Radical media, politics and culture.

News

October 31, 2001 - 4:11pm -- nick
News
Prisons & Prisoners

Daaaih Loong writes

"The Sherburne County, Minn., jail is among a number of
correctional facilities in the United States that have begun
using video visitation technology. Video visitation allows
prisoners and visitors to speak to one another's video
images rather than meet face to face, and many authorities
support the application of the technology because it
prevents any exchange of contraband between prisoners and
visitors and cuts down on the number of personnel needed to
guard meetings.

However, some civil rights activists believe
that prisoners need the face-to-face experience of personal
visits to be prepared for re-entering society, while certain
prisoners say using the system makes them feel that someone
is always watching or listening. Sherburne County has been
operating the system for over the year, with 58 cameras and
screens. Other prisons with comparable set-ups include Blue
Earth and Dakota counties, and the Minnesota Department of
Corrections reports that five or more additional counties
intend to install systems.

October 29, 2001 - 10:40pm -- autonomedia
News
News

Chuck Morse writes: "Report from Anarchist Movement in Buenos Aires (Anti-War Organizing & in General)


Buenos Aires

27th October




The local setting:


Greater Buenos Aires is the home of at least twelve million people, 90% of whom have been suffering the consequences of a severe economic depression for five or more years now. The current administration of
Fernando de la Rúa continues with the economic policies of 1) fixing the value of the Argentinean Peso to that of the Dollar, 2) privatizing anything that can have a buyer found for it and 3) insisting on financial self-sustenance of any institution which to date has received State subsidies. These policies were introduced by the administration of ex-president Menem, who de la Rúa opposed in the last presidential elections. The country's population at large feels insulted by and angry with this government, which, clearly, is far more preoccupied by the dictates of the IMF and the World Bank than it is with the needs and desires of the people who placed it in power through the mechanism of representative democracy.

October 28, 2001 - 6:41pm -- Uncle Fluffy
News
Independent Media

billydub sent in his latest:

WORLD WAR III REPORT

#. 5. Oct. 27, 2001

by Bill Weinberg

THE AFGHANISTAN FRONT

CIVILIAN CASUALTIES ESCALATE


On Oct. 27, the New York Times reported that the Pentagon "sincerely regrets" the previous day's airstrikes on a Red Cross complex in Kabul--in an area which had ostensibly been put "off limits" after the bombing of the same complex Oct. 16. Claiming military planners didn't know it was a Red Cross building, the Pentagon nonetheless sent a representative to the organization's Geneva headquarters to ensure it wouldn't happen again. Tons of food aid and blankets were destroyed in the raid, and a photo showed an Afghan man standing with sacks of wheat amidst the rubble.

CNN.com reported Oct. 24 that residents of Chowker Korez village in northwest Afghanistan claimed dozens killed and over 20 wounded in a US aerial raid Oct. 22. While Navy Rear Adm. John Stufflebeem said the Pentagon "can't confirm" the strikes on the village, CNN staff who went to a Kandahar hospital said they saw several dismembered bodies wrapped in white bags, as well as a number of wounded being treated. Most were Kuchi nomads who have returned to their traditional way of life to avoid bombing raids on the cities, and said they were in the village when it was attacked by US aircraft.

October 28, 2001 - 2:47pm -- autonomedia
News
The State

nomadlab writes: "I just started reading the full text of the new law signed the other day by Bush. The url for it is at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c107:H.R.3162.ENR:


Some interesting commentary on the new laws can be found at interactive week in an article titled Security Trumps Privacy; the ACLU has a number of reports on the impact of the new law; and the Electronic Privacy Information Center also has an analysis of the legislation."

October 26, 2001 - 7:18pm -- jim
News
News

Autonomedia writes: "Asia Times Online (Hong Kong) Oct. 23, 2001



Party slams its door on Jiang's plan

By Xu Yufang



BEIJING - With no fuss and without a word in public at all, the ruling
Chinese Communist Party (CPC) has repudiated the bold plan of its
leader, General Secretary Jiang Zemin, to open the party to
capitalists and entrepreneurs.



In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks on the US, it seems no one
bothered to check on the fate of Jiang's plan, which he first made public in
an historic announcement on July 1. The proposal met its end, in fact, in
the CPC Central Committee plenary session of September 24-26, according to
informed sources.

October 26, 2001 - 7:12pm -- jim
News
Independent Media

jim writes, here's the latest from the Pacifica Campaign:

"PACIFICA CHAIR FARRELL OUSTS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR WASH

KPFA SHUT DOWN DUE TO BOMB SCARE



Summary of the firing based on http://savepacifica.net report, then a summary of KPFA news report on the firing of Bessie Wash submitted by Steve Freedkin of the Progressive Portal web site. A short description of the bomb scare ends this release.




NEW PACIFICA BOARD CHAIR FIRES EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,
AGREES TO COURT-SUPERVISED MEDIATION



Pacifica's board chair, former Los Angeles city councilman Robert Farrell, tonight (Oct. 24) announced he has fired Executive Director Bessie Wash.



Wash, formerly station manager of Pacifica station WPFW, was named executive director by a board then controlled by former chair Mary Frances Berry. Wash has presided over a total deterioration of the network and its finances, including the banning of Pacifica's only remaining nationwide program, "Democracy Now," the "mainstreaming" of the once alternative daily Pacifica Network News, now the target of a boycott and a strike, the "Christmas Coup" at WBAI in New York, which resulted in dozens of staff members being fired and banned, and the expenditure of an estimated two million dollars on legal fees, public relations firms, and security services.

October 25, 2001 - 5:31pm -- nomadlab
News
Independent Media

jim writes: "Attack on freedom of speech


Below is a news release about an attempt to silence Peter Werbe, a
long-time anarchist and Fifth Estate participant, who is also one of the
very few radio talk show hosts on the left.


It seems that the owner of the station, who has connections to the Militia of California has decided that anything he deems unpatriotic is not going to get airtime.

October 25, 2001 - 4:06am -- Stenglander
News
Prisons & Prisoners

Aras writes: "There is a fine article on hunger strikes in Turkey in this Sunday's NY Times Magazine. Hunger strikes against the new F-Type isolation prisons and other human rights violations have been continuing since last year and 74 people died until now (according to the Turkish Human Rights Association). There will be more deaths, since the government refuses to consider peoples demands and simply ignore such a big resistance.
Here is the link to NY Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/21/magazine/21HUNGE R.html"

October 24, 2001 - 10:05pm -- nomadlab
News
The State

jim writes: "Germany: Police Raid against Online Demonstrators



In the morning hours of October 17th, police officers broke into the office
of the initiative 'Libertad!' and confiscated all computers as well as
several harddiscs, cdroms and documents. The background of this is the
online demonstration on June 20th this year, to which 'Libertad!' had
mobilised, to protest against the deportation of refugees by the airline
'Deutsche Lufthansa AG'.


October 24, 2001 - 3:16pm -- nomadlab
News
Prisons & Prisoners

Smokey the Bear writes: "Corrupt chemist raises fears that innocents were executed
----------

Dallas Morning News

The discovery that Oklahoma City police chemist Joyce Gilchrist
gave false and misleading testimony for 21 years has authorities
searching for innocent people behind bars. Her case has also
raised concern about the 23 people she helped send to death row.
(10/22/01)"

Pages

Subscribe to News