Federal Judge Gives Go-ahead in Kurtz Case:

Motion to Dismiss Charges Called "Premature"

Dan Herbeck, Buffalo News

A criminal case that has upset many people in the art world will continue to move forward in federal court here.

In an opinion issued late Thursday, U.S. Magistrate Judge H. Kenneth Schroeder Jr. refused to recommend dismissal of charges against Steven J. Kurtz, a University at Buffalo art professor who was indicted by a federal grand jury in June 2004.

Kurtz, 47, is a founding member of the Critical Arts Ensemble, a group whose art exhibits often criticize the the federal government. His indictment touched off debate about artistic freedom and the government's efforts to tightly control the distribution of bacterial agents in the post-9/11 era.

It would be "premature" to dismiss the charges, Schroeder wrote. The judge also refused to recommend the suppression of evidence taken from Kurtz's Allentown home after his wife died there in May 2004.

"Even if it assumed . . . that the government will fall short in the required proof, a motion to dismiss the indictment must be considered as being premature and inappropriate in addressing that issue," Schroeder wrote.

The judge said he will schedule a hearing to determine whether some statements Kurtz made to Buffalo police should be suppressed.

Kurtz and Robert E. Ferrell, a human genetics researcher at the University of Pittsburgh, are charged with illegally obtaining bacterial agents from a laboratory in Virginia. They are charged with felony mail fraud and wire fraud.

Zapatista Comandanta Ramona, R.I.P.

San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas, México. — The woman
who had the command of the taking of the city of San Cristobal on the 1st
of January 1994, died this morning 6th of January 2006.

The news of the death of Comandanta Ramona was broken at the Otra Campaña
meeting in Tonalá, Chiapas, where the Delegado Zero was participating.
Since 1994 she was suffering from a terminal disease. In 1995, she had a
kidney transplant operation and with that she stole another 10 years from death. This morning she awoke in a delicate state and she died when she
was brought to San Cristobal (Trans note: the original spanish says she
"ceased to exist", but of course it would be nonsense to put it like that
in english).

Comandanta Ramona, a tiny indigenous woman, commanded the strategy of the
taking of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas during the armed uprising of
the 1st of January 1994. She was a woman who gave her life for the
struggle of her people, and who despite her delicate state of health, was
always present.

The last time she was seen in public was the 16th of September 2005, in
the plenary meeting of the preparations for the "Other Campaign", in the
Caracol of La Garrucha, Municipality F. Gomez.

In giving the news, Delegado Zero announced the suspension for 2 days of
the programmed "Other Campaign" tour, and the return of the delegation to
the Caracol of Oventic, in order to be present at the funeral of this
great woman, Comandanta Ramona.

Zapatista Leader Woos Poor in his Leftist Campaign

Associated Press

SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS, Mexico — The Zapatista movement's ski-masked leader began his public meetings on Monday in a six-month national tour to form a new leftist movement, pledging to "listen to everybody" as he met with Indian groups and rights activists.

Apparently competing for the attention of Mexico's 13 million Indians, President Vicente Fox on Monday began his own tour of the country's indigenous communities.

American Marxist Theorist Harry Magdoff, 1913–2005

Wikipedia and Autonomedia

Henry Samuel Magdoff (born 21 August 1913), commonly known as Harry Magdoff, died today. He was a prominent American socialist commentator. He held several administrative positions in government during the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt and later became co-editor of the Marxist publication, Monthly Review.

Early Years

A child of poor Russian-Jewish immigrants, Magdoff grew up in the Bronx. In 1929, at age 15, Magdoff first started reading Karl Marx when he picked up a copy of The Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy in a used-book store. "It blew my mind," recalled Magdoff in 2003. "His view of history was a revelation....that got me started reading about economics. We were going into the Depression then and I wanted to figure out what it all meant." His interest in Marx led him to embrace socialism.