2002 Political Notes - Richard Stallman

Richard Stallman's personal political notes from 2002

These are my personal opinions and do not speak for the GNU Project, the FSF, or anyone else.

28 March 2002 An article in New Scientist reports that marijuana is much less harmful than alcohol in its effect on ability to drive safely. An experiment compared subjects who had smoked one joint with subjects whose blood alcohol level was 50 milligrams per 100 milliliters, which is lawful for driving in the UK.

In an act of prudish bigotry, college student Leilani Rios was expelled from the track team because she works as a stripper.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]
You might wonder why this is worth mentioning alongside police torture and attacks on civil liberties. Many Americans regard athletics as a tremendously important part of life; I don't agree. Ordinarily I couldn't work up much concern about whether someone can be on a track team, or whether there is a track team at all. But there is something else here that is more important than sports. The reason for kicking her out of the team reflects a more pervasive problem: the idea that sex is disgusting. I was taught that sick attitude as I grew up, and it has hurt me all my life. When a college athletic coach says, "strippers can't be on our team because that isn't a positive image", he is propagating the idea that sex is dirty. And that, in itself, does far more harm than anything else associated with athletics--except, perhaps, the excessive importance society grants to athletics.

A genetic modification in corn, which causes allergies in some people and was only supposed to be used for animal feed, is spreading by natural cross-pollenation into the human food chain.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

The UK government told an out-and-out lie in order to build public support for sending 1700 troops to Afghanistan: it claimed that an al-Qa'ida lab for chemical and biological warfare had been discovered. (None was found.) Interestingly, US government sources exposed this lie.
Then it told another lie to build public support for a possible new war against Iraq: it claimed that the Iraqi government is providing chemical and biological weapons to al-Qa'ida. Amazingly, the UK military exposed this lie.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]
False claims such as these put the public into a frenzy where it is more ready to let governments abolish basic civil liberties. The UK has done plenty of that.

About Those Polls: Do 80% of Americans Really Support Bush?

The state of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany has ordered many ISPs to impose filtering (censorship) on all network access. The purpose is to block access to right-wing sites, but censorship of the net is more dangerous than these sites. Supporters of civil liberties are mounting a campaign against the filtering.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

It is common nowadays for police to commit acts of violence while pretending to be anarchist protestors, but the CIA has been doing it for a long time. In Italy, right-wing terrorists supported by the CIA helped stop rise of the left in the 60s and 70s. One "anarchist" who was actually working for the security forces even went so far as to throw a grenade into a crowd and kill people.

A law is being rammed through in Alberta, Canada to prohibit teachers from striking, and rules out bargaining about working conditions. As a protest, teachers are discontinuing the after-school activities that they have done as volunteers. Others plan to quit.
[References updated on 2018-02-01 because the old links were broken.]

A US government report details the way various laws are used to suppress freedom of political dissent in the Czech Republic. Search in particular for the strings "Kopal", "Zukar" and "Zitko". President Vaclav Havel, once a dissident imprisoned by the Communist regime, pardons many of those accused, but one great man is not a solid foundation for freedom of the press.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

A policy of not arresting anyone for possession of marijuana has helped cut robbery and burglary in a high-crime area of London.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

Bush plans for military courts for terrorist suspects have at least two glaring flaws. Instead of a jury, the verdict is to be decided by part-time judges, soldiers who take orders from Bush. Appeals are directed to more soldiers, and then Bush himself.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]
A great country does not dispense justice with Bush-league courts.

Asa Hutchinson, administrator of the Drug Enforcement Agency, gave a speech at a bookstore last week, but refused to address the question asked by Lawrence Silberman, who uses marijuana to reduce the side effects of his cancer treatment. His question: "Do you think people like myself should be arrested, sir?"
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]
In the past few months, Hutchinson has directed police to shut down several medical marijuana distribution centers that were authorized by various states.

The Bush administration has plans to develop a new kind of nuclear bomb designed to attack facilities deep underground.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]
It might make sense to develop better weapons for attack on these fortified bases, but a nuclear weapon is an absurd way to do it. Such a weapon could be used in only two scenarios: (1) when the enemy that possesses the deep underground bases has launched a nuclear attack on the US, or (2) as a nuclear first strike by the US. The former is possible but rather unlikely; developing a bomb for use only in that situation is a waste of money. The second would encourage nuclear war in general (which might mean an attack on the US), while costing the US all of its overseas support.
It would be far more intelligent to develop a plan for attacking buried bases by putting soldiers on the ground with bulldozers and dynamite. That method could actually be used whenever an enemy has underground bases, without any horrible side effects.

Making integrated circuit chips is a dangerous business--dangerous for the employees. The companies have tried to block studies which would determine just how dangerous.

International pressure is bringing Zimbabwe's President Mugabe to the verge of making concessions to the opposition, which objects to the recent unfair election and antidemocratic laws.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

As "Blackhawk Down" plays on the screen, a group of helpless Americans are trapped in Somalia once again. But this time it is Bush and his men who have trapped them there and prevent them from returning home.

Saudi religious police prevented girls from leaving a burning school building because they were not wearing proper Islamic dress. Men who wanted to rescue the trapped girls were chased off. 15 girls died.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has rejected a Bush nominee, Judge Pickering, in response to a campaign organized by abortion rights organizations such as NARAL.

Bush's proposal for increased foreign aid is a minute step in the right direction, leaving the US still miserly about foreign aid. The total would become just .1% of the GNP. Surely the US can afford to donate .3%, as Europe already does--or even a whole whopping one percent.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

A French court has attacked freedom of speech in the US by laying criminal charges against an former executive of Yahoo. Yahoo in the US has an auction site where users sell various things. Some users sell Nazi memorabilia--permitted in the US but illegal in France. France is trying to prevent this from being done on the Internet in the US.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]
The US frequently attempts to apply its laws people and actions taken outside US borders; on occasion it has sent agents into other countries uninvited, to seize people and bring them to the US for trial. Now the US is on the receiving end instead--but this role-reversal doesn't make it right, it just means the danger to the Internet is increasing. The danger is that the Internet may be transformed from a space of fairly free communication to one where people fear to say anything that is prohibited, or even actionable, anywhere in the world.
The proposed Hague Treaty threatens to exacerbate the effect, by explicitly globalizing the laws various countries have under which you could be sued for publishing something on the Internet. There is a simple solution: to exempt publication from the Hague Treaty. But the media companies, hoping to see harsh US laws such as the DMCA applied to the rest of the world, demand that the treaty apply to publication.

Kalle Jungkvist, legally responsible for the publication of the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet under Swedish law, was convicted on March 7 for "agitation against an ethnic group" because of material posted on Aftonbladet's website by Nazi sympathizers.
Aftonbladet runs a web site where visitors to the website can post comments and reply to them, much as they do on sites such as GNU-Friends, Slashdot, and Kuro5hin.
In October 2000, Nazi sympathizers posted comments in a discussion about the Middle East. Even though Aftonbladet removed the comments when attention was called to them (which is bad enough, since it represents political censorship), the court ruled that Aftonbladet (and hence Kalle Jungkvist) is guilty of a crime for not censoring them in advance. This ruling, if not overturned on appeal, endangers the existence of unmoderated discussion sites on the Internet. The threat exists not only in Sweden but, because of the new Europe-wide arrest warrant system, everywhere in Europe.
I despise Nazism, but I oppose censorship of Nazi views, or any other political views. I would refuse to censor even George Bush if it were up to me. As this case shows, any kind of political censorship threatens the freedom of everyone. Americans concerned about censorship can contribute to the ACLU or the EFF. In the UK, please support FIPR.

The Australian government knew about and concealed Indonesian military plans for massacres in East Timor.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]
The East Timor Action Network, which brought the Indonesian occupation of East Timor to the world's attention, asks Americans to ask Congress to keep the pressure on the Indonesian military to punish the generals responsible for these crimes of mass murder.

The Spanish opposition web site nodo50, which publishes criticism of government policy and organizes public protests, details how the Spanish police have been infiltrating their mailing lists, while demonizing them as terrorists in the media.

Marijuana is less dangerous than alcohol, found the British Advisory Council on Misuse of Drugs.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

The censorware installed in US public libraries, supposedly to block access to sites that prudes find offensive, has the side effect of blocking access to a important archive of the history of the web.

The US recently endorsed for the first time, without fanfare, the idea of a Palestinian state.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

A British columnist discusses the flimsy evidence Bush et al offer to justify threatened attacks on various countries.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

50,000 workers in the Daqing oil fields in China have formed an independent union and are holding protests against dismissals. The Chinese government offers all workers government-controlled unions, but likes independent worker-controlled unions even less than the US government does.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

The movie Guilt by Association, shown March 13 (9pm) on Court TV, dramatizes the effect of drug prohibition combined with mandatory sentencing policies. It talks about Families against Mandatory Minimums which opposes mandatory sentencing policies.
Mandatory minimum sentences compound the injustice caused by criminal prohibition of drugs. For justice's sake, we should correct both problems.

On March 7, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted a motion by the hemp industry to block the DEA's new hemp ban from taking effect until the court has an opportunity to hold a hearing on the matter. The hearing is scheduled for April 8. This is partly the result of people who visited http://www.savehemp.org to send letters to their congresspeople. More letters are still needed.

Spanish police have a long history of torturing suspects, sometimes to death. The Asociación Contra la Tortura posted a list of members of the security forces who were taken to court for acts of torture in Spain. Since the court cases are public knowledge, it is legal to publish the list. But the Spanish government closed the site, using a bizarre interpretation of a law meant to protect private personal information.
The Agencia de Protección de Datos, which enforces that law, decided that the ACT's web site was a "data base", and therefore that the names of police sued or charged with torture could not be mentioned on the web site without their permission. They fined the ACT $300,000, which the ACT could not pay. The site was shut down.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]
The ACT's pages are available in mirror sites, but the Agencia de Protección de Datos continues trying to shut them down in countries that have similar "privacy" laws.
Meanwhile, groups that support Spanish government policies publish information on their web site about individuals who support Basque independence, but the APD does not try shut them down. Apparently the Spanish government is taking lessons from Humpty Dumpty: Spanish laws mean what the government wants them to mean, no more, no less.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]
Amnesty International has criticized Spain for pardoning torturers and giving medals to them. The 2001 Amnesty International report on Spain and the 1999 report provide background information on the practice of torture by Spanish police.
[References updated on 2018-01-21 because the old links were broken.]

Over 100 Israeli reserve officers have refused to serve in the occupied territories on moral grounds, saying they would not participate in a campaign to "dominate, expel, starve and humiliate an entire people."
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

An interesting article on old "triracial isolate" ethnic communities in the US, and their origins and history.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

When 50,000 protestors marched in Barcelona in June 2001, to protest the World Bank, the Spanish police wanted to attack the demonstrators but needed "violence" as an excuse. So they mounted a disinformation campaign for weeks in advance, saying that the protestors would be violent. When the protest happened, they sent in disguised police, who pretended to be protestors and started a fight. The fake protestors faded away as police attacked the real ones.
The police attacked other demonstrations the following day without warning. In the weeks before the demonstration, police mounted a campaign of harrassment in a part of the city, stopping people for no reason and demanding to see their papers.

The New York Surveillance Camera Players do street theater to call attention to the surveillance cameras that the NYPD uses to monitor subversive activities such as democratic protest. Now the NYPD is denying that the cameras are theirs--simply lying, according to the Surveillance Camera Players.

The leader of the British barristers' organization warns of the danger of a police state if legal safeguards for the accused are abolished for the sake of streamlining trials.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

Bush has attempted to shred the Freedom of Information Act by ordering government departments to resist requests for information.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

Companies are filing frequent libel lawsuits to silence people who criticize them on the Internet. Often they have no valid grounds for a lawsuit, but the victims can't afford to fight back.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

The US is moving (and pushing the rest of the world) towards an increasingly harsh form of capitalism, which promotes itself through an ideology which holds that human nature is 100% selfishness and people want nothing except to get the best deal.
The MAUSS group, in France, takes its name from Marcel Mauss, the anthropologist who wrote about "gift economies". They refute the right-wing ideology of human nature in order to defend the welfare state.
Much more radical is Socialism As It Was Always Meant To Be, by Michael Albert and Robin Hahnel. It discusses multilevel systems of participatory decisionmaking, separately for production and for consumption. The plan is designed to protect individual freedom and privacy in personal consumption decisions as well as in seeking jobs. It seems to be an idea worth thinking about.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

China has imposed strict new censorship rules on political journalism.

The interior minister of Spain is threatening to suspend freedom of movement in order to prevent protests, which he regards as an enemy of society. An editorial in El Mundo points out that as a minister in a democratic state which provides for political freedom, his duty is to protect the people's right to protest.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

The director of Telemadrid, the public radio and television station in Madrid, has been fired for airing a program which presented the views of peaceful Basque nationalists. The same program included other portions of the spectrum of Basque views, such as non-nationalist Basques. It presented the victims of ETA terrorism, but not ETA. Nonetheless it was considered unacceptably openminded.

Major Corporations Considering Relocating To Axis Of Evil.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

Residents in an East Baltimore neighborhood where the city has allowed trash to pile up for years--ignoring repeated complaints--finally got some attention after they peacefully carried the trash into a nearby street. Following the latest fashion of persecuting protestors, the city has pressed charges of "inciting to riot."

Radio Onda Rossa in Rome, a left-wing station, uses a frequency which it took over, several years ago, from a commercial station that had gone bankrupt and stopped transmitting years earlier. Now the bankrupt station has come back from the grave, and demanded the frequency back. They had forfeited the license through non-use, and it now belongs to Radio Onda Rossa, but the telecommunications ministry decided to hand it back to them anyway.
Berlusconi, the right-wing ruler of Italy, owns most private TV in Italy and controls state TV as well. There are not many places you can hear an alternative view. Since the telecommunications ministry reports to Berlusconi, this looks like an attempt to block off one of the remaining few.

The Spanish government has prohibited public drinking, and demanded a extra work from the Madrid police to enforce this unpopular law. The police protested, so the national police came in to beat them up. For pictures, see this.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]
One can hope that after this experience the city police will feel more sympathy for protestors they are ordered to attack. However, experience shows that being on the receiving end of violence more often tends to brutalize people; only a few have the moral vision to consider how they were treated and decide, "I must not treat others that way." So they are more likely to "take it out" on some innocent person than to reform themselves.

Yale Professor David Graeber writes about the NYC protests: how small anarchist groups organized them because nobody else would, how they got a far larger turnout (20,000) than expected, how they were entirely peaceful, how the police harrassed and attacked them, and how the mainstream media ignored them because they weren't violent enough.

The Pentagon announced that few of the al-Qa'ida prisoners captured in Afghanistan will be tried in military courts. In fact, after months of interrogation, none has as yet been found "suitable" for such a trial. If, subsequently, a few are found "suitable", they will probably be just barely so.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]
This is a good thing--the fewer kangaroo courts, the better--but one has to wonder what point it serves to have just a few of them. Why take the enormous step of rejecting civilized standards of justice, merely to deny a few minor suspects the chance to clear their names?

Two of the people arrested in recent New York protests describe how the police who detained them twisted and disregarded the law. Even some of the police recognized the scandal. With law enforcement like this, who needs crooks?
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

INTERROGATION AT US BORDER, by John Clarke: a Canadian anti-globalization organizer's report on how US authorities detained him, demanded to know the whereabouts of Osama Bin Laden, and ultimately on no grounds whatsoever refused to let him give a speech in Michigan. Opposition to globalization, though a view many Americans support, is too subversive to allow foreigners to advocate.
After reading this report, I don't think the interrogating agent really believed that Clarke knew anything about Osama bin Laden, or that Clarke had anything to do with al-Qa'ida. It is too far fetched. So why would he make that accusation?
It is standard police interrogation strategy to confront suspects with false claims to have evidence they don't really have, and even false accusations. They want the suspect to fear they already have proof of his guilt, or even worse, that they have evidence which points to him for some crime he did not commit. But police normally do that with people they think are really guilty of some crime and may really confess. And part of the method is to make it seem they really believe the falsehoods they are saying. What happened here was different: the agent who interrogated and accused Clarke did not really try to pretend to a serious belief; he expected Clarke to know he was fabricating the accusation out of thin air. This was worse than a lying threat. This was a threat to lie.
The message in that accusation, meant to be visibly insincere, was a message of arrogant power. "Watch me lie! See, I have no scruples. I, and the people I work for, are going to lie about you, and if others dare point out the truth, we will drown them out." The agent knew that protestors are not terrorists, but he participates willingly in the campaign to slander them. He works for the citizens of the US, and his job is to lie to us.

An inmate in a California prison describes the inhuman and gratuitous cruelty of the guards towards the inmates, most of whom would not be prisoners or criminals if not for prohibition of drugs.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]
Law enforcement agencies want to increase surveillance of citizens outside prison. I have a counterproposal: to install recording cameras in prisons so that organizations for humane treatment of human beings can monitor the behavior of the guards.

Indefinite detention, secret charges and secret trials continue to be used against Arab immigrants in the US. Often they are prevented even from informing their families where they are. Often the only "reason" is a minor visa irregularity that would normally lead to a small fine. Estimates are over 2000 have been disappeared so far, but Attorney General Ashcroft is hunting actively for more victims.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

New York Mayor Bloomberg needs to cut spending. He chose the unkindest cut of all, one that falls on the most unfortunate residents of the city--those who collect and recycle discarded soda cans for five cents each. This shows what Bloomberg stands for: cruelty to the weak and helpless.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]
Hasn't New York had enough night-mayors?

Italian police have raided the office of the Association of Democratic Jurists, an organization of lawyers, looking for videos that give evidence about the Genoa protests. They did not find any, but the search pretext is absurd anyway--anyone who has video evidence about the police attacks would be glad to provide it to any serious attempt to prosecute the police. It appears that Berlusconi feels there is no limit to what he can get away with.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

Loggers are planning to cut down protected redwood trees in California, violating a deal that was designed to protect the nests of a rare bird species.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

Zbigniew Brzezinski revealed that the US began in 1979 to fund Islamic military schools in Pakistan designed to train Islamic radicals who would fight the Soviet Union. These are the same schools that later produced the Taliban. ("Talib" means "religious student".)
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

The Republican Party has threatened to sue EnronOwnsTheGOP.com for using a parody of a Republican Party trademark. There should be no validity in such a lawsuit, so this appears to be a form of harrassment.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

Italian police have arrested four Moroccans in an alleged plot to poison the water in Rome. However, the poison they were allegedly planning to use, ferrocyanide, would have been harmlessly diluted if poured into the water supply; it would not have hurt anyone. Those arrested are supposed to be connected with Al-Qa'ida, and one does not expect that organization to be laughably incompetent. Does this story make sense to you?
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]
Since these are the same Italian police that killed and injured protestors in Genoa, and are attacking Indymedia now, one has to wonder if this plot was a fabrication.
Ferrocyanide is normally used for gardening. Perhaps these Moroccans were going to use it for their garden.

A lawsuit against Coca Cola accuses the company of hiring death squads in Colombia to kill union leaders in bottling plants there.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

In 1990, a bomb exploded in the car of Earth First! activists Judi Bari and Darryl Cheney. The FBI, reporting at the time to the previous President Bush, tried to frame them for the bombing, and never tried to find the real bombers. But the lie campaign failed, and now Bari and Cheney's lawsuit against the FBI and the Oakland Police is going to court.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]
Moral: cops don't always want to find the real terrorists.

A self-styled white bohemian talks about how people like him, moving into a poor neighborhood, can open the door to gentrification that ultimately forces the old residents to leave. The article gives specific examples of how property developers get help from city governments to do this--and examples of how neighborhoods can resist.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

US and European corporations fell over each other rushing to help the Chinese government implement effective Internet surveillance, says a report in the Weekly Standard.

The UK government is proposing a system of censorship that would cover any and all discussion of science and technology. Opposition is already starting.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

Italian police have seized computers used by Indymedia in many cities in Italy, claiming they are aiming to seize audio and video evidence about what happened during protests in Genoa in 2001. This is an absurd pretext, since all such material present on Indymedia's computers is accessible to everyone through the web.

A funny song about the Mickey Mouse Copyright Act (officially the Sonny Bono Copyright Act) which extended copyright retroactively by 20 years on works made as early as the 1920s.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

ECHELON is the name of the US/UK system that spies on nearly all of the world's communications. The US government denied ECHELON's existence, and the CIA used it to disregard laws prohibiting it from spying on Americans, and finally the European Commission exposed it. Considerable details are available on the net.

Crooked accounting is not limited to Enron. While Bush aims to give the military more money, they can't keep track of what they are already given: money disappears and the loss is covered up.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

The charges against Noam Chomsky's publisher in Turkey have been dropped. Fatih Tas published a translation of a book by Chomsky, which accused the Turkish government of denying basic human rights to Kurds in Turkey. Charges were dropped after Chomsky suggested to the Turkish government that they ought to press the same charges against him for having writing the original book.

The New York Times has published an article detailing the deals made between George W. Bush and Enron while he was governor of Texas, deals that gave Enron state policies favorable to its business.

Indonesian labor rights activist Dita Indah Sari has rejected a $50,000 human rights award from Reebok in protest against the low salaries Reebok pays Indonesian factory workers.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

Bush has announced his plan for curbing global warming: don't even try.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

Utah is passing a law that declares sit-ins as "terrorism".
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

Microsoft has been donating millions of dollars to political campaigns in the hope of escaping from its anti-trust conviction. It has given more "soft money" than any other company. One state dropped out of the case against Microsoft after Microsoft made a large campaign contribution to its attorney general.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

The UK proposes to adopt an "export control bill" for scientific information which includes a system for censorship for any and all areas of science.

Low-ranking Taliban soldiers, imprisoned in Afghanistan, are being treated inhumanely; some are dying from diseases, and they have no medicine, according to Physicians for Human Rights whose inspectors recently visited the camp.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

There is an effort in Germany to oppose surveillance legislation there. See www.stop1984.com.

[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

9 February 2002
Australia is paying neighboring countries to imprison people who sought asylum in Australia. These asylum-seekers are being denied access to lawyers, catching malaria, and trying to commit suicide. Some are now on hunger strike. The Australian government actively keeps journalists away from these prison camps, while claiming it does not, and ignores criticism from Australian and foreign human rights groups, and from the UN.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]
It would be more humane to machine-gun these people than to imprison them for life and drive them to suicide. But it would be harder for the Australian government to pretend it is treating them properly and obeying treaties on human rights if it shot them, so it tortures them instead.

The US is now talking about a repeated war with Iraq. This might be difficult to carry out, since Saudi Arabia does not support it. Overt war might be less deadly to Iraqis than current UN sanctions, if it were over and done with in just a couple of months. It would not necessarily be that quick. It could be quite bloody if it leads to house-to-house fighting, and Americans might not be able to stomach the casualties among US forces, and Iraqi civilian casualties could be massive.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]
The anthrax scare of 2001, although probably committed by Americans, shows the seriousness of the threat that biological weapons could pose in Saddam's hands. It is important to address this problem effectively. That does not necessarily require war.
The US injured its chances of taking peaceful action to end Iraqi biological weapons development when it arranged for UN weapons inspectors to spy for the US "on the side", thus discrediting them. This does not mean the world should back and watch Iraq develop biological weapons, but also does not mean war is the only way. It means that the US will have to distance itself from any future inspection program because of its previous cheating. And the US is hardly in a position to justify an immediate resort to arms after having been insincere in trying a peaceful solution.

Torturing suspects into false confessions is standard practice in Saudi Arabia. A British accountant was tortured for 50 days till he confessed to planting a bomb--then released because the Saudi police realized he wouldn't conceivably do such a thing. Then he was made to apologize for the false confession, released, but kept silent for six months by stopping him from leaving the country.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

President Bush is proving very reliable: every part of his agenda is sooner or later presented as part of the "war on terrorism." First it was buying instead of saving, then an attack on our civil liberties, then fast-track approval for low-wage treaties, then ballistic missile defense. During the Superbowl, Bush presented the "war on drugs" as a way of fighting terrorism.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]
It is true that terrorists sometimes get money from selling drugs to the US. But the reason why this works for them is the cruel and ineffective US "war on drugs", which makes the drugs so profitable. Bush's "solution" is actually the source of the problem. But what can you expect from a war that is on drugs? Certainly not that it should know how to shoot straight.
Part of Bush's agenda, to repay his right-wing Christian supporters, is to prohibit abortion and contraception. Will he present this too as an "anti-terrorist" measure? Will Ashcroft label Planned Parenthood as a "terrorist organization", and deport every non-citizen who has ever contributed to it? Stay tuned.

The peaceful protests in New York, although marred by police violence, show that the movement against corporate-controlled globalization is still alive.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

The UK government has proposed to require national ID cards. The current proposal would not require people to carry them at all times, but the plan to make them "cards" rather than larger objects suggests they plan to take that next step later on.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

Sinister: a participant in the anti-WEF protests in New York was followed home by police afterward and has no idea why. (His name is Richard S, but he is not me and I don't know him personally.)
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

A journalist for the Independent (London) faces imprisonment in Zimbabwe for participating in a protest against plans to prohibit foreign journalists from operating there.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

The head of the North Wales police advocates prescribing heroin at no charge to addicts, so that they won't have to steal to pay for drugs.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]
That is enough to justify the policy, but it would have secondary benefits too: by removing addicts from the underground market, it would greatly reduce underground sale of heroin, and reduce the sellers' interest in attempting to get people addicted.

In Bush's Orwellian Address, Jacob Levich points out the chain of resemblances between the policies of President Bush and those described in the book 1984.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

What nations was Bush referring to when he talked about "a country ruled by an 'unelected few'" and "a regime that has something to hide from the civilized world" in his State of the Union Address? A letter to the editor of the Seattle Times straightens it out.

New York police attacked peaceful protestors, surrounded groups of them for long periods, and eventually blocked them from going to the prearranged rally site. The violence was committed exclusively by police. This is not democracy.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

A controversial play in Jordan makes fun of Osama bin Laden. Many in the audience laugh, but a substantial minority supports him.

Michael Moore calls on George Bush to resign as president: "He flew you around America on the Enron company jet, and for that favor you touched down on tarmac after tarmac to tell your fellow citizens that you were `going to restore dignity to the White House, the people's house.' You said this standing in front of an Enron jet!"
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

An article in the Nation shows that the extent of dishonest accounting in the US corporate system represents a fundamental error in the Reagan-Bush policy of deregulating business.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

We have learned to despise for politicians bowing down to the rich and even selling decisions to them, all with a view to their own power and comfort. Occasionally a politician shows what the alternative could be.
Chris Davies, a member of the European Parliament from Britain, and Marco Cappato, a member of the European Parliament from Italy, each in turn brought a tiny piece of marijuana to the UK authorities as a protest against prohibition. Each was arrested, and both now face criminal charges although they harmed no one.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]
I admire the courage of these men, and I am sure their example will make a difference.

In 2001, Vice President Cheney designed an energy plan for the US which was very convenient for Enron. Now Cheney refuses to disclose the list of lobbyists that he met with. He offers an excuse for this, but surely the real reason is so that he can avoid admitting that the money Enron paid him and Bush bought influence.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]
The interesting part is that this selling of influence is considered news. For Democratic officials, to be bought by business is commonplace. For Republican officials, to be bought by business is a moral obligation--if they refused, they'd be breaking a campaign promise. Republican officials selling influence ought to be as newsworthy as elephants wallowing in mud. But it seems unusual because most days it goes unreported.
Meanwhile, in Britain, Blair's government is also being accused of selling influence to Enron for campaign contributions.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

Elie Hobeika, a Lebanese militia leader who was involved in massacres 20 years ago in areas under the control of Israeli troops commanded by Ariel Sharon, was murdered two days after he agreed to testify against Sharon, who is now the Prime Minister of Israel.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

The Zimbabwean parliament has rebuffed President Mugabe's proposed journalistic censorship law, through suprise opposition from MPs in his own party.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

The listeners have won a great victory over the former board of Pacifica Radio. The new board has voted to reinstate journalists and shows that the previous board had fired or kicked off the air.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

On Saturday, 19 January, from 12:00 to 14:30, there was a Speak Out Against Terrorism, For Civil Rights in Honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Several prominent groups were present, defending the civil liberties that are currently in jeopardy from "anti-terrorism" legislation.

Atheists: what do you say when people wish you "Merry Christmas"? If you go along with it, you've encouraged people to assume that you are Christian and to spread general pressure to act or be Christian. But if you reject the sentiment, you risk returning meanness for kindness--which is not good in itself, and gives Atheists in general a bad name.
I found a solution to this dilemma: I respond, "As an Atheist, I don't celebrate Christmas, but thanks for the good wishes." This way, I can stand up for my views while still being nice to the person who wanted to be nice to me. Give it a try!
A couple of people have asked why I don't just say "Thank you." The reason is that that would not serve the purpose--it would not help strengthen the right to be an Atheist in the US.
Atheists are discriminated against in the US, both practically and in some cases legally; condemnation by prominent Christians, endorsed more or less by the US government, is not unusual. Many Atheists are afraid to make their views known--they are in the closet. The presumption of Christianity which exists all the time is part of the pressure not to be openly Atheist. By conspicuously denying the presumption, I reduce the pressure on other Atheists.
I want to show Christians that they should not presume everyone is Christian (or has any religion). So I came up with a way to do this which is not hostile to them but still makes the point. My aim is to make the point in a friendly way, not to suppress it.

The British government is now alarmed about reports that US-held prisoners in Guantanamo Bay are being treated inhumanely. This is because some of them are British citizens. I hope that they will press for proper treatment of all the prisoners, rather than limiting their concern to the British few.
But more alarming than possible inhumane prison conditions is the idea, being bruited around, that these prisoners may be held permanently without trial if no evidence is found to charge them with crimes. The US would really be sinking low if it does that.
It occurs to me that this horrible idea might not be a serious proposal. It could be a sort of trial balloon, meant to make unjust military courts seem acceptable by comparison.

The BBC reports that the speaker of the Iranian parliament has gone on strike, saying that he will not attend parliamentary sessions, because of the conviction and imprisonment of a reformist member of parliament for "insulting the judiciary". The judiciary is controlled by the conservative clerics.
I cannot say how much I am impressed to see a political leader of any country act courageously in the service of freedom. One can hardly imagine any American politician doing this.

The al Qa'ida prisoners held by the US include one US citizen and some UK citizens. The US citizen will get a civilian trial that meets (we hope) the highest standards; some UK citizens are being held in Guantanamo Bay and are threatened with a military court. If all these people had both fallen into UK hands, it would be more or less the reverse. Each country now has a double standard for justice.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]
The Independent, of London points out that a double standard of justice is not the best way to win world-wide support against terrorism, or to encourage a higher standard of justice around the world.

In October I saw articles suggesting that the US intervention in Afghanistan was just a plot to build an oil pipeline. I did not believe them, and I still don't believe that was the main motivation. But it is suspicious that the US special envoy to the interim Afghan government, Zalmay Khalilzad, was a lobbyist for building that pipeline. Mr Khalilzad also lobbied for the Taliban, which makes him a strange choice for the US National Security Council.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

Reported on the BBC: the government of Zimbabwe has prohibited criticism of the president, prohibited political rallies, and prohibited independent election observers. Based on previous reports the same laws may also prohibit foreign journalists and require domestic journalists to get government permission. This is apparent preparation for rigging the coming election. The EU is considering imposing sanctions on Zimbabwe.

In Argentina, President de la Rua was driven from office by continued popular protests, with over a million people taking to the streets in Buenos Aires. The new president, Duhalde, is devaluing the peso, but with a twist designed to avoid bankrupting non-rich citizens who have debts measured in dollars. Dollar debts under a certain limit will be converted automatically to pesos, so that a person's debt will change along with his or her income. It might work. However, Duhalde is also a corruption suspect.

Aram Publishing in Turkey published a Turkish translation of essays by Noam Chomsky that (among many other topics) criticize repression against the Kurds in Turkey. For this, Aram Publishing's director Fatih Tas has been charged of the crime of "propaganda against the state". He faces a one-year prison term if convicted. Simply by holding this trial, Turkey violates a basic freedom: freedom to criticize the government.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]
Not only book publishers face criminal charges for criticizing Turkey's human rights record. Foreign journalists and human rights observers have been excluded, deported, or indicted. Even members of the Turkish parliament have been imprisoned for speaking about Turkey's human rights record. One former member of parliament, Leyla Zana, has been serving, since 1994, a 15-year sentence for "membership of an illegal organization." In 1998 this was extended by two years for "inciting racial hatred" -- Zana is Kurdish, and struggles for Kurdish rights.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old links were broken.]

National borders are increasingly cordonning off parts of the Internet.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

After the anthrax scare, you'd expect the US to give strong support to a proposed treaty to restrict biological weapons. Instead it abruptly terminated the negotiations, killing the treaty completely.
For more information, see the Sunshine Project.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

Winn-Dixie is trying to close down the site www.shameonwinndixie.com (now .org) by threatening a lawsuit for trademark infringement.
[References updated on 2018-01-21 because the old links were broken.]

A Common Cause report describes how Microsoft has been trying to buy acquiescence in its monopolistic policies, with methods that include donations to presidential candidates (mainly Bush) and funding supposed "grass-roots" support.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

Naked Air: Everybody flies naked and nobody worries.

Argentina has been suffering from recession and widespread poverty due to an austerity program imposed by the International Monetary Fund. These programs are supposed to make it possible to pay back the debt (at the cost a great decrease in the standard of living for most people), but in Argentina (and elsewhere) the result was an increase in the debt. After four years of this, unemployment is at 18%, the pensions of 1.4 million retired people have been delayed, people are not allowed to withdraw their money from the bank and government workers have been paid with bonds rather than with money they can spend.
Argentines have responded with general strikes, rioting in many cities, and massive protests on the street. All this forced President de la Rua, who authorized these policies, to resign.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]
There is now international pressure for devaluation of the Argentine peso, which would effectively reduce the savings and income of working Argentines, but not reduce the debt (which is measured in dollars). Investors are said to be "betting" that the peso will be devalued, which means they will gain if it happens, and lose money if it does not happen. They are therefore pursuing a course directly opposed to the interests of most Argentines.
Any government that obeys the dictates of the IMF will just continue down the path to ruin. Only debt forgiveness or debt default can enable Argentina to recover. BBC Radio said president Adolfo Rodriguez Saa plans to reject devaluation. He is suspending debt payments, and using the money thus saved to create jobs.

Bush says we should not worry about the justice of military trials because "they will be more fair than bin Laden's system." Should that be the standard American justice--anything better than bin Laden is good enough?

If the US appears to be "united behind Bush", that is because dissenting journalists, teachers, students, even museum staff are being intimidated and fired. The amount of dissent that is visible underrepresents the actual dissent.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
This suppression of dissenting views, albeit incomplete, presents a narrow range of possible views to the public, and thus acts to "manage" public opinion. To the extent that some Americans are "united behind Bush", it is partly because they are being cut off from other choices.

Winn-Dixie fired an employee for cross-dressing in his private life--which is none of their business. A boycott campaign is spreading. [URL updated 26 Jan 2002]
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

Growing and testing genetically modified plants raises the possibility that the modified genes will spread to other wild or cultivated plant populations. Aside from any problems that the genes themselves might cause, the farmers whose crops unintentionally carry the gene face the threat of being sued for patent infringement.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
Such spreading is not unusual; Science News, 1 Dec, 2001, reported that artificial genes are now commonly found in the traditional varieties of corn grown in Mexico. In remote rural fields, artificially modified genes appeared in a few percent of samples. Near population centers, up to 60% of samples had these genes. Will half of Mexico's farmers be shut down by patent lawsuits, and forced to destroy their crops and their seed lines?
The companies that do the genetic engineering are not always careful about trying to prevent this mixing. Friends of the Earth reported recently that an experimental plant field in Britain was illegally allowed to bloom, and was being visited by bees that were presumably carrying pollen to other populations. It took a week after the problem was reported before the plants were destroyed.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
I don't feel a horror of genetic engineering; in principle, it has great potential to benefit humanity. But it also presents risks, which call for careful handling to minimize them. Foolish policies or sloppy handling in the rush to profit can multiply the risks.

On December 20 in Rome, 100,000 school children protested right-wing Premier Berlusconi's plans to commercialize the school system. References (in Italian only).

The CPSR warns of the danger and unreliability of national ID cards as a scheme for preventing terrorism.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Several men described as North African political dissidents have been disappeared in Britain under the new anti-terrorism bill. The British government plans to imprison them indefinitely without trial, and refuses even to say who they are--so the term "disappeared" which originated in Latin America in the 70s, is appropriate.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
The British government says that the imprisoned are eight in number, but without further information it is impossible to check the veracity of that statement.

An article in Technology Review gives a lot of information about the software used for surveillance, and argues that people should not expect massive surveillance to be effective for preventing terrorist attacks, only for investigating them afterward. There should be no difficulty in obtaining court orders for such investigations, so we can conclude that there is no reason to relax the requirements placed on government agencies to limit their surveillance activities.
[Update on 2018-02-07: The original article is now paywalled so I have decided not to promote it with a link. This article makes the same point.]

A federal judge has ordered a new sentencing hearing for Mumia Abu-Jamal, but not a new trial. This may enable him to avoid the death penalty, but won't remove the injustice of the unfair trial that he had.

It's official: Attorney General Ashcroft says that people like me "aid terrorists" because we "erode our national unity". I was wondering how long it would take for the Bush administration to say that its critics are "aiding terrorists", because that follows a global tendency in the "war on terrorism" to attack dissent and criminalize protest. If government condemnation of dissenting views offends you, please give your support to the ACLU, which has spoken out against them.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]
But I am proud to affirm that I am "eroding national unity", if "unity" means support for Bush and Ashcroft. Those men are against everything that I love in America. They're against civil liberties, against justice, against separation of church and state, against abortion rights and birth control, against the social safety net, and apparently against political dissent as well. Their vision of America's political future looks like a Christian version of the Taliban; their vision of America's economic future looks like Panama. They are trashing my country, and I'm going to do my utmost to erode any "unity" that could help them finish the job.

MIT's President Vest is said to be planning to imitate President Bush by instituting Secret Thesis Tribunals ;-). By Jeremy Brown.

North Wales Chief Constable Richard Brunstrom calls for legalization of drugs in the UK, saying that the war on drugs has been lost.
A study shows that young marijuana users in the UK are often involved in violence--but not because of the effects of marijuana itself. Rather, the violence results from their involvement in the illegal drug market, and would therefore seem to be a consequence of prohibition.

The UK anti-terrorism law was scaled back to meet the objections of the House of Lords, and is not as dangerous as it might have been. But Amnesty International says it still opens the door to human rights violations.
The Act permits non-nationals to be detained without charge or trial for an indefinite period of time, on the simple decision of the Home Secretary. The decision can be based on secret evidence and then confirmed by a secret hearing from which the detainee and his lawyer may be excluded. In other words, the concept of "legal rights" has been abolished.

The Landless Women of Bangladesh enforce a Bangladeshi law that gives newly-formed islands to landless people to farm.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Tens of thousands of protestors are expected at the European Union summit in Brussels, Dec 14/15. Gas masks have been outlawed, and people have been arrested for bringing them into Belgium from the Netherlands.
Police may say that they intend to use tear gas against "violent" protestors, and claim that carrying a gas mask is a sign of "violent" intentions. However, experience since Seattle shows that it is common for police to attack peaceful marchers with tear gas at protests. Even bystanders not infrequently get hit. Carrying a gas mask simply indicates recognition of how police actually behave.

The British House of Lords has rejected the proposed "anti-terrorism" law, demanding many changes to uphold traditional British liberties.

Canadians occupied the local office (as an MP) of the Justice Minister as a protest against the proposed "anti-terrorism" laws that would criminalize many common forms of protest: even to lie down in front ot the a car carrying a representative to an international meeting would count as "terrorism". See their statements about bills C35 and C36.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]
Meanwhile, Canadian author Mike Pearson is not being allowed to receive copies of his own book. It was published in the US, and the author's copies, shipped to him in Canada, keep failing to arrive. The third shipment was returned with a sticker saying "Do not deliver in Canada," which suggests that the unexplained disappearance of the first two shipments was no accident.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

On December 7, Philadelphia police attacked a peaceful protest rally for Mumia Abu-Jamal, arresting marchers, hitting them with sticks, pepper-spraying them, pointing guns at their heads, and throwing them against cars. Several marchers were hospitalized; one had to be removed in an ambulance.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
The police attacked a news photographer, too, pulling him down from on top of a car where he was taking pictures of the protest. No doubt they will fabricate an accusation to justify this attack--perhaps "attacking an officer" (by taking photos).

UN Human Rights chief Mary Robinson has criticized the Bush Administration, saying its present and proposed treatment of "terrorist" suspects circumvented the system of checks and balances of a democratic society.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

You may have heard of Mumia Abu-Jamal, a former Black Panther turned radio journalist, who was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Amnesty International says says he did not receive a fair trial. Among other things, the prosecutor brought up his political affiliation at the last minute when the jury seemed skeptical; that convinced them.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]
Now another man is ready to confess to the murder--and so far, courts have ruled that the system should not listen. A protest campaign demands the reopening of Mumia's case. I don't know whether Mumia is innocent or guilty, but he deserves a fair trial--as does anyone else accused of a crime.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
The book Actual Innocence by Scheck et al. describes the work of the Innocence Project, which has used DNA tests to prove the innocence of numerous convicts sentenced to execution in the US. The book's title refers to the view, stated by one judge, that the "actual innocence" of the convict should not derail an execution.
What do you think?

The war on terror is continuing an assault on freedom that was begun in the war on drugs.

Singapore's goverment wasn't satisfied to convict a prominent journalist for criticizing the government on the Internet--they committed him to a mental hospital.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

The case of "incitement to riot" against the editors of Brand has been dismissed. The court ruled that the article was indeed political satire. The case received wide publicity in Sweden, with many well-known personalities standing up for Brand and freedom of the press.
The prosecutors surely understood as well as anyone that this was satire, but they chose to distort their judgment in order to fabricate an accusation. This willingness to make false accusations is not unusual among "law enforcement" personnel--it is found at all levels, and in many countries including the US. For instance, anti-globalization protestors are often accused of resisting arrest because (say) they held their hands in front of their faces while policemen were beating them on the head. All sorts of objects are seized and called "illegal weapons". In the recent protests in Ottawa, says police seized gas masks, knives, cameras, watches, jewelry, medical supplies and other items. (He is in charge of helping protestors recover the seized goods.)
Just threatening to misrepresent reality so as to make trouble for you is also a common bullying tactic--I have seen police, customs agents, and airport security personnel use it.
No system of "justice" will be any good if the people who implement it are dishonest. The prosecutor who misrepresented Brand should be fired, and Sweden should make a systematic effort to insist on honesty in its "law enforcement" system.

The EU is proposing an "anti-terrorism" measure that would classify common forms of political protest and dissent as "terrorism". It calls for keeping international dossiers on suspected protestors.
200 lawyers from all the EU countries have published an appeal warning of the danger to democracy posed by this measure.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Civilian casualties are inevitable in war. An honest government at war must admit that they have happened. Here's a story about verified civilian casualties that the US persistently denies.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

There is a panel discussion in San Francisco on December 11, "Chasing Windmills Of PEACE: is this war necessary? are there alternatives?", followed by relevant films.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Protestors labeled as terrorists.
The Bolivian regime is facing widespread protests from all sectors of society, with strikes or threats of strikes by farmers, by bus drivers, and even by businesses. In response, the president of Bolivia and the US ambassador called the protestors "terrorists". That main article on that page is followed by a number of recent news articles and editorials from Bolivia, which help present the situation.
Meanwhile, the Canadian government is pushing a pair of "anti-terrorism" bills which, taken together, declare typical anti-globalization protest tactics to be "terrorism".
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

In 1982, Lebanese Christian militamen slaughtered unarmed Palestinians in refugee camps near Beirut. At the time, Israel was criticized for giving them the opportunity to do it. Now evidence is being presented to a court in Belgium that Israeli forces participated directly in the slaughter of prisoners. Ariel Sharon, then the commander of those forces and now the premier of Israel, is being accused of personal responsibility.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
Meanwhile, there are reports that during or after the suppression of the Taliban prisoners' uprising, some Taliban prisoners were killed while they were in custody--with their hands tied. The legitimacy of fighting enemies who are fighting back can't justify slaughtering those who are no longer able to fight.

A 1987 speech by Supreme Court Justice Brennan warns Americans to beware of America's tendency to harm itself in time of perceived danger by abolishing civil liberties, and later discover that the self-inflicted harm was an unnecessary response to a shadow of a threat. Brennan quotes Justice Davis, writing in 1866:
Wicked men, ambitious of power, with hatred of liberty and contempt of law, may fill the place once occupied by Washington and Lincoln; and if this right is conceded, and the calamities of war again befall us, the danger to liberty is frightful to contemplate.
After past wars, liberties were restored--but since our leaders claim this emergency will continue for decades, they probably don't intend to let that happen again. If we want ever to get our lost liberty back, we have to start soon--before Americans grow to regard pervasive government snooping and threats as normal.

A journalist reports on how Canadian police menaced her to prevent her from covering the G-20 meeting in Ottawa. Their only possible motive was that they were suspicious of what she might say. On the street, police attacked another journalist who was covering the protest.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Katie Sierra, the high school student who was censored for criticizing the war in Afghanistan, has left school because she was repeatedly attacked and threatened there. People are requested to write in support--of her case, and of her safety.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

Egyptian police have arrested a man for publishing a supposedly obscene poem on the Internet outside Egypt.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

The British government plans to prohibit "incitement of religious hatred". Some legislators, and comedian Rowan Atkinson, are worried that people will be prosecuted for criticizing religion. The British government, of course, says people should trust the government not to misuse the law.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
This happens at a time when Canada is using a law meant to prohibit destroying other people's ballots to prosecute people who ate their ballots as a protest, and the US is using minor violations of visa rules to keep immigrants in prison incommunicado. Would you buy a used law from a government today?

As a side effect of the "anti-terrorism" bill, unnoticed by many of its critics including me, the US now plans to prosecute people around the world for breaking computer security--on the mere excuse that some of the packets are transmitted through the US on their way between computers outside the US. The US in effect threatens to impose its laws on people and activities in other countries.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
There is a danger that the US will next impose other laws, such as laws against pornography, to traffic between sites and individuals in other countries that passes through the US en route.
Please note Note that this article uses the word "hackers" to refer to security breakers, that is to say, "crackers". Hacking means approaching an activity with a spirit of playful cleverness. Around 1980, some journalists misunderstood the word "hacking" and thought it meant security breaking. Since then we hackers have been plagued with the error.
Please don't slander us hackers. When you're talking about breaking security, please say "cracking".

The UK already has a Terrorism Act which has been used to arbitrarily ban political groups. Even listening to a public speech by certain speakers seems to be a crime. This law has been condemned by Amnesty International and by the UN Commission on Human Rights. The UK government is nonetheless encouraged by the results, and is now working on a law to further attack human rights.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

A forensic analyst in Oklahoma with a habit of lying about the evidence in order to please prosecutors was responsible for a series of unjust convictions and sentences. Now she has been fired, and some of those wrongfully convicted have been freed, but the state Attorney General is blocking DNA tests that might exonerate others.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
The article mentions similar lying forensic analysts in other states. One such person can send dozens of people wrongfully to prison or even to death.

Jared Israel probes the question of why no fighters were sent to intercept the hijacked airliners on September 11. As he shows, interception of planes on suspicious courses is routine--and officials have been evading the question of why it didn't happen that time.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

New Zealand journalist Sam Buchanan -- whom we reported arrested and beaten in July -- has written a long account of his Genoa experience.

The South Korean government plans to fingerprint every citizen, as a surveillance measure. The progressive group Jinbonet is opposing the plan.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Senior police officers in the UK have supported a relaxation of laws for the use of the drug ecstasy.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Greg Palast reports that when trying to investigate terrorist connections of other members of the wealthy bin Laden family, the FBI was blocked by orders from above.

Jared Israel has compared the various US government and press statements about why no fighters were sent to intercept the plane that attacked the Pentagon, and finds suspicious discrepancies and signs of a campaign to mislead the public.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

The mainstream media have responded to September 11 with a surprising stream of hate, calling for bloody war--the bloodier, the better--against the helpless people of Afghanistan and maybe other countries too. An article contains a list of quotations that shows the dreadful chorus of lust to punish someone, no matter who.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
I fully support the US war effort in Afghanistan; I don't know whether it will protect the US from terrorist attacks, but Afghanis are already celebrating being rid of the Taliban, and that is enough reason to fight. We should not have waited to be attacked ourselves before helping them. This may even be a major setback for world-wide religious extremism, which would be worth celebrating too. (Religious extremists seeking political power are a threat in the US as well; President Bush was their candidate.) My support for this war is possible because it is not being carried out in the bloodthirsty fashion that so many writers have asked for.
Anyone can hate; anyone who has suffered can wish to see someone else suffer. The responsibility of leaders, both official and otherwise, is to resist regressing to that infantile level.

Several years ago the Massachusetts voters approved an initiative to set up a system of public funding for state elections. This system is supported by Common Cause; in other states which have adopted it, it has enabled political newcomers to make their views known and win election, even against entrenched incumbents.
Now the legislators of Massachusetts, fearing they will face real challenges to hold their seats, are refusing to fund the law. They think they can overturn it by ignoring it. Common Cause is suing the state of Massachusetts to demand implementation of the law.

www.wartimeliberty.com provides information on "anti-terrorist" threats to civil liberties.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Israeli police continue to use torture, defying the Israeli Supreme Court, which ordered them to stop.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

The UK government, imitating the Bush administration, asks for the power to detain asylum-seekers for 6 months without trial. But some legislators are speaking out firmly against the plan.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Another place to send your opinion on Katie Sierra, the West Virginia high school student prohibited from forming an anarchist club and from wearing anti-war t-shirts: the Charleston Gazette, gazette@wvgazette.com. Apparently you must limit your message to 200 words.

www.polyamour.net promotes non-possessiveness in love relationships, and the freedom to go beyond the narrow range of relationships sanctioned by convention.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

On Oct 25 the DEA raided the Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Center, which distributed medical marijuana to 1000 seriously ill people. They didn't dare to arrest anyone, but seized all of its assets. For more information, see the Marijuana Policy Project.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

A century-old Anarchist magazine in Sweden, Brand, is being prosecuted over a parody article. The article was part of an issue that parodied a typical woman's magazine, and its title, "How to make your riot a success", parodied the original "How to make your party a success". The article's suggestions were either vague or deliberately unrealistic, but the charges against the editors are real.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
This prosecution forms part of a general recent pattern of government repression in "Western democracies" against political dissent.

Jared Israel writes that the US government has protected Osama bin Laden and his associates on numerous occasions after the date he supposedly broke with the US--as recently as last August.

The Center for Democracy and Technology analyzes the anti-terrorism bill and warns of further legislative threats to civil liberties in the US.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

Political repression in the US reached new hights as government agents banned Green Party leader Nancy Oden from flying to her party's convention because of the party's opposition to the war in Afghanistan. Ms Oden has not been charged with a crime, and there is no evidence to connect her or the Green Party with terrorism.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
It is not clear that this was entirely planned in advance. But it is clear that Oden was marked before her arrival at the airport for special abuse (which included physical assault) because of her political beliefs, and then punished for complaining about it. But that by itself is unjust, and when it is used to obstruct political opposition, it endangers democracy.
To put an end to such repression, Congress should pass a law that requires judicial review of such "you may not fly" orders. This is what "rule of law" means.
Better yet, the practice should be prohibited entirely. When there is real evidence to connect someone with terrorism, that person should be arrested, not just stopped from travelling. Without such evidence, there is no justification for anything beyond searching the person's bags with extra care.
For the sake of full disclosure, I should mention that I endorsed the Green Party candidate for president, Ralph Nader, in the last election.

Canada is planning a dangerous anti-terrorism bill. Among other things, it appears to prohibit a legal defense on religious, ethical or environmental grounds.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Censorship in school: a student in a West Virginia high school was prohibited from forming an anarchist club, and even from wearing anti-war t-shirts, on the grounds that expressing these ideas "disrupts the educational process".
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
Perhaps these ideas encourage too much thinking for a school to tolerate. Here is how you can support Katie.

According to an article in Le Figaro (a major French newspaper), a CIA agent met with Osama bin Laden last July in Dubai. There could be good explanations for this, but I think an explanation is called for.

Jared Israel interviews the Red Cross about the bombed warehouse of aid supplies in Kabul, to clear up some misleading information about the circumstances.

According to The Independent, the FBI has detained over 1000 people as "terrorist suspects" and refuses to say who or why. In some cases which are known, people have been imprisoned for minor violations of immigration rules, or are kept in prison although they are not suspects. Some have been beaten, some have been in solitary confinement for no reason, and many have been kept incommunicado and forbidden to communicate with lawyers or family. It's the sort of conduct you would expect in a military dictatorship.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
The "anti-terrorism" bill is likely to lead to even worse treatment for unknown thousands of non-terrorist non-citizens in the future.

The Sep 30 issue of Crypto-Gram explains why many of the new and proposed security measures against terrorism are as ineffective as they are intrusive--and how careful thought can lead to better security while respecting the rights of travellers and the public.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

The National Writers Union has voted to support a boycott of Pacifica Radio stations because of their firing and harrassment of popular journalists.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

FIRE, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, campaigns against censorship in academia. FIRE reports that since Sep 11 there has been a rash of censorship of opinions about the terrorist attacks and how to respond to them. The views being censored span the whole range of opinions; FIRE works to oppose censorship of any position.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

The dangerous "antiterrorism" bill has been enacted into law. The law omits the most horrible proposal, life imprisonment without trial for non-citizens, but even without that it is a great blow to freedom. Our leaders have done the United States more damage than Osama bin Laden could ever do.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

A speech by Noam Chomsky, The New War Against Terror, poses the question: what should be done to reduce terrorism generally in the world today?
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Framed and unjustly imprisoned British political activist Mark Barnsley writes about the extortionist "company stores" in the privatized prisons in the UK.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

The UK plans to stop arrests for possession of marijuana and allow doctors to prescribe it. This would take Britain most of the way towards an intelligent and just policy for that drug. What still needs to be done is to legalize sale as well, so that the growing of marijuana won't be in the hands of criminal gangs.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on Thursday, October 18 to consider the first appellate court nominee of the Bush Administration with a clear anti-choice record. NARAL has set up a page for you to ask your Senators to oppose the nomination and to request a second hearing.

I recommend Farce or Figleaf: The Promise of Leisure in the Computer Age by R. Dennis Hayes.

The FBI is openly admitting that it wants to find a way to use torture to get information from terrorist suspects.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

While the US forces attack the Taliban, we must not overlook evidence that the US aided the Taliban in taking over Afghanistan. On 12 July 2000, Congressman Rorhbacher presented information showing that

The U.S. deliberately sent 'humanitarian aid' only to Taliban-controlled areas;
The U.S. State Department refused to act on information concerning the location of Osama bin Laden's headquarters in Afghanistan.
U.S. officials tricked the anti-Taliban opposition into disarming while the Taliban was receiving weapons from Pakistan.

With the COINTEPRO program in the 1960s, the FBI disrupted and crushed US political opposition groups. Such practices continued past 1990. Now they may use "anti-terrorist" powers for similar purposes.

Cindy Milstein wrote an interesting article, The Same New World: Antiauthoritarian Politics after September 11.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

United Airlines kicked a man off two flights, then banned him from ever flying on their planes again, because he was reading a novel they considered suspicious. Just as you'd expect from an airline, they refuse to acknowledge publicly that they have done this, saying "It's a security matter". If you think this behavior is too much, you can write to United Airlines at jim.goodwin@ual.com. You can also post your message on www.untied.com so that the public can see it.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

A Times of India article alleges that a Pakistani general directly supported the September 11 hijackers. Bush and Pakistan hope Americans won't notice.

No Surprise department--Afghan refugees report witnessing heavy civilian casualties from US bombing. They may be justified, if the campaign succeeds in eliminating al Qaeda and the oppression of women in Afghanistan; in the mean time, this shows that our government is feeding us doubletalk.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

The Canadian government has very close ties with the pharmaceutical industry, and repays their lobbying efforts with monopolies that hurt the public in Canada and abroad.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Imagine nearly 40,000 people homeless, living in conditions that the United Nations considers unacceptable for a refugee camp. Does that sound like a poor country struck by war? Actually it is happening in just one city in a wealthy country in North America: Toronto, Canada.
The Toronto Disaster Relief Committee (TDRC) is trying to help, by raising private funds and by pressing the government of Canada to start caring what happens to its poorest citizens. Thus far it prefers to spend the money on prosecuting ballot-eaters.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Naomi Klein wrote an interesting article on how the establishment is trying to use the September 11 attacks to demonize and attack the anti-globalization movement, and how opponents of misconceived globalization can surmount this obstacle. See Protesting in the Post-WTC Age.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

As governor of Texas, George W Bush signed a law making the use of false ID by minors to obtain alcohol a jailing offense. In May 2001 his own daughters were arrested for just this crime. Not only were they let off without going to jail (unlike the many teenagers arrested during George W's governorship), but the bar, and the bar manager who had caught them and called the police were menaced by Bush supporters. The bar was threatened with loss of its license; the manager found that web sites were calling on the public to harrass her. (This information came from the Hightower Lowdown, August 2001.)
I'm sure you can imagine the scandal that would have developed if President Clinton and his family had been involved in similar events. So why no scandal for the shrub?

It doesn't take great genius for the party in power to get the idea of profiting from terrorism to sneak through unpopular or harmful laws and decisions.
In the US, Republicans are trying to invoke the "spirit of unity" to bulldoze a path for dangerous trade treaties such as the FTAA. The EFF warns that the FTAA may be used to impose laws like the DMCA on all the countries of the Western Hemisphere.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
In the UK, a leaked government memo shows exactly how brazenly this plan was made: a government official proposed, just hours after the September 11 attacks, to look for unpopular actions to announce while the public and the news media were distracted by terrorism.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

The Sexual Freedom Coalition campaigns to bring UK laws into line with the rest of Europe, ending censorship and many other forms of government-imposed sexual repression and prudery. After they triumph in the UK, I hope they bring their campaign to the US.

Binding arbitration clauses are now often imposed by businesses on the public. The expense of arbitration, together with arbitrators that are untrained, incompetent, careless or even biased, increasingly deprive Americans of their legal rights.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Montreal police forcibly evicted squatters who had occupied a long-abandoned city building. (Montreal has a great shortage of housing and many abandoned buildings.) As often happens, they injured one of the squatters in the attack; to distract public attention from the enormity of this, they plan to press charges against him.

The US been very foolish in choosing its allies in Afghanistan. If we seek allies that share deeper values and not just a momentary common advantage, we should support the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan.
This secular and democratic feminist organization, now driven underground, documents the Taliban's cruel treatment of women and works to educate and help Afghan women both within Afghanistan and in the refugee camps in Pakistan.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
The US plans to spend billions on fighting a war. Even a million dollars could work wonders in RAWA's hands. With several million, they could peacefully build a different kind of Afghan society, one that would no longer fall into the hands of the most vicious.

Prostitutes in the Netherlands, where their trade is now legal, are planning to form a union.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
I can't imagine the mindset of someone who would want the services of a prostitute. For me there is nothing to value in sex with someone who felt no attraction or warmth for me. If a woman I longed for told me, "You'd have to pay me to have sex with you," I'd go drown my feelings of undesirability in work--not ask "How much?" And if someone values money more than tenderness, I find that unattractive regardless of the person's line of work.
If everyone were like me, prostitutes would have no customers, so there would be no prostitutes. But prostitutes do have customers, and there are prostitutes--so their lives should not have to be filled with cruelty and danger. Their illegal status puts them in danger from violence and from disease, and it leaves them helpless against the cruelty of customers and pimps. One indirect consequence is that their customers are also in increased danger from disease. Another is corruption of the police, who are bribed not to arrest the prostitutes outside of special occasions.
The consequent suffering affects millions of Americans, and kills far more people than the terrorist attacks of September 11. We could aleviate most of it simply by following the Dutch example, and legalizing prostitution. And it wouldn't cost a dime to the treasury (though if American prostitutes form a union, that could increase prices for the customer).

Richard Dawkins, author of The Selfish Gene, has explained how the irrationality of religion is a crucial ingredient terrorism, in Religion's Misguided Missiles.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

The West should look carefully at the Northern Alliance of Afghanistan before using them as allies against the Taliban, says Robert Fisk in the Independent. They too are murderous and cruel, and supporting such people is precisely the approach that gave us Osama bin Laden to deal with.

The annual conference of the Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility on Oct 19-21, 2001 was about Nurturing the Cybercommons.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

There was a protest on September 22 in front of the embassy of Pakistan in Washington DC, to free Dr. Younus Shaikh and hundreds of others also convicted in Pakistan of blasphemy. You can still sign an on-line petition, or write a letter to the government of Pakistan.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]
Dr. Shaikh faces the death penalty in Pakistan--for blasphemy, supposedly criticizing Islam. Amnesty international has called his trial unfair and labeled him as a prisoner of conscience.
[Reference updated to a different article on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

As another terrible casualty of the September 11 terrorist attacks, the UK government plans to institute unlimited detention without trial of asylum seekers on mere suspicion of involvement with terrorism. They could also be deported without a hearing.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
Thus rule by decree replaces rule of law.

Francisco Gil-White, of the Solomon Asch Center for Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict, makes a case for determined police activity and a Marshall plan rather than war in Afghanistan.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

The Canadians who are threatened with imprisonment for eating their ballots are now planning to eat their subpoenas, to highlight the fact that even a harmless symbolic protest is being crushed with force.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

A British journalist who covered the US-sponsored guerrilla war in Afghanistan in the 80s warns that America's announced war on terrorism suffers from confusion and worse, in its aims, and its methods .
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

As part of preparations for a possible war, the Department of Defense has stopped discharging homosexuals from the armed forces. This shows they don't really believe that gay soldiers are bad for the army's effectiveness. When push comes to shove, they'd rather have those soldiers in their posts than do without them.
This shows that the policy of excluding homosexuals from the forces makes no sense in its own stated terms. If the peacetime armed forces exist to be prepared in case they need to fight, gays should never be excluded.

Britain plans to institute compulsory national identity cards, a major attack on civil liberties there. Of course, this is presented as a measure for preventing terrorism, but it won't do much good for that; the real motivation for the policy is probably to crush political protest against Blair's subservient policy towards business.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Atheists generally face discrimination in the US; since the terrorist attacks, religious rhetoric that excludes Atheists has increased, leaving many Atheists feeling unwelcome as Americans.

The Freedom Forum warns of the threat to civil liberties posed by misguided responses to terrorism. See Freedom flees in terror from Sept. 11 disaster.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Mir Tamim Ansary, an Afghani-American writer, explains why the people of Afghanistan are the victims of the Taliban, and warns against foolishly designed military measures which could hurt the Taliban's victims while helping the Taliban recruit support.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

What Became of Tolerance in Islam?
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

A Burmese Arts and Literature Symposium was held in Brookline, Massachusetts, because such a gathering cannot be held in Burma under military rule. One of the guests was Tin Maung Than, who published an independent magazine in Burma but had to flee the country. [Update on 2018-02-07: Long article for more information.] The Free Burma Coalition works in the US to help support the recommendations of elected-and-arrested Burmese president Aung San Suu Kyi for economic sanctions against Burma.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

Naomi Klein, author of No Logo, writes about how the police violence in Genoa could affect the future of politics--in Italy, and throughout the West. Right-wing premier Berlusconi, who is suspected of encouraging the police attacks, is now trying to use the violence as an excuse to suspend civil liberties on other occasions.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Award-winning Iranian filmmaker Tahmineh Milani has been charged in Iran with the crime of "insulting the values of the Islamic revolution."
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

WIPO, the World Intellectual Property organization, is responsible for treaties that impose harsh copyright and patent laws on the citizens of countries that are foolish enough to sign them. To convince the public to support being restricted, WIPO is running an essay contest, asking for responses to the question, "What does intellectual property mean to you in your daily life?" They will surely select an entry that praises copyrights or patents to high heaven. Any critical response has no chance of winning their contest.
In response, another group called WIPOUT has launched a counter-contest. They are asking people to respond to the same question, "What does intellectual property mean to you in your daily life?" But they are looking for responses that present the harm done by copyrights, patents, etc. They aim to highlight the side of the issue that WIPO ignores.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
Please keep in mind, after you read their site, that "intellectual property" is a propaganda term. Even using it in your own thinking leads to simplistic overgeneralization, because it lumps together copyrights, patents, trademarks, trade secrets and various other areas of law, which really have almost nothing in common. To think about these various areas intelligently, you must think about them one by one.
So in order to think clearly about these issues, think about copyrights, or about patents, or about trademarks, but don't think about "intellectual property". And if you want to help others think clearly about them, please say and write "copyrights" or "patents" or "trademarks", not "intellectual property". Your writing will be more informative if you don't lump them all together.

Several Canadians, members of the Edible Ballot Society, are facing five years in prison for eating their own election ballots, which they did as a protest against the sad state of democracy in Canada.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]
The law being used to charge them was meant to prohibit destroying other people's ballots, but the Canadian government is stretching it to imprison these protestors--and thereby proving just how right the protesters are.
If you wish to ridicule the bizarre actions of Elections Canada, you can write to them at 257 Slater St. Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0M6, or email them through their web page.

The Privacy Foundation has reported on how monster.com collects and uses personal data from job-seekers. If you are thinking of using the site, read this report first. The strangest thing they report is that if you send a resume to certain companies, asking for jobs in those companies, they forward it to monster.com without even telling you.
[Second reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

The ex-chief of the Genoa police now admits there were 600 neo-nazis infiltrating the Genoa protests, with the aim of committing acts of violence that would discredit the protestors.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

The Houston Chronicle has warned Americans that the US Department of Justice has been attacking and threatening journalists.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

A clear explanation of the methods corporations use to manage news reporting and thus public opinion about major issues--even yours and mine, if we are not on guard.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Dr Younus Shaikh, physicist and founder of the first rationalist organization in Pakistan, has been sentenced to death for "blasphemy". Support for his legal appeal is urgently requested.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Greece has levied criminal charges against Italian police for attacking a group of Greeks on their way to Genoa to participate in the protests. Since Greece and Italy are both members of the European Union, Greek citizens have the right to travel to Italy.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
The Italian police claimed that the protestors had attacked them; the Greek prosecutor called this a "a distortion of reality."

The Independent, of London, has warned against the danger of using a "small group of troublemakers within larger, law-abiding movements" as an excuse to restrict the civil liberties of protestors.
[Second reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
Readers of this site will know that the excuse is partly false as well as philosophically inadequate--in Montreal and Genoa, some of the worst "troublemakers" among the protestors were actually undercover police.

Germany seeks to censor US web sites through lawsuits. Otto Schily, the German interior minister, plans to meet with US government officials to discuss ways of shutting down right-wing US web sites that "have an effect in Germany".
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
I wish that our government officials were trying to defend the US Constitution and our freedom of the press. I have no sympathy for neo-Nazis, but if they can be censored, anyone else can be too.
Schily's quest may be thwarted this time by the Bill of Rights, but he may have a better chance of carrying German censorship into the US if the proposed Hague Treaty is adopted. The ACLU and the American Library Association are concerned about the Hague Treaty, and you should be too.

Advocates of corporate-driven globalization claim that it delivers growth and general prosperity. Now a report from CEPR adds up the results of corporate-driven globalization, and shows that in most of the world it provides no general prosperity, and not even much growth.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

You might enjoy this political humor piece about the Republican War on Prosperity. It explains how the GOP beat back the terrible scourge of decreased crime rates and budget surpluses.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

China has increased censorship on access to the Internet. Human Rights Watch thinks corporate sponsors of the 2008 Olympic Games could pressure China's government to allow more freedom.

The Hawaii BOE voted against requiring the teaching of creationism in Hawaiian schools. According to Steven Novella <CTSkeptic@compuserve.com>, "the outcry from the scientific community and the public played a significant role."

Remember Sun Myung Moon and the Moonies? They're back, and preparing to feed at the public trough through Bush's plan to supply federal funds to "faith-based" (i.e. religious) activities.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

The Detroit Free Press has a report on police abusing a law enforcement database to harass enemies, stalk women, and seek personal revenge. The database has been in use since 1967, and its abuse is so common that stalking women on the basis of their license plate numbers is known simply as "running a plate for a date".

Public Citizen has a report on the effects of NAFTA showing that citizens of the US and Mexico have generally lost out as a result of the treaty, although business has benefited from it.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
Bush now seeks to exacerbate these problems by extending NAFTA to South America as well (the FTAA).

Public Citizen, an organization originally founded by Ralph Nader, has been intervening to defend people who operate web sites that criticize the behavior of companies, from lawsuits by those companies alleging trademark or copyright infringement.
The latest Public Citizen newsletter also reports on the ways various industries that paid money to the Bush campaign have been rewarded with changes in "inconvenient" Federal regulations that would protect public health or the environment from the actions of these companies. Specific industries listed include oil, coal, electricity, paper and logging, and mining.
One of the regulations that Bush revoked had been established by OHSA to protect computer users like you from repetitive stress injuries at work.

The British government is preparing a curfew law to "protect" teenagers by locking them up.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

WBAI has cancelled the Earthwatch program, and fired its host, award-winning journalist Robert Knight. Protest rallies are going on. Meanwhile, some of the WBAI staff are wearing masks while on the premises, in protest against videocameras that the management has installed to snoop on them while at work.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

On Aug 2, the Hawaii Board of Education voted on a proposal to require teaching of creationism in biology classes. I heard about it just before the vote, and sent them a message about the proposal.

Canada has expanded medical marijuana use, allowing people with certain medical conditions to grow marijuana or designate someone else to grow it for them. It is just a small step, but each step helps people recognize that there is no rational reason for prohibition of marijuana.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Britain's most senior military officer says he has no evidence that the proposed US missile defense system could work.

One of the first political notes in www.stallman.org mentioned a mirror of the POSCO workers' web site, which was prohibited in South Korea as a copyright violation. On 23 July 2001 the Seoul local court reversed its decision and recognized parody as a form of free speech, not prohibited by copyright.
Sad to say, the workers' original grievances about unfair treatment by POSCO have not been redressed. They don't have justice, only the right to tell the public about the injustice.

The UK government is now reconsidering the laws for use of marijuana. Legalization is a possibility.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Bush has repeatedly said that the anti-globalization protestors do not represent the interests of the poorest nations. Then let these countries speak for themselves: 49 of the world's poorest nations are meeting to block further trade liberalization.

On May 1, 2001, Long Beach CA police attacked peaceful protestors, made promises which they broke, accused them of various fabricated crimes, then deported one person who has lived in the US since the age of 3 months. One lesson it teaches is never to trust a deal with a policeman.

Bush wants to eliminate contraceptive coverage in the health insurance for federal employees, but Congress is showing some resistance. You can help influence the outcome by sending a message to Congress. (77% of Americans support requiring health insurance to cover prescription contraceptives.)
Update: the House voted on July 25th to continue to require contraception coverage for federal employees.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

Read about the secret plans of the world's most dangerous rogue state.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Speakers corner, a century-old tradition of freedom of speech in London, is now threatened as a consequence of privatization of the parks.

A Russian encryption expert has been arrested on a visit to the US for writing a program that converts encrypted e-books into PDF format. Russians still have the right to use and develop such software, but Americans have lost this right because of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. The US now seems intent to apply its harsh and unfair laws to actions that occur outside its borders.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
This is an ironic reversal of roles for the two countries. During the cold war, Russia was noted for its efforts to stamp out unauthorized copying and redistribution of information (samizdat). Today the United States is the principal offender.

When the corporate media report on anti-globalization protests, they tend to under-report police violence while exaggerating the events that serve as excuses for it. For independent non-corporate news, see http://www.indymedia.org/.

The Marijuana Policy Project reports that Nevada has enacted a law removing criminal penalties for possession of marijuana.

Rationalist International reports that Taslima Nasreen has been convicted in absentia by a court in Bangladesh on charges of blasphemy, for "hurting the religious sentiments of Muslims" with her novel "Shame" and her criticism of the Quran.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
This illustrates the danger that religion still poses to civil liberties in large parts of the world.

Should criminals be punished by raping them in prison? This is not unusual in US prisons, and little is being done to eliminate it. In fact, some officials seem to approve of this aspect of the penal (or is it penile?) system.
Not all countries approve of it, however. The Supreme Court of Canada recently blocked the extradition of suspects to the US because the prosecutor in the US had threatened them with homosexual rape.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

Many union leaders have been arrested recently in South Korea.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

An Ohio man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for writing--and not publishing--a fictional story about kidnapping and torturing children. No actual children were harmed (or involved) in the writing of the story, but the court did not care.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
Fiction writers in the US had now better make sure the victims in horror and crime stories are all old enough to give consent to the violence that is done to them. And we had all better demand an end to censorship laws, no matter what they are supposed to "protect" us from.

Newspeak at the FBI: Dancing is Terrorism
Reclaim the Streets sets up surprise street parties, where people play music and dance. It is described in the book No Logo as one of the new forms of protest against global brand culture.
On May 10, FBI director Louis Freeh testifying to Congress listed Reclaim the Streets among the "Threats of Terrorism to the United States". Is dancing terrorism?
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
While we laugh at the absurdity of this, we have to recognize that it might be the start of a persistent and serious "big lie" campaign. And if further lies, such as frame-ups or infiltration of provocateurs, are used to support the big lie, it won't be the first time.

Koreans opposing the enforced filtering of the Internet tried to post my political note about it, below, on the government site for comments on the access-restriction policy. The posting was rejected unless they obscured all the / n / a / u / g / h / t / y / / w / o / r / d / s /. Words like "pornography" and "gay" -- the very matter at hand.

For once, some good news: the European Parliament passed a resolution opposing widespread or general surveillance of the public's electronic communication. This may make it harder for the European Commission to impose a directive authorizing such surveillance.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Nike, which pays Indonesian workers a few nickels an hour, has a new idea: marketing sneakers by mocking the activists who criticize their horrible treatment of the workers who make the sneakers.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
Nike's marketing strategy is to make itself seem cool. You can fight back by attaching a negative attitude to their name. Don't buy from Nike, and if see a person wearing Nikes, express disdain for that choice.

Greg Palast is the British journalist who exposed the ways that Blacks in Florida were systematically excluded from voting in the last US presidential election--an exclusion which effectively stole the election for George Bush Jr (the Shrub).
Now his newspaper, the Observer, has been sued for libel by the company that employs George Bush Sr: Barrick Gold Mining of Canada. The accusation in the case is that Palast quoted an Amnesty International report, which alleged that 50 miners might have been buried alive in Tanzania by a company now owned by Barrick. This was a small part of an article that exposes a long history of sleazy connections between George Bush Sr and Barrick, including Bush's actions as President of the US.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

Police in Germany have begun arbitrarily suspending the civil rights of individuals, without charging them with crimes. The reason? To stop them from participating in political protests.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Big brother warning: it seems that some rental cars are now equipped with a system that tracks where you go, all the time. Before you sign a car rental contract, raise the issue explicitly. Ask, "Do you track where I drive in this car? Is there a GPS in this car?" If they say yes, ask for a different car!

The US has abandoned the attempt to stop Brazil from manufacturing AIDS medication at low cost.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Legal proceedings have been launched against a leading Egyptian feminist, Nawal Saadawi, to divorce her and her husband without their consent, as punishment for allegedly criticizing Islam. I have not seen what she said, but if this is a sample of Islam, I am sure it richly deserves whatever criticism she gave it.

After long police repressions, an activist from "Checkpoint Austria" has now been sentenced to three months conditional arrest for "slander in a severe case"...After an exchange of words with the officers, he shouted out to the other protesters that one of the officers had just threatened him with the words: "Look, when we meet in some back alley, then - a bullet to your head".

Senate passes resolution against teaching evolution:
The US Senate has passed an Education Bill into which language has been added that essentially calls upon teachers to tell students that evolutionary theory is not science. A Senator from Kansas hailed this amendment as a vindication of the Kansas school board's 1999 decision to eliminate evolution from the curriculum.
Please call or write your Senators and Congressman to oppose this, and alert other people.
See http://www.agiweb.org/gap/legis107/evolution_update0601.html for full information.

Police provocateurs attack demonstrators during protest in Barcelona (Excerpt from a larger report).
"- while this is all going on for about half an hour ( the rally permit runs out around this time) a punk beside me is thrown to the street and put in a headlock by another slightly cleaner dressed punk. people surge forward seemingly trying to help the guy but then it turns out about 20 of them are undercover cops and a few more people start getting grabbed. this part was crazy and was the first time i've ever seen real live 'agents provocateurs'. I'm not sure if they had any 'reason' for grabbing this guy other than that they wanted to start something and as a fully decked out punk, they wouldn't look so bad."

Swedish police attack protestors, then arrest some and hold them incommunicado.

Despite the fact that Gap makes their clothes in sweatshops, and have been subject to many demonstrations across the nation, they believe that the growing movement against corporate power is now large enough to begin marketing on. Their new promotional displays use anarchist iconography to market their sweatshop clothes: now the protest itself can be essentially sold to consumers as an image. If Gap succeeds, it will mean that every protest that is staged will be building on their new image, in effect turning protestors and activists into living, walking ads for Gap.

In The Independent (London): Democratic politicians are now diverting attention from the policies that have left so many voters discouraged, by making scapegoats of the people who organize the mass protests against these policies.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

SITA, a French multinational, gave Brighton, England waste workers an impossible workload, then locked them out when they refused to do it, so the workers locked themselves in. With the support of the community, the workers were reinstated and the multinational lost the contract. "We should take inspiration from this fight, because it shows that when people get together we can stop privatisation in its tracks."

Ya Basta, nonviolent protestors of the EU summit in Gothenburg, wrote a letter about being beseiged and attacked by police.

Princeton scientists have gone to court asking for a ruling that the DMCA does not prohibit them from publishing their research. The record companies had threatened to sue them.

The American Commission on Civil Rights found widespread disenfranchisement of poor and minority voters across Florida; abuses were not located or isolated. Without this, Gore, marginally better than Bush, would have clearly carried the state, and the Supreme Court would not have had the chance to select a president.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

During the Quebec protests, a policeman shot Eric Laferriere at a range of 20 feet, and maimed him for life. Laferriere was standing harmlessly and not engaged in violence.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

The Korean government, following a deceitful chain of events, is using the excuse of "protecting minors" to impose filtering on the Internet. The list of sites to be blocked includes not only pornography (not that pornography is a bad thing), but also sites that provide serious advice to gay people.
Don't be fooled by the excuse. Censorship laws are more dangerous to a democratic society than any pornography could ever be.
You can learn more here
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Jaggi Singh, who was beaten and seized by a disguised police snatch squad that only afterward identified itself as police, has been released on $3,000 in bail--but with absurd conditions. He is prohibited from leading or organizing any demonstrations. The judge has also prohibited Singh from possessing a megaphone.
Singh promises to appeal that condition to the Supreme Court of Canada.
A number of protestors were arrested in Quebec at the FTAA meeting, generally on absurd or fabricated pretexts. You can help them by donating to their legal defense fund.

When John Gatto accepted the New York City Teacher of the Year Award in 1990, his acceptance speech was a deep criticism of the school system and other aspects of childraising in the US.

IMF's Four Steps to Damnation

Amy Kalinowski has written an interesting letter to the Canadian Prime Minister about the Quebec protests.

The shrub is already making big payoffs to his campaign contributors--at the expense of public safety and the national interest.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Amnesty International has taken up the cause of the Quebec protestors attacked by police. Alas, it's not just countries like China and Iran that oppress political dissidents. See the announcement.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Who owns the law? In many states, a company owns part of the law, and you have to pay them an arm and a leg to find out what is legal for you to do.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

The US is using biological weapons in South America as part of the "War on drugs", and at the same time shows signs of pulling out of the negotiations for stronger controls on biological weapons, according to the Sunshine Project.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

On the evening of Saturday, April 21, 2001, a day during which tens of thousands demonstrated against the FTAA in the streets of Quebec City, the Independent Media Center in Seattle was served with a sealed court order by two FBI agents and an agent of the US Secret Service. The terms of the sealed order prevented IMC volunteers from publicizing its terms; volunteers immediately began discussions with legal counsel to amend the order. You can read more about it.

A new US patent, awarded to Monsanto on 16 January 2001, has blind-sided biotech scientists and threatens to knee-cap public sector research because it gives Monsanto exclusive monopoly rights on a crucial method of identifying modified plant cells in the laboratory. You can read more about the issue at this page on rafi.org.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Cops Arrest Crime Victim
On 19/04/01, during a British Critical Mass cycle action in Bristol, a cyclist was arrested after he was run down by a car. The police's reason? Alleged criminal damage to the car!!

In March 2001, scientist Ian Thomas was fired by the US Geological Survey for posting a map on the Internet showing where in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve the caribou give birth. His web site, containing over 20,000 maps, was disconnected. This appears to be an act of political censorship by the Bush administration, which advocates opening that reserve to oil drilling and does not want government scientists to make available information that might show the drawbacks of the plan.
Thomas has made some of the maps available on his own web site, and has filed a Freedom of Information Act request to get the rest.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

The Canadian government prevented large numbers of US citizens from entering Canada, on suspicion that they are planning to join in protests against the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas. A wall was built around the center of Quebec City to keep protesters away. The antidemocratic suppression of public protest is now a standard part of the effort to impose these antidemocratic treaties.

Phone In Sick Day was moved to April 20 in Canada in 2001--so people can participate in the Quebec protest. In the US, Phone In Sick Day was on May 1 as usual.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Quebec prosecutors are quitting a team that the provincial government has set up concerning protests planned for the Summit of the Americas. The prosecutors accuse the provincial government of political interference.

An article by Naomi Klein called Quebec City Keeping Us Out Before We Get There talks about protestors being scared away from the Summit of the Americas.

Before you buy a Harry Potter book, read about how Warner Brothers is attacking fan web sites, and maybe you will change your mind. This is not an isolated case--read a long list of cases where powerful companies and institutions are grabbing domain names from their satirists, from their fans, and from people who coincidentally use the same name.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

When a neo-Nazi party entered the government of Austria a couple of years ago, there was a brief commotion. Then their leader stepped aside, and the rest of Europe treated that as sufficient.
What have they been doing since the world's attention was taken away? They have been acting like Nazis--encouraging racism and police violence. There is a real problem in Austria.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Nike allows you to personalize your shoes with a message. Jonah H. Peretti tried to add the word "sweatshop" to his shoes, and they refused.

Pat Schroeder (former Congressional Representative from Colorado), who helped to make it a crime to give people free software to play DVDs they have bought, is now leading a campaign to turn public libraries into retail pay-per-view outlets
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

For an analysis of the various illegalities and frauds used in the theft of the Florida election (and thus, of the US presidential election as a whole), see here.

The companies that make software to filter web access, often block a wide variety of sites--not just porn, but politics as well. Not surprisingly, they refuse to reveal which sites they block. Hackers who figured out ways to extract the list from the program have been attacked with lawsuits, and defended by the ACLU. The ACLU fights constantly to defend Americans' civil liberties, and they need your support.
[First reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
(I joined the ACLU in 1988, when Daddy Bush called Governor Dukakis a "card-carrying member" of the ACLU--in effect saying that upholding the US Constitution was equivalent to being a Communist. Bush showed his real views of freedom, and this convinced me I ought to join the ACLU as a statement of support for them against this vicious calumny. I've heard many other people joined at the same time.)

Deportees being flown from Europe to other countries have been tortured by border guards while on the plane. A number of the victims have died before getting off the plane. Some European airlines are now refusing to carry such "passengers", but Lufthansa continues to seek this lucrative business.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

NAFTA has been so successful at cutting wages in the US, and destroying working conditions in Mexico, that politicians are aiming to extend NAFTA to South America if we don't stop them.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Here is an explanation of the Supreme Court decision that ruled against counting the votes in Florida, with a suggestion for what to do about it.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Billionaires for Bush (or Gore) urged people to vote for either George Bush or Al Gore. "We don't care which, we already bought both of them."
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Do politician's comments refer to a reality? Do they "mean" anything? Nowadays, some politicians don't see a need for that.

In November 2000, Democracy Now! -- Pacifica Radio's national news magazine and an important source of alternative news and views on many issues -- was under threat from Pacifica's management. Learn more at http://www.fair.org/activism/democracy-now.html.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

The Free Burma Coalition asking Americans in Nov 2000 to write to President Clinton asking him to ban imports of garments from Burma. These garments Burma exports are made in factories run by the military dictatorship, using effectively slave labor.

In late 2000 I learned that a leading Pakistani rationalist, Dr. Younus Shaikh, is being prosecuted for blasphemy, a crime that carries a death sentence in Pakistan. The hysteria was such that for a long time he could not find a lawyer willing to defend him.
This case is likely to continue for a long time. Please help Dr. Shaikh by writing to the government of Pakistan to express your concern about the case.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

The Korean government is proposing a law to regulate the Internet in Korea, which would impose censorship rules and is bad for citizens' privacy.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

The DEA is planning to prohibit hemp-based products such as soap, which are not drugs at all, on the grounds that they interfere with drug tests for marijuana. This shows how sick and twisted the war on drugs is making the US: even the tools of enforcement are now considered more important than mere daily life. (Whatever drugs that war is on must be very dangerous.)
Please visit the site for the campaign to block these regulations, www.SaveHemp.org, and please help and inform others.
(I received an interesting letter in response to this issue.)

The Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility is having its annual conference in Pennsylvania, Oct 14-15. Its theme is ``Reconstructing Privacy in the Information Age''.

Americans United for the Separation of Church and State has chided Senator Lieberman, the Democratic candidate for vice president, for extremely religious campaign rhetoric, injecting religion into the campaign in a way we would normally expect only from right-wing fundamentalists.
Americans United sent Lieberman an open letter asking him to ask voters to consider his record, not his religion.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
I've been a member of Americans United for several years.

In 1999 the US Congress proposed a law requiring every bank to establish a ``know your customer'' program to report all unusual deposits to the government--in effect, snooping on the customer. When combined with the practice known as ``civil forfeiture'', which means that the government can seize ``suspicious'' assets without even having a trial, these programs actually threaten to take away your bank account.
Strong public opposition blocked that bill, and ``know your customer'' programs did not become mandatory. But over 80 percent of US banks have them voluntarily. That is better than 100 percent, but not good.
I have an idea for how to bring about some change in this. It involves setting up a web site where people can record which banks have these programs and which do not. People can ask their own banks, and then record the answers.
Then people who don't want the extra risk of civil forfeiture, or object to big-brotherism, can use the data base to find a local bank which doesn't squeal on its law-abiding customers--and move their deposits to that bank.
I don't have time to set this up, and I don't know how either. But I hope I can get someone else interested. If you are interested in setting this up, and you know how, please send me mail. (People are working on this now, so if you want to help, please contact me rather than starting on your own.)

The Consumer Project on Technology is organizing an Open Access protest in Washington DC, Thursday July 27. The issue will surely continue to be important past that date.
[First reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Alongside the Republican and Democratic political conventions in 2000, there were "shadow conventions" sponsored by the Marijuana Policy Project, calling for an end to the War on Drugs.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
If you think a drug is dangerous, you can avoid the risk by not using it. But you cannot avoid the many dangers of the War on Drugs--a million Americans in prison (largely for nonviolent "possession of drugs" crimes), no money for education because prison comes first, our police corrupted, and our civil liberties undermined.

A Korean protest parody site has been shut down as a copyright violation. The site was set up by workers who were fired, and then not rehired despite a court order to rehire them. Eventually they set up a protest parody site criticizing the employer, POSCO. POSCO sued them for copyright infringement and succeeded, forcing their site to be taken down. Now there is a world-wide campaign to set up mirrors of the site. I have set up a mirror as part of this campaign.

You might enjoy Ask Dr Laura that is floating around on the net.

On April 25, 2000, the Marijuana Policy Project reported that Hawaii has enacted a law removing criminal penalties for medical use of marijuana (which can help cancer patients tolerate the harsh side effects of many cancer treatments).
For some 20 years the U.S. has been the target of a crazed War on Drugs. Around a million people are in prison in the U.S. today for drug-related "crimes". Often the crime was simply to sell or use drugs--activities that would not be crimes at all if we end this war. Sometimes the crime was an act of violence--which should be a crime, but typically would not have happened if prohibition did not drive the drug trade into the hands of gangsters. (In the 1920s, the illegal sellers of alcohol committed many notorious violent crimes--but today's brewers, distilleries and liquor stores are law-abiding.) Our civil liberties are constantly threatened by plans to make this war "more effective".
When a war is on drugs, it tends to forget who the enemy is, and attack citizens indiscriminately. Let's get the war off drugs.

If you work for the corporate world, you may be interested in celebrating Phone In Sick Day on May 1.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
RTMark explains the holiday this way:

To bring an important American holiday back home.
Mayday commemorates ten Americans who lost their lives fighting for the eight-hour [work] day, and their sacrifice has been celebrated since 1889 nearly everywhere in the world *except* America.
To call attention to the loss of the eight-hour day and other quality-of-life indices in America.
Mayday heralds the approach of summer, a time that still means "vacation" to those in most First-World nations. But substantial vacations, like the eight-hour day, have passed into American leisure history. While the average number of hours worked per year has gone down throughout the First World, it has gone up in America, with Americans now working six weeks more per year than they did in 1973 to achieve the same standard of living. Phoning in sick en masse will function as a "mayday" distress call by increasingly harried Americans. (Visit http://rtmark.com/sickday.html to see Andrei Codrescu explain this most eloquently.)
[rms note: We used to expect technology to provide increased leisure time. I believe it could, if society were not dominated by business and business owners.]
To call attention to the dwindling quality of life everywhere.
The erosion of leisure is no longer limited to America. As European countries are increasingly forced to dismantle social programs and adopt American-style measures to benefit corporate health, we can be sure that they will all go the way of the United States: two-month vacations will shrink to two weeks, maternity leave will go from six months to five days, etc. Therefore RTMark encourages Europeans, and other First Worlders for whom May 1 is already a holiday, to phone in sick on May 2. (In the Third World, of course, the effects of neoliberalism are unspeakably worse than a mere erosion of leisure; it would be tasteless to suggest that phoning in sick might accomplish anything there.)

Taslima Nasrin, a Humanist from Bangladesh, was threatened with religious murder for criticizing such things as persecution of Hindus and the injustice of Islamic law. She was officially charged with the crime of ``blasphemy''. She is now in exile.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
The right to criticize, or even ridicule, any religion or religion in general is part of human rights. No religion or church is entitled to suppress criticism--not Islam, not the Church of Scientology, not even the Church of Emacs.
10 May 2002
US citizens: the Senate Judiciary Committee is blocking Bush plans to pack US courts with antiabortion campaigners. Please tell them to keep up the good work.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

10 May 2002
The union that represents the staff of the European Patent Office has denounced the European Patent Office for disregarding laws and rejecting democratic control.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

10 May 2002
The EU is considering a mass-surveillance directive to require all telecommunications companies to keep long-lived records of who communicates with whom, via telephone or email.

10 May 2002
"The Kept University", an article fromm the Atlantic Monthly, explained in 2000 how corporate funding is corrupting academia.

10 May 2002
The Burmese military government has released Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest. Aung San Suu Kyi is the leader of the Burmese democracy movement, and was elected president of Burma but prevented by the military government from taking office.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

6 May 2002
GATS, the General Agreement on Trade in Services, threatens to give multinational corporations additional power to restrict the way countries protect their environment, public health, water supplies, and give them the power to sue governments for any laws that inconvenience them.

6 May 2002
At a May Day protest in Berkeley California, an undercover cop disguised as a protester attacked an Indymedia photographer, threw him into a police line to be arrested, and then walked away from the protest as if nothing happened.

5 May 2002
Israel did not allow the UN team to investigate what happened at Jenin refugee camp, but a Dutch investigator says there is no evidence of a massacre.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

5 May 2002
A report says that police can now identify people from DNA in the droplets of moisture in their breath.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

5 May 2002
The US Military is asking Congress to exempt it from a wide range of environmental protection laws.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

5 May 2002
A Norwegian member of parliament is asking for a Nobel Peace Prize for President Bush.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

5 May 2002
A proposed Spanish law to regulate the Internet would allow officials to close any web site.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

5 May 2002
Some states appoint judges; some, such as Texas, have elected judges. A study shows that elected judges are biased against out-of-state defendants.

2 May 2002
Many activists from Milwaukee were prevented from flying to Washington DC for a protest in April because their names were found in a database of suspects that airlines check before each flight.

2 May 2002
A rape victim in Pakistan has been sentenced to death by stoning as a punishment for being a victim.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

2 May 2002
A petition campaign tries to "save General Motors from itself", by pressuring it to start developing fuel-efficient cars so that the company won't tank when it costs more to fill your tank.

30 April 2002
It appears there may not have been an a massacre in the Jenin refugee camp, as was previously charged. Allegations of forcing civilians to act as human shields remain.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

30 April 2002
On Hacking: In June 2000, while visiting Korea, I did a fun hack that clearly illustrates the original and true meaning of the word "hacker".

30 April 2002
This article explores how the US defines "democracy", using the attempted coup against Chévez in Venezuela as a lens.

30 April 2002
The last three months have been the warmest ever recorded.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

30 April 2002
Recently the US arranged the ouster Jose Bustani as head of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, based on trumped-up accusations and violating the organisation's procedures. The Guardian (London) reports on the threats that the US made and investigates possible reasons.

30 April 2002
RENTCAS has united 30,000 volunteers to help fight smuggling of animals in Brazil.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

30 April 2002
Please support the call for justice for the protestors of Gothenburg.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

30 April 2002
Spain has blocked a reform of EU fishing rules intended to prevent overfishing that is killing fish faster than they can reproduce.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

30 April 2002
Amnesty International has called for a war crimes investigation into the Israeli invasion of the Jenin refugee camp.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

30 April 2002
Even as Bush talks about the danger of weapons of mass destruction in terrorist hands, the Bush administration is trying to remove the head of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). The reason: he tries to examine chemical warfare facilities in the United States just like chemical warfare facilities in other countries.
Earlier in April the Bush administration arranged for the removal of the head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Leaked papers released by the NRDC show that ExxonMobil and other businesses were calling the shots.

23 April 2002
Guatemalan peasants have seized a number of large plantations, protesting the unfair distribution of farmland.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

23 April 2002
Here's an article about the work that the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty does to aid poor people in Ontario.
[Second reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

21 April 2002
Smuggled film shows the Chinese destruction of a monestary in Tibet because its popularity was considered unacceptable.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

21 April 2002
The destruction in Jenin was more complete than an earthquake, yet the Israelis have not allowed in any heavy lifting equipment, so the Palestinians dug out the bodies with their hands.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

20 April 2002
Contact Congress now to say that East Timor should receive donations, not loans.

20 April 2002
Hundreds of thousands protested business-driven globalization in Barcelona, Spain in mid-March on the occasion of the EU summit. Police restrained themselves from attacking the protestors for part of the week, but eventually gave in to their bloody urges
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

20 April 2002
A peace group in Israel chronicles daily the cruelty committed by the Israeli army against Palestinians. In the April 11 article we read about civilians used as human shields, and sick people who are dying because they are not allowed to go to a hospital. In the April 12 article we read about people denied access to food and water, and buildings demolished with people inside them.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]
There are also reports that the Israeli army committed mass murder against helpless civilians in Jenin.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

20 April 2002
Research which purported to show that use of MDMA ("ecstasy") damages the brain was so flawed as to be worthless.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

20 April 2002
French and Spanish investigators want to question Henry Kissinger to see what he knew about the 1970s "Condor plan", a conspiracy among Latin-American dictators to eliminate their political opponents.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

20 April 2002
Further evidence of Israeli army atrocities in Jenin has emerged, as well as reports that soldiers used civilians as human shields (i.e. hostages), and demolished 3-story buildings with many people inside them.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
Ariel Sharon is on trial in Belgium for his role in atrocities in Lebanon in the 80s. Read how he described his history of violence against Arabs.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

20 April 2002
There are reports that US officials met with the Venezuelan coup plotters before the coup, and a suspicion that they encouraged it.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

20 April 2002
A general strike shut down most business in Italy on April 16. 2 million people joined protests against Berlusconi regime.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

20 April 2002
The Dutch prime minister and his entire cabinet have resigned because of a report holding his government partly responsible for the massacres of unarmed Bosnians at Srebrenica in 1995.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

20 April 2002
Users were recenly shocked to discover that the KaZaa peer-to-peer software includes a distributed computing facility that enables KaZaa's business partner to sell access to the user's own computer.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

20 April 2002
Representative McKinney calls for an investigation into the unpreparedness of US response on September 11 and whether companies tied to Bush have influenced government policy.

20 April 2002
The British government has given up on plans to eliminate the right to a jury trial for crimes such as burglary and assault.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

20 April 2002
The short-lived coup against Venezuela's President Chavez was planned for months by military officers, and comes out of an opposition movement funded by Venezuelan conservatives in Florida.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

18 April 2002
Good Fences Make Good Neighbors. I was shocked to learn recently that there is no border fence dividing Israel from the occupied Palestinian territories.

18 April 2002
Today's higher oil prices are beneficial because they encourage more efficient use.

17 April 2002
The IMF "rescues" countries by making them sign secret agreements to sell off government assets for far less than they are worth.

16 April 2002
New article about the deposed, then reinstated, president of Venezuela.

16 April 2002
Gore Vidal's book, "Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace: How We Got to Be So Hated," argues that, contrary to what President Bush told a joint session of Congress, the Islamic world doesn't hate us because of our freedoms: it hates the US because of its policies towards the Islamic world.

16 April 2002
It's not just a danger, it's a fact: using terrorism as an excuse, police have seized records about Americans hundreds of thousands of times, and the rate is doubling every month.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

16 April 2002
US voters, please contact Congress ASAP to oppose a right-wing bill that would make it a crime to accompany a teen-age girl to another state to get an abortion. Even a grandparent or a sister could be prosecuted.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

15 April 2002
Australia finds a tobacco company guilty of destroying the evidence for a lawsuit filed by a dying smoker.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

13 April 2002
Precisely how the Bush team stole the Florida election is documented.

13 April 2002
ENRON wasn't the first client for which Andersen was caught cooking the books. It ought to be prosecuted now.

10 April 2002
How Bush's extremist rhetoric encourages Sharon to ignore Bush when Bush says to stop.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

10 April 2002
Bill Moyers reports on how Bush has blocked public access to presidential papers from the Reagan administration which according to the law were supposed to be released.

9 April 2002
Americans: call Congress on April 10 and 11 to oppose military aid to Indonesia.

9 April 2002
An article by John Pilger about the possibility of war in Iraq, and about the facts that belie Bush's campaign for war.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

6 April 2002
The UK plans to prohibit employers from monitoring personal email sent and received by the staff on the company's computers.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
Added 2018-02-01: According to this briefing, "The Code does not have the force of law, but rather provides the Commissioner's own views on how organizations can comply with the UK Data Protection Act 1998."

6 April 2002
I received a very disturbing message which says that UK police have blocked the availability of any hosting for the web site for the May Day Festival of Alternatives. (Press release)

6 April 2002
A former prime minister of New Zealand accused Dan Quayle, US Vice President under Bush Sr, of threatening to assassinate him.

5 April 2002
Charges were dropped on April 2 against two members of the Edible Ballot Society. But because the judge did not question the idea that it was a crime in Canada to eat one's own ballot, we cannot assume that four others accused of the crime of ballot-eating are out of danger.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

5 April 2002
When Tony Blair started talking of making the UK follow the US into war with Iraq, his party began refusing to go along.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

4 April 2002
US newspapers published photos of John Walker Lindh naked, blindfolded and tied up, but the real danger he and other detainees face is that of imprisonment for life without trial. The Bush administration calls them "combatants", but that concept presupposes a real war which can have a distinct end. Bush's "war against terrorism" is defined such that no one can ever tell if it has ended. To have an end to the war, we need a president who has no stake in it. We need to make sure Dubya loses his second presidential election more clearly than he lost the first one.

4 April 2002
A former UK Secretary of State for Defense clearly explains the harm caused by US bias in the Middle East.

2 April 2002
Tomato farm workers in Florida have launched a protest campaign against Taco Bell which uses many of the tomatoes they grow.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

2 April 2002
The government of Bolivia has tried to impose a number of harsh policies that provoked popular uprisings. There is evidence that they are dictated in detail by the US government.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

1 April 2002
When police say "No witnesses", one must suspect they are up to some kind of dirty work that they don't want to admit to the public. An encounter in a Paris airport.

1 April 2002
There are reports that Israeli soldiers are keeping the press out of Ramallah at gunpoint and shooting at marked press vehicles.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

31 March 2002
Does low pay mean more jobs? Locally, sometimes yes, but globally it does not.

31 March 2002
The Marijuana Policy Project won its lawsuit to get permission to put a medical marijuana initiative question on the ballot in Washington DC. Now they need funds to mount a signature drive so that they can actually put such a question on the ballot in November.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

31 March 2002
371 people were arrested in Montreal on March 15 for protesting police brutality there.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

31 March 2002
When a high school student in Oklahoma wore Wiccan symbols to school, the school suspended her and accused her of casting a spell that made her teacher sick. The ACLU is suing them.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

31 March 2002
Global warming of .6 degrees centigrade has already caused numerous ecological changes including the spread of various mosquito-borne diseases.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

31 March 2002
According to an article in Scientific American, de-facto slavery remains widespread in the modern world, usually based on convincing its victims and the surrounding society that their enslavement is legitimate.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

31 March 2002
The US government is asking the Supreme Court to overturn a decision that compensates the Navajo tribe for natural resources mined on their property, on the grounds that if all the Indian tribes demand to be paid what the government owes them, that would be too expensive.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

31 March 2002
Plans are advancing to implant chips in people for surveillance purposes.

31 March 2002
According to Fox News, police arrested a Fox reporter and confiscated a videotape, but they went to court and were able to get it back.

28 March 2002
The Coalition for a Just Cincinnati, has called for a boycott of the city. This is a response to persistent racism, and police violence which extends as far as murder. Now a business group involved in renting auditoriums in Cincinnati has sued the Coalition on the grounds that the boycott has reduced their income.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

28 March 2002
In an act of prudish bigotry, college student Leilani Rios was expelled from the track team because she works as a stripper.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

28 March 2002
A genetic modification in corn, which causes allergies in some people and was only supposed to be used for animal feed, is spreading by natural cross-pollenation into the human food chain.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

28 March 2002
The UK government has been caught not once, but twice, telling out-and-out lies in order to build public support for sending troops to Afghanistan and Iraq.
[Second reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

24 March 2002
About Those Polls: Do 80% of Americans Really Support Bush?

24 March 2002
In Italy, right-wing terrorists supported by the CIA helped stop rise of the left in the 60s and 70s. One "anarchist" who was actually working for the security forces even went so far as to throw a grenade into a crowd and kill people.

24 March 2002
A law is being rammed through in Alberta, Canada to prohibit teachers from striking, and rules out bargaining about working conditions. As a protest, teachers are discontinuing the after-school activities that they have done as volunteers. Others plan to quit.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

23 March 2002
A US government report details the way various laws are used to suppress freedom of political dissent in the Czech Republic.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

23 March 2002
A policy of not arresting anyone for possession of marijuana has helped cut robbery and burglary in a high-crime area of London.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

23 March 2002
Bush plans for military courts for terrorist suspects have at least two glaring flaws. Instead of a jury, the verdict is to be decided by part-time judges, soldiers who take orders from Bush. Appeals are directed to more soldiers, and then Bush himself.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

23 March 2002
Asa Hutchinson, administrator of the Drug Enforcement Agency, gave a speech at a bookstore last week, but refused to address the question asked by Lawrence Silberman, who uses marijuana to reduce the side effects of his cancer treatment. His question: "Do you think people like myself should be arrested, sir?"
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

22 March 2002
The Bush administration has plans to develop a new kind of nuclear bomb designed to attack facilities deep underground.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

22 March 2002
Making integrated circuit chips is a dangerous business--dangerous for the employees. The companies have tried to block studies which would determine just how dangerous.

22 March 2002
International pressure is bringing Zimbabwe's President Mugabe to the verge of making concessions to the opposition, which objects to the recent unfair election and antidemocratic laws.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

22 March 2002
As "Blackhawk Down" plays on the screen, a group of helpless Americans are trapped in Somalia once again. But this time it is Bush and his men who have trapped them there and prevent them from returning home.

21 March 2002
Saudi religious police prevented girls from leaving a burning school building because they were not wearing proper Islamic dress.

20 March 2002
The Senate Judiciary Committee has rejected a Bush nominee, Judge Pickering, in response to a campaign organized by abortion rights organizations such as NARAL.

19 March 2002
Bush's proposal for increased foreign aid is a minute step in the right direction.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

17 March 2002
A French court has attacked freedom of speech in the US by laying criminal charges against an former executive of Yahoo, because some users of Yahoo's auction site sell Nazi memorabilia.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

17 March 2002
Kalle Jungkvist, legally responsible for the publication of the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet under Swedish law, was convicted on March 7 for "agitation against an ethnic group" because of comments posted on Aftonbladet's discussion website by Nazi sympathizers. The court ruled that Aftonbladet (and hence Kalle Jungkvist) is guilty of a crime for not censoring them in advance.

17 March 2002
The Australian government knew about and concealed Indonesian military plans for massacres in East Timor.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
The East Timor Action Network, which brought the Indonesian occupation of East Timor to the world's attention, asks Americans to ask Congress to keep the pressure on the Indonesian military to punish the generals responsible for these crimes of mass murder.

17 March 2002
The Spanish opposition web site nodo50, which publishes criticism of government policy and organizes public protests, details how the Spanish police have been infiltrating their mailing lists, while demonizing them as terrorists in the media.

17 March 2002
Marijuana is less dangerous than alcohol, found the British Advisory Council on Misuse of Drugs.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

17 March 2002
The censorware installed in US public libraries, supposedly to block access to sites that prudes find offensive, has the side effect of blocking access to a important archive of the history of the web.

16 March 2002
Human Rights in the US, and in China, a new political article about a Chinese government report detailing human rights violations in the US.
[Second reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

16 March 2002
The US recently endorsed for the first time, without fanfare, the idea of a Palestinian state.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

16 March 2002
A British columnist discusses the flimsy evidence Bush et al offer to justify threatened attacks on various countries.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

16 March 2002
50,000 workers in the Daqing oil fields in China have formed an independent union and are holding protests against dismissals.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

16 March 2002
The movie Guilt by Association, shown March 13 (9pm) on Court TV, dramatizes the effect of drug prohibition combined with mandatory sentencing policies. It talks about Families against Mandatory Minimums which opposes mandatory sentencing policies.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

16 March 2002
The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted a motion by the hemp industry to block the DEA's new hemp ban from taking effect until the court has an opportunity to hold a hearing on the matter. This is partly the result of people who visited http://www.savehemp.org

16 March 2002
The Asociación Contra la Tortura posted a list of Spanish police who were taken to court for acts of torture. The Agencia de Protección de Datos, which enforces that law, decided that the ACT's web site was a "data base", and therefore that the names of police sued or charged with torture could not be mentioned on the web site without their permission. The site was shut down. The ACT's pages are available in mirror sites, but the Agencia de Proteccin de Datos continues trying to shut them down in countries that have similar "privacy" laws. Meanwhile, groups that support Spanish government policies publish information on their web site about individuals who support Basque independence, but the APD does not try shut them down. Amnesty International has criticized Spain for pardoning torturers and giving medals to them. The 2001 Amnesty International report on Spain and the 1999 report provide background information on the practice of torture by Spanish police.
[References 1 and 3-6 updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

16 March 2002
Over 100 Israeli reserve officers have refused to serve in the occupied territories on moral grounds.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

16 March 2002
An interesting article on old "triracial isolate" ethnic communities in the US, and their origins and history.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

10 March 2002
When 50,000 protestors marched in Barcelona in June 2001, to protest the World Bank, the Spanish police sent in disguised police, who pretended to be protestors and started a fight. The fake protestors faded away as police attacked the real ones. In the weeks before the demonstration, police had mounted a campaign of harrassment, stopping people for no reason and demanding to see their papers.

10 March 2002
The New York Surveillance Camera Players do street theater to call attention to the surveillance cameras that the NYPD uses to monitor subversive activities such as democratic protest.

10 March 2002
The leader of the British barristers' organization warns of the danger of a police state if legal safeguards for the accused are abolished for the sake of streamlining trials.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

6 March 2002
Bush has attempted to shred the Freedom of Information Act by ordering government departments to resist requests for information.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

6 March 2002
Companies are filing frequent libel lawsuits to silence people who criticize them on the Internet.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

6 March 2002
The MAUSS group, in France, takes its name from Marcel Mauss, the anthropologist who wrote about "gift economies". Much more radical is Socialism As It Was Always Meant To Be, by Michael Albert and Robin Hahnel.
[Second reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

6 March 2002
The College Art Association plans to file an amicus brief when the Supreme Court considers the constitutionality of the Sonny Bono Copyright Act. If you can help, please read more and then contact the CAA.

4 March 2002
China has imposed strict new censorship rules on political journalism.

4 March 2002
The interior minister of Spain is threatening to suspend freedom of movement in order to prevent protests, which he regards as an enemy of society. An editorial in El Mundo points out his duty is to protect the people's right to protest.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

4 March 2002
The director of Telemadrid, the public radio and television station in Madrid, has been fired for airing a program which presented the views of peaceful Basque nationalists.

4 March 2002
Bush tries to limit Senate investigation of why the Sep 11 attacks were not prevented.

4 March 2002
Major Corporations Considering Relocating To Axis Of Evil.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

4 March 2002
Residents in an East Baltimore neighborhood where the city has allowed trash to pile up for years finally got some attention after they peacefully carried the trash into a nearby street. The city has pressed charges of "inciting to riot."

4 March 2002
Radio Onda Rossa in Rome, a left-wing station, uses a frequency which it took over, several years ago, from a commercial station that had gone bankrupt and stopped transmitting years earlier. Now the bankrupt station has come back from the grave, and demanded the frequency back. but the telecommunications ministry decided to hand it back to them anyway.

2 March 2002
The Spanish government has prohibited public drinking, and demanded a extra work from the Madrid police to enforce this unpopular law. The police protested, so the national police came in to beat them up. For pictures, see http://www.stlimc.org/front.php3?article_id=1775&group=webcast.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

2 March 2002
Yale Professor David Graeber writes about the NYC World Economic Forum protests.

28 February 2002
The Pentagon announced that few of the al-Qa'ida prisoners captured in Afghanistan will be tried in military courts.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

28 February 2002
Two of the people arrested in recent New York protests describe how the police who detained them twisted and disregarded the law.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

27 February 2002
INTERROGATION AT US BORDER, by John Clarke: a Canadian anti-globalization organizer's report on how US authorities detained him, demanded to know the whereabouts of Osama Bin Laden, and ultimately on no grounds whatsoever refused to let him give a speech in Michigan.

27 February 2002
An inmate in a California prison describes the inhuman and gratuitous cruelty of the guards towards the inmates.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

27 February 2002
Indefinite detention, secret charges and secret trials continue to be used against Arab immigrants in the US.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

27 February 2002
New York Mayor Bloomberg chose to cut spending by the unkindest cut of all, one that falls on the most unfortunate residents of the city--those who collect and recycle discarded soda cans for five cents each.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

27 February 2002
Italian police have raided the office of the Association of Democratic Jurists, an organization of lawyers, looking for videos that give evidence about the Genoa protests.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Loggers are planning to cut down protected redwood trees in California.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

27 February 2002
Zbigniew Brzezinski revealed that the US began in 1979 to fund Islamic military schools in Pakistan designed to train Islamic radicals who would fight the Soviet Union.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

25 February 2002
The Republican Party has threatened to sue EnronOwnsTheGOP.com for using a parody of a Republican Party trademark.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

25 February 2002
Italian police have arrested four Moroccans in an alleged plot to poison the water in Rome. However, the poison they were allegedly planning to use, ferrocyanide, would have been harmlessly diluted if poured into the water supply.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

25 February 2002
A lawsuit against Coca Cola accuses the company of hiring death squads in Colombia to kill union leaders in bottling plants there.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

25 February 2002
In 1990, a bomb exploded in the car of Earth First! activists Judi Bari and Darryl Cheney. The FBI tried to frame them for the bombing, and never tried to find the real bombers. Now Bari and Cheney's lawsuit against the FBI and the Oakland Police is going to court.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

23 February 2002
If you oppose a plan to create a national ID card system by linking state driver license data bases, you can use the ACLU web site to send a free fax to your congressional representatives.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

23 February 2002
A self-styled white bohemian talks about how people like him, moving into a poor neighborhood, can open the door to gentrification that ultimately forces the old residents to leave.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
22 February 2002
US and European corporations fell over each other rushing to help the Chinese government implement effective Internet surveillance.

22 February 2002
The UK government is proposing a system of censorship that would cover any and all discussion of science and technology.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

22 February 2002
Italian police have seized computers used by Indymedia in many cities in Italy, claiming they are aiming to seize audio and video evidence about what happened during protests in Genoa in 2001.

22 February 2002
A funny song about the Mickey Mouse Copyright Act.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

20 February 2002
ECHELON is the name of the US/UK system that spies on nearly all of the world's communications. The US government denied ECHELON's existence, and the CIA used it to disregard laws prohibiting it from spying on Americans, and finally the European Commission exposed it.

20 February 2002
While Bush aims to give the military more money, they can't keep track of what they are already given: money disappears and the loss is covered up.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

20 February 2002
The charges against Noam Chomsky's publisher in Turkey have been dropped, after Chomsky suggested to the Turkish government that they ought to press the same charges against him for having writing the original book.

20 February 2002
The New York Times has published an article detailing the deals made between George W. Bush and Enron while he was governor of Texas, deals that gave Enron state policies favorable to its business.

17 February 2002
Indonesian labor rights activist Dita Indah Sari has rejected a $50,000 human rights award from Reebok in protest against the low salaries Reebok pays Indonesian factory workers.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

17 February 2002
Bush has announced his plan for curbing global warming: don't even try.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

17 February 2002
Utah is passing a law that declares sit-ins as "terrorism".
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

17 February 2002
In the hope of escaping from its anti-trust conviction, Microsoft has given more "soft money" than any other company. One state dropped out of the case against Microsoft after Microsoft made a large campaign contribution to its attorney general.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

17 February 2002
The UK proposes to adopt an "export control bill" for scientific information which includes a system for censorship for any and all areas of science.

14 February 2002
Low-ranking Taliban soldiers, imprisoned in Afghanistan, are being treated inhumanely; some are dying from diseases, and they have no medicine.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

11 February 2002
There is an effort in Germany to oppose surveillance legislation there. See www.stop1984.com.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

9 February 2002
The US is now talking about a repeated war with Iraq.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

9 February 2002
Torturing suspects into false confessions is standard practice in Saudi Arabia.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

9 February 2002
President Bush is proving very reliable: every part of his agenda is sooner or later presented as part of the "war on terrorism." First it was buying instead of saving, then an attack on our civil liberties, then fast-track approval for low-wage treaties, then ballistic missile defense. During the Superbowl, Bush presented the "war on drugs" as a way of fighting terrorism. What is next? Will Ashcroft label Planned Parenthood as a "terrorist organization", and deport every non-citizen who has ever contributed to it? Stay tuned.
[First reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

8 February 2002
Someone to watch over me, a new political article about government surveillance.

The peaceful protests in New York show that the movement against corporate-controlled globalization is still alive.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

8 February 2002
Please support the petition calling on Bush and Cheney to level with us about their contacts with ENRON.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

8 February 2002
The UK government has proposed to require national ID cards.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

8 February 2002
Stopping terrorists before they start, a new political article. Making sure that the CIA does not create new enemies to attack us tomorrow surely deserves high priority in any sincere "War on Terrorism".

8 February 2002
Sinister: a participant in the anti-WEF protests in New York was followed home by police afterward and has no idea why.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

6 February 2002
A journalist for the Independent (London) faces imprisonment in Zimbabwe for participating in a protest against plans to prohibit foreign journalists from operating there.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

5 February 2002
The head of the North Wales police advocates prescribing heroin at no charge to addicts, so that they won't have to steal to pay for drugs.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

4 February 2002
In Bush's Orwellian Address, Jacob Levich points out the chain of resemblances between the policies of President Bush and those described in the book 1984.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

4 February 2002
What nations was Bush referring to when he talked about "a country ruled by an 'unelected few'" and "a regime that has something to hide from the civilized world" in his State of the Union Address?

4 February 2002
New York police attacked peaceful protestors, surrounded groups of them for long periods, and eventually blocked them from going to the prearranged rally site. The violence was committed exclusively by police.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

3 February 2002
Public Citizen urges US voters to contact their senators ASAP to oppose "fast track" for new trade treaties that are designed to surrender democratic government sovereignty to business.
[Second reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

3 February 2002
A controversial play in Jordan makes fun of Osama bin Laden. Many in the audience laugh, but a substantial minority supports him.

3 February 2002
Michael Moore calls on George Bush to resign as president.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

2 February 2002
NARAL asks Americans to contact your senator to oppose the nomination of Charles Pickering to the 5th circuit court of appeals. He has supported constitutional amendments to ban abortion.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

2 February 2002
The extent of dishonest accounting in the US corporate system represents a fundamental error in the Reagan-Bush policy of deregulating business.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
30 January 2002
Chris Davies, a member of the European Parliament from Britain, and Marco Cappato, a member of the European Parliament from Italy, each in turn brought a tiny piece of marijuana to the UK authorities as a protest against prohibition. Each was arrested, and both now face criminal charges although they harmed no one.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

30 January 2002
In 2001, Vice President Cheney designed an energy plan for the US which was very convenient for Enron. Now Cheney refuses to disclose the list of lobbyists that he met with. Meanwhile, in Britain, Blair's government is also being accused of selling influence to Enron for campaign contributions.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

29 January 2002
The governor of New Mexico has proposed a major reform of laws about marijuana. If you know anyone in New Mexico, please draw his or her attention to the issue.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

26 January 2002
A Lebanese militia leader who was involved in massacres 20 years ago in areas under the control of Israeli troops commanded by Ariel Sharon, was murdered two days after he agreed to testify against Sharon, who is now the Prime Minister of Israel.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

26 January 2002
Please sign the petition for justice for the protestors and police of Gothenburg, Sweden.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

25 January 2002
Stallman Does Dallas: "I have to warn you that Texans have been known to have an adverse reaction to my personality . . . "

24 January 2002
Bush has proposed a large increase in military spending, including pay raises for soldiers, reserves to cover the expenses of possible combat, unmanned vehicles, and ballistic missile defense. Some of these make sense, more or less -- but ballistic missile defense? It's clear what is happening here: Bush is at his old tricks.

24 January 2002
The Zimbabwean parliament has rebuffed President Mugabe's proposed journalistic censorship law.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

22 January 2002
The new board of Pacifica Radio has voted to reinstate journalists and shows that the previous board had fired or kicked off the air.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

20 January 2002
Added another link to 11 January note about the Turkish government's repression of dissent: One member of parliament has been serving, since 1994, a 15-year sentence for "membership of an illegal organization." In 1998 this was extended by two years for "inciting racial hatred".
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

19 January 2002
New Political article: The Injustice of Military Courts. Bush has a plan to try alleged terrorists in military courts---courts where the prosecutor, the defense lawyer, and the judges all work for Bush. But accusations against innocent people happen with terrible regularity, and the danger of false convictions in these courts is immense.
[Second reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

18 January 2002
The British government is alarmed about reports that US-held prisoners in Guantanamo Bay are being treated inhumanely -- because some of them are British citizens. I hope that they will press for proper treatment of all the prisoners. The idea is being bruited around that these prisoners may be held permanently without trial if no evidence is found to charge them with crimes, but it occurs to me that this horrible idea might not be a serious proposal: It could be a sort of trial balloon, meant to make unjust military courts seem acceptable by comparison.

16 January 2002
On 19 January in Washington, D.C., there will be a Speak Out Against Terrorism, For Civil Rights in Honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Transportation from New York City is available.

15 January 2002
The speaker of the Iranian parliament has gone on strike, saying that he will not attend parliamentary sessions, because of the conviction and imprisonment of a reformist member of parliament for "insulting the judiciary". The judiciary is controlled by the conservative clerics.

15 January 2002
The al Qa'ida prisoners held by the US include one US citizen and some UK citizens. The US citizen will get a civilian trial that meets (we hope) the highest standards; some UK citizens are being held in Guantanamo Bay and are threatened with a military court. If all these people had both fallen into UK hands, it would be more or less the reverse. Each country now has a double standard for justice.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

11 January 2002
It is suspicious that the US special envoy to the interim Afghan government, Zalmay Khalilzad, was a lobbyist for building an oil pipeline in Afghanistan. Mr Khalilzad also lobbied for the Taliban, which makes him a strange choice for the US National Security Council.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

11 January 2002
The government of Zimbabwe has prohibited criticsm of the president, prohibited political rallies, and prohibited independent election observers. The same laws may also prohibit foreign journalists and require domestic journalists to get government permission. This is apparent preparation for rigging the coming election. The EU is considering imposing sanctions on Zimbabwe.

11 January 2002
The new president of Argentina, Dehualde, is devaluing the peso, but with a twist designed to avoid bankrupting non-rich citizens who have debts measured in dollars. Dollar debts under a certain limit will be converted automatically to pesos, so that a person's debt will change along with his or her income. It might work. However, Dehualde is also a corruption suspect.

11 January 2002
A publisher in Turkey has been charged of the crime of "propaganda against the state". for publishing a Turkish translation of essays by Noam Chomsky that (among many other topics) criticize repression against the Kurds in Turkey.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

5 January 2002
National borders are increasingly cordonning off parts of the Internet.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

2 January 2002
After the anthrax scare, you'd expect the US to give strong support to a proposed treaty to restrict biological weapons. Instead it abruptly terminated the negotiations, killing the treaty completely. For more information, see the Sunshine Project.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

1 January 2002
Winn-Dixie is trying to close down the site www.shameonwinndixie.com (now .org) by threatening a lawsuit for trademark infringement.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
9 February 2002: Australia is paying neighboring countries to imprison people who sought asylum in Australia. These asylum-seekers are being denied access to lawyers, catching malaria, and trying to commit suicide. Some are now on hunger strike. The Australian government actively keeps journalists away from these prison camps, while claiming it does not, and ignores criticism from Australian and foreign human rights groups, and from the UN.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]
It would be more humane to machine-gun these people than to imprison them for life and drive them to suicide. But it would be harder for the Australian government to pretend it is treating them properly and obeying treaties on human rights if it shot them, so it tortures them instead.

The US is now talking about a repeated war with Iraq. This might be difficult to carry out, since Saudi Arabia does not support it. Overt war might be less deadly to Iraqis than current UN sanctions, if it were over and done with in just a couple of months. It would not necessarily be that quick. It could be quite bloody if it leads to house-to-house fighting, and Americans might not be able to stomach the casualties among US forces, and Iraqi civilian casualties could be massive.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]
The anthrax scare of 2001, although probably committed by Americans, shows the seriousness of the threat that biological weapons could pose in Saddam's hands. It is important to address this problem effectively. That does not necessarily require war.
The US injured its chances of taking peaceful action to end Iraqi biological weapons development when it arranged for UN weapons inspectors to spy for the US "on the side", thus discrediting them. This does not mean the world should back and watch Iraq develop biological weapons, but also does not mean war is the only way. It means that the US will have to distance itself from any future inspection program because of its previous cheating. And the US is hardly in a position to justify an immediate resort to arms after having been insincere in trying a peaceful solution.

Torturing suspects into false confessions is standard practice in Saudi Arabia. A British accountant was tortured for 50 days till he confessed to planting a bomb--then released because the Saudi police realized he wouldn't conceivably do such a thing. Then he was made to apologize for the false confession, released, but kept silent for six months by stopping him from leaving the country.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

President Bush is proving very reliable: every part of his agenda is sooner or later presented as part of the "war on terrorism." First it was buying instead of saving, then an attack on our civil liberties, then fast-track approval for low-wage treaties, then ballistic missile defense. During the Superbowl, Bush presented the "war on drugs" as a way of fighting terrorism.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]
It is true that terrorists sometimes get money from selling drugs to the US. But the reason why this works for them is the cruel and ineffective US "war on drugs", which makes the drugs so profitable. Bush's "solution" is actually the source of the problem. But what can you expect from a war that is on drugs? Certainly not that it should know how to shoot straight.
Part of Bush's agenda, to repay his right-wing Christian supporters, is to prohibit abortion and contraception. Will he present this too as an "anti-terrorist" measure? Will Ashcroft label Planned Parenthood as a "terrorist organization", and deport every non-citizen who has ever contributed to it? Stay tuned.

The peaceful protests in New York, although marred by police violence, show that the movement against corporate-controlled globalization is still alive.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

The UK government has proposed to require national ID cards. The current proposal would not require people to carry them at all times, but the plan to make them "cards" rather than larger objects suggests they plan to take that next step later on.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

Sinister: a participant in the anti-WEF protests in New York was followed home by police afterward and has no idea why. (His name is Richard S, but he is not me and I don't know him personally.)
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

A journalist for the Independent (London) faces imprisonment in Zimbabwe for participating in a protest against plans to prohibit foreign journalists from operating there.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

The head of the North Wales police advocates prescribing heroin at no charge to addicts, so that they won't have to steal to pay for drugs.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]
That is enough to justify the policy, but it would have secondary benefits too: by removing addicts from the underground market, it would greatly reduce underground sale of heroin, and reduce the sellers' interest in attempting to get people addicted.

In Bush's Orwellian Address, Jacob Levich points out the chain of resemblances between the policies of President Bush and those described in the book 1984.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

What nations was Bush referring to when he talked about "a country ruled by an 'unelected few'" and "a regime that has something to hide from the civilized world" in his State of the Union Address? A letter to the editor of the Seattle Times straightens it out.

New York police attacked peaceful protestors, surrounded groups of them for long periods, and eventually blocked them from going to the prearranged rally site. The violence was committed exclusively by police. This is not democracy.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

A controversial play in Jordan makes fun of Osama bin Laden. Many in the audience laugh, but a substantial minority supports him.

Michael Moore calls on George Bush to resign as president: "He flew you around America on the Enron company jet, and for that favor you touched down on tarmac after tarmac to tell your fellow citizens that you were `going to restore dignity to the White House, the people's house.' You said this standing in front of an Enron jet!"
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

An article in the Nation shows that the extent of dishonest accounting in the US corporate system represents a fundamental error in the Reagan-Bush policy of deregulating business.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

We have learned to despise for politicians bowing down to the rich and even selling decisions to them, all with a view to their own power and comfort. Occasionally a politician shows what the alternative could be.
Chris Davies, a member of the European Parliament from Britain, and Marco Cappato, a member of the European Parliament from Italy, each in turn brought a tiny piece of marijuana to the UK authorities as a protest against prohibition. Each was arrested, and both now face criminal charges although they harmed no one.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]
I admire the courage of these men, and I am sure their example will make a difference.

In 2001, Vice President Cheney designed an energy plan for the US which was very convenient for Enron. Now Cheney refuses to disclose the list of lobbyists that he met with. He offers an excuse for this, but surely the real reason is so that he can avoid admitting that the money Enron paid him and Bush bought influence.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]
The interesting part is that this selling of influence is considered news. For Democratic officials, to be bought by business is commonplace. For Republican officials, to be bought by business is a moral obligation--if they refused, they'd be breaking a campaign promise. Republican officials selling influence ought to be as newsworthy as elephants wallowing in mud. But it seems unusual because most days it goes unreported.
Meanwhile, in Britain, Blair's government is also being accused of selling influence to Enron for campaign contributions.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

Elie Hobeika, a Lebanese militia leader who was involved in massacres 20 years ago in areas under the control of Israeli troops commanded by Ariel Sharon, was murdered two days after he agreed to testify against Sharon, who is now the Prime Minister of Israel.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

The Zimbabwean parliament has rebuffed President Mugabe's proposed journalistic censorship law, through suprise opposition from MPs in his own party.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

The listeners have won a great victory over the former board of Pacifica Radio. The new board has voted to reinstate journalists and shows that the previous board had fired or kicked off the air.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

On Saturday, 19 January, from 12:00 to 14:30, there was a Speak Out Against Terrorism, For Civil Rights in Honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Several prominent groups were present, defending the civil liberties that are currently in jeopardy from "anti-terrorism" legislation.

Atheists: what do you say when people wish you "Merry Christmas"? If you go along with it, you've encouraged people to assume that you are Christian and to spread general pressure to act or be Christian. But if you reject the sentiment, you risk returning meanness for kindness--which is not good in itself, and gives Atheists in general a bad name.
I found a solution to this dilemma: I respond, "As an Atheist, I don't celebrate Christmas, but thanks for the good wishes." This way, I can stand up for my views while still being nice to the person who wanted to be nice to me. Give it a try!
A couple of people have asked why I don't just say "Thank you." The reason is that that would not serve the purpose--it would not help strengthen the right to be an Atheist in the US.
Atheists are discriminated against in the US, both practically and in some cases legally; condemnation by prominent Christians, endorsed more or less by the US government, is not unusual. Many Atheists are afraid to make their views known--they are in the closet. The presumption of Christianity which exists all the time is part of the pressure not to be openly Atheist. By conspicuously denying the presumption, I reduce the pressure on other Atheists.
I want to show Christians that they should not presume everyone is Christian (or has any religion). So I came up with a way to do this which is not hostile to them but still makes the point. My aim is to make the point in a friendly way, not to suppress it.

The British government is now alarmed about reports that US-held prisoners in Guantanamo Bay are being treated inhumanely. This is because some of them are British citizens. I hope that they will press for proper treatment of all the prisoners, rather than limiting their concern to the British few.
But more alarming than possible inhumane prison conditions is the idea, being bruited around, that these prisoners may be held permanently without trial if no evidence is found to charge them with crimes. The US would really be sinking low if it does that.
It occurs to me that this horrible idea might not be a serious proposal. It could be a sort of trial balloon, meant to make unjust military courts seem acceptable by comparison.

The BBC reports that the speaker of the Iranian parliament has gone on strike, saying that he will not attend parliamentary sessions, because of the conviction and imprisonment of a reformist member of parliament for "insulting the judiciary". The judiciary is controlled by the conservative clerics.
I cannot say how much I am impressed to see a political leader of any country act courageously in the service of freedom. One can hardly imagine any American politician doing this.

The al Qa'ida prisoners held by the US include one US citizen and some UK citizens. The US citizen will get a civilian trial that meets (we hope) the highest standards; some UK citizens are being held in Guantanamo Bay and are threatened with a military court. If all these people had both fallen into UK hands, it would be more or less the reverse. Each country now has a double standard for justice.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]
The Independent, of London points out that a double standard of justice is not the best way to win world-wide support against terrorism, or to encourage a higher standard of justice around the world.

In October I saw articles suggesting that the US intervention in Afghanistan was just a plot to build an oil pipeline. I did not believe them, and I still don't believe that was the main motivation. But it is suspicious that the US special envoy to the interim Afghan government, Zalmay Khalilzad, was a lobbyist for building that pipeline. Mr Khalilzad also lobbied for the Taliban, which makes him a strange choice for the US National Security Council.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

Reported on the BBC: the government of Zimbabwe has prohibited criticism of the president, prohibited political rallies, and prohibited independent election observers. Based on previous reports the same laws may also prohibit foreign journalists and require domestic journalists to get government permission. This is apparent preparation for rigging the coming election. The EU is considering imposing sanctions on Zimbabwe.

In Argentina, President de la Rua was driven from office by continued popular protests, with over a million people taking to the streets in Buenos Aires. The new president, Duhalde, is devaluing the peso, but with a twist designed to avoid bankrupting non-rich citizens who have debts measured in dollars. Dollar debts under a certain limit will be converted automatically to pesos, so that a person's debt will change along with his or her income. It might work. However, Duhalde is also a corruption suspect.

Aram Publishing in Turkey published a Turkish translation of essays by Noam Chomsky that (among many other topics) criticize repression against the Kurds in Turkey. For this, Aram Publishing's director Fatih Tas has been charged of the crime of "propaganda against the state". He faces a one-year prison term if convicted. Simply by holding this trial, Turkey violates a basic freedom: freedom to criticize the government.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]
Not only book publishers face criminal charges for criticizing Turkey's human rights record. Foreign journalists and human rights observers have been excluded, deported, or indicted. Even members of the Turkish parliament have been imprisoned for speaking about Turkey's human rights record. One former member of parliament, Leyla Zana, has been serving, since 1994, a 15-year sentence for "membership of an illegal organization." In 1998 this was extended by two years for "inciting racial hatred" -- Zana is Kurdish, and struggles for Kurdish rights.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old links were broken.]

National borders are increasingly cordonning off parts of the Internet.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

After the anthrax scare, you'd expect the US to give strong support to a proposed treaty to restrict biological weapons. Instead it abruptly terminated the negotiations, killing the treaty completely.
For more information, see the Sunshine Project.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

Winn-Dixie is trying to close down the site www.shameonwinndixie.com (now .org) by threatening a lawsuit for trademark infringement.
[References updated on 2018-01-21 because the old links were broken.]

A Common Cause report describes how Microsoft has been trying to buy acquiescence in its monopolistic policies, with methods that include donations to presidential candidates (mainly Bush) and funding supposed "grass-roots" support.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

Naked Air: Everybody flies naked and nobody worries.

Argentina has been suffering from recession and widespread poverty due to an austerity program imposed by the International Monetary Fund. These programs are supposed to make it possible to pay back the debt (at the cost a great decrease in the standard of living for most people), but in Argentina (and elsewhere) the result was an increase in the debt. After four years of this, unemployment is at 18%, the pensions of 1.4 million retired people have been delayed, people are not allowed to withdraw their money from the bank and government workers have been paid with bonds rather than with money they can spend.
Argentines have responded with general strikes, rioting in many cities, and massive protests on the street. All this forced President de la Rua, who authorized these policies, to resign.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]
There is now international pressure for devaluation of the Argentine peso, which would effectively reduce the savings and income of working Argentines, but not reduce the debt (which is measured in dollars). Investors are said to be "betting" that the peso will be devalued, which means they will gain if it happens, and lose money if it does not happen. They are therefore pursuing a course directly opposed to the interests of most Argentines.
Any government that obeys the dictates of the IMF will just continue down the path to ruin. Only debt forgiveness or debt default can enable Argentina to recover. BBC Radio said president Adolfo Rodriguez Saa plans to reject devaluation. He is suspending debt payments, and using the money thus saved to create jobs.

Bush says we should not worry about the justice of military trials because "they will be more fair than bin Laden's system." Should that be the standard American justice--anything better than bin Laden is good enough?

If the US appears to be "united behind Bush", that is because dissenting journalists, teachers, students, even museum staff are being intimidated and fired. The amount of dissent that is visible underrepresents the actual dissent.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
This suppression of dissenting views, albeit incomplete, presents a narrow range of possible views to the public, and thus acts to "manage" public opinion. To the extent that some Americans are "united behind Bush", it is partly because they are being cut off from other choices.

Winn-Dixie fired an employee for cross-dressing in his private life--which is none of their business. A boycott campaign is spreading. [URL updated 26 Jan 2002]
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

Growing and testing genetically modified plants raises the possibility that the modified genes will spread to other wild or cultivated plant populations. Aside from any problems that the genes themselves might cause, the farmers whose crops unintentionally carry the gene face the threat of being sued for patent infringement.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
Such spreading is not unusual; Science News, 1 Dec, 2001, reported that artificial genes are now commonly found in the traditional varieties of corn grown in Mexico. In remote rural fields, artificially modified genes appeared in a few percent of samples. Near population centers, up to 60% of samples had these genes. Will half of Mexico's farmers be shut down by patent lawsuits, and forced to destroy their crops and their seed lines?
The companies that do the genetic engineering are not always careful about trying to prevent this mixing. Friends of the Earth reported recently that an experimental plant field in Britain was illegally allowed to bloom, and was being visited by bees that were presumably carrying pollen to other populations. It took a week after the problem was reported before the plants were destroyed.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
I don't feel a horror of genetic engineering; in principle, it has great potential to benefit humanity. But it also presents risks, which call for careful handling to minimize them. Foolish policies or sloppy handling in the rush to profit can multiply the risks.

On December 20 in Rome, 100,000 school children protested right-wing Premier Berlusconi's plans to commercialize the school system. References (in Italian only).

The CPSR warns of the danger and unreliability of national ID cards as a scheme for preventing terrorism.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Several men described as North African political dissidents have been disappeared in Britain under the new anti-terrorism bill. The British government plans to imprison them indefinitely without trial, and refuses even to say who they are--so the term "disappeared" which originated in Latin America in the 70s, is appropriate.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
The British government says that the imprisoned are eight in number, but without further information it is impossible to check the veracity of that statement.

An article in Technology Review gives a lot of information about the software used for surveillance, and argues that people should not expect massive surveillance to be effective for preventing terrorist attacks, only for investigating them afterward. There should be no difficulty in obtaining court orders for such investigations, so we can conclude that there is no reason to relax the requirements placed on government agencies to limit their surveillance activities.
[Update on 2018-02-07: The original article is now paywalled so I have decided not to promote it with a link. This article makes the same point.]

A federal judge has ordered a new sentencing hearing for Mumia Abu-Jamal, but not a new trial. This may enable him to avoid the death penalty, but won't remove the injustice of the unfair trial that he had.

It's official: Attorney General Ashcroft says that people like me "aid terrorists" because we "erode our national unity". I was wondering how long it would take for the Bush administration to say that its critics are "aiding terrorists", because that follows a global tendency in the "war on terrorism" to attack dissent and criminalize protest. If government condemnation of dissenting views offends you, please give your support to the ACLU, which has spoken out against them.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]
But I am proud to affirm that I am "eroding national unity", if "unity" means support for Bush and Ashcroft. Those men are against everything that I love in America. They're against civil liberties, against justice, against separation of church and state, against abortion rights and birth control, against the social safety net, and apparently against political dissent as well. Their vision of America's political future looks like a Christian version of the Taliban; their vision of America's economic future looks like Panama. They are trashing my country, and I'm going to do my utmost to erode any "unity" that could help them finish the job.

MIT's President Vest is said to be planning to imitate President Bush by instituting Secret Thesis Tribunals ;-). By Jeremy Brown.

North Wales Chief Constable Richard Brunstrom calls for legalization of drugs in the UK, saying that the war on drugs has been lost.
A study shows that young marijuana users in the UK are often involved in violence--but not because of the effects of marijuana itself. Rather, the violence results from their involvement in the illegal drug market, and would therefore seem to be a consequence of prohibition.

The UK anti-terrorism law was scaled back to meet the objections of the House of Lords, and is not as dangerous as it might have been. But Amnesty International says it still opens the door to human rights violations.
The Act permits non-nationals to be detained without charge or trial for an indefinite period of time, on the simple decision of the Home Secretary. The decision can be based on secret evidence and then confirmed by a secret hearing from which the detainee and his lawyer may be excluded. In other words, the concept of "legal rights" has been abolished.

The Landless Women of Bangladesh enforce a Bangladeshi law that gives newly-formed islands to landless people to farm.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Tens of thousands of protestors are expected at the European Union summit in Brussels, Dec 14/15. Gas masks have been outlawed, and people have been arrested for bringing them into Belgium from the Netherlands.
Police may say that they intend to use tear gas against "violent" protestors, and claim that carrying a gas mask is a sign of "violent" intentions. However, experience since Seattle shows that it is common for police to attack peaceful marchers with tear gas at protests. Even bystanders not infrequently get hit. Carrying a gas mask simply indicates recognition of how police actually behave.

The British House of Lords has rejected the proposed "anti-terrorism" law, demanding many changes to uphold traditional British liberties.

Canadians occupied the local office (as an MP) of the Justice Minister as a protest against the proposed "anti-terrorism" laws that would criminalize many common forms of protest: even to lie down in front ot the a car carrying a representative to an international meeting would count as "terrorism". See their statements about bills C35 and C36.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]
Meanwhile, Canadian author Mike Pearson is not being allowed to receive copies of his own book. It was published in the US, and the author's copies, shipped to him in Canada, keep failing to arrive. The third shipment was returned with a sticker saying "Do not deliver in Canada," which suggests that the unexplained disappearance of the first two shipments was no accident.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

On December 7, Philadelphia police attacked a peaceful protest rally for Mumia Abu-Jamal, arresting marchers, hitting them with sticks, pepper-spraying them, pointing guns at their heads, and throwing them against cars. Several marchers were hospitalized; one had to be removed in an ambulance.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
The police attacked a news photographer, too, pulling him down from on top of a car where he was taking pictures of the protest. No doubt they will fabricate an accusation to justify this attack--perhaps "attacking an officer" (by taking photos).

UN Human Rights chief Mary Robinson has criticized the Bush Administration, saying its present and proposed treatment of "terrorist" suspects circumvented the system of checks and balances of a democratic society.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

You may have heard of Mumia Abu-Jamal, a former Black Panther turned radio journalist, who was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Amnesty International says says he did not receive a fair trial. Among other things, the prosecutor brought up his political affiliation at the last minute when the jury seemed skeptical; that convinced them.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]
Now another man is ready to confess to the murder--and so far, courts have ruled that the system should not listen. A protest campaign demands the reopening of Mumia's case. I don't know whether Mumia is innocent or guilty, but he deserves a fair trial--as does anyone else accused of a crime.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
The book Actual Innocence by Scheck et al. describes the work of the Innocence Project, which has used DNA tests to prove the innocence of numerous convicts sentenced to execution in the US. The book's title refers to the view, stated by one judge, that the "actual innocence" of the convict should not derail an execution.
What do you think?

The war on terror is continuing an assault on freedom that was begun in the war on drugs.

Singapore's goverment wasn't satisfied to convict a prominent journalist for criticizing the government on the Internet--they committed him to a mental hospital.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

The case of "incitement to riot" against the editors of Brand has been dismissed. The court ruled that the article was indeed political satire. The case received wide publicity in Sweden, with many well-known personalities standing up for Brand and freedom of the press.
The prosecutors surely understood as well as anyone that this was satire, but they chose to distort their judgment in order to fabricate an accusation. This willingness to make false accusations is not unusual among "law enforcement" personnel--it is found at all levels, and in many countries including the US. For instance, anti-globalization protestors are often accused of resisting arrest because (say) they held their hands in front of their faces while policemen were beating them on the head. All sorts of objects are seized and called "illegal weapons". In the recent protests in Ottawa, says police seized gas masks, knives, cameras, watches, jewelry, medical supplies and other items. (He is in charge of helping protestors recover the seized goods.)
Just threatening to misrepresent reality so as to make trouble for you is also a common bullying tactic--I have seen police, customs agents, and airport security personnel use it.
No system of "justice" will be any good if the people who implement it are dishonest. The prosecutor who misrepresented Brand should be fired, and Sweden should make a systematic effort to insist on honesty in its "law enforcement" system.

The EU is proposing an "anti-terrorism" measure that would classify common forms of political protest and dissent as "terrorism". It calls for keeping international dossiers on suspected protestors.
200 lawyers from all the EU countries have published an appeal warning of the danger to democracy posed by this measure.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Civilian casualties are inevitable in war. An honest government at war must admit that they have happened. Here's a story about verified civilian casualties that the US persistently denies.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

There is a panel discussion in San Francisco on December 11, "Chasing Windmills Of PEACE: is this war necessary? are there alternatives?", followed by relevant films.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Protestors labeled as terrorists.
The Bolivian regime is facing widespread protests from all sectors of society, with strikes or threats of strikes by farmers, by bus drivers, and even by businesses. In response, the president of Bolivia and the US ambassador called the protestors "terrorists". That main article on that page is followed by a number of recent news articles and editorials from Bolivia, which help present the situation.
Meanwhile, the Canadian government is pushing a pair of "anti-terrorism" bills which, taken together, declare typical anti-globalization protest tactics to be "terrorism".
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

In 1982, Lebanese Christian militamen slaughtered unarmed Palestinians in refugee camps near Beirut. At the time, Israel was criticized for giving them the opportunity to do it. Now evidence is being presented to a court in Belgium that Israeli forces participated directly in the slaughter of prisoners. Ariel Sharon, then the commander of those forces and now the premier of Israel, is being accused of personal responsibility.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
Meanwhile, there are reports that during or after the suppression of the Taliban prisoners' uprising, some Taliban prisoners were killed while they were in custody--with their hands tied. The legitimacy of fighting enemies who are fighting back can't justify slaughtering those who are no longer able to fight.

A 1987 speech by Supreme Court Justice Brennan warns Americans to beware of America's tendency to harm itself in time of perceived danger by abolishing civil liberties, and later discover that the self-inflicted harm was an unnecessary response to a shadow of a threat. Brennan quotes Justice Davis, writing in 1866:
Wicked men, ambitious of power, with hatred of liberty and contempt of law, may fill the place once occupied by Washington and Lincoln; and if this right is conceded, and the calamities of war again befall us, the danger to liberty is frightful to contemplate.
After past wars, liberties were restored--but since our leaders claim this emergency will continue for decades, they probably don't intend to let that happen again. If we want ever to get our lost liberty back, we have to start soon--before Americans grow to regard pervasive government snooping and threats as normal.

A journalist reports on how Canadian police menaced her to prevent her from covering the G-20 meeting in Ottawa. Their only possible motive was that they were suspicious of what she might say. On the street, police attacked another journalist who was covering the protest.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Katie Sierra, the high school student who was censored for criticizing the war in Afghanistan, has left school because she was repeatedly attacked and threatened there. People are requested to write in support--of her case, and of her safety.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

Egyptian police have arrested a man for publishing a supposedly obscene poem on the Internet outside Egypt.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

The British government plans to prohibit "incitement of religious hatred". Some legislators, and comedian Rowan Atkinson, are worried that people will be prosecuted for criticizing religion. The British government, of course, says people should trust the government not to misuse the law.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
This happens at a time when Canada is using a law meant to prohibit destroying other people's ballots to prosecute people who ate their ballots as a protest, and the US is using minor violations of visa rules to keep immigrants in prison incommunicado. Would you buy a used law from a government today?

As a side effect of the "anti-terrorism" bill, unnoticed by many of its critics including me, the US now plans to prosecute people around the world for breaking computer security--on the mere excuse that some of the packets are transmitted through the US on their way between computers outside the US. The US in effect threatens to impose its laws on people and activities in other countries.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
There is a danger that the US will next impose other laws, such as laws against pornography, to traffic between sites and individuals in other countries that passes through the US en route.
Please note Note that this article uses the word "hackers" to refer to security breakers, that is to say, "crackers". Hacking means approaching an activity with a spirit of playful cleverness. Around 1980, some journalists misunderstood the word "hacking" and thought it meant security breaking. Since then we hackers have been plagued with the error.
Please don't slander us hackers. When you're talking about breaking security, please say "cracking".

The UK already has a Terrorism Act which has been used to arbitrarily ban political groups. Even listening to a public speech by certain speakers seems to be a crime. This law has been condemned by Amnesty International and by the UN Commission on Human Rights. The UK government is nonetheless encouraged by the results, and is now working on a law to further attack human rights.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

A forensic analyst in Oklahoma with a habit of lying about the evidence in order to please prosecutors was responsible for a series of unjust convictions and sentences. Now she has been fired, and some of those wrongfully convicted have been freed, but the state Attorney General is blocking DNA tests that might exonerate others.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
The article mentions similar lying forensic analysts in other states. One such person can send dozens of people wrongfully to prison or even to death.

Jared Israel probes the question of why no fighters were sent to intercept the hijacked airliners on September 11. As he shows, interception of planes on suspicious courses is routine--and officials have been evading the question of why it didn't happen that time.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

New Zealand journalist Sam Buchanan -- whom we reported arrested and beaten in July -- has written a long account of his Genoa experience.

The South Korean government plans to fingerprint every citizen, as a surveillance measure. The progressive group Jinbonet is opposing the plan.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Senior police officers in the UK have supported a relaxation of laws for the use of the drug ecstasy.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Greg Palast reports that when trying to investigate terrorist connections of other members of the wealthy bin Laden family, the FBI was blocked by orders from above.

Jared Israel has compared the various US government and press statements about why no fighters were sent to intercept the plane that attacked the Pentagon, and finds suspicious discrepancies and signs of a campaign to mislead the public.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

The mainstream media have responded to September 11 with a surprising stream of hate, calling for bloody war--the bloodier, the better--against the helpless people of Afghanistan and maybe other countries too. An article contains a list of quotations that shows the dreadful chorus of lust to punish someone, no matter who.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
I fully support the US war effort in Afghanistan; I don't know whether it will protect the US from terrorist attacks, but Afghanis are already celebrating being rid of the Taliban, and that is enough reason to fight. We should not have waited to be attacked ourselves before helping them. This may even be a major setback for world-wide religious extremism, which would be worth celebrating too. (Religious extremists seeking political power are a threat in the US as well; President Bush was their candidate.) My support for this war is possible because it is not being carried out in the bloodthirsty fashion that so many writers have asked for.
Anyone can hate; anyone who has suffered can wish to see someone else suffer. The responsibility of leaders, both official and otherwise, is to resist regressing to that infantile level.

Several years ago the Massachusetts voters approved an initiative to set up a system of public funding for state elections. This system is supported by Common Cause; in other states which have adopted it, it has enabled political newcomers to make their views known and win election, even against entrenched incumbents.
Now the legislators of Massachusetts, fearing they will face real challenges to hold their seats, are refusing to fund the law. They think they can overturn it by ignoring it. Common Cause is suing the state of Massachusetts to demand implementation of the law.

www.wartimeliberty.com provides information on "anti-terrorist" threats to civil liberties.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Israeli police continue to use torture, defying the Israeli Supreme Court, which ordered them to stop.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

The UK government, imitating the Bush administration, asks for the power to detain asylum-seekers for 6 months without trial. But some legislators are speaking out firmly against the plan.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Another place to send your opinion on Katie Sierra, the West Virginia high school student prohibited from forming an anarchist club and from wearing anti-war t-shirts: the Charleston Gazette, gazette@wvgazette.com. Apparently you must limit your message to 200 words.

www.polyamour.net promotes non-possessiveness in love relationships, and the freedom to go beyond the narrow range of relationships sanctioned by convention.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

On Oct 25 the DEA raided the Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Center, which distributed medical marijuana to 1000 seriously ill people. They didn't dare to arrest anyone, but seized all of its assets. For more information, see the Marijuana Policy Project.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

A century-old Anarchist magazine in Sweden, Brand, is being prosecuted over a parody article. The article was part of an issue that parodied a typical woman's magazine, and its title, "How to make your riot a success", parodied the original "How to make your party a success". The article's suggestions were either vague or deliberately unrealistic, but the charges against the editors are real.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
This prosecution forms part of a general recent pattern of government repression in "Western democracies" against political dissent.

Jared Israel writes that the US government has protected Osama bin Laden and his associates on numerous occasions after the date he supposedly broke with the US--as recently as last August.

The Center for Democracy and Technology analyzes the anti-terrorism bill and warns of further legislative threats to civil liberties in the US.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

Political repression in the US reached new hights as government agents banned Green Party leader Nancy Oden from flying to her party's convention because of the party's opposition to the war in Afghanistan. Ms Oden has not been charged with a crime, and there is no evidence to connect her or the Green Party with terrorism.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
It is not clear that this was entirely planned in advance. But it is clear that Oden was marked before her arrival at the airport for special abuse (which included physical assault) because of her political beliefs, and then punished for complaining about it. But that by itself is unjust, and when it is used to obstruct political opposition, it endangers democracy.
To put an end to such repression, Congress should pass a law that requires judicial review of such "you may not fly" orders. This is what "rule of law" means.
Better yet, the practice should be prohibited entirely. When there is real evidence to connect someone with terrorism, that person should be arrested, not just stopped from travelling. Without such evidence, there is no justification for anything beyond searching the person's bags with extra care.
For the sake of full disclosure, I should mention that I endorsed the Green Party candidate for president, Ralph Nader, in the last election.

Canada is planning a dangerous anti-terrorism bill. Among other things, it appears to prohibit a legal defense on religious, ethical or environmental grounds.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Censorship in school: a student in a West Virginia high school was prohibited from forming an anarchist club, and even from wearing anti-war t-shirts, on the grounds that expressing these ideas "disrupts the educational process".
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
Perhaps these ideas encourage too much thinking for a school to tolerate. Here is how you can support Katie.

According to an article in Le Figaro (a major French newspaper), a CIA agent met with Osama bin Laden last July in Dubai. There could be good explanations for this, but I think an explanation is called for.

Jared Israel interviews the Red Cross about the bombed warehouse of aid supplies in Kabul, to clear up some misleading information about the circumstances.

According to The Independent, the FBI has detained over 1000 people as "terrorist suspects" and refuses to say who or why. In some cases which are known, people have been imprisoned for minor violations of immigration rules, or are kept in prison although they are not suspects. Some have been beaten, some have been in solitary confinement for no reason, and many have been kept incommunicado and forbidden to communicate with lawyers or family. It's the sort of conduct you would expect in a military dictatorship.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
The "anti-terrorism" bill is likely to lead to even worse treatment for unknown thousands of non-terrorist non-citizens in the future.

The Sep 30 issue of Crypto-Gram explains why many of the new and proposed security measures against terrorism are as ineffective as they are intrusive--and how careful thought can lead to better security while respecting the rights of travellers and the public.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

The National Writers Union has voted to support a boycott of Pacifica Radio stations because of their firing and harrassment of popular journalists.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

FIRE, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, campaigns against censorship in academia. FIRE reports that since Sep 11 there has been a rash of censorship of opinions about the terrorist attacks and how to respond to them. The views being censored span the whole range of opinions; FIRE works to oppose censorship of any position.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

The dangerous "antiterrorism" bill has been enacted into law. The law omits the most horrible proposal, life imprisonment without trial for non-citizens, but even without that it is a great blow to freedom. Our leaders have done the United States more damage than Osama bin Laden could ever do.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

A speech by Noam Chomsky, The New War Against Terror, poses the question: what should be done to reduce terrorism generally in the world today?
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Framed and unjustly imprisoned British political activist Mark Barnsley writes about the extortionist "company stores" in the privatized prisons in the UK.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

The UK plans to stop arrests for possession of marijuana and allow doctors to prescribe it. This would take Britain most of the way towards an intelligent and just policy for that drug. What still needs to be done is to legalize sale as well, so that the growing of marijuana won't be in the hands of criminal gangs.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on Thursday, October 18 to consider the first appellate court nominee of the Bush Administration with a clear anti-choice record. NARAL has set up a page for you to ask your Senators to oppose the nomination and to request a second hearing.

I recommend Farce or Figleaf: The Promise of Leisure in the Computer Age by R. Dennis Hayes.

The FBI is openly admitting that it wants to find a way to use torture to get information from terrorist suspects.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

While the US forces attack the Taliban, we must not overlook evidence that the US aided the Taliban in taking over Afghanistan. On 12 July 2000, Congressman Rorhbacher presented information showing that

The U.S. deliberately sent 'humanitarian aid' only to Taliban-controlled areas;
The U.S. State Department refused to act on information concerning the location of Osama bin Laden's headquarters in Afghanistan.
U.S. officials tricked the anti-Taliban opposition into disarming while the Taliban was receiving weapons from Pakistan.

With the COINTEPRO program in the 1960s, the FBI disrupted and crushed US political opposition groups. Such practices continued past 1990. Now they may use "anti-terrorist" powers for similar purposes.

Cindy Milstein wrote an interesting article, The Same New World: Antiauthoritarian Politics after September 11.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

United Airlines kicked a man off two flights, then banned him from ever flying on their planes again, because he was reading a novel they considered suspicious. Just as you'd expect from an airline, they refuse to acknowledge publicly that they have done this, saying "It's a security matter". If you think this behavior is too much, you can write to United Airlines at jim.goodwin@ual.com. You can also post your message on www.untied.com so that the public can see it.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

A Times of India article alleges that a Pakistani general directly supported the September 11 hijackers. Bush and Pakistan hope Americans won't notice.

No Surprise department--Afghan refugees report witnessing heavy civilian casualties from US bombing. They may be justified, if the campaign succeeds in eliminating al Qaeda and the oppression of women in Afghanistan; in the mean time, this shows that our government is feeding us doubletalk.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

The Canadian government has very close ties with the pharmaceutical industry, and repays their lobbying efforts with monopolies that hurt the public in Canada and abroad.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Imagine nearly 40,000 people homeless, living in conditions that the United Nations considers unacceptable for a refugee camp. Does that sound like a poor country struck by war? Actually it is happening in just one city in a wealthy country in North America: Toronto, Canada.
The Toronto Disaster Relief Committee (TDRC) is trying to help, by raising private funds and by pressing the government of Canada to start caring what happens to its poorest citizens. Thus far it prefers to spend the money on prosecuting ballot-eaters.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Naomi Klein wrote an interesting article on how the establishment is trying to use the September 11 attacks to demonize and attack the anti-globalization movement, and how opponents of misconceived globalization can surmount this obstacle. See Protesting in the Post-WTC Age.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

As governor of Texas, George W Bush signed a law making the use of false ID by minors to obtain alcohol a jailing offense. In May 2001 his own daughters were arrested for just this crime. Not only were they let off without going to jail (unlike the many teenagers arrested during George W's governorship), but the bar, and the bar manager who had caught them and called the police were menaced by Bush supporters. The bar was threatened with loss of its license; the manager found that web sites were calling on the public to harrass her. (This information came from the Hightower Lowdown, August 2001.)
I'm sure you can imagine the scandal that would have developed if President Clinton and his family had been involved in similar events. So why no scandal for the shrub?

It doesn't take great genius for the party in power to get the idea of profiting from terrorism to sneak through unpopular or harmful laws and decisions.
In the US, Republicans are trying to invoke the "spirit of unity" to bulldoze a path for dangerous trade treaties such as the FTAA. The EFF warns that the FTAA may be used to impose laws like the DMCA on all the countries of the Western Hemisphere.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
In the UK, a leaked government memo shows exactly how brazenly this plan was made: a government official proposed, just hours after the September 11 attacks, to look for unpopular actions to announce while the public and the news media were distracted by terrorism.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

The Sexual Freedom Coalition campaigns to bring UK laws into line with the rest of Europe, ending censorship and many other forms of government-imposed sexual repression and prudery. After they triumph in the UK, I hope they bring their campaign to the US.

Binding arbitration clauses are now often imposed by businesses on the public. The expense of arbitration, together with arbitrators that are untrained, incompetent, careless or even biased, increasingly deprive Americans of their legal rights.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Montreal police forcibly evicted squatters who had occupied a long-abandoned city building. (Montreal has a great shortage of housing and many abandoned buildings.) As often happens, they injured one of the squatters in the attack; to distract public attention from the enormity of this, they plan to press charges against him.

The US been very foolish in choosing its allies in Afghanistan. If we seek allies that share deeper values and not just a momentary common advantage, we should support the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan.
This secular and democratic feminist organization, now driven underground, documents the Taliban's cruel treatment of women and works to educate and help Afghan women both within Afghanistan and in the refugee camps in Pakistan.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
The US plans to spend billions on fighting a war. Even a million dollars could work wonders in RAWA's hands. With several million, they could peacefully build a different kind of Afghan society, one that would no longer fall into the hands of the most vicious.

Prostitutes in the Netherlands, where their trade is now legal, are planning to form a union.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
I can't imagine the mindset of someone who would want the services of a prostitute. For me there is nothing to value in sex with someone who felt no attraction or warmth for me. If a woman I longed for told me, "You'd have to pay me to have sex with you," I'd go drown my feelings of undesirability in work--not ask "How much?" And if someone values money more than tenderness, I find that unattractive regardless of the person's line of work.
If everyone were like me, prostitutes would have no customers, so there would be no prostitutes. But prostitutes do have customers, and there are prostitutes--so their lives should not have to be filled with cruelty and danger. Their illegal status puts them in danger from violence and from disease, and it leaves them helpless against the cruelty of customers and pimps. One indirect consequence is that their customers are also in increased danger from disease. Another is corruption of the police, who are bribed not to arrest the prostitutes outside of special occasions.
The consequent suffering affects millions of Americans, and kills far more people than the terrorist attacks of September 11. We could aleviate most of it simply by following the Dutch example, and legalizing prostitution. And it wouldn't cost a dime to the treasury (though if American prostitutes form a union, that could increase prices for the customer).

Richard Dawkins, author of The Selfish Gene, has explained how the irrationality of religion is a crucial ingredient terrorism, in Religion's Misguided Missiles.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

The West should look carefully at the Northern Alliance of Afghanistan before using them as allies against the Taliban, says Robert Fisk in the Independent. They too are murderous and cruel, and supporting such people is precisely the approach that gave us Osama bin Laden to deal with.

The annual conference of the Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility on Oct 19-21, 2001 was about Nurturing the Cybercommons.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

There was a protest on September 22 in front of the embassy of Pakistan in Washington DC, to free Dr. Younus Shaikh and hundreds of others also convicted in Pakistan of blasphemy. You can still sign an on-line petition, or write a letter to the government of Pakistan.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]
Dr. Shaikh faces the death penalty in Pakistan--for blasphemy, supposedly criticizing Islam. Amnesty international has called his trial unfair and labeled him as a prisoner of conscience.
[Reference updated to a different article on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

As another terrible casualty of the September 11 terrorist attacks, the UK government plans to institute unlimited detention without trial of asylum seekers on mere suspicion of involvement with terrorism. They could also be deported without a hearing.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
Thus rule by decree replaces rule of law.

Francisco Gil-White, of the Solomon Asch Center for Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict, makes a case for determined police activity and a Marshall plan rather than war in Afghanistan.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

The Canadians who are threatened with imprisonment for eating their ballots are now planning to eat their subpoenas, to highlight the fact that even a harmless symbolic protest is being crushed with force.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

A British journalist who covered the US-sponsored guerrilla war in Afghanistan in the 80s warns that America's announced war on terrorism suffers from confusion and worse, in its aims, and its methods .
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

As part of preparations for a possible war, the Department of Defense has stopped discharging homosexuals from the armed forces. This shows they don't really believe that gay soldiers are bad for the army's effectiveness. When push comes to shove, they'd rather have those soldiers in their posts than do without them.
This shows that the policy of excluding homosexuals from the forces makes no sense in its own stated terms. If the peacetime armed forces exist to be prepared in case they need to fight, gays should never be excluded.

Britain plans to institute compulsory national identity cards, a major attack on civil liberties there. Of course, this is presented as a measure for preventing terrorism, but it won't do much good for that; the real motivation for the policy is probably to crush political protest against Blair's subservient policy towards business.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Atheists generally face discrimination in the US; since the terrorist attacks, religious rhetoric that excludes Atheists has increased, leaving many Atheists feeling unwelcome as Americans.

The Freedom Forum warns of the threat to civil liberties posed by misguided responses to terrorism. See Freedom flees in terror from Sept. 11 disaster.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Mir Tamim Ansary, an Afghani-American writer, explains why the people of Afghanistan are the victims of the Taliban, and warns against foolishly designed military measures which could hurt the Taliban's victims while helping the Taliban recruit support.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

What Became of Tolerance in Islam?
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

A Burmese Arts and Literature Symposium was held in Brookline, Massachusetts, because such a gathering cannot be held in Burma under military rule. One of the guests was Tin Maung Than, who published an independent magazine in Burma but had to flee the country. [Update on 2018-02-07: Long article for more information.] The Free Burma Coalition works in the US to help support the recommendations of elected-and-arrested Burmese president Aung San Suu Kyi for economic sanctions against Burma.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

Naomi Klein, author of No Logo, writes about how the police violence in Genoa could affect the future of politics--in Italy, and throughout the West. Right-wing premier Berlusconi, who is suspected of encouraging the police attacks, is now trying to use the violence as an excuse to suspend civil liberties on other occasions.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Award-winning Iranian filmmaker Tahmineh Milani has been charged in Iran with the crime of "insulting the values of the Islamic revolution."
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

WIPO, the World Intellectual Property organization, is responsible for treaties that impose harsh copyright and patent laws on the citizens of countries that are foolish enough to sign them. To convince the public to support being restricted, WIPO is running an essay contest, asking for responses to the question, "What does intellectual property mean to you in your daily life?" They will surely select an entry that praises copyrights or patents to high heaven. Any critical response has no chance of winning their contest.
In response, another group called WIPOUT has launched a counter-contest. They are asking people to respond to the same question, "What does intellectual property mean to you in your daily life?" But they are looking for responses that present the harm done by copyrights, patents, etc. They aim to highlight the side of the issue that WIPO ignores.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
Please keep in mind, after you read their site, that "intellectual property" is a propaganda term. Even using it in your own thinking leads to simplistic overgeneralization, because it lumps together copyrights, patents, trademarks, trade secrets and various other areas of law, which really have almost nothing in common. To think about these various areas intelligently, you must think about them one by one.
So in order to think clearly about these issues, think about copyrights, or about patents, or about trademarks, but don't think about "intellectual property". And if you want to help others think clearly about them, please say and write "copyrights" or "patents" or "trademarks", not "intellectual property". Your writing will be more informative if you don't lump them all together.

Several Canadians, members of the Edible Ballot Society, are facing five years in prison for eating their own election ballots, which they did as a protest against the sad state of democracy in Canada.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]
The law being used to charge them was meant to prohibit destroying other people's ballots, but the Canadian government is stretching it to imprison these protestors--and thereby proving just how right the protesters are.
If you wish to ridicule the bizarre actions of Elections Canada, you can write to them at 257 Slater St. Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0M6, or email them through their web page.

The Privacy Foundation has reported on how monster.com collects and uses personal data from job-seekers. If you are thinking of using the site, read this report first. The strangest thing they report is that if you send a resume to certain companies, asking for jobs in those companies, they forward it to monster.com without even telling you.
[Second reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

The ex-chief of the Genoa police now admits there were 600 neo-nazis infiltrating the Genoa protests, with the aim of committing acts of violence that would discredit the protestors.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

The Houston Chronicle has warned Americans that the US Department of Justice has been attacking and threatening journalists.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

A clear explanation of the methods corporations use to manage news reporting and thus public opinion about major issues--even yours and mine, if we are not on guard.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Dr Younus Shaikh, physicist and founder of the first rationalist organization in Pakistan, has been sentenced to death for "blasphemy". Support for his legal appeal is urgently requested.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Greece has levied criminal charges against Italian police for attacking a group of Greeks on their way to Genoa to participate in the protests. Since Greece and Italy are both members of the European Union, Greek citizens have the right to travel to Italy.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
The Italian police claimed that the protestors had attacked them; the Greek prosecutor called this a "a distortion of reality."

The Independent, of London, has warned against the danger of using a "small group of troublemakers within larger, law-abiding movements" as an excuse to restrict the civil liberties of protestors.
[Second reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
Readers of this site will know that the excuse is partly false as well as philosophically inadequate--in Montreal and Genoa, some of the worst "troublemakers" among the protestors were actually undercover police.

Germany seeks to censor US web sites through lawsuits. Otto Schily, the German interior minister, plans to meet with US government officials to discuss ways of shutting down right-wing US web sites that "have an effect in Germany".
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
I wish that our government officials were trying to defend the US Constitution and our freedom of the press. I have no sympathy for neo-Nazis, but if they can be censored, anyone else can be too.
Schily's quest may be thwarted this time by the Bill of Rights, but he may have a better chance of carrying German censorship into the US if the proposed Hague Treaty is adopted. The ACLU and the American Library Association are concerned about the Hague Treaty, and you should be too.

Advocates of corporate-driven globalization claim that it delivers growth and general prosperity. Now a report from CEPR adds up the results of corporate-driven globalization, and shows that in most of the world it provides no general prosperity, and not even much growth.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

You might enjoy this political humor piece about the Republican War on Prosperity. It explains how the GOP beat back the terrible scourge of decreased crime rates and budget surpluses.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

China has increased censorship on access to the Internet. Human Rights Watch thinks corporate sponsors of the 2008 Olympic Games could pressure China's government to allow more freedom.

The Hawaii BOE voted against requiring the teaching of creationism in Hawaiian schools. According to Steven Novella <CTSkeptic@compuserve.com>, "the outcry from the scientific community and the public played a significant role."

Remember Sun Myung Moon and the Moonies? They're back, and preparing to feed at the public trough through Bush's plan to supply federal funds to "faith-based" (i.e. religious) activities.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

The Detroit Free Press has a report on police abusing a law enforcement database to harass enemies, stalk women, and seek personal revenge. The database has been in use since 1967, and its abuse is so common that stalking women on the basis of their license plate numbers is known simply as "running a plate for a date".

Public Citizen has a report on the effects of NAFTA showing that citizens of the US and Mexico have generally lost out as a result of the treaty, although business has benefited from it.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
Bush now seeks to exacerbate these problems by extending NAFTA to South America as well (the FTAA).

Public Citizen, an organization originally founded by Ralph Nader, has been intervening to defend people who operate web sites that criticize the behavior of companies, from lawsuits by those companies alleging trademark or copyright infringement.
The latest Public Citizen newsletter also reports on the ways various industries that paid money to the Bush campaign have been rewarded with changes in "inconvenient" Federal regulations that would protect public health or the environment from the actions of these companies. Specific industries listed include oil, coal, electricity, paper and logging, and mining.
One of the regulations that Bush revoked had been established by OHSA to protect computer users like you from repetitive stress injuries at work.

The British government is preparing a curfew law to "protect" teenagers by locking them up.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

WBAI has cancelled the Earthwatch program, and fired its host, award-winning journalist Robert Knight. Protest rallies are going on. Meanwhile, some of the WBAI staff are wearing masks while on the premises, in protest against videocameras that the management has installed to snoop on them while at work.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

On Aug 2, the Hawaii Board of Education voted on a proposal to require teaching of creationism in biology classes. I heard about it just before the vote, and sent them a message about the proposal.

Canada has expanded medical marijuana use, allowing people with certain medical conditions to grow marijuana or designate someone else to grow it for them. It is just a small step, but each step helps people recognize that there is no rational reason for prohibition of marijuana.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Britain's most senior military officer says he has no evidence that the proposed US missile defense system could work.

One of the first political notes in www.stallman.org mentioned a mirror of the POSCO workers' web site, which was prohibited in South Korea as a copyright violation. On 23 July 2001 the Seoul local court reversed its decision and recognized parody as a form of free speech, not prohibited by copyright.
Sad to say, the workers' original grievances about unfair treatment by POSCO have not been redressed. They don't have justice, only the right to tell the public about the injustice.

The UK government is now reconsidering the laws for use of marijuana. Legalization is a possibility.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Bush has repeatedly said that the anti-globalization protestors do not represent the interests of the poorest nations. Then let these countries speak for themselves: 49 of the world's poorest nations are meeting to block further trade liberalization.

On May 1, 2001, Long Beach CA police attacked peaceful protestors, made promises which they broke, accused them of various fabricated crimes, then deported one person who has lived in the US since the age of 3 months. One lesson it teaches is never to trust a deal with a policeman.

Bush wants to eliminate contraceptive coverage in the health insurance for federal employees, but Congress is showing some resistance. You can help influence the outcome by sending a message to Congress. (77% of Americans support requiring health insurance to cover prescription contraceptives.)
Update: the House voted on July 25th to continue to require contraception coverage for federal employees.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

Read about the secret plans of the world's most dangerous rogue state.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Speakers corner, a century-old tradition of freedom of speech in London, is now threatened as a consequence of privatization of the parks.

A Russian encryption expert has been arrested on a visit to the US for writing a program that converts encrypted e-books into PDF format. Russians still have the right to use and develop such software, but Americans have lost this right because of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. The US now seems intent to apply its harsh and unfair laws to actions that occur outside its borders.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
This is an ironic reversal of roles for the two countries. During the cold war, Russia was noted for its efforts to stamp out unauthorized copying and redistribution of information (samizdat). Today the United States is the principal offender.

When the corporate media report on anti-globalization protests, they tend to under-report police violence while exaggerating the events that serve as excuses for it. For independent non-corporate news, see http://www.indymedia.org/.

The Marijuana Policy Project reports that Nevada has enacted a law removing criminal penalties for possession of marijuana.

Rationalist International reports that Taslima Nasreen has been convicted in absentia by a court in Bangladesh on charges of blasphemy, for "hurting the religious sentiments of Muslims" with her novel "Shame" and her criticism of the Quran.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
This illustrates the danger that religion still poses to civil liberties in large parts of the world.

Should criminals be punished by raping them in prison? This is not unusual in US prisons, and little is being done to eliminate it. In fact, some officials seem to approve of this aspect of the penal (or is it penile?) system.
Not all countries approve of it, however. The Supreme Court of Canada recently blocked the extradition of suspects to the US because the prosecutor in the US had threatened them with homosexual rape.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

Many union leaders have been arrested recently in South Korea.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

An Ohio man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for writing--and not publishing--a fictional story about kidnapping and torturing children. No actual children were harmed (or involved) in the writing of the story, but the court did not care.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
Fiction writers in the US had now better make sure the victims in horror and crime stories are all old enough to give consent to the violence that is done to them. And we had all better demand an end to censorship laws, no matter what they are supposed to "protect" us from.

Newspeak at the FBI: Dancing is Terrorism
Reclaim the Streets sets up surprise street parties, where people play music and dance. It is described in the book No Logo as one of the new forms of protest against global brand culture.
On May 10, FBI director Louis Freeh testifying to Congress listed Reclaim the Streets among the "Threats of Terrorism to the United States". Is dancing terrorism?
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
While we laugh at the absurdity of this, we have to recognize that it might be the start of a persistent and serious "big lie" campaign. And if further lies, such as frame-ups or infiltration of provocateurs, are used to support the big lie, it won't be the first time.

Koreans opposing the enforced filtering of the Internet tried to post my political note about it, below, on the government site for comments on the access-restriction policy. The posting was rejected unless they obscured all the / n / a / u / g / h / t / y / / w / o / r / d / s /. Words like "pornography" and "gay" -- the very matter at hand.

For once, some good news: the European Parliament passed a resolution opposing widespread or general surveillance of the public's electronic communication. This may make it harder for the European Commission to impose a directive authorizing such surveillance.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Nike, which pays Indonesian workers a few nickels an hour, has a new idea: marketing sneakers by mocking the activists who criticize their horrible treatment of the workers who make the sneakers.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
Nike's marketing strategy is to make itself seem cool. You can fight back by attaching a negative attitude to their name. Don't buy from Nike, and if see a person wearing Nikes, express disdain for that choice.

Greg Palast is the British journalist who exposed the ways that Blacks in Florida were systematically excluded from voting in the last US presidential election--an exclusion which effectively stole the election for George Bush Jr (the Shrub).
Now his newspaper, the Observer, has been sued for libel by the company that employs George Bush Sr: Barrick Gold Mining of Canada. The accusation in the case is that Palast quoted an Amnesty International report, which alleged that 50 miners might have been buried alive in Tanzania by a company now owned by Barrick. This was a small part of an article that exposes a long history of sleazy connections between George Bush Sr and Barrick, including Bush's actions as President of the US.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

Police in Germany have begun arbitrarily suspending the civil rights of individuals, without charging them with crimes. The reason? To stop them from participating in political protests.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Big brother warning: it seems that some rental cars are now equipped with a system that tracks where you go, all the time. Before you sign a car rental contract, raise the issue explicitly. Ask, "Do you track where I drive in this car? Is there a GPS in this car?" If they say yes, ask for a different car!

The US has abandoned the attempt to stop Brazil from manufacturing AIDS medication at low cost.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Legal proceedings have been launched against a leading Egyptian feminist, Nawal Saadawi, to divorce her and her husband without their consent, as punishment for allegedly criticizing Islam. I have not seen what she said, but if this is a sample of Islam, I am sure it richly deserves whatever criticism she gave it.

After long police repressions, an activist from "Checkpoint Austria" has now been sentenced to three months conditional arrest for "slander in a severe case"...After an exchange of words with the officers, he shouted out to the other protesters that one of the officers had just threatened him with the words: "Look, when we meet in some back alley, then - a bullet to your head".

Senate passes resolution against teaching evolution:
The US Senate has passed an Education Bill into which language has been added that essentially calls upon teachers to tell students that evolutionary theory is not science. A Senator from Kansas hailed this amendment as a vindication of the Kansas school board's 1999 decision to eliminate evolution from the curriculum.
Please call or write your Senators and Congressman to oppose this, and alert other people.
See http://www.agiweb.org/gap/legis107/evolution_update0601.html for full information.

Police provocateurs attack demonstrators during protest in Barcelona (Excerpt from a larger report).
"- while this is all going on for about half an hour ( the rally permit runs out around this time) a punk beside me is thrown to the street and put in a headlock by another slightly cleaner dressed punk. people surge forward seemingly trying to help the guy but then it turns out about 20 of them are undercover cops and a few more people start getting grabbed. this part was crazy and was the first time i've ever seen real live 'agents provocateurs'. I'm not sure if they had any 'reason' for grabbing this guy other than that they wanted to start something and as a fully decked out punk, they wouldn't look so bad."

Swedish police attack protestors, then arrest some and hold them incommunicado.

Despite the fact that Gap makes their clothes in sweatshops, and have been subject to many demonstrations across the nation, they believe that the growing movement against corporate power is now large enough to begin marketing on. Their new promotional displays use anarchist iconography to market their sweatshop clothes: now the protest itself can be essentially sold to consumers as an image. If Gap succeeds, it will mean that every protest that is staged will be building on their new image, in effect turning protestors and activists into living, walking ads for Gap.

In The Independent (London): Democratic politicians are now diverting attention from the policies that have left so many voters discouraged, by making scapegoats of the people who organize the mass protests against these policies.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

SITA, a French multinational, gave Brighton, England waste workers an impossible workload, then locked them out when they refused to do it, so the workers locked themselves in. With the support of the community, the workers were reinstated and the multinational lost the contract. "We should take inspiration from this fight, because it shows that when people get together we can stop privatisation in its tracks."

Ya Basta, nonviolent protestors of the EU summit in Gothenburg, wrote a letter about being beseiged and attacked by police.

Princeton scientists have gone to court asking for a ruling that the DMCA does not prohibit them from publishing their research. The record companies had threatened to sue them.

The American Commission on Civil Rights found widespread disenfranchisement of poor and minority voters across Florida; abuses were not located or isolated. Without this, Gore, marginally better than Bush, would have clearly carried the state, and the Supreme Court would not have had the chance to select a president.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

During the Quebec protests, a policeman shot Eric Laferriere at a range of 20 feet, and maimed him for life. Laferriere was standing harmlessly and not engaged in violence.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

The Korean government, following a deceitful chain of events, is using the excuse of "protecting minors" to impose filtering on the Internet. The list of sites to be blocked includes not only pornography (not that pornography is a bad thing), but also sites that provide serious advice to gay people.
Don't be fooled by the excuse. Censorship laws are more dangerous to a democratic society than any pornography could ever be.
You can learn more here
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Jaggi Singh, who was beaten and seized by a disguised police snatch squad that only afterward identified itself as police, has been released on $3,000 in bail--but with absurd conditions. He is prohibited from leading or organizing any demonstrations. The judge has also prohibited Singh from possessing a megaphone.
Singh promises to appeal that condition to the Supreme Court of Canada.
A number of protestors were arrested in Quebec at the FTAA meeting, generally on absurd or fabricated pretexts. You can help them by donating to their legal defense fund.

When John Gatto accepted the New York City Teacher of the Year Award in 1990, his acceptance speech was a deep criticism of the school system and other aspects of childraising in the US.

IMF's Four Steps to Damnation

Amy Kalinowski has written an interesting letter to the Canadian Prime Minister about the Quebec protests.

The shrub is already making big payoffs to his campaign contributors--at the expense of public safety and the national interest.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Amnesty International has taken up the cause of the Quebec protestors attacked by police. Alas, it's not just countries like China and Iran that oppress political dissidents. See the announcement.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Who owns the law? In many states, a company owns part of the law, and you have to pay them an arm and a leg to find out what is legal for you to do.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

The US is using biological weapons in South America as part of the "War on drugs", and at the same time shows signs of pulling out of the negotiations for stronger controls on biological weapons, according to the Sunshine Project.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

On the evening of Saturday, April 21, 2001, a day during which tens of thousands demonstrated against the FTAA in the streets of Quebec City, the Independent Media Center in Seattle was served with a sealed court order by two FBI agents and an agent of the US Secret Service. The terms of the sealed order prevented IMC volunteers from publicizing its terms; volunteers immediately began discussions with legal counsel to amend the order. You can read more about it.

A new US patent, awarded to Monsanto on 16 January 2001, has blind-sided biotech scientists and threatens to knee-cap public sector research because it gives Monsanto exclusive monopoly rights on a crucial method of identifying modified plant cells in the laboratory. You can read more about the issue at this page on rafi.org.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Cops Arrest Crime Victim
On 19/04/01, during a British Critical Mass cycle action in Bristol, a cyclist was arrested after he was run down by a car. The police's reason? Alleged criminal damage to the car!!

In March 2001, scientist Ian Thomas was fired by the US Geological Survey for posting a map on the Internet showing where in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve the caribou give birth. His web site, containing over 20,000 maps, was disconnected. This appears to be an act of political censorship by the Bush administration, which advocates opening that reserve to oil drilling and does not want government scientists to make available information that might show the drawbacks of the plan.
Thomas has made some of the maps available on his own web site, and has filed a Freedom of Information Act request to get the rest.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

The Canadian government prevented large numbers of US citizens from entering Canada, on suspicion that they are planning to join in protests against the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas. A wall was built around the center of Quebec City to keep protesters away. The antidemocratic suppression of public protest is now a standard part of the effort to impose these antidemocratic treaties.

Phone In Sick Day was moved to April 20 in Canada in 2001--so people can participate in the Quebec protest. In the US, Phone In Sick Day was on May 1 as usual.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Quebec prosecutors are quitting a team that the provincial government has set up concerning protests planned for the Summit of the Americas. The prosecutors accuse the provincial government of political interference.

An article by Naomi Klein called Quebec City Keeping Us Out Before We Get There talks about protestors being scared away from the Summit of the Americas.

Before you buy a Harry Potter book, read about how Warner Brothers is attacking fan web sites, and maybe you will change your mind. This is not an isolated case--read a long list of cases where powerful companies and institutions are grabbing domain names from their satirists, from their fans, and from people who coincidentally use the same name.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

When a neo-Nazi party entered the government of Austria a couple of years ago, there was a brief commotion. Then their leader stepped aside, and the rest of Europe treated that as sufficient.
What have they been doing since the world's attention was taken away? They have been acting like Nazis--encouraging racism and police violence. There is a real problem in Austria.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Nike allows you to personalize your shoes with a message. Jonah H. Peretti tried to add the word "sweatshop" to his shoes, and they refused.

Pat Schroeder (former Congressional Representative from Colorado), who helped to make it a crime to give people free software to play DVDs they have bought, is now leading a campaign to turn public libraries into retail pay-per-view outlets
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

For an analysis of the various illegalities and frauds used in the theft of the Florida election (and thus, of the US presidential election as a whole), see here.

The companies that make software to filter web access, often block a wide variety of sites--not just porn, but politics as well. Not surprisingly, they refuse to reveal which sites they block. Hackers who figured out ways to extract the list from the program have been attacked with lawsuits, and defended by the ACLU. The ACLU fights constantly to defend Americans' civil liberties, and they need your support.
[First reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
(I joined the ACLU in 1988, when Daddy Bush called Governor Dukakis a "card-carrying member" of the ACLU--in effect saying that upholding the US Constitution was equivalent to being a Communist. Bush showed his real views of freedom, and this convinced me I ought to join the ACLU as a statement of support for them against this vicious calumny. I've heard many other people joined at the same time.)

Deportees being flown from Europe to other countries have been tortured by border guards while on the plane. A number of the victims have died before getting off the plane. Some European airlines are now refusing to carry such "passengers", but Lufthansa continues to seek this lucrative business.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

NAFTA has been so successful at cutting wages in the US, and destroying working conditions in Mexico, that politicians are aiming to extend NAFTA to South America if we don't stop them.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Here is an explanation of the Supreme Court decision that ruled against counting the votes in Florida, with a suggestion for what to do about it.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Billionaires for Bush (or Gore) urged people to vote for either George Bush or Al Gore. "We don't care which, we already bought both of them."
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Do politician's comments refer to a reality? Do they "mean" anything? Nowadays, some politicians don't see a need for that.

In November 2000, Democracy Now! -- Pacifica Radio's national news magazine and an important source of alternative news and views on many issues -- was under threat from Pacifica's management. Learn more at http://www.fair.org/activism/democracy-now.html.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

The Free Burma Coalition asking Americans in Nov 2000 to write to President Clinton asking him to ban imports of garments from Burma. These garments Burma exports are made in factories run by the military dictatorship, using effectively slave labor.

In late 2000 I learned that a leading Pakistani rationalist, Dr. Younus Shaikh, is being prosecuted for blasphemy, a crime that carries a death sentence in Pakistan. The hysteria was such that for a long time he could not find a lawyer willing to defend him.
This case is likely to continue for a long time. Please help Dr. Shaikh by writing to the government of Pakistan to express your concern about the case.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

The Korean government is proposing a law to regulate the Internet in Korea, which would impose censorship rules and is bad for citizens' privacy.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

The DEA is planning to prohibit hemp-based products such as soap, which are not drugs at all, on the grounds that they interfere with drug tests for marijuana. This shows how sick and twisted the war on drugs is making the US: even the tools of enforcement are now considered more important than mere daily life. (Whatever drugs that war is on must be very dangerous.)
Please visit the site for the campaign to block these regulations, www.SaveHemp.org, and please help and inform others.
(I received an interesting letter in response to this issue.)

The Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility is having its annual conference in Pennsylvania, Oct 14-15. Its theme is ``Reconstructing Privacy in the Information Age''.

Americans United for the Separation of Church and State has chided Senator Lieberman, the Democratic candidate for vice president, for extremely religious campaign rhetoric, injecting religion into the campaign in a way we would normally expect only from right-wing fundamentalists.
Americans United sent Lieberman an open letter asking him to ask voters to consider his record, not his religion.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
I've been a member of Americans United for several years.

In 1999 the US Congress proposed a law requiring every bank to establish a ``know your customer'' program to report all unusual deposits to the government--in effect, snooping on the customer. When combined with the practice known as ``civil forfeiture'', which means that the government can seize ``suspicious'' assets without even having a trial, these programs actually threaten to take away your bank account.
Strong public opposition blocked that bill, and ``know your customer'' programs did not become mandatory. But over 80 percent of US banks have them voluntarily. That is better than 100 percent, but not good.
I have an idea for how to bring about some change in this. It involves setting up a web site where people can record which banks have these programs and which do not. People can ask their own banks, and then record the answers.
Then people who don't want the extra risk of civil forfeiture, or object to big-brotherism, can use the data base to find a local bank which doesn't squeal on its law-abiding customers--and move their deposits to that bank.
I don't have time to set this up, and I don't know how either. But I hope I can get someone else interested. If you are interested in setting this up, and you know how, please send me mail. (People are working on this now, so if you want to help, please contact me rather than starting on your own.)

The Consumer Project on Technology is organizing an Open Access protest in Washington DC, Thursday July 27. The issue will surely continue to be important past that date.
[First reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Alongside the Republican and Democratic political conventions in 2000, there were "shadow conventions" sponsored by the Marijuana Policy Project, calling for an end to the War on Drugs.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
If you think a drug is dangerous, you can avoid the risk by not using it. But you cannot avoid the many dangers of the War on Drugs--a million Americans in prison (largely for nonviolent "possession of drugs" crimes), no money for education because prison comes first, our police corrupted, and our civil liberties undermined.

A Korean protest parody site has been shut down as a copyright violation. The site was set up by workers who were fired, and then not rehired despite a court order to rehire them. Eventually they set up a protest parody site criticizing the employer, POSCO. POSCO sued them for copyright infringement and succeeded, forcing their site to be taken down. Now there is a world-wide campaign to set up mirrors of the site. I have set up a mirror as part of this campaign.

You might enjoy Ask Dr Laura that is floating around on the net.

On April 25, 2000, the Marijuana Policy Project reported that Hawaii has enacted a law removing criminal penalties for medical use of marijuana (which can help cancer patients tolerate the harsh side effects of many cancer treatments).
For some 20 years the U.S. has been the target of a crazed War on Drugs. Around a million people are in prison in the U.S. today for drug-related "crimes". Often the crime was simply to sell or use drugs--activities that would not be crimes at all if we end this war. Sometimes the crime was an act of violence--which should be a crime, but typically would not have happened if prohibition did not drive the drug trade into the hands of gangsters. (In the 1920s, the illegal sellers of alcohol committed many notorious violent crimes--but today's brewers, distilleries and liquor stores are law-abiding.) Our civil liberties are constantly threatened by plans to make this war "more effective".
When a war is on drugs, it tends to forget who the enemy is, and attack citizens indiscriminately. Let's get the war off drugs.

If you work for the corporate world, you may be interested in celebrating Phone In Sick Day on May 1.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
RTMark explains the holiday this way:

To bring an important American holiday back home.
Mayday commemorates ten Americans who lost their lives fighting for the eight-hour [work] day, and their sacrifice has been celebrated since 1889 nearly everywhere in the world *except* America.
To call attention to the loss of the eight-hour day and other quality-of-life indices in America.
Mayday heralds the approach of summer, a time that still means "vacation" to those in most First-World nations. But substantial vacations, like the eight-hour day, have passed into American leisure history. While the average number of hours worked per year has gone down throughout the First World, it has gone up in America, with Americans now working six weeks more per year than they did in 1973 to achieve the same standard of living. Phoning in sick en masse will function as a "mayday" distress call by increasingly harried Americans. (Visit http://rtmark.com/sickday.html to see Andrei Codrescu explain this most eloquently.)
[rms note: We used to expect technology to provide increased leisure time. I believe it could, if society were not dominated by business and business owners.]
To call attention to the dwindling quality of life everywhere.
The erosion of leisure is no longer limited to America. As European countries are increasingly forced to dismantle social programs and adopt American-style measures to benefit corporate health, we can be sure that they will all go the way of the United States: two-month vacations will shrink to two weeks, maternity leave will go from six months to five days, etc. Therefore RTMark encourages Europeans, and other First Worlders for whom May 1 is already a holiday, to phone in sick on May 2. (In the Third World, of course, the effects of neoliberalism are unspeakably worse than a mere erosion of leisure; it would be tasteless to suggest that phoning in sick might accomplish anything there.)

Taslima Nasrin, a Humanist from Bangladesh, was threatened with religious murder for criticizing such things as persecution of Hindus and the injustice of Islamic law. She was officially charged with the crime of ``blasphemy''. She is now in exile.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
The right to criticize, or even ridicule, any religion or religion in general is part of human rights. No religion or church is entitled to suppress criticism--not Islam, not the Church of Scientology, not even the Church of Emacs.
10 May 2002
US citizens: the Senate Judiciary Committee is blocking Bush plans to pack US courts with antiabortion campaigners. Please tell them to keep up the good work.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

10 May 2002
The union that represents the staff of the European Patent Office has denounced the European Patent Office for disregarding laws and rejecting democratic control.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

10 May 2002
The EU is considering a mass-surveillance directive to require all telecommunications companies to keep long-lived records of who communicates with whom, via telephone or email.

10 May 2002
"The Kept University", an article fromm the Atlantic Monthly, explained in 2000 how corporate funding is corrupting academia.

10 May 2002
The Burmese military government has released Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest. Aung San Suu Kyi is the leader of the Burmese democracy movement, and was elected president of Burma but prevented by the military government from taking office.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

6 May 2002
GATS, the General Agreement on Trade in Services, threatens to give multinational corporations additional power to restrict the way countries protect their environment, public health, water supplies, and give them the power to sue governments for any laws that inconvenience them.

6 May 2002
At a May Day protest in Berkeley California, an undercover cop disguised as a protester attacked an Indymedia photographer, threw him into a police line to be arrested, and then walked away from the protest as if nothing happened.

5 May 2002
Israel did not allow the UN team to investigate what happened at Jenin refugee camp, but a Dutch investigator says there is no evidence of a massacre.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

5 May 2002
A report says that police can now identify people from DNA in the droplets of moisture in their breath.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

5 May 2002
The US Military is asking Congress to exempt it from a wide range of environmental protection laws.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

5 May 2002
A Norwegian member of parliament is asking for a Nobel Peace Prize for President Bush.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

5 May 2002
A proposed Spanish law to regulate the Internet would allow officials to close any web site.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

5 May 2002
Some states appoint judges; some, such as Texas, have elected judges. A study shows that elected judges are biased against out-of-state defendants.

2 May 2002
Many activists from Milwaukee were prevented from flying to Washington DC for a protest in April because their names were found in a database of suspects that airlines check before each flight.

2 May 2002
A rape victim in Pakistan has been sentenced to death by stoning as a punishment for being a victim.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

2 May 2002
A petition campaign tries to "save General Motors from itself", by pressuring it to start developing fuel-efficient cars so that the company won't tank when it costs more to fill your tank.

30 April 2002
It appears there may not have been an a massacre in the Jenin refugee camp, as was previously charged. Allegations of forcing civilians to act as human shields remain.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

30 April 2002
On Hacking: In June 2000, while visiting Korea, I did a fun hack that clearly illustrates the original and true meaning of the word "hacker".

30 April 2002
This article explores how the US defines "democracy", using the attempted coup against Chévez in Venezuela as a lens.

30 April 2002
The last three months have been the warmest ever recorded.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

30 April 2002
Recently the US arranged the ouster Jose Bustani as head of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, based on trumped-up accusations and violating the organisation's procedures. The Guardian (London) reports on the threats that the US made and investigates possible reasons.

30 April 2002
RENTCAS has united 30,000 volunteers to help fight smuggling of animals in Brazil.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

30 April 2002
Please support the call for justice for the protestors of Gothenburg.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

30 April 2002
Spain has blocked a reform of EU fishing rules intended to prevent overfishing that is killing fish faster than they can reproduce.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

30 April 2002
Amnesty International has called for a war crimes investigation into the Israeli invasion of the Jenin refugee camp.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

30 April 2002
Even as Bush talks about the danger of weapons of mass destruction in terrorist hands, the Bush administration is trying to remove the head of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). The reason: he tries to examine chemical warfare facilities in the United States just like chemical warfare facilities in other countries.
Earlier in April the Bush administration arranged for the removal of the head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Leaked papers released by the NRDC show that ExxonMobil and other businesses were calling the shots.

23 April 2002
Guatemalan peasants have seized a number of large plantations, protesting the unfair distribution of farmland.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

23 April 2002
Here's an article about the work that the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty does to aid poor people in Ontario.
[Second reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

21 April 2002
Smuggled film shows the Chinese destruction of a monestary in Tibet because its popularity was considered unacceptable.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

21 April 2002
The destruction in Jenin was more complete than an earthquake, yet the Israelis have not allowed in any heavy lifting equipment, so the Palestinians dug out the bodies with their hands.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

20 April 2002
Contact Congress now to say that East Timor should receive donations, not loans.

20 April 2002
Hundreds of thousands protested business-driven globalization in Barcelona, Spain in mid-March on the occasion of the EU summit. Police restrained themselves from attacking the protestors for part of the week, but eventually gave in to their bloody urges
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

20 April 2002
A peace group in Israel chronicles daily the cruelty committed by the Israeli army against Palestinians. In the April 11 article we read about civilians used as human shields, and sick people who are dying because they are not allowed to go to a hospital. In the April 12 article we read about people denied access to food and water, and buildings demolished with people inside them.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]
There are also reports that the Israeli army committed mass murder against helpless civilians in Jenin.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

20 April 2002
Research which purported to show that use of MDMA ("ecstasy") damages the brain was so flawed as to be worthless.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

20 April 2002
French and Spanish investigators want to question Henry Kissinger to see what he knew about the 1970s "Condor plan", a conspiracy among Latin-American dictators to eliminate their political opponents.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

20 April 2002
Further evidence of Israeli army atrocities in Jenin has emerged, as well as reports that soldiers used civilians as human shields (i.e. hostages), and demolished 3-story buildings with many people inside them.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
Ariel Sharon is on trial in Belgium for his role in atrocities in Lebanon in the 80s. Read how he described his history of violence against Arabs.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

20 April 2002
There are reports that US officials met with the Venezuelan coup plotters before the coup, and a suspicion that they encouraged it.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

20 April 2002
A general strike shut down most business in Italy on April 16. 2 million people joined protests against Berlusconi regime.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

20 April 2002
The Dutch prime minister and his entire cabinet have resigned because of a report holding his government partly responsible for the massacres of unarmed Bosnians at Srebrenica in 1995.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

20 April 2002
Users were recenly shocked to discover that the KaZaa peer-to-peer software includes a distributed computing facility that enables KaZaa's business partner to sell access to the user's own computer.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

20 April 2002
Representative McKinney calls for an investigation into the unpreparedness of US response on September 11 and whether companies tied to Bush have influenced government policy.

20 April 2002
The British government has given up on plans to eliminate the right to a jury trial for crimes such as burglary and assault.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

20 April 2002
The short-lived coup against Venezuela's President Chavez was planned for months by military officers, and comes out of an opposition movement funded by Venezuelan conservatives in Florida.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

18 April 2002
Good Fences Make Good Neighbors. I was shocked to learn recently that there is no border fence dividing Israel from the occupied Palestinian territories.

18 April 2002
Today's higher oil prices are beneficial because they encourage more efficient use.

17 April 2002
The IMF "rescues" countries by making them sign secret agreements to sell off government assets for far less than they are worth.

16 April 2002
New article about the deposed, then reinstated, president of Venezuela.

16 April 2002
Gore Vidal's book, "Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace: How We Got to Be So Hated," argues that, contrary to what President Bush told a joint session of Congress, the Islamic world doesn't hate us because of our freedoms: it hates the US because of its policies towards the Islamic world.

16 April 2002
It's not just a danger, it's a fact: using terrorism as an excuse, police have seized records about Americans hundreds of thousands of times, and the rate is doubling every month.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

16 April 2002
US voters, please contact Congress ASAP to oppose a right-wing bill that would make it a crime to accompany a teen-age girl to another state to get an abortion. Even a grandparent or a sister could be prosecuted.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

15 April 2002
Australia finds a tobacco company guilty of destroying the evidence for a lawsuit filed by a dying smoker.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

13 April 2002
Precisely how the Bush team stole the Florida election is documented.

13 April 2002
ENRON wasn't the first client for which Andersen was caught cooking the books. It ought to be prosecuted now.

10 April 2002
How Bush's extremist rhetoric encourages Sharon to ignore Bush when Bush says to stop.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

10 April 2002
Bill Moyers reports on how Bush has blocked public access to presidential papers from the Reagan administration which according to the law were supposed to be released.

9 April 2002
Americans: call Congress on April 10 and 11 to oppose military aid to Indonesia.

9 April 2002
An article by John Pilger about the possibility of war in Iraq, and about the facts that belie Bush's campaign for war.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

6 April 2002
The UK plans to prohibit employers from monitoring personal email sent and received by the staff on the company's computers.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
Added 2018-02-01: According to this briefing, "The Code does not have the force of law, but rather provides the Commissioner's own views on how organizations can comply with the UK Data Protection Act 1998."

6 April 2002
I received a very disturbing message which says that UK police have blocked the availability of any hosting for the web site for the May Day Festival of Alternatives. (Press release)

6 April 2002
A former prime minister of New Zealand accused Dan Quayle, US Vice President under Bush Sr, of threatening to assassinate him.

5 April 2002
Charges were dropped on April 2 against two members of the Edible Ballot Society. But because the judge did not question the idea that it was a crime in Canada to eat one's own ballot, we cannot assume that four others accused of the crime of ballot-eating are out of danger.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

5 April 2002
When Tony Blair started talking of making the UK follow the US into war with Iraq, his party began refusing to go along.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

4 April 2002
US newspapers published photos of John Walker Lindh naked, blindfolded and tied up, but the real danger he and other detainees face is that of imprisonment for life without trial. The Bush administration calls them "combatants", but that concept presupposes a real war which can have a distinct end. Bush's "war against terrorism" is defined such that no one can ever tell if it has ended. To have an end to the war, we need a president who has no stake in it. We need to make sure Dubya loses his second presidential election more clearly than he lost the first one.

4 April 2002
A former UK Secretary of State for Defense clearly explains the harm caused by US bias in the Middle East.

2 April 2002
Tomato farm workers in Florida have launched a protest campaign against Taco Bell which uses many of the tomatoes they grow.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

2 April 2002
The government of Bolivia has tried to impose a number of harsh policies that provoked popular uprisings. There is evidence that they are dictated in detail by the US government.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

1 April 2002
When police say "No witnesses", one must suspect they are up to some kind of dirty work that they don't want to admit to the public. An encounter in a Paris airport.

1 April 2002
There are reports that Israeli soldiers are keeping the press out of Ramallah at gunpoint and shooting at marked press vehicles.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

31 March 2002
Does low pay mean more jobs? Locally, sometimes yes, but globally it does not.

31 March 2002
The Marijuana Policy Project won its lawsuit to get permission to put a medical marijuana initiative question on the ballot in Washington DC. Now they need funds to mount a signature drive so that they can actually put such a question on the ballot in November.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

31 March 2002
371 people were arrested in Montreal on March 15 for protesting police brutality there.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

31 March 2002
When a high school student in Oklahoma wore Wiccan symbols to school, the school suspended her and accused her of casting a spell that made her teacher sick. The ACLU is suing them.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

31 March 2002
Global warming of .6 degrees centigrade has already caused numerous ecological changes including the spread of various mosquito-borne diseases.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

31 March 2002
According to an article in Scientific American, de-facto slavery remains widespread in the modern world, usually based on convincing its victims and the surrounding society that their enslavement is legitimate.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

31 March 2002
The US government is asking the Supreme Court to overturn a decision that compensates the Navajo tribe for natural resources mined on their property, on the grounds that if all the Indian tribes demand to be paid what the government owes them, that would be too expensive.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

31 March 2002
Plans are advancing to implant chips in people for surveillance purposes.

31 March 2002
According to Fox News, police arrested a Fox reporter and confiscated a videotape, but they went to court and were able to get it back.

28 March 2002
The Coalition for a Just Cincinnati, has called for a boycott of the city. This is a response to persistent racism, and police violence which extends as far as murder. Now a business group involved in renting auditoriums in Cincinnati has sued the Coalition on the grounds that the boycott has reduced their income.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

28 March 2002
In an act of prudish bigotry, college student Leilani Rios was expelled from the track team because she works as a stripper.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

28 March 2002
A genetic modification in corn, which causes allergies in some people and was only supposed to be used for animal feed, is spreading by natural cross-pollenation into the human food chain.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

28 March 2002
The UK government has been caught not once, but twice, telling out-and-out lies in order to build public support for sending troops to Afghanistan and Iraq.
[Second reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

24 March 2002
About Those Polls: Do 80% of Americans Really Support Bush?

24 March 2002
In Italy, right-wing terrorists supported by the CIA helped stop rise of the left in the 60s and 70s. One "anarchist" who was actually working for the security forces even went so far as to throw a grenade into a crowd and kill people.

24 March 2002
A law is being rammed through in Alberta, Canada to prohibit teachers from striking, and rules out bargaining about working conditions. As a protest, teachers are discontinuing the after-school activities that they have done as volunteers. Others plan to quit.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

23 March 2002
A US government report details the way various laws are used to suppress freedom of political dissent in the Czech Republic.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

23 March 2002
A policy of not arresting anyone for possession of marijuana has helped cut robbery and burglary in a high-crime area of London.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

23 March 2002
Bush plans for military courts for terrorist suspects have at least two glaring flaws. Instead of a jury, the verdict is to be decided by part-time judges, soldiers who take orders from Bush. Appeals are directed to more soldiers, and then Bush himself.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

23 March 2002
Asa Hutchinson, administrator of the Drug Enforcement Agency, gave a speech at a bookstore last week, but refused to address the question asked by Lawrence Silberman, who uses marijuana to reduce the side effects of his cancer treatment. His question: "Do you think people like myself should be arrested, sir?"
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

22 March 2002
The Bush administration has plans to develop a new kind of nuclear bomb designed to attack facilities deep underground.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

22 March 2002
Making integrated circuit chips is a dangerous business--dangerous for the employees. The companies have tried to block studies which would determine just how dangerous.

22 March 2002
International pressure is bringing Zimbabwe's President Mugabe to the verge of making concessions to the opposition, which objects to the recent unfair election and antidemocratic laws.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

22 March 2002
As "Blackhawk Down" plays on the screen, a group of helpless Americans are trapped in Somalia once again. But this time it is Bush and his men who have trapped them there and prevent them from returning home.

21 March 2002
Saudi religious police prevented girls from leaving a burning school building because they were not wearing proper Islamic dress.

20 March 2002
The Senate Judiciary Committee has rejected a Bush nominee, Judge Pickering, in response to a campaign organized by abortion rights organizations such as NARAL.

19 March 2002
Bush's proposal for increased foreign aid is a minute step in the right direction.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

17 March 2002
A French court has attacked freedom of speech in the US by laying criminal charges against an former executive of Yahoo, because some users of Yahoo's auction site sell Nazi memorabilia.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

17 March 2002
Kalle Jungkvist, legally responsible for the publication of the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet under Swedish law, was convicted on March 7 for "agitation against an ethnic group" because of comments posted on Aftonbladet's discussion website by Nazi sympathizers. The court ruled that Aftonbladet (and hence Kalle Jungkvist) is guilty of a crime for not censoring them in advance.

17 March 2002
The Australian government knew about and concealed Indonesian military plans for massacres in East Timor.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
The East Timor Action Network, which brought the Indonesian occupation of East Timor to the world's attention, asks Americans to ask Congress to keep the pressure on the Indonesian military to punish the generals responsible for these crimes of mass murder.

17 March 2002
The Spanish opposition web site nodo50, which publishes criticism of government policy and organizes public protests, details how the Spanish police have been infiltrating their mailing lists, while demonizing them as terrorists in the media.

17 March 2002
Marijuana is less dangerous than alcohol, found the British Advisory Council on Misuse of Drugs.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

17 March 2002
The censorware installed in US public libraries, supposedly to block access to sites that prudes find offensive, has the side effect of blocking access to a important archive of the history of the web.

16 March 2002
Human Rights in the US, and in China, a new political article about a Chinese government report detailing human rights violations in the US.
[Second reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

16 March 2002
The US recently endorsed for the first time, without fanfare, the idea of a Palestinian state.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

16 March 2002
A British columnist discusses the flimsy evidence Bush et al offer to justify threatened attacks on various countries.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

16 March 2002
50,000 workers in the Daqing oil fields in China have formed an independent union and are holding protests against dismissals.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

16 March 2002
The movie Guilt by Association, shown March 13 (9pm) on Court TV, dramatizes the effect of drug prohibition combined with mandatory sentencing policies. It talks about Families against Mandatory Minimums which opposes mandatory sentencing policies.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

16 March 2002
The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted a motion by the hemp industry to block the DEA's new hemp ban from taking effect until the court has an opportunity to hold a hearing on the matter. This is partly the result of people who visited http://www.savehemp.org

16 March 2002
The Asociación Contra la Tortura posted a list of Spanish police who were taken to court for acts of torture. The Agencia de Protección de Datos, which enforces that law, decided that the ACT's web site was a "data base", and therefore that the names of police sued or charged with torture could not be mentioned on the web site without their permission. The site was shut down. The ACT's pages are available in mirror sites, but the Agencia de Proteccin de Datos continues trying to shut them down in countries that have similar "privacy" laws. Meanwhile, groups that support Spanish government policies publish information on their web site about individuals who support Basque independence, but the APD does not try shut them down. Amnesty International has criticized Spain for pardoning torturers and giving medals to them. The 2001 Amnesty International report on Spain and the 1999 report provide background information on the practice of torture by Spanish police.
[References 1 and 3-6 updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

16 March 2002
Over 100 Israeli reserve officers have refused to serve in the occupied territories on moral grounds.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

16 March 2002
An interesting article on old "triracial isolate" ethnic communities in the US, and their origins and history.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

10 March 2002
When 50,000 protestors marched in Barcelona in June 2001, to protest the World Bank, the Spanish police sent in disguised police, who pretended to be protestors and started a fight. The fake protestors faded away as police attacked the real ones. In the weeks before the demonstration, police had mounted a campaign of harrassment, stopping people for no reason and demanding to see their papers.

10 March 2002
The New York Surveillance Camera Players do street theater to call attention to the surveillance cameras that the NYPD uses to monitor subversive activities such as democratic protest.

10 March 2002
The leader of the British barristers' organization warns of the danger of a police state if legal safeguards for the accused are abolished for the sake of streamlining trials.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

6 March 2002
Bush has attempted to shred the Freedom of Information Act by ordering government departments to resist requests for information.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

6 March 2002
Companies are filing frequent libel lawsuits to silence people who criticize them on the Internet.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

6 March 2002
The MAUSS group, in France, takes its name from Marcel Mauss, the anthropologist who wrote about "gift economies". Much more radical is Socialism As It Was Always Meant To Be, by Michael Albert and Robin Hahnel.
[Second reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

6 March 2002
The College Art Association plans to file an amicus brief when the Supreme Court considers the constitutionality of the Sonny Bono Copyright Act. If you can help, please read more and then contact the CAA.

4 March 2002
China has imposed strict new censorship rules on political journalism.

4 March 2002
The interior minister of Spain is threatening to suspend freedom of movement in order to prevent protests, which he regards as an enemy of society. An editorial in El Mundo points out his duty is to protect the people's right to protest.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

4 March 2002
The director of Telemadrid, the public radio and television station in Madrid, has been fired for airing a program which presented the views of peaceful Basque nationalists.

4 March 2002
Bush tries to limit Senate investigation of why the Sep 11 attacks were not prevented.

4 March 2002
Major Corporations Considering Relocating To Axis Of Evil.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

4 March 2002
Residents in an East Baltimore neighborhood where the city has allowed trash to pile up for years finally got some attention after they peacefully carried the trash into a nearby street. The city has pressed charges of "inciting to riot."

4 March 2002
Radio Onda Rossa in Rome, a left-wing station, uses a frequency which it took over, several years ago, from a commercial station that had gone bankrupt and stopped transmitting years earlier. Now the bankrupt station has come back from the grave, and demanded the frequency back. but the telecommunications ministry decided to hand it back to them anyway.

2 March 2002
The Spanish government has prohibited public drinking, and demanded a extra work from the Madrid police to enforce this unpopular law. The police protested, so the national police came in to beat them up. For pictures, see http://www.stlimc.org/front.php3?article_id=1775&group=webcast.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

2 March 2002
Yale Professor David Graeber writes about the NYC World Economic Forum protests.

28 February 2002
The Pentagon announced that few of the al-Qa'ida prisoners captured in Afghanistan will be tried in military courts.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

28 February 2002
Two of the people arrested in recent New York protests describe how the police who detained them twisted and disregarded the law.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

27 February 2002
INTERROGATION AT US BORDER, by John Clarke: a Canadian anti-globalization organizer's report on how US authorities detained him, demanded to know the whereabouts of Osama Bin Laden, and ultimately on no grounds whatsoever refused to let him give a speech in Michigan.

27 February 2002
An inmate in a California prison describes the inhuman and gratuitous cruelty of the guards towards the inmates.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

27 February 2002
Indefinite detention, secret charges and secret trials continue to be used against Arab immigrants in the US.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

27 February 2002
New York Mayor Bloomberg chose to cut spending by the unkindest cut of all, one that falls on the most unfortunate residents of the city--those who collect and recycle discarded soda cans for five cents each.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

27 February 2002
Italian police have raided the office of the Association of Democratic Jurists, an organization of lawyers, looking for videos that give evidence about the Genoa protests.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Loggers are planning to cut down protected redwood trees in California.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

27 February 2002
Zbigniew Brzezinski revealed that the US began in 1979 to fund Islamic military schools in Pakistan designed to train Islamic radicals who would fight the Soviet Union.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

25 February 2002
The Republican Party has threatened to sue EnronOwnsTheGOP.com for using a parody of a Republican Party trademark.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

25 February 2002
Italian police have arrested four Moroccans in an alleged plot to poison the water in Rome. However, the poison they were allegedly planning to use, ferrocyanide, would have been harmlessly diluted if poured into the water supply.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

25 February 2002
A lawsuit against Coca Cola accuses the company of hiring death squads in Colombia to kill union leaders in bottling plants there.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

25 February 2002
In 1990, a bomb exploded in the car of Earth First! activists Judi Bari and Darryl Cheney. The FBI tried to frame them for the bombing, and never tried to find the real bombers. Now Bari and Cheney's lawsuit against the FBI and the Oakland Police is going to court.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

23 February 2002
If you oppose a plan to create a national ID card system by linking state driver license data bases, you can use the ACLU web site to send a free fax to your congressional representatives.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

23 February 2002
A self-styled white bohemian talks about how people like him, moving into a poor neighborhood, can open the door to gentrification that ultimately forces the old residents to leave.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
22 February 2002
US and European corporations fell over each other rushing to help the Chinese government implement effective Internet surveillance.

22 February 2002
The UK government is proposing a system of censorship that would cover any and all discussion of science and technology.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

22 February 2002
Italian police have seized computers used by Indymedia in many cities in Italy, claiming they are aiming to seize audio and video evidence about what happened during protests in Genoa in 2001.

22 February 2002
A funny song about the Mickey Mouse Copyright Act.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

20 February 2002
ECHELON is the name of the US/UK system that spies on nearly all of the world's communications. The US government denied ECHELON's existence, and the CIA used it to disregard laws prohibiting it from spying on Americans, and finally the European Commission exposed it.

20 February 2002
While Bush aims to give the military more money, they can't keep track of what they are already given: money disappears and the loss is covered up.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

20 February 2002
The charges against Noam Chomsky's publisher in Turkey have been dropped, after Chomsky suggested to the Turkish government that they ought to press the same charges against him for having writing the original book.

20 February 2002
The New York Times has published an article detailing the deals made between George W. Bush and Enron while he was governor of Texas, deals that gave Enron state policies favorable to its business.

17 February 2002
Indonesian labor rights activist Dita Indah Sari has rejected a $50,000 human rights award from Reebok in protest against the low salaries Reebok pays Indonesian factory workers.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

17 February 2002
Bush has announced his plan for curbing global warming: don't even try.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

17 February 2002
Utah is passing a law that declares sit-ins as "terrorism".
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

17 February 2002
In the hope of escaping from its anti-trust conviction, Microsoft has given more "soft money" than any other company. One state dropped out of the case against Microsoft after Microsoft made a large campaign contribution to its attorney general.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

17 February 2002
The UK proposes to adopt an "export control bill" for scientific information which includes a system for censorship for any and all areas of science.

14 February 2002
Low-ranking Taliban soldiers, imprisoned in Afghanistan, are being treated inhumanely; some are dying from diseases, and they have no medicine.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

11 February 2002
There is an effort in Germany to oppose surveillance legislation there. See www.stop1984.com.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

9 February 2002
The US is now talking about a repeated war with Iraq.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

9 February 2002
Torturing suspects into false confessions is standard practice in Saudi Arabia.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

9 February 2002
President Bush is proving very reliable: every part of his agenda is sooner or later presented as part of the "war on terrorism." First it was buying instead of saving, then an attack on our civil liberties, then fast-track approval for low-wage treaties, then ballistic missile defense. During the Superbowl, Bush presented the "war on drugs" as a way of fighting terrorism. What is next? Will Ashcroft label Planned Parenthood as a "terrorist organization", and deport every non-citizen who has ever contributed to it? Stay tuned.
[First reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

8 February 2002
Someone to watch over me, a new political article about government surveillance.

The peaceful protests in New York show that the movement against corporate-controlled globalization is still alive.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

8 February 2002
Please support the petition calling on Bush and Cheney to level with us about their contacts with ENRON.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

8 February 2002
The UK government has proposed to require national ID cards.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

8 February 2002
Stopping terrorists before they start, a new political article. Making sure that the CIA does not create new enemies to attack us tomorrow surely deserves high priority in any sincere "War on Terrorism".

8 February 2002
Sinister: a participant in the anti-WEF protests in New York was followed home by police afterward and has no idea why.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

6 February 2002
A journalist for the Independent (London) faces imprisonment in Zimbabwe for participating in a protest against plans to prohibit foreign journalists from operating there.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

5 February 2002
The head of the North Wales police advocates prescribing heroin at no charge to addicts, so that they won't have to steal to pay for drugs.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

4 February 2002
In Bush's Orwellian Address, Jacob Levich points out the chain of resemblances between the policies of President Bush and those described in the book 1984.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

4 February 2002
What nations was Bush referring to when he talked about "a country ruled by an 'unelected few'" and "a regime that has something to hide from the civilized world" in his State of the Union Address?

4 February 2002
New York police attacked peaceful protestors, surrounded groups of them for long periods, and eventually blocked them from going to the prearranged rally site. The violence was committed exclusively by police.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

3 February 2002
Public Citizen urges US voters to contact their senators ASAP to oppose "fast track" for new trade treaties that are designed to surrender democratic government sovereignty to business.
[Second reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

3 February 2002
A controversial play in Jordan makes fun of Osama bin Laden. Many in the audience laugh, but a substantial minority supports him.

3 February 2002
Michael Moore calls on George Bush to resign as president.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

2 February 2002
NARAL asks Americans to contact your senator to oppose the nomination of Charles Pickering to the 5th circuit court of appeals. He has supported constitutional amendments to ban abortion.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

2 February 2002
The extent of dishonest accounting in the US corporate system represents a fundamental error in the Reagan-Bush policy of deregulating business.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
30 January 2002
Chris Davies, a member of the European Parliament from Britain, and Marco Cappato, a member of the European Parliament from Italy, each in turn brought a tiny piece of marijuana to the UK authorities as a protest against prohibition. Each was arrested, and both now face criminal charges although they harmed no one.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

30 January 2002
In 2001, Vice President Cheney designed an energy plan for the US which was very convenient for Enron. Now Cheney refuses to disclose the list of lobbyists that he met with. Meanwhile, in Britain, Blair's government is also being accused of selling influence to Enron for campaign contributions.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

29 January 2002
The governor of New Mexico has proposed a major reform of laws about marijuana. If you know anyone in New Mexico, please draw his or her attention to the issue.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

26 January 2002
A Lebanese militia leader who was involved in massacres 20 years ago in areas under the control of Israeli troops commanded by Ariel Sharon, was murdered two days after he agreed to testify against Sharon, who is now the Prime Minister of Israel.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

26 January 2002
Please sign the petition for justice for the protestors and police of Gothenburg, Sweden.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

25 January 2002
Stallman Does Dallas: "I have to warn you that Texans have been known to have an adverse reaction to my personality . . . "

24 January 2002
Bush has proposed a large increase in military spending, including pay raises for soldiers, reserves to cover the expenses of possible combat, unmanned vehicles, and ballistic missile defense. Some of these make sense, more or less -- but ballistic missile defense? It's clear what is happening here: Bush is at his old tricks.

24 January 2002
The Zimbabwean parliament has rebuffed President Mugabe's proposed journalistic censorship law.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

22 January 2002
The new board of Pacifica Radio has voted to reinstate journalists and shows that the previous board had fired or kicked off the air.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

20 January 2002
Added another link to 11 January note about the Turkish government's repression of dissent: One member of parliament has been serving, since 1994, a 15-year sentence for "membership of an illegal organization." In 1998 this was extended by two years for "inciting racial hatred".
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

19 January 2002
New Political article: The Injustice of Military Courts. Bush has a plan to try alleged terrorists in military courts---courts where the prosecutor, the defense lawyer, and the judges all work for Bush. But accusations against innocent people happen with terrible regularity, and the danger of false convictions in these courts is immense.
[Second reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

18 January 2002
The British government is alarmed about reports that US-held prisoners in Guantanamo Bay are being treated inhumanely -- because some of them are British citizens. I hope that they will press for proper treatment of all the prisoners. The idea is being bruited around that these prisoners may be held permanently without trial if no evidence is found to charge them with crimes, but it occurs to me that this horrible idea might not be a serious proposal: It could be a sort of trial balloon, meant to make unjust military courts seem acceptable by comparison.

16 January 2002
On 19 January in Washington, D.C., there will be a Speak Out Against Terrorism, For Civil Rights in Honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Transportation from New York City is available.

15 January 2002
The speaker of the Iranian parliament has gone on strike, saying that he will not attend parliamentary sessions, because of the conviction and imprisonment of a reformist member of parliament for "insulting the judiciary". The judiciary is controlled by the conservative clerics.

15 January 2002
The al Qa'ida prisoners held by the US include one US citizen and some UK citizens. The US citizen will get a civilian trial that meets (we hope) the highest standards; some UK citizens are being held in Guantanamo Bay and are threatened with a military court. If all these people had both fallen into UK hands, it would be more or less the reverse. Each country now has a double standard for justice.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

11 January 2002
It is suspicious that the US special envoy to the interim Afghan government, Zalmay Khalilzad, was a lobbyist for building an oil pipeline in Afghanistan. Mr Khalilzad also lobbied for the Taliban, which makes him a strange choice for the US National Security Council.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

11 January 2002
The government of Zimbabwe has prohibited criticsm of the president, prohibited political rallies, and prohibited independent election observers. The same laws may also prohibit foreign journalists and require domestic journalists to get government permission. This is apparent preparation for rigging the coming election. The EU is considering imposing sanctions on Zimbabwe.

11 January 2002
The new president of Argentina, Dehualde, is devaluing the peso, but with a twist designed to avoid bankrupting non-rich citizens who have debts measured in dollars. Dollar debts under a certain limit will be converted automatically to pesos, so that a person's debt will change along with his or her income. It might work. However, Dehualde is also a corruption suspect.

11 January 2002
A publisher in Turkey has been charged of the crime of "propaganda against the state". for publishing a Turkish translation of essays by Noam Chomsky that (among many other topics) criticize repression against the Kurds in Turkey.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

5 January 2002
National borders are increasingly cordonning off parts of the Internet.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

2 January 2002
After the anthrax scare, you'd expect the US to give strong support to a proposed treaty to restrict biological weapons. Instead it abruptly terminated the negotiations, killing the treaty completely. For more information, see the Sunshine Project.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

1 January 2002
Winn-Dixie is trying to close down the site www.shameonwinndixie.com (now .org) by threatening a lawsuit for trademark infringement.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
: IMF's Four Steps to Damnation

Amy Kalinowski has written an interesting letter to the Canadian Prime Minister about the Quebec protests.

The shrub is already making big payoffs to his campaign contributors--at the expense of public safety and the national interest.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Amnesty International has taken up the cause of the Quebec protestors attacked by police. Alas, it's not just countries like China and Iran that oppress political dissidents. See the announcement.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Who owns the law? In many states, a company owns part of the law, and you have to pay them an arm and a leg to find out what is legal for you to do.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

The US is using biological weapons in South America as part of the "War on drugs", and at the same time shows signs of pulling out of the negotiations for stronger controls on biological weapons, according to the Sunshine Project.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

On the evening of Saturday, April 21, 2001, a day during which tens of thousands demonstrated against the FTAA in the streets of Quebec City, the Independent Media Center in Seattle was served with a sealed court order by two FBI agents and an agent of the US Secret Service. The terms of the sealed order prevented IMC volunteers from publicizing its terms; volunteers immediately began discussions with legal counsel to amend the order. You can read more about it.

A new US patent, awarded to Monsanto on 16 January 2001, has blind-sided biotech scientists and threatens to knee-cap public sector research because it gives Monsanto exclusive monopoly rights on a crucial method of identifying modified plant cells in the laboratory. You can read more about the issue at this page on rafi.org.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Cops Arrest Crime Victim
On 19/04/01, during a British Critical Mass cycle action in Bristol, a cyclist was arrested after he was run down by a car. The police's reason? Alleged criminal damage to the car!!

In March 2001, scientist Ian Thomas was fired by the US Geological Survey for posting a map on the Internet showing where in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve the caribou give birth. His web site, containing over 20,000 maps, was disconnected. This appears to be an act of political censorship by the Bush administration, which advocates opening that reserve to oil drilling and does not want government scientists to make available information that might show the drawbacks of the plan.
Thomas has made some of the maps available on his own web site, and has filed a Freedom of Information Act request to get the rest.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

The Canadian government prevented large numbers of US citizens from entering Canada, on suspicion that they are planning to join in protests against the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas. A wall was built around the center of Quebec City to keep protesters away. The antidemocratic suppression of public protest is now a standard part of the effort to impose these antidemocratic treaties.

Phone In Sick Day was moved to April 20 in Canada in 2001--so people can participate in the Quebec protest. In the US, Phone In Sick Day was on May 1 as usual.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Quebec prosecutors are quitting a team that the provincial government has set up concerning protests planned for the Summit of the Americas. The prosecutors accuse the provincial government of political interference.

An article by Naomi Klein called Quebec City Keeping Us Out Before We Get There talks about protestors being scared away from the Summit of the Americas.

Before you buy a Harry Potter book, read about how Warner Brothers is attacking fan web sites, and maybe you will change your mind. This is not an isolated case--read a long list of cases where powerful companies and institutions are grabbing domain names from their satirists, from their fans, and from people who coincidentally use the same name.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

When a neo-Nazi party entered the government of Austria a couple of years ago, there was a brief commotion. Then their leader stepped aside, and the rest of Europe treated that as sufficient.
What have they been doing since the world's attention was taken away? They have been acting like Nazis--encouraging racism and police violence. There is a real problem in Austria.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Nike allows you to personalize your shoes with a message. Jonah H. Peretti tried to add the word "sweatshop" to his shoes, and they refused.

Pat Schroeder (former Congressional Representative from Colorado), who helped to make it a crime to give people free software to play DVDs they have bought, is now leading a campaign to turn public libraries into retail pay-per-view outlets
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

For an analysis of the various illegalities and frauds used in the theft of the Florida election (and thus, of the US presidential election as a whole), see here.

The companies that make software to filter web access, often block a wide variety of sites--not just porn, but politics as well. Not surprisingly, they refuse to reveal which sites they block. Hackers who figured out ways to extract the list from the program have been attacked with lawsuits, and defended by the ACLU. The ACLU fights constantly to defend Americans' civil liberties, and they need your support.
[First reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
(I joined the ACLU in 1988, when Daddy Bush called Governor Dukakis a "card-carrying member" of the ACLU--in effect saying that upholding the US Constitution was equivalent to being a Communist. Bush showed his real views of freedom, and this convinced me I ought to join the ACLU as a statement of support for them against this vicious calumny. I've heard many other people joined at the same time.)

Deportees being flown from Europe to other countries have been tortured by border guards while on the plane. A number of the victims have died before getting off the plane. Some European airlines are now refusing to carry such "passengers", but Lufthansa continues to seek this lucrative business.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

NAFTA has been so successful at cutting wages in the US, and destroying working conditions in Mexico, that politicians are aiming to extend NAFTA to South America if we don't stop them.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Here is an explanation of the Supreme Court decision that ruled against counting the votes in Florida, with a suggestion for what to do about it.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Billionaires for Bush (or Gore) urged people to vote for either George Bush or Al Gore. "We don't care which, we already bought both of them."
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Do politician's comments refer to a reality? Do they "mean" anything? Nowadays, some politicians don't see a need for that.

In November 2000, Democracy Now! -- Pacifica Radio's national news magazine and an important source of alternative news and views on many issues -- was under threat from Pacifica's management. Learn more at http://www.fair.org/activism/democracy-now.html.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

The Free Burma Coalition asking Americans in Nov 2000 to write to President Clinton asking him to ban imports of garments from Burma. These garments Burma exports are made in factories run by the military dictatorship, using effectively slave labor.

In late 2000 I learned that a leading Pakistani rationalist, Dr. Younus Shaikh, is being prosecuted for blasphemy, a crime that carries a death sentence in Pakistan. The hysteria was such that for a long time he could not find a lawyer willing to defend him.
This case is likely to continue for a long time. Please help Dr. Shaikh by writing to the government of Pakistan to express your concern about the case.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

The Korean government is proposing a law to regulate the Internet in Korea, which would impose censorship rules and is bad for citizens' privacy.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

The DEA is planning to prohibit hemp-based products such as soap, which are not drugs at all, on the grounds that they interfere with drug tests for marijuana. This shows how sick and twisted the war on drugs is making the US: even the tools of enforcement are now considered more important than mere daily life. (Whatever drugs that war is on must be very dangerous.)
Please visit the site for the campaign to block these regulations, www.SaveHemp.org, and please help and inform others.
(I received an interesting letter in response to this issue.)

The Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility is having its annual conference in Pennsylvania, Oct 14-15. Its theme is ``Reconstructing Privacy in the Information Age''.

Americans United for the Separation of Church and State has chided Senator Lieberman, the Democratic candidate for vice president, for extremely religious campaign rhetoric, injecting religion into the campaign in a way we would normally expect only from right-wing fundamentalists.
Americans United sent Lieberman an open letter asking him to ask voters to consider his record, not his religion.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
I've been a member of Americans United for several years.

In 1999 the US Congress proposed a law requiring every bank to establish a ``know your customer'' program to report all unusual deposits to the government--in effect, snooping on the customer. When combined with the practice known as ``civil forfeiture'', which means that the government can seize ``suspicious'' assets without even having a trial, these programs actually threaten to take away your bank account.
Strong public opposition blocked that bill, and ``know your customer'' programs did not become mandatory. But over 80 percent of US banks have them voluntarily. That is better than 100 percent, but not good.
I have an idea for how to bring about some change in this. It involves setting up a web site where people can record which banks have these programs and which do not. People can ask their own banks, and then record the answers.
Then people who don't want the extra risk of civil forfeiture, or object to big-brotherism, can use the data base to find a local bank which doesn't squeal on its law-abiding customers--and move their deposits to that bank.
I don't have time to set this up, and I don't know how either. But I hope I can get someone else interested. If you are interested in setting this up, and you know how, please send me mail. (People are working on this now, so if you want to help, please contact me rather than starting on your own.)

The Consumer Project on Technology is organizing an Open Access protest in Washington DC, Thursday July 27. The issue will surely continue to be important past that date.
[First reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Alongside the Republican and Democratic political conventions in 2000, there were "shadow conventions" sponsored by the Marijuana Policy Project, calling for an end to the War on Drugs.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
If you think a drug is dangerous, you can avoid the risk by not using it. But you cannot avoid the many dangers of the War on Drugs--a million Americans in prison (largely for nonviolent "possession of drugs" crimes), no money for education because prison comes first, our police corrupted, and our civil liberties undermined.

A Korean protest parody site has been shut down as a copyright violation. The site was set up by workers who were fired, and then not rehired despite a court order to rehire them. Eventually they set up a protest parody site criticizing the employer, POSCO. POSCO sued them for copyright infringement and succeeded, forcing their site to be taken down. Now there is a world-wide campaign to set up mirrors of the site. I have set up a mirror as part of this campaign.

You might enjoy Ask Dr Laura that is floating around on the net.

On April 25, 2000, the Marijuana Policy Project reported that Hawaii has enacted a law removing criminal penalties for medical use of marijuana (which can help cancer patients tolerate the harsh side effects of many cancer treatments).
For some 20 years the U.S. has been the target of a crazed War on Drugs. Around a million people are in prison in the U.S. today for drug-related "crimes". Often the crime was simply to sell or use drugs--activities that would not be crimes at all if we end this war. Sometimes the crime was an act of violence--which should be a crime, but typically would not have happened if prohibition did not drive the drug trade into the hands of gangsters. (In the 1920s, the illegal sellers of alcohol committed many notorious violent crimes--but today's brewers, distilleries and liquor stores are law-abiding.) Our civil liberties are constantly threatened by plans to make this war "more effective".
When a war is on drugs, it tends to forget who the enemy is, and attack citizens indiscriminately. Let's get the war off drugs.

If you work for the corporate world, you may be interested in celebrating Phone In Sick Day on May 1.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
RTMark explains the holiday this way:

To bring an important American holiday back home.
Mayday commemorates ten Americans who lost their lives fighting for the eight-hour [work] day, and their sacrifice has been celebrated since 1889 nearly everywhere in the world *except* America.
To call attention to the loss of the eight-hour day and other quality-of-life indices in America.
Mayday heralds the approach of summer, a time that still means "vacation" to those in most First-World nations. But substantial vacations, like the eight-hour day, have passed into American leisure history. While the average number of hours worked per year has gone down throughout the First World, it has gone up in America, with Americans now working six weeks more per year than they did in 1973 to achieve the same standard of living. Phoning in sick en masse will function as a "mayday" distress call by increasingly harried Americans. (Visit http://rtmark.com/sickday.html to see Andrei Codrescu explain this most eloquently.)
[rms note: We used to expect technology to provide increased leisure time. I believe it could, if society were not dominated by business and business owners.]
To call attention to the dwindling quality of life everywhere.
The erosion of leisure is no longer limited to America. As European countries are increasingly forced to dismantle social programs and adopt American-style measures to benefit corporate health, we can be sure that they will all go the way of the United States: two-month vacations will shrink to two weeks, maternity leave will go from six months to five days, etc. Therefore RTMark encourages Europeans, and other First Worlders for whom May 1 is already a holiday, to phone in sick on May 2. (In the Third World, of course, the effects of neoliberalism are unspeakably worse than a mere erosion of leisure; it would be tasteless to suggest that phoning in sick might accomplish anything there.)

Taslima Nasrin, a Humanist from Bangladesh, was threatened with religious murder for criticizing such things as persecution of Hindus and the injustice of Islamic law. She was officially charged with the crime of ``blasphemy''. She is now in exile.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
The right to criticize, or even ridicule, any religion or religion in general is part of human rights. No religion or church is entitled to suppress criticism--not Islam, not the Church of Scientology, not even the Church of Emacs.
10 May 2002
US citizens: the Senate Judiciary Committee is blocking Bush plans to pack US courts with antiabortion campaigners. Please tell them to keep up the good work.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

10 May 2002
The union that represents the staff of the European Patent Office has denounced the European Patent Office for disregarding laws and rejecting democratic control.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

10 May 2002
The EU is considering a mass-surveillance directive to require all telecommunications companies to keep long-lived records of who communicates with whom, via telephone or email.

10 May 2002
"The Kept University", an article fromm the Atlantic Monthly, explained in 2000 how corporate funding is corrupting academia.

10 May 2002
The Burmese military government has released Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest. Aung San Suu Kyi is the leader of the Burmese democracy movement, and was elected president of Burma but prevented by the military government from taking office.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

6 May 2002
GATS, the General Agreement on Trade in Services, threatens to give multinational corporations additional power to restrict the way countries protect their environment, public health, water supplies, and give them the power to sue governments for any laws that inconvenience them.

6 May 2002
At a May Day protest in Berkeley California, an undercover cop disguised as a protester attacked an Indymedia photographer, threw him into a police line to be arrested, and then walked away from the protest as if nothing happened.

5 May 2002
Israel did not allow the UN team to investigate what happened at Jenin refugee camp, but a Dutch investigator says there is no evidence of a massacre.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

5 May 2002
A report says that police can now identify people from DNA in the droplets of moisture in their breath.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

5 May 2002
The US Military is asking Congress to exempt it from a wide range of environmental protection laws.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

5 May 2002
A Norwegian member of parliament is asking for a Nobel Peace Prize for President Bush.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

5 May 2002
A proposed Spanish law to regulate the Internet would allow officials to close any web site.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

5 May 2002
Some states appoint judges; some, such as Texas, have elected judges. A study shows that elected judges are biased against out-of-state defendants.

2 May 2002
Many activists from Milwaukee were prevented from flying to Washington DC for a protest in April because their names were found in a database of suspects that airlines check before each flight.

2 May 2002
A rape victim in Pakistan has been sentenced to death by stoning as a punishment for being a victim.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

2 May 2002
A petition campaign tries to "save General Motors from itself", by pressuring it to start developing fuel-efficient cars so that the company won't tank when it costs more to fill your tank.

30 April 2002
It appears there may not have been an a massacre in the Jenin refugee camp, as was previously charged. Allegations of forcing civilians to act as human shields remain.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

30 April 2002
On Hacking: In June 2000, while visiting Korea, I did a fun hack that clearly illustrates the original and true meaning of the word "hacker".

30 April 2002
This article explores how the US defines "democracy", using the attempted coup against Chévez in Venezuela as a lens.

30 April 2002
The last three months have been the warmest ever recorded.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

30 April 2002
Recently the US arranged the ouster Jose Bustani as head of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, based on trumped-up accusations and violating the organisation's procedures. The Guardian (London) reports on the threats that the US made and investigates possible reasons.

30 April 2002
RENTCAS has united 30,000 volunteers to help fight smuggling of animals in Brazil.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

30 April 2002
Please support the call for justice for the protestors of Gothenburg.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

30 April 2002
Spain has blocked a reform of EU fishing rules intended to prevent overfishing that is killing fish faster than they can reproduce.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

30 April 2002
Amnesty International has called for a war crimes investigation into the Israeli invasion of the Jenin refugee camp.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

30 April 2002
Even as Bush talks about the danger of weapons of mass destruction in terrorist hands, the Bush administration is trying to remove the head of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). The reason: he tries to examine chemical warfare facilities in the United States just like chemical warfare facilities in other countries.
Earlier in April the Bush administration arranged for the removal of the head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Leaked papers released by the NRDC show that ExxonMobil and other businesses were calling the shots.

23 April 2002
Guatemalan peasants have seized a number of large plantations, protesting the unfair distribution of farmland.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

23 April 2002
Here's an article about the work that the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty does to aid poor people in Ontario.
[Second reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

21 April 2002
Smuggled film shows the Chinese destruction of a monestary in Tibet because its popularity was considered unacceptable.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

21 April 2002
The destruction in Jenin was more complete than an earthquake, yet the Israelis have not allowed in any heavy lifting equipment, so the Palestinians dug out the bodies with their hands.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

20 April 2002
Contact Congress now to say that East Timor should receive donations, not loans.

20 April 2002
Hundreds of thousands protested business-driven globalization in Barcelona, Spain in mid-March on the occasion of the EU summit. Police restrained themselves from attacking the protestors for part of the week, but eventually gave in to their bloody urges
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

20 April 2002
A peace group in Israel chronicles daily the cruelty committed by the Israeli army against Palestinians. In the April 11 article we read about civilians used as human shields, and sick people who are dying because they are not allowed to go to a hospital. In the April 12 article we read about people denied access to food and water, and buildings demolished with people inside them.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]
There are also reports that the Israeli army committed mass murder against helpless civilians in Jenin.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

20 April 2002
Research which purported to show that use of MDMA ("ecstasy") damages the brain was so flawed as to be worthless.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

20 April 2002
French and Spanish investigators want to question Henry Kissinger to see what he knew about the 1970s "Condor plan", a conspiracy among Latin-American dictators to eliminate their political opponents.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

20 April 2002
Further evidence of Israeli army atrocities in Jenin has emerged, as well as reports that soldiers used civilians as human shields (i.e. hostages), and demolished 3-story buildings with many people inside them.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
Ariel Sharon is on trial in Belgium for his role in atrocities in Lebanon in the 80s. Read how he described his history of violence against Arabs.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

20 April 2002
There are reports that US officials met with the Venezuelan coup plotters before the coup, and a suspicion that they encouraged it.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

20 April 2002
A general strike shut down most business in Italy on April 16. 2 million people joined protests against Berlusconi regime.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

20 April 2002
The Dutch prime minister and his entire cabinet have resigned because of a report holding his government partly responsible for the massacres of unarmed Bosnians at Srebrenica in 1995.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

20 April 2002
Users were recenly shocked to discover that the KaZaa peer-to-peer software includes a distributed computing facility that enables KaZaa's business partner to sell access to the user's own computer.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

20 April 2002
Representative McKinney calls for an investigation into the unpreparedness of US response on September 11 and whether companies tied to Bush have influenced government policy.

20 April 2002
The British government has given up on plans to eliminate the right to a jury trial for crimes such as burglary and assault.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

20 April 2002
The short-lived coup against Venezuela's President Chavez was planned for months by military officers, and comes out of an opposition movement funded by Venezuelan conservatives in Florida.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

18 April 2002
Good Fences Make Good Neighbors. I was shocked to learn recently that there is no border fence dividing Israel from the occupied Palestinian territories.

18 April 2002
Today's higher oil prices are beneficial because they encourage more efficient use.

17 April 2002
The IMF "rescues" countries by making them sign secret agreements to sell off government assets for far less than they are worth.

16 April 2002
New article about the deposed, then reinstated, president of Venezuela.

16 April 2002
Gore Vidal's book, "Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace: How We Got to Be So Hated," argues that, contrary to what President Bush told a joint session of Congress, the Islamic world doesn't hate us because of our freedoms: it hates the US because of its policies towards the Islamic world.

16 April 2002
It's not just a danger, it's a fact: using terrorism as an excuse, police have seized records about Americans hundreds of thousands of times, and the rate is doubling every month.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

16 April 2002
US voters, please contact Congress ASAP to oppose a right-wing bill that would make it a crime to accompany a teen-age girl to another state to get an abortion. Even a grandparent or a sister could be prosecuted.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

15 April 2002
Australia finds a tobacco company guilty of destroying the evidence for a lawsuit filed by a dying smoker.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

13 April 2002
Precisely how the Bush team stole the Florida election is documented.

13 April 2002
ENRON wasn't the first client for which Andersen was caught cooking the books. It ought to be prosecuted now.

10 April 2002
How Bush's extremist rhetoric encourages Sharon to ignore Bush when Bush says to stop.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

10 April 2002
Bill Moyers reports on how Bush has blocked public access to presidential papers from the Reagan administration which according to the law were supposed to be released.

9 April 2002
Americans: call Congress on April 10 and 11 to oppose military aid to Indonesia.

9 April 2002
An article by John Pilger about the possibility of war in Iraq, and about the facts that belie Bush's campaign for war.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

6 April 2002
The UK plans to prohibit employers from monitoring personal email sent and received by the staff on the company's computers.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
Added 2018-02-01: According to this briefing, "The Code does not have the force of law, but rather provides the Commissioner's own views on how organizations can comply with the UK Data Protection Act 1998."

6 April 2002
I received a very disturbing message which says that UK police have blocked the availability of any hosting for the web site for the May Day Festival of Alternatives. (Press release)

6 April 2002
A former prime minister of New Zealand accused Dan Quayle, US Vice President under Bush Sr, of threatening to assassinate him.

5 April 2002
Charges were dropped on April 2 against two members of the Edible Ballot Society. But because the judge did not question the idea that it was a crime in Canada to eat one's own ballot, we cannot assume that four others accused of the crime of ballot-eating are out of danger.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

5 April 2002
When Tony Blair started talking of making the UK follow the US into war with Iraq, his party began refusing to go along.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

4 April 2002
US newspapers published photos of John Walker Lindh naked, blindfolded and tied up, but the real danger he and other detainees face is that of imprisonment for life without trial. The Bush administration calls them "combatants", but that concept presupposes a real war which can have a distinct end. Bush's "war against terrorism" is defined such that no one can ever tell if it has ended. To have an end to the war, we need a president who has no stake in it. We need to make sure Dubya loses his second presidential election more clearly than he lost the first one.

4 April 2002
A former UK Secretary of State for Defense clearly explains the harm caused by US bias in the Middle East.

2 April 2002
Tomato farm workers in Florida have launched a protest campaign against Taco Bell which uses many of the tomatoes they grow.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

2 April 2002
The government of Bolivia has tried to impose a number of harsh policies that provoked popular uprisings. There is evidence that they are dictated in detail by the US government.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

1 April 2002
When police say "No witnesses", one must suspect they are up to some kind of dirty work that they don't want to admit to the public. An encounter in a Paris airport.

1 April 2002
There are reports that Israeli soldiers are keeping the press out of Ramallah at gunpoint and shooting at marked press vehicles.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

31 March 2002
Does low pay mean more jobs? Locally, sometimes yes, but globally it does not.

31 March 2002
The Marijuana Policy Project won its lawsuit to get permission to put a medical marijuana initiative question on the ballot in Washington DC. Now they need funds to mount a signature drive so that they can actually put such a question on the ballot in November.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

31 March 2002
371 people were arrested in Montreal on March 15 for protesting police brutality there.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

31 March 2002
When a high school student in Oklahoma wore Wiccan symbols to school, the school suspended her and accused her of casting a spell that made her teacher sick. The ACLU is suing them.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

31 March 2002
Global warming of .6 degrees centigrade has already caused numerous ecological changes including the spread of various mosquito-borne diseases.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

31 March 2002
According to an article in Scientific American, de-facto slavery remains widespread in the modern world, usually based on convincing its victims and the surrounding society that their enslavement is legitimate.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

31 March 2002
The US government is asking the Supreme Court to overturn a decision that compensates the Navajo tribe for natural resources mined on their property, on the grounds that if all the Indian tribes demand to be paid what the government owes them, that would be too expensive.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

31 March 2002
Plans are advancing to implant chips in people for surveillance purposes.

31 March 2002
According to Fox News, police arrested a Fox reporter and confiscated a videotape, but they went to court and were able to get it back.

28 March 2002
The Coalition for a Just Cincinnati, has called for a boycott of the city. This is a response to persistent racism, and police violence which extends as far as murder. Now a business group involved in renting auditoriums in Cincinnati has sued the Coalition on the grounds that the boycott has reduced their income.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

28 March 2002
In an act of prudish bigotry, college student Leilani Rios was expelled from the track team because she works as a stripper.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

28 March 2002
A genetic modification in corn, which causes allergies in some people and was only supposed to be used for animal feed, is spreading by natural cross-pollenation into the human food chain.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

28 March 2002
The UK government has been caught not once, but twice, telling out-and-out lies in order to build public support for sending troops to Afghanistan and Iraq.
[Second reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

24 March 2002
About Those Polls: Do 80% of Americans Really Support Bush?

24 March 2002
In Italy, right-wing terrorists supported by the CIA helped stop rise of the left in the 60s and 70s. One "anarchist" who was actually working for the security forces even went so far as to throw a grenade into a crowd and kill people.

24 March 2002
A law is being rammed through in Alberta, Canada to prohibit teachers from striking, and rules out bargaining about working conditions. As a protest, teachers are discontinuing the after-school activities that they have done as volunteers. Others plan to quit.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

23 March 2002
A US government report details the way various laws are used to suppress freedom of political dissent in the Czech Republic.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

23 March 2002
A policy of not arresting anyone for possession of marijuana has helped cut robbery and burglary in a high-crime area of London.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

23 March 2002
Bush plans for military courts for terrorist suspects have at least two glaring flaws. Instead of a jury, the verdict is to be decided by part-time judges, soldiers who take orders from Bush. Appeals are directed to more soldiers, and then Bush himself.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

23 March 2002
Asa Hutchinson, administrator of the Drug Enforcement Agency, gave a speech at a bookstore last week, but refused to address the question asked by Lawrence Silberman, who uses marijuana to reduce the side effects of his cancer treatment. His question: "Do you think people like myself should be arrested, sir?"
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

22 March 2002
The Bush administration has plans to develop a new kind of nuclear bomb designed to attack facilities deep underground.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

22 March 2002
Making integrated circuit chips is a dangerous business--dangerous for the employees. The companies have tried to block studies which would determine just how dangerous.

22 March 2002
International pressure is bringing Zimbabwe's President Mugabe to the verge of making concessions to the opposition, which objects to the recent unfair election and antidemocratic laws.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

22 March 2002
As "Blackhawk Down" plays on the screen, a group of helpless Americans are trapped in Somalia once again. But this time it is Bush and his men who have trapped them there and prevent them from returning home.

21 March 2002
Saudi religious police prevented girls from leaving a burning school building because they were not wearing proper Islamic dress.

20 March 2002
The Senate Judiciary Committee has rejected a Bush nominee, Judge Pickering, in response to a campaign organized by abortion rights organizations such as NARAL.

19 March 2002
Bush's proposal for increased foreign aid is a minute step in the right direction.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

17 March 2002
A French court has attacked freedom of speech in the US by laying criminal charges against an former executive of Yahoo, because some users of Yahoo's auction site sell Nazi memorabilia.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

17 March 2002
Kalle Jungkvist, legally responsible for the publication of the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet under Swedish law, was convicted on March 7 for "agitation against an ethnic group" because of comments posted on Aftonbladet's discussion website by Nazi sympathizers. The court ruled that Aftonbladet (and hence Kalle Jungkvist) is guilty of a crime for not censoring them in advance.

17 March 2002
The Australian government knew about and concealed Indonesian military plans for massacres in East Timor.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
The East Timor Action Network, which brought the Indonesian occupation of East Timor to the world's attention, asks Americans to ask Congress to keep the pressure on the Indonesian military to punish the generals responsible for these crimes of mass murder.

17 March 2002
The Spanish opposition web site nodo50, which publishes criticism of government policy and organizes public protests, details how the Spanish police have been infiltrating their mailing lists, while demonizing them as terrorists in the media.

17 March 2002
Marijuana is less dangerous than alcohol, found the British Advisory Council on Misuse of Drugs.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

17 March 2002
The censorware installed in US public libraries, supposedly to block access to sites that prudes find offensive, has the side effect of blocking access to a important archive of the history of the web.

16 March 2002
Human Rights in the US, and in China, a new political article about a Chinese government report detailing human rights violations in the US.
[Second reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

16 March 2002
The US recently endorsed for the first time, without fanfare, the idea of a Palestinian state.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

16 March 2002
A British columnist discusses the flimsy evidence Bush et al offer to justify threatened attacks on various countries.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

16 March 2002
50,000 workers in the Daqing oil fields in China have formed an independent union and are holding protests against dismissals.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

16 March 2002
The movie Guilt by Association, shown March 13 (9pm) on Court TV, dramatizes the effect of drug prohibition combined with mandatory sentencing policies. It talks about Families against Mandatory Minimums which opposes mandatory sentencing policies.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

16 March 2002
The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted a motion by the hemp industry to block the DEA's new hemp ban from taking effect until the court has an opportunity to hold a hearing on the matter. This is partly the result of people who visited http://www.savehemp.org

16 March 2002
The Asociación Contra la Tortura posted a list of Spanish police who were taken to court for acts of torture. The Agencia de Protección de Datos, which enforces that law, decided that the ACT's web site was a "data base", and therefore that the names of police sued or charged with torture could not be mentioned on the web site without their permission. The site was shut down. The ACT's pages are available in mirror sites, but the Agencia de Proteccin de Datos continues trying to shut them down in countries that have similar "privacy" laws. Meanwhile, groups that support Spanish government policies publish information on their web site about individuals who support Basque independence, but the APD does not try shut them down. Amnesty International has criticized Spain for pardoning torturers and giving medals to them. The 2001 Amnesty International report on Spain and the 1999 report provide background information on the practice of torture by Spanish police.
[References 1 and 3-6 updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

16 March 2002
Over 100 Israeli reserve officers have refused to serve in the occupied territories on moral grounds.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

16 March 2002
An interesting article on old "triracial isolate" ethnic communities in the US, and their origins and history.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

10 March 2002
When 50,000 protestors marched in Barcelona in June 2001, to protest the World Bank, the Spanish police sent in disguised police, who pretended to be protestors and started a fight. The fake protestors faded away as police attacked the real ones. In the weeks before the demonstration, police had mounted a campaign of harrassment, stopping people for no reason and demanding to see their papers.

10 March 2002
The New York Surveillance Camera Players do street theater to call attention to the surveillance cameras that the NYPD uses to monitor subversive activities such as democratic protest.

10 March 2002
The leader of the British barristers' organization warns of the danger of a police state if legal safeguards for the accused are abolished for the sake of streamlining trials.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

6 March 2002
Bush has attempted to shred the Freedom of Information Act by ordering government departments to resist requests for information.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

6 March 2002
Companies are filing frequent libel lawsuits to silence people who criticize them on the Internet.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

6 March 2002
The MAUSS group, in France, takes its name from Marcel Mauss, the anthropologist who wrote about "gift economies". Much more radical is Socialism As It Was Always Meant To Be, by Michael Albert and Robin Hahnel.
[Second reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

6 March 2002
The College Art Association plans to file an amicus brief when the Supreme Court considers the constitutionality of the Sonny Bono Copyright Act. If you can help, please read more and then contact the CAA.

4 March 2002
China has imposed strict new censorship rules on political journalism.

4 March 2002
The interior minister of Spain is threatening to suspend freedom of movement in order to prevent protests, which he regards as an enemy of society. An editorial in El Mundo points out his duty is to protect the people's right to protest.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

4 March 2002
The director of Telemadrid, the public radio and television station in Madrid, has been fired for airing a program which presented the views of peaceful Basque nationalists.

4 March 2002
Bush tries to limit Senate investigation of why the Sep 11 attacks were not prevented.

4 March 2002
Major Corporations Considering Relocating To Axis Of Evil.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

4 March 2002
Residents in an East Baltimore neighborhood where the city has allowed trash to pile up for years finally got some attention after they peacefully carried the trash into a nearby street. The city has pressed charges of "inciting to riot."

4 March 2002
Radio Onda Rossa in Rome, a left-wing station, uses a frequency which it took over, several years ago, from a commercial station that had gone bankrupt and stopped transmitting years earlier. Now the bankrupt station has come back from the grave, and demanded the frequency back. but the telecommunications ministry decided to hand it back to them anyway.

2 March 2002
The Spanish government has prohibited public drinking, and demanded a extra work from the Madrid police to enforce this unpopular law. The police protested, so the national police came in to beat them up. For pictures, see http://www.stlimc.org/front.php3?article_id=1775&group=webcast.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

2 March 2002
Yale Professor David Graeber writes about the NYC World Economic Forum protests.

28 February 2002
The Pentagon announced that few of the al-Qa'ida prisoners captured in Afghanistan will be tried in military courts.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

28 February 2002
Two of the people arrested in recent New York protests describe how the police who detained them twisted and disregarded the law.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

27 February 2002
INTERROGATION AT US BORDER, by John Clarke: a Canadian anti-globalization organizer's report on how US authorities detained him, demanded to know the whereabouts of Osama Bin Laden, and ultimately on no grounds whatsoever refused to let him give a speech in Michigan.

27 February 2002
An inmate in a California prison describes the inhuman and gratuitous cruelty of the guards towards the inmates.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

27 February 2002
Indefinite detention, secret charges and secret trials continue to be used against Arab immigrants in the US.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

27 February 2002
New York Mayor Bloomberg chose to cut spending by the unkindest cut of all, one that falls on the most unfortunate residents of the city--those who collect and recycle discarded soda cans for five cents each.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

27 February 2002
Italian police have raided the office of the Association of Democratic Jurists, an organization of lawyers, looking for videos that give evidence about the Genoa protests.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

Loggers are planning to cut down protected redwood trees in California.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

27 February 2002
Zbigniew Brzezinski revealed that the US began in 1979 to fund Islamic military schools in Pakistan designed to train Islamic radicals who would fight the Soviet Union.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

25 February 2002
The Republican Party has threatened to sue EnronOwnsTheGOP.com for using a parody of a Republican Party trademark.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

25 February 2002
Italian police have arrested four Moroccans in an alleged plot to poison the water in Rome. However, the poison they were allegedly planning to use, ferrocyanide, would have been harmlessly diluted if poured into the water supply.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

25 February 2002
A lawsuit against Coca Cola accuses the company of hiring death squads in Colombia to kill union leaders in bottling plants there.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

25 February 2002
In 1990, a bomb exploded in the car of Earth First! activists Judi Bari and Darryl Cheney. The FBI tried to frame them for the bombing, and never tried to find the real bombers. Now Bari and Cheney's lawsuit against the FBI and the Oakland Police is going to court.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

23 February 2002
If you oppose a plan to create a national ID card system by linking state driver license data bases, you can use the ACLU web site to send a free fax to your congressional representatives.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

23 February 2002
A self-styled white bohemian talks about how people like him, moving into a poor neighborhood, can open the door to gentrification that ultimately forces the old residents to leave.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
22 February 2002
US and European corporations fell over each other rushing to help the Chinese government implement effective Internet surveillance.

22 February 2002
The UK government is proposing a system of censorship that would cover any and all discussion of science and technology.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

22 February 2002
Italian police have seized computers used by Indymedia in many cities in Italy, claiming they are aiming to seize audio and video evidence about what happened during protests in Genoa in 2001.

22 February 2002
A funny song about the Mickey Mouse Copyright Act.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

20 February 2002
ECHELON is the name of the US/UK system that spies on nearly all of the world's communications. The US government denied ECHELON's existence, and the CIA used it to disregard laws prohibiting it from spying on Americans, and finally the European Commission exposed it.

20 February 2002
While Bush aims to give the military more money, they can't keep track of what they are already given: money disappears and the loss is covered up.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

20 February 2002
The charges against Noam Chomsky's publisher in Turkey have been dropped, after Chomsky suggested to the Turkish government that they ought to press the same charges against him for having writing the original book.

20 February 2002
The New York Times has published an article detailing the deals made between George W. Bush and Enron while he was governor of Texas, deals that gave Enron state policies favorable to its business.

17 February 2002
Indonesian labor rights activist Dita Indah Sari has rejected a $50,000 human rights award from Reebok in protest against the low salaries Reebok pays Indonesian factory workers.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

17 February 2002
Bush has announced his plan for curbing global warming: don't even try.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

17 February 2002
Utah is passing a law that declares sit-ins as "terrorism".
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

17 February 2002
In the hope of escaping from its anti-trust conviction, Microsoft has given more "soft money" than any other company. One state dropped out of the case against Microsoft after Microsoft made a large campaign contribution to its attorney general.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

17 February 2002
The UK proposes to adopt an "export control bill" for scientific information which includes a system for censorship for any and all areas of science.

14 February 2002
Low-ranking Taliban soldiers, imprisoned in Afghanistan, are being treated inhumanely; some are dying from diseases, and they have no medicine.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

11 February 2002
There is an effort in Germany to oppose surveillance legislation there. See www.stop1984.com.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

9 February 2002
The US is now talking about a repeated war with Iraq.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

9 February 2002
Torturing suspects into false confessions is standard practice in Saudi Arabia.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

9 February 2002
President Bush is proving very reliable: every part of his agenda is sooner or later presented as part of the "war on terrorism." First it was buying instead of saving, then an attack on our civil liberties, then fast-track approval for low-wage treaties, then ballistic missile defense. During the Superbowl, Bush presented the "war on drugs" as a way of fighting terrorism. What is next? Will Ashcroft label Planned Parenthood as a "terrorist organization", and deport every non-citizen who has ever contributed to it? Stay tuned.
[First reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

8 February 2002
Someone to watch over me, a new political article about government surveillance.

The peaceful protests in New York show that the movement against corporate-controlled globalization is still alive.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

8 February 2002
Please support the petition calling on Bush and Cheney to level with us about their contacts with ENRON.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

8 February 2002
The UK government has proposed to require national ID cards.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

8 February 2002
Stopping terrorists before they start, a new political article. Making sure that the CIA does not create new enemies to attack us tomorrow surely deserves high priority in any sincere "War on Terrorism".

8 February 2002
Sinister: a participant in the anti-WEF protests in New York was followed home by police afterward and has no idea why.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

6 February 2002
A journalist for the Independent (London) faces imprisonment in Zimbabwe for participating in a protest against plans to prohibit foreign journalists from operating there.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

5 February 2002
The head of the North Wales police advocates prescribing heroin at no charge to addicts, so that they won't have to steal to pay for drugs.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

4 February 2002
In Bush's Orwellian Address, Jacob Levich points out the chain of resemblances between the policies of President Bush and those described in the book 1984.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

4 February 2002
What nations was Bush referring to when he talked about "a country ruled by an 'unelected few'" and "a regime that has something to hide from the civilized world" in his State of the Union Address?

4 February 2002
New York police attacked peaceful protestors, surrounded groups of them for long periods, and eventually blocked them from going to the prearranged rally site. The violence was committed exclusively by police.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

3 February 2002
Public Citizen urges US voters to contact their senators ASAP to oppose "fast track" for new trade treaties that are designed to surrender democratic government sovereignty to business.
[Second reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

3 February 2002
A controversial play in Jordan makes fun of Osama bin Laden. Many in the audience laugh, but a substantial minority supports him.

3 February 2002
Michael Moore calls on George Bush to resign as president.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

2 February 2002
NARAL asks Americans to contact your senator to oppose the nomination of Charles Pickering to the 5th circuit court of appeals. He has supported constitutional amendments to ban abortion.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

2 February 2002
The extent of dishonest accounting in the US corporate system represents a fundamental error in the Reagan-Bush policy of deregulating business.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
30 January 2002
Chris Davies, a member of the European Parliament from Britain, and Marco Cappato, a member of the European Parliament from Italy, each in turn brought a tiny piece of marijuana to the UK authorities as a protest against prohibition. Each was arrested, and both now face criminal charges although they harmed no one.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

30 January 2002
In 2001, Vice President Cheney designed an energy plan for the US which was very convenient for Enron. Now Cheney refuses to disclose the list of lobbyists that he met with. Meanwhile, in Britain, Blair's government is also being accused of selling influence to Enron for campaign contributions.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

29 January 2002
The governor of New Mexico has proposed a major reform of laws about marijuana. If you know anyone in New Mexico, please draw his or her attention to the issue.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

26 January 2002
A Lebanese militia leader who was involved in massacres 20 years ago in areas under the control of Israeli troops commanded by Ariel Sharon, was murdered two days after he agreed to testify against Sharon, who is now the Prime Minister of Israel.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

26 January 2002
Please sign the petition for justice for the protestors and police of Gothenburg, Sweden.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

25 January 2002
Stallman Does Dallas: "I have to warn you that Texans have been known to have an adverse reaction to my personality . . . "

24 January 2002
Bush has proposed a large increase in military spending, including pay raises for soldiers, reserves to cover the expenses of possible combat, unmanned vehicles, and ballistic missile defense. Some of these make sense, more or less -- but ballistic missile defense? It's clear what is happening here: Bush is at his old tricks.

24 January 2002
The Zimbabwean parliament has rebuffed President Mugabe's proposed journalistic censorship law.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

22 January 2002
The new board of Pacifica Radio has voted to reinstate journalists and shows that the previous board had fired or kicked off the air.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

20 January 2002
Added another link to 11 January note about the Turkish government's repression of dissent: One member of parliament has been serving, since 1994, a 15-year sentence for "membership of an illegal organization." In 1998 this was extended by two years for "inciting racial hatred".
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]

19 January 2002
New Political article: The Injustice of Military Courts. Bush has a plan to try alleged terrorists in military courts---courts where the prosecutor, the defense lawyer, and the judges all work for Bush. But accusations against innocent people happen with terrible regularity, and the danger of false convictions in these courts is immense.
[Second reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

18 January 2002
The British government is alarmed about reports that US-held prisoners in Guantanamo Bay are being treated inhumanely -- because some of them are British citizens. I hope that they will press for proper treatment of all the prisoners. The idea is being bruited around that these prisoners may be held permanently without trial if no evidence is found to charge them with crimes, but it occurs to me that this horrible idea might not be a serious proposal: It could be a sort of trial balloon, meant to make unjust military courts seem acceptable by comparison.

16 January 2002
On 19 January in Washington, D.C., there will be a Speak Out Against Terrorism, For Civil Rights in Honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Transportation from New York City is available.

15 January 2002
The speaker of the Iranian parliament has gone on strike, saying that he will not attend parliamentary sessions, because of the conviction and imprisonment of a reformist member of parliament for "insulting the judiciary". The judiciary is controlled by the conservative clerics.

15 January 2002
The al Qa'ida prisoners held by the US include one US citizen and some UK citizens. The US citizen will get a civilian trial that meets (we hope) the highest standards; some UK citizens are being held in Guantanamo Bay and are threatened with a military court. If all these people had both fallen into UK hands, it would be more or less the reverse. Each country now has a double standard for justice.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

11 January 2002
It is suspicious that the US special envoy to the interim Afghan government, Zalmay Khalilzad, was a lobbyist for building an oil pipeline in Afghanistan. Mr Khalilzad also lobbied for the Taliban, which makes him a strange choice for the US National Security Council.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

11 January 2002
The government of Zimbabwe has prohibited criticsm of the president, prohibited political rallies, and prohibited independent election observers. The same laws may also prohibit foreign journalists and require domestic journalists to get government permission. This is apparent preparation for rigging the coming election. The EU is considering imposing sanctions on Zimbabwe.

11 January 2002
The new president of Argentina, Dehualde, is devaluing the peso, but with a twist designed to avoid bankrupting non-rich citizens who have debts measured in dollars. Dollar debts under a certain limit will be converted automatically to pesos, so that a person's debt will change along with his or her income. It might work. However, Dehualde is also a corruption suspect.

11 January 2002
A publisher in Turkey has been charged of the crime of "propaganda against the state". for publishing a Turkish translation of essays by Noam Chomsky that (among many other topics) criticize repression against the Kurds in Turkey.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

5 January 2002
National borders are increasingly cordonning off parts of the Internet.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

2 January 2002
After the anthrax scare, you'd expect the US to give strong support to a proposed treaty to restrict biological weapons. Instead it abruptly terminated the negotiations, killing the treaty completely. For more information, see the Sunshine Project.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]

1 January 2002
Winn-Dixie is trying to close down the site www.shameonwinndixie.com (now .org) by threatening a lawsuit for trademark infringement.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
10 May 2002: US citizens: the Senate Judiciary Committee is blocking Bush plans to pack US courts with antiabortion campaigners. Please tell them to keep up the good work.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
10 May 2002: The union that represents the staff of the European Patent Office has denounced the European Patent Office for disregarding laws and rejecting democratic control.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
10 May 2002: The EU is considering a mass-surveillance directive to require all telecommunications companies to keep long-lived records of who communicates with whom, via telephone or email.
10 May 2002: "The Kept University", an article fromm the Atlantic Monthly, explained in 2000 how corporate funding is corrupting academia.
10 May 2002: The Burmese military government has released Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest. Aung San Suu Kyi is the leader of the Burmese democracy movement, and was elected president of Burma but prevented by the military government from taking office.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
6 May 2002: GATS, the General Agreement on Trade in Services, threatens to give multinational corporations additional power to restrict the way countries protect their environment, public health, water supplies, and give them the power to sue governments for any laws that inconvenience them.
6 May 2002: At a May Day protest in Berkeley California, an undercover cop disguised as a protester attacked an Indymedia photographer, threw him into a police line to be arrested, and then walked away from the protest as if nothing happened.
5 May 2002: Israel did not allow the UN team to investigate what happened at Jenin refugee camp, but a Dutch investigator says there is no evidence of a massacre.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
5 May 2002: A report says that police can now identify people from DNA in the droplets of moisture in their breath.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
5 May 2002: The US Military is asking Congress to exempt it from a wide range of environmental protection laws.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
5 May 2002: A Norwegian member of parliament is asking for a Nobel Peace Prize for President Bush.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
5 May 2002: A proposed Spanish law to regulate the Internet would allow officials to close any web site.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
5 May 2002: Some states appoint judges; some, such as Texas, have elected judges. A study shows that elected judges are biased against out-of-state defendants.
2 May 2002: Many activists from Milwaukee were prevented from flying to Washington DC for a protest in April because their names were found in a database of suspects that airlines check before each flight.
2 May 2002: A rape victim in Pakistan has been sentenced to death by stoning as a punishment for being a victim.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
2 May 2002: A petition campaign tries to "save General Motors from itself", by pressuring it to start developing fuel-efficient cars so that the company won't tank when it costs more to fill your tank.
30 April 2002: It appears there may not have been an a massacre in the Jenin refugee camp, as was previously charged. Allegations of forcing civilians to act as human shields remain.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]
30 April 2002: On Hacking: In June 2000, while visiting Korea, I did a fun hack that clearly illustrates the original and true meaning of the word "hacker".
30 April 2002: This article explores how the US defines "democracy", using the attempted coup against Chévez in Venezuela as a lens.
30 April 2002: The last three months have been the warmest ever recorded.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
30 April 2002: Recently the US arranged the ouster Jose Bustani as head of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, based on trumped-up accusations and violating the organisation's procedures. The Guardian (London) reports on the threats that the US made and investigates possible reasons.
30 April 2002: RENTCAS has united 30,000 volunteers to help fight smuggling of animals in Brazil.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
30 April 2002: Please support the call for justice for the protestors of Gothenburg.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
30 April 2002: Spain has blocked a reform of EU fishing rules intended to prevent overfishing that is killing fish faster than they can reproduce.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
30 April 2002: Amnesty International has called for a war crimes investigation into the Israeli invasion of the Jenin refugee camp.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
30 April 2002: Even as Bush talks about the danger of weapons of mass destruction in terrorist hands, the Bush administration is trying to remove the head of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). The reason: he tries to examine chemical warfare facilities in the United States just like chemical warfare facilities in other countries.
Earlier in April the Bush administration arranged for the removal of the head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Leaked papers released by the NRDC show that ExxonMobil and other businesses were calling the shots.
23 April 2002: Guatemalan peasants have seized a number of large plantations, protesting the unfair distribution of farmland.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
23 April 2002: Here's an article about the work that the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty does to aid poor people in Ontario.
[Second reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
21 April 2002: Smuggled film shows the Chinese destruction of a monestary in Tibet because its popularity was considered unacceptable.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
21 April 2002: The destruction in Jenin was more complete than an earthquake, yet the Israelis have not allowed in any heavy lifting equipment, so the Palestinians dug out the bodies with their hands.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
20 April 2002: Contact Congress now to say that East Timor should receive donations, not loans.
20 April 2002: Hundreds of thousands protested business-driven globalization in Barcelona, Spain in mid-March on the occasion of the EU summit. Police restrained themselves from attacking the protestors for part of the week, but eventually gave in to their bloody urges
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]
20 April 2002: A peace group in Israel chronicles daily the cruelty committed by the Israeli army against Palestinians. In the April 11 article we read about civilians used as human shields, and sick people who are dying because they are not allowed to go to a hospital. In the April 12 article we read about people denied access to food and water, and buildings demolished with people inside them.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]
There are also reports that the Israeli army committed mass murder against helpless civilians in Jenin.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
20 April 2002: Research which purported to show that use of MDMA ("ecstasy") damages the brain was so flawed as to be worthless.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
20 April 2002: French and Spanish investigators want to question Henry Kissinger to see what he knew about the 1970s "Condor plan", a conspiracy among Latin-American dictators to eliminate their political opponents.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
20 April 2002: Further evidence of Israeli army atrocities in Jenin has emerged, as well as reports that soldiers used civilians as human shields (i.e. hostages), and demolished 3-story buildings with many people inside them.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
Ariel Sharon is on trial in Belgium for his role in atrocities in Lebanon in the 80s. Read how he described his history of violence against Arabs.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
20 April 2002: There are reports that US officials met with the Venezuelan coup plotters before the coup, and a suspicion that they encouraged it.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
20 April 2002: A general strike shut down most business in Italy on April 16. 2 million people joined protests against Berlusconi regime.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
20 April 2002: The Dutch prime minister and his entire cabinet have resigned because of a report holding his government partly responsible for the massacres of unarmed Bosnians at Srebrenica in 1995.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
20 April 2002: Users were recenly shocked to discover that the KaZaa peer-to-peer software includes a distributed computing facility that enables KaZaa's business partner to sell access to the user's own computer.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
20 April 2002: Representative McKinney calls for an investigation into the unpreparedness of US response on September 11 and whether companies tied to Bush have influenced government policy.
20 April 2002: The British government has given up on plans to eliminate the right to a jury trial for crimes such as burglary and assault.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
20 April 2002: The short-lived coup against Venezuela's President Chavez was planned for months by military officers, and comes out of an opposition movement funded by Venezuelan conservatives in Florida.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
18 April 2002: Good Fences Make Good Neighbors. I was shocked to learn recently that there is no border fence dividing Israel from the occupied Palestinian territories.
18 April 2002: Today's higher oil prices are beneficial because they encourage more efficient use.
17 April 2002: The IMF "rescues" countries by making them sign secret agreements to sell off government assets for far less than they are worth.
16 April 2002: New article about the deposed, then reinstated, president of Venezuela.
16 April 2002: Gore Vidal's book, "Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace: How We Got to Be So Hated," argues that, contrary to what President Bush told a joint session of Congress, the Islamic world doesn't hate us because of our freedoms: it hates the US because of its policies towards the Islamic world.
16 April 2002: It's not just a danger, it's a fact: using terrorism as an excuse, police have seized records about Americans hundreds of thousands of times, and the rate is doubling every month.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
16 April 2002: US voters, please contact Congress ASAP to oppose a right-wing bill that would make it a crime to accompany a teen-age girl to another state to get an abortion. Even a grandparent or a sister could be prosecuted.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
15 April 2002: Australia finds a tobacco company guilty of destroying the evidence for a lawsuit filed by a dying smoker.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
13 April 2002: Precisely how the Bush team stole the Florida election is documented.
13 April 2002: ENRON wasn't the first client for which Andersen was caught cooking the books. It ought to be prosecuted now.
10 April 2002: How Bush's extremist rhetoric encourages Sharon to ignore Bush when Bush says to stop.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
10 April 2002: Bill Moyers reports on how Bush has blocked public access to presidential papers from the Reagan administration which according to the law were supposed to be released.
9 April 2002: Americans: call Congress on April 10 and 11 to oppose military aid to Indonesia.
9 April 2002: An article by John Pilger about the possibility of war in Iraq, and about the facts that belie Bush's campaign for war.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
6 April 2002: The UK plans to prohibit employers from monitoring personal email sent and received by the staff on the company's computers.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
Added 2018-02-01: According to this briefing, "The Code does not have the force of law, but rather provides the Commissioner's own views on how organizations can comply with the UK Data Protection Act 1998."
6 April 2002: I received a very disturbing message which says that UK police have blocked the availability of any hosting for the web site for the May Day Festival of Alternatives. (Press release)
6 April 2002: A former prime minister of New Zealand accused Dan Quayle, US Vice President under Bush Sr, of threatening to assassinate him.
5 April 2002: Charges were dropped on April 2 against two members of the Edible Ballot Society. But because the judge did not question the idea that it was a crime in Canada to eat one's own ballot, we cannot assume that four others accused of the crime of ballot-eating are out of danger.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
5 April 2002: When Tony Blair started talking of making the UK follow the US into war with Iraq, his party began refusing to go along.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
4 April 2002: US newspapers published photos of John Walker Lindh naked, blindfolded and tied up, but the real danger he and other detainees face is that of imprisonment for life without trial. The Bush administration calls them "combatants", but that concept presupposes a real war which can have a distinct end. Bush's "war against terrorism" is defined such that no one can ever tell if it has ended. To have an end to the war, we need a president who has no stake in it. We need to make sure Dubya loses his second presidential election more clearly than he lost the first one.
4 April 2002: A former UK Secretary of State for Defense clearly explains the harm caused by US bias in the Middle East.
2 April 2002: Tomato farm workers in Florida have launched a protest campaign against Taco Bell which uses many of the tomatoes they grow.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
2 April 2002: The government of Bolivia has tried to impose a number of harsh policies that provoked popular uprisings. There is evidence that they are dictated in detail by the US government.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
1 April 2002: When police say "No witnesses", one must suspect they are up to some kind of dirty work that they don't want to admit to the public. An encounter in a Paris airport.
1 April 2002: There are reports that Israeli soldiers are keeping the press out of Ramallah at gunpoint and shooting at marked press vehicles.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
31 March 2002: Does low pay mean more jobs? Locally, sometimes yes, but globally it does not.
31 March 2002: The Marijuana Policy Project won its lawsuit to get permission to put a medical marijuana initiative question on the ballot in Washington DC. Now they need funds to mount a signature drive so that they can actually put such a question on the ballot in November.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
31 March 2002: 371 people were arrested in Montreal on March 15 for protesting police brutality there.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
31 March 2002: When a high school student in Oklahoma wore Wiccan symbols to school, the school suspended her and accused her of casting a spell that made her teacher sick. The ACLU is suing them.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
31 March 2002: Global warming of .6 degrees centigrade has already caused numerous ecological changes including the spread of various mosquito-borne diseases.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
31 March 2002: According to an article in Scientific American, de-facto slavery remains widespread in the modern world, usually based on convincing its victims and the surrounding society that their enslavement is legitimate.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
31 March 2002: The US government is asking the Supreme Court to overturn a decision that compensates the Navajo tribe for natural resources mined on their property, on the grounds that if all the Indian tribes demand to be paid what the government owes them, that would be too expensive.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
31 March 2002: Plans are advancing to implant chips in people for surveillance purposes.
31 March 2002: According to Fox News, police arrested a Fox reporter and confiscated a videotape, but they went to court and were able to get it back.
28 March 2002: The Coalition for a Just Cincinnati, has called for a boycott of the city. This is a response to persistent racism, and police violence which extends as far as murder. Now a business group involved in renting auditoriums in Cincinnati has sued the Coalition on the grounds that the boycott has reduced their income.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]
28 March 2002: In an act of prudish bigotry, college student Leilani Rios was expelled from the track team because she works as a stripper.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
28 March 2002: A genetic modification in corn, which causes allergies in some people and was only supposed to be used for animal feed, is spreading by natural cross-pollenation into the human food chain.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
28 March 2002: The UK government has been caught not once, but twice, telling out-and-out lies in order to build public support for sending troops to Afghanistan and Iraq.
[Second reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
24 March 2002: About Those Polls: Do 80% of Americans Really Support Bush?
24 March 2002: In Italy, right-wing terrorists supported by the CIA helped stop rise of the left in the 60s and 70s. One "anarchist" who was actually working for the security forces even went so far as to throw a grenade into a crowd and kill people.
24 March 2002: A law is being rammed through in Alberta, Canada to prohibit teachers from striking, and rules out bargaining about working conditions. As a protest, teachers are discontinuing the after-school activities that they have done as volunteers. Others plan to quit.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]
23 March 2002: A US government report details the way various laws are used to suppress freedom of political dissent in the Czech Republic.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
23 March 2002: A policy of not arresting anyone for possession of marijuana has helped cut robbery and burglary in a high-crime area of London.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
23 March 2002: Bush plans for military courts for terrorist suspects have at least two glaring flaws. Instead of a jury, the verdict is to be decided by part-time judges, soldiers who take orders from Bush. Appeals are directed to more soldiers, and then Bush himself.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
23 March 2002: Asa Hutchinson, administrator of the Drug Enforcement Agency, gave a speech at a bookstore last week, but refused to address the question asked by Lawrence Silberman, who uses marijuana to reduce the side effects of his cancer treatment. His question: "Do you think people like myself should be arrested, sir?"
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
22 March 2002: The Bush administration has plans to develop a new kind of nuclear bomb designed to attack facilities deep underground.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
22 March 2002: Making integrated circuit chips is a dangerous business--dangerous for the employees. The companies have tried to block studies which would determine just how dangerous.
22 March 2002: International pressure is bringing Zimbabwe's President Mugabe to the verge of making concessions to the opposition, which objects to the recent unfair election and antidemocratic laws.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
22 March 2002: As "Blackhawk Down" plays on the screen, a group of helpless Americans are trapped in Somalia once again. But this time it is Bush and his men who have trapped them there and prevent them from returning home.
21 March 2002: Saudi religious police prevented girls from leaving a burning school building because they were not wearing proper Islamic dress.
20 March 2002: The Senate Judiciary Committee has rejected a Bush nominee, Judge Pickering, in response to a campaign organized by abortion rights organizations such as NARAL.
19 March 2002: Bush's proposal for increased foreign aid is a minute step in the right direction.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
17 March 2002: A French court has attacked freedom of speech in the US by laying criminal charges against an former executive of Yahoo, because some users of Yahoo's auction site sell Nazi memorabilia.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
17 March 2002: Kalle Jungkvist, legally responsible for the publication of the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet under Swedish law, was convicted on March 7 for "agitation against an ethnic group" because of comments posted on Aftonbladet's discussion website by Nazi sympathizers. The court ruled that Aftonbladet (and hence Kalle Jungkvist) is guilty of a crime for not censoring them in advance.
17 March 2002: The Australian government knew about and concealed Indonesian military plans for massacres in East Timor.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
The East Timor Action Network, which brought the Indonesian occupation of East Timor to the world's attention, asks Americans to ask Congress to keep the pressure on the Indonesian military to punish the generals responsible for these crimes of mass murder.
17 March 2002: The Spanish opposition web site nodo50, which publishes criticism of government policy and organizes public protests, details how the Spanish police have been infiltrating their mailing lists, while demonizing them as terrorists in the media.
17 March 2002: Marijuana is less dangerous than alcohol, found the British Advisory Council on Misuse of Drugs.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
17 March 2002: The censorware installed in US public libraries, supposedly to block access to sites that prudes find offensive, has the side effect of blocking access to a important archive of the history of the web.
16 March 2002: Human Rights in the US, and in China, a new political article about a Chinese government report detailing human rights violations in the US.
[Second reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
16 March 2002: The US recently endorsed for the first time, without fanfare, the idea of a Palestinian state.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
16 March 2002: A British columnist discusses the flimsy evidence Bush et al offer to justify threatened attacks on various countries.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
16 March 2002: 50,000 workers in the Daqing oil fields in China have formed an independent union and are holding protests against dismissals.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
16 March 2002: The movie Guilt by Association, shown March 13 (9pm) on Court TV, dramatizes the effect of drug prohibition combined with mandatory sentencing policies. It talks about Families against Mandatory Minimums which opposes mandatory sentencing policies.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]
16 March 2002: The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted a motion by the hemp industry to block the DEA's new hemp ban from taking effect until the court has an opportunity to hold a hearing on the matter. This is partly the result of people who visited http://www.savehemp.org
16 March 2002: The Asociación Contra la Tortura posted a list of Spanish police who were taken to court for acts of torture. The Agencia de Protección de Datos, which enforces that law, decided that the ACT's web site was a "data base", and therefore that the names of police sued or charged with torture could not be mentioned on the web site without their permission. The site was shut down. The ACT's pages are available in mirror sites, but the Agencia de Proteccin de Datos continues trying to shut them down in countries that have similar "privacy" laws. Meanwhile, groups that support Spanish government policies publish information on their web site about individuals who support Basque independence, but the APD does not try shut them down. Amnesty International has criticized Spain for pardoning torturers and giving medals to them. The 2001 Amnesty International report on Spain and the 1999 report provide background information on the practice of torture by Spanish police.
[References 1 and 3-6 updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]
16 March 2002: Over 100 Israeli reserve officers have refused to serve in the occupied territories on moral grounds.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
16 March 2002: An interesting article on old "triracial isolate" ethnic communities in the US, and their origins and history.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
10 March 2002: When 50,000 protestors marched in Barcelona in June 2001, to protest the World Bank, the Spanish police sent in disguised police, who pretended to be protestors and started a fight. The fake protestors faded away as police attacked the real ones. In the weeks before the demonstration, police had mounted a campaign of harrassment, stopping people for no reason and demanding to see their papers.
10 March 2002: The New York Surveillance Camera Players do street theater to call attention to the surveillance cameras that the NYPD uses to monitor subversive activities such as democratic protest.
10 March 2002: The leader of the British barristers' organization warns of the danger of a police state if legal safeguards for the accused are abolished for the sake of streamlining trials.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
6 March 2002: Bush has attempted to shred the Freedom of Information Act by ordering government departments to resist requests for information.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
6 March 2002: Companies are filing frequent libel lawsuits to silence people who criticize them on the Internet.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
6 March 2002: The MAUSS group, in France, takes its name from Marcel Mauss, the anthropologist who wrote about "gift economies". Much more radical is Socialism As It Was Always Meant To Be, by Michael Albert and Robin Hahnel.
[Second reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
6 March 2002: The College Art Association plans to file an amicus brief when the Supreme Court considers the constitutionality of the Sonny Bono Copyright Act. If you can help, please read more and then contact the CAA.
4 March 2002: China has imposed strict new censorship rules on political journalism.
4 March 2002: The interior minister of Spain is threatening to suspend freedom of movement in order to prevent protests, which he regards as an enemy of society. An editorial in El Mundo points out his duty is to protect the people's right to protest.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
4 March 2002: The director of Telemadrid, the public radio and television station in Madrid, has been fired for airing a program which presented the views of peaceful Basque nationalists.
4 March 2002: Bush tries to limit Senate investigation of why the Sep 11 attacks were not prevented.
4 March 2002: Major Corporations Considering Relocating To Axis Of Evil.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
4 March 2002: Residents in an East Baltimore neighborhood where the city has allowed trash to pile up for years finally got some attention after they peacefully carried the trash into a nearby street. The city has pressed charges of "inciting to riot."
4 March 2002: Radio Onda Rossa in Rome, a left-wing station, uses a frequency which it took over, several years ago, from a commercial station that had gone bankrupt and stopped transmitting years earlier. Now the bankrupt station has come back from the grave, and demanded the frequency back. but the telecommunications ministry decided to hand it back to them anyway.
2 March 2002: The Spanish government has prohibited public drinking, and demanded a extra work from the Madrid police to enforce this unpopular law. The police protested, so the national police came in to beat them up. For pictures, see http://www.stlimc.org/front.php3?article_id=1775&group=webcast.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
2 March 2002: Yale Professor David Graeber writes about the NYC World Economic Forum protests.
28 February 2002: The Pentagon announced that few of the al-Qa'ida prisoners captured in Afghanistan will be tried in military courts.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
28 February 2002: Two of the people arrested in recent New York protests describe how the police who detained them twisted and disregarded the law.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
27 February 2002: INTERROGATION AT US BORDER, by John Clarke: a Canadian anti-globalization organizer's report on how US authorities detained him, demanded to know the whereabouts of Osama Bin Laden, and ultimately on no grounds whatsoever refused to let him give a speech in Michigan.
27 February 2002: An inmate in a California prison describes the inhuman and gratuitous cruelty of the guards towards the inmates.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
27 February 2002: Indefinite detention, secret charges and secret trials continue to be used against Arab immigrants in the US.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
27 February 2002: New York Mayor Bloomberg chose to cut spending by the unkindest cut of all, one that falls on the most unfortunate residents of the city--those who collect and recycle discarded soda cans for five cents each.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
27 February 2002: Italian police have raided the office of the Association of Democratic Jurists, an organization of lawyers, looking for videos that give evidence about the Genoa protests.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]; Loggers are planning to cut down protected redwood trees in California.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
27 February 2002: Zbigniew Brzezinski revealed that the US began in 1979 to fund Islamic military schools in Pakistan designed to train Islamic radicals who would fight the Soviet Union.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
25 February 2002: The Republican Party has threatened to sue EnronOwnsTheGOP.com for using a parody of a Republican Party trademark.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
25 February 2002: Italian police have arrested four Moroccans in an alleged plot to poison the water in Rome. However, the poison they were allegedly planning to use, ferrocyanide, would have been harmlessly diluted if poured into the water supply.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
25 February 2002: A lawsuit against Coca Cola accuses the company of hiring death squads in Colombia to kill union leaders in bottling plants there.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
25 February 2002: In 1990, a bomb exploded in the car of Earth First! activists Judi Bari and Darryl Cheney. The FBI tried to frame them for the bombing, and never tried to find the real bombers. Now Bari and Cheney's lawsuit against the FBI and the Oakland Police is going to court.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
23 February 2002: If you oppose a plan to create a national ID card system by linking state driver license data bases, you can use the ACLU web site to send a free fax to your congressional representatives.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
23 February 2002: A self-styled white bohemian talks about how people like him, moving into a poor neighborhood, can open the door to gentrification that ultimately forces the old residents to leave.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
22 February 2002: US and European corporations fell over each other rushing to help the Chinese government implement effective Internet surveillance.
22 February 2002: The UK government is proposing a system of censorship that would cover any and all discussion of science and technology.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
22 February 2002: Italian police have seized computers used by Indymedia in many cities in Italy, claiming they are aiming to seize audio and video evidence about what happened during protests in Genoa in 2001.
22 February 2002: A funny song about the Mickey Mouse Copyright Act.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
20 February 2002: ECHELON is the name of the US/UK system that spies on nearly all of the world's communications. The US government denied ECHELON's existence, and the CIA used it to disregard laws prohibiting it from spying on Americans, and finally the European Commission exposed it.
20 February 2002: While Bush aims to give the military more money, they can't keep track of what they are already given: money disappears and the loss is covered up.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
20 February 2002: The charges against Noam Chomsky's publisher in Turkey have been dropped, after Chomsky suggested to the Turkish government that they ought to press the same charges against him for having writing the original book.
20 February 2002: The New York Times has published an article detailing the deals made between George W. Bush and Enron while he was governor of Texas, deals that gave Enron state policies favorable to its business.
17 February 2002: Indonesian labor rights activist Dita Indah Sari has rejected a $50,000 human rights award from Reebok in protest against the low salaries Reebok pays Indonesian factory workers.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
17 February 2002: Bush has announced his plan for curbing global warming: don't even try.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
17 February 2002: Utah is passing a law that declares sit-ins as "terrorism".
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
17 February 2002: In the hope of escaping from its anti-trust conviction, Microsoft has given more "soft money" than any other company. One state dropped out of the case against Microsoft after Microsoft made a large campaign contribution to its attorney general.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
17 February 2002: The UK proposes to adopt an "export control bill" for scientific information which includes a system for censorship for any and all areas of science.
14 February 2002: Low-ranking Taliban soldiers, imprisoned in Afghanistan, are being treated inhumanely; some are dying from diseases, and they have no medicine.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
11 February 2002: There is an effort in Germany to oppose surveillance legislation there. See www.stop1984.com.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
9 February 2002: The US is now talking about a repeated war with Iraq.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
9 February 2002: Torturing suspects into false confessions is standard practice in Saudi Arabia.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
9 February 2002: President Bush is proving very reliable: every part of his agenda is sooner or later presented as part of the "war on terrorism." First it was buying instead of saving, then an attack on our civil liberties, then fast-track approval for low-wage treaties, then ballistic missile defense. During the Superbowl, Bush presented the "war on drugs" as a way of fighting terrorism. What is next? Will Ashcroft label Planned Parenthood as a "terrorist organization", and deport every non-citizen who has ever contributed to it? Stay tuned.
[First reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
8 February 2002: Someone to watch over me, a new political article about government surveillance.; The peaceful protests in New York show that the movement against corporate-controlled globalization is still alive.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
8 February 2002: Please support the petition calling on Bush and Cheney to level with us about their contacts with ENRON.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
8 February 2002: The UK government has proposed to require national ID cards.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
8 February 2002: Stopping terrorists before they start, a new political article. Making sure that the CIA does not create new enemies to attack us tomorrow surely deserves high priority in any sincere "War on Terrorism".
8 February 2002: Sinister: a participant in the anti-WEF protests in New York was followed home by police afterward and has no idea why.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
6 February 2002: A journalist for the Independent (London) faces imprisonment in Zimbabwe for participating in a protest against plans to prohibit foreign journalists from operating there.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
5 February 2002: The head of the North Wales police advocates prescribing heroin at no charge to addicts, so that they won't have to steal to pay for drugs.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
4 February 2002: In Bush's Orwellian Address, Jacob Levich points out the chain of resemblances between the policies of President Bush and those described in the book 1984.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
4 February 2002: What nations was Bush referring to when he talked about "a country ruled by an 'unelected few'" and "a regime that has something to hide from the civilized world" in his State of the Union Address?
4 February 2002: New York police attacked peaceful protestors, surrounded groups of them for long periods, and eventually blocked them from going to the prearranged rally site. The violence was committed exclusively by police.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
3 February 2002: Public Citizen urges US voters to contact their senators ASAP to oppose "fast track" for new trade treaties that are designed to surrender democratic government sovereignty to business.
[Second reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
3 February 2002: A controversial play in Jordan makes fun of Osama bin Laden. Many in the audience laugh, but a substantial minority supports him.
3 February 2002: Michael Moore calls on George Bush to resign as president.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
2 February 2002: NARAL asks Americans to contact your senator to oppose the nomination of Charles Pickering to the 5th circuit court of appeals. He has supported constitutional amendments to ban abortion.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]
2 February 2002: The extent of dishonest accounting in the US corporate system represents a fundamental error in the Reagan-Bush policy of deregulating business.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
30 January 2002: Chris Davies, a member of the European Parliament from Britain, and Marco Cappato, a member of the European Parliament from Italy, each in turn brought a tiny piece of marijuana to the UK authorities as a protest against prohibition. Each was arrested, and both now face criminal charges although they harmed no one.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
30 January 2002: In 2001, Vice President Cheney designed an energy plan for the US which was very convenient for Enron. Now Cheney refuses to disclose the list of lobbyists that he met with. Meanwhile, in Britain, Blair's government is also being accused of selling influence to Enron for campaign contributions.
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]
29 January 2002: The governor of New Mexico has proposed a major reform of laws about marijuana. If you know anyone in New Mexico, please draw his or her attention to the issue.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]
26 January 2002: A Lebanese militia leader who was involved in massacres 20 years ago in areas under the control of Israeli troops commanded by Ariel Sharon, was murdered two days after he agreed to testify against Sharon, who is now the Prime Minister of Israel.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
26 January 2002: Please sign the petition for justice for the protestors and police of Gothenburg, Sweden.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
25 January 2002: Stallman Does Dallas: "I have to warn you that Texans have been known to have an adverse reaction to my personality . . . "
24 January 2002: Bush has proposed a large increase in military spending, including pay raises for soldiers, reserves to cover the expenses of possible combat, unmanned vehicles, and ballistic missile defense. Some of these make sense, more or less -- but ballistic missile defense? It's clear what is happening here: Bush is at his old tricks.
24 January 2002: The Zimbabwean parliament has rebuffed President Mugabe's proposed journalistic censorship law.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
22 January 2002: The new board of Pacifica Radio has voted to reinstate journalists and shows that the previous board had fired or kicked off the air.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
20 January 2002: Added another link to 11 January note about the Turkish government's repression of dissent: One member of parliament has been serving, since 1994, a 15-year sentence for "membership of an illegal organization." In 1998 this was extended by two years for "inciting racial hatred".
[References updated on 2018-02-07 because the old links were broken.]
19 January 2002: New Political article: The Injustice of Military Courts. Bush has a plan to try alleged terrorists in military courts---courts where the prosecutor, the defense lawyer, and the judges all work for Bush. But accusations against innocent people happen with terrible regularity, and the danger of false convictions in these courts is immense.
[Second reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
18 January 2002: The British government is alarmed about reports that US-held prisoners in Guantanamo Bay are being treated inhumanely -- because some of them are British citizens. I hope that they will press for proper treatment of all the prisoners. The idea is being bruited around that these prisoners may be held permanently without trial if no evidence is found to charge them with crimes, but it occurs to me that this horrible idea might not be a serious proposal: It could be a sort of trial balloon, meant to make unjust military courts seem acceptable by comparison.
16 January 2002: On 19 January in Washington, D.C., there will be a Speak Out Against Terrorism, For Civil Rights in Honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Transportation from New York City is available.
15 January 2002: The speaker of the Iranian parliament has gone on strike, saying that he will not attend parliamentary sessions, because of the conviction and imprisonment of a reformist member of parliament for "insulting the judiciary". The judiciary is controlled by the conservative clerics.
15 January 2002: The al Qa'ida prisoners held by the US include one US citizen and some UK citizens. The US citizen will get a civilian trial that meets (we hope) the highest standards; some UK citizens are being held in Guantanamo Bay and are threatened with a military court. If all these people had both fallen into UK hands, it would be more or less the reverse. Each country now has a double standard for justice.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
11 January 2002: It is suspicious that the US special envoy to the interim Afghan government, Zalmay Khalilzad, was a lobbyist for building an oil pipeline in Afghanistan. Mr Khalilzad also lobbied for the Taliban, which makes him a strange choice for the US National Security Council.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
11 January 2002: The government of Zimbabwe has prohibited criticsm of the president, prohibited political rallies, and prohibited independent election observers. The same laws may also prohibit foreign journalists and require domestic journalists to get government permission. This is apparent preparation for rigging the coming election. The EU is considering imposing sanctions on Zimbabwe.
11 January 2002: The new president of Argentina, Dehualde, is devaluing the peso, but with a twist designed to avoid bankrupting non-rich citizens who have debts measured in dollars. Dollar debts under a certain limit will be converted automatically to pesos, so that a person's debt will change along with his or her income. It might work. However, Dehualde is also a corruption suspect.
11 January 2002: A publisher in Turkey has been charged of the crime of "propaganda against the state". for publishing a Turkish translation of essays by Noam Chomsky that (among many other topics) criticize repression against the Kurds in Turkey.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
5 January 2002: National borders are increasingly cordonning off parts of the Internet.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]
2 January 2002: After the anthrax scare, you'd expect the US to give strong support to a proposed treaty to restrict biological weapons. Instead it abruptly terminated the negotiations, killing the treaty completely. For more information, see the Sunshine Project.
[Reference updated on 2018-01-21 because the old link was broken.]
1 January 2002: Winn-Dixie is trying to close down the site www.shameonwinndixie.com (now .org) by threatening a lawsuit for trademark infringement.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-07 because the old link was broken.]

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