xer-files
Saturday, November 26, 2005
IDFA in Amsterdam
The International Documentary Festival Amsterdam started.
I'll beat some pixels there.
Last year i met there with Sinan Antoon, and Bassam Haddad, who made the docu 'About Baghdad'. I wonder who i'll meet this year. Actual 'world-topics' will be screened in documentaries and will be discussed with the makers, and experts. See the link if you're interested what goes around at this festival. ¶ Saturday, November 26, 2005 0 Comments
The International Documentary Festival Amsterdam started. I'll beat some pixels there.
Last year i met there with Sinan Antoon, and Bassam Haddad, who made the docu 'About Baghdad'. I wonder who i'll meet this year. Actual 'world-topics' will be screened in documentaries and will be discussed with the makers, and experts. See the link if you're interested what goes around at this festival. ¶ Saturday, November 26, 2005 0 Comments
Friday, November 25, 2005
Path Corporation CIA Dash 8 seen in Amsterdam last week
CIA planes all over the place. Even the Dutch minister of Foreign Affairs stated yesterday that the USofA are searching the limits of legallity, following on stories of possible 'CIA torture centres' in Poland. It could mean that The Netherlands will not be part in military missions to Afghanistan next spring.
Wayne Madsen (whoever he may be ...?) wrote about CIA flights all over Europe:
November 24, 2005 -- LATE NEWS -- The Frequency Monitoring Centre in the Netherlands is now reporting on yet another CIA prisoner aircraft transiting Schipol East Airport in Amsterdam. The plane departed Schipol on November 18, 2005 enroute to Reykjavik, Iceland. The plane, a DeHavilland Dash 8-315B (registration N505LL) flew to Amsterdam from Sabiha Gökçen Airport in Istanbul, Turkey on November 16, 2005. The plane is registered to Path Corporation, a CIA front company. (Path owns three other aircraft: N120JM (Fairchild.SA227-AT), N212CP (Cessna/208B), and N221SG (Gates Learjet Corp 35A). N505LL was photographed at Chandler Airport in Phoenix on May 18, 2005 and has been seen in Afghanistan on CIA covert missions. N505LL also overflew Danish territories of the Faroe Islands and Greenland and may have landed at Thule Air Base in Greenland. [link]
Update - I found this post, (but i was found first): 28-11-2005 - Could The CIA Planes In Portugal And Europe Be Running Drugs? Now drink a cup o'tea, lay back and relax ...
¶ Friday, November 25, 2005 0 Comments
CIA planes all over the place. Even the Dutch minister of Foreign Affairs stated yesterday that the USofA are searching the limits of legallity, following on stories of possible 'CIA torture centres' in Poland. It could mean that The Netherlands will not be part in military missions to Afghanistan next spring.Wayne Madsen (whoever he may be ...?) wrote about CIA flights all over Europe:
November 24, 2005 -- LATE NEWS -- The Frequency Monitoring Centre in the Netherlands is now reporting on yet another CIA prisoner aircraft transiting Schipol East Airport in Amsterdam. The plane departed Schipol on November 18, 2005 enroute to Reykjavik, Iceland. The plane, a DeHavilland Dash 8-315B (registration N505LL) flew to Amsterdam from Sabiha Gökçen Airport in Istanbul, Turkey on November 16, 2005. The plane is registered to Path Corporation, a CIA front company. (Path owns three other aircraft: N120JM (Fairchild.SA227-AT), N212CP (Cessna/208B), and N221SG (Gates Learjet Corp 35A). N505LL was photographed at Chandler Airport in Phoenix on May 18, 2005 and has been seen in Afghanistan on CIA covert missions. N505LL also overflew Danish territories of the Faroe Islands and Greenland and may have landed at Thule Air Base in Greenland. [link]
Update - I found this post, (but i was found first): 28-11-2005 - Could The CIA Planes In Portugal And Europe Be Running Drugs? Now drink a cup o'tea, lay back and relax ...
¶ Friday, November 25, 2005 0 Comments
Monday, November 21, 2005
They lied! They packaged a lie and they sold it
So. That seems to be the case in The Netherlands, although grammatically it should be the plural form (lies!) and here and now it has less to do with corporations, more so with the ('our') government. (Oh, and for who didn't see Winterbottom's 'Code 46' yet... go see it).
This article at GNN seems at its place now:
The greatest marketing trick of the 20th century was the positioning of propaganda.
Marketing is propaganda. Positioning propaganda as distinct from other forms of marketing is state-of-the-art persuasion.
[..] "Propaganda is the feel-good pill of a fascist agenda. That’s what these words mean today: “Religion is the opiate of the masses.” Propaganda is what facilitates fascist citizens to believe they’re supporting what’s good and right. The keystone of manufacturing these beliefs is in controlling meaning. Words become the crux of this control. “The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words.” Philip K. Dick, Novelist (1928-1982)
This is a war for reality. Consensus reality is held in place by the masses. The commonly used words and their common meanings have great impact. Monitoring these meanings, and affecting the change of these meanings, is the dynamic implicit in Lippman’s phrase, “manufacturing consent.” [..]
¶ Monday, November 21, 2005 0 Comments
This article at GNN seems at its place now:
The greatest marketing trick of the 20th century was the positioning of propaganda.
Marketing is propaganda. Positioning propaganda as distinct from other forms of marketing is state-of-the-art persuasion.
[..] "Propaganda is the feel-good pill of a fascist agenda. That’s what these words mean today: “Religion is the opiate of the masses.” Propaganda is what facilitates fascist citizens to believe they’re supporting what’s good and right. The keystone of manufacturing these beliefs is in controlling meaning. Words become the crux of this control. “The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words.” Philip K. Dick, Novelist (1928-1982)
This is a war for reality. Consensus reality is held in place by the masses. The commonly used words and their common meanings have great impact. Monitoring these meanings, and affecting the change of these meanings, is the dynamic implicit in Lippman’s phrase, “manufacturing consent.” [..]
¶ Monday, November 21, 2005 0 Comments
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Journalist shot, murdered - Nijmegen, Netherlands
This really feels weird. My last post here was about a journalist being mistreated in Tunis. This post is about a journalist who last night has been shot through his head, executed on a street of Nijmegen, city in the south of the Netherlands. Louis Seveke was 41 years old. He wrote for the quality newspaper NRC and activist magazine Ravage. He was a member of an office for complaints about the police. He wrote articles and published a book about the Dutch secret services.
I must say that the dead are piling up in this country. An expert on organized crime last week compared The Netherlands with the South of Italy (and yes, i know that region) for the series of executions finding place in the more serious circles of Dutch organized crime, with the last murder finding place in Thailand some weeks ago.
The other series of persons being killed had complete other passions. One was a politician with a big mouth. The second was a filmmaker with a big mouth.
The last one now was Louis Seveke. Family and friends have stated, according to the Dutch public-TV news that they "more or less hoped it was done by a madman, a crazy person. The other possibility would be too frightening." The other possibility being: an orchestrated killing because of Seveke's research and things he was in the know about. Which would mean that the murder is politically motivated. Both options are incredibly rude. A third murder, executed by a third madman is so unbearable as well.
This really feels weird. My last post here was about a journalist being mistreated in Tunis. This post is about a journalist who last night has been shot through his head, executed on a street of Nijmegen, city in the south of the Netherlands. Louis Seveke was 41 years old. He wrote for the quality newspaper NRC and activist magazine Ravage. He was a member of an office for complaints about the police. He wrote articles and published a book about the Dutch secret services.I must say that the dead are piling up in this country. An expert on organized crime last week compared The Netherlands with the South of Italy (and yes, i know that region) for the series of executions finding place in the more serious circles of Dutch organized crime, with the last murder finding place in Thailand some weeks ago.
The other series of persons being killed had complete other passions. One was a politician with a big mouth. The second was a filmmaker with a big mouth.
The last one now was Louis Seveke. Family and friends have stated, according to the Dutch public-TV news that they "more or less hoped it was done by a madman, a crazy person. The other possibility would be too frightening." The other possibility being: an orchestrated killing because of Seveke's research and things he was in the know about. Which would mean that the murder is politically motivated. Both options are incredibly rude. A third murder, executed by a third madman is so unbearable as well.
An Im Memoriam of J+R: Louis Sévèke murdered¶ Wednesday, November 16, 2005 0 Comments
On the evening of November 15th, the tenacious and engaged Dutch intelligence watcher Louis Sévèke was murdered on the streets of Nijmegen by two shots from close distance.
Louis published frequently in major newspapers; filed FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests in order to disclose intelligence files of his clients; and filed complaints against actions of the police and judiciary on behalf of his clients.
We've lost a hard working, passionate colleague and we're left behind without a clue about the background of his murder.
Monday, November 14, 2005
Un-Freedom of Information Society (WSIS - Tunis)
Journalist gassed, beaten, stabbed, robbed
From: Agence France-Presse - correspondents in Tunis - November 13, 2005
FRENCH journalist investigating human rights abuses in Tunisia was gassed, beaten and stabbed on the eve of a United Nations information technology summit, his editors said overnight.
Christophe Boltanski, 43, a reporter for the left-leaning daily Liberation, was attacked in "suspicious circumstances" on Friday night near his hotel in the embassy district of the capital Tunis, the newspaper said.
The journalist, his face marked by grazes and bruises, described being assaulted by four men with cropped hair and wearing sports clothing who blinded him with a canister of tear gas before throwing him to the ground, punching and kicking him.
He also suffered a knife wound three centimetres long and one centimetre deep to his lower back, before one of the men shouted in French "That's enough" and the men fled.
They stole a bag containing a small amount of cash, notebooks, a USB computer memory key, telephone and a return air ticket to Paris.
The journalist said he shouted for help, but several police guarding the nearby Czech Republic embassy did not intervene.
On Friday, Liberation published a report by Mr Boltanski about clashes between police and activists protesting in support of seven hunger strikers campaigning for the release of 400 "political prisoners" jailed as common criminals. [..] ¶ Monday, November 14, 2005 0 Comments
From: Agence France-Presse - correspondents in Tunis - November 13, 2005
FRENCH journalist investigating human rights abuses in Tunisia was gassed, beaten and stabbed on the eve of a United Nations information technology summit, his editors said overnight.
Christophe Boltanski, 43, a reporter for the left-leaning daily Liberation, was attacked in "suspicious circumstances" on Friday night near his hotel in the embassy district of the capital Tunis, the newspaper said.
The journalist, his face marked by grazes and bruises, described being assaulted by four men with cropped hair and wearing sports clothing who blinded him with a canister of tear gas before throwing him to the ground, punching and kicking him.
He also suffered a knife wound three centimetres long and one centimetre deep to his lower back, before one of the men shouted in French "That's enough" and the men fled.
They stole a bag containing a small amount of cash, notebooks, a USB computer memory key, telephone and a return air ticket to Paris.
The journalist said he shouted for help, but several police guarding the nearby Czech Republic embassy did not intervene.
On Friday, Liberation published a report by Mr Boltanski about clashes between police and activists protesting in support of seven hunger strikers campaigning for the release of 400 "political prisoners" jailed as common criminals. [..] ¶ Monday, November 14, 2005 0 Comments
Thursday, November 10, 2005
Report on Journalism in Europe
The complete report Investigative Journalism in Europe is now online.
Your Cile took part in it.
She talked with journalists from Milan to Palermo, while meeting old and new friends and eating loads of good pizza and pasta along the way.
Interested? It can be downloaded at VVOJ.org ¶ Thursday, November 10, 2005 0 Comments
The complete report Investigative Journalism in Europe is now online.Your Cile took part in it.
She talked with journalists from Milan to Palermo, while meeting old and new friends and eating loads of good pizza and pasta along the way.
Interested? It can be downloaded at VVOJ.org ¶ Thursday, November 10, 2005 0 Comments
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Reduction to insurgents’ barbaric levels
From Guerilla News Network:
Republished from The New Yorker
The Abu Ghraib scandal seems not to have chastened Cheney or any other Administration officials; in fact, they are for the first time arguing openly and explicitly that C.I.A. personnel should be exempt from standards that apply to every other American.
Also by Jane Mayer:
• The Experiment: Torture Methods at Guantanamo
• Outsourcing Torture: The Secret History of America’s ‘’Extraordinary Rendition‘’
By Jane MayerRepublished from The New Yorker
Can the CIA Legally Kill a Prisoner?
¶ Tuesday, November 08, 2005 0 Comments
Massive Muslim Demonstration Against Al Qaida
Gateway Pundit
From the heart of the Jesuslands arrives news - ** Good News from Morocco **
* 150,000 Demonstrate Against Al Qaida in Morocco
* Protesters Pledge Unity with Iraq!
* "All Moroccans are with Iraq, all Moroccans are innocent," the marchers chanted.
* Rally draws people cutting across political lines
* Officials say they will not succumb to Al Qaida blackmail
* Clerics say Al Qaida members will "burn in hell" if they kill embassy workers
150,000 Moroccans on the streets of Casablanca in a demonstration against al-Qaida
Protesters pledged unity with Iraq and pleaded with al-Qaida to release 2 Moroccan hostages. /../ ¶ Tuesday, November 08, 2005 0 Comments
From the heart of the Jesuslands arrives news - ** Good News from Morocco **
* 150,000 Demonstrate Against Al Qaida in Morocco
* Protesters Pledge Unity with Iraq!
* "All Moroccans are with Iraq, all Moroccans are innocent," the marchers chanted.
* Rally draws people cutting across political lines
* Officials say they will not succumb to Al Qaida blackmail
* Clerics say Al Qaida members will "burn in hell" if they kill embassy workers
150,000 Moroccans on the streets of Casablanca in a demonstration against al-Qaida
Protesters pledged unity with Iraq and pleaded with al-Qaida to release 2 Moroccan hostages. /../ ¶ Tuesday, November 08, 2005 0 Comments
Saturday, November 05, 2005
Thursday, November 03, 2005
Cultures in Orbit, Satellites and the Televisual
Institute of Network Cultures - Out There: Exploring Satellite Awareness
Part of an interview with Lisa Parks:
"I am working on an essay about the lives of three different satellites, comparing their histories, uses, positioning, effects, and evaluating why they are such obscure objects in media studies. I also just finished a project called Postwar Footprints about the way satellite and wireless footprints have been used to re-map parts of former Yugoslavia and link these regions to conglomerates in Western Europe and the US as part of European integration. This research is part of an art exhibition that opens at KW in Berlin on December 17, 2005. In some respects the detachment and invisibility of satellites has led me to become more interested in physical infrastructures. I’m writing a new book called Mixed Signals: Media Technologies and Cultural Geography, which explores emerging media systems in fringe areas -- areas on the edges of urban space and networked infrastructures. Some of these places might show up as dark zones in a composite satellite image of the earth at night. I’m interested in exploring the different atmospherics that form in areas that are either heavily networked or not very networked at all. Perhaps this is because I am fundamentally suspicious of integration as a political, economic and cultural goal and I think there is much to learn from areas that maintain some detachment and autonomy in a world that can be interconnected. I might even call these areas satellites in a kind of metaphoric way in that they exist around and in relation to centers of power (whether financial, technological, or cultural), but are distinct from them. So the satellite will definitely remain in my work, but it will inevitably mutate and take on different (sometimes metaphoric or metonymic) forms."
¶ Thursday, November 03, 2005 0 Comments
Part of an interview with Lisa Parks:
"I am working on an essay about the lives of three different satellites, comparing their histories, uses, positioning, effects, and evaluating why they are such obscure objects in media studies. I also just finished a project called Postwar Footprints about the way satellite and wireless footprints have been used to re-map parts of former Yugoslavia and link these regions to conglomerates in Western Europe and the US as part of European integration. This research is part of an art exhibition that opens at KW in Berlin on December 17, 2005. In some respects the detachment and invisibility of satellites has led me to become more interested in physical infrastructures. I’m writing a new book called Mixed Signals: Media Technologies and Cultural Geography, which explores emerging media systems in fringe areas -- areas on the edges of urban space and networked infrastructures. Some of these places might show up as dark zones in a composite satellite image of the earth at night. I’m interested in exploring the different atmospherics that form in areas that are either heavily networked or not very networked at all. Perhaps this is because I am fundamentally suspicious of integration as a political, economic and cultural goal and I think there is much to learn from areas that maintain some detachment and autonomy in a world that can be interconnected. I might even call these areas satellites in a kind of metaphoric way in that they exist around and in relation to centers of power (whether financial, technological, or cultural), but are distinct from them. So the satellite will definitely remain in my work, but it will inevitably mutate and take on different (sometimes metaphoric or metonymic) forms."
¶ Thursday, November 03, 2005 0 Comments
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
My Favourite AbuGhraib Cutup
"The Arts & Politics of Netporn" has been the first international conference analyzing the Netporn phenomenon.
Cell d- was invited to participate with the warporn video "My Favourite Abughraib Links".
For the occurence was prepared "About Abughraib Abuses: My Favourite Abughraib Cutup" a slideshow about sociocultural circumstances and Western imagery behind iraqi prison tortures.
Please see *My Favourite Abughraib Cutup* ¶ Wednesday, November 02, 2005 0 Comments
"The Arts & Politics of Netporn" has been the first international conference analyzing the Netporn phenomenon. Cell d- was invited to participate with the warporn video "My Favourite Abughraib Links".
For the occurence was prepared "About Abughraib Abuses: My Favourite Abughraib Cutup" a slideshow about sociocultural circumstances and Western imagery behind iraqi prison tortures.
Please see *My Favourite Abughraib Cutup* ¶ Wednesday, November 02, 2005 0 Comments
