Showing posts with label counterfire. Show all posts
Showing posts with label counterfire. Show all posts
Thursday, 14 July 2011
Thursday, 24 June 2010
Από την Αθήνα με αγάπη: εκθεση της Clare Solomon από την Ελλάδα
Thanks a million to Angeliki Mavroidi for this translation on Facebook. Looking forward to meeting you later!
Here's the original: http://www.counterfire.org/index.php/news/143-greek-crisis/5604-from-athens-with-love-clare-solomon-reports-from-greece
A brief disclaimer: I have since found out that some of the 'facts' in this report are incorrect. Feel free to comment below to correct them :-)
Από την Αθήνα με αγάπη: εκθεση της Clare Solomon από την Ελλάδα
"Ηδιαδήλωση είναι σαν ένα άθλημα εδώ στην Αθήνα", δήλωσε μέλος μιαςελληνικής σοσιαλιστικής ομάδας. Και δεν εννοούσε το να περ'ασουμε τηνώρα μας το Σάββατο.
Ξεχάστε τη βόλτα στο κύριο οδικόδίκτυο με την οικογένεια σε ένα σημείο για να φωνάξουμεαντι-καπιταλιστικά συνθήματα: στην Αθήνα, θα πρέπει να έχετε τααθλητικά παπούτσια σας, λογική ένδυση\ (δηλαδή, δεν φορούν τίποτα, σανkeffiyeh, γύρω από το λαιμό, αλλιώς θα μπορούσε να να χρησιμοποιηθείγια να σας πνίξει) και τις μαρτυρίες σας για αναπόφευκτες συγκρούσειςμε κάθε έναν από τους κλάδους των τρελών αστυνομίας (περισσότερα γιααυτό αργότερα).
Με επιθέσεις από σφαίρες χρωμάτων, μια νέαμορφή σπρέι πιπεριού που εφευρέθηκε από την ισραηλινή πολεμική Άμυνακαι των δύο τρελών σκύλιων και την αστυνομία, το να διαμαρτύρεταικανείς εδώ σε αφήνει γεμάτο μώλωπες, χρώματα και ιδρώτα και ασφαλώς δενείναι για τους δειλούς.
Τουλάχιστον μία φορά το μήνα το σύνολοτης έκτασης Εξάρχεια κλείνει με μεγάλους κάδους σκουπιδιών, αυτοκίνητακαι όλα τα είδη των άλλων μεγάλων αντικειμένων με την πρόθεση νααπωθήσουν την αστυνομία.
Και η ποικιλία των διαδηλώσεων είναι από μόνη της αρκετά διαφωτιστική.
Μέσασε τρεις ώρες από την άφιξή μου στο αεροδρόμιο ήρθα πρόσωπο με πρόσωπομε περίπου πενήντα πλήρως οπλισμένους άνδρες των ΜΑΤ στην μέχριπρότεινως αυτόνομη ζώνη των Εξαρχείων. Μια αυτοσχέδια διαδήλωση είχεσυγκληθεί από τους υποστηρικτές μιας ποδοσφαιρικής ομάδας της πόλης.
Επηρεασμένηαπό την πρόσφατη επέμβαση του ΔΝΤ, η ομάδα ήταν υποβιβάστηκε στηνκατηγορία, όχι επειδή είναι ''σκουπίδια'' στο να σκοράρουν γκολ αλλάγιατί η οικονομική τους κατάσταση ήταν τόσο κακή που δεν μπορούν πλέοννα αντέξουν οικονομικά να πληρώσουν τα χρέη. Και τι επώδυνο θέαμα γιατα θλιμένα μάτια να βλέπουν διαδηλωτές ποδοσφαίρου να φωνάζουνσυνθήματα της Αριστεράς κατά του ΔΝΤ!
"Φταίει το ΔΝΤ" έχειγίνει ένα κομμάτι από μια φράση της καθημερινότητας. Το κατάστημα έχεικλείσειι?- φταίει το ΔΝΤ. Ο καφές είναι ακριβός?-φταιει το ΔΝΤ, τοχαρτί τουαλέτας έχει εξαντληθεί? το μαντέψατε, φταίει το ΔΝΤ.
Δεναποτελεί έκπληξη παρά το λεγόμενο πακέτο στήριξης ύψους € 125bn, δενέχει μειωθεί η μεγάλη οδύνη των Ελλήνων. Ο κατώτερος μισθός έχειακρωτηριαστεί από € 700 το μήνα σε € 540pm και συνταξιοδοτικά κοπήκανγια αρχή. Ένα ολόκληρο κίνημα αντίστασης έχει αρχίσει. Θεατρικέςπαραστάσεις, κινηματογραφικές ταινίες, μουσικές εκδηλώσεις και, φυσικά,είναι πολλές ο δημόσιες συναντήσεις που οργανώνονται για να συζητήσουντην πορεία της αριστεράς.
Την δεύτερη νύχτα μου εδώπήγα σε έναν ''''πλήρωσε- όσο θες'' κινηματογράφο για ναπαρακολουθήσουμε δύο σε μια σειρά από έξι ταινίες που προβάλλονται πάνωαπό τρεις ημέρες για το ΔΝΤ. Η ζωή και το δημόσιο χρέος, ντοκιμαντέρτου 2001 για το πόσο το ΔΝΤ ''πάτωσε'' την Τζαμάικα και έδειξε απόλυταπόσο γελοίο είναι το σύνολο του δανείου και το σύστημα επιστροφής και,επίσης, πως τίποτα δεν έχει αλλάξει σχετικά με τη στάση τους, εκτός απότο να κλιμακώσει την ιδεολογία τους.
Τώρα, όσον αφορά τηναστυνομία. Δύο ολοκαίνουργια παραρτήματα της αστυνομίας είχανεγκατασταθεί σχεδόν αμέσως μετά τη δολοφονία του 15χρονου Αλέξανδρου.Ένα με μοτοσικλέτες, όλα τα είδη των τολμηρών ανδρών με 'εντονους τωνμύεςν και Starsky και Hutch-esque γυαλιά ηλίου.Οι άλλοι μάλλονατημέλητοι, βρώμικοι μπάτσοι ταραχών (των οποίων το σύνθημα στιςασπίδες τους δεν σημαίνει, 'οταν ρώτησα, «αυτόνομη», προς μεγάληδιασκέδαση των συντρόφων!). Έχω προειδοποιειθεί να μην προσπαθήσω ναπάρω φωτογραφίες από αυτούς, παραθέτω εδώ μερικά βίντεο -μια ευγενικήπροσφορά του YouTube:
Το σύνθημα του δεύτερου τύπουαναφέρεται στην περιοχή στην οποία οφείλουν είσε μεγάλο βαθμό τηνανάπτυξή τους, όπως αναφέρθηκα, την ''παρελθούσα ''αυτόνομη'' ζώνη τωνΕξαρχείων. Μια περιοχή με το μέγεθος του, ας πούμε, από το PiccadillyCircus στο Holborn, είναι το σπίτι σε μια σειρά, κυρίως αριστερώνοργανώσεων, εστιατορίων, και bar και κολεκτίβες, καταλήψεις,κινηματογράφους και άλλες τέτοιες ριζοσπαστικές δραστηριότητες. Ηπεριοχή είχε , γενικά, τους δικούς της κανόνες και τη διακυβέρνηση της.
Αυτός ο όλος άλλαξε στις 6 Δεκεμβρίου 2008, όταν η αστυνομίαπυροβόλησε άσπλαχνα ένα νεαρό αγόρι, τον Αλέξανδρο, από πολύ κοντινήαπόσταση για το γεγονός ότι είχε το θράσος να αμφισβητήσει ανοησίες τηνανόητη πρόκληση τους. Εβδομάδες ταραχών ακολούθησαν - μια μεγάληποσότητα πληροφοριών σχετικά με αυτό έχει τεκμηριωθεί αλλού - αλλά γιατο κύριο σημείο της έκθεσης αυτής, η περιοχή είναι πλέον σε μεγάλοβαθμό υπό αστυνόμευση, ανά πάσα στιγμή.
Το μνημείο που έχει δημιουργηθεί για τον Αλέξανδρο. Εξετάστε προσεκτικά την συνθήματα στον τοίχο
Ακόμηκαι τώρα αυτή η αυτονομία έχει εξαλείψει , μπορείτε νοιώσετε η αίσθησητης αλληλεγγύης μεταξύ των ομάδων (περισσότερα σ 'αυτό κατά τη διάρκειατης εβδομάδας). Στο Ηνωμένο μίσος της Αστυνομίας.
Σε μια εποχήπου θα μπορούσατε να φανταστείτε 'οτι η αστυνομία θα έπρεπε να κρατήσειμάλλον χαμηλό προφίλ και όχι μόνο δεν περιμένουν να επουλωθεί ηκατάσταση, αλλά αντιμετωπίζουν με οργή τον κόσμο και ανταποκρίνεται μετο να προσλαβει μερικές χιλιάδες υπαλλήλους. Angeliki Mavroidi 23 Juneat 17:20
Κάθομαι σε ένα μπαρ απολαμβάνοντας μερικές μπύρες ήσυχα(καλά, ήπια μια «μερικές», αλλά οι Έλληνες πίνουν πολύ πιο αργά!) καιείχα την επόμενη επίδειξη της ''αυτονομης/αστυνομίας τωνεπαναστατών/ΜΑΤ''. «Είναι σαν να ζεις το προσωπικό σου δράμα με τουςμπάτσους εδώ", είπε ένας από τους συντρόφους μου.
Πουκυριολεκτικά εισέβαλαν κάτω από την οδό, σχηματίστηκε ένα αδιαπέραστοτείχος ασπίδων και στη συνέχεια να στάθηκανεκεί, κοιτάζοντας έξω ανκάποιος 'ερχεται προς το μέρος τους με μόνο σκοπό να αποδείξουν τηνεξουσία τους. Μουγκριτά σαν από γουρουνάκια μπορεί να ακουστούν από τηνάλλη πλευρά του δρόμου στο νεοϊδρυθέν πάρκο αναγεννημένο /πάρκο και οδιευθυντής του μπαρ που είμασταν απάντησε με μουσική τούτκων μαοϊκώνανταρτών .
Κανείς δεν είχε καμία αυταπάτη για το τι σημαίνειαυτή η κίνηση, εκτός από, δηλαδή, ο χαζός της αστυνομίας. "Πιστεύουνότι μας τρομάζουν, όταν όλοι μας σκεφτόμαστε πόσο ηλίθια είναι".
Τέλος πάντων, φεύγω τώρα να παρακολουθήσω κάποιους συντρόφους που παίζουνεπαναστατική λαϊκή μουσική (ρεμπέτικο μου φαίνεται).
Έχω βάλει τα παπούτσια μου για να κυκλοφορώ τις νυκτερινές ώρες, ακριβώς σε περίπτωση που ...
ΗClare Solomon είναι η νέα Πρόεδρος της Ένωσης του Πανεπιστημίου τουΛονδίνουκαι ένα μέλος του συμβουλίου συνταξης του Counterfire
Monday, 3 May 2010
Sunday, 25 April 2010
Marxist analysis of the internet: read up b4 coming to my session...
I have taken this straight from Counterfire.
We have posted this as a way to get people thinking about the various issues that are usually not considered with the internet. Read up before coming to my session on the internet - does anyone fancy helping to co-facilitate using Hoot suite or Scribble Live? (or something similar)
Christian Fuchs analyses the complexities of the relationship between the internet, revolutionary theory and the struggle for socialism.
Does
the Internet mainly harm or advance socialist emancipation? Does it
mainly destabilize or stabilize capitalism and exploitation? In my
view, these questions are incorrectly asked and imply one-sided answers.The
task for a critical analysis of the role of media and technology in
capitalism is to conceive these phenomena as dialectical and
antagonistic.
Neither neo-Luddism nor techno-utopianism are adequate left-wing reactions to the fact that digital media to a certain extent shape the ways we work, live, communicate, act, and think.
The Marxian notion of the antagonism between the productive forces and the relations of production is helpful for analyzing the role of knowledge and the media in contemporary capitalism in a more complex manner.
Marx formulated this antagonism in the following words: “The contradiction between the general social power into which capital develops, on the one hand, and the private power of the individual capitalists over these social conditions of production, on the other, becomes ever more irreconcilable, and yet contains the solution of the problem, because it implies at the same time the transformation of the conditions of production into general, common, social, conditions”.
In one of the most well-known passages of his works, Marx says that the “material conditions for the existence” of “new superior relations of production” mature “within the framework of the old society” and that the “productive forces developing within bourgeois society create also the material conditions for a solution of this antagonism”.
Information systems and knowledge in production are economic factors that influence and enable the creation of knowledge goods and services that are sold as commodities.
On the Internet, knowledge is commodified in several ways: it is either directly sold as commodity (you for example pay for downloading music on iTunes) or is provided for free by companies in order to attract a large number of users to platforms so that the users can be commodified and sold as a user/prosumer commodity to advertising clients.
This shows that within capitalist society, knowledge and information systems are subsumed under the capitalist relations of production. But this fact does not allow the conclusion that technologies and media in general are only means of exploitation and means for the production of relative surplus value. It is due to three specific characteristics of information networks that networked productive forces come in contradiction with the capitalist relations of:
Legal mechanisms (intellectual property rights, privacy statements, terms of use) and online advertising strategies on the other hand enable companies to criminalize information sharing and to accumulate capital by opening up platforms without payment to users, setting advertising rates according to the attracted amount of users, storing, analyzing, assessing, and selling user data and usage behaviour data to advertising clients (economic surveillance).
The Internet in capitalist society is therefore highly antagonistic. It is an expression of networked productive forces that anticipate the idea of a co-operative participatory economy, in which the means of production or co-operatively controlled by the immediate producers. The Internet is therefore also, but not only, a Keimform (germ cell) of communism.
But the very principles of networking, openness, decentralization that are at the heart of the Internet are also principles that enable new accumulation strategies. The Internet opens up and closes down possibilities for communism at the same time.
This analysis cast doubts on the assumption that political action can operate outside of antagonisms. It implies that progressive politics are, at least as long as we live in a capitalist society, in most instances antagonistic themselves. Given the antagonistic Internet, what can socialist net politics look like?
Communism most likely will not arrive tomorrow, it is not knocking on our doors in the current time of global crisis. This is at least what can be observed by the reactions of most citizens to the fact that capital has once again shipwrecked and has been saved by states with the help of taxpayers’ money.
The reaction has not been a wave of mass protests, but a shift towards the political right in many countries and a wait-see-hope-attitude in others (let’s wait until the crisis is over, let’s see if I will be affected, let’s hope that not I, but others will be damaged).
This shows that dreaming of revolution is today rather utopian – it is only an idea that has no mass support. A politics of radical reformism is needed that aims at changing the institutions in such a way that critical action can become more likely.
For net politics this means that the likelihood that the antagonism between the networked productive forces and the relations of production will have predominantly socialist and not capitalist effects can only be increased by left wing political actions, both in parliament, civil society, and as a combination of both. Elements of socialist net politics could for example include:
The British elections 2010 will unfortunately not improve the possibilities or realities of socialist politics and socialist net politics, it will instead bring more of the same uniform neoliberal one-dimensionality, disguised and media-hyped as being young, fresh, and dynamic.
From a socialist perspective, the difference between Cameron, Glegg, and Brown is marginal. British neoliberalism will continue after just like before the elections. And this does not promise good times for net politics either.
Neither neo-Luddism nor techno-utopianism are adequate left-wing reactions to the fact that digital media to a certain extent shape the ways we work, live, communicate, act, and think.
The Marxian notion of the antagonism between the productive forces and the relations of production is helpful for analyzing the role of knowledge and the media in contemporary capitalism in a more complex manner.
Marx formulated this antagonism in the following words: “The contradiction between the general social power into which capital develops, on the one hand, and the private power of the individual capitalists over these social conditions of production, on the other, becomes ever more irreconcilable, and yet contains the solution of the problem, because it implies at the same time the transformation of the conditions of production into general, common, social, conditions”.
In one of the most well-known passages of his works, Marx says that the “material conditions for the existence” of “new superior relations of production” mature “within the framework of the old society” and that the “productive forces developing within bourgeois society create also the material conditions for a solution of this antagonism”.
Information systems and knowledge in production are economic factors that influence and enable the creation of knowledge goods and services that are sold as commodities.
On the Internet, knowledge is commodified in several ways: it is either directly sold as commodity (you for example pay for downloading music on iTunes) or is provided for free by companies in order to attract a large number of users to platforms so that the users can be commodified and sold as a user/prosumer commodity to advertising clients.
This shows that within capitalist society, knowledge and information systems are subsumed under the capitalist relations of production. But this fact does not allow the conclusion that technologies and media in general are only means of exploitation and means for the production of relative surplus value. It is due to three specific characteristics of information networks that networked productive forces come in contradiction with the capitalist relations of:
- Information as a strategic economic resource is globally produced and diffused by networks. It is a good that is hard to control in single places or by single owners.
- Information is intangible. It can easily be copied, which results in multiple ownerships and hence undermines individual private property.
- The essence of networks is that they strive for establishing connections. Networks are in essence a negation of individual ownership and the atomism of capitalism.
Legal mechanisms (intellectual property rights, privacy statements, terms of use) and online advertising strategies on the other hand enable companies to criminalize information sharing and to accumulate capital by opening up platforms without payment to users, setting advertising rates according to the attracted amount of users, storing, analyzing, assessing, and selling user data and usage behaviour data to advertising clients (economic surveillance).
The Internet in capitalist society is therefore highly antagonistic. It is an expression of networked productive forces that anticipate the idea of a co-operative participatory economy, in which the means of production or co-operatively controlled by the immediate producers. The Internet is therefore also, but not only, a Keimform (germ cell) of communism.
But the very principles of networking, openness, decentralization that are at the heart of the Internet are also principles that enable new accumulation strategies. The Internet opens up and closes down possibilities for communism at the same time.
This analysis cast doubts on the assumption that political action can operate outside of antagonisms. It implies that progressive politics are, at least as long as we live in a capitalist society, in most instances antagonistic themselves. Given the antagonistic Internet, what can socialist net politics look like?
Communism most likely will not arrive tomorrow, it is not knocking on our doors in the current time of global crisis. This is at least what can be observed by the reactions of most citizens to the fact that capital has once again shipwrecked and has been saved by states with the help of taxpayers’ money.
The reaction has not been a wave of mass protests, but a shift towards the political right in many countries and a wait-see-hope-attitude in others (let’s wait until the crisis is over, let’s see if I will be affected, let’s hope that not I, but others will be damaged).
This shows that dreaming of revolution is today rather utopian – it is only an idea that has no mass support. A politics of radical reformism is needed that aims at changing the institutions in such a way that critical action can become more likely.
For net politics this means that the likelihood that the antagonism between the networked productive forces and the relations of production will have predominantly socialist and not capitalist effects can only be increased by left wing political actions, both in parliament, civil society, and as a combination of both. Elements of socialist net politics could for example include:
- the legalization of file sharing
- the introduction of a guaranteed basic income for cultural producers, financed by increasing capital taxation
- state subsidies for non-commercial, advertising-free, non-profit Internet projects
- the introduction of the legal requirement that commercial Internet platform providers operate based on opt-in advertising mechanisms
- the introduction of an Internet tax on online advertising revenues
- affirmative action mechanisms that increase the visibility of alternative online media on the Internet, make the existence of these platforms known to the people, and make the usage of alternative Internet platforms fun and attractive
The British elections 2010 will unfortunately not improve the possibilities or realities of socialist politics and socialist net politics, it will instead bring more of the same uniform neoliberal one-dimensionality, disguised and media-hyped as being young, fresh, and dynamic.
From a socialist perspective, the difference between Cameron, Glegg, and Brown is marginal. British neoliberalism will continue after just like before the elections. And this does not promise good times for net politics either.
Christian
Fuchs is associate professor at the University of Salzburg and member
of the executive board of the Unified Theory of Information Research
Group. His fields of interest are: social theory, critical theory,
media and society, information society studies, ICTs and society. He is
author of more than 120 publications, including “Internet &
Society” (Routledge 2008) and “Foundations of Critical Media and
Information Studies” (Routledge 2010). Website: http://fuchs.uti.at,
Wednesday, 21 April 2010
I'm nicking this from Luna 17 coz he has written it so succinctly that it is hardly worth me re-writing (good ole creative commons!)
All I shall add at the mo is that if you want to get involved, DO. You can send any thing of interest to content@counterfire.org, you can come to events and you can suggest things for us to do differently. Do keep looking out for changes-this is a Work in Progress and, due to the nature of the new technologies we have at our disposal, always will be.
I'm part of the editorial team for the Counterfire website which was launched last Monday. During its first week the site had around 10,000 visits, an extremely promising start.
News stories include new revelations of abuses of migrant workers, the decision to allow BNP members in teaching, left-wing campaigner Clare Solomon's victory in the London student elections, and the truth behind media myths about NATO operations in Afghanistan.
Feature articles includean insightful look at 'Why kids kill kids' (in the wake of controversy about Jon Venables), Michael Moore's new film reviewed, an overview ofthe crisis in Greece and why it has global implications, and an account of how the internet was used to mobilise against Berlusconi in Italy.
There'slots more already in the pipeline, which will be working its way online in the coming days and weeks. And if you have a report, pictures or video footage to contribute yourself, please get in touch.
All I shall add at the mo is that if you want to get involved, DO. You can send any thing of interest to content@counterfire.org, you can come to events and you can suggest things for us to do differently. Do keep looking out for changes-this is a Work in Progress and, due to the nature of the new technologies we have at our disposal, always will be.
A successful start
I'm part of the editorial team for the Counterfire website which was launched last Monday. During its first week the site had around 10,000 visits, an extremely promising start.News stories include new revelations of abuses of migrant workers, the decision to allow BNP members in teaching, left-wing campaigner Clare Solomon's victory in the London student elections, and the truth behind media myths about NATO operations in Afghanistan.
Feature articles includean insightful look at 'Why kids kill kids' (in the wake of controversy about Jon Venables), Michael Moore's new film reviewed, an overview ofthe crisis in Greece and why it has global implications, and an account of how the internet was used to mobilise against Berlusconi in Italy.
There'slots more already in the pipeline, which will be working its way online in the coming days and weeks. And if you have a report, pictures or video footage to contribute yourself, please get in touch.
Tuesday, 20 April 2010
DAY OF ACTION AGAINST THE NAZI BNP IN BARKING AND DAGENHAM: SUNDAY 25th APRIL
Meet 11am at Jazzie Jake Caribbean Restaurant, 8-10 North Street, Barking IG11 8AW (nearest station: Barking)
The national and local elections are drawing ever nearer.
Recently, the council candidates for Barking & Dagenham were
announced - despite what the BNP had previously threatened, they have
not got enough support to stand a full slate in the borough. They have
only managed to find 34 individuals willing to stand for them - but
this is still just enough to win the council. Come and join us this
Sunday as we step up the campaign to make sure these Nazis don't take
Barking & Dagenham over.
We will be canvassing and leafleting, and there will be lunch
provided as well as live music and entertainment provided by Love Music
Hate Racism.
Our canvassing returns so far show that the vast majority (over
60%) are against the BNP and will not vote for them either in the
national or local elections - however only a very small proportion of
voters say they've made up their minds on which way to vote. UAF and
our supporters can play a huge role in motivating those who are against
the BNP to go out on election day and use their to keep the BNP out.
Please circulate information about this Day of Action amongst your
work mates, friends and family. Make sure you use this opportunity to
stop the Nazi BNP in their tracks.
REPORT: BARKING LOVE MUSIC HATE RACISM GIG
For a full report on the amazing Barking LMHR gig go to:
http://lovemusichateracism.
Monday, 19 April 2010
Penny Red makes shortlist of Orwell Prize-YEY
Thursday, 25 March 2010
Democracy (on Trial) coming sooooon
See the The Mutiny blog for updates
As a post-election analysis and what to do next, May 12 is the date for the next Mutiny.
Love on Trial was another fantastic success with around 135 people coming along and participating the worlds premiere of Speed Debating! We think we may continue this format fpr the next one.
Read about and watch previous events HERE
Join the Google Group for involvement HERE
On Twitter here.
…the Facebook Group HERE
…and make suggestions as a comment anywhere on this blog and we will try to incorporate them
Looking forward to it.
We are looking for artwork, musicians, poets, visual artists, films, speakers and, of course, participants for the evening.
Join the team or send us any ideas & suggestions by emailing us at jointhemutiny@gmail.com
More info on how to get involved coming soon.
The Guardian writes back: 21st Century Feminism is here...
'That's the kind of feminist resurgence we need'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/mar/24/middle-class-feminism-politics
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/mar/24/middle-class-feminism-politics
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
Counterfire roundup...
| China - Obama's dangerous game
| ||
Monday, 8 March 2010
Leninism in the 21st century-welcome to Counterfire
Well, now the lack of stuff on this blog is explained...we have all been busy beavering away behind the scenes with a brand new project. More details on how to get involved on the front page-sign up for our weekly bulletin which will provide details of how to register for the sight, how to send in articles, videos, photo's etc.
We look forward to working with you in this brand new way.
I shamelessly copied the blurb from our news editor's blog The Sauce because, in true internet fashion, we operate on a creative commons licence :-) Thanks Brendan!
The website is being launched on International Women's Day with a 60 strong team including an investigations team, an industrial unit, arts reviews and peer reviewed publications.
Lindsey German, author of Material Girls, Women, Sex and Work and convenor of Stop the War said: “We live in a world of growing conflict, crisis and inequality and Counterfire is a much needed new voice calling for fundamental change.”
Adrian Cousins, editor of the new site, said: “Counterfire includes snappy news articles alongside expert analysis of the most important issues today with original design, photography and video. There is a blog aggregate so those interested in the movements know where to come.”
John Rees, broadcaster and author, said: “The journalism and analysis on Counterfire will provide a welcome alternative to the discredited and failing policies of the political elite.”
Elly Badcock, women's officer at SOAS and women's editor, said: “It's fantastic that on the 100th International Women's Day this powerful new site which uses the latest technology is providing a platform for the new feminism of the 21st Century.”
The site features daily news from the movements including articles on protests, petitions and campaigns alongside theory analysing the economy, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and campaigns against the BNP and the English Defence League.
The site is available at counterfire.org with news being fed through twitter at www.twitter.com/counterfire with a video feed at youtube.com/counterfire. Articles on the site can be reproduced with permission and attribution.
Launch articles on the site include:
The Feminist Manifesto for the 21st Century, with video from Saturday's packed meeting at Housmans bookshop by Lindsey German and Nina Power
Report from Joe Glenton's court martial, from the organiser of the Stop the War protest
An examination of Gramsci's relevance today
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