David Grenier writes:

"Signs you didn't see at the "Walk for Capitalism"

The Capitalists are trying to coopt our tactics, just as some of them have tried to coopt our language. Nothing is funnier than seeing Capitalists claim they are "anarchists" because they want private tyrannies to replace ones that at least theoretically have a small modicum of popular control. Any understanding of the history and theory of anarchism would make a person realize that property rights (designed not to ensure that you can use something, but to ensure that everyone else can't), corporate hierarchy, and a transfer of wealth from laborers to "owners" (stockholders) has absolutely nothing to do with the anarchist vision of a leaderless society based on cooperation, freedom, and mutual aid with abundance for workers and nothing for parasites.

So now the Capitalists are trying to pull off a "global day of action" a la World AIDS Day and May Day. But people who feel that the only real motive is greed and the only reason to do anything is for money are obviously incredibly bad at organizing. This is why two years ago there were fifty thousand people in downtown Seattle fighting global Capitalism (and managing to shut down the WTO meetings) while yesterday, on "D2" (see, the Capitalists are even trying to co-opt the worst part of current radical culture - the Bingo naming system) about three dozen people showed up at the "Walk for Capitalism."

Read the rest of this story at the infoshop.

Anonymous Comrade writes:

------------

Appendix 1

THE IAC AND THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST SANCTIONS: HELPING THE IRAQI PEOPLE OR SADDAM HUSAYN?

One of the IAC's best-known campaigns is aimed at lifting all economic sanctions against Iraq. By raising this issue, the IAC is trying to appeal to many people who have no sympathy for Iraq but who are rightly concerned that the way sanctions are currently imposed only ends up punishing ordinary Iraqis, particularly children, who are deprived of food and medicine while the ruling elite remains unharmed. UN agencies involved with Iraq believe that as a result of the way the sanctions policy has been implemented, thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians are needlessly dying every month. The sanctions policy has also been seized upon by Saddam Husayn to generate sympathy for Iraq, both in the West and especially within the Muslim world. Husayn, of course, wants an end to all sanctions so that he can go about rebuilding his war machine. From his point of view, humanitarian concerns about sanctions serve as a perfect "wedge" issue to force an end to any UN-imposed restrictions on Iraq's sovereignty, restrictions that were heightened after he violated his promise to allow UN inspectors to freely examine potential nuclear, biological, and chemical warfare sites on Iraqi soil.

Geeks and Spooks

Bruce Sterling

A speech at "Global Challenges, Trends and Best Practices in
Cryptography," the Information System Security and
Education Center, Washington, DC

November 20, 2001

Hi, my name's Bruce Sterling, I'm a science fiction
writer. And a futurist. You might also call me an
industry observer. If you were kind.

The reason I showed up here is to listen to you guys,
because I'm rather interested in what comes next for
crypto, and you're standing a lot closer to that fire than
I am.

I myself don't do much 'best practice' for crypto,
because personally, I don't have a dog in that race. So,
having so little to offer, and being so humbled by your
technological brilliance and all, my feeling is that I
should at least be frank. Like, very frank. Like:
painfully frank.

So: flame on. Here's the story as I see it. The
big story about crypto is a power struggle between two
American tribes: geeks and spooks. Occasionally innocent
people blunder into this situation, but they get lost,
either because they don't understand the technology
(that's what geeks say) or they're not to pry any further
into stuff beyond the reach of mere civilians (that's what
the spooks say).

Arthur Zinault writes:

WORKERS IN CONTROL OR WORKERS UNDER CONTROL?

Which will it be?

by Brian Oliver Sheppard

Clusters of small white domes stretch across the countryside, gleaming in rows that resemble massive, neatly laid eggs. There are over 4,300 of these "eggs," and each of them are about 40 feet tall. The impression from a distance is one of an otherworldly hatchery rather than a community of humans. But New Oroville is a city, and it does not have a mayor. Instead, it has a CEO.

The "cubicle domes," as one libertarian cyberculture journal referred to them, house human beings, shops, temples, and most importantly, places of work. The co-founders of the town call it an "information technology township," and it exists to house, train, and provide leisure for at least 4,000 high tech workers. The founders of the town are three former executives of Microsoft who left to form their own company, called Catalytic Software. They needed cheap labor, and they needed it in one place, where it could be regulated, structured, compartmentalized, and renewed indefinitely, as business needs demanded. That led to the creation of this 21st century experiment just outside Hyderabad, India. "New Oroville is our place," Catalytic CEO Swain Porter declared to Wired. "We set the rules. We enforce them. We're not going to have a lot of discontents."

A Workshop on Class Composition

by Ruhrgebiet, Kolinko

Introduction

Class composition is a central notion in our search for the
possibility of revolution. We are looking for a force that is able to
change society from the bottom up. It is correct, however
general, to say that only the exploited are able to overthrow
exploitation, but how does this process of liberation actually
take place? The perception of the Marxist-Leninists is different
from our experiences: the "working class" is neither a united
object nor do we see the possibility that it just needs a political
party to overcome the class divisions and give a revolutionary
direction to workers' struggles. The analysis of class
composition can help us understand what is determining
workers' struggles, how they can turn into a class movement
and how we can play an active part in this process.

M. Arthur Zinault writes:

"A Society By the Rich, For the Rich

The Double Standards of Discussing Class in America"

by Brian Oliver Sheppard

(bsheppard@bari.iww.org)

In the USA of 2001, the notion of "class" is still suppressed in popular discourse. Speaking about any class aside from the almighty American "middle class" is generally frowned upon. To discuss the lower class, the upper class, or -- God forbid -- the working and ruling classes, is to invite accusation, scorn and derision. To even admit that such distinct classes exist might be seen as mind-blowingly radical. You are speaking from a disproven Marxist standpoint, you will be told (no matter whether you are really Marxist or not; anarchists are well-acquainted with being lumped in with "Marxists" by ignorant reporters and others). There are no real class divisions in America because here you are pretty much what you make of yourself. Or so we are told.

Everyday Life, Third Nature and the Third Class

Geert Lovink e-Interviews McKenzie Wark

The New York-based Australian media theorist McKenzie Wark and I have had a
number of exchanges over the years, ever since we came across each others
work, around 1995 when I read his first book Virtual Geography. Our topics
of conversation ranged from 'Englishes' and the role of language on the Net,
German and Anglo-Saxon media theories to the changing role of cultural
studies. Most of the material we compiled has not been published. The
following dialogue took place in January 1999, got updated recently and
centers around abstractions such as the masses (I studied 'mass psychology'
in the late seventies), the media and the position of intellectuals.

World War III Report #10

by Bill Weinberg

Dec. 1, 2001

THE AFGHANISTAN FRONT

DID CIA SPARK MAZAR PRISON MASSACRE?

The bloody siege of Kala-i Janghi, the ancient fortress near Mazar-i Sharif, ended Nov. 27 with an estimated 500 dead, three days after Taliban POWs being held there launched a desperate uprising. It took assaults by US Special Forces and British SAS troops backing up Northern Alliance fighters, plus repeated US airstrikes on the prison-fortress from warplanes and helicopter gunships. Both the UN and human rights groups are calling for an investigation into the bloodbath.

On Nov. 28, Oliver August, Mazar correspondent for the London Times, wrote that Johnny (codename 'Mike') Spann, the CIA agent killed in the uprising, "triggered" the violence with an unsubtle interrogation of Taliban "foreign legion" volunteers, the most fanatical Taliban troops. Spann and a CIA colleague, "Dave," were dressed in Afghan robes, spoke Persian and had grown beards, but apparently failed to fool the captives. When Spann asked one, "Why did you come to Afghanistan?", the captive responded, "We are here to kill you," and jumped at Spann. Spann and "Dave" both pulled their guns, shooting three prisoners dead before losing control over the situation. Spann was "kicked, beaten and bitten to death," while "Dave" fled.

shoplift writes: "Although video visitation deprives prison inmates of face-to-face contact with their visitors, the technology has the potential to strengthen ties between the incarcerated and the outside world. Most visitation systems are set up on a Local Area Network to allow for remote court arraignments, meaning that, at the metaphorical flick of a switch, any appropriately equipped personal computer in the world could receive a video transmission from prison. So far, inmate class-action suits have only demanded less video visitation, not more. Prison activists have largely relied on civil rights arguments, saying video visitation makes illegal surveillance easy. But as the inmate population becomes socialized to accept video visitation, it is quite possible that future inmates will demand that these Wide Area Networks be activated and visitation portals be made available to their families at public places such as libraries. It could be done tomorrow, saving families from having to bus or drive for hours to prisons in remote locations. In addition, prison officials who claim to want to strenghten ties between prisoners and the outside world could prove really mean it, because none of the usual counter-arguments about contraband and disruption apply. Many prisoners already favor video visitation, particularly those who don't want to expose their families to prisons. Such inmates could soon demand increased access to the technology already in place. Moreover, the security electronics industry would eagerly back them up."

.... this is an incomplete and inadeqaute rant, but I couldn't go to sleep withiout writing it. Night-night.

2600 DMCA APPEAL LOST

The decision has come down in the DMCA appeal in the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. 2600 lost. Bad news for free thinkers, programmers, researchers, budding independent artists, media mavericks and the kids, who will soon (and some already do) get courses in respecting copyrights and how it's bad to share knowledge and culture.

The text of the decsion is available in PDF format here, and a much cleaner and intelligible HTML version at the 2600 website.


A synopsis of the court's main findings can be found below. First however it is important to set the scene for those who may not be familiar with the case. This is not arcane stuff and affects us all.