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U. of Colorado Will Investigate Allegations of Misconduct Against
Controversial Professor

Scott Smallwood, Chronicle of Higher Education

Administrators at the University of Colorado at Boulder have affirmed
that the First Amendment protects statements made by Ward Churchill,
the ethnic-studies professor who likened victims of the 2001
terrorist attacks to "little Eichmanns."


But a seven-week review of the professor's work, they said, turned up
allegations of research misconduct that should be investigated by a
faculty committee and could lead to disciplinary action, including
his dismissal.

Anonymous Comrade writes:

"Never again! Nie wieder! Plus jamais!!"

Migrant Deaths in Germany


Who knew Oury Jallow or Laye Konde? Who knows something about their
lives, the families they left behind, their feelings and their fears?
Who knows how they died and why?

On the 7th of January, two Africans died at the hands of the german
police. In germany, the 7th of January was just another day. Normal.
Simply another day which for many people belongs to the past and like
the past is forgotten. Nothing more and nothing less than another Friday
in the first month of a new year.

Other people don't have such short memories and they also don't forget.
What's more, there are some people for whom the 7th of January
represents and will continue to represent another day in the infamous
colonial history of this country and of this continent; people who can
only understand the death of two Africans to represent a continuation of
the past and the present. One single nightmare.
The facts:


Oury Jallow and Laye Konde, both from Sierra Leone, died because they
and their like are not welcomed in this country. They died because they
found themselves in a country that continues to say Auslander Raus;
they died because both the german state and the society do everything in
their means to isolate, exclude, destroy and expulse Oury, Laye and
many, many others like them.
Oury died tied to a bed in his police cell in the city of Dessau, burned
alive in what the authorities claim to have been a "suicide". Laye, on
the other hand, died far away from there, in the city of Bremen, his
lungs filled with a liquid forced into his body by the police who were
attempting to make him vomit out the drugs he was hiding.

Secret U.S. Plans For Iraq's Oil

Greg Palast, BBC

MACON,GA.—The Bush administration made plans for war and for Iraq's oil before the 9/11 attacks sparking a policy battle between neo-cons and Big Oil, BBC's Newsnight has revealed.


Two years ago today — when President George Bush announced US, British and Allied forces would begin to bomb Baghdad — protestors claimed the US had a secret plan for Iraq's oil once Saddam had been conquered.


In fact there were two conflicting plans, setting off a hidden policy war between neo-conservatives at the Pentagon, on one side, versus a combination of "Big Oil" executives and US State Department "pragmatists."


"Big Oil" appears to have won. The latest plan, obtained by Newsnight from the US State Department was, we learned, drafted with the help of American oil industry consultants.

Carol Lang Arrested at New York Army Recruitment Protest


Carol Lang, long-time clerical employee of CUNY and
former shop steward of DC 37, was arrested last Friday
(Mar. 11) in her office by four plainclothesmen. She
had been caught up in a scuffle with campus security
on Wednesday the 9th, when security attacked a group
(including Carol) protesting army recruiters' presence
at a campus "jobs fair".

The initial charge was
felonious assault on a security officer, subsequently
reduced to a misdemeanor. Carol was held for 36 hours
(while police obstructed communication between her and
her attorney), in a holding cell with 15 women and 3
mattresses to sleep on, and a filthy toilet facility
that prison employees refused to clean. CCNY has
suspended Carol for one month without pay, prior to
any trial or conviction. DC 37 is thus far minimally
defending Carol, accompanying her through
administrative procedure over her suspension.


There is a rally to defend Carol on the CCNY campus
on Thursday Mar. 17 at 12:30 PM, at the administration
building (opposite the NAC). Carol cannot be present
because she has been banned from campus. (To get there
by subway, take the A or the D to 145th St and walk to
the intersection of 138th and Convent, where the rally
will take place.


To let the CUNY administration know what you think of
this attack on a long-term radical activist, write to
CCNY President Gregory Williams at gwilliams@ccny.cuny.edu.

This article was originally published by our friends at the great magazine Mute. Anyone interested in current debate about precarity — and any number of other provocative and stimulating contributions on poltics, technology and culture — should get a copy of the latest issue M29:: The Precarious Issue::
This is the first of two articles, the second of which will focus on the discussion on communications strategy with particular empahasis on the works done in Milan and Rome.

"Disobbedienti, Ciao!"

Hydrarchist

[Hydrarchist analyses the death of the Italian extra-parliamentary political network, Disobbedienti (Disobedients), and reports on the rise of social precarity as a focus of political action in Italy.]

No formal announcement certified the end of the Disobedients (Disobbedienti) in Italy but the once dominant extraparliamentary network’s demise seems scarcely in dispute. What originated as the ‘White Overalls’ (WO) alliance between groups in the Veneto, Rome and Milan in 1998, encompassing satellite groups in other cities, is now in full decomposition as its constitutent elements abandon the logo and reassume identities related to their everyday territorial reality. The consequences are manifested both in a reshuffling of the relationships between the movements and the political parties, and a plurality of campaigns as the focus of struggle. But first some background and explanation.

Traditional "Pagan" Celebration Turns Into Street Fights Against Regime Forces
SMCCDI (Information Service)Mar 15, 2005



Violent clashes rocked, this evening, main Iranian cities as brutal militiamen attacked Iranians who transformed the already hardly
tolerated celebration of the traditional "Tchahr Shanbe Souri" (Fire Fiest) into protest action and show of "un-Islamic" joy. Most areas of the Capital and cities, such as, Esfahan, Mahabad, Shiraz, Rasht, Kermanshah, Babol, Sannandaj, Mashad, Khoram-Abad, Zabol, Tabriz, Hamedan and Oroomiah (former Rezai-e) were scenes of sometimes unprecedented street fights between the regime forces and groups of Iranians.

Armed clashes have been reported from several cities and especially from Tehran, as small groups of armed and determined masked individuals were seen rushing to the rescue of some of those arrested by the official forces. Powerful home made incendiary devices and fire crackers also responded to the Islamic regime's militiamen and plainclothes agents' use of brutality against celebrators and women who were not observing the mandatory veil.

Italy Planning to Start Pullout of Iraq Troops

Ian Fisher, New York Times

ROME, March 15 — Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said Tuesday that he aimed to begin withdrawing Italy's 3,000 troops from Iraq by September, in a signal that the domestic cost of loyalty to the United States over the war was growing too high.


Mr. Berlusconi, one of President Bush's few close allies in Europe, framed his words carefully, saying in brief comments on a talk show here that the timing of the withdrawal depended on the strength of the Iraqi government. Italy has the fourth largest contingent of foreign troops in Iraq, its soldiers acting largely as peacekeepers near the southern city of Nasiriya.

Wolfowitz To Be Named To Lead World Bank

London Financial Times

Paul Wolfowitz, US deputy secretary of defence, is to be nominated by president George W. Bush to replace James Wolfensohn as the president of the World Bank.


The nomination of Mr Wolfowitz, one of the chief architects of the Iraq war and a former US ambassador to Indonesia, would likely be highly controversial, and could raise new questions about the process by which the World Bank chief is selected. One administration official said his nomination “would have enormous repercussions within the development community”.

Yulie Khromchenko writes "Some 250 high-school seniors have signed a letter stating that they will not serve in the Israel Defense Forces or take part in military activities, and sent the letter to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, and Education Minister Limor Livnat.

"We call on all youths ahead of service in the IDF, and all soldiers already in the Israeli army, to reconsider endangering their lives and taking part in a policy of oppression and destruction," the letter states.

hydrarchist writes "Glyn Moody is also the author of a very good book about the history of the free software movement"Rebel Code..

Second sight


Glynn Moody


Thursday March 10, 2005


The Guardian

If you think computer patent law is boring, think again. Over the
past year, factions for and against the patenting of programs
have fought a battle for the soul of European software, and the
ramifications of a recent EU decision on the subject are likely
to be huge - and not just for anoraks.

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