Patti Hearst writes: "The 103 year-old Swedish anarchist magazine Brand will
soon go to trial on charges of incitement to riot.

The charges were raised a little over one year ago by
the Swedish Secret Police (SÄPO) and received a great
deal of publicity in the Swedish mainstream media.
The charge refers to an ironic article in the
International Women's Day, 8th of March 2000 issue,
about "How to make your riot a success, from A to Z".
The entire issue is a parody of women's magazines and
this article is a parody of their "How to make your
party a success" columns.

Brand's editorial collective member may receive a
hefty prison sentence, especially in the current
lynching climate against "all things anarchist"
after the EU Top meeting in Gothenburg this past
summer.

Read the original press release at:
http://www.free.de/asti/anarchistnews/brand.htm
http://anon.free.anonymizer.com/http://www.ainfos. ca/00/sep/ainfos00051.html

Brand’s editorial collective can be reached at:
e-mail: brand@motkraft.net
web: www.motkraft.net/brand

This is a blatantly political procedure, so your
solidarity and support is requested. Please picket
or demonstrate outside of Swedish embassies and
consulates in your country. A complete list of
Swedish foreign assets can be found at:
http://www.utrikes.regeringen.se/inenglish/mission s/index.htm"

Berkeley, CA--Plaintiffs in four lawsuits that have
been filed against the Pacifica Foundation announced
today that they expected to reach an agreement with
Pacifica that could put an end to the struggles at
Pacifica, the only independent radio network in the
United States. "We thank the listeners, producers,
staff, LAB members, affiliate stations, and others
throughout the country who have been the backbone of
this struggle and whose continued support and
involvement will bring us to our common goals to serve
the mission of Pacifica and achieve our vision of free
speech, community, and corporate-free radio," reads
the statement issued by the plaintiffs on Saturday
afternoon.



In response to what appeared to be a corporate
takeover of the Pacifica Network, founded by pacifists
in 1949 and dedicated to airing diverse perspectives
that promote peace and social justice, four lawsuits
had been filed against the Pacifica Foundation--by
listeners, local advisory board members, and national
board members. They sought to regain control of the
community radio network from a clique of board members
and national managers who had eliminated community
input at the network and censored and banned
journalists who disagreed with them. Freelance
journalists refuse to work for Pacifica because of its
notorious censorship policies. And a national campaign
was launched earlier this year to boycott Pacifica
fundraising efforts and unseat the board of directors
members who created the imbroglio at the network.

Pacifica Board Vice-Chair Ken Ford has resigned his post effective immediately, according to new Pacifica Board Chair Bob Farrell and Jerry Howard, the chief executive officer of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) where Ken Ford works.



The resignation comes in the wake of the massive wave of protests sparked by Ken Ford's controversial statements in The San Francisco Examiner last week. There, Ken Ford likened the Pacifica reform movement to the Sept. 11 terrorists and laid out an argument for the sale of Pacifica stations KPFA and WBAI.

Hi there! We run http://www.gatt.org/. Here's what the WTO--that's the
World Trade Organization, of course--has been saying about us on their
front page at http://www.wto.org/:



"Warning: Fake WTO website - http://www.gatt.org - deceitful
and a nuisance to serious users"



They go on to describe how gatt.org interferes with "serious users"
looking for "genuine information"
(http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news01_e/gattdo torg_e.htm):



We think the WTO is acting just a little bit paranoid, don't you?
After all, this is less than TEN DAYS before the start of the WTO's
big hooplah in Doha, Qatar.



Maybe they're nervous--in Qatar, any form of protest is strictly
illegal, and VERY heavily punishable (depending on the King's mood).
How will people react when the first hundred protesters get their
heads chopped clean off? Morocco doesn't like that sort of extremism,
and neither do France or Nepal. Lots of beheaded peaceniks is likely
to annoy almost everyone!

billydub sent in his latest:

WORLD WAR III REPORT

#. 5. Oct. 27, 2001

by Bill Weinberg

THE AFGHANISTAN FRONT

CIVILIAN CASUALTIES ESCALATE


On Oct. 27, the New York Times reported that the Pentagon "sincerely regrets" the previous day's airstrikes on a Red Cross complex in Kabul--in an area which had ostensibly been put "off limits" after the bombing of the same complex Oct. 16. Claiming military planners didn't know it was a Red Cross building, the Pentagon nonetheless sent a representative to the organization's Geneva headquarters to ensure it wouldn't happen again. Tons of food aid and blankets were destroyed in the raid, and a photo showed an Afghan man standing with sacks of wheat amidst the rubble.

CNN.com reported Oct. 24 that residents of Chowker Korez village in northwest Afghanistan claimed dozens killed and over 20 wounded in a US aerial raid Oct. 22. While Navy Rear Adm. John Stufflebeem said the Pentagon "can't confirm" the strikes on the village, CNN staff who went to a Kandahar hospital said they saw several dismembered bodies wrapped in white bags, as well as a number of wounded being treated. Most were Kuchi nomads who have returned to their traditional way of life to avoid bombing raids on the cities, and said they were in the village when it was attacked by US aircraft.

jim writes, here's the latest from the Pacifica Campaign:

"PACIFICA CHAIR FARRELL OUSTS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR WASH

KPFA SHUT DOWN DUE TO BOMB SCARE



Summary of the firing based on http://savepacifica.net report, then a summary of KPFA news report on the firing of Bessie Wash submitted by Steve Freedkin of the Progressive Portal web site. A short description of the bomb scare ends this release.

NEW PACIFICA BOARD CHAIR FIRES EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,
AGREES TO COURT-SUPERVISED MEDIATION



Pacifica's board chair, former Los Angeles city councilman Robert Farrell, tonight (Oct. 24) announced he has fired Executive Director Bessie Wash.



Wash, formerly station manager of Pacifica station WPFW, was named executive director by a board then controlled by former chair Mary Frances Berry. Wash has presided over a total deterioration of the network and its finances, including the banning of Pacifica's only remaining nationwide program, "Democracy Now," the "mainstreaming" of the once alternative daily Pacifica Network News, now the target of a boycott and a strike, the "Christmas Coup" at WBAI in New York, which resulted in dozens of staff members being fired and banned, and the expenditure of an estimated two million dollars on legal fees, public relations firms, and security services.

jim writes: "Attack on freedom of speech

Below is a news release about an attempt to silence Peter Werbe, a
long-time anarchist and Fifth Estate participant, who is also one of the
very few radio talk show hosts on the left.

It seems that the owner of the station, who has connections to the Militia of California has decided that anything he deems unpatriotic is not going to get airtime.

"TO: Pacifica National Board

FROM: The Democracy Now! staff

DATE: 2 October, 2001



We have heard that the Pacifica National Board is holding an
emergency meeting on Wednesday, October 3, to discuss
Democracy Now!. We have not been contacted regarding this
meeting. We would like to express our willingness to discuss the
conditions under which Democracy Now! will return to the airwaves.
To this end, we have drafted the following summary of what has
transpired between Pacifica management and the Democracy Now!
staff.

"October 1, 2001

Statement of the Russian Indymedia Collective on changing the editor of
Russian Indymedia, Vladimir Videmann in connection with his ultra-right
views and actions.

In Dec. 2000 the Russian Indymedia site was set up as the Russian branch
of the international anti-corporate independent media centers. The site was
founded and was edited by Vladimir Videmann (Guzman) who lives in Berlin
and works as a BBC correspondent. The creation of this site wasn't done with
the coordination of activists in Russia and other countries where Russian is
actively used but was rather the private initiative of the editor. Despite
this, many people used this site including activists from the anarchist,
ecological, human rights and other social movements in Russia, Ukraine and
other former Soviet countries.

Louis Lingg writes: "The democratic-socialist Labour Party of Pakistan has posted an essay by Rizwan Atta offering perspectives on the crisis in Pakistan and Afghanistan, including implications for the military government, the religious fundamentalist movement, and for Pakistani workers and the Pakistani labor movement.

An Excerpt:

From the ver first day, LPP condemned the terrorist attack and policies of the US imperialism carried out in the past against the colonial countries.
LPP would never justify the terrorist attack for any reason. But it was consistence in its opposition to the methods and program of the US Imperialism.
It was already organizing the anti IMF and Word Bank movement in Pakistan. It also started to build a peace movement as like others, it is anticipating
a full fledges war on Afghanistan. LPP has to oppose the religious fundamentalism and the powers that were harboring it, mainly the military regime of
Pakistan in general and ISI (Inter Services Intelligence) in particular."