"Maverick Writer Freed"

gazeta.ru, June 30, 2003

After serving more than half of his 4-year sentence, the controversial
writer and leader of the National-Bolshevik Party Eduard Limonov was
released on Monday morning. Limonov was taken into custody in April 2001 on
charges of illegally purchasing and possessing weapons, plotting terrorist
attacks and the forced overthrow of the constitutional order. In April this
year he was sentenced to 4 years in prison for the acquisition of weapons.
The other charges were dropped.

"The Aesthetics of Empire and the Defeat of the Left"

Kees van der Pijl, International Relations and Politics, University of Sussex

The ‘War on Terrorism’ launched by the United States after the suicide attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon in September, 2001, builds on a longer history of international confrontation and pressure and more specifically, on a series of postures which have been adopted by the West after the collapse of the Soviet Union. These postures have included ethical foreign policy, humanitarian intervention, and peace enforcement. They are all part of the quest for a coherent, post-cold war global strategy on the part of the neo-liberal, Atlantic core of the international state system. As I have argued elsewhere (van der Pijl, 1998: ch. 3), capital has historically crystallised in an English-speaking ‘heartland’, from which it continues to radiate, overlaying the transnationalisation of capital from other centres such as East Asia, the Middle East, or Latin America. In this heartland, the capitalist class is most firmly rooted and it is from this core that it organises its transnational class alliances across the globe. Certainly in the recent period, fractures have appeared in the effort to multilateralise US global strategy by straight pressure and the ‘international community’ seems to have narrowed down again to the United States and Britain. But the basic premise that it is ‘ethical’ to wage war against sovereign peoples for their own good, or that whatever the cost to the civilian population, an embargo can be imposed on a nation for political reasons, remains widely accepted. The systemic requirement for a continued growth of capitalism and the deepening of its discipline over society and nature on a world scale, in the end ties the fate of the global capitalist class to the continued ability of the US-led ‘West’ to project its power world-wide.

jim submits:

"Obituary, Professor Paul Hirst"

Ben Pimlott, Guardian (London), June 20, 2003

Distinguished and energetic political thinker whose ideals provided
the intellectual scaffolding for New Labour

Professor Paul Hirst, who has died aged 57 following a stroke and
brain haemorrhage, was one of the most inspiring political and social
thinkers and teachers of his generation. Though he began as a
Marxist, his ideas helped to provide the intellectual scaffolding for
New Labour. His irreverent approach to conventional political ideas
gained him many admirers who, fired by his spirit, went on to break
new ground of their own. Above all, he was a fierce egalitarian, an
evangelist of honesty and the enemy of cant.

"Hall of Mirrors"

John Chuckman

Perhaps you remember the "fun houses" that were once part of old big-city amusement parks? They were filled with mazes, frights, and surprises. Often, these included a hall of mirrors, a maze of rooms walled with mirrored doors. The confusion of reflections made the maze seem infinitely more complex than it actually was.

The relationship between political leaders and intelligence institutions is a great deal like a hall of mirrors. Looked at from a perspective above, a perspective not permitted most people, the maze may be fairly simple, but it is designed so that any individual trying to make his or her way through it is confused and set off balance.

Anonymous Comrade writes
.
A proposal to Zapatista Solidarity Groups.

CALL TO ACTION TO CO-ORDINATE MASS ZAPATISTA ACTION IN EUROPE, AMERICA AND BEYOND.

We the London Zapatista Action (LZA) solidarity group based in London, England are sending you and Zapatista solidarity groups across the world a proposal –

To co-ordinate a mass protest and action on the same day, throughout the world at Mexican embassies and companies which are involved in the Plan Puebla Panama; in order to tell the Mexican government:

NO TO THE EXPULSIONS IN MONTES AZULES !

NO TO THE PPP. !

YES TO THE SAN ANDRES ACCORDS !

AND THAT THE ZAPATISTA STRUGGLE IS ALIVE AND STRONG IN THE 5 CONTINENTS

"A Road Map to Where?"

Edward Said

Early in May, on his visit to Israel and the Occupied Territories, Colin Powell met with Mahmoud Abbas, the new Palestinian Prime Minister, and separately with a small group of civil society activists, including Hanan Ashrawi and Mostapha Barghuti. According to Barghuti, Powell expressed surprise and mild consternation at the computerised maps of the settlements, the eight-metre-high wall, and the dozens of Israeli Army checkpoints that have made life so difficult and the future so bleak for Palestinians.

Anonymous Comrade submits:

"The Man Who Wasn't There"

John Chuckman, June 11, 2003

I read something recently about America's Middle East initiative, the "road map," offering Bush the chance for greatness. Verbal excess like that demands a realistic discussion of the prospects.

Justice Design writes
"NEW! from justicedesign.com...

** The Lucy Parsons Project ** - a new anarchist labor website!

Lucy Parsons was an African, Native and Mexican-American revolutionary anarchist labor organizer who was at the forefront of peace and justice struggles her entire life. This new and exciting website is a tribute to Lucy Parsons, her work, and the causes she championed. It covers Lucy Parsons, the Haymarket affair, anarchism, the IWW and more. When you have some time please take a look...

http://www.lucyparsonsproject.org/

** Please pass it on it, link it up, make it known... **"

Anonymous Comrade submits:

"Banality, Bombast, and Blood"

John Chuckman

The saga of America's Private Lynch, no matter what the details of her movie-set escape prove to be, adds only banality to needless bloodshed in Iraq.




Another young American woman, Marla Ruzicka, went largely ignored. Ms. Ruzicka runs a non-profit organization that works to make accurate counts of a war's civilian dead. It is small wonder Ms. Ruzicka is not given the same coverage as Private Lynch, since, based upon detailed field work in Iraq, she says that between five and ten thousand civilians were killed.

Anonymous Comrade submits:

"The Masters of the Universe"

Pepe Escobar, Asia Times

It may be instructive to learn what US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the "Prince of Darkness" Richard Perle were doing last weekend. From May 15 to 18 they were guests at the Trianon Palace Hotel, close to the spectacular Versailles palace near Paris, for the annual meeting of the Bilderberg club.

Depending on the ideological prism applied, the Bilderberg club may be considered an ultra-VIP international lobby of the power elite of Europe and America, capable of steering international policy from behind closed doors; a harmless "discussion group" of politicians, academics and business tycoons; or a capitalist secret society operating entirely through self interest and plotting world domination.

Full story is at Asia Times