"The Fight to Stop the Patriot Act Expansion Begins Now"

ACLU Action Network

The debate around the Patriot Act is approaching a crucial moment of
decision. Will we sit back while the Bush Administration sacrifices
our liberty, or will we answer freedom's call and help Congress
bring the Patriot Act in line with the Constitution?

nolympics writes:

Reflections on the Case by the U.S. Justice Department against Steven Kurtz and Robert Ferrell
Claire Pentecost[1]

Many people have asked us why the Justice Department is pursuing this case.

Meaning, when the Buffalo Health Department affirmed that there was nothing dangerous in the Kurtz home and that Hope Kurtz died of natural causes, when the FBI saw that the possession of scientific equipment and materials in Kurtz's home studio was completely consistent with his practice as an artist and that his practice has a long, public and institutionally validated record, then, why didn't they drop the case? When it became clear even through the Grand Jury investigation that this was not a case of bioterrorism, why did they pursue it? Couldn't they see that this is art?

caedefensefund.org/

"Breaches Of Civil Contracts Should Be Federal Crimes, Prosecutor Argues"

Judge calls proposal "Pandora's Box"; defense calls for dismissal.

Tuesday in Buffalo, Judge Kenneth Schroeder heard motions to dismiss a federal criminal case against artist Steven Kurtz. Professor Kurtz was charged with mail and wire fraud last summer after prosecutors found
nothing to support their original allegations of bioterrorism. (Please see caedefensefund.org for an overview of the case.)

Robert S. Finnegan writes
Ft. Stewart Command Quickly Rubber-Stamps Disapproval


Robert S. Finnegan

Southeast Asia News

Yesterday at Ft. Stewart Georgia, U.S. Army Sergeant Kevin Benderman was dealt a setback in his battle with the U.S. Army when his application for Conscientious Objector status was denied by his command.

Benderman applied for CO status after having already served one combat tour in Iraq during which his Captain ordered personnel in the unit to fire on Iraqi children throwing rocks. This was one of many incidents during his deployment that Benderman said convinced him that war is immoral and it is his duty to refuse to kill.

Anonymous Comrade writes:
Manhattan Community Board 2 Rebukes Mayor over Repression of Bicyclists

Manhattan CB 2 passed two unanimous resolutions of "profound concern" about violations of the Constitution committed by Bloomberg's administration.
The City's attornies are trying to gag and enjoin bicyclists from participating in the regular Critical Mass bicycle rides. The rides are aimed at "traffic calming" to make automotive drivers more considerate of bicyclists in the city.
This Friday, April 29th at 5:30 p.m. in Union Square South the international group "Still We Speak!" is throwing a press conference to hoot and holler for our rights. The Reverend Billy presiding.

s0metim3s writes:

"The University and the Undercommons: Seven Theses"

Fred Moten and Stefano Harney

"To the university I'll steal, and there I'll steal," to borrow from Pistol at the end of Henry V, as he would surely borrow from us. This is the only possible relationship to the American university today. This may be true of universities everywhere. It may have to be true of the university in general. But certainly, this much is true in the United States: it cannot be denied that the university is a place of refuge, and it cannot be accepted that the university is a place of enlightenment. In the face of these conditions one can only sneak into the university and steal what one can. To abuse its hospitality, to spite its mission, to join its refugee colony, its gypsy encampment, to be in but not of—this is the path of the subversive intellectual in the modern university.

"Power and the State"

John Holloway

[The following is a transcript of John Holloway’s speech to the London Social Forum in October 2004. Other speakers in the debate were Fausto Bertinotti, Hilary Wainwright and Phil Hearse.]

1. I assume that we are here because we agree on two basic points. Firstly, capitalism is a disaster for humanity and we urgently need a radical social change, a revolution. Secondly, we do not know how such a change can take place. We have ideas, but no certainties. That is why it is important to discuss, respecting our differences and understanding that we are all part of the same movement.

"The Tribe of Moles" (Part Two)
Sergio Bologna

[This essay continues from here.]

A New Political Cycle of Struggles:The Generalisation of the Political Behaviour of the Mass Worker

But if the identity of the mass worker as political subject was now dead — long live the mass worker! A political cycle of struggles as deeply rooted and powerful as that which led from the mass confrontation of Piazza Statuto (Turin, 1961) to the generalised offensive of the Hot Autumn (1969) — throughout which the mass worker of large-scale industry had acted as the central driving force — could hardly be expected to disappear without a trace! It was bound to set in motion a whole series of secondary effects and irreversible mechanisms, imposing its specific hegemony on the composition of the entire class.

"The Tribe of Moles" (Part One)

Sergio Bologna (1977)

This article is a provisional attempt to trace the internal development of the autonomous class movement in Italy, which led to the explosive confrontation around the University occupations in Spring 1977. Such an analysis is only meaningful if it allows us to uncover the new class composition underlying these struggles, and to indicate the first elements of a programme to advance and further generalise the movement.

Here we analyse the movement primarily in its relation to the Italian political system and the changes it has undergone through the period of crisis since 1968. With the Historic Compromise strategy of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) since 1974, the form of the State has taken a new leap forwards — towards the organisation of a "party system" which no longer aims to mediate or represent conflicts in civil society, but is increasingly compact and counterpoised against movements in civil society, and against the political programme of the new composition of the class.

stevphen writes:

The document below was drafted in response to an article by Keith Windschuttle last week in _The Australian_. The text of this article can be found online).

If you'd like to sign the document below, contact Jon Roffe at overground@imap.cc

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“Civilised values” indeed. What we actually find in Keith Windschuttle’s article, “Tutorials in Terrorism,” (The Australian, March 16 2005*) is a thin polemical canvas thrown over a series of gross simplifications, factual omissions and pre-emptive judgements in relation to the life and work of Italian philosopher Antonio Negri.