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15 November 2006
Volume 3, Issue 8

Free Voices
eZine of the People

 

Shout the Truth....

War Crimes Complaint Filed against Rumsfeld, Gonzales, Tenet, and other Bush Administration Officials
Center for Constitutional Rights
New York, NY, USA
The November 14, 2006, criminal complaint is a request for the German Federal Prosecutor to open an investigation and, ultimately, a criminal prosecution that will look into the responsibility of high-ranking U.S. officials for authorizing war crimes in the context of the so-called "War on Terror." The complaint is brought on behalf of 12 torture victims – 11 Iraqi citizens who were held at Abu Ghraib prison and one Guantánamo detainee – and is being filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the Republican Attorneys' Association (RAV) and others, all represented by Berlin Attorney Wolfgang Kaleck. Continue Reading

The New York City Independent Media Center Responds to the Death of Brad Will
New York City Independent Media Center
New York, NY, USA
Brad Will was killed on October 27, 2006, in Oaxaca, Mexico, while working as a journalist for the global Indymedia network. He was shot in the torso while documenting an armed, paramilitary assault on the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca, a fusion of striking local teachers and other community organizations demanding democracy in Mexico. The members of the New York City Independent Media Center mourn the loss of this inspiring colleague and friend. Continue Reading

30 MPH Solution
I Have This Outrageous Plan to Unite All Americans!
David J. Bonn
St. Helens, OR, USA
The maximum speed limit on all roads, with the exception of the Interstate highway system, is now 30 miles per hour. Why 30 MPH? Because cars get their best fuel economy between 30 and 55 MPH. I picked 30 MPH because it is crazy enough to get your full attention. Okay, America, let me hear you. One voice. "NO !%$?? WAY!!!" Finally, something we can all agree on. Well, folks, please hear me out. We are on the road to ruin right now. We can put on the brakes, or we can keep the pedal to the metal and hurl ourselves into oblivion at 90 miles per hour, just like Thelma and Louise. Continue Reading

Backtalk....

Correction and Clarification of the Effects of the Military Commissions Act
RE: Game Over: The US Government Has Turned Against the People
Brandon Batzloff
Editor Free Voices
Berlin, Germany
As most people are now aware, the Military Commissions Act (MCA) is an extremely frightening piece of legislation that sharply curtails human rights for both citizens and non-citizens in the United States. In writing "Game Over: The US Government Has Turned Against the People," I made a very critical error in interpretation of the law. However, this mistake does not change the severity of the effects of MCA or the importance of creating new systems of governance to restrict an illegitimate government. Continue Reading

Talk it Up....

NCOR - Call for Workshop Proposals
National Conference on Organized Resistance
Washington, DC, USA
The National Conference of Organized Resistance is an annual event that brings together people from all backgrounds for a weekend of learning and discussing local and international social justice issues through workshops, panel discussions, and skillshares. We are currently seeking workshop proposals for the 10th Annual NCOR, which will be held from March 9- 11, 2007 at American University in Washington, D.C. Continue Reading

Screaming On the Inside....

I'll Not Go Quietly
Steven Woods
Death Row, Polunsky Prison, TX, USA
I'll not go quietly. So, I was just sitting there on the grass, not doing anything really. Just kind of laid back hanging out with some friends; people I've never really met before, but know as if they were as close as family. The sun was shining high up in the sky, no clouds marred the great expanse of blue hanging above our heads. The world was all right and I was at peace. I was so caught up in my visions of paradise that I failed to notice at first the rays of light probing my home. It was the banging, and the 'request' for my identification that finally managed to snag my attention. Well, back to reality. I know the easiest course is to just give them what they want, and they'll leave me alone. But, I feel so…violated? Yeah, that's the word. So why should I cooperate? I don't. A simple thing, but I love this little game. Continue Reading

 

Talking About....

In Cinema Veritas
Darryl Clark
NC, USA
As a filmgoer, I have a strong fascination for the film biography. And, as this is the time of year that the Hollywood film industry gears up to pat itself on the back, there are film biographies aplenty for the viewing. On a much needed break from the Smoky Mountains, I treated myself to three. Each has already started a great deal of discussion and, because I have seen them, they will generate a little more. In addition to that, each of these covered a subject that has made cameras turn at least once and, as recently as last year. The main question is, is it better the second time around? And, more to the point is it truer? Continue Reading

Storytelling....

On Any Given Sunday
Chad Goller-Sojourner
Seattle, WA, USA
On Any Given Sunday
A parishioner has just been sexually assaulted;
Someone is wrestling with another unplanned pregnancy;
The girl in the third pew has been made to share her father's bed;
Someone has gambled away the rent money, again;
Someone is going to Church for the first time, in search of a message of hope—
And they are not saved. Continue Reading

Last Word....

Translators Needed!
Brandon Batzloff
Editor Free Voices
Berlin, Germany
By next Summer, we hope to have a magazine version of Free Voices distributed North America, Europe, and parts of Asia. The format of this magazine will require all articles to be in English and at least one other language. Working toward this goal, all future issue of Free Voices, eZine of the People will also follow this format. If you would like to volunteer your time translating an article or two every month we would appreciate it! Continue Reading

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All writing in Free Voices remains the property of the author. Contact the person or organization that the writing is copyrighted under. Anything published under Creative Commons License may be reprinted so long as guidelines of specified license are maintained. Any writing by Brandon Batzloff may be reprinted as long as copyrights are maintained and writing is not used for profit.

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04 October 2006
Volume 3, Issue 7

Free Voices
eZine of the People

 

Shout the Truth....

Game Over: The US Government Has Turned Against the People
Brandon Batzloff
Editor Free Voices
Passage of the Military Commissions Act by both houses of Congress last week was a frightening and telling indicator of the state that the US is currently in. US citizens are now subject to being imprisoned and tortured by their own government. This fact alone has horrified much of the public, but the implications of the law go much deeper. The passage of the Military Commissions Act is evidence of a fatal flaw in the current government of the United States. Legislative bodies that rubber-stamp serious crimes and abuses of power by the Executive are Legislatures that have ceased to function and have abdicated their Constitutional authority. Continue Reading

Forget the Anal Probes. The Bush Administration Weighs in on Conspiracy Theory
SusieQ
Denver, CO, USA
I'm on fire after reading several Bush administration documents that hitch together terrorism and conspiracy theory (CT). I understand it's hard to wrap your mind around the connectivity of "conspiracy theory," "terrorism," and "Bush." An oxymoron you say?! Pshaw! Thanks to Shelly over at Citizen Against Lies for discussing the Bush docs on her 9/7/06 podcast. I'd otherwise be in the dark about the Bush foray into CT, that subterranean world of anal probes, aliens, men in black, secret underground bases, the Illuminati, Bilderbergers, the Lone Gunman, and covert assassinations. Continue Reading

Michigan Women's Music Festival Ends Policy of Discrimination Against Trans Women
Emilia Lombardi
Camp Trans
The Michigan Women's Music Festival began admitting openly trans (transgender/transsexual) women last week, bringing success to a longstanding struggle by trans activists both inside and outside the festival."Seeing trans women inside the festival for the first time brought me to tears," said Sue Ashman, who attends the festival every year. "It's restored my faith in women's communities." Continue Reading

War on Apathy, a Media Campaign to Benefit Nonprofit Organizations Worldwide, Asks Us to Resist the Urge to Do Nothing
Bambi Weavil
San Francisco, CA, USA
CURVE, the nation's best-selling lesbian magazine, announced today that they and their partners declare War on Apathy (WoA), a battle against widespread reluctance to acknowledge the basic needs of the world's populations. WoA is a community-based, interactive media campaign that calls for everyone to band together to help those who are in need. For more information, visit myspace.com/waronapathy or curvemag.com/waronapathy. Continue Reading

WTO: Best Left For Dead?
Mark Engler
New York, NY, USA
With the failure of the Doha round of negotiations in late July, some optimistic defenders of corporate globalization will tell you that the World Trade Organization (WTO) is taking a "time out." Most observers, however, are calling the suspension of talks a "collapse." India's trade minister, Kamal Nath, has judged that the trade negotiations are now somewhere "between intensive care and the crematorium," and the future of the organization itself is in question. The question for progressives is: What does this mean for the future of the "free trade" agenda? Continue Reading

Screaming On the Inside....

One of the most under-represented populations in the US is the prison population. Considering that the US has the largest prison population in the world, this is a rather large group of people who have no voice. There will be many more new prisoners as the Bush regime continues to attack political opponents and communities that have different values than their own. For this reason, the "Screaming On the Inside" section has been initiated to publicize the writing of prisoners in the United States. Please contact Brandon with submissions for this section.

Anarchy In Chains
Steven Woods
Death Row, Polunsky Prison, TX, USA
I'll not go quietly. Morning. A few thoughts? Sure why not? Check this out....You're sitting there at a vegetarian kiosk in Northern California. You've spent the last several weeks squatting, hitch hiking, protesting, kicking it with some good, free thinking people. You're taking a small break, heading down to San Francisco to see what's up with the city life before getting back into the forest to continue the fight against the logging industry. An old friend is there, and you reminisce about some old people in an old place. Continue Reading

Murdered by the State
Steven Woods
Death Row, Polunsky Prison, TX, USA
I'll not go quietly. We watch the clocks, stare at our calendars, mark down the passage of time as we witness our lives slowly fade. We count the minutes, hours, months, years.....You can see the progression of time etched into the lines of our faces. The light of our eyes wane along without hope, and yet........It's 2006. An election year. Now they will forget we are human and start turning us into statistics. Governor Perry is up for re-election, and so are the judges presiding over our cases. Of course, they want to appear tough on crime. That's what we all want, right? Continue Reading

Crying Art....

Lebanon, Writing Home
Basil Shadid
I'm a Lebanese American filmmaker who has been so moved by what's been happening in Lebanon that I'm leaving my apartment in Olympia, Washington to make a documentary about stories of loss, survival, struggle and hope as Lebanon recovers from war. On July 12, 2006 the Israeli military initiated a bombing campaign inside Lebanon. As a Lebanese-American, with family in Marjeyoun and Beirut, I grew increasingly concerned. Day after day, while bombs fell and civilian casualties mounted, I looked for signs of hope and safety for my family as well as other people in the region. Continue Reading

Talking About....

In Our Own Voices: Learning and Teaching Toward Decolonisation
Review by: Tamara Hendrix
Phoenix, AZ
In Our Own Voices: Learning and Teaching Toward Decolonisation, students, teachers and activists share their personal experiences through theoretical essays, poetry, autobiographical analyses, and art work. The narratives that pulse throughout this anthology echo daily occurrences of isolation, invisibility, silencing, violence and erasure to which "people of colour" and Indigenous peoples confront at universities primarily in Canada and in the US; with each contribution directly challenging racism, colonialism and other forms of injustice pervasive within the learning environments of western culture. Continue Reading

Storytelling....

Haunted
Chad Goller-Sojourner
Seattle, WA, USA
I am haunted by images: the date 1955, the setting Selma, Alabama. I am standing between two water fountains. One is marked coloreds, where stained waters stir and creep forth from within. One is marked whites only, where streams of luminous water unite and burst forth into the bright daylight. And I am thirsty and colored yet very fair skinned. Two fountains, each offering temporal relief, neither without compromise, wounds or scars. Continue Reading

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All writing in Free Voices remains the property of the author. Contact the person or organization that the writing is copyrighted under. Anything published under Creative Commons License may be reprinted so long as guidelines of specified license are maintained. Any writing by Brandon Batzloff may be reprinted as long as copyrights are maintained and writing is not used for profit.

 
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11 August 2006
Volume 3, Issue 6

Free Voices
eZine of the People

 

Shout the Truth....

Bait and Switch: Reflections on the State of Israel
by Barbara Karens
The State of Israel is not primarily a Jewish state. Not in terms of power. In terms of power, it is at the very least an Ashkenazi-run Jewish state. More precisely, it is a European project and it is deliberately misnamed as Jewish for a particular purpose. Naming Israel as a "Jewish state" is perfect positioning for the bait-and-switch -- part of the dance of oppression, assimilation, and terror between Euro-white Jews and the Euro-white Christian imperialist powers that are always happy to use us as cover. The state of Israel is a European project, but on the world stage it is located as "Jewish." This is the bait and switch. Continue Reading

World Gay Pride in Israel Limited by Ethnic Constraints
by Jessica Rechtschaffer
New York, New York, USA
Once again, NYC celebrated Gay Pride in all it glory and geared up for what is possibly the largest Pride parade in the world. All celebrated their lifestyles in a myriad of ways. Gay Armenians have an organization? Who wuddathought? Pride is all about celebrating a victory: That victory which was the successful Stonewall riot against cops by a community sick of being beaten down and brutalized on a regular basis. NYC Gay Pride is more of a victory parade with undercurrents of "the fight goes on". Unfortunately, victory parades assume the battle for our rights is finished. As the float of dancing men sponsored by Coors goes past, one has to wonder for whom the victory is for: Is it for the corporations who now found a new niche to market? Or is it for us queers who have demonstrated that we have power of numbers and our own lifestyle which we should be allowed to live. Continue Reading

Rampage: The Life of a Political Prisoner
by Matthew Lamont
Chino State Prison
Chino, California, USA
A lot of people have been talking about the PATRIOT Act, NSA, FBI sweeps, etc. A certain chosen few of us have faced these realities. Of the few that have told their stories and made their statements, I have not. So today Iâve decided to do so. Right now I sit in a prison cell in AD-SEG (the hole) in a 7 x 10 space. The wall beside my bunk is covered by photos of my wife and I in our happiest moments in the outside world. On the rare occasions that I leave my cell, I am handcuffed through the tray slot and escorted until I am securely behind a door again and then my cuffs are unlocked once again through the slot. Usually, these are the hour-long visits I get on Sunday with my wife. I remember a time when we wouldnât even spend an hour away from each other. So, how did I get here? Continue Reading

Beyond Same-Sex Marriage: A New Strategic Vision for all Our Families & Relationships
Beyond Marriage
USA
We, the undersigned â lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) and allied activists, scholars, educators, writers, artists, lawyers, journalists, and community organizers â seek to offer friends and colleagues everywhere a new vision for securing governmental and private institutional recognition of diverse kinds of partnerships, households, kinship relationships and families. In so doing, we hope to move beyond the narrow confines of marriage politics as they exist in the United States today. We seek access to a flexible set of economic benefits and options regardless of sexual orientation, race, gender/gender identity, class, or citizenship status. We reflect and honor the diverse ways in which people find and practice love, form relationships, create communities and networks of caring and support, establish households, bring families into being, and build innovative structures to support and sustain community. Continue Reading

Lunar Rights Unassured
by Dan Zechmeister
New Jersey, USA
Millions of people, from the United States to Denmark, have purchased property on the moon. But their claims may spin out of orbit in the crest of International Space Law.About a year ago I read an online news report about some folks in Sauerland Germany who were upset about President Bushâs plan of building a deep-space launch pad on the moon. They were upset that âtheir propertyâ would be damaged. I thought, âtheir property...on the moon?â I discovered that they bought lunar real-estate from the Lunar Embassy, a company that has sold parcels of the moon since 1980. I thought it would be cool to purchase a lunar plot of my own â none of my friends or family owned lunar property, so this would give me something to brag about next time I see them. However, I was skeptical that for $31.50 I could own a piece of that gorgeous white satellite in the sky. So, like any inquisitive young adult, I began researching this so-called lunar real-estate business. Continue Reading

New and Unknown Deadly Weapons Used by Israeli Forces
by Prof Paola Manduca
Genova, Italy
By now there are countless reports, from hospitals, witnesses, armament experts and journalists that strongly suggest that in the present offensive of Israeli forces against Lebanon and Gaza 'new weapons' are being used. New and strange symptoms are reported amongst the wounded and the dead. Bodies with dead tissues and no apparent wounds; 'shrunken' corpses; civilians with heavy damage to lower limbs that require amputation, which is nevertheless followed by unstoppable necrosis and death; descriptions of extensive internal wounds with no trace of shrapnel, corpses blackened but not burnt, and others heavily wounded that did not bleed. Continue Reading

Video shows Ghraib-like torture by sheriffs lead to man's death, say groups, family
by Jennifer Van Bergen
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA
On Feb. 6, 2006, Jessie Lee Williams, Jr., a 40-year-old black man in a Southern Mississippi jail, was allegedly hooded and hog-tied by police, beaten about the head and testicles and ultimately died from blunt injuries to the head. The coroner determined the death was a homicide. The local sheriff indicated law enforcement agencies were investigating and that the individual targeted by the investigation is âno longer employed by the Harrison County Sheriffâs Department.â Despite the fact that the beating was videotaped, no arrests have been made. Continue Reading

Crying Art....

In Our Own Voices: Learning and Teaching Toward Decolonisation
Editor: Proma Tagore
The struggle of marginalised peoples to set the terms through which we define, understand, and express our selves has been a crucial and recurrent theme in anti-racist activism, in movements for decolonisation, independence, or self-determination, and in social justice movements more generally. The title of this anthology, In Our Own Voices, is meant to invoke this desire and this insistence: that we, as marginalised people, have the right to name our own experiences, to claim our own knowledges, and to speak our own stories, as opposed to having others speak for us, describe our realities to us, or produce knowledge about us. Continue Reading

Letters From Young Activists
Editors: Dan Berger, Chesa Boudin, and Kenyon Farrow
USA
Dear Stephen, Is this what they call âglobalizationâ? We live half a world from each other, we have led quite different lives, and yet we are both in the same situation: conscientious objectors to imperial war and occupation, we are both standing military trial this summer. Reading your statement, I couldnât help but smile at the basic sameness of military logic around the world, including its inability to understand how anybody could be enough against a war to resist going to kill and die in it. In case you arenât familiar with my situation, let me fill you in briefly. I was slated for induction into the Israeli army in December 2002. After a year of volunteer work in a Jewish-Arab youth movement, I had made up my mind to refuse to enlist. Together with other young people in my situation, I signed the High School Seniorsâ Letter to PM Sharon, and to make myself absolutely clear I sent a personal letter to the military authorities notifying them that I was going to refuse. Continue Reading

In Debt We Trust
by Danny Schechter
New York, New York, USA
IN DEBT WE TRUST started out to be a film about what I thought were other peopleâs problems. I came to realize how deeply they affect me as well. The experience of making this film has led me to understand how many ways policies and practices are tied to a growing national debt burden and have an impact on my personal finances. Even as a former network journalist and long-time investigative reporter, I was shocked and outraged when I started probing the roots of these issues. This is a problem involving millions of people and billions of dollars yet it is downplayed and rarely discussed in all of its disastrous dimensions. Continue Reading

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8 June 2006
Volume 3, Issue 5

Free Voices
eZine of the People

 

Shout the Truth....

We Will Not Go Silently: The Death of the First Amendment
Brandon Batzloff
Free Voices Editor
The corporate media have never been particularly good at exposing government corruption and have often been active participants in the suppression of information. Now we are seeing that when journalists and news agencies actually do their jobs correctly, they are in danger of arrest and prosecution by the federal government. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has made it clear that any utterance of the truth about crimes perpetrated by the government will not be tolerated. If corporate media is being targeted, independent media is in great danger. Continue

Does The New York Times Want to Kill Gay Men?
Liam Scheff
A January 22, 2006 article in The New York Times Magazine promoted the idea that gay men not just HIV positive gay men but all sexually-active gay men (among others) should be given an AIDS drug, on the assumption that doing so would stop AIDS. The drug in question is called Tenofovir (brand name Viread), which the writer, Jon Cohen, described as a drug that appears safer than the other AIDS medications on the market. Continue

Media Crimes Sanitize War Crimes in Iraq
Danny Schechter
As events in Iraq continue to slip from bad to worse, the good news brigade is scrambling for new stories - anything, give me anything - to shore up whats left of public support for a bloody war without end. As some feared and many predicted, the war hovers over our politics and the president who brought it on. He is, as the journalist Sid Blumenthal puts it, stuck in a paradigm of his own making. The operative word is the title and refrain of an early Springsteen song: TRAPPED. Another tipping point seems to have tipped. Continue

Sweaty Southern Radical Queer & Trans Convergence Report Back
Marcelitte Failla
New York, NY, US
About 300 queer and trans folks gathered to take part in workshops from Men Against Patriarchy, to Sex, Race and the Revolution and even sexy workshops on BDSM.. Thanks to the organizers and volunteers, six meals of vegan/vegetarian free food were served throughout the convergence. All day Saturday there were workshops and the day ended with dance performances by So-Fuct from South Florida and No-Fuct from the North, followed by a Burlesque show that had the audience humping the floor. There was spoken word concerning issues of trans identity and a dance party that continued out into the parking lot. Continue

What is the Purpose of Anarchist Action?
Matthew Lamont
Chino, CA, US
I would like to start by saying that I believe revolution has lost its meaning. It is a word that has been passed down through centuries of uprisings and philosophical or idealistic books written in the aftermaths of those revolts to explain their meanings in intellectual terms. Its meaning is to overturn or bring in full circle. It is an end, not a means. It is the act of the oppressed people taking the boot off their neck and throwing their oppressor on his back. The fight for freedom, or the fight for equality by overturning the current social, economic, and political system in replacement for whatever the people favor. This is a revolution. Continue

Nazi Ties, Grave Robbing, and the Bush Family
Margaret Kimberly
New York, NY, US
It must be very difficult to become a healthy adult in a family with a history of multi-generational pathology. Normalcy must be an impossible goal to reach if your grandfather robbed bones from graves and then made money for and with Hitlers war machine. The Bush family has all of the outward appearances of success. They are wealthy, white, except for Jebs little brown ones, hold powerful positions and can trace their ancestry back to the bluest blooded New Englanders. Most of them attended Yale, a prestigious institution of higher learning and more importantly a place that can guarantee entry into the rarified world of the American elite. Continue

Crying Art....

America: Freedom to Fascism
Aaron Russo
Determined to find the law that requires American citizens to pay income tax, producer Aaron Russo ("The Rose," "Trading Places") set out on a journey to find the evidence. This film which is neither left, nor right-wing is a startling examination of government. It exposes the systematic erosion of civil liberties in America since 1913 when the Federal Reserve system was fraudulently created. Through interviews with U.S. Congressmen, a former IRS Commissioner, former IRS and FBI agents and tax attorneys and authors, Russo connects the dots between money creation, federal income tax, and the national identity card which becomes law in May 2008. This ID card will use Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips which are essentially homing devices used to track people. This film shows in great detail and undeniable facts that America is moving headlong into a fascist police state. Wake up! Continue


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All writing in Free Voices remains the property of the author. Contact the person or organization that the writing is copyrighted under. Anything published under Creative Commons License may be reprinted so long as guidelines of specified license are maintained. Any writing by Brandon Batzloff may be reprinted as long as copyrights are maintained and writing is not used for profit.

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11 May 2006
Volume 3, Issue 4

Free Voices
eZine of the People


Shout the Truth....

Getting Down to the Basics
By Brandon Batzloff
Editor, Free Voices
There is a strong focus in our communities on self-education. This is a great thing except for the fact that many times the most basic parts of education are ignored, creating an incomplete understanding of a subject that leads to serious problems within the community. Such a statement is hard to understand without a clear example. I will illustrate this using my own experiences as an HIV+ person dealing with the ignorance of the people around me. The moralistic reactions of these people will be used as an opening to discussions and critiques of problems in independent and self-autonomous communities. Continue Reading

The US Gulag Prison System
By Steve Lendman
Chicago, Il, US
No, not the one you think, outrageous as it is. I'm referring to the US prison system that's with no exaggeration about as shockingly abusive as the gulag abroad. It qualifies for that label by its size alone - more than 2.1 million as of June, 2004 and growing larger by about 900 new inmates every week. Blacks (mostly poor and disadvantaged) especially are affected. While they make up just 12.3% of the population, they account for half the prison population, and their numbers there have grown fivefold in the last 25 years. Hispanics (also poor) account for another 15%. Continue Reading

Queer Community Organization in Honduras Seeks Assistance
By Diana Carbajal
San Pedro Sula, Honduras
We are writing with an important request for your support of our group, Grupo de Lesbianas y Bisexuales Mujer Sin Lmite, in our efforts to march in the upcoming Marcha por el Orgullo (Pride March 2006) in San Pedro Sula, Honduras on June 11, 2006. The Pride march is organized by Comunidad Gay Sampedrana, a non-profit fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic in our country and working to protect the civil, political and economic rights of all Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender citizens. Despite the recent increased visibility of LGBTQ people and issues in the US, in much of Central America, including Honduras, there continues to be a heavy, imposed veil of silence on our community, allowing for nearly unmitigated discrimination, harassment and police brutality. Continue Reading

Potential Evidence Surfaces of Bush's Illegal Spying
By Onnesha Roychoudhuri
Five months after news of the NSA's warrantless spying program broke, and after we've learned numerous details of the program's extent, a Portland, Ore., attorney may have finally obtained hard evidence of illegal wiretaps by the government. Thomas Nelson has been practicing administrative law for most of his professional life, but after Sept. 11 he first began offering pro bono work for immigrants detained in broad FBI terrorism sweeps. He is currently leading a little-discussed case that may contain the first documented evidence of an illegal wiretap and believes that, as a result, he himself has been subjected to warrantless -- and therefore illegal -- wiretaps and physical searches, the kind of clandestine operation that Nixon referred to as "black bag jobs." And as a result of extreme carelessness by the FBI, Nelson may have his hands on the only solid evidence of these searches. Continue Reading

Transgender Woman Assaulted by Police
By Maria Louise Roman and Susan Forrest
Miami, FL, US
Transexual Activist Maria Louise Roman was assaulted, discriminated against and wrongly incarcerated ironically, after a taping of "Transamerica" segment for Spanish TV Talk Show Cristina. This letter comes directly from her. Dear Friends: I am writing this letter to give you a snapshot of how I was assaulted, ridiculed, humiliated and wrongly incarcerated while celebrating a successful taping of the Cristina Show. Many Media outlets continue to perpetuate stereotypes and sensationalize our lives. It has been a long process but I am a firm believer that the only way we can influence change is by being involved in the process of creating this change. We cannot sit back and expect change to magically happen. Continue Reading

Derailer Bicycle Collective Seeks Community Support
Derailer Bicycle Collective
Denver, CO, US
The Derailer Bicycle Collective has been providing free bikes and bicycle education to Denver's low-income cyclists for over three and a half years and now the City is ordering them to shut down. But the Derailer volunteers have something different in mind. On April 5th Derailer Collective members received an order from the City of Denver to cease and desist operating a non-profit bicycle shop at their residence. In recent years the need for services and programs for low-income people has been increasing, and public demand has been increasingly vocal. Continue Reading

U.S. Immigration Law Inhumane to Same-Sex Couples
New Immigration Reforms Must End Discrimination Against Lesbians, Gays
Immigration Equality and Human Rights Watch
US
Thousands of U.S. citizens and their foreign same-sex partners face enormous hardships, separation and even exile because discriminatory U.S. immigration policies deprive these couples of the basic right to be together, Human Rights Watch and Immigration Equality said in a report released on May 2. As Congress debates immigration reforms, it must end the discrimination that lesbian and gay Americans and their foreign partners endure under U.S. immigration law. Continue Reading

West Point Graduates Against the War Launches Campaign Against the Deceit of the US Government
West Point Graduates Against the War
US
Three alumni of the United States Military Academy at West Point have launched a grassroots movement to convert the disgrace of governmental lies and evasions about the assault on Iraq into a force to redeem the honor of their country. At issue which directly assaults the West Point honor code which forges the character of all graduates are the falsehoods by administration officials, culminating in Secretary of State Colin Powells presentation to the United Nations on February 5, 2003, which catapulted the United States into a preventive war. Continue Reading

America's Geopolitical Nightmare and Eurasian Strategic Energy Arrangements
By F. William Engdahl
Look for our content to be featured on the COA News website, as well as the COA News Alert Service.


Talk It Up....

9/11: Revealing the Truth, Reclaiming the Future
June 2-4, 2006
Chicago-OHare Rosemont, Il, US
Authors, researchers, activists and political candidates associated with the growing 9/11 truth movement will gather at the Embassy Suites Hotel (Chicago-O'Hare Rosemont) June 2-4 for a weekend of exposition and strategy aimed at challenging the conventional view of the 9-11 attacks, and raising public awareness of their full scope. Educational presentations will offer alternate analyses of both the meaning and etiology of the attacks, and strategy sessions will consider constitutional approaches to reining in elements within the US government who have criminally chosen to ignore constitutional protections since 9/11 and plan further encroachments on individual rights. Continue Reading


Storytelling....

Glimmer of Heaven
By Tamara Hendrix
Phoenix, AZ, US
Sons of Adam
Daughters of Eva
stumble through the gate of the 21st century
we descend
into hell and chaos
to which we scarcely comprehend Continue Reading


Crying Art....

Neither Criminal Nor Victim: We Want Our Fukcing Rights!
Call For Contributions to Sex Work DVD
By Véro
Montreal, Canada
Toulouse, France
Hey! Hey! Hey! A compilation DVD on sex work is under construction!! A co-creation of Montreal's Pink Panthers and the video-activist collective Les Lucioles In collaboration with Stella (a community organization by and for sex workers in montreal). and Grisélidis (community health association for sex workers in Toulouse, France) Sex work occurs in a context of increased repression, perpetual stigmatization, and misunderstanding on behalf of much of the population. It's not only wh0re-o-phobes who have the right to speak! Neither criminals nor victims! We want our fukcing rights! CALL TO CONTRIBUTE put in a bit of effort!! We welcome every kind of work: we like "do it yourself-diy" creations!! Continue Reading


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To raise money for our growing program, I am now offering assistance in editing theses, manuscripts, school papers, etc.

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Writing must be sent as an MS Word Document.  Feel free to contact me with questions.  You may also send files and I will respond to confirm the total cost and make arrangements for payment

peace love victory,
Brandon Batzloff
www.free-voices.org
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Free Voices Needs You!
By Brandon Batzloff
Editor, Free Voices
Free Voices will be growing in wonderful new ways, but we need your help! We have obtained fiscal sponsorship through Fractured Atlas and need to raise one thousand dollars in order to begin applying for grants. If everyone who reads this were to donate just one dollar, we would reach this goal immmediately. Helping us out requires two minutes of your time and about as much change as you have in your pocket. What could be easier? Click here to make a donation. Feel free to donate more if you are feeling kind! After all, donations are tax deductible. Funding is needed for: Continue Reading


2 Plus 2 Equals Five
By Stacey Curtis
Berlin, Germany
Back in the day your average white American had to be totally paranoid and pessimistic to think the US government and its entrenched power structure was secretly working against the people it was sworn to represent. Not many bought into that logic. Those who did were classified as fringe lunatics: communists/socialist/anarchists (Red Scare), and paranoid dellusionists (my word crafted to parallel illusionist, defined as "a person with unusual powers of foresight"). Names like Joe Hill and Sacco/Vanzetti come to mind. But wait, those weren't white Americans - oops! Continue Reading



Solidarity With the Immigrant Rights Movement: An Open Letter to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community
We are a group of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people of color who work in the LGBT movement. We are writing to you in response to Jasmyne Cannick's article "Gays First, Then Illegals", which ran in The Advocate, in which she, a black lesbian, argues that she cannot support the current battle for immigrant rights because LGBT people have not yet won the right to marry. We are writing to express our profound disagreement with her, and to offer alternative LGBT perspectives to the current immigration battles happening across the country. To begin with, Cannick fails to realize an obvious fact the LGBT community and the immigrant community are not mutually exclusive. There are thousands of LGBT immigrants in this country. Continue Reading



Mohawks at Six Nations Resist Canadian Invasion
By Terrance Nelson
Ginew, Manitoba, Canada
The Okiijida Society is issuing a yellow alert for all Warrior Societies regarding the escalating situation between Mohawks at Six Nations and the Ontario Provincial Police. In 1990, most First Nations were in shock over the Oka crisis. Since 1990, warrior societies have meet regularly to plan out a strategy if a similar situation occurred. A yellow alert is a stand by alert issued by warrior societies to their membership on a particular situation. It is also a warning to Canada that the situation is being monitored. Continue Reading




If It Can Happen Here, Then...
Re: Checkmate: The End of US Hegemony and What It Means for the
People of the United States
By Annie Schlax
Denver, Colorado
This article makes me think of the work I used to do back in the 80s with Amnesty International. I did a monthly news show and we, at the time, were working very hard on what was going on in Chile. We interviewed people who had fallen victim to Pinochet and his regime. The stories of torture and imprisonment were horrendous, but the constant in all of the stories reminds me so much of what you are saying here. Continue Reading




Shralma
By Brandon Batzloff
Editor, Free Voices
The sky was a deep cobalt blue that made one feel as if they were about to burst from the surface of the earth into the starry depths of space. Warm currents of air stirred under the steel and clary canopy of the fields. There was more than a hundred working the fields, preparing vegetables for harvest. Every now and then some one would pause in their labor and let the brightness of the sun wash over their skin. The weather had been pleasant lately. Even the snow on the lower hills around the canopy had melted revealing an emerald carpet of growth. For this reason, Elnen decided to conduct classes beneath a tree that granted a view across the top of the canopy toward the cliffs where the people made their homes. Continue Reading


The Bondage of Destiny
By Glenn Macleod
Edmonds, Washington
When she had done her business he pointed to a nearby log. They walked over and grabbed a seat. He handed her one of the beers. "I'm guessin' ya had more than a few of these in the past year or so," he said amiably. "Yeah but never for breakfast. Mind if I smoke?" "Naw go ahead." he said casually.Mitzi lit up a Camel Light. Russell looked at her intently. "Ya pissed me off yesterday Mitzi. Ya killed my buzz. Do ya love your girlfriends?" Continue Reading




Wetback: The Undocumented Documentary
By Arturo Perez Torres
Puppy Machine Productions
WETBACK The Undocumented Documentary is a feature length documentary that follows several immigrants from Central America and Mexico on an extraordinary and extremely dangerous journey to North America. More than 3,000 Latin Americans a day embark upon this journey. Less than 300 make it to their destination. Nayo, Milton, Luis, Oscar and Ana are just some of the thousands of people that will join one of the largest migration movements in history. Their motivation is a life with dignity. Their disadvantage is that neither of them have legal traveling documents.  Continue Reading


Encounter Point
Just Vision
Just Vision's Film, Encounter Point, is premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City on April 26th at 6pm. Help us pack the theaters and demonst rate that there is a demand for stories not being told on the nightly news, of courageous civilians seeking to resolve the Palestinian/Israeli conflict in nonviolent ways. We need you to bring your friends, and encourage your local mosque, church, temple, community group, and teachers to come out to the theaters. The film is 90 minutes long and is not to be missed. Help us widen the influence of civic leaders in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Continue Reading


Sir, No Sir!
Displaced Films and Balcony Releasing
In the 1960s an anti-war movement emerged that altered the course of history. This movement didnt take place on college campuses, but in barracks and on aircraft carriers. It flourished in army stockades, navy brigs and in the dingy towns that surround military bases. It penetrated elite military colleges like West Point. And it spread throughout the battlefields of Vietnam. It was a movement no one expected, least of all those in it. Hundreds went to prison and thousands into exile. And by 1971 it had, in the words of one colonel, infested the entire armed services. Yet today few people know about the GI movement against the war in Vietnam. Continue Reading


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All writing in Free Voices remains the property of the author. Contact the person or organization that the writing is copyrighted under. Anything published under Creative Commons License may be reprinted so long as guidelines of specified license are maintained. Any writing by Brandon Batzloff may be reprinted as long as copyrights are maintained and writing is not used for profit.

 

Shout the Truth....

Checkmate: The End of US Hegemony and What it Means for the People of the United States
By Brandon Batzloff
Editor, Free Voices
In October 2004, i wrote an essay titled "US and Russia: Democracy in Check" in which i compared the methods that both the United States and Russia were using to curtail human rights and democratic process. Since that time both countries have taken great steps in this direction, but the US has definitely taken the lead. Under the banner of providing security and an expanded economy, the Bush regime has taken unprecedented powers and restricted the lives of US citizens in ways that would have been unthinkable even ten years ago. In the end they have provided neither security nor economic advancement. The results have been quite the contrary; US supremacy is being dismantled in the manner that was once applied to the governments and economies of developing nations. Continue Reading

The White Collective (a blinding glimpse of the obvious)
By Barbara Karens
"Anti-racist" white people often implicitly locate ourselves and other white people as individuals. We do not locate ourselves as part of a collective entity whose purpose is to perpetuate the survival of white supremacy and the European-white cultural/structural/spiritual system. But the truth is that we are part of this white collective. The individual focus functions to mask that reality. When a person of color points out how a white person's actions support white supremacy, the white individual response often is to try to defend her/his "good white individual" honor. When white anti- racists speak about how important it is for us to be aware of our own racism, we may really be talking about racism at the individual level rather than how we actually function as part of a white collective that includes *all* white people -- from the white vigilantes patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border, to "colorblind" white people, to the white people who believe we can individually opt out from the collective while it still exists, to the white people getting paid to speak and write and teach from an anti-racist perspective, and everywhere in between. Continue Reading

Weekend of Resistance Against the Green Scare
By Jeff Free Luers
Oregon State Penitentiary
This June marks my 6th year in prison. From behind these walls I have strived to remain an active part of this struggle; from contributing to the dialogue and discussion of tactics, to furthering the debate on climate change in the public. Perhaps most importantly I am proof that prison cannot crush the spirit of resistance. This year has seen an increase in state repression against activists and radicals alike. It is truly a scary time. We all know about the "Red Scare" – the government's attempt to justify repression by labeling dissidents "communists" back in the 1950's. Today we see their "Green Scare" attempt to crush resistance by labeling them "eco-terrorists." Continue Reading

On Organization, Oppressive Social Relationships and a Revolutionary Movement
By Joaquin Cienfuegos
Los Angeles, California
I think we need to change the oppressive social relationships while we're building a revolutionary organization and a revolutionary movement. Some anarchists do focus only on the organization and not on the actual politics, revolutionary vision, or challenging capitalist social relations. They take on an obscure anti-statist position, without looking at imperialism and the specific conditions that have devoloped because of capitalism. For example, in the US, one cannot just take on the issue of class, with out discussing issues of culture, race, gender -- because this is how capitalism has developed -- on the backs of racially, culturally, and all oppressed people and with a white heterosexual male supremacist ideology. Continue Reading

Attorney Lynne Stewart Now Confronts Cancer as Well as Terrorism Charges
By Pat Levasseur
New York, New York
Attorney Lynne Stewart now facers another battle for her life: the battle against breast cancer. Ms. Stewartrt's sentencing is pending following her conviction last year on charges of aiding terrorism in a case where the government stretched her conversations with a reporter regarding her client into serious, felony charges. Ms. Stewart, 67 years old, faces 30 years in prison and has already lost her ability to practice law - her beloved profession. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in November, 2005. On January 9, 2006, doctors removed a 2.4 centimeter tumor from her left breast that was discovered to be an invasive ductal carcinoma. Over the past two months, Ms. Stewart has consulted with a number of medical specialists about her cancer, the treatment options, and the risks of recurrence. Continue Reading

U.S. Found in Violation of Human Rights of Native Americans - Urged to Take Immediate Action
By Julie Fishel and Raymond Yowell
Geneva, Switzerland
10 March 2006 - Today, in an historic and strongly worded decision by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) the United States was urged to "freeze", "desist" and "stop" actions being taken or threatened to be taken against the Western Shoshone Peoples of the Western Shoshone Nation. In its decision, CERD stressed the "nature and urgency" of the Shoshone situation informing the U.S. that it goes "well beyond" the normal reporting process and warrants immediate attention under the Committee's Early Warning and Urgent Action Procedure. This monumental action challenges the US government's assertion of federal ownership of nearly 90% of Western Shoshone lands. The land base covers approximately 60 million acres, stretching across what is now referred to as the states of Nevada, Idaho, Utah and California. Continue Reading

Guantanamo on the Mississippi
By Jordan Flaherty
New Orleans, Louisiana
Sometimes the injustices here in New Orleans leave me numb. But the continuing debacle of our criminal justice system inspires in me a sense of indignation I thought was lost to cynicism long ago. Ursula Price, a staff investigator for the indigent defense organization A Fighting Chance, has met with several thousand hurricane survivors who were imprisoned at the time of the hurricane, and her stories chill me "I grew up in small town Mississippi," she tells me. "We had the Klan marching down our main street. But still, I've never seen anything like this." Safe Streets, Strong ommunities, a New Orleans-based criminal justice reform coalition that Price also works with, has just released a report based on more than a hundred recent interviews with prisoners who have been locked up since pre-Katrina and are currently spread across thirteen prisons and hundreds of miles. They found the average number of days people had been locked up without a trial was 385 days. One person had been locked up for 1,289 days. None of them have been convicted of any crime. Continue Reading

Talk It Up....

The Sweaty Southern Radical Queer and Trans Convergence!
By Sweaty Southern Radical Queer and Trans Convergence organizing collective
Durham, North Carolina
Enough of single-issue "LGBT rights," constant focus on gay marriage and electoral politics, and corporate Pride... we can only be free as queer and trans people through a collective struggle against all systems of oppression. Come join us at a festive and fabulous gathering to network and learn about grassroots projects happening around the region, share strategies for organizing against assimilation, and to build a fierce movement of radical queers and trans people in the South! From May 19th to 21st in Durham, NC, this convergence will feature a wide variety of workshops, movement-building discussions, time for networking and hanging out, drag shows and performances, and more. Continue Reading

Crying Art....

Maggots and Men
By Oakie Treadwell
San Francisco, California
Maggots and Men, a provocative historical drama set in Russia in 1921, recounts the tragic and heroic events of the Kronstadt uprising. In the spirit of a Soviet propaganda film, Maggots and Men pays tribute to the Kronstadt sailors and their earnest pursuit of communist ideals. A thoughtful homage to the Soviet silent era directors, Maggots and Men documents actual events from an important moment in Soviet history while its themes remain relevant to current political struggles. Maggots and Men expands on the homoeroticism of Battleship Potemkin and explores naval life as the scene of homosexual adventure with gender upheaval as a stimulating subtext. Continue Reading

Heart of Factory
By Virna Molina and Ernesto Ardito
Argentina
Hello, we are Virna Molina and Ernesto Ardito, filmmakers from Argentina. At the beginning of 2004 we started our documentary project "Heart of Factory". The film looks at the life of a group of workers, men and women, inhabitants of the Argentinean Patagonia. These workers start a fight to stop the deaths and accidents that happen in the factory where they work. They live complex and dangerous conflicts and they are taking more and more commitment, something many of them had never imagined could happen. These strong episodes are affecting their perception of the reality, of the world. No one now can see himself or herself like the human he or she used to be. Something broke, something has changed and can not return to the original place. In a poor country looted by its own governments and businessmen, the workers of Zanon Ceramic take the factory in their own hands when the owner closes it. Continue Reading

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17 February 2006
Volume 3, Issue 1

Free Voices
eZine of the People

 

Shout the Truth....

Finding the Strength for a True Revolutionary Movement
By Tony Deland
Kenya
Recently, I have been thinking about the U.S. "movement" and the ideas that I hold about nationalism. More precisely I've been thinking about the historical context of nationalism in successful revolutions. Comparing in my mind the lack of success that revolutionary movements in the U.S. have had and the place of nationalism in all those historical revolts. The movement in the U.S. is like a simmering pot, which lacks the fuel and heat to actually boil. The land for which people are fighting is the fire, which brings the pot of their ideals to a boil. Without the "motherland" the ideas that they hold are just that, ideas. But when you give them a home in which these ideas can be expressed they become very dangerous; tie them to the land and they become grounded and worth fighting for. Continue Reading

The Unitary Executive: Is The Doctrine Behind the Bush
Presidency Consistent with a Democratic State?
By Jennifer Van Bergen
When President Bush signed the new law, sponsored by Senator McCain, restricting the use of torture when interrogating detainees, he also issued a Presidential signing statement. That statement asserted that his power as Commander-in-Chief gives him the authority to bypass the very law he had just signed. This news came fast on the heels of Bush's shocking admission that, since 2002, he has repeatedly authorized the National Security Agency to conduct electronic surveillance without a warrant, in flagrant violation of applicable federal law. And before that, Bush declared he had the unilateral authority to ignore the Geneva Conventions and to indefinitely detain without due process both immigrants and citizens as enemy combatants. All these declarations echo the refrain Bush has been asserting from the outset of his presidency. That refrain is simple: Presidential power must be unilateral, and unchecked. Continue Reading

Calculating the Risk of War in Iran
By F. William Engdahl
In the past weeks media reports have speculated that Washington is 'thinking the unthinkable,' namely, an aggressive, pre-emptive nuclear bombardment of Iran, by either the United States or Israel, to destroy or render useless the deep underground Iranian nuclear facilities. The possibility of war against Iran presents a geo-strategic and geopolitical problem of far more complexity than the bombing and occupation of Iraq. And Iraq has proven complicated enough for the United States. Below we try to identify some of the main motives of the main actors in the new drama and the outlook for possible war. Continue Reading

Imprisoned in New Orleans
By Jordan Flaherty and Tamika Middleton
New Oleans, Loisiana
When hurricane Katrina hit, there was no evacuation plan for 7,000 prisoners in the New Orleans city jail, generally known as Orleans Parish Prison (OPP), or the approximate 1,500 prisoners in nearby jails. According to first-hand accounts gathered by advocates, prisoners were abandoned in their cells while the water was rising around them. They were subjected to a heavily armed "rescue" by state prison guards that involved beatings, mace and being left in the sun with no water or food for several days, followed by a transfer to state maximum security prisons. Although their treatment brought national attention to the condition of prisoners in Louisiana, and comparison to prison abuse scandals from Attica to Abu Ghraib, local government officials have attempted to dodge accountability and continue with business as usual. Continue Reading

Germany Beats the Drums of War
Wladek Flakin
Berlin, Germany
Did you ever have deja vu? It feels like we've seen this before: The Bush regime is mobilizing public opinion against a Middle Eastern country. The arguments of the neocons' aren't new: this country has connections to international terrorists, it is trying to build weapons of mass destruction. And most importantly: it has a lot of oil. If we changed the "n" in "Iran" to a "q", we could be watching news broadcasts from 2002. Claiming that the ruler of an oil-rich country "could be the new Hitler" isn't new either - George Senior used it back in 1990 to justify the first US attack on Iraq. But when this dramatic comparison comes from the mouth of a German politican, it sounds even more dramatic. Continue Reading

Storytelling....

Nightmares in Exile
By Brandon Batzloff
Editor, Free Voices
When sleep comes, i find myself
at home
with family,
enjoying the mundane pleasures of life.
But that is another place
and another time.
Continue Reading

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Reprinting Guidelines:

All writing in Free Voices remains the property of the author. Contact the person or organization that the writing is copyrighted under. Anything published under Creative Commons License may be reprinted so long as guidelines of specified license are maintained. Any writing by Brandon Batzloff may be reprinted as long as copyrights are maintained and writing is not used for profit.

 

Shout the Truth....

I'm Just Not the Same Person I Was Before Iraq
Interview with Spc. Michael Harmon, OIF Vet and Combat Medic
By Jay Shaft
Coalition for Free Thought in Media
“I don’t see any solution for my PTSD. As of right now I can’t see any end to it. I don’t have anything now, because the medical benefits ran out 90 days after my discharge. As of right now I have no medical benefits, nothing I can use for counseling. I’m hoping that if I get into the VA I’ll be able to start really dealing with it. Like I said, as of right now I don’t see an end to it; it will be a lifetime of problems if it is not addressed. I don’t see any solution being offered to me to help put an end to it.” This interview was conducted on Monday, November 30th, 2005. This was the day Bush gave his speech at Annapolis Naval Academy and presented the 35-page white paper “National Strategy for Victory In Iraq”. Over the last two weeks I have been in contact with Michael to get his general thoughts and to follow-up on some additional questions. I would like to introduce America to Specialist Michael Harmon. Michael served as a combat medic with the 4th Infantry Division in the initial year after the invasion of Iraq. Michael is suffering from severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and a host of secondary problems related to the PTSD.Michael has experienced extreme difficulty getting treatment and access to medical and disability benefits that he is supposed to be entitled to as a veteran of combat in a foreign country. Continue Reading

The Anarchist Movement as a Church and Its Dogmas
By Bas Moreel
Netherlands
Anarchist bookfairs are usually like literature tables in the backs of churches: everything is written from unshakeable premises. If everything in the world were based on these premises everything would be better. The premises are never questioned. On display are writings of the Fathers of the Church(Bakunin, Kropotkin, Malatesta) and of the Doctors of the Church (Stirner, Proudhon), elaboration, interpretation and defence of their ideas, critique of other ideas. Questions such as whether other ideas (for instance authoritarian ideas, the State, passive and active participation in parliaments, city councils, company councils and other representative bodies) may possibly yield better results in certain cases or as a rule, or whether somebody like Bakunin was very reliable in money matters and in personal relationships are not discussed seriously. Continue Reading

When the FBI Comes a Knockin’
By Stephen Polk
Denver, Colorado
“Aren’t you guys a bit old to be trick or treating?” “No ma'am, we really are the FBI.” It was Halloween around 4:00 p.m. My mom was cradling a large bowl of candy for the neighborhood kids. To this day, I can't even begin to imagine the shock that these two FBI agents delivered to my mother. It happened once before; only this time it hit lot closer to home, literally. In July of 2004, I was contacted by the FBI when they were making their chilling rounds to activist and anarchist households here in Denver and across the Midwest. Their timing was deliberate: as we were preparing for the protests of the Republican National Convention in New York, so were they. A faculty advisor to our student group, Creative Resistance, informed us that FBI and the Joint Terrorist Task Force visited his house in the suburbs with two photos, of them was of myself. They asked that question made famous by private detectives in those old Hollywood mystery movies: “What can you tell us about these two people?” At which point our student advisor retorted with a curt and indignant, “Fuck off!” My mother, however—who is a respectable, law abiding suburbanite—does not have the audacity, knowledge or experience to handle two FBI agents with such, oh I don’t know how to say it, spunk. Continue Reading

Evil Racist Children and the Media Who Love Them
By Margaret Kimberly
New York, New York
Americans need to know more about white supremacist organizations. Too often the corporate media either deny their existence or diminish the danger they pose. Even when they gather a cache of bombs and machine guns, we get little if any information about their activities. In 2003 a group of white supremacists near Tyler, Texas were discovered with 500,000 rounds of ammunition, bomb making equipment, canisters of cyanide and a KKK calling card. There was little if any media coverage of this terror plot in the making. The same journalists who saw no need to tell us about plots involving deadly poisons think that we need to know about white supremacists who are cute, at least according to European beauty standards. Lamb and Lynx Gaede fit that description. The 13 year old twins, always described as blonde and blue eyed, come from a family who unleashed them on the public singing paeans to Adolf Hitler and Rudolph Hess. They spend their time vicariously killing black people via video games and raising money for white hurricane Katrina victims. Continue Reading

Peeing in Peace: A Resource Guide For Transgender Activists And Allies
Transgender Law Center
San Francisco, California
Started in 2003, our Safe Bathroom Access Campaign (SBAC) focuses on the real world problems that are created for transgender people and our partners, families and friends because of the way that society views gender and the stereotypes associated with it. Working closely with People in Search of Safe Restrooms (PISSR), SBAC has been able to open a dialogue in California about this important issue. Many of the lessons we have learned through that work and the solutions that we have helped to devise are encompassed in this resource guide. It is our hope that the hundreds of people who have contacted us about this issue since we opened our doors in 2002 will be able to take all or some of the information in this guide and share it with friends and allies who are also interested in challenging the current bathroom situation. Continue Reading

Death, Abundance and New Orleans
By Jordan Flaherty
New Orleans, Louisiana
On Sunday, I drove past streets named Abundance, Pleasure and Humanity to a memorial for Meg Perry, a 26 year old Common Ground Collective volunteer from Maine. Meg died on Saturday when the bus she was in crashed near downtown New Orleans. She had come to New Orleans in September, then left and returned with more volunteers. The memorial was in a community garden she had been working on in the Gentilly neighborhood. All around were empty houses. It was a small
moment of mourning, in a city of mourning. Mourning that feels like it won’t end, because the disaster hasn’t ended. Continue Reading

 
Crying Art....

Mall Culture - Jakarta Indonesia
by Jonathan McIntosh
New York, New York
When viewing the photo collection below, keep in mind that it is in no way representative of the lifestyle of everyday people. The vast majority of the population of Jakarta live in abject poverty and face pandemic unemployment. Despite this, Jakarta is home to a staggering number of towering western style mega malls. These lavish shopping centers are brimming with western branded goods whose price tags are far beyond the reach of any ordinary citizen. They are built mainly for westerners and Jakarta’s small affluent over-class, which grew rich through four decades of rampant corruption during the burial regime of General Suharto. Across the city western mega chain stores, like Carrefour, are wiping out traditional street markets and devastating the local economy. Those Indonesians lucky enough to find employment inside the malls, serving the rich, cannot hope to afford anything sold in those store. Most are paid poverty wages and cannot afford to eat in the food court. Continue Reading

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