BUILDING AN ANARCHO-SYNDICALIST MOVEMENT
FOR THE 21st CENTURY IN THE U.S. -- FIRST STEPS

an open conference hosted by the Workers Solidarity Alliance
October 12 -13, 2002 (Columbus Day weekend) -- NYC

This conference will be for persons who are committed to an anarcho-syndicalist perspective and/or are currently involved in syndicalist organizing efforts.

COLOMBIA DEMANDS JUSTICE / COLOMBIA CLAMA JUSTICIA

ANNOUNCES THE
ACTIVIST DELEGATION IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE PEOPLE OF COLOMBIA

DECEMBER 2-7, 2002

BOGOTA, COLOMBIA

Colombia is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a
social activist. Targeted by right-wing paramilitary groups who work
hand-in-hand with sectors of the Colombian army and government,
unionists, human rights defenders, and womenís rights activists are
forced to organize under threat of forced displacement, kidnapping,
torture, and death. Trade unionists in particular are under
fireóover 3,800 union members have been killed since 1986, with 116
of those murders taking place since the beginning of 2002.

Despite the intimidation these courageous activists face, their
struggles against war and neo-liberalism continue. Earlier this
year, union workers in Cali and their allies occupied the municipal
services building in a successful attempt to stop the IMF-mandated
privatization of water, electricity, and other public services. And
the Coca-Cola workers' union SINALTRAINAL has recently launched an
international campaign and a lawsuit against the American
multinational to stop its murderous policy of using paramilitaries to
intimidate and kill union members.

Net/Work/Theory

Internet Research 3.0:

Maastricht, The Netherlands, October 13-16 2002

The Internet has become an integral, ubiquitous part of everyday life
in many social domains and international contexts. Yet, most of the
public attention on cyberspace remains fueled by utopian or dystopian
visions, rather than being informed by the growing body of research
on the Internet as a complex fact of modern life.

Internet Research (IR) 3.0, an international and interdisciplinary
conference of the Association of Internet Researchers (A.o.I.R.),
will feature a variety of perspectives on Internet research, in order
to develop a better theoretical and pragmatic understanding of the
Internet. Building on the previous well-attended international
conferences, the IR 3.0 will bring together prominent scholars,
researchers, and practitioners from many disciplines, fields and
countries for a program of presentations, panel discussions, and
informal exchanges.

This year's theme is Net/Work/Theory. Contributors are called to
reflect on how to theorize what we know about the Internet and on how
to apply what we know theoretically in practice. The conference will
be held for the first time in Europe, whose intellectual environments
have traditionally been a source of social and cultural theory.

IR 3.0 will be hosted by the International Institute of Infonomics in
the beautiful city of Maastricht in the Netherlands. As the city in
which one of the key treaties of the European Union was signed,
Maastricht also symbolizes a changing Europe in a changing
international setting. The conference will provide opportunities to
network, learn from other researchers, hear from leading players in
Internet development, and enjoy the "art of fine living" of
Maastricht, in the south of the Netherlands.

The full program: aoir

A Temporary Media Laboratory for Tactical Media

@ Imagine IC in Amsterdam Southeast

September 12–22, 2002

Opening Program: Thursday September 12 18.00 hrs

Imagine IC - Bijlmerplein 1006 - 1008 Amsterdam

Full Program and Workshop descriptions can be found on the Next 5 Minutes
website:
n5m

Website Imagine IC

imagine

Imagine IC, the new centre for the visual representation of migration and
cultures, is the location for a temporary public media laboratory from
September 12th till 22nd. Open at all times to the wider audience, artists,
campaigners, local and international media makers and activists will develop
and discuss their work for 10 days, hold workshops with local media groups,
present examples, realise live media programs on-line and via radio and tv,
and
execute various projects. This Tactical Media Laboratory (short: TML) will
be
the first of an international series of TMLs, organised in various cities,
and
on different continents.

9/11 Muckraking Journalist Michael Ruppert

to speak in
New York City

Saturday, Sept. 7th, 6:30 pm

New School for Social Research's Tishman Auditorium

66 West 12th Street between 5th & 6th Ave., Manhattan.

Ticket prices: $15 or $10 with validated student ID

and in New Jersey on

Sunday, Sept. 8th , 2 pm - 7 pm

Shea Center for the Performing Arts (capacity 900)

William Paterson University in Wayne, NJ (30 minutes from Manhattan).

Directions are available at ww2.wpunj.edu/aboutus/directions.cfm.

Ticket prices: $10 or $7 with validated student ID

For more event information contact:

1-877-867-5901

FTW@ureach.com

Mike Jay writes

The Institute of Ideas and the British Library present:

Trading Thoughts

The British Library, 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB

Date: 14 September, 2002 Time: 1.30pm - 5.00pm

Tickets: £15.00 (concessions including IoI Associates, £12.00) - includes
afternoon tea or coffee

Booking: Telephone 020 7412 7332 or email
boxoffice@bl.uk

An afternoon conference on the legacy and future of global trade. With the
Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development drawing to a close
Trading Thoughts, on Saturday 14th September, will be an opportunity to
examine and debate changing attitudes towards development.

Federation of Revolutionary Anarchist Collectives (FRAC)

Founding Conference September 7- 8th

Lansing, MI

We are a federation made up of member collectives. If there are other
people or collectives interested in attending this conference please drop
us
a line. We apologize for the last minute nature of this announcement but
the location and date of the conference was up in the air due to the
activities in DC last weekend. For a copy of all FRAC documents or to
join
our supporter email listserv please email us or send a letter to:

Federation of Revolutionary Anarchist Collectives (FRAC)

FRAC

PO BOX 4502

East Lansing, MI 48826-4502

nightvision@ziplip.com

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2) Introducing the Federation of Revolutionary Anarchist Collectives
(Great
Lakes Region)

The Federation of Revolutionary Anarchist Collectives (FRAC) is a
revolutionary anarchist federation in the Great Lakes and Midwest region
of
North America. The FRAC was officially founded in June of 2002 through
an
over year long effort by numerous anarchists and anarchist collectives in
the region who wanted to take the theory and practice of anarchism to a
new
level for the 21st century. Inspired by increasing levels of resistance
to
oppression and domination around the world, the FRAC came together in the
spirit of forging a new path for revolutionary anarchists through
blending
fresh theory, practice, and organization. Amidst the smoke and haze of
the
US‚s „War on Terrorism,‰ increasing police brutality and murder, failing
schools and hospitals, and more we know that another world is possible.
Our
goal is to build an organization based on revolutionary anarchist
politics
that can help spark the flame of collective rebellion that will one day
lead
to a world worth living in for everyone.

Burden, Benefit, Trace?

The Legacies of Benevolence

University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

11-14 December 2003

Long before Rudyard Kipling urged his readers to take up the white man's
burden, benevolence was integral to cultural domination, whether through
the formal structures of empire, or through associated charitable activities
such as the provision of medical aid, education, or missions. As the rise of
the middle classes and the emphasis on Puritan conscience increasingly
replaced the notion of aristocratic patronage and noblesse oblige,
benevolence functioned as an umbrella term under which imperial and
neo-imperial domination, particularly cultural domination, were rationalised
and promoted within government and among the subjects of empire. For the
British, the burden of benevolence and the work of civilising were seen
as differentiating their own from other European imperial enterprises. To a
certain extent, a similar self-perception is evident now in the policies and
practices of the contemporary worlds dominant imperial power, the United
States. This conference will consider benevolence, and representations of
benevolence, in a wide variety of forms. Papers on the following topics will
be welcomed:

-> Anthropology and academic study

-> Culture

-> Ecology and Environment

-> Education and training

-> Governance and administration

-> History

-> Literary representation

-> Medicine and welfare

-> Migration and resettlement

-> Military and police activity

-> Religion and missionary activity

-> Trade and commerce

For updates and further information, see the conference website:
benevolence

Abstracts should be sent electronically by 30 April 2003 to

Gilbert

Dale

Virtual Sit-In Against the OAS and the Mexican Government
Slated for Åugust 14, 2002

The Electronic Disturbance Theater will launch a FloodNet action
or virtual sit-in against the Government of the Organization of American
States and the government of the state of Chihuahua, Mexico on
August 14 in solidarity with the families of the disappeared and
murdered young women of Juarez.

For more on the Electronic Disturbance Theatre, visit
ecd.

This virtual action will coincide with the arrival to the US of the mothers
of two women who are among the 800 victims of ongoing violence in Juarez,
Mexico. The mothers will lead a march to the Organization of American
States on Wednesday, August 14, 2002 at noon.

Franco Barchiesi writes:

"Unmask the W$$D in Johannesburg and around the world!

(A Call To Action from the Social Movements Indaba in
South Africa -- please forward wide and far)

On the 31st of August, tens of thousands of South Africans will swarm the World $ummit on $ustainable Development (W$$D) in Johannesburg. We call on all people concerned about our planet and its people to join us in saying "Enough!" -- enough empty promises and lies, enough neoliberal destruction of the commons, enough impoverishment of people for profit!