Anonymous Comrade writes

"Anatomy of Terror"

John Chuckman

Trying to bring reason to the subject of terror seems hopeless. The subject is crushingly-weighted with hatreds, prejudice, and political lunacy. But the attempt is important because the subject may dominate the lifetimes of most readers.

Terror is both a real phenomenon and a fraud. It is real in that groups with deep grievances do sometimes kill innocent people in their attempt to influence events from a position of political and military weakness.

"Coexistence with Islamic Fundamentalism?"

George Katsiaficas

To my great fortune, I am not now in the US. I am
fortunate not because I fear anthrax or other terrors
but rather because my mind and soul are not being
inalterably stamped by the patriotic media onslaught
and chauvinism swirling through the country with
greater strength than a tornado. During the last such
nationalistic maelstrom (the Iran hostage crisis in
1979) I was also lucky enough to have been living
abroad. I mention my location because my
perspective -- worlds apart from the vast majority of
Americans -- will probably seem quite un-American.

"Mexican Army Assaults Zapatista Communities"

Edinburgh-Chiapas Solidarity Group

Mexican armed forces have attacked the Zapatista community of
Nuevo San Rafael, burning down 23 homes and violently evicting
the Chol indigenous inhabitants. The attack, reported variously as
happening on either 19 or 22 January, took place in the remote
Montes Azules jungle area of Chiapas.
Resource-rich Montes Azules has long been coveted by
multinationals. As the governments and multinationals press
forward with the Plan Puebla Panama and Free Trade Area
of the Americas, the “war of low intensity” against
the thousand-plus Zapatista autonomous communities
erupts into blatant repression. The Secretary of Government
of Chiapas, Rubén Velázquez López, promises more
evictions, declaring that land invasions will no longer be
tolerated.

bbb writes

Communiqué from the Biotic Baking Brigade,
NYC Cell
January 20, 2004

NY, NY: 12:00PM
Agents of the Biotic Baking Brigade-NYC cell have pied Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry who was speaking on behalf of his new anti-abortion group, the Society for Truth and Justice.

rob eshelman writes:

Amidst the Rubble with Baghdad Squatters
Rob Eshelman

In the Karada neighborhood of Baghdad, Saddam Hussein’s formerly grand, high modern Air Defense Ministry building has been reduced to a bombed-out, crumbling ruin. Evidence of the destruction is everywhere: windows are burnt-out voids, the ground is covered with a layer of rusty metal, broken foam ceiling tiles, and pieces of charred aluminum. Walking through the skeletal remains of the compound’s forward building one emerges on to a courtyard containing a once marble spiraled staircase, brick walls stripped of their tiles, and an Olympic-size swimming pool half full of murky water and debris. Since the fall of Saddam’s government, this once luxurious complex has been transformed into a shantytown of Shia squatters. Approximately 400 families now try to survive here as best they can; around them lies an increasingly dysfunctional mega-city of six million people.

"No to Bio-Political Tattooing"

Giorgio Agamben, Le Monde, 10 January 2004

The newspapers leave no doubt: from now on whoever wants to go to
the United States with a visa will be put on file and will have
to leave their fingerprints when they enter the country.
Personally, I have no intention of submitting myself to such
procedures and that's why I didn't wait to cancel the course I
was supposed to teach at New York University in March.

"Italian Letter Bombs Attributed to Anarchists Raise Questions"

Four letter bombs have been sent to various European Union
dignitaries throughout the Europe in the last week, all of them,
according to government officials, originating from the Italian city
of Bologna.

A group calling itself the Informal Anarchist Front
("F.A.I.") has claimed responsibility in a letter printed by an
Italian newspaper. Although no known Italian anarchist groups have
ever heard of this association, the acronym matches exactly that of
another above-ground, revolutionary organization in Bologna: the
Italian Anarchist Federation (F.A.I.) The F.A.I. has denounced these
attacks, and consider the Informal Anarchist Front "imaginary,"
(federazioneanarchica)
invented to justify the repression of anarchists in Bologna and
throughout Italy.

nolympics writes:


Breakfast in Baghdad

I have been working for the Spanish film crew for about two weeks now, and usually I am due at work at seven in the morning. But that day, the 30th of
December, I had a call of 9:30, so I was looking forward to a leisurely breakfast and pot of tea in the hotel restaurant. All of the gang was there at different tables: the assorted activists, journalists, and human-rights hardcases that live in our hotel. Everyone was sleepy and cranky from lack of caffeine. I had just taken my first sip of tea.

And then WHOOM.

GroundAction writes

"A new website titled 'Ground Action' has just been created.
The Ground Action site includes forums for discussing projects and developing plans of action for constructing organisations, networks and systems that are based on participatory democracy, mutual aid and self-management (i.e. alternatives to capitalism, centralised government, corporate controlled media, authoritarian schooling, etc.).

Thank you,
Michael

The Battle for Hearts and Minds.

By Rob Eshelman

In the Iraqi town of Samarra, thick mud obscures the walkways leading into an immaculate gold-domed mosque and towering minaret in the town center. Iranian pilgrims walking through the busy market surrounding the place of worship have their worn leather shoes and long robes splattered with the wet paste of the city streets.

Samarra is also the site of new and aggressive US Army tactics that are similar to Israeli-style counterinsurgency. The methods involve house-to-house searches, curfews, neighborhood-wide closures, and retaliatory home demolitions. The US military says they are targeting resistance cells, however, the people of Sumarra say that it’s indiscriminate punishment and intimidation.