Anonymous Comrade writes: "File this one under weird...."

"Kapital Gain:
Karl Marx Is Home Counties' Favourite"
Mark Seddon, The Guardian

Karl Marx is the nation's most revered philosopher. No, this isn't old Soviet agitprop, but the result of a Radio 4 listeners' poll organised by the broadcaster Melvyn Bragg for his series In Our Time. The veteran Marxist historian, Eric Hobsbawm, thinks he knows why. His reasoning is as contemporary as Marx's was visionary. "The Communist Manifesto," he says, "contains a stunning prediction of the nature and effects of globalisation."

nolympics writes:

"Alleged Anarchist Bomb in Barcelona"
Beirut Indymedia

An allegedly anarchist "small, handmade bomb exploded today outside the Italian Cultural Institute in Barcelona, injuring a policeman and killing a bomb-sniffing dog", the Italian Embassy and Spanish officials said.

The bomb was identified as a "Coffee Pot (mocha or Kafeta) with wires sticking out placed at the enterance of the institute" media reported.

Media reported on the account of the Spanish authorities and the Italian ambassador that the explosion went off as the dog and his policeman were checking it after a call from the employees at the institute. The authorities reported that that policeman is slightly injured! The Labrador dog is yet another victim of the cruel exploitation of animals on the hands of the corporate world and the state and its repressive clusters.

"Make Poverty History:

An Anarchist Ambush"

Allan Caldwell

Roads chaos as protesters and cops clash

The anarchist assault on Stirling and the M9 began at 2.02am.

In pouring rain, almost 1500 protesters marched to the gate of Camp Horizon, their temporary 'eco-camp' in the shadow of Stirling Castle. The gates swung open and the mob spewed out, chanting and singing. The anarchists' aim was to breach security and block the main road through central Scotland. Many thought they wouldn't get much further than the camp gate. After all, thousands of police stood between them and their target. But by moving so early, the yobs caught the police sleeping.

"Bush Administration To Keep Control
of Internet's Central Computers"

Gary Younge,
The Guardian

The Bush administration has decided to retain control over the principal computers
which control internet traffic in a move likely to prompt global opposition, it was
claimed yesterday. The US had pledged to turn control of the 13 computers known as
root servers — which inform web browsers and email programs how to direct internet
traffic — over to a private, international body. But on Thursday the US reversed
its position, announcing that it will maintain control of the computers because of
growing security threats and the increased reliance on the internet for global
communications.

"For Iraq, The 'Salvador Option' Becomes Reality"
Max Fuller, Centre for Research on Globalisation

Abstract

The following article examines evidence that the 'Salvador Option' for Iraq has been ongoing for some time and attempts to say what such an option will mean. It pays particular attention to the role of the Special Police Commandos, considering both the background of their US liaisons and their deployment in Iraq. The article also looks at the evidence for death-squad style massacres in Iraq and draws attention to the almost complete absence of investigation. As such, the article represents an initial effort to compile and examine some of these mass killings and is intended to spur others into further looking at the evidence. Finally, the article turns away from the notion that sectarianism is a sufficient explanation for the violence in Iraq, locating it structurally at the hands of the state as part of the ongoing economic subjugation of Iraq.

Alternative Servers Attacked:
"Not a Private Question:
A Question of
Privacy"

Indymedia Bristol

Two alternative servers have been attacked by the police: The Italian independent
non-profit server Autistici and the server of Indymedia Bristol, a local
alternative media project.

On Monday, June 27th, Indymedia Bristol's server was seized by the police. Last
week, police demanded access to the server to gain the IP details of a posting. The
alternative media outlet is receiving advice from civil liberties organisations and
the NUJ. Before being legally forced to hand over the server, Indymedia Bristol
stated: "We do not intend to voluntarily hand over information to the police as
they have requested".

Italy-based server Autistici found out that the authorities have copied the keys
necessary for the decryption of their webmail a year ago. Since
then, the authorities potentially had access to all the data on the disks.
Autistici's provider did not inform them about this. Apparently, this is connected
to the same investigation as the one that caused an international law enforcement
operation in London last October: A few days before the European Social Forum,
Indymedia servers in London were seized, prompting a wave of solidarity statements.

Note: Indymedia UK is preparing to provide grass-roots non-corporate coverage for
the forthcoming G8 protests and events. Additional http mirrors would help with
increased traffic and external disruptions. If you can offer a mirror, mail
imc-uk-contact@indymedia.org. Donations can be sent here.

"James Weinstein, 1926–2005:

Wealthy US Publisher With a Socialist Dream"

Godfrey Hodgson, London Guardian

The wealthy New York socialist, journalist and publisher James
Weinstein, who has died of brain cancer at the age of 78, was a
maverick of the American left, who liked to call himself a
"Groucho Marxist". Once a communist, he left the party in 1956,
dis-illusioned with the atrocities of Stalinism, and campaigned
for a new American socialism which he saw as returning to the
country's radical tradition that had been forced into a "long
detour" by the 1917 Russian revolution.

Mexico's Zapatista Rebels Put Forces On Alert

SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS, Mexico (Reuters) — Mexico's Zapatista rebel
group, which emerged in 1994 to fight for Indian rights but has been quiet
in recent years, put its forces on alert but it was unclear what prompted
the action.
The Zapatistas, known by the Spanish-language acronym EZLN, said in a
statement on Monday they were grouping their fighters, closing down their
radio station and pulling out of villages they control.

They did not give a reason for the moves in the southern state of Chiapas
but the Defense Ministry said in a statement it had sent troops into
rebel-held territory last week and destroyed 44 marijuana plantations there.

The last time the group declared a similar "red alert" was in 1997 after
paramilitary forces killed 45 people in the village of Acteal.

"N.Y.U. Moves to Disband Graduate Students Union"

Karen W. Arenson

New York University is moving to close down its graduate students union at the end of the summer, the labor movement's only toehold among graduate students at private universities.

Union officials quickly attacked N.Y.U. 's plan and vowed to fight the university in any way they could.

"Democrats Play House To Rally Against the War"

Dana Milbank,
Washington Post

In the Capitol basement yesterday, long-suffering House Democrats took
a trip to the land of make-believe.

They pretended a small conference room was the Judiciary Committee
hearing room, draping white linens over folding tables to make them
look like witness tables and bringing in cardboard name tags and extra
flags to make the whole thing look official.

Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) banged a large wooden gavel and got
the other lawmakers to call him "Mr. Chairman." He liked that so much
that he started calling himself "the chairman" and spouted other
chairmanly phrases, such as "unanimous consent" and "without objection
so ordered." The dress-up game looked realistic enough on C-SPAN, so
two dozen more Democrats came downstairs to play along.

The session was a mock impeachment inquiry over the Iraq war. As luck
would have it, all four of the witnesses agreed that President Bush
lied to the nation and was guilty of high crimes — and that a British
memo on "fixed" intelligence that surfaced last month was the smoking
gun equivalent to the Watergate tapes. Conyers was having so much fun
that he ignored aides' entreaties to end the session.