Saturday, March 31, 2007

The Storms of Change

Author John Ross is on the road in the southern states of the U.S. to promote his new book ZAPATISTAS! Making Another World Possible--Chronicles of Resistance 2000-2006. In this Counterpunch article he recounts the places he visits and the people he meets:
www.counterpunch.org/ross03312007.html

John's book chronicles the last six years of the Zapatista rebellion in Mexico — a period without the glare of the media spotlight but during which the Zapatistas have been "Changing the World Without Taking Power." Published by Nation books:
www.nationbooks.org/book.mhtml?t=zapatistas

Shakespeare and War

Robert Fisk finds disturbing parallels in Shakespeare's plays and the current situation in Iraq.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/article2403298.ece

Friday, March 30, 2007

Tacoma, Washington USA

Anti-war protests you won't see on British television.
See why alternative news outlets are vital - follow the links:
www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/03/366448.html

Situationist International Anthology: revised and expanded

Generally recognized as the most comprehensive and accurately translated collection of situationist writings in English, the SI Anthology presents a rich variety of articles, leaflets, graffiti and internal documents by Guy Debord, Raoul Vaneigem, etc., ranging from their early experiments in "psychogeography" and cultural subversion to their lucid analyses of the Watts riot, the Vietnam War, the Prague Spring, the Chinese Cultural Revolution, the May 1968 revolt in France, and other crises and upheavals of the sixties.

For this new edition the translator (Ken Knabb) has fine-tuned all of his original translations and added over 100 pages of new material.

For more information about the print edition:
www.bopsecrets.org/cat.htm

Read the texts online:
www.bopsecrets.org/SI/index.htm

Bird 'Flu

I often feel I should spend more time reading scientific literature as it is frequently the only way to find out what is going on - one instance that reinforces this feeling is a recent review of scientific literature on the spread of Bird Flu that concludes that the poultry trade rather than bird migration is the main mechanism for the dispersal of the virus. The review was published in the British Ornithologists Union Journal Ibis.

Read an overview of this article on the Birdlife International website:
www.birdlife.org/news/news/2007/03/avian_flu_report.html

For the more detailed original article in Ibis:
"Recent expansion of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1: a critical review" by
M Gauthier-Clerc, C Lebarbbenchon, & F Thomas.

http://digbig.com/4scwk

plus a commentary by Chris J Feare:
http://digbig.com/4scwj

[urls shortened by digbig]

Collapsing Colonies:
Are GM Crops Killing Bees?


The mysterious decimation of Bee colonies in Germany and the US should be of major concern to everyone. Gunther Latsch explores the background on Znet:
www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=56&ItemID=12435

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

"...a secret, inarticulate voice"

Andy McSmith writes about the relationship between James Joyce and his daughter Lucia as a key to understanding the mysteries of Finnegan's Wake, in the Independent:
http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/books/features/article2396011.ece

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Words Without Borders

Interesting online magazine and blog for international literature:
"Our ultimate aim is to introduce exciting international writing to the general public—travelers, teachers, students, publishers, and a new generation of eclectic readers—by presenting international literature not as a static, elite phenomenon, but a portal through which to explore the world. In the richness of cultural information we present, we hope to help foster a "globalization" of cultural engagement and exchange, one that allows many voices in many languages to prosper."
Lots of good reading.
www.wordswithoutborders.org/