recent reclassification from Class B to Class C - has chosen to attempt to speak to youngsters on their own terms by getting an actor to intone a series of slang names for cannabis.
In the ads, which call on youngsters to access the government's Frank education website to find out about the dangers of the drug, a woman intones: "Marijuana, ashes, African, bazooka, blonde, blue sage, bud, broccoli, brown, Buddha, bullyon, cheeba, Colombian, Don Juan, hash, J, jive stick, jolly green, kiff, killer, Panama gold, parsley, roach, straw, wheat, Texas T, locoweed. Call it what you like, just don't call it legal."
Finally a male voice reminds us that cannabis is "still illegal, still harmful, and you can still get a criminal record that may affect your future career or holiday plans."
Goodness knows where the ad agency responsible for these names did its research, but if anyone in the UK has ever referred to cannabis cigarettes as "jive sticks" then they must have been doing so with tongue so firmly in cheek that they risked pushing it right through and out the other side of their mouth.
But hey, perhaps I'm just behind the times. Maybe, just maybe, there are corners of this fair island where reefers are forever known as "bazookas" and a bag of grass is called "locoweed". Perhaps it's just me that thinks calling a spliff a "Don Juan" is both bizarre and inappropriately literary for such a relaxed, unassuming culture. Even should this be true, there is no way these phrases are common currency, and the use of all them is incredibly patronising.
continues
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Office ... wins a Golden Globe
Duncan Campbell in Los Angeles, Tuesday January 27, 2004, The Guardian
The Office won the Golden Globe for best comedy and Gervais took the prize for best actor in a comedy. It was a triumph for the show which has become a cult hit in the United States where an American version is already under way.
David Brent, the character portrayed with such painful accuracy by Ricky Gervais in his comedy series, The Office, loves nothing more than deserved recognition for his many talents.
'I'm from a little place called England. We used to run the world before you' - Gervais collecting his award.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MAD PRIDE is committed to ending discrimination against psychiatric patients, promoting survivor equality and celebrating Mad culture. WHAT IS MAD PRIDE? Mad Pride is an idea which came out of the 1997 Gay Pride Festival in London. A few survivors of the mental health system said "we could do with a festival like this". And so a motley collection of individuals got together and slowly started organising themselves so as to put on events. These Mad Pridesters did some research on the Name and Aims of the thing. Then they set about forming a non-profit-distributing company to develop MAD PRIDE. In 1999, they organised a series of gigs and concerts.
Mad Pride now sees itself as part of the newest (but probably not the last) Civil Rights movement. Mad hey?
New government adverts warning of the dangers of cannabis are so comically patronising they will not deter users, says Richard Morris Guardian Tuesday January 27, 2004
Alright, I admit it. I was a teenage pothead. In fact, to tell the truth, I was still puffing my way through a fair amount of the demon weed well into my early 20s. All my friends were keen cannabis connoisseurs, and whereas our more alcohol-inclined pals would spend their spare time in pubs and clubs, we would gather in each others' front rooms with our Playstations, cups of tea and packs of cards.
Occasionally we would be inspired to create bizarre contraptions designed to carry the smoke from a spliff into our lungs in the most dramatic (and often uncomfortable) manner possible. Sometimes we would paint and draw. We once got so creative we put tin foil over our telly and poked holes in it, marvelling at the way the light from the widescreen gogglebox ebbed and flowed behind its silver surface. Mainly we got stoned and talked utter gibberish.
But it was fun, and we certainly did nobody any harm. On the contrary, I'm sure we did much to boost the local home-delivered fast food industry and should the knowledge of vital matters of trivia - such as the names of the large, stupid, furry monsters from Fraggle Rock (Gorgs), or the delicious Slush Puppy-style drink served by Apu the shopkeeper in The Simpsons (squishies) - ever have become a major life skill we would have been hugely useful members of the population.
This was a youth subculture with its own rules, slang and methods of communication, most of which would have been completely impenetrable to those who had never experienced "whiteys" or enjoyed "munchies" after inhaling a little too much purple haze for their own good.
That is presumably why the government - with its new radio adverts warning "the kids" that the drug is still illegal despite it's recent reclassification from Class B to Class C - has chosen to attempt to speak to youngsters on their own terms by getting an actor to intone a series of slang names for cannabis.
In the ads, which call on youngsters to access the government's Frank education website to find out about the dangers of the drug, a woman intones: "Marijuana, ashes, African, bazooka, blonde, blue sage, bud, broccoli, brown, Buddha, bullyon, cheeba, Colombian, Don Juan, hash, J, jive stick, jolly green, kiff, killer, Panama gold, parsley, roach, straw, wheat, Texas T, locoweed. Call it what you like, just don't call it legal."
Finally a male voice reminds us that cannabis is "still illegal, still harmful, and you can still get a criminal record that may affect your future career or holiday plans."
Goodness knows where the ad agency responsible for these names did its research, but if anyone in the UK has ever referred to cannabis cigarettes as "jive sticks" then they must have been doing so with tongue so firmly in cheek that they risked pushing it right through and out the other side of their mouth.
But hey, perhaps I'm just behind the times. Maybe, just maybe, there are corners of this fair island where reefers are forever known as "bazookas" and a bag of grass is called "locoweed". Perhaps it's just me that thinks calling a spliff a "Don Juan" is both bizarre and inappropriately literary for such a relaxed, unassuming culture. Even should this be true, there is no way these phrases are common currency, and the use of all them is incredibly patronising.
continues
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Office ... wins a Golden Globe
Duncan Campbell in Los Angeles, Tuesday January 27, 2004, The Guardian
The Office won the Golden Globe for best comedy and Gervais took the prize for best actor in a comedy. It was a triumph for the show which has become a cult hit in the United States where an American version is already under way.
David Brent, the character portrayed with such painful accuracy by Ricky Gervais in his comedy series, The Office, loves nothing more than deserved recognition for his many talents.
'I'm from a little place called England. We used to run the world before you' - Gervais collecting his award.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MAD PRIDE is committed to ending discrimination against psychiatric patients, promoting survivor equality and celebrating Mad culture. WHAT IS MAD PRIDE? Mad Pride is an idea which came out of the 1997 Gay Pride Festival in London. A few survivors of the mental health system said "we could do with a festival like this". And so a motley collection of individuals got together and slowly started organising themselves so as to put on events. These Mad Pridesters did some research on the Name and Aims of the thing. Then they set about forming a non-profit-distributing company to develop MAD PRIDE. In 1999, they organised a series of gigs and concerts.
Mad Pride now sees itself as part of the newest (but probably not the last) Civil Rights movement. Mad hey?
further to 'paranoid shift' article - investigative report on prescott bush-nazi ties in the new hampshire gazette.
also, corporate media on this issue.
also, corporate media on this issue.
26.1.04
Paranoid shift article was excellent... also confirmed the Mussolini quote about Fascism for me. (Benito Mussolini's preferred definition of "fascism" as "corporatism, because it binds together the interests of corporations and the state.")
shifting faster every day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This guy is in one of my seminar groups, he hasn't shown up for class yet as he has been on tour in Africa...
Tony Baldry MP
Member of Parliament for Banbury
About Tony
Tony was educated at Leighton Park, University of Sussex, and Lincoln?s Inn.
He is a Director of a number of public companies in the UK and abroad involved in construction, pharmaceuticals, textiles, cement and automotive technology.
Tony's Experience
Tony has been a Member of Parliament since 1983, and is a Member of the House of Commons Select Committee on Trade and Industry, Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Trade and Industry Committee, and Vice-Chairman of the Conservative International Development Committee.
He held various ministerial posts from 1990 until the last General Election, serving as Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food from 1995-97.
Tony was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from 1994-95, with a range of responsibilities including South Asia, Africa, North America and the West Indies.
Between 1990 and 1994, he was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department of the Environment, responsible for all aspects of the Department?s work including environmental protection, construction, housing and planning.
He was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department of Energy in 1990 when, together with John Wakeham, he privatised the electricity industry. Tony has led nearly 30 overseas business export missions which have won millions of pounds of orders.
He was Personal Aide to Margaret Thatcher in the October 1974 General Election and subsequently remained in her private office when she became Leader of the Opposition.
Tony, a practising barrister specialising in Construction Law, was awarded the Robert Schumann Silver Medal for contribution to European politics in 1975.
He takes a keen interest in foreign affairs, particularly Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, and is a Governor of the Commonwealth Institute.
shifting faster every day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This guy is in one of my seminar groups, he hasn't shown up for class yet as he has been on tour in Africa...
Tony Baldry MP
Member of Parliament for Banbury
About Tony
Tony was educated at Leighton Park, University of Sussex, and Lincoln?s Inn.
He is a Director of a number of public companies in the UK and abroad involved in construction, pharmaceuticals, textiles, cement and automotive technology.
Tony's Experience
Tony has been a Member of Parliament since 1983, and is a Member of the House of Commons Select Committee on Trade and Industry, Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Trade and Industry Committee, and Vice-Chairman of the Conservative International Development Committee.
He held various ministerial posts from 1990 until the last General Election, serving as Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food from 1995-97.
Tony was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from 1994-95, with a range of responsibilities including South Asia, Africa, North America and the West Indies.
Between 1990 and 1994, he was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department of the Environment, responsible for all aspects of the Department?s work including environmental protection, construction, housing and planning.
He was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department of Energy in 1990 when, together with John Wakeham, he privatised the electricity industry. Tony has led nearly 30 overseas business export missions which have won millions of pounds of orders.
He was Personal Aide to Margaret Thatcher in the October 1974 General Election and subsequently remained in her private office when she became Leader of the Opposition.
Tony, a practising barrister specialising in Construction Law, was awarded the Robert Schumann Silver Medal for contribution to European politics in 1975.
He takes a keen interest in foreign affairs, particularly Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, and is a Governor of the Commonwealth Institute.
24.1.04
23.1.04
22.1.04
Europol document on "anarchist terrorism"
Terrorist activity in the European Union - situation & trends report. Europol document that discusses terrorism in the EU, particularly the threat of anarchist groups moving towards terrorism.
This for example on Spanish Anarchists...
Spain
There is no prospect for an end to violent actions of anarchist inspiration perpetrated, at least at the beginning, within the so-called Mediterranean Anarchist Triangle. The central arguments brought forward by the perpetrators of these violent acts are the situation of anarchist prisoners in Italian, Greek and Spanish prisons and the demand to abolish the F.I.E.S. system (Fichero de Internos de Especial Sequimiento – Specially Monitored Prisoners’ File System) used in Spain. Most probably, attacks of a strictly anarchist nature directed against the capitalist and globalisation symbols will continue to be the main points of reference for anarchist terrorist actions.
The recent disbanding of an operative cell in Valencia should be noted, the responsibility of this cell in the perpetration of various sabotage acts in the Autonomous Community of Valencia is still being investigated.
... There are on going protests about the arrests of the 'Valencia 4' who it is alledged were fitted up.
See the document online (PDF format)
Indymedia analysis and reaction
Statewatch
Terrorist activity in the European Union - situation & trends report. Europol document that discusses terrorism in the EU, particularly the threat of anarchist groups moving towards terrorism.
This for example on Spanish Anarchists...
Spain
There is no prospect for an end to violent actions of anarchist inspiration perpetrated, at least at the beginning, within the so-called Mediterranean Anarchist Triangle. The central arguments brought forward by the perpetrators of these violent acts are the situation of anarchist prisoners in Italian, Greek and Spanish prisons and the demand to abolish the F.I.E.S. system (Fichero de Internos de Especial Sequimiento – Specially Monitored Prisoners’ File System) used in Spain. Most probably, attacks of a strictly anarchist nature directed against the capitalist and globalisation symbols will continue to be the main points of reference for anarchist terrorist actions.
The recent disbanding of an operative cell in Valencia should be noted, the responsibility of this cell in the perpetration of various sabotage acts in the Autonomous Community of Valencia is still being investigated.
... There are on going protests about the arrests of the 'Valencia 4' who it is alledged were fitted up.
See the document online (PDF format)
Indymedia analysis and reaction
Statewatch
Boring Guardian summary
Kelly still smelly
Coroner could hold new Kelly inquest, Simon Jeffery, Guardian, Thursday January 22, 2004
A coroner is considering opening a fresh inquest into the death of David Kelly after it emerged that Lord Hutton was not passed all the information that police had collected about the weapons expert's apparent suicide.
BBC self flagelation in: Panoramic display of fearless self-loathing over Kelly/Hutton Did anyone see this? I thought it was fascinating... strange timing though.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tony Blair fielding questions from the public over tuition fees on line.... his answers are in the Guardian
Question from Joss Garman:
Why do you feel that the £1.5bn pounds spent annually on Trident, is better spent on weapons of mass destruction, than on my education and the education of others my age?
TB: I really don't feel this is a comparison we can make. We have a lot of competing demands right across public spending, and we need to balance all of them. Proper defence is essential for our national security.
.... however we can't build our own bloody nukes, missiles, planes etc. because we have a chronic shortage of scientists. No one ever tries to attack us, and when they do, we wont be able to defend ourselves with bombs and tanks, it will probably be more of a T.W.A.T. situation, requiring some "intellegence" which is remarkably thin on the ground nowadays. prime minister.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shocking, but predictable... maybe it's also essential for national security
Who gives wealthy men £1,000 a day each to subsidise their farms? - the taxpayer
Charlotte Denny, Larry Elliott and Charlotte Moore, Thursday January 22, 2004, The Guardian
The Duke of Westminster, Britain's richest man, receives a daily handout from the taxpayer of £1,000 under a welfare system for some of the country's biggest landowners provided through Europe's lavish farm subsidy regime.
... Guardian campaign against the Countryside Alliance, notice the use of Tabloid style sensationalism: "Europe's lavish farm subsidy regime" like asylum seeker rants by the Daily Mail
better point though
Kelly still smelly
Coroner could hold new Kelly inquest, Simon Jeffery, Guardian, Thursday January 22, 2004
A coroner is considering opening a fresh inquest into the death of David Kelly after it emerged that Lord Hutton was not passed all the information that police had collected about the weapons expert's apparent suicide.
BBC self flagelation in: Panoramic display of fearless self-loathing over Kelly/Hutton Did anyone see this? I thought it was fascinating... strange timing though.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tony Blair fielding questions from the public over tuition fees on line.... his answers are in the Guardian
Question from Joss Garman:
Why do you feel that the £1.5bn pounds spent annually on Trident, is better spent on weapons of mass destruction, than on my education and the education of others my age?
TB: I really don't feel this is a comparison we can make. We have a lot of competing demands right across public spending, and we need to balance all of them. Proper defence is essential for our national security.
.... however we can't build our own bloody nukes, missiles, planes etc. because we have a chronic shortage of scientists. No one ever tries to attack us, and when they do, we wont be able to defend ourselves with bombs and tanks, it will probably be more of a T.W.A.T. situation, requiring some "intellegence" which is remarkably thin on the ground nowadays. prime minister.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shocking, but predictable... maybe it's also essential for national security
Who gives wealthy men £1,000 a day each to subsidise their farms? - the taxpayer
Charlotte Denny, Larry Elliott and Charlotte Moore, Thursday January 22, 2004, The Guardian
The Duke of Westminster, Britain's richest man, receives a daily handout from the taxpayer of £1,000 under a welfare system for some of the country's biggest landowners provided through Europe's lavish farm subsidy regime.
... Guardian campaign against the Countryside Alliance, notice the use of Tabloid style sensationalism: "Europe's lavish farm subsidy regime" like asylum seeker rants by the Daily Mail
better point though
21.1.04
Tuition fees 'fairest way' to fund universities, says OECD
Donald MacLeod... in the guardian
Tuesday January 20, 2004
Tony Blair and his ministers today received international backing for their efforts to sell top-up fees to sceptical backbench MPs and the public.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which monitors all developed countries, strongly endorsed the government's higher education plans as "essential" to revitalise British universities and a "role model" for other European countries. Its 2004 UK economic survey argued that the scheme would help all students, including those from poorer backgrounds, and was the fairest way to fund universities.
OECD, Economic Survey - United Kingdom 2004 includes tuition fees report
Judicial Review: 'Kidnapped' Protestors Challenge Police
features, 15.01.2004 09:41 From indymedia, pictures and film also available on this link.
Friday 16th Jan: A Judicial Review at the High Court yesterday began proceedings considering the lawfulness of the police actions last March when around 150 anti-war campaigners were 'coachnapped' - stopped and searched for almost two hours on their way to demonstration at RAF Fairford, then forcibly returned to London under police escort (pics). As the protestors put signs in the coach windows saying "Help We've Been Kidnapped" "Call the Media" and "Denied The Right To Protest The War", the police closed the motorway behind the coaches while police motorcycle outriders blocked motorway exits.
The campaigners claimed the police overstepped their powers and furthermore that they breached articles of the European Convention on Human Rights, guaranteeing freedom from arbitrary detention, the freedom of speech and assembly, and respect for physical and psychological integrity.
Police statements revealed that at 10.45am an order was issued by Chief Superintendent Lambert to stop and search the coaches including instructions for the coaches to be turned around and escorted non-stop back to London if any 'dangerous items' or items likely to be used to conceal identity were found. It is this order that will now be scrutinised. Michael Fordham acting on behalf of the protestors said the police were within their powers to seize certain items, and that they even possibly had the right to detain certain individuals under public order and common laws, but they overstepped the law and infringed both common law and human rights law, by the blanket nature of their action (despite intelligence notes showing that the police were aware that the coach passengers were made up of individuals and members of various groups) and the way evidence was used in an attempt to justify this.
The case continues today at the High Court and a decision is expected from Lord Justice May and Mr Justice Harrisonin in around three weeks time.
Donald MacLeod... in the guardian
Tuesday January 20, 2004
Tony Blair and his ministers today received international backing for their efforts to sell top-up fees to sceptical backbench MPs and the public.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which monitors all developed countries, strongly endorsed the government's higher education plans as "essential" to revitalise British universities and a "role model" for other European countries. Its 2004 UK economic survey argued that the scheme would help all students, including those from poorer backgrounds, and was the fairest way to fund universities.
OECD, Economic Survey - United Kingdom 2004 includes tuition fees report
Judicial Review: 'Kidnapped' Protestors Challenge Police
features, 15.01.2004 09:41 From indymedia, pictures and film also available on this link.
Friday 16th Jan: A Judicial Review at the High Court yesterday began proceedings considering the lawfulness of the police actions last March when around 150 anti-war campaigners were 'coachnapped' - stopped and searched for almost two hours on their way to demonstration at RAF Fairford, then forcibly returned to London under police escort (pics). As the protestors put signs in the coach windows saying "Help We've Been Kidnapped" "Call the Media" and "Denied The Right To Protest The War", the police closed the motorway behind the coaches while police motorcycle outriders blocked motorway exits.
The campaigners claimed the police overstepped their powers and furthermore that they breached articles of the European Convention on Human Rights, guaranteeing freedom from arbitrary detention, the freedom of speech and assembly, and respect for physical and psychological integrity.
Police statements revealed that at 10.45am an order was issued by Chief Superintendent Lambert to stop and search the coaches including instructions for the coaches to be turned around and escorted non-stop back to London if any 'dangerous items' or items likely to be used to conceal identity were found. It is this order that will now be scrutinised. Michael Fordham acting on behalf of the protestors said the police were within their powers to seize certain items, and that they even possibly had the right to detain certain individuals under public order and common laws, but they overstepped the law and infringed both common law and human rights law, by the blanket nature of their action (despite intelligence notes showing that the police were aware that the coach passengers were made up of individuals and members of various groups) and the way evidence was used in an attempt to justify this.
The case continues today at the High Court and a decision is expected from Lord Justice May and Mr Justice Harrisonin in around three weeks time.
*As any economist will tell you markets only benefit you to the extent to which you bring something to the table; they don't produce equitable outcomes from inequitable beginnings - au contraire as you won't need an economist to tell you. The freedom on offer is accurately described as freedom in respect of buying and selling things, and not the freedom to act which is (if you think about it) a predicate of the word freedom, used in an unqualified sense. Herein lies the grammatical conceit of the discourse! So, whilst you remain "free" to sell your labour power (i.e. if you're in the 99% apart from us who don't have anything else to sell!) at exactly the same time you are also compelled to rent yourself in order to survive. In other words "choice" means the freedom to choose to starve if you so wish. Choices made under coercion = duress, in turn, grounds, of course, for mitigation in a court of law. So...
*Re: fucking in the streets
Occured to me in shower this morning that it's somewhat odd, and on reflection somewhat revealing, that philosophy is seen as arcane and irrelevant. Doubting things, questioning, inquiring, unconstrained speculating on alternatives etc are essential techniques for knowledge creation - as in the recognition that such "knowledge" is simply a working hypothesis for the time being, to serve some end and not something substantive the conclusions of which should been seen as justifying various crimes (e.g. boiling your "infidel" enemy/letting "inefficient" brownies starve - delete as ideology demands).
So, in a healthy society there wouldn't be philosophers there would just be people engaged in tasks with these facts in mind. Instead we have people operating within a ideological conceit which is possible only to the extent to which the managers (you and i) don't think to raise certain questions. In the meantime philosophy remains an isolated and irrelevant task, for the usual reasons (doesn't fulfill role within the "discourse of legitimation").
*Pleased with Lilya review, I had read it at the time and made note to see (although unless you live in central london or bourgeoise ghetto, e.g. Brighton, Bath, Cambridge) you'll only find endless screens showing the bourne identity or some other shit. Why not forward review to peter "five star" bradshaw? Why not mention that giving films/plays/books stars out of five is fucking stupid and demeaning too!
*Re: fucking in the streets
Occured to me in shower this morning that it's somewhat odd, and on reflection somewhat revealing, that philosophy is seen as arcane and irrelevant. Doubting things, questioning, inquiring, unconstrained speculating on alternatives etc are essential techniques for knowledge creation - as in the recognition that such "knowledge" is simply a working hypothesis for the time being, to serve some end and not something substantive the conclusions of which should been seen as justifying various crimes (e.g. boiling your "infidel" enemy/letting "inefficient" brownies starve - delete as ideology demands).
So, in a healthy society there wouldn't be philosophers there would just be people engaged in tasks with these facts in mind. Instead we have people operating within a ideological conceit which is possible only to the extent to which the managers (you and i) don't think to raise certain questions. In the meantime philosophy remains an isolated and irrelevant task, for the usual reasons (doesn't fulfill role within the "discourse of legitimation").
*Pleased with Lilya review, I had read it at the time and made note to see (although unless you live in central london or bourgeoise ghetto, e.g. Brighton, Bath, Cambridge) you'll only find endless screens showing the bourne identity or some other shit. Why not forward review to peter "five star" bradshaw? Why not mention that giving films/plays/books stars out of five is fucking stupid and demeaning too!
no offence taken mike... don't worry, the debate is genuine and a good one.
you are right we offer a helping hand and take a step forward, whilst causing the problem in the first place by taking three steps backwards. but it is not bad to try and help those who are suffering now rather than always be waiting for the miraculous revolution, which probably wont come before we implode anyway. I do think we can work on both projects at once, working to overthrow the evil empire, whilst being nice and helping where you can along the way. we must not be naive indeed, but neither must we be paralysed by cynicism.
the 10 to 15 years information applies to legals as not much is, or can be known exactly about illegals. It is recieved wisdom in migration studies circles but applies to the US in the twentieth century. recent studies have contradicted this, as family reunification has become more prevalent than work migration and families aren't good for economic statistics. Immigrants (legal) also apparently contribute more in taxes than they claim in social security, although this too may be changed by family reunification... see my essay on the inquiry
the illegals point is certainly true: “those who own capital can make a living by using that capital almost anywhere in the world; however, those who do not own capital must make a living by selling their labour power ... only in ‘their’ country” (Fielding, 1993:41, cited in Black 1996:72).
you are right we offer a helping hand and take a step forward, whilst causing the problem in the first place by taking three steps backwards. but it is not bad to try and help those who are suffering now rather than always be waiting for the miraculous revolution, which probably wont come before we implode anyway. I do think we can work on both projects at once, working to overthrow the evil empire, whilst being nice and helping where you can along the way. we must not be naive indeed, but neither must we be paralysed by cynicism.
the 10 to 15 years information applies to legals as not much is, or can be known exactly about illegals. It is recieved wisdom in migration studies circles but applies to the US in the twentieth century. recent studies have contradicted this, as family reunification has become more prevalent than work migration and families aren't good for economic statistics. Immigrants (legal) also apparently contribute more in taxes than they claim in social security, although this too may be changed by family reunification... see my essay on the inquiry
the illegals point is certainly true: “those who own capital can make a living by using that capital almost anywhere in the world; however, those who do not own capital must make a living by selling their labour power ... only in ‘their’ country” (Fielding, 1993:41, cited in Black 1996:72).
Lilya 4-Ever [guardian]:
"It is an uncompromisingly bleak, devastatingly powerful study of Lilya (Oksana Akinshina), a poverty-stricken teenage girl abandoned in a crumbling Russian town when her mother leaves, apparently for the United States, with a man she has met through a dating agency - and refuses to take her with them. In her wretchedness, Lilya finds a friend in a lonely 11-year-old boy, Volodya (Artyom Bogucharsky), but then precisely duplicates her mother's betrayal when she meets a smooth-talking young guy who says he can take her away to Sweden.
But then Moodysson, with a demonic showman's flourish, raises the curtain on the second act in Lilya's life. On arriving in Sweden she finds that the promised job does not exist. It was all a trick and Lilya is imprisoned and forced into prostitution - repeatedly raped, day after day after day, in ways that Moodysson pitilessly shows us from her perspective. And in a flash of delirious despair we can sense what is passing through Lilya's own mind: what has happened to her mother? Was the US she was promised an illusion also? And does Lilya somehow deserve what has happened for deserting Volodya? It is the biggest delusion, the strangest fear, and the worst horror of all.
This is certainly an extravagantly cruel movie: really cruel in a way that I have hardly experienced in any other film - but compelling as well. Forced prostitution is a horrible reality linking the pauperised post-Soviet states and the sex industry in the moneyed west. (Here I must raise a caveat. The Russian critic Alexander Kan tells me that the Russian dialogue sometimes sounds stilted, possibly from being unsatisfactorily translated from Swedish. I admit I can't judge this.)" [what's this? caveat? what's a caveat? why change topic just as you were getting to some sort of point?!]
quality of review shockingly low by the way. observer review even worse.. maybe due to this:
"The recent films released here about the illegals have been clearly shaped by liberal, decent concern. Moodysson's seems to me to be fiercer and more ambiguous than this."
"if you're offended, you obv didn't get it" [b hicks]
to continue, or rather: start where mr. guardian stops [caveat? why doesnt he follow through on sentence (a)? here's a fucking caveat:]
let me rephrase: fiercer and more ambiguous than liberal and decent concern? beyond liberal or beyond decent?
this isnt a docusoap, its realistic fiction, that's why it hurts so fucking much. as it wasnt harry tosspott (mild-hearted asexual airey-fairey fantasy world bullshit), there were only three people in the audience. one girl ran out crying histerically, spilling popcorn all over the place. i found this film deeply involving emotionally. although there is a bit of a post-modern christian theme (lilya's friend reappears with angel-wings in her dream, she is carrying around an icon portraying orthodox saints which is meant to symbolise hope i suppose), this film is soldidly rooted in the dire circumstance of child prostitution and sex slavery.
although moodyson does stylise along clear moral lines to some extent there was no element of the "promised job- then held in cellar" deal which i hadnt read about in (mainstream journalistic) reports regarding the german meat trade for instance (on offer: children, kidneys). the dirty old mincers desperately clinging on to, sweating on, puberscent youth, vs the innocence of a young girl who is first forced to sell herself as she has been abandoned by her mother, then later sold for rape to mentally ill first world whiteys- it really is trivial information minus that silk lining!
the reviewer is correct in saying that moodyson knows "no pity" in terms of visuals. but why should we not get to see a little bit of that ugly everyday truth? "a vivisectional experiment in horror and despair"- that's exaclty what makes it so good you liberal-half-heart-wishi-washi twat! make the sex a bit prettier, the alienated rich paedophiles a bit younger, presto youve got fucking "Lolita" all over again! why should we not be reduced to tears for once? if you want smile + forget yourself flick on that superstars programme!
this film reflects on the neo-imperial gradient of wealth and the very real material consequences of our continuing acceptance of this contrast. human flesh/blood/spirit is of differential value depending on the geographical zone one happens to be geworfen into. if you're low-priority meat, vom schicksal gefickt [ok this is v crude heidegger] there's not even any point to praying/hoping for a future worth living.
have a nice day, enjoy your luxurious lifestyles, thanks god we're free to do as we're told- more snickers, more coke, put harry tosspott on!
the director lukas moodysson has also got a film on the gothenburg protests out, and appears to be working on a big-brotheresque piece.
20.1.04
dear fellow lovers of the (/a?) future
the monkey takes pride in its noise. this is perfectly normal and to be expected. i'd assert that this is one of the faulty heuristics of a conditio humana that has made progress in free thought, and hence historical development, impossible at times. to reconciliate contradicting views it seems necessary to dissociate one's ego from the message voiced and attempt to find some sort of common ground where communication is possible. this must not entail harmonious humming.
as i am as prone to this as anyone else i'd like to excuse the lack of clarity in my post below. our difficulties with discussing such issues do arise due to our geworfensein [excuse heideggerian speak]. the oppressor faces a much tougher existential quest in having to liberate himself from the double-speak and double-think as freire quite sexily put it back in the sixties. we are now of course much more heavily alienated, with the current generation literally growing up in some sort of multimedial, masturbatory fantasy-world. the asexual [innocent] nature of hero of our age harry tosser for instance is of course a different [if equally exciting!] topic. the whitey is responsible, not just in the negative sense, but also, positively, in "having the time and access to capital (power) necessary" [NC] i.e. should be doing something proper.
if you are then born into the minority of the opulent, priviledged to any information at all, you will quickly be facing the fact that you are essentially satan's spawn [in a post-christian, hicksian sense please!] and that your luxurious lifestyle finds its economic base in brownies dying face down in the mud. having grown accustomed to an excessively pampered lifestyle [i'm speaking for myself here, feel free to apply to your own CV] and seeing a glimpse of this, maybe through the use of hallucinogens, third world travel, chatting to "dishi-washa", the first task at hand: facilitate breaking down the supposed rigidity of institutional constructs, authoritarian structures, etc implanted in our heads, i.e. generally ridding the cognitive machinery of any belief in the ahistorical nature of the wording and grammar that legitimises that tasty [oh so tasty!] status quo with a silk lining.
such softening of mental constructs is the first step to not becoming one of a new generation of satan's little helpers contributing to the reproduction of material realities. anti-consumerism is so widespread in germany that there are even pop-stars on mtv germany advocating it and in fact there's a corresponding marketing clique going for the "half-hearted anti-dollar". the next step is to develop a negative dialectic to deconstruct reformist language. a critique of migration studies does not mean that there shouldnt be migration studies, just as much as finklestein's critique of the holocaust industry doesnt mean the jews didnt suffer and there shouldnt be information about it. the migration issue is actually a beautiful case for this sort of critique.
below i was going for a certain type of systemic analysis which i will try and outline systematically now. let me start by assuring you that i strongly believe that everybody needs to know about the situation of "illegals" in the first world. there's a form of liberal-left discourse around migrant's human rights etc. at the paris social forum for instance, the sans papiers were represented in massive numbers. they are organised in varying systems of direct democracy where only sans papiers are allowed to vote on aspects of the evolving organisations within the community. whiteys are allowed to help but they can of course not vote and never be part of these transitory forms.
now the easiest case for a political economy of migrant workers is in fact the us. i will not go into a history of the promised land and the people who lived there before the whitey pattern of inhabiting geographical space was applied- they are also amongst the face down in the mud section. to be as brief as possible there are lots of brownies in the u.s. who "technically" shouldnt be there but they run the bottom end of the so-called service economy. due to their questionable status institutional norms do not apply to them. there have been a number of liberal-left sociological studies indicating that black-market manual labourers do not enjoy access to "human rights" or indeed any part of the civil rights apparatus as they stand to be kicked out of "paradise" if they complain [thoynbee or whatever in the uk, similarly some woman in the u.s.].
wages may or may not be paid, and if the whitey boss decides to "have a crack" with the mexican cleaner he may do so as she has noone to complain to. benji says, immigrants "may aspire to be as rich as us and in the US their earnings usually overtake those of native born citizens in 10-15 years". i am in very very deep doubts about that proposition. to my mind illegals are the slaves of the modern period of economic imperialism, and, much as in the greek city states [model for our sys]: either youre a citizen, and its hanging out at the forum, bienvenidos to freedom and future, or you aint. in which case "inglan", which looked so sexy from the other side of the ocean, will suddenly turn out to be "a bitch".
as i was taught at sussex university [benji?] there have been "two periods of globalisation", one before WWI, one very recently. that is the most "critical" version of globalisation discourse there is. it is commonly forgotten that [continental european] border controls were only instituted after WWI. The modern nation-state was transformed during the fascist period and strongly resembles the totalitarian state developed during that period. and it remains that way. for good reason. the international gradient of wealth is regulated by "free market" theory. as critics of this theory have pointed out, free movement of capital will have a disastrous effect on living conditions for those at the receiving end of political power structures if there is no free movement of labour [-> competition of nation-states, speculation of capital, this is gramscian international political economy- excellent material. if you havent..].
this applies to NAFTA or the Eastern European Extension ["sponsored by Volkswagen"]- there will be a transition period of a few years where people may not cross freely. the difference in living and working conditions is maintained by reference to the romantic-reactionary nation-state model, which is, in its current form, a remnant of colonial imperialism and fascism. note that the bits re: slavery above put the illegal migrant at a very special position in the global economy, being both victim and enabler of pyramid-building at the national as well as the international level.
the minimal influx of migrants limits economic growth. germany is actually facing a huge disaster in terms of ageing population and a picture of "economic collapse by 2020" is being projected by pessimist economists [this is not to be taken too seriously as it is also part of an ideology of neo-liberal "reform" by the local tonys] if immigration is not increased to a couple of 100K a year. the german golden years of capitalism in the 50s and 60s were driven by a huge influx of workers which were actively recruited and sourced from different mediterranean countries to allow for the huge keynesian project of economic expanionism.
pyramid-building is not sensible in economic terms. low inflation, high interest, stable economies with minimal economic growth are best for the opulent minority who are hoarding cash and material value and worst for those living on wages. the influx of migrants is minimal and the disproportional noise ["commentary"] in the popular press is strongly ideological in nature. any analysis [consult left-liberal newspaper at hand] that does not take into account at least some of the [important] functional structures above will not get anywhere. political refugees coming from "failed states" (neo-colonial receiving end) are excluded from first world econ as "economic migrants" are- the science of creating and maintaining artifical barriers does not allow for exemptions.
the sad news is: going for "new, sensible immigration policy" is like advocating the re-introduction of keynesian economics: yes, it would help as far as any reform may. As marcuse says [196?, my translation + rough quote from memory] "reforms, anything that humanises the face of capitalism, can and must be tried. but there will always be a point when the reformist policy contradicts the pillar of the capitalist system, the principle of profit [or accelerated accumulation of capital]. Once this is breached, the question arises-- is revolution possible?"
far from wanting to criticise the proponent of any reformist stance, au contraire, my deepest respect and love to any vegetarian, fellow H&M purist, nudist, hedonist, gay pride, christian liberation theologist, long-hair, or whatever: it was the flawed discourse i was castigating. the rigity of a grammar that makes it all but impossible to express where its at. the self-censorship. the emotional frigidity. we must not be naive. i am sure that oxfam helps, that there are a lot of people "doing their best" on their ample allowances and london lifestyles, that they pull a number of brownies out of the dirt theyre in even..
if everything is thus connected to everything, there is one systemic totality, one functional rationale, with a vicious material reality to it [critical theoretical- in difference to marx, ?berbau is seen to be integral part of system], what is to be done?
it is possible to arrive at this question of questions from any theoretical starting point, whether it be a political economy of human rights, anti-psychiatry, radical ecology [primitivism], feminism, black power... these are all monkey attempts to understand own power. the question has not been asked properly, if there isnt some sort of resulting praxis!
who will be the first to have a cheeky crack at a radically new aesthetic in the new century? since those twisted romantics [nazis] fucked everything up, with the french intellectual promoting the continuation of said neo-romantic quest in true service to the lie, pillar to the grand gradients, there has been nothing. once creativity is unleashed, strong enough for subcutaneous realisation that "life is only a dream" etc, once the monkey-subject learns to realise itself:
again, marcuse: "we cannot know what the society of the future would look like, as we are unfree, and thus not able how a free subject would determine its mode of existence". it can only be found out in constant stuggle with the (imagined) rigidity of grammar, the (bullshit) ahistoricity claims to authoritarian language, overcoming the lack of belief in human action, fear of freedom... "there is no such thing as the revolutionary subject"- consciousness emerges in opposition to inertia, i.e. elements obstructing the process [negative dialectic]-
there will be fucking in the streets.
x
the monkey takes pride in its noise. this is perfectly normal and to be expected. i'd assert that this is one of the faulty heuristics of a conditio humana that has made progress in free thought, and hence historical development, impossible at times. to reconciliate contradicting views it seems necessary to dissociate one's ego from the message voiced and attempt to find some sort of common ground where communication is possible. this must not entail harmonious humming.
as i am as prone to this as anyone else i'd like to excuse the lack of clarity in my post below. our difficulties with discussing such issues do arise due to our geworfensein [excuse heideggerian speak]. the oppressor faces a much tougher existential quest in having to liberate himself from the double-speak and double-think as freire quite sexily put it back in the sixties. we are now of course much more heavily alienated, with the current generation literally growing up in some sort of multimedial, masturbatory fantasy-world. the asexual [innocent] nature of hero of our age harry tosser for instance is of course a different [if equally exciting!] topic. the whitey is responsible, not just in the negative sense, but also, positively, in "having the time and access to capital (power) necessary" [NC] i.e. should be doing something proper.
if you are then born into the minority of the opulent, priviledged to any information at all, you will quickly be facing the fact that you are essentially satan's spawn [in a post-christian, hicksian sense please!] and that your luxurious lifestyle finds its economic base in brownies dying face down in the mud. having grown accustomed to an excessively pampered lifestyle [i'm speaking for myself here, feel free to apply to your own CV] and seeing a glimpse of this, maybe through the use of hallucinogens, third world travel, chatting to "dishi-washa", the first task at hand: facilitate breaking down the supposed rigidity of institutional constructs, authoritarian structures, etc implanted in our heads, i.e. generally ridding the cognitive machinery of any belief in the ahistorical nature of the wording and grammar that legitimises that tasty [oh so tasty!] status quo with a silk lining.
such softening of mental constructs is the first step to not becoming one of a new generation of satan's little helpers contributing to the reproduction of material realities. anti-consumerism is so widespread in germany that there are even pop-stars on mtv germany advocating it and in fact there's a corresponding marketing clique going for the "half-hearted anti-dollar". the next step is to develop a negative dialectic to deconstruct reformist language. a critique of migration studies does not mean that there shouldnt be migration studies, just as much as finklestein's critique of the holocaust industry doesnt mean the jews didnt suffer and there shouldnt be information about it. the migration issue is actually a beautiful case for this sort of critique.
below i was going for a certain type of systemic analysis which i will try and outline systematically now. let me start by assuring you that i strongly believe that everybody needs to know about the situation of "illegals" in the first world. there's a form of liberal-left discourse around migrant's human rights etc. at the paris social forum for instance, the sans papiers were represented in massive numbers. they are organised in varying systems of direct democracy where only sans papiers are allowed to vote on aspects of the evolving organisations within the community. whiteys are allowed to help but they can of course not vote and never be part of these transitory forms.
now the easiest case for a political economy of migrant workers is in fact the us. i will not go into a history of the promised land and the people who lived there before the whitey pattern of inhabiting geographical space was applied- they are also amongst the face down in the mud section. to be as brief as possible there are lots of brownies in the u.s. who "technically" shouldnt be there but they run the bottom end of the so-called service economy. due to their questionable status institutional norms do not apply to them. there have been a number of liberal-left sociological studies indicating that black-market manual labourers do not enjoy access to "human rights" or indeed any part of the civil rights apparatus as they stand to be kicked out of "paradise" if they complain [thoynbee or whatever in the uk, similarly some woman in the u.s.].
wages may or may not be paid, and if the whitey boss decides to "have a crack" with the mexican cleaner he may do so as she has noone to complain to. benji says, immigrants "may aspire to be as rich as us and in the US their earnings usually overtake those of native born citizens in 10-15 years". i am in very very deep doubts about that proposition. to my mind illegals are the slaves of the modern period of economic imperialism, and, much as in the greek city states [model for our sys]: either youre a citizen, and its hanging out at the forum, bienvenidos to freedom and future, or you aint. in which case "inglan", which looked so sexy from the other side of the ocean, will suddenly turn out to be "a bitch".
as i was taught at sussex university [benji?] there have been "two periods of globalisation", one before WWI, one very recently. that is the most "critical" version of globalisation discourse there is. it is commonly forgotten that [continental european] border controls were only instituted after WWI. The modern nation-state was transformed during the fascist period and strongly resembles the totalitarian state developed during that period. and it remains that way. for good reason. the international gradient of wealth is regulated by "free market" theory. as critics of this theory have pointed out, free movement of capital will have a disastrous effect on living conditions for those at the receiving end of political power structures if there is no free movement of labour [-> competition of nation-states, speculation of capital, this is gramscian international political economy- excellent material. if you havent..].
this applies to NAFTA or the Eastern European Extension ["sponsored by Volkswagen"]- there will be a transition period of a few years where people may not cross freely. the difference in living and working conditions is maintained by reference to the romantic-reactionary nation-state model, which is, in its current form, a remnant of colonial imperialism and fascism. note that the bits re: slavery above put the illegal migrant at a very special position in the global economy, being both victim and enabler of pyramid-building at the national as well as the international level.
the minimal influx of migrants limits economic growth. germany is actually facing a huge disaster in terms of ageing population and a picture of "economic collapse by 2020" is being projected by pessimist economists [this is not to be taken too seriously as it is also part of an ideology of neo-liberal "reform" by the local tonys] if immigration is not increased to a couple of 100K a year. the german golden years of capitalism in the 50s and 60s were driven by a huge influx of workers which were actively recruited and sourced from different mediterranean countries to allow for the huge keynesian project of economic expanionism.
pyramid-building is not sensible in economic terms. low inflation, high interest, stable economies with minimal economic growth are best for the opulent minority who are hoarding cash and material value and worst for those living on wages. the influx of migrants is minimal and the disproportional noise ["commentary"] in the popular press is strongly ideological in nature. any analysis [consult left-liberal newspaper at hand] that does not take into account at least some of the [important] functional structures above will not get anywhere. political refugees coming from "failed states" (neo-colonial receiving end) are excluded from first world econ as "economic migrants" are- the science of creating and maintaining artifical barriers does not allow for exemptions.
the sad news is: going for "new, sensible immigration policy" is like advocating the re-introduction of keynesian economics: yes, it would help as far as any reform may. As marcuse says [196?, my translation + rough quote from memory] "reforms, anything that humanises the face of capitalism, can and must be tried. but there will always be a point when the reformist policy contradicts the pillar of the capitalist system, the principle of profit [or accelerated accumulation of capital]. Once this is breached, the question arises-- is revolution possible?"
far from wanting to criticise the proponent of any reformist stance, au contraire, my deepest respect and love to any vegetarian, fellow H&M purist, nudist, hedonist, gay pride, christian liberation theologist, long-hair, or whatever: it was the flawed discourse i was castigating. the rigity of a grammar that makes it all but impossible to express where its at. the self-censorship. the emotional frigidity. we must not be naive. i am sure that oxfam helps, that there are a lot of people "doing their best" on their ample allowances and london lifestyles, that they pull a number of brownies out of the dirt theyre in even..
if everything is thus connected to everything, there is one systemic totality, one functional rationale, with a vicious material reality to it [critical theoretical- in difference to marx, ?berbau is seen to be integral part of system], what is to be done?
it is possible to arrive at this question of questions from any theoretical starting point, whether it be a political economy of human rights, anti-psychiatry, radical ecology [primitivism], feminism, black power... these are all monkey attempts to understand own power. the question has not been asked properly, if there isnt some sort of resulting praxis!
who will be the first to have a cheeky crack at a radically new aesthetic in the new century? since those twisted romantics [nazis] fucked everything up, with the french intellectual promoting the continuation of said neo-romantic quest in true service to the lie, pillar to the grand gradients, there has been nothing. once creativity is unleashed, strong enough for subcutaneous realisation that "life is only a dream" etc, once the monkey-subject learns to realise itself:
again, marcuse: "we cannot know what the society of the future would look like, as we are unfree, and thus not able how a free subject would determine its mode of existence". it can only be found out in constant stuggle with the (imagined) rigidity of grammar, the (bullshit) ahistoricity claims to authoritarian language, overcoming the lack of belief in human action, fear of freedom... "there is no such thing as the revolutionary subject"- consciousness emerges in opposition to inertia, i.e. elements obstructing the process [negative dialectic]-
there will be fucking in the streets.
x
re: the migration issue, think that we veered away from the migration theme as such, in order to generally rant about institutions and the narrow scope of analysis when solving problems within the institutional structure (lack of adequate theory). the point being that institutional discourse is a complete farce. suppose that 'migration policy' was merely a case.
"immigrants aim to better their lives. They may aspire to be as rich as us and in the US their earnings usually overtake those of native born citizens in 10-15 years" - "the slave doesn't want to be free, he wants to be a master as benevolent as his own"
you are saying immigrants flee persecution/poverty. persecution/poverty which is precipitated by western intervention in developing countries, colonial history and resulting power gradients. obviously one has to practically help these individuals, i'm all for solidarity. but whether this language allows us to look at the bigger picture (reflective of power gradient), is a different question.
my point: merely showing solidarity with immigrants is almost like carpet bombing a village and then handing the victims a first aid kit (which is what we do). policy debate on our end would then be re: how much money to spend on post-war aid. and we'd feel so benevolent about it too.
so in a sense, debating re: how much money should be spent on foreign aid is implicitly accepting the war, or the imperialism/economic protectionism that caused the war. 'britain needs more immigrants' debate then, is implicitly accepting the power gradient that causes persecution/poverty/war for migrants to flee from in the first place ie. not reflective, just symptomatic treatment (a.k.a. reactionary whitewash).
what about that ft-reading scumbag on the central line?
so the rant is largely about the lack of critical reflection in institutional discourse. which isn't anything new/surprising at all really... positivist social science will never uncover anything that may be inconvenient.
in any case, this wasn't supposed to be a qualitative assessment of your, benji's, postings, especially not on the personal level. they merely offered matter for talk/rant/expression, x
"immigrants aim to better their lives. They may aspire to be as rich as us and in the US their earnings usually overtake those of native born citizens in 10-15 years" - "the slave doesn't want to be free, he wants to be a master as benevolent as his own"
you are saying immigrants flee persecution/poverty. persecution/poverty which is precipitated by western intervention in developing countries, colonial history and resulting power gradients. obviously one has to practically help these individuals, i'm all for solidarity. but whether this language allows us to look at the bigger picture (reflective of power gradient), is a different question.
my point: merely showing solidarity with immigrants is almost like carpet bombing a village and then handing the victims a first aid kit (which is what we do). policy debate on our end would then be re: how much money to spend on post-war aid. and we'd feel so benevolent about it too.
so in a sense, debating re: how much money should be spent on foreign aid is implicitly accepting the war, or the imperialism/economic protectionism that caused the war. 'britain needs more immigrants' debate then, is implicitly accepting the power gradient that causes persecution/poverty/war for migrants to flee from in the first place ie. not reflective, just symptomatic treatment (a.k.a. reactionary whitewash).
what about that ft-reading scumbag on the central line?
so the rant is largely about the lack of critical reflection in institutional discourse. which isn't anything new/surprising at all really... positivist social science will never uncover anything that may be inconvenient.
in any case, this wasn't supposed to be a qualitative assessment of your, benji's, postings, especially not on the personal level. they merely offered matter for talk/rant/expression, x
19.1.04
some notes on the debate below, which I don't follow entirely:
my posting on immigration are not about migrants having more neccesity of our pity than others... it just reflects my studies which are throwing up interesting (I think) stuff. If I studied human rights I would post legal/human rights stuff.
we must be careful to distinguish between asylum seekers, refugees and immigrants. Asylum seekers enter illegally (usually) and then claim asylum, if their claim is successful they get refugee status. Immigrants enter by applying for work permits, under a scheme designed by the government to fill jobs where they are needed.
asylum seekers flee persecution, some of them may aspire to be as rich as 'us', but that is not the reason they move.
immigrants aim to better their lives. They may aspire to be as rich as us and in the US their earnings usually overtake those of native born citizens in 10-15 years.
most of the other stuff I don't really get. No, capital is not amoral, yes, we are all implicated in this mess, No, it's not all our fault we were born into it, we can't suddenly or easily make everything better, but we can try and do something which is why I posted those posts about the plight of some individuals with suggested actions at the bottom.
I have posted an essay of mine, (yes, about immigration) which may be of interest to some, on the inquiry.
my posting on immigration are not about migrants having more neccesity of our pity than others... it just reflects my studies which are throwing up interesting (I think) stuff. If I studied human rights I would post legal/human rights stuff.
we must be careful to distinguish between asylum seekers, refugees and immigrants. Asylum seekers enter illegally (usually) and then claim asylum, if their claim is successful they get refugee status. Immigrants enter by applying for work permits, under a scheme designed by the government to fill jobs where they are needed.
asylum seekers flee persecution, some of them may aspire to be as rich as 'us', but that is not the reason they move.
immigrants aim to better their lives. They may aspire to be as rich as us and in the US their earnings usually overtake those of native born citizens in 10-15 years.
most of the other stuff I don't really get. No, capital is not amoral, yes, we are all implicated in this mess, No, it's not all our fault we were born into it, we can't suddenly or easily make everything better, but we can try and do something which is why I posted those posts about the plight of some individuals with suggested actions at the bottom.
I have posted an essay of mine, (yes, about immigration) which may be of interest to some, on the inquiry.
16.1.04
** fukuyama's nation-building 101 apology. as usual, it doesn't extent beyond imperialist polemic -> policy propaganda, ie. no point debating content.
"The first is that nation-building is a difficult, long-term enterprise with high costs in manpower, lives, and resources. The places where it has been most successful—Germany, Japan, and the Philippines—are ones where U.S. forces have remained for generations. We should not get involved to begin with if we are not willing to pay those high costs.
A standing U.S. government office to manage nation-building will be a hard sell politically, because we are still unreconciled to the idea that we are in the nation-building business for the long haul. However, international relations is no longer just a game played between great powers but one in which what happens inside smaller countries can have a huge effect on the rest of the world. Our "empire" may be a transitional one grounded in democracy and human rights, but our interests dictate that we learn how better to teach other people to govern themselves."
** america's empire of bases
"It's not easy to assess the size or exact value of our empire of bases. Official records on these subjects are misleading, although instructive. According to the Defense Department's annual "Base Structure Report" for fiscal year 2003, which itemizes foreign and domestic U.S. military real estate, the Pentagon currently owns or rents 702 overseas bases in about 130 countries and has another 6,000 bases in the United States and its territories. Pentagon bureaucrats calculate that it would require at least $113.2 billion to replace just the foreign bases – surely far too low a figure but still larger than the gross domestic product of most countries – and an estimated $591,519.8 million to replace all of them. The military high command deploys to our overseas bases some 253,288 uniformed personnel, plus an equal number of dependents and Department of Defense civilian officials, and employs an additional 44,446 locally hired foreigners."
"The first is that nation-building is a difficult, long-term enterprise with high costs in manpower, lives, and resources. The places where it has been most successful—Germany, Japan, and the Philippines—are ones where U.S. forces have remained for generations. We should not get involved to begin with if we are not willing to pay those high costs.
A standing U.S. government office to manage nation-building will be a hard sell politically, because we are still unreconciled to the idea that we are in the nation-building business for the long haul. However, international relations is no longer just a game played between great powers but one in which what happens inside smaller countries can have a huge effect on the rest of the world. Our "empire" may be a transitional one grounded in democracy and human rights, but our interests dictate that we learn how better to teach other people to govern themselves."
** america's empire of bases
"It's not easy to assess the size or exact value of our empire of bases. Official records on these subjects are misleading, although instructive. According to the Defense Department's annual "Base Structure Report" for fiscal year 2003, which itemizes foreign and domestic U.S. military real estate, the Pentagon currently owns or rents 702 overseas bases in about 130 countries and has another 6,000 bases in the United States and its territories. Pentagon bureaucrats calculate that it would require at least $113.2 billion to replace just the foreign bases – surely far too low a figure but still larger than the gross domestic product of most countries – and an estimated $591,519.8 million to replace all of them. The military high command deploys to our overseas bases some 253,288 uniformed personnel, plus an equal number of dependents and Department of Defense civilian officials, and employs an additional 44,446 locally hired foreigners."
15.1.04
re: "structural amorality of capital" - where was this from again?
synergy? it's like in positive right - not amorality (to speak of it like that would be too obvious within ius/ethica construct ;-)), but in critiques of extreme juidicial positivism (e.g. 'auctoritas non veritas...' etc.) one has introduced term 'deontological morality', which i received to be quite close to 'ethical neutrality'. this notion contains the instrumentalisation of ethical reason for political ends: the rationality of contractualist participation is based on premises about human nature via natural state argumentation, so the hypothetical or aprioric contract is as such already rationally instrumental and collective morality (ius) is subordinate to this ('auctoritas/veritas'). kant, in his ahistorical and obsessive universalism tried to get around it through his transcendental method of extrapolating the notion of right via reason apriori (via rationality itself !! - after horkheimer it feels like cheating...). hegel then looked at it through the telescope of totality and noticed a sense of instrumentality in the historical emergence of the moral subject (cf. sittlichkeit/categorical imperative). anyway, we've been through this ;-). synergy then, in the sense of a structural amorality of institutions via ius (-> discourse -> ideology -> advanced industrial society -> whole goddamn business).
have noted that "for the common good" argumentation seems to rely heavily on such reductions of moral reason or ethical suspension.
when will contemporary ideology finally reflect this? obv. only after institutions have been ideologically "reduced to ashes", hence i can only agree, that there is an integrative nature in protest against institutional policy, that fails to analyse the institution's underlying mechanisms, legitimacy or even the notion of 'such a thing' (in ppp language: polity prior to policy). to be anti-wef or anti-american is merely a response to the flawed institutional excuse (washington consensus/united nations/nation states) without identifying it as such, so using the same language, therefore similarly pseudoconcrete. this isn't about "abstract entities" such as the modern nation state, certain regimes and their policies, as much as it's about us, our neighbours and everybody else. the world of appearances does not disclose that one can/must dig deeper than that. policy analysis (thereby including the acceptance of the institution that formulated it) has thus a purely phenomenal function and shouldn't inform political praxis directly which, in this ahistorical way, can only be formulated as a superficial reaction (nothing the state can't handle etc). as phil describes ("evil outthere" whilst "suv-driving neighbour"). perhaps this structure contains threads similar to 'really-existing socialism' vs. libertarian socialism, but that's just an interesting feeling ;-).
title of debate also telling (functional grammar -> fascist syntax): "britain [subject] needs more immigrants [accusative object]" - aren't we staring instrumental reason/ethical neutrality in the face there? this is not about the perpetrators (hiding behind subject), nor is it about the immigrants even (intransitive object)! it's about "abstract entity" britain (subject) - a policy debate with an extraparliamentary nature that is misleading. the real question as below, it seems, is why the west needs more immigrants whilst being unable to wash the "common good" excuse any longer to much success - we are in fact on the same titanic as asylumseekers are. upper or lower deck, the boat still sunk. only difference is that we have the material means to believe that there is an 'us' and 'them'. and the asylumseeker obviously strives to be as rich as 'us' (the slave doesn't want to be free, he wants to be a master as benevolent as his own - both alienated). our solidarity with immigrants then, if that's all we can come up with, might just reduce us to benevolent masters...
protest within the framework usually leads to implicit acceptance of issue at hand. seeming anti-systemic forces are healthy after all ("we need no passport people to run first world economy, brownies without labour or indeed any rights are as necessary to the maintenance of our luxurious lifestyle as the slaves of ancient rome") ie. to act on such issues on the nation-state or institutional level is almost like accepting the lies. one might as well be talking micro/meso/macrolevel all day.
of course, there's nothing wrong with the dynamic of immigration solidarity. but locality of issue and discourse (both empirically and intelligibly) lets one wonder about the critical-revolutionary potential of such action. in good reformist tradition: it's tackling the right outcomes, but remains beside the actual problem. we can sit around debating governmental policy as much as we want, but in the end we'll still treat the concept of our suv-driving, viagra-popping neighbour/boss/professor/priest with an acceptance like no dystopian vision had ever entered our minds.
anyway ("coitus? i was talking about my rug...") was only going to refer to synergy, so: there might be insights to be gained by looking at establishment of ethical neutrality within both capital flow and sittlichkeit (essentially political economy), exposing mechanisms of functional rationality/instrumental reason within and between base and superstructure -> institutions.
but then again, this exposure is what any creative work represents.
synergy? it's like in positive right - not amorality (to speak of it like that would be too obvious within ius/ethica construct ;-)), but in critiques of extreme juidicial positivism (e.g. 'auctoritas non veritas...' etc.) one has introduced term 'deontological morality', which i received to be quite close to 'ethical neutrality'. this notion contains the instrumentalisation of ethical reason for political ends: the rationality of contractualist participation is based on premises about human nature via natural state argumentation, so the hypothetical or aprioric contract is as such already rationally instrumental and collective morality (ius) is subordinate to this ('auctoritas/veritas'). kant, in his ahistorical and obsessive universalism tried to get around it through his transcendental method of extrapolating the notion of right via reason apriori (via rationality itself !! - after horkheimer it feels like cheating...). hegel then looked at it through the telescope of totality and noticed a sense of instrumentality in the historical emergence of the moral subject (cf. sittlichkeit/categorical imperative). anyway, we've been through this ;-). synergy then, in the sense of a structural amorality of institutions via ius (-> discourse -> ideology -> advanced industrial society -> whole goddamn business).
have noted that "for the common good" argumentation seems to rely heavily on such reductions of moral reason or ethical suspension.
when will contemporary ideology finally reflect this? obv. only after institutions have been ideologically "reduced to ashes", hence i can only agree, that there is an integrative nature in protest against institutional policy, that fails to analyse the institution's underlying mechanisms, legitimacy or even the notion of 'such a thing' (in ppp language: polity prior to policy). to be anti-wef or anti-american is merely a response to the flawed institutional excuse (washington consensus/united nations/nation states) without identifying it as such, so using the same language, therefore similarly pseudoconcrete. this isn't about "abstract entities" such as the modern nation state, certain regimes and their policies, as much as it's about us, our neighbours and everybody else. the world of appearances does not disclose that one can/must dig deeper than that. policy analysis (thereby including the acceptance of the institution that formulated it) has thus a purely phenomenal function and shouldn't inform political praxis directly which, in this ahistorical way, can only be formulated as a superficial reaction (nothing the state can't handle etc). as phil describes ("evil outthere" whilst "suv-driving neighbour"). perhaps this structure contains threads similar to 'really-existing socialism' vs. libertarian socialism, but that's just an interesting feeling ;-).
title of debate also telling (functional grammar -> fascist syntax): "britain [subject] needs more immigrants [accusative object]" - aren't we staring instrumental reason/ethical neutrality in the face there? this is not about the perpetrators (hiding behind subject), nor is it about the immigrants even (intransitive object)! it's about "abstract entity" britain (subject) - a policy debate with an extraparliamentary nature that is misleading. the real question as below, it seems, is why the west needs more immigrants whilst being unable to wash the "common good" excuse any longer to much success - we are in fact on the same titanic as asylumseekers are. upper or lower deck, the boat still sunk. only difference is that we have the material means to believe that there is an 'us' and 'them'. and the asylumseeker obviously strives to be as rich as 'us' (the slave doesn't want to be free, he wants to be a master as benevolent as his own - both alienated). our solidarity with immigrants then, if that's all we can come up with, might just reduce us to benevolent masters...
protest within the framework usually leads to implicit acceptance of issue at hand. seeming anti-systemic forces are healthy after all ("we need no passport people to run first world economy, brownies without labour or indeed any rights are as necessary to the maintenance of our luxurious lifestyle as the slaves of ancient rome") ie. to act on such issues on the nation-state or institutional level is almost like accepting the lies. one might as well be talking micro/meso/macrolevel all day.
of course, there's nothing wrong with the dynamic of immigration solidarity. but locality of issue and discourse (both empirically and intelligibly) lets one wonder about the critical-revolutionary potential of such action. in good reformist tradition: it's tackling the right outcomes, but remains beside the actual problem. we can sit around debating governmental policy as much as we want, but in the end we'll still treat the concept of our suv-driving, viagra-popping neighbour/boss/professor/priest with an acceptance like no dystopian vision had ever entered our minds.
anyway ("coitus? i was talking about my rug...") was only going to refer to synergy, so: there might be insights to be gained by looking at establishment of ethical neutrality within both capital flow and sittlichkeit (essentially political economy), exposing mechanisms of functional rationality/instrumental reason within and between base and superstructure -> institutions.
but then again, this exposure is what any creative work represents.
email to mike
feel like writing long CL blogger comment but cannot be fucked to get into really. this "poor migrants" theme is unfortunately just as flawed as anti-globals are in terms of lacking adequate theory to overcome (dys)functional grammar.
theres plenty of talk of who the victims are, theres plenty of talk of the structural and legal problems theyre facing. issue with migrants: we need no passport people to run first world economy, brownies without labour or indeed any rights are as necessary to the maintenance of our luxurious lifestyle as the slaves of ancient rome. perhaps a little less so. but the scope for an extension of minimum wage in britain (to everybody!) just aint there. military spending is through the roof, the 90s economic miracle is a total farce, etc ppp. these victims know the perpetrators. we know them. noones talking about that.
same applies to anti-globals. WTO is bad, IMF is evil. there are a number of evil upper class yanks. but us, in our holy grace, we aint touched by evil because we're against these things. the class of beneficiaries are the managers/thieves and "inbred heirs" who are our SUV-(or otherwise)-owning neighbours right here in OECD suburbia. the ugly evil "out there" or whatever are the corporate scumbags sitting next to you on the london tube. of course there is no active evil, everybody's doing their best and their bit, as meritocracy and indeed any agent-operator participating somewhere up there in the global power structure will tell you:
just doing best for company and thus for share- and stakeholders. and we certainly are stake- if not even shareholders to the current order. ideology is the sum of heuristic mechanisms keeping people blind to the structural logic that leads to the sort of social reality we (to some extent) and brownie kiddies throughout the world are facing. shareholdership is supposedly ethically neutral due to the (assumed) structural amorality of capital, i.e. money don't stink, its only some oil barons and arms manufacturers without U.N. whitewash who smell.. the managers themselves, however, are anonymous. this supposed ethical neutrality of (abstract-form) capital also allows for illusionary "selective consumption"- no nestle (babymilk), no esso (hasnt implemented adequate greenwash) etc..
neither is a european social forum held in paris where only kids of first world elites can actually afford to attend. or a world social forum in mumbay. mobility in third world = zero. participation = 20 USD or whatever. this excludes anyone but the elites. at least its left-leaning third world elites.. getting 25K job working in london oxfam is no way to break functional rationale. maybe even blogging isnt..
have a nice day..
feel like writing long CL blogger comment but cannot be fucked to get into really. this "poor migrants" theme is unfortunately just as flawed as anti-globals are in terms of lacking adequate theory to overcome (dys)functional grammar.
theres plenty of talk of who the victims are, theres plenty of talk of the structural and legal problems theyre facing. issue with migrants: we need no passport people to run first world economy, brownies without labour or indeed any rights are as necessary to the maintenance of our luxurious lifestyle as the slaves of ancient rome. perhaps a little less so. but the scope for an extension of minimum wage in britain (to everybody!) just aint there. military spending is through the roof, the 90s economic miracle is a total farce, etc ppp. these victims know the perpetrators. we know them. noones talking about that.
same applies to anti-globals. WTO is bad, IMF is evil. there are a number of evil upper class yanks. but us, in our holy grace, we aint touched by evil because we're against these things. the class of beneficiaries are the managers/thieves and "inbred heirs" who are our SUV-(or otherwise)-owning neighbours right here in OECD suburbia. the ugly evil "out there" or whatever are the corporate scumbags sitting next to you on the london tube. of course there is no active evil, everybody's doing their best and their bit, as meritocracy and indeed any agent-operator participating somewhere up there in the global power structure will tell you:
just doing best for company and thus for share- and stakeholders. and we certainly are stake- if not even shareholders to the current order. ideology is the sum of heuristic mechanisms keeping people blind to the structural logic that leads to the sort of social reality we (to some extent) and brownie kiddies throughout the world are facing. shareholdership is supposedly ethically neutral due to the (assumed) structural amorality of capital, i.e. money don't stink, its only some oil barons and arms manufacturers without U.N. whitewash who smell.. the managers themselves, however, are anonymous. this supposed ethical neutrality of (abstract-form) capital also allows for illusionary "selective consumption"- no nestle (babymilk), no esso (hasnt implemented adequate greenwash) etc..
neither is a european social forum held in paris where only kids of first world elites can actually afford to attend. or a world social forum in mumbay. mobility in third world = zero. participation = 20 USD or whatever. this excludes anyone but the elites. at least its left-leaning third world elites.. getting 25K job working in london oxfam is no way to break functional rationale. maybe even blogging isnt..
have a nice day..
Baghdad hotel killings result of 'criminal negligence', says media watchdog. The journalists killed in Bagdad by a US tank... this was big news in Spain, where Jose Couso, one of the journalists was from. The Jose Couso site has some interesting articles and letters.
"It led to a media outcry at the time - Spanish journalists snubbed a visit by the foreign minister, Jack Straw, to Madrid shortly afterwards, downing cameras, notebooks and holding their heads in silence during a speech."
Probably quite an over reported story, but here is the Guardian report
"It led to a media outcry at the time - Spanish journalists snubbed a visit by the foreign minister, Jack Straw, to Madrid shortly afterwards, downing cameras, notebooks and holding their heads in silence during a speech."
Probably quite an over reported story, but here is the Guardian report
I just saw this excellent film by Sierra Leonean film maker Sorious Samura, I recomend him.
It's called Exodus, and it's about illegal immigration into the EU from Africa. It is clever without being academic and sensitive without being over the top. On the linked website are more of his films, which I'd like to check out.
It's called Exodus, and it's about illegal immigration into the EU from Africa. It is clever without being academic and sensitive without being over the top. On the linked website are more of his films, which I'd like to check out.
14.1.04
National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns (NCADC)
1 Delaunays Road
Manchester
M8 4QS
General enquiries 0121 554 6947
ncadc@ncadc.org.uk
http://www.ncadc.org.uk/
Stop the deportation of Ebana Dieudonne
(Urgent Action needed before next Sunday)
Another attempt to remove Ebana from the UK will take place this Sunday 18th January 2004.
Ebana Dieudonne, a national of Cameroon, is currently detained in Tinsley House Removal/Detention Centre, where he has been since 10th December. Prior to Tinsley House, he was held in Harmondsworth detention centre since 7th November.
Ebana is in a state of extreme distress. This state is exacerbated by his detention which is affecting him physically and emotionally. Ebana fears that if he is returned to Cameroon, he will be arrested upon arrival and imprisoned or killed. He has good grounds for these fears.
Ebana has had a gay relationship with his employer, a high level politician, for over two years. In Cameroon, homosexuality is illegal. Section 347 of the Penal Code criminalises sexual contacts with members of the same sex with a penalty of up to 5 years' imprisonment. Ebana identifies as gay, but was also married to a woman in Cameroon, who was fully aware of his relationship with his employer.
Before Ebana left Cameroon he was visited by the police on the evening of 22nd October in his home and questioned on the nature of his relationship with his employer. Ebana denied any sexual contact. The police issued a summons for him to come to the police station on the morning of the 29th October, and said he would be taken to the hospital for tests (anal examinations are sometimes carried out in such cases supposedly to determine if anal sex has occurred. These examinations are in fact unreliable and have no scientific basis, but may be used as spurious evidence, and to humiliate and abuse suspects).
Ebana suspects that his relationship with his employer had been observed and informed upon due to political motivations in order to undermine his employer's political position.
After the police visit to Ebana's home, his employer asked him to provide passport photos of himself. On the evening of the 28th, his employer called Ebana to his visit him, gave him travel documents, and ordered him to be taken to the airport and out of the country. Ebana protested that he should first say goodbye to his wife and family, but his employer threatened to kill him if he did not leave immediately. Ebana complied, and thus arrived in the UK.
Ebana has since phoned a friend in Cameroon who informed him his wife was murdered in November after his departure. Ebana believes that his wife would have sought out his employer after his sudden disappearance, and that his employer would have had his wife murdered in order to silence her.
Ebana fears that upon return he will be arrested and imprisoned by the state for homosexuality, or murdered by his employer in order to protect his own reputation.
The Home Office has turned down Ebana's application on grounds that he is not a credible witness. However, his solicitor did not turn up to the last hearing, so he was left to present his own case. Ebana has little understanding of the asylum system, and indeed had never heard of asylum until after his arrival in the UK. There are also difficulties in discussing gay relationships and identity when one has just come from a country where homosexuality can result in persecution and imprisonment.
Ebana will be at serious risk of imprisonment and death if he is returned to the Cameroon. He has a good case to be allowed to remain in the UK on grounds of human rights, in particular the right not to be returned to a country where he is likely to be subjected to cruel and inhuman treatment or punishment.
Several Cameroonian homosexuals have been awarded asylum in Belgium under the Geneva Convention due to the persecutions they suffered in Cameroon. The UK is also party to the Geneva Convention.
A previous attempt to remove Ebana on the 9th December failed. We are trying to persuade the home office not to deport Ebana this Sunday, and to reconsider his case.
What you can do to help:
1) Telephone Ebana at Tynsley House 01293 434800, his first language is French, let Ebana know you are supporting him. You can also fax him a letter of Solidarity direct fax number for detainees at Tynsley House 01293 434825.
2) Fax/write to the Home Secretary requesting that Ebana Dieudonne is allowed to stay. You can use the model letter attached. Copy/amend/write your own version, feel free to add your own comments.
You can fax David Blunkett on 020 7273 3965, or from outside the UK +44 20 7373 3965
Or write direct:
David Blunkett
Home Secretary
Home Office
50 Queen Anne's Gate
London SW1H 9AT
Please notify the campaign of any letters/faxes sent: mailto:shuangxinglian@hotmail.com
Enquiries/further information:
Ebana Dieudonne Must Stay Campaign
NCADC
131 Camberwell Road
London SE5 0HF
0121 554 6947
1 Delaunays Road
Manchester
M8 4QS
General enquiries 0121 554 6947
ncadc@ncadc.org.uk
http://www.ncadc.org.uk/
Stop the deportation of Ebana Dieudonne
(Urgent Action needed before next Sunday)
Another attempt to remove Ebana from the UK will take place this Sunday 18th January 2004.
Ebana Dieudonne, a national of Cameroon, is currently detained in Tinsley House Removal/Detention Centre, where he has been since 10th December. Prior to Tinsley House, he was held in Harmondsworth detention centre since 7th November.
Ebana is in a state of extreme distress. This state is exacerbated by his detention which is affecting him physically and emotionally. Ebana fears that if he is returned to Cameroon, he will be arrested upon arrival and imprisoned or killed. He has good grounds for these fears.
Ebana has had a gay relationship with his employer, a high level politician, for over two years. In Cameroon, homosexuality is illegal. Section 347 of the Penal Code criminalises sexual contacts with members of the same sex with a penalty of up to 5 years' imprisonment. Ebana identifies as gay, but was also married to a woman in Cameroon, who was fully aware of his relationship with his employer.
Before Ebana left Cameroon he was visited by the police on the evening of 22nd October in his home and questioned on the nature of his relationship with his employer. Ebana denied any sexual contact. The police issued a summons for him to come to the police station on the morning of the 29th October, and said he would be taken to the hospital for tests (anal examinations are sometimes carried out in such cases supposedly to determine if anal sex has occurred. These examinations are in fact unreliable and have no scientific basis, but may be used as spurious evidence, and to humiliate and abuse suspects).
Ebana suspects that his relationship with his employer had been observed and informed upon due to political motivations in order to undermine his employer's political position.
After the police visit to Ebana's home, his employer asked him to provide passport photos of himself. On the evening of the 28th, his employer called Ebana to his visit him, gave him travel documents, and ordered him to be taken to the airport and out of the country. Ebana protested that he should first say goodbye to his wife and family, but his employer threatened to kill him if he did not leave immediately. Ebana complied, and thus arrived in the UK.
Ebana has since phoned a friend in Cameroon who informed him his wife was murdered in November after his departure. Ebana believes that his wife would have sought out his employer after his sudden disappearance, and that his employer would have had his wife murdered in order to silence her.
Ebana fears that upon return he will be arrested and imprisoned by the state for homosexuality, or murdered by his employer in order to protect his own reputation.
The Home Office has turned down Ebana's application on grounds that he is not a credible witness. However, his solicitor did not turn up to the last hearing, so he was left to present his own case. Ebana has little understanding of the asylum system, and indeed had never heard of asylum until after his arrival in the UK. There are also difficulties in discussing gay relationships and identity when one has just come from a country where homosexuality can result in persecution and imprisonment.
Ebana will be at serious risk of imprisonment and death if he is returned to the Cameroon. He has a good case to be allowed to remain in the UK on grounds of human rights, in particular the right not to be returned to a country where he is likely to be subjected to cruel and inhuman treatment or punishment.
Several Cameroonian homosexuals have been awarded asylum in Belgium under the Geneva Convention due to the persecutions they suffered in Cameroon. The UK is also party to the Geneva Convention.
A previous attempt to remove Ebana on the 9th December failed. We are trying to persuade the home office not to deport Ebana this Sunday, and to reconsider his case.
What you can do to help:
1) Telephone Ebana at Tynsley House 01293 434800, his first language is French, let Ebana know you are supporting him. You can also fax him a letter of Solidarity direct fax number for detainees at Tynsley House 01293 434825.
2) Fax/write to the Home Secretary requesting that Ebana Dieudonne is allowed to stay. You can use the model letter attached. Copy/amend/write your own version, feel free to add your own comments.
You can fax David Blunkett on 020 7273 3965, or from outside the UK +44 20 7373 3965
Or write direct:
David Blunkett
Home Secretary
Home Office
50 Queen Anne's Gate
London SW1H 9AT
Please notify the campaign of any letters/faxes sent: mailto:shuangxinglian@hotmail.com
Enquiries/further information:
Ebana Dieudonne Must Stay Campaign
NCADC
131 Camberwell Road
London SE5 0HF
0121 554 6947
European day of action for the rights of asylum seekers, Sans-Papiers and immigrants: 31 January 2004
Dear sisters, brothers and friends,
For several months a number of organisations of immigrant people and supporters have been building a network against “Fortress Europe”. We recently met with some of these groups, on the initiative of the Paris-based Droits Devant, and we agreed with them to call for a joint Day of Action on 31 January 2004 to defend the human rights of all “Sans Papiers” (people without papers) – immigrants and asylum seekers who are denied rights to residence, housing, work permits, healthcare, benefits, etc.
So far, co-ordinated actions are planned in Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and the UK – you may have heard from other UK-based groups already. The aim is to make visible the deprivation and destitution faced by those of us who are asylum seekers or immigrants and the struggle we are making for human rights.
In our network many of the women asylum seekers -- rape survivors, pregnant women, mothers with young children, women with serious health problems often as a result of torture, lesbian women, women who speak no English, and women who are vulnerable in other ways -- are homeless and destitute. Detention, forced dispersal, deportation and racist attacks are increasing. We may be forced into begging or prostitution to feed ourselves and our families, facing further criminalisation. We know that throughout Europe others are facing the same crises and organising against them.
At a time of increased wars and poverty in Third World countries caused by Western economic and military interests, and of immigration policies which reek more and more of Nazism, we are taking action together to show our unity across national borders against racism and all discrimination. As immigrants and asylum seekers and as Europeans we stand together to demand that the West pay its debt to the Third World. We defend and strengthen all our movements against the increasing threat to our most basic rights. We show how many of us in Europe are appalled by this return to Nazism – reinforced by Europe’s allegiance to Bush’s US – which millions everywhere died to defeat. We will not allow immigrants to be scapegoated for cuts in benefits, wages, pensions and healthcare imposed by market forces that don’t value any of our lives.
Our 31 January action will be the first action of the 2004 Global Women’s Strike. It will be an opportunity for us to highlight the situations and struggles of women asylum seekers, which are most neglected, making them visible internationally. The Strike demands that society Invests in Caring Not Killing – a complete change from the economic priorities of the market and the return of military budgets to the
community, beginning with women the first carers. Women, and men who support our goals, are building to take Strike action in over 60 countries on 8 March (International Women’s Day).(see http://globalwomenstrike.net for more info). A collective manifesto and demands are being drafted for 31 January (see below) and the final version will be circulated soon.
Demands
Unconditional regularisation (right to stay) for all Sans-Papiers, and freedom of movement and settlement. Capital travels freely, why not people?
Immediate closure of all detention camps in all European countries
An end to all deportations
The right to citizenship and permanent residency for all, in all European countries, including access to the same healthcare, benefits, education and other resources that everyone else needs
Implementation of a real right to asylum, including official recognition of rape as persecution and therefore grounds for asylum
Recognition of the specific needs of women asylum seekers, immigrants and refugees, as those who are most likely to have responsibility for the care of others, are most vulnerable to violence, and least able to escape persecution or get the resources to settle when we do
An end to exploitation and neo-slavery, and the right to work based on the same entitlements as the workers in the country where we settle
We will shortly be letting you know more about our exciting plans. Please let us know if you are interested in taking part.
Women of Colour (Global Women’s Strike)
Crossroads Women’s Centre, 230A Kentish Town Road, London NW5 2AB
Tel: 0207 482 2496 Fax: 0207 209 4761 email:womenofcolour@allwomencount.net
Payday
PO Box 287 London NW6 5QU, Tel 0207 209 4751
Email payday@paydaynet.org web: www.refusingtokill.net
9 Jan 2004
Last week the Liverpool Committee Against Destitution For Asylum Seekers (LCAD) called a nation-wide protest Stand Up for Asylum Seekers marking the first year of the hated Sections 55 & 57 of the Immigration & Nationality Act. For more info contact: Dee Coombes lcad@merseymail.com
Dear sisters, brothers and friends,
For several months a number of organisations of immigrant people and supporters have been building a network against “Fortress Europe”. We recently met with some of these groups, on the initiative of the Paris-based Droits Devant, and we agreed with them to call for a joint Day of Action on 31 January 2004 to defend the human rights of all “Sans Papiers” (people without papers) – immigrants and asylum seekers who are denied rights to residence, housing, work permits, healthcare, benefits, etc.
So far, co-ordinated actions are planned in Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and the UK – you may have heard from other UK-based groups already. The aim is to make visible the deprivation and destitution faced by those of us who are asylum seekers or immigrants and the struggle we are making for human rights.
In our network many of the women asylum seekers -- rape survivors, pregnant women, mothers with young children, women with serious health problems often as a result of torture, lesbian women, women who speak no English, and women who are vulnerable in other ways -- are homeless and destitute. Detention, forced dispersal, deportation and racist attacks are increasing. We may be forced into begging or prostitution to feed ourselves and our families, facing further criminalisation. We know that throughout Europe others are facing the same crises and organising against them.
At a time of increased wars and poverty in Third World countries caused by Western economic and military interests, and of immigration policies which reek more and more of Nazism, we are taking action together to show our unity across national borders against racism and all discrimination. As immigrants and asylum seekers and as Europeans we stand together to demand that the West pay its debt to the Third World. We defend and strengthen all our movements against the increasing threat to our most basic rights. We show how many of us in Europe are appalled by this return to Nazism – reinforced by Europe’s allegiance to Bush’s US – which millions everywhere died to defeat. We will not allow immigrants to be scapegoated for cuts in benefits, wages, pensions and healthcare imposed by market forces that don’t value any of our lives.
Our 31 January action will be the first action of the 2004 Global Women’s Strike. It will be an opportunity for us to highlight the situations and struggles of women asylum seekers, which are most neglected, making them visible internationally. The Strike demands that society Invests in Caring Not Killing – a complete change from the economic priorities of the market and the return of military budgets to the
community, beginning with women the first carers. Women, and men who support our goals, are building to take Strike action in over 60 countries on 8 March (International Women’s Day).(see http://globalwomenstrike.net for more info). A collective manifesto and demands are being drafted for 31 January (see below) and the final version will be circulated soon.
Demands
Unconditional regularisation (right to stay) for all Sans-Papiers, and freedom of movement and settlement. Capital travels freely, why not people?
Immediate closure of all detention camps in all European countries
An end to all deportations
The right to citizenship and permanent residency for all, in all European countries, including access to the same healthcare, benefits, education and other resources that everyone else needs
Implementation of a real right to asylum, including official recognition of rape as persecution and therefore grounds for asylum
Recognition of the specific needs of women asylum seekers, immigrants and refugees, as those who are most likely to have responsibility for the care of others, are most vulnerable to violence, and least able to escape persecution or get the resources to settle when we do
An end to exploitation and neo-slavery, and the right to work based on the same entitlements as the workers in the country where we settle
We will shortly be letting you know more about our exciting plans. Please let us know if you are interested in taking part.
Women of Colour (Global Women’s Strike)
Crossroads Women’s Centre, 230A Kentish Town Road, London NW5 2AB
Tel: 0207 482 2496 Fax: 0207 209 4761 email:womenofcolour@allwomencount.net
Payday
PO Box 287 London NW6 5QU, Tel 0207 209 4751
Email payday@paydaynet.org web: www.refusingtokill.net
9 Jan 2004
Last week the Liverpool Committee Against Destitution For Asylum Seekers (LCAD) called a nation-wide protest Stand Up for Asylum Seekers marking the first year of the hated Sections 55 & 57 of the Immigration & Nationality Act. For more info contact: Dee Coombes lcad@merseymail.com
** us sets up imperial outpost in mauritania:
"A small vanguard force arrived this week in Mauritania to pave the way for a $100m (£54m) plan to bolster the security forces and border controls of Mauritania, Mali, Chad and Niger.
The US Pan-Sahel Initiative, as it is named, will provide 60 days of training to military units, including tips on desert navigation and infantry tactics, and furnish equipment such as Toyota Land Cruisers, radios and uniforms."
this being part of us initiative to secure oil and military presence in africa (7/7/03):
"General James Jones, the commander of the US European command with responsibility for African operations, said the US was trying to negotiate the long-term use of a "family" of military bases across the continent.
"The bases would not only be established in north African states such as Algeria, where Islamic extremism is already a potent force, but also in sub-Saharan African nations such as Mali.
[...]
The new bases are being described as temporary, but in reality, once built they are likely to become part of the African landscape.
[...]
The Djibouti base is in striking distance of Sudan, Somalia and Yemen, all seen as possible havens for al-Qaida. But bases in West Africa and an enhanced naval presence in the Gulf of Guinea would be primarily designed to safeguard an increasingly important source of oil.
The US is currently importing 1.5m barrels a day from West Africa, about the same as imports from Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile the US has so far invested $10bn (?6bn) in the West African oil fields this year. The US department of energy expects African oil imports to reach 770m barrels a year, and US investment in the oil fields to exceed $10bn a year.
At a meeting organised last month by the Corporate Council on Africa, a senior CIA official, David Gordon, predicted that over the next decade African oil would be potentially more important to the US than Russia or the Caucasus. According to other participants at the meeting, he went on to warn however that over the following decade the oil industry ran the risk of imploding as a result of the region's inherent instability, unless the US did more to prop it up."
** bush to waste $1.5 billion for promotion of marriage:
"For months, administration officials have worked with conservative groups on the proposal, which would provide at least $1.5 billion for training to help couples develop interpersonal skills that sustain "healthy marriages."
"no wonder we're fucked up as a race" - bill hicks
also found this amusing ad on the nyt site whilst reading above
clicked it and it led me to this very selective, most naive and outright dumb description of "marijuana":
"Usually smoked as a cigarette or joint, or in a pipe or bong, marijuana has appeared in "blunts" in recent years. These are cigars that have been emptied of tobacco and re-filled with marijuana, sometimes in combination with another drug, such as crack."
with following disclaimer:
"TheAntiDrug.com relies on the latest research to bring you the most accurate information available."
"A small vanguard force arrived this week in Mauritania to pave the way for a $100m (£54m) plan to bolster the security forces and border controls of Mauritania, Mali, Chad and Niger.
The US Pan-Sahel Initiative, as it is named, will provide 60 days of training to military units, including tips on desert navigation and infantry tactics, and furnish equipment such as Toyota Land Cruisers, radios and uniforms."
this being part of us initiative to secure oil and military presence in africa (7/7/03):
"General James Jones, the commander of the US European command with responsibility for African operations, said the US was trying to negotiate the long-term use of a "family" of military bases across the continent.
"The bases would not only be established in north African states such as Algeria, where Islamic extremism is already a potent force, but also in sub-Saharan African nations such as Mali.
[...]
The new bases are being described as temporary, but in reality, once built they are likely to become part of the African landscape.
[...]
The Djibouti base is in striking distance of Sudan, Somalia and Yemen, all seen as possible havens for al-Qaida. But bases in West Africa and an enhanced naval presence in the Gulf of Guinea would be primarily designed to safeguard an increasingly important source of oil.
The US is currently importing 1.5m barrels a day from West Africa, about the same as imports from Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile the US has so far invested $10bn (?6bn) in the West African oil fields this year. The US department of energy expects African oil imports to reach 770m barrels a year, and US investment in the oil fields to exceed $10bn a year.
At a meeting organised last month by the Corporate Council on Africa, a senior CIA official, David Gordon, predicted that over the next decade African oil would be potentially more important to the US than Russia or the Caucasus. According to other participants at the meeting, he went on to warn however that over the following decade the oil industry ran the risk of imploding as a result of the region's inherent instability, unless the US did more to prop it up."
** bush to waste $1.5 billion for promotion of marriage:
"For months, administration officials have worked with conservative groups on the proposal, which would provide at least $1.5 billion for training to help couples develop interpersonal skills that sustain "healthy marriages."
"no wonder we're fucked up as a race" - bill hicks
also found this amusing ad on the nyt site whilst reading above
clicked it and it led me to this very selective, most naive and outright dumb description of "marijuana":
"Usually smoked as a cigarette or joint, or in a pipe or bong, marijuana has appeared in "blunts" in recent years. These are cigars that have been emptied of tobacco and re-filled with marijuana, sometimes in combination with another drug, such as crack."
with following disclaimer:
"TheAntiDrug.com relies on the latest research to bring you the most accurate information available."
Debate
BRITAIN NEEDS MORE IMMIGRANTS
22nd January 2004
Speaking FOR the motion:
Dr Heaven Crawley,
Associate Director (Migration & Equalities) at IPPR, one of Britain's leading progressive think tanks.
Barbara Roche MP,
Labour MP for Hornsey and Wood Green. Former Minister of State in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (until June 2003), where her ministerial responsibilities included Social Exclusion, Regional Co-ordination, Neighbourhood Renewal, Homelessness, Women and Equalities. Former Home Office Minister with responsibilities for Immigration, Asylum and European Policy.
Speaking AGAINST the motion:
Sir Andrew Green,
Chairman and founder of Migration Watch UK, an independent think-tank which seeks to provide comprehensible information and to encourage open debate on asylum and immigration. Former British Ambassador in Syria and Saudi Arabia.
Professor Robert Rowthorn,
A Fellow of Kings College, Professor of Economics and until recently Chair of the Faculty of Economics and Politics at Cambridge University. He is the author of several books and many academic articles on economic growth, unemployment, globalisation and related issues.
Chaired by:
Philip Collins,
Director of the Social Market Foundation. His main research interests are in the fields of education and race and nationhood and his first novel, "The Men From The Boys" was published in January 2002.
Venue: The Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Gore, London, SW7 (entrance to the debate is on Exhibition Road)
Time: Doors open at 6.00pm. Debate starts at 6.45pm and finishes at 8.30pm.
Tickets: £20 per ticket
Bookings: Tel: 020 7494 3345 or email info@intelligencesquared.com.
BRITAIN NEEDS MORE IMMIGRANTS
22nd January 2004
Speaking FOR the motion:
Dr Heaven Crawley,
Associate Director (Migration & Equalities) at IPPR, one of Britain's leading progressive think tanks.
Barbara Roche MP,
Labour MP for Hornsey and Wood Green. Former Minister of State in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (until June 2003), where her ministerial responsibilities included Social Exclusion, Regional Co-ordination, Neighbourhood Renewal, Homelessness, Women and Equalities. Former Home Office Minister with responsibilities for Immigration, Asylum and European Policy.
Speaking AGAINST the motion:
Sir Andrew Green,
Chairman and founder of Migration Watch UK, an independent think-tank which seeks to provide comprehensible information and to encourage open debate on asylum and immigration. Former British Ambassador in Syria and Saudi Arabia.
Professor Robert Rowthorn,
A Fellow of Kings College, Professor of Economics and until recently Chair of the Faculty of Economics and Politics at Cambridge University. He is the author of several books and many academic articles on economic growth, unemployment, globalisation and related issues.
Chaired by:
Philip Collins,
Director of the Social Market Foundation. His main research interests are in the fields of education and race and nationhood and his first novel, "The Men From The Boys" was published in January 2002.
Venue: The Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Gore, London, SW7 (entrance to the debate is on Exhibition Road)
Time: Doors open at 6.00pm. Debate starts at 6.45pm and finishes at 8.30pm.
Tickets: £20 per ticket
Bookings: Tel: 020 7494 3345 or email info@intelligencesquared.com.
lenny pardoned - 23/12/03
"New York Governor George Pataki today granted a posthumous pardon to Lenny Bruce, wiping away the comedian's 1964 obscenity conviction. The pardon comes 37 years after Bruce (born Leonard Schneider) died from a heroin overdose at age 40. The comedian was arrested on the misdemeanor charge for performing an "obscene, indecent, immoral, and impure" show at a Manhattan nightclub (he was eventually found guilty and sentenced to four months in prison). Last May, a group of lawyers, writers, and entertainers like Robin Williams and Phyllis Diller signed a petition asking Pataki to pardon Bruce on the grounds that he simply exercised free speech rights during his performances."
reuters
nyt
"New York Governor George Pataki today granted a posthumous pardon to Lenny Bruce, wiping away the comedian's 1964 obscenity conviction. The pardon comes 37 years after Bruce (born Leonard Schneider) died from a heroin overdose at age 40. The comedian was arrested on the misdemeanor charge for performing an "obscene, indecent, immoral, and impure" show at a Manhattan nightclub (he was eventually found guilty and sentenced to four months in prison). Last May, a group of lawyers, writers, and entertainers like Robin Williams and Phyllis Diller signed a petition asking Pataki to pardon Bruce on the grounds that he simply exercised free speech rights during his performances."
reuters
nyt
13.1.04
** amnesty international: only two eu states uphold human rights
"...only two of the 15 current member states - Luxembourg and the Netherlands - could be given a clean bill of health.
Britain stands accused of "serious human rights violations" in its responses to the September 11 attacks on the United States. Abuses were being committed in the name of the "war on terror" and the fight against illegal immigration, according to the report "Human Rights Begin at Home"."
** more grief for bush's national security doctrine - strategic studies institute:
"The global war on terrorism as presently defined and conducted is strategically unfocused, promises much more than it can deliver, and threatens to dissipate US military and other resources in an endless and hopeless search for absolute security," says the study by Jeffrey Record, a visiting scholar at the Strategic Studies Institute."
[...]
"Mr Record recommends a total overhaul of the national security strategy and says it must redirect its campaign against global terror from "unrealistic to realistic war aims".
** towards 1984 - bush administration looking to classify travellers to us according to terror risk:
"The unprecedented measure would see each visitor to the United States score on a scale of three colours - green, yellow and red - based on personal details, shortly after making their flight reservation."
[...]
"In the event that a traveller is thought to have the same characteristics as a "terror suspect", "you will not be able to immediately board the flight, you are going to be talking to law enforcement and you will be given an immediate opportunity to establish an error, if you believe one exists," Hatfield said. The airline ticket will not be reimbursed by US authorities, however, he said."
** tit-for-tat - brazil continues to check id's of travellers from the us
"At present all US visitors to Brazil must be photographed and fingerprinted. The measures, which have caused long delays for travellers, are a response to similar rules recently introduced in the United States."
** the suv principle: to avoid fuel limits, turn it into a truck
"...only two of the 15 current member states - Luxembourg and the Netherlands - could be given a clean bill of health.
Britain stands accused of "serious human rights violations" in its responses to the September 11 attacks on the United States. Abuses were being committed in the name of the "war on terror" and the fight against illegal immigration, according to the report "Human Rights Begin at Home"."
** more grief for bush's national security doctrine - strategic studies institute:
"The global war on terrorism as presently defined and conducted is strategically unfocused, promises much more than it can deliver, and threatens to dissipate US military and other resources in an endless and hopeless search for absolute security," says the study by Jeffrey Record, a visiting scholar at the Strategic Studies Institute."
[...]
"Mr Record recommends a total overhaul of the national security strategy and says it must redirect its campaign against global terror from "unrealistic to realistic war aims".
** towards 1984 - bush administration looking to classify travellers to us according to terror risk:
"The unprecedented measure would see each visitor to the United States score on a scale of three colours - green, yellow and red - based on personal details, shortly after making their flight reservation."
[...]
"In the event that a traveller is thought to have the same characteristics as a "terror suspect", "you will not be able to immediately board the flight, you are going to be talking to law enforcement and you will be given an immediate opportunity to establish an error, if you believe one exists," Hatfield said. The airline ticket will not be reimbursed by US authorities, however, he said."
** tit-for-tat - brazil continues to check id's of travellers from the us
"At present all US visitors to Brazil must be photographed and fingerprinted. The measures, which have caused long delays for travellers, are a response to similar rules recently introduced in the United States."
** the suv principle: to avoid fuel limits, turn it into a truck
12.1.04
"Lebanese President Emile Lahoud has called for an international definition of terrorism, extending beyond that given to it by the United States.
"It is not enough to declare war on what one deems terrorism without giving a precise and exact definition," Lahoud said in a meeting with foreign diplomats on Monday.
He also said it was unacceptable for states to offer their own definition in the absence of an international interpretation, alluding to the United States, which has accused Lebanon of harbouring terrorists."
"It is not enough to declare war on what one deems terrorism without giving a precise and exact definition," Lahoud said in a meeting with foreign diplomats on Monday.
He also said it was unacceptable for states to offer their own definition in the absence of an international interpretation, alluding to the United States, which has accused Lebanon of harbouring terrorists."
** former aide says US president made up his mind to go to war with iraq long before 9/11, then ordered his staff to find an excuse
"The one time the president does become engaged in economic policy discussion in Mr Suskind's book, it is to question the orthodoxy of his own administration's policy during a White House discussion of a second round of tax cuts in November 2002, following triumphal midterm election results.
According to Mr Suskind, who says he has a transcript of the meeting, the president asks: "Haven't we already given money to rich people? This second tax cut's gonna do it again."
The president suggests instead: "Shouldn't we be giving money to the middle?" But Mr Rove, who has masterminded Mr Bush's election campaigns since his days in Texas, jumps in at this point in the transcript to urge the president: "Stick to principle. Stick to principle."
** carnegie endowment for international peace official report on "systematically misrepresenting the threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction"
** uncertain tony
"Paul Keetch, the Liberal Democrat defence spokesman, said it was "disingenuous" to blame intelligence reports when the prime minister had taken the decision to embark on the conflict. "Intelligence is not an exact science. But if he is now saying he's unsure whether there were WMD or not, one would have assumed that uncertainty would have been apparent at the time," he said."
** US Supreme Court has allowed the Bush administration to keep secret the names and other basic details of terror suspects it has detained
"History shows that, in times of crisis and fear, executive officials are prone to overreact, especially in their treatment of minorities in their midst."
** indonesia -> africa theory plausible
"So absorbed was the Asian influence that by the time the white man came he never noticed it."
** death - reality soap opera that may never end - back to middle ages?
"The one time the president does become engaged in economic policy discussion in Mr Suskind's book, it is to question the orthodoxy of his own administration's policy during a White House discussion of a second round of tax cuts in November 2002, following triumphal midterm election results.
According to Mr Suskind, who says he has a transcript of the meeting, the president asks: "Haven't we already given money to rich people? This second tax cut's gonna do it again."
The president suggests instead: "Shouldn't we be giving money to the middle?" But Mr Rove, who has masterminded Mr Bush's election campaigns since his days in Texas, jumps in at this point in the transcript to urge the president: "Stick to principle. Stick to principle."
** carnegie endowment for international peace official report on "systematically misrepresenting the threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction"
** uncertain tony
"Paul Keetch, the Liberal Democrat defence spokesman, said it was "disingenuous" to blame intelligence reports when the prime minister had taken the decision to embark on the conflict. "Intelligence is not an exact science. But if he is now saying he's unsure whether there were WMD or not, one would have assumed that uncertainty would have been apparent at the time," he said."
** US Supreme Court has allowed the Bush administration to keep secret the names and other basic details of terror suspects it has detained
"History shows that, in times of crisis and fear, executive officials are prone to overreact, especially in their treatment of minorities in their midst."
** indonesia -> africa theory plausible
"So absorbed was the Asian influence that by the time the white man came he never noticed it."
** death - reality soap opera that may never end - back to middle ages?
Interesting pamphlet about the anti globalisation movement and the Socialist Workers Party "monopolise resistance" which might be familiar to those of you who went to the European Social Forum
"The anti-capitalist movement is at a key point in its development. Three years ago it hardly existed. The next three years will be crucial. This is why we’ve decided to make public our fears that all this good work could be undone by people who have nothing to do with this resistance but instead want to take it over for their own ends. This pamphlet is an attempt to show why the Socialist Workers Party and Globalise Resistance are trying to do just that.
While working closely with ‘respectable’ anti-globalisation groups, the SWP/GR increasingly attack those involved in direct action, describing us - just as the gutter press does - as disorganised, mindless hoodlums obsessed with violence. They are willing to make these attacks so they can portray themselves as more ‘organised’ and, therefore, the best bet if you think capitalism stinks and want to do something about it. They are nothing of the sort. They want to kill the vitality of our movement - with the best of intentions, of course - and we need to organise better in the face of this threat.
Which is the other reason that we’ve written this pamphlet. Direct action has achieved great things over the years but - let’s face it - sometimes the way we organise things is just crap. We need to change that. This isn’t some stupid slagging match. As regular readers will know, SchNEWS is not in the habit of attacking other groups. We just think these things need saying. The opportunity for winning mass support for anti-capitalist ideas has never been greater. Let’s not blow it."
"The anti-capitalist movement is at a key point in its development. Three years ago it hardly existed. The next three years will be crucial. This is why we’ve decided to make public our fears that all this good work could be undone by people who have nothing to do with this resistance but instead want to take it over for their own ends. This pamphlet is an attempt to show why the Socialist Workers Party and Globalise Resistance are trying to do just that.
While working closely with ‘respectable’ anti-globalisation groups, the SWP/GR increasingly attack those involved in direct action, describing us - just as the gutter press does - as disorganised, mindless hoodlums obsessed with violence. They are willing to make these attacks so they can portray themselves as more ‘organised’ and, therefore, the best bet if you think capitalism stinks and want to do something about it. They are nothing of the sort. They want to kill the vitality of our movement - with the best of intentions, of course - and we need to organise better in the face of this threat.
Which is the other reason that we’ve written this pamphlet. Direct action has achieved great things over the years but - let’s face it - sometimes the way we organise things is just crap. We need to change that. This isn’t some stupid slagging match. As regular readers will know, SchNEWS is not in the habit of attacking other groups. We just think these things need saying. The opportunity for winning mass support for anti-capitalist ideas has never been greater. Let’s not blow it."
Home Truths- from Media Lens (can we link these guys as well... they are good)
'If the substantial reduction in child mortality throughout Iraq during the 1980s had continued through the 1990s, there would have been half a million fewer deaths of children under-five in the country as a whole during the eight year period 1991 to 1998.' [Child and Maternal Mortality Survey 1999, August 1999 www.unicef.org/reseval/iraqr.html]
Home Lies- from Statewatch
Extradition legislation slipped through parliament over Christmas holiday
- controversial UK-US treaty ratified;
- use of Statutory Instrument "an abuse of democracy"- shadow Home Secretary;
- UK Extradition Act 2003 given full effect
"you're only s'posed to blow the bloody doors off"
Followup to the letter bombing business from Italian indymedia... a good summary with some history and lots of links
'If the substantial reduction in child mortality throughout Iraq during the 1980s had continued through the 1990s, there would have been half a million fewer deaths of children under-five in the country as a whole during the eight year period 1991 to 1998.' [Child and Maternal Mortality Survey 1999, August 1999 www.unicef.org/reseval/iraqr.html]
Home Lies- from Statewatch
Extradition legislation slipped through parliament over Christmas holiday
- controversial UK-US treaty ratified;
- use of Statutory Instrument "an abuse of democracy"- shadow Home Secretary;
- UK Extradition Act 2003 given full effect
"you're only s'posed to blow the bloody doors off"
Followup to the letter bombing business from Italian indymedia... a good summary with some history and lots of links
Silky...
When Robert Kilroy-Silk makes offensive but non-violent remarks about Arab people, the BBC suspends his television show. But when three of the world's top reggae stars release violent records glorifying the shooting and burning of gay people, these stars and their songs are promoted on the BBC website and on Radio 1Xtra. Why the double standards? While Muslim leaders rightly condemn Kilroy-Silk's Islamophobia, many of them are guilty of far worse prejudice against gay people. I am not aware of any senior Muslim in Britain who believes homosexuals are entitled to full and equal human rights. How can they expect respect for Muslims, if they deny respect to others?
Peter Tatchell
London
If we Arabs are so unimportant and contribute nothing to civilisation, would more important civilisations please leave us in peace. Why does Britain waste so many resources to control this vast region? Western powers are often seen queuing up to make alliances with the Arab world.
Dr Sami Mahroum
Toronto, Canada
When Robert Kilroy-Silk makes offensive but non-violent remarks about Arab people, the BBC suspends his television show. But when three of the world's top reggae stars release violent records glorifying the shooting and burning of gay people, these stars and their songs are promoted on the BBC website and on Radio 1Xtra. Why the double standards? While Muslim leaders rightly condemn Kilroy-Silk's Islamophobia, many of them are guilty of far worse prejudice against gay people. I am not aware of any senior Muslim in Britain who believes homosexuals are entitled to full and equal human rights. How can they expect respect for Muslims, if they deny respect to others?
Peter Tatchell
London
If we Arabs are so unimportant and contribute nothing to civilisation, would more important civilisations please leave us in peace. Why does Britain waste so many resources to control this vast region? Western powers are often seen queuing up to make alliances with the Arab world.
Dr Sami Mahroum
Toronto, Canada
10.1.04
n.b. "long march through institutions" theme here. '68 generation ended up in party politics, educational and media secotrs (especially pop ents)
hier ein blödsinniger artikel der pop-linken taz zum thema. vielleicht habe ichs ja nur nicht kapiert oder sowas..
hier ein blödsinniger artikel der pop-linken taz zum thema. vielleicht habe ichs ja nur nicht kapiert oder sowas..
2 part marcuse lecture at ucla, it's streaming but i've ripped it, 2 files approx. 8 mb, 60 mins., incredible document, can transmit via msn.
not sure as to date (could infer by checking up i suppose), but he's referring to dutschke alive, so...
not sure as to date (could infer by checking up i suppose), but he's referring to dutschke alive, so...
9.1.04
Frum's New Neocon Manifesto
is this it? the definitive blue print? just when all those questions were beginning to look unanswered:
An End to Evil: How to Win the War on Terror - by Richard Perle and David Frum
a quick pr?cis of the manifesto:
- Support the overthrow of the terrorist mullahs of Iran.
- End the terrorist regime of Syria.
- Regard Saudi Arabia and France not as friends but as rivals ? maybe enemies...
- Withdraw support from the United Nations if it does not reform.
- Tighten immigration and security at home.
- Radically reorganize the CIA and the FBI.
- Squeeze China, and blockade North Korea to press them to abandon its nuclear program.
- Abandon the illusion that a Palestinian state will contribute in any important way to U.S. security
all this and more, including a general corrosion of the constitution and bill of rights on the american domestic front...
Richard Perle needs no introduction, i'm sure, but here is an interesting article from the guardian on him + friends, that reveals how he once wrote a political thriller called 'Hard Line' - you can find it here. 'Its hero is a male senior official at the Pentagon, working late into the night and battling almost single-handedly to rescue the US from liberal wimps at the state department who want to sign away America's nuclear deterrent in a disarmament deal with the Russians'...
Frum made his name as a presidential speechwriter but fell from grace after it was leaked (by his wife) that he was the inspiration behind the 'axis of evil' speech. crushed by now missing out on the greatest period of winks, nods and secret handshakes in recent political history, this collaboration with Perle looks set to see him climbing the greasy pole once again. (The book jacket says Frum was the "most influential thinker in the foreign-policy apparatus of the Administration of George W. Bush" and Perle is "the intellectual guru of the hard-line neoconservative movement in foreign policy.") so listen up....
'tell me when lord, tell me when. let me be your servant lord'....
not scared? anyone even near to influencing the use of atomic missiles and thermoneculear weopons who speaks about 'ending evil' (...!) is a very dangerous person...General Ripper's concerns over a declining "purity of essence" as he launched his strategic-bomber wing on a pre-emptive nuclear attack (Strangelove).... we live in these times.
is this it? the definitive blue print? just when all those questions were beginning to look unanswered:
An End to Evil: How to Win the War on Terror - by Richard Perle and David Frum
a quick pr?cis of the manifesto:
- Support the overthrow of the terrorist mullahs of Iran.
- End the terrorist regime of Syria.
- Regard Saudi Arabia and France not as friends but as rivals ? maybe enemies...
- Withdraw support from the United Nations if it does not reform.
- Tighten immigration and security at home.
- Radically reorganize the CIA and the FBI.
- Squeeze China, and blockade North Korea to press them to abandon its nuclear program.
- Abandon the illusion that a Palestinian state will contribute in any important way to U.S. security
all this and more, including a general corrosion of the constitution and bill of rights on the american domestic front...
Richard Perle needs no introduction, i'm sure, but here is an interesting article from the guardian on him + friends, that reveals how he once wrote a political thriller called 'Hard Line' - you can find it here. 'Its hero is a male senior official at the Pentagon, working late into the night and battling almost single-handedly to rescue the US from liberal wimps at the state department who want to sign away America's nuclear deterrent in a disarmament deal with the Russians'...
Frum made his name as a presidential speechwriter but fell from grace after it was leaked (by his wife) that he was the inspiration behind the 'axis of evil' speech. crushed by now missing out on the greatest period of winks, nods and secret handshakes in recent political history, this collaboration with Perle looks set to see him climbing the greasy pole once again. (The book jacket says Frum was the "most influential thinker in the foreign-policy apparatus of the Administration of George W. Bush" and Perle is "the intellectual guru of the hard-line neoconservative movement in foreign policy.") so listen up....
'tell me when lord, tell me when. let me be your servant lord'....
not scared? anyone even near to influencing the use of atomic missiles and thermoneculear weopons who speaks about 'ending evil' (...!) is a very dangerous person...General Ripper's concerns over a declining "purity of essence" as he launched his strategic-bomber wing on a pre-emptive nuclear attack (Strangelove).... we live in these times.
double-belated: paris social forum - photos
das argument - german magazine for social sci and philosophy, rather positive review of course of events. apparently there was a violent clash between frenchie unionists and more radical libertarian frenchies at some stage. apparently basque/katalan tossage was not pleased with lacking translation into their local blabla. their backward nationalism and symbols were noted by said magazine.
protecting the churches..
das argument - german magazine for social sci and philosophy, rather positive review of course of events. apparently there was a violent clash between frenchie unionists and more radical libertarian frenchies at some stage. apparently basque/katalan tossage was not pleased with lacking translation into their local blabla. their backward nationalism and symbols were noted by said magazine.
protecting the churches..
The Poor Wars... the BBC investigates
IMF 'not always to blame' apparently ...
How do developed countries treat the world's poorest? Will free trade, the IMF, and the World Bank lift millions out of poverty or serve to exploit them? The BBC Radio 4 series The Poor Wars investigates. The second part of The Poor Wars presented by Evan Davis will be broadcast on Radio 4 on Sunday, 11 January at 1700GMT.
IMF 'not always to blame' apparently ...
How do developed countries treat the world's poorest? Will free trade, the IMF, and the World Bank lift millions out of poverty or serve to exploit them? The BBC Radio 4 series The Poor Wars investigates. The second part of The Poor Wars presented by Evan Davis will be broadcast on Radio 4 on Sunday, 11 January at 1700GMT.
8.1.04
Chomsky 'Hegemony or Survival' reviews from the NYT:
'Hegemony or Survival': The Everything Explainer By SAMANTHA POWER - relatively balanced discussion of Chomsky's political ideas, mild whiff of Chomsky bashing... nevertheless prevailing impression that Power is resisting urge to abuse Chomsky in someway, lest someone reads the review and gets the wrong idea; and we dont want that...
'The Era of Distortion' By DAVID BROOKS - oh dear..... neocon critics are unhinged or anti-Semitic?! lordy lordy!
and lastly, Micheal Leon's analysis of both articals from CounterPunch
'Hegemony or Survival': The Everything Explainer By SAMANTHA POWER - relatively balanced discussion of Chomsky's political ideas, mild whiff of Chomsky bashing... nevertheless prevailing impression that Power is resisting urge to abuse Chomsky in someway, lest someone reads the review and gets the wrong idea; and we dont want that...
'The Era of Distortion' By DAVID BROOKS - oh dear..... neocon critics are unhinged or anti-Semitic?! lordy lordy!
and lastly, Micheal Leon's analysis of both articals from CounterPunch
well i'm sittin' here sellin' tacos.....
Willie Dixon wrote this song on Christmas, 2003, and will perform it for the first time at the Kucinich for President fundraising concert in Austin, Texas, this January...
Whatever Happened to Peace on Earth?
There's so many things going on in the world
Babies dying
Mothers crying
How much oil is one human life worth
And what ever happened to peace on earth
We believe everything that they tell us
They're gonna' kill us
So we gotta' kill them first
But I remember a commandment
Thou shall not kill
How much is that soldier's life worth
And whatever happened to peace on earth
(Bridge)
And the bewildered herd is still believing
Everything we've been told from our birth
Hell they won't lie to me
Not on my own damn TV
But how much is a liar's word worth
And whatever happened to peace on earth
So I guess it's just
Do unto others before they do it to you
Let's just kill em' all and let God sort em' out
Is this what God wants us to do
(Repeat Bridge)
And the bewildered herd is still believing
Everything we've been told from our birth
Hell they won't lie to me
Not on my own damn TV
But how much is a liar's word worth
And whatever happened to peace on earth
Now you probably won't hear this on your radio
Probably not on your local TV
But if there's a time, and if you're ever so inclined
You can always hear it from me
How much is one picker's word worth
And whatever happened to peace on earth
But don't confuse caring for weakness
You can't put that label on me
The truth is my weapon of mass protection
And I believe truth sets you free
(Bridge)
And the bewildered herd is still believing
Everything we've been told from our birth
Hell they won't lie to me
Not on my own damn TV
But how much is a liar's word worth
And whatever happened to peace on earth
Willie Dixon wrote this song on Christmas, 2003, and will perform it for the first time at the Kucinich for President fundraising concert in Austin, Texas, this January...
Whatever Happened to Peace on Earth?
There's so many things going on in the world
Babies dying
Mothers crying
How much oil is one human life worth
And what ever happened to peace on earth
We believe everything that they tell us
They're gonna' kill us
So we gotta' kill them first
But I remember a commandment
Thou shall not kill
How much is that soldier's life worth
And whatever happened to peace on earth
(Bridge)
And the bewildered herd is still believing
Everything we've been told from our birth
Hell they won't lie to me
Not on my own damn TV
But how much is a liar's word worth
And whatever happened to peace on earth
So I guess it's just
Do unto others before they do it to you
Let's just kill em' all and let God sort em' out
Is this what God wants us to do
(Repeat Bridge)
And the bewildered herd is still believing
Everything we've been told from our birth
Hell they won't lie to me
Not on my own damn TV
But how much is a liar's word worth
And whatever happened to peace on earth
Now you probably won't hear this on your radio
Probably not on your local TV
But if there's a time, and if you're ever so inclined
You can always hear it from me
How much is one picker's word worth
And whatever happened to peace on earth
But don't confuse caring for weakness
You can't put that label on me
The truth is my weapon of mass protection
And I believe truth sets you free
(Bridge)
And the bewildered herd is still believing
Everything we've been told from our birth
Hell they won't lie to me
Not on my own damn TV
But how much is a liar's word worth
And whatever happened to peace on earth
A previously unheard of Italian “anarcho-insurrectionist” organisation is under investigation by anti terrorist experts from six countries after a number of letter bombs were sent in the past few weeks to prominent EU officials including Romano Prodi (President of the European Commission) and the Governor of the European Central Bank. The letters were mailed from Bologna by a group calling itself the Informal Anarchic Federation (FAI). They also caused two small explosions near Prodi's home earlier in December. No one was hurt, although one of them went off in Prodi's hands, but the only damage done was some carpet getting burnt.
Meanwhile the mainstream media scream that we are witnessing a resurgence in "anarchist terrorism" and that it's only a matter of luck that no-one has been injured. The Independent argued that the money used for the war on Iraq would have been better spent on surveillance of potential terrorists. Security measures have been stepped up within EU state institutions and on Monday, Italy announced the creation of a European task force to combat "anarchist insurrection". Millions of pounds will be spent on blanket repression of social movements and activists. The head of the European Parliament, Pat Cox (PD) made the startling observation that the incidents were a "criminal conspiracy against democracy". Which by a strange coincidence, were exactly the words used by a SchNews correspondent describing Silvio Berlusconi’s regime in Italy.
The majority of anarchists and communists in Italy and worldwide are opposed to such acts. The Italian Anarchist Federation (FAI), co-incidentally sharing the same initials as this strange new group and having suffered state repression under similar circumstances, denounced the indiscriminate violence of such devices. Suspiciously, other Anarchist groups in Italy say they have never heard of this group, said to have 350 members. Prodi is not such an obvious target for violent groups as Berlusconi and his cronies, who are the real oppressors in Italy.
Many are of the opinion that the recent events are the latest incident in the Italian state's "Strategy of Tension". In 1997 in Milan, a series of letterbombs were used as a justification to raid squats, social centres, and make sweeping arrests. Anti-globalisation activists may also recall the letter bomb scare in the days leading up to the 2001 G8 summit in Genoa. Prodi, target of the anarchists, is also Berlusconi’s main political rival in Italian politics.
In the 1970's, when electoral support for communists was at an all time high, Fascists engaged in a deadly bombing campaign. By blaming the bombings on the communists, the Fascists hoped to incite a breakdown of public order to justify the imposition of military rule. In Bologna in 1980, a bomb was detonated at a rail station killing 85 people and injuring over 200. Bologna was a communist stronghold at the time. The Italian Secret Service was later implicated in the bombing and high ranking officials in the organization were made to stand trial ten years later. Their convictions were overturned.
It is clear that in Berlusconi’s Italy, there will be no proper investigation, no objective reporting in the mainstream media and as usual, no justice, no peace …
To follow the story on indymedia:
here
read more about the strategy of tension:
here
Meanwhile the mainstream media scream that we are witnessing a resurgence in "anarchist terrorism" and that it's only a matter of luck that no-one has been injured. The Independent argued that the money used for the war on Iraq would have been better spent on surveillance of potential terrorists. Security measures have been stepped up within EU state institutions and on Monday, Italy announced the creation of a European task force to combat "anarchist insurrection". Millions of pounds will be spent on blanket repression of social movements and activists. The head of the European Parliament, Pat Cox (PD) made the startling observation that the incidents were a "criminal conspiracy against democracy". Which by a strange coincidence, were exactly the words used by a SchNews correspondent describing Silvio Berlusconi’s regime in Italy.
The majority of anarchists and communists in Italy and worldwide are opposed to such acts. The Italian Anarchist Federation (FAI), co-incidentally sharing the same initials as this strange new group and having suffered state repression under similar circumstances, denounced the indiscriminate violence of such devices. Suspiciously, other Anarchist groups in Italy say they have never heard of this group, said to have 350 members. Prodi is not such an obvious target for violent groups as Berlusconi and his cronies, who are the real oppressors in Italy.
Many are of the opinion that the recent events are the latest incident in the Italian state's "Strategy of Tension". In 1997 in Milan, a series of letterbombs were used as a justification to raid squats, social centres, and make sweeping arrests. Anti-globalisation activists may also recall the letter bomb scare in the days leading up to the 2001 G8 summit in Genoa. Prodi, target of the anarchists, is also Berlusconi’s main political rival in Italian politics.
In the 1970's, when electoral support for communists was at an all time high, Fascists engaged in a deadly bombing campaign. By blaming the bombings on the communists, the Fascists hoped to incite a breakdown of public order to justify the imposition of military rule. In Bologna in 1980, a bomb was detonated at a rail station killing 85 people and injuring over 200. Bologna was a communist stronghold at the time. The Italian Secret Service was later implicated in the bombing and high ranking officials in the organization were made to stand trial ten years later. Their convictions were overturned.
It is clear that in Berlusconi’s Italy, there will be no proper investigation, no objective reporting in the mainstream media and as usual, no justice, no peace …
To follow the story on indymedia:
here
read more about the strategy of tension:
here
7.1.04
and therefore obviously,
* national security archive declassifieds from imperialist - baathist relations
* national security archive declassifieds from imperialist - baathist relations
*US state executes mentally sick man;
"Arkansas has executed a man with a severe mental illness who was forcibly medicated with anti-psychotic drugs, which made him lucid enough under court guidelines to be put to death."
*"...but one with whom, if only one could see more of him, it would be possible to do business."
Guess who's speaking about who.
"Arkansas has executed a man with a severe mental illness who was forcibly medicated with anti-psychotic drugs, which made him lucid enough under court guidelines to be put to death."
*"...but one with whom, if only one could see more of him, it would be possible to do business."
Guess who's speaking about who.
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