[Nettime-bold] Autonogram 10: Saints / Help / Exchange / Lab

[geert lovink <geert@desk.nl>]

(for those who wanna get onto this autonomedia 
newsletter, please write to ben. /geert)

From: "Ben at Autonomedia" <ben@autonomedia.org>
To: <Recipient List Suppressed:>
Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2002 7:35 AM
Subject: Autonogram 10: Saints / Help / Exchange / Lab

Greetings and hello again --

Here's your irregular update about the goings-on and 
grindstone-nosings here at Autonomedia HQ. It's a fairly brief list 
this time, but don't take that as a sign of our slackness. We all 
managed to survive the meetings of the World Economic Forum here 
recently, with several of us covering events for the independent 
media, participating in the various counter-summits, maintaining the 
barricades with the Anarchist Kazoo Block, and so forth. We also 
hosted a serialized novella about the disturbances at the WEF 
meetings, which generated a fair amount of interest in the days 
before the meetings opened (most notably from inside the WEF, as well 
as from at least one member of the Special Investigations unit of the 
Swiss government). The novella is still viewable at 
http://www.autonomedia.org/davos.

Another Autonomedia-related activity related to the WEF meetings was 
a net strike against the WEF web site, sponsored by the Electronic 
Disturbance Theatre, in which a massive number of requests for the 
WEF site may have resulted in a denial of service of the site's 
server. This neatly fits into the rubric of "hacktivism", which is 
also the title of a forthcoming collection edited by the Electronic 
Disturbance Theatre. More on all of this can be found at 
http://www.thing.net/~rdom.

And without further ado, here's your Autonogram 10.

* * * * * * * * *

"Help Yourself!" is the newest discharge in the Unbearables' series 
of blasts on American culture, in which they dismantle, parody, and 
otherwise mangle the literary tradition of the Self Help Book. More 
than 75 individual contributors took on the topic, and in their 
Unbearable tradition, demolish the myths of self help in more than 75 
ways. There are far too many people and topics involved in this to 
list them adequately here, but click on 
http://www.autonomedia.org/helpyourself for a full table of contents, 
Jim Feast's introduction to the book, and information on how to order 
the thing.

Also, for more Unbearables than will fit on the head of a dull pin, 
or just to find out who these Unbearables are and what's their deal 
anyway, go to http://www.unbearables.org.

* * * * *

Here's another plug for the Info Exchange on our website, found at 
http://slash.autonomedia.org. Recent articles have focussed on, among 
other things, the World Economic Forum and its discontents, the World 
Social Forum, an interview with Toni Negri on the state of empire 
after 9/11, the Enron debacle, and the raisethefist.com seizure and 
arrest.

Of particular note, though, are Bill Weinberg's regular World War 3 
reports, subtitled a "Vigilant, Independent Sentinel of Truth in the 
War on Terrorism," which is itself something of an understatement. 
Weinberg, who you may know as a host of WBAI's "Moorish Orthodox 
Radio Crusade" and as a co-editor of our book "Avant Gardening", has 
been issuing this weekly newsletter since the bombing campaign began 
in October. He casts a wide net in examining the many effects of this 
war, dividing his reports into digestable individual items organized 
by area of import: Afghanistan, the Middle East, the War at Home, New 
York City, and "Watching the Shadows," in which his skills at 
investigative journalism shine the brightest. He also has included 
special reports on Enron and the WEF, in an effort to tie these 
issues into the larger war culture. For the World War 3 report for 
February 9, please click the link below:
http://slash.autonomedia.org/article.pl?sid=02/02/11/154211

Also, when you visit the Info Exchange, you'll notice a new "Make a 
Donation" button on the left side of the page. This is something 
we're trying out in an effort to offset the hosting costs for the 
Info Exchange. The site has been expensive to run, and for a little 
while it looked like we were going to lose our shirts on it; whereas 
that situation has cooled down somewhat, it's still a little pricey 
for us, and we're not too proud to get out our coffee cups and do 
some spare changing. If you find the Info Exchange useful and happen 
to have some spare money lying around, by all means, feel free to 
send some our way! The Info Exchange is a joint project of 
Autonomedia and ABC No Rio (the venerable Lower East Side community 
arts center), both of which are legally charitable institutions ready 
to give tax write-offs, so if you need a tax break with your 
difficult-to-find radical news and dynamic gabfest, well then, please 
do click the "Contribute!" button. Thanks.

* * * * *

Autonomadic props go out to Kevin Pyle, who was honored by the 
Society of Illustrators with a Silver Medal for his book "Lab USA", 
which came out in July 2001. If you haven't seen the book yet, look 
at http://www.autonomedia.org/labusa for a sample -- it's a 
terrifying, but very well-researched, visual history of abuse in the 
institutionalization of humans in the United States, particularly 
focussed on military and medical experimentation gone gruesome. His 
artwork is fantastic, and the stories he tells are both important and 
overlooked. And for a cute snapshot of Kevin and his new son Calvin, 
go to http://www.societyillustrators.org/this_week/thisweek4.html

* * * * *

Calendar Sale!

Everyone knows and loves the Jubilee Saints calendar and the Sheroes 
and Womyn Warriors calendar, and we still have some of the 2002 
editions available for cheap. $5 per each includes domestic shipping; 
go to http://www.autonomedia.org/saints or 
http://www.autonomedia.org/sheroes if you want to see them.

* * * * *

Finally, if you're anywhere near New York City, do come down to the 
Theatorium on Stanton Street to see the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus's 
annual Winter Cabaret. The Bindlestiffs have been part of the 
Autonomedia Collective for years, and tour the country twice a year 
with the Autonomadic Bookmobile Roadshow. The show this season takes 
a western theme, and is mouth-wateringly titled "Buckaroo 
Bindlestiff's Wild West Gender Bender Jamboree." Getcher tickets now, 
ladies and gennelmen, and have a look at http://www.bindlestiff.org. 
They've got the best radical vaudeville show NYC has to offer. Hooray 
for the cirkus!

* * * * * * * * *

That does it for this installment. As always, if receiving these 
emails causes you surprise, irritation, or plain disappointment, just 
send me an email and I'll have you removed from the list. On the 
other hand, should they inspire feelings of encouragement, lust, or 
glee, by all means let me hear about that as well! Send hosannas and 
praises, coffee and treats! We love you! Hooray!

indeed, that's it.

bests,
Ben at Autonomedia
http://www.autonomedia.org


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