Radical media, politics and culture.
September 22, 2001 - 6:10pm -- Stenglander
Analysis & Polemic
Theory

Anonymous Comrade writes: "
Indymedia Germany has posted an article analyzing the current relation of the wealthy and indebted nations in light of the WTC disaster by Saskia Sassen: ENTRAPMENTS RICH COUNTRIES CANNOT ESCAPE: GOVERNANCE HOTSPOTS. Sassen is a US urbanist (author of “Global Cities”); this piece appeared first in the Wall Street Journal on 9-12-01.

September 20, 2001 - 3:47pm -- autonomedia
Analysis & Polemic
Theory

(unauthorized translation by soenke.zehle@web.de, source: FAZ 09/20/01)



On Security and Terror
By Giorgio Agamben



Security as the leading principle of state politics dates back to the the birth
of the modern state. Hobbes already mentions it as the opposite of fear,
which compels human beings to come together within a society. But not until
the 18th century does a thought of security come into its own. In a 1978
lecture at the CollÈge de France (which has yet to be published) Michel
Foucault has shown how the political and economic practice of the
Physiocrats opposes security to discipline and the law as instruments of
governance.

September 20, 2001 - 10:20am -- hydrarchist
Analysis & Polemic
In the Streets

Anonymous Comrade writes: "The following article was written by members of the group Midnight Notes. Originally, it was published on A Infos a week ago, but as a result of its coincidence with the events in New York and Washington, it disappeared. Nonetheless it treats matters which should be of interest to many attracted by contemporary radicalism.Because of the length of the piece, it has been posted in two parts.


Genova and the Antiglobalization Movement


by George Caffentzis


A Citizens' Arrest


These are some reflections on the demonstrations in Genova during the G8 meetings and the post-Genova debate. We were not in Genova on July 19-21, 2001 and were not involved in the process of preparing the demos; thus, there are aspects of this debate we cannot comment upon. We are responding, however, to the widespread realization that the July Genova days were a turning point for the antiglobalization movement and there are important lessons we in the movement must draw from it.


Two things happened in Genova that signal the development of a new political reality. First, 300,000 people from every part of Europe came together to challenge the legitimacy of the G8 meeting and practically attempt a citizen's arrest of it. On the first day of the demonstrations, moreover, 70, 000 immigrants and supporters marched-an unprecedented feat in Italy where immigrants politically are still relatively invisible.


What also happened in Genova is that in response to this challenge the Italian government and (more hiddenly) its G8 partners declared war on the anti-globalization movement, first by brutally attacking hundreds of peaceful demonstrators, and then by staunchly defending these attacks as perfectly legitimate, thus de facto backing a strategy of terror, and the abolition of all legal, civic, and human rights.

September 20, 2001 - 10:09am -- hydrarchist
Analysis & Polemic
In the Streets

Anonymous Comrade writes: "Part II: Caffentzis: Genoa and the Antiglobalization Movement

Genova and the limits of the Seattle experience


Even with the inevitable repression and the much grieved for death and maimings, the Genova demonstrations were in some respects an enormous success for the antiglobalization movement. Hundreds of thousands came from all over Europe to these demonstrations in the face of very open intimidation. Clearly the message of the movement is increasing in its range and power. Moreover, the mass immigrant march was an important first step in tying together the post-Seattle antiglobalization struggle in Europe with the much longer struggle against globalization in the Third World. After all, many immigrants were forced out their homes by globalization policies they struggled against in the streets of Africa, Asia and South America.


However, there is no doubt that at the end of the Genova demonstrations there was an wave of internal criticism and divisiveness within the movement which for some was much more demoralizing than Carlo's death and the hundreds of broken skulls and bones. It is important to voice some of this criticism in order to see that what is being criticized is not due of the personal failings of people of the GSF, the Tute Bianche or the "genuine" Black Block, but it arises from a change in the struggle against globalization when a number of the tactics that proved so successful in Seattle are reaching their limit.

September 19, 2001 - 2:01pm -- autonomedia
Analysis & Polemic
News

mackswell23 writes: "This is another valuable piece...




Special report: terrorism in the US



Martin Amis
Tuesday September 18, 2001
The Guardian



It was the advent of the second plane, sharking in low over the Statue
of Liberty: that was the defining moment. Until then, America thought
she was witnessing nothing
more serious than the worst aviation disaster in history; now she had a
sense of the fantastic vehemence ranged against her.


September 18, 2001 - 12:23am -- hydrarchist
Analysis & Polemic
News

Anonymous Comrade (awm13579@yahoo.com)posted this article by L. A. Kaufmann:

"It's now official: In the wake of the September 11
disaster, the IMF and World Bank have indefinitely
postponed their planned late-September meetings,
and the raucous street protests that were to greet
them have effectively been canceled. (At this
writing, the Anti-Capitalist Convergence, the
more radical of the two organizing coalitions, has
still not decided what it's going to do.)

There still will be teach-ins and at least one
large interfaith vigil in D.C. that week. Meanwhile,
the International Action Center -- front group for
the Stalinist Workers World Party, with a long
history of supporting murderous dictators like
Nicolae Ceausescu, Saddam Hussein, and
Slobodan Milosevic -- is planning to go forward
with a September 29 "March Against War and
Racism" in Washington. I suspect a lot of other
groups may sign on, because there's a widespread
desire to do something. But you won't catch me
supporting a "peace march" organized by a
bunch of authoritarian opportunists who have
no problem with slaughter, so long as it's
committed by their pet tyrants.

September 16, 2001 - 2:36am -- hydrarchist
Analysis & Polemic
Prisons & Prisoners

DaaaihLoong writes:
September 10, 2001 [Volume 12, Issue 16]


Bailing Out Private Jails


By Judith Greene

The private-prison industry is in trouble. For close to a
decade, its business boomed and its stock prices soared
because state legislators across the country thought they
could look both tough on crime and fiscally conservative if
they contracted with private companies to handle the growing
multitudes being sent to prison under the new, more severe
sentencing laws. But then reality set in: accumulating press
reports about gross deficiencies and abuses at private
prisons; lawsuits; million-dollar fines. By last year, not a
single state was soliciting new private-prison contracts.
Many existing contracts were rolled back or even rescinded.
The companies' stock prices went through the floor.

Here was one experiment in the privatization of public
services that might have limped to a well-deserved close.
But instead, the federal government seems to be rushing to
the industry's rescue.

September 10, 2001 - 1:43pm -- autonomedia
Analysis & Polemic
Theory

David Cox writes: "Images are themselves a lens on the culture which makes them. Walter
Benjamin was both right and wrong about art in the age of mechanical
reproduction. He was correct in stating that as images proliferate, their
overall commercial value in depreciates. He was wrong in assuming that
manufactured images are worth less than their 'real world' referent.



As manufactured goods accelerate away from the decade in which they were
made, they themselves gain a kind of new cultural value. Some commodities
seem to accrue more cultural gravitas than others. The dodgiest of global
trade in junk, the antique market bears testimony to the ways in which
even the most trivial of manufactured items can become obscure objects of
desire once made to enter the domain commodity relations.
manufactured images are worth less than their 'real world' referent.



Read the whole essay athttp://www.netspace.net.au/~dcox/lens.html"

September 10, 2001 - 1:02pm -- autonomedia
Analysis & Polemic
Rants

Anonymous Comrade writes: "The purpose of a Shadow Economy is to create a
viable alternative to the existing economic systems in
place. Capitalism is the predominant system in place,
therefore any alternative would be said to exist in
the shadows only. It is important that we do not
directly attack Capitalism but create something that
is real, visible, and like a shadow, cannot be gotten
rid of easily; it does not exist in the same sense
that Capitalism does. Nor does it exist in opposition
because it is not a negation of Capitalism, but an
entirely different creature altogether. It is no
secret among the critics of Capitalism that most of
the voices raised call for its destruction but lack a
cry for something constructive." -Ted Goldenberg,
Shadow Economies



The Purpose of this group is to produce and critque
works around the theme of the Shadow Economy so that
it may later be distributed to a variety of media
sources (be it internet media, independent newspapers,
infoshops, flyering, etc.) and help promote the idea
of the shadow economy."



http://groups.yahoo.com/group/shadoweconomy"

September 7, 2001 - 8:10pm -- Stenglander
Analysis & Polemic
Culture

Anonymous Comrade writes: "crimedawg.com is a really crappy website. But it does provide some examples of cop culture at it's best, brightest, and most sophisticated. See for yourself at http://www.crimedawg.com/designs."

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