London "Mayday in Mayfair" Festival of Alternatives Announced

This Mayday, as well as the mass action (more info
below) we are holding a Mayday Festival of
Alternatives -- a week or so of events which celebrate
and demonstrate autonmous, anti-capitalist,
co-operative culture. This will be shown through many
useful hands-on workshops, plus lots of fun film
showings, art exhibitions, parties/picnics, and
actions.

The Jouissance of Transgression: Lacan and Crime

Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University

Sunday-Monday, March 10-11, 2002

The event will be held at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law

55 Fifth Avenue (at 12th St), NYC

We live in a time when new forms of violence are emerging. The September 11th attack on the United States revealed an unrecognized willingness of terrorists to sacrifice their own lives in order to hurt their "enemies." In the last decade, national conflicts around the globe have resulted in the most brutal forms of torture against civilian populations. In our daily lives, we increasingly hear of brutal crimes committed by young
children and teenagers and between parents and children. The most shocking observation is that many people do not even attempt to give an excuse for why they commit crime, other than for the pure joy of it.

In the mid-twentieth century, French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan developed a startlingly novel school of psychoanalysis by integrating Freudian theory within the context of the Continental speculative philosophical tradition. Lacan suggests that there is a particular jouissance experienced in crime. Participants at this unique conference will ask how the logic of jouissance can explain violence against oneself and others. Leading scholars from many disciplines, including law, philosophy, literary and critical theory, and anthropology, as well as practicing
psychoanalytic clinicians will consider the interrelationship between jouissance, crime, and law.

Psychoanalysis claims that certain primal prohibitions form the basis of the moral law that governs not only social norms but also a subject's inner self. What is the link between these external and internal norms? Paradoxically, the law that society imposes onto the subject does not necessarily limit the subject's behavior-sometimes the subject commits the crime precisely to escape the pressure and feelings of guilt that arise
from his or her inner prohibitions. Crime and guilt are revealed as the founding conditions of law. Can psychoanalysis illuminate the subject's relation to legal punishment? And do lawyers need to know about psychoanalysis in order to better perform their jobs?

Anonymous Comrade writes "

"Drugaciji svijet je moguc!" ["Another World is Possible!"]
Initiative/Conference/Manifestation

We gathered in initiative "Drugaciji svijet je moguc" to create a wide social coalition which can offer alternatives to corporate globalisation, capitalism, neoliberalism, and which would work towards creation of general economic, political and social
equality. Our statement, something that we might call the "main text" of our manifesto, partly makes use of some conclusions made in Porto Alegre during WSF meeting, although it's more local, since the manifestation that we organise is happening in Zagreb.

The initiative is organised by a wide range of groups and individuals, from anarchist groups to human right groups, from feminist groups to anti-militarist groups. Also, we "negotiate" with workers unions, as we find them important (although
we can't agree with everything they do) in the process of fighting global and local problems. Our main idea is not to include political parties in this initiative and any other group that might be racist, nationalist, xenophobic, or exists to get power over people.

"Crossover Resistance" Seminar Set for Berlin, April 19–21, 2002

We start from the assumption that all relations of power and domination are intimately bound up with one another. That's why we are putting nation, patriarchy, capitalism, heterosexism, antisemitism and racism in their interrelations on the agenda.
By doing this, we hope to open up new perspectives for resistance.