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Table of Contents:
Prime Minister Now
Vanessa Black <whitecube@asia.com>
M/C - New issue 'sorry' now online
Elissa Jenkins <mc@api-network.com>
Privacy Lecture Series - Feb. 28 - European cybercrime law & implications for pr
Ana Viseu <ana.viseu@utoronto.ca>
E-FLYER FOR NET.MUSIC CYBERSALON & SYMPOSIUM - Wednesday 11th April 2001
richard barbrook <richard@hrc.wmin.ac.uk>
CfP - BioVision 2001
integer@www.god-emil.dk
PASS THIS ALONG: Maps/Locations of DU-Contaminated Sites in Balkans
"T.V. Weber & Alida Weber" <jatich@ameritech.net>
Fw: CTHEORY Multimedia @ CORNELL
"information overload" <garbo@bisaya.ph>
Transformers : Arcangel / Nechvatal Opening reception Friday March 2, 2001 6-9 P
Michele <michele@movingimagegallery.com>
"fear" south africa
"Valery Grancher" <vgrancher@nomemory.org>
metabolics#3
florian schneider <fls@kein.org>
Webcast 134 with topic " rights & ownership online"
Station Rose <gunafa@well.com>
Invitation to the People's Summit on Globalization
"manse jacobi" <jacobi@freespeech.org>
SEAFair 2001 - Society and Genomic Culture
Kalina Bunevska <kalina@scca.org.mk>
Call for articles - Lumpen Magazine
Leslie Arschgeiger <jean_snark@yahoo.com>
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2001 16:59:18 +0100
From: Vanessa Black <whitecube@asia.com>
Subject: Prime Minister Now
prime minister now
election robot
.....and featuring the bye-bye party of our Progressor...J=F6rn Zehe
With the first release of Bergen Robotics Ass.
the course of this years election for the Norwegian Parliament will be=
decided.
To lay bets on the result of this election night visit our polling station=
=20
at WhiteCube......
.......THURSDAY 22.FEB 2001 20 O'CLOCK C.SUNDTSGT.55..............
Have you ever checked our webpage? http://www.societyofcontrol.com/WhiteCube
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
Footnote: This message is sent in HTML and plain text.
Please reply 'unsubscribe' if you want to be taken off the list.
Spamming is bad, we regret any crossposting!
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2001 19:49:24 +1000
From: Elissa Jenkins <mc@api-network.com>
Subject: M/C - New issue 'sorry' now online
(If you'd rather not receive future M/C news releases, please drop us a
line at mc@api-network.com).
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - 21 February 2001
The Media and Cultural Studies Centre at the University of Queensland is
proud to present issue one in volume four of the award-winning:
M/C - A Journal of Media and Culture - http://www.api-network.com/mc/
'sorry'
Issue editors Paul Newman,Tseen Khoo and Kathryn Goldie.
Editorial:
'Sorry'
By Paul Newman, Tseen Khoo and Kathryn Goldie.
The issue of a national apology to the Stolen Generations by the Federal
Government has for some time been central to cultural and political
debate in Australia. Responses to the Bringing them Home report - the
text that generated a national audience for narratives of child removal
including the mechanics of apology - have come to substantially generate
the terms of the Australian reconciliation debate. The desire for the
performance of official sorrow has come to dominate arguments about
racial atonement to the extent, as several of our contributors note,
that more material achievements may have been neglected.
This is not to endorse Prime Minister Howard's prioritisation of
'practical' reconciliation, in which the only specific policy the
government is prepared to advocate is the provision of basic rights to
Indigenous people, but to recognise some of the limitations of the
apology focus. The continuation of deliberations about whether or not
non-indigenous Australians should express sorrow has the potential to
feed into a lengthy history of anxious white Australian self-definition.
Reconciliation, and the sorrow which may or may not constitute it,
therefore becomes the latest in an endless series of attempts to
ascertain Australia's national identity - this time informed by a moral
responsibility for historical wrongdoing. In his article, Jen Kwok
suggests the potential for the concept of reconciliation to become
safely amorphous, expressing the fear that an interest in reconciliation
can be acquired for the sake of appearance. In this way, the narrative
of a nation reconciled through a governmental process helps to inform
ongoing constructions of whiteness.
While Australia's initial ten-year period of reconciliation has
officially ended, the issue of a Federal Government apology has not.
Prime Minister Howard's version of an apology - the personal sorrow that
never becomes official -seems part of the conservative parties'
deliberate obfuscation of the importance of official recognition of
indigenous concerns, in the same way that a treaty is dismissed as
unnecessary. In this issue, Lynette Hughes takes the conservatives'
refusal to acknowledge the need to apologise as a starting point for
deliberations on the worth of the concept, with a timely focus on
Pauline Hanson's unapologetic re-entry onto the centre of the political
stage.
If Hanson's emergence in 1996 was notable for her grouping of otherness
- - 'Aborigines' and 'Asians' - as threat, this was a simple
identification of two forms of difference, in indigeneity and non-white
migration, that have been historically constructed as imperilling white
Australia. Guy Ramsay takes up an historical connection between two such
groups: Chinese and Indigenous peoples of North Queensland during the
latter half of the nineteenth century. This community of Others was seen
as a significant threat to the 'codes' and 'norms' of white behaviour,
as legislation was introduced to restrict the immorality and vice
necessarily attached to racial mixing.
In M/C's feature article, Peta Stephenson also analyses the reasons why
the common experience of Australian racism by immigrant and Indigenous
people has not forged significant bonds between the two groups.
Beginning with a letter written by members of the Vietnamese community
in response to the Federal Government's ongoing refusal to apologise to
the Stolen Generations, Stephenson traces some of the current reasons
for the lack of interaction between those theorised as Other in
settler-indigene and Anglo-Ethnic conceptions.
Despite, or perhaps because of, the historical proofs of the
mistreatment of migrant groups, there is reason to suggest continuity in
the behaviour of settler nations towards non-white peoples. Rita Wong's
examination of the Canadian government's treatment of recent refugees to
Canada provides similarities with Australia's own human rights record in
this area. This impulse to criminalise refugee seekers is certainly one
shared by both nations. The racialisation of the refugees in the media
and government rhetoric implies that the persecution of Asians in Canada
is not only an historical event.
A further relevant international comparison to the Australian situation
is evident in South Africa, where issues of reconciliation and apology
for historical misdeeds have gained great societal prominence. Despite
the limitations of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission,
there was an intimacy to the discourses of apology made possible by the
presence of 'perpetrator' and 'victim' in the same room: institutional
space was provided by the Commission for the confessions of the
perpetrators of human rights violations.
These personal reconciliations intensify the focus on the apology to the
'victims' of human rights violations, and emphasise the personal
accountability of those who perpetrated such acts. From her article on
the workings of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission,
Andie Miller's conclusion suggests that the official impulse to
reconcile-a feature of both Australia's and South Africa's version of
national redemption-cannot produce results that are acceptable to all
elements of society. Likewise, an emphasis on personal investment in an
'apology' is apparent in the contributions of Kwok and Hughes in this
issue.
Even now, the reconciliation issue remains the locus of much angst and
self-reflection. Having a gathering such as Australia Deliberates:
Reconciliation for the 21st Century -- which was screened mid-February
2001 by the ABC -- aptly demonstrates the range of complex societal
changes which need to take place. More to the point, the concept of
reconciliation must move, as Jackie Huggins argues, from being a deed to
becoming a plan ("Australia Deliberates").
References:
"Australia Deliberates: Reconciliation for the 21st Century". ABC. 17
February 2001.
Feature Article:
Sorry Business - Moving Beyond Black and White
By Peta Stephenson
Articles:
Past and Present Acts of Exclusion: Immigration and Globalization
By Rita Wong
Contentious Connections: Removals, Legislation and Indigenous-Chinese
Contacts
By Guy Ramsay
Truth and Reconciliation: 'Many Layers, Many Seasons'
By Andie Miller
An ANTaR Opinion about 'Sorry', Reconciliation and the Public Debate
By Jen Tsen Kwok
Social Justice from the Confessional?
By Lynette Hughes
M/C - A Journal of Media and Culture - http://www.api-network.com/mc/
- --
Elissa Jenkins
Co-ordinating Editor
M/C - A Journal of Media and Culture
mc@api-network.com
http://www.api-network.com/mc/
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2001 17:54:42 -0500
From: Ana Viseu <ana.viseu@utoronto.ca>
Subject: Privacy Lecture Series - Feb. 28 - European cybercrime law & implications for privacy
PRIVACY LECTURE SERIES
<http://privacy.openflows.org>
"European cybercrime law and its implications for privacy"
Wednesday, February 28
7:00 to 8:30 p.m.
Ian (Gus) Hosein
Privacy Technology Officer
Zero-Knowlege Systems, Inc.
140 St. George, Room 728
Faculty of Information Studies (building adjacent to Robarts Library)
University of Toronto
This lecture will focus on the new European/internation cybercrime law,
which was drafted specifically to deal with the cross-border nature of much
computer-related crime. As the name indicates this law stems from the
European Union, but it has been endorsed by the United States and Canada.
When finished the law will be opened for signature worldwide. This lecture
will not only explain the particularities of the law but also how it
affects privacy worldwide.
Ian (Gus) Hosein is a Tutorial Fellow and doctoral student at the London
School of Economics. For three years Gus has lectured to undergraduate and
postgraduate students on privacy, philosophy and politics of technology,
regulation, cryptography policy, networks, and the concept of the
Information Society. In his spare time he works with Privacy International,
is a Policy Counsel for ZeroKnowledge Systems, and is an Advisory Council
member of the Foundation for Information Policy Research. A Toronto native,
he is a survivor of the University of Waterloo; but now lives in England
partly because of the prevalence of pubs.
The lectures are free of charge, and there is NO need for registration.
If you would like to receive announcements for the Privacy Lecture Series
please register at <http://privacy.openflows.org>
For more info contact:
Ana Viseu <ana.viseu@utoronto.ca>
Robert Guerra <robert@cryptorights.org>
- ----++++----++++----
Tudo vale a pena se a alma não é pequena.
http://fcis.oise.utoronto.ca/~aviseu
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2001 00:49:50 +0000 (GMT)
From: richard barbrook <richard@hrc.wmin.ac.uk>
Subject: E-FLYER FOR NET.MUSIC CYBERSALON & SYMPOSIUM - Wednesday 11th April 2001
NET.MUSIC CYBERSALON & SYMPOSIUM
<please forward and circulate>
Wednesday 11th April 2001
The ICA,
The Mall,
London SW1
Sponsored by the ESRC Immateriality Seminar Series
Schedule
1.00pm-2.00pm Registration (food and drinks are available at the ICA).
2.00pm-3.30pm Symposium session 1: the new aesthetics of interactive music.
3.30pm-4.00pm Break (food and drinks are available at the ICA).
4.00pm-5.30pm Symposium session 2: the new political economy of
interactive music.
7.00pm-8.30pm Cybersalon discussion: interactive music as prophecy of the
future.
8.30pm onwards Party and exhibitions.
Participants
We have so far had expressions of interest from:
Richard Barbrook (HRC, Westminster)
Ray Holiday (Wildlife Records)
David Laing (Westminster)
Matt Black (Coldcut, Ninja Tunes)
Andy Cameron (HRC, Westminster; Romandson)
Paul Taylor (Salford)
Tim Jordan (OU)
Kwela Hermanns (Westminster)
Warwick Metcalfe (Ericsson)
Lewis Sykes (CID, Cybersalon)
Steve Goodman (Hyperdub)
Iris Garrelfs (Sprawl)
Benoit Faucon (Les Echos)
Pat Kane (Play Ethic)
Charlie Gere (Birbeck)
Ian D (Salford)
Lee Marshall (Worcester)
Eva Pascoe (Zoom)
Outline of Event
In his seminal text 'Noise', Jacques Attali celebrates the prophetic power
of music. What is pioneered first within music-making is later adopted as
the political economy for the whole of society. For instance, the constant
turnover of hit records in the 1920s prefigured the mass consumerism of
late-twentieth century Fordism. According to Attali, each epoch of
music-making creates its own specific social, technological and aesthetic
forms. For instance, twentieth century music developed some apparently
unbreakable paradigms: stars, fans, record companies, copyright laws,
pieces of plastic, top 40 singles and experimental albums. Yet, at the
beginning of a new century, these fixed Fordist forms are being superseded.
What began with a few skilled DJs mixing vinyl now involves almost
everybody with access to a computer and the Net. This new situation won't
just create new social, technological and aesthetic paradigms for
music-making. As in the past, music is pioneering a new political economy
for the whole of society. Napsterisation is a prophecy of the peer-to-peer
future.
This cybersalon and symposium will examine the impact of this
transformation within music-making - and its consequences for the rest of
society. Since copyright laws and technological fixes can only slow down
this process, the event will concentrate on analysing the emerging social,
technological and aesthetic paradigms. Musicians, fans, academics and
policy-makers will be invited to give their views about the new situation.
The event will begin with a two-session symposium in the afternoon. Each
session will be structured around a series of short interventions followed
by periods of discussion. In the evening cybersalon, the chairs of each
session will summarise these findings and talk about the wider social
consequences of the new forms of music-making.
The first session will look at the new aesthetics of interactive music.
This could include DJ culture, mixing, sampling, digital recording,
Napster, MP3, music toys, on-line jamming and the latest technological
developments. This session will discuss how far new methods of production
and distribution are creating new aesthetics. What will be the sounds of
the age of composition predicted by Attali?
The second session will examine what happens once the existing legal and
economic structures of music industry are no longer viable. The spread of
new music technologies reflects the emergence of new methods of making
music. However, when peer-to-peer computing becomes ubiquitous, how do
musicians get paid for their work? How do people receive acknowledgement
for their ideas? Can the copyright laws be updated for the new situation?
Can music exist as both commodity and gift?
- -------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Richard Barbrook
Hypermedia Research Centre
School of Communications and Creative Industries
University of Westminster
Watford Road
Northwick Park
HARROW HA1 3TP
<www.hrc.wmin.ac.uk>
+44 (0)20 7911 5000 x 4590
- -------------------------------------------------------------------
"While there is irony, we are still living in the prehistoric age. And we
are not out of it yet..." - Henri Lefebvre
- -------------------------------------------------------------------
The HRC is involved in running regular cybersalons at the ICA in London. If
you would like to be informed about forthcoming events, you can subscribe
to a listserver on our website: <www.cybersalon.org>.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2001 02:33:32 +0100 (CET)
From: integer@www.god-emil.dk
Subject: CfP - BioVision 2001
National Conference on Biomedical Engineering
December 21-24 2001
J. N. Tata Auditorium, IISc, Bangalore, India
For More Information: www.bmesi.org
PRELIMINARY CALL FOR PAPERS
Original contributions to Biomedical engineering, based on theoretical /
simulation / experimental research and development are invited for
presentation in the National Conference on Biomedical Engineering
organised by IISc and Biomedical Engineering Society of India, and
technically sponsored by IEEE-EMBS. Papers, which are accepted and
presented in the conference, will be published in the proceedings. The
topics of interest include
Medical Instrumentation
Biomedical Signal Processing
Medical Imaging
Biomechanics
Biosensors
Medical Image Processing Telemedicine
Prosthetics, Rehabilitation
Biomaterials
Biometrics
Biorheology
Medical Physics
Schedule
December 21, 2001 Tutorial on Biometrics
December 22 and 23, 2001 Conference
December 24, 2001 Student Paper Competition
The competition will be conducted for undergraduates and postgraduates
separately. Review papers will not be considered. Papers are to be in
IEEE format. Electronic submission in PDF/PS is acceptable.
Correspondence will be made with only one author, whose postal and
e-mail addresses are to be explicitly given.
Important deadlines
Submission of Abstracts June 30, 2001
Notification of Acceptance August 31, 2001
Final camera ready papers due October 31, 2001
Other attractions
Invited Lectures Job Fair
Poster Session Classical Music Concert
Industrial Interaction Local Tours
Registration Fees for the conference: Payable by October 31
Students Faculty/Govt Others
Conference registration Rs. 600 Rs. 1500 Rs. 3000
Tutorial Rs. 500 Rs. 1000 Rs. 2000
Both Rs. 1000 Rs. 2500 Rs. 5000
Address for Correspondence
Dr. A G Ramakrishnan, Conference Chair, BioVision 2001,
Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Science,
Bangalore - 560012
ramkiag@ee.iisc.ernet.in
www.bmesi.org
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2001 19:57:54 -0600
From: "T.V. Weber & Alida Weber" <jatich@ameritech.net>
Subject: PASS THIS ALONG: Maps/Locations of DU-Contaminated Sites in Balkans
Maps of Sites in the Balkans Contaminated with Depleted Uranium
The location of contaminated areas is vital information for anyone living in, covering news events in, or traveling through any areas in which DU contamination may be present.
PLEASE PASS THIS INFORMATION ALONG TO ANYONE WHO MAY NEED IT.
The information presented here came from the NATO site http://www.nato.int/du/. As may be expected, their site contains much propaganda and "spin" designed to convince you that depleted uranium (DU) is not all that dangerous. DON'T BELIEVE IT!
Note that these maps are in the form of extremely large .jpg files. If your system can handle a large download, you can click on the URL for the desired file and copy it to your hard drive. Otherwise, follow the directions given below for downloading the file in sections.
You will most likely not be able to open the map file in your browser. Should that prove to be the case, on a Windows 9x, NT, or 2000 system, try using IrfanView, which can be downloaded from the Ziff-Davis website at http://www.zdnet.com/downloads/stories/info/0,,000ABJ,.html, This browser is free for personal use. However, unless you have a very fast system, you should expect the .jpg file to take a VERY long time to load into this viewer.
T.V. & Alida Weber
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Depleted Uranium Engagement Points - Kosovo War 6 Apr 99 - 10 Jun 99
Map produced 18 Jan 01
In one large file (8.056 Mb):
http://www.nato.int/du/graphics/b010124k.jpg
In multiple parts (1.4Mb each):
Download all six parts and save each file in the same folder on your computer.
The first file is a program file. Rename the extension of the first file from ._xe into .exe and then launch the program to merge the files into one image.
http://www.nato.int/du/graphics/du-kosovo/du_ksv%7E1._xe
http://www.nato.int/du/graphics/du-kosovo/du_ksv~2.sjf
http://www.nato.int/du/graphics/du-kosovo/du_ksv~3.sjf
http://www.nato.int/du/graphics/du-kosovo/du_ksv~4.sjf
http://www.nato.int/du/graphics/du-kosovo/du_ksv~5.sjf
http://www.nato.int/du/graphics/du-kosovo/du_ksv~6.sjf
List of coordinates from Kosovo war:
http://www.nato.int/du/docu/d010124a.htm
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Depleted Uranium Engagement Points - Bosnia War 5 Sep 95 - 11 Sept 95
Map produced 18 Jan 01
In one large file (17.086 Mb):
http://www.nato.int/du/graphics/b010124b.jpg
In multiple parts (1.4Mb each):
Download all thirteen parts and save each file in the same folder on your computer.
The first file is a program file. Rename the extension of the first file from ._xe into .exe and then launch the program to merge the files into one image.
http://www.nato.int/du/graphics/du-bosnia/du_bsn%7E1._xe
http://www.nato.int/du/graphics/du-bosnia/du_bsn~2.sjf
http://www.nato.int/du/graphics/du-bosnia/du_bsn%7E3.sjf
http://www.nato.int/du/graphics/du-bosnia/du_bsn%7E4.sjf
http://www.nato.int/du/graphics/du-bosnia/du_bsn%7E5.sjf
http://www.nato.int/du/graphics/du-bosnia/du_bsn%7E6.sjf
http://www.nato.int/du/graphics/du-bosnia/du_bsn%7E7.sjf
http://www.nato.int/du/graphics/du-bosnia/du_bsn%7E8.sjf
http://www.nato.int/du/graphics/du-bosnia/du_bsn%7E9.sjf
http://www.nato.int/du/graphics/du-bosnia/du_bs%7E10.sjf
http://www.nato.int/du/graphics/du-bosnia/du_bs%7E11.sjf
http://www.nato.int/du/graphics/du-bosnia/du_bs%7E12.sjf
http://www.nato.int/du/graphics/du-bosnia/du_bs%7E13.sjf
List of coordinates from Bosnia war:
http://www.nato.int/du/docu/d010124b.htm
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2001 23:31:09 +0800
From: "information overload" <garbo@bisaya.ph>
Subject: Fw: CTHEORY Multimedia @ CORNELL
- --------Original message--------
Reply-To: "CTHEORY Editor" <ctech@alcor.concordia.ca>
____________________________________________________________________
CTHEORY THEORY, TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE
Special Announcement: CTHEORY Multimedia @ CORNELL
____________________________________________________________________
CTHEORY Multimedia @ CORNELL
Edited by Arthur and Marilouise Kroker & Timothy Murray
Arthur and Marilouise Kroker, Editors of CTHEORY are pleased to
announce that Timothy Murray, Director of Graduate Studies in Film
and Video at Cornell University, is joining them as a Coeditor of
CTHEORY Multimedia. A new media site for electronic art projects and
new media theory, CTHEORY Multimedia will be published and hosted by
the Cornell University Library's Electronic Publishing Program.
Beginning Spring, 2001, CTHEORY Multimedia will publish semi-annual
collections of electronic art and theory to be organized around
conceptual themes. The first Cornell volume will appear in Spring,
2001. This multimedia journal will be disseminated electronically
from the Cornell Digital Library and subsequently archived on the
Library's server.
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: Deadline March 31, 2001
TECH FLESH: The Promise and Perils of the Human Genome Project
The Coeditors of CTHEORY Multimedia seek finished projects of
electronic art ready to be mounted on-line. CTHEORY Multimedia will
examine the simultaneously ethical, social and ideological issues
raised by the Human Genome Project. Widely hyped as a "bible of life"
and a "map" to the future of human evolution, the Human Genome
Project throws into sharp ethical relief critical social issues
raised by this newest phase in eugenic experimentation.
Simultaneously speaking in terms of the language of facilitation
(post-genetics as about the eradication of disease and the extension
of the human life span) and in the language of control (genetic
sequencing as the latest pharmaceutical version of the social hygiene
movement), the Human Genome Project with its vision of pure genes and
designer biology raises again not only the specter of scientific
hubris but also the silent political interests of a potential genetic
superclass. With the collaboration of Eugene Thacker (Rutgers
University), this issue of CTHEORY Multimedia will be devoted to a
diversity of perspectives on the promise and perils of the Human
Genome Project. Artists and theorists working in electronic
multimedia and net.art are invited to provide an alternative,
critical vision of the genome and its infotech-ideology. What are the
artistic ramifications of paradigms of cloning, transgenic humans,
disabled embryos, digital sequencing, and nanotechnology? This is the
tactic of multimedia cDNA as a distributed informatic critique.
Please send a description of your project, including conceptual
abstract and technical format, to the CTHEORY Multimedia Coeditors
ctech@alcor.concordia.ca.
To view the first issue of CTHEORY Multimedia on-line please visit:
http://ctheory.concordia.ca/. CTHEORY can be accessed at
www.ctheory.com.
__________________________________
www.edsamail.com
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2001 14:23:48 -0800
From: Michele <michele@movingimagegallery.com>
Subject: Transformers : Arcangel / Nechvatal Opening reception Friday March 2, 2001 6-9 PM
Immediate release:
Moving Image Gallery
414 Broadway 3 Fl
NY, NY 10013
212.966.4741
http://www.movingimagegallery.com
Contact:Michele N.Thursz
Transformers : Arcangel / Nechvatal
Opening reception Friday March 2, 2001 6-9 PM
Cory Arcangel and Joseph Nechvatal investigate in this exhibition
Transforming sentiments found in elements of the human experience through
the use of computer technology. Through the transformation of reproducible
information - whether biological or image-based. Nechvatal, and Arcangel
create new relations between the life force and virtuality.
Arcangel and Nechvatal on line collaboration : www.movingimagegallery.com
Selected RAM works: : [post-data]
Selected RAM works: : [post-data] is based on the concept that all data is
created equal. RAM works are created by reinterpreting raw random access
memory and video data [supplied by Joseph Nechvatal] by hacking the file
*headers originally designated for the data and replacing them with
alternate headers.
Joseph Nechvatal will present at MIG his most recent work: virus project
2.0. Using a C++ framework, Mr. Nechvatal (with the help of his
programmer/collaborator St phane Sikora) has taken his 1992-3 virus project
1.0 into the realm of artificial life (i.e. into a synthetic system that
exhibits behaviors characteristic of natural living systems - in his case
viruses). For virus project 2.0, an A-life virus program is unleashed on
image-files from Mr. Nechvatal's recent body of work; "ec-satyricOn 2000
(enhanced)+ bodies in the bit-stream(compliant)". Also on view will be a
Director animation documenting his Computer Virus Project 1.0 and recent
digital prints.
Cory Arcangel will present *urbandale: the video rendered in a bitmapped
font created for the project, and an accompanying score which features an
original composition consisting of 12~ electric guitars. Filmed at
Urbandale Plaza in the eastern suburbs of Buffalo N.Y., urbandale is a
study of America's suburban sprawl; stripped to its barest essentials and
void of unnecessary contemporary cultural influence. Along with the audio
and visual installation a portfolio of hand printed silk screens will be
available for viewing.
*urbandale is a commission of New Radio and Performing Arts for its
Turbulence Web site with funds from the Jerome Foundation
*header - the information in a file which instructs the computer how to
interpert the data contained in that file
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2001 20:38:02 +0100
From: "Valery Grancher" <vgrancher@nomemory.org>
Subject: "fear" south africa
C'est un message de format MIME en plusieurs parties.
- ------=_NextPart_000_0123_01C09D0F.5B314600
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Fear" dealing with freedom thema in South Africa:
http://www.nomemory.org/fear
You will find a page with a sentences "I had a dream" and then various =
language from the different ethnic community native form South Africa =
(some of them has disapeared) and then there is a time counter ! a crazy =
one meaning infinity future or past, you can't know how to deal with it. =
When you click in you open a new window with images which are changing: =
all the images are coming on real time from numerous webcams in south =
africa: it is showing natural wildlife.
The sentences meaning with these images are meaning one thing:
the native south african has quite the same situation after apartheid =
than the animal we can see through the webcams, instead natural park, =
they have townships !!!!
What we are seeing is freedom mirage.
Regarding this situation, South Africa has became one of the most =
snobish destination in tourism industry
- ---------------------------------------------------------
- ---------------------------------------------------------
"Fear" traite du theme de la liberte en Afrique du Sud:
http://www.nomemory.org/fear
Vous y trouverez une page dans laquelle est ecrite la phrase "I had a =
dream", puis differents dialectes de differentes tribus originaires de =
l'Afrique Australe, certaines d'entre elles durant les colonisations =
successives ont carrement disparues ; et en dessous un compteur fou qui =
comptabilise une duree. Il semble signifier un futur infini ou un passe =
infini, on ne sait comment le lire.
En cliquant dedans vous ouvrez une fenettre ou differentes images =
transmises en temps reel a partir de webcam sud africaines se succedent, =
montrant des scenes de la vie sauvage ...
le collage de ces scenes avec ces phrases renvoient a une dure realite:
Les communautes citees ont pratiquement la meme situation que les =
animaux montres! dans le meilleur des cas ces ethnies sont parquees dans =
des reserves naturelles, et les autres sont dans des townships !
Ce que l'on voit dans ces images c'est un mirage de liberte, que ce soit =
la nature ou les villes, en afrique du sud tout se resume par des parcs, =
des clotures electrifiees et des systeme securitaires tres pousses ....
Malgre tout l'Afrique du Sud est devenue l'une des destinations les plus =
snobbes dans l'industrie du tourisme !
Valery Grancher
vgrancher@nomemory.org
http://www.nomemory.org
- ------=_NextPart_000_0123_01C09D0F.5B314600
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2001 21:12:18 +0100
From: florian schneider <fls@kein.org>
Subject: metabolics#3
>> METABOLICS // STOFFWECHSEL#3
THU 8 MAR 2001 20:00 +0100 (MET)
MUFFATHALLE/MUNICH
Re: Play
An slightly different gaming night at metabolics
Guests: Claus Pias (Media Scientist/Weimar) and JODI (Net
Artists/Barcelona)
"Under the conditions of SDI, computer game players are the better
soldiers" (Ronald Reagan)
With the introduction of Atari's Video Game Console "PONG" 1972, a
broader audience got access to the computer as entertainement device.
Since then, the genre of computer games has developed remarkably,
commercially as well as culturally. Today, already more money is earned
in the computer game industry than in the movie business. Despite that,
critical reflection on the computer game is reduced, apart from its
service orientated version in game magazines, basically on
problematisations of their contents, mainly under educational, at most
under popcultural aspects. Beyond a mere analysis of their plots, and
beyond concerned lamentations about their violence glorifying
aesthetics, METABOLICS/STOFFWECHSEL#3 tries to seek out the methods and
mechanisms of those games, which human beings play with the computer, or
the computer plays with human beings. In what way differ computer games
from traditional forms of games on the one side, in what way from other
programs on the other?
In his media historical analysis of computer games, Claus Pias attempts
to explain the relationship between computers, games and worlds. For
him, the computer, as a machine programming human beings, can be placed
in a series of historical operating systems, from the greek alphabet to
the standards of labour science. Pias examines the effects of those
codes, whose hiding behind user friendly interfaces actually enables to
use computers as a device for playing. Accoring to this, the figure of
the player appears only in the gaps that hard- and software allow, and
thus itself becomes a function of the program demanding its outputs. In
this sense, computers bear little likeness to traditional forms of games
and can no longer be described in terms of play. On the contrary, they
correspond to a "economy of optimization" of human movements that can be
seen at work on an assembly line as well as in surfing the internet.
http://www.uni-weimar.de/~pias
The artist group JODI may well be considered being the most famous and
exiting internet artists. Anyway, nobody should expect that the
duch-belgian duo consisting of Joan Heemskerk and Dirk Paesmans is
giving you an easy game. When the renowned Webby Award was given to JODI
1999 in San Francisco, the two threw a "Ugly commercial, son of the
bitches" into the stunning audience and left. So better be prepared for
everything, as in their work JODI look behind the user interfaces and
deconstruct their modes of presentation. JODI cultivate program errors,
bring HTML-Code on the surface, thus iritating usual habits of
perceiving computers. "OSS", one of their legendary projects, is
simulating a defective operating system in such a irritating way that
their US-based provider deleted JODI's account, thinking their Website
would cause his browser to crash. When the source code of the
3D-shooters "Quake 1" and "Castle Wolfenstein" was published, JODI build
their own version out of it. Freed from its martial aesthetics and
content, the game thereafter consists only of gray, black and white
planes and the source code. In such a reconstruction of the code, the
way of interacting with the game which is also at work in the individual
enhancement of commercial games in the culture of creating patches and
even in cheating, a more creative approach towards software can be seen,
the only one maybe that is worth being called "playing".
http://sod.jodi.org
METABOLICS / STOFFWECHSEL is presenting innovative projects and debates
in net.art, .culture and .politics on a monthly basis, since january
2001, in the Muffathalle in Munich (http://www.muffathalle.de).
METABOLICS / STOFFWECHSEL is curated by Florian Schneider, Harald Staun
and Dietmar Lupfer. METABOLICS / STOFFWECHSEL will be streamed live and
stored in a database. More information:
<http:www.linksverkehr.net/metabolics> If you want to be informed
regurarily about the program, receive additional information and take
part in ongoing discussions, we invite you to subscribe to our
newsletter: <http://www.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/vorsicht>
URL: <http://www.linksverkehr.net/metabolics>
Contact: <mailto:linksverkehr@linksverkehr.net>
Reply: <mailto:vorsicht@linksverkehr.net>
Subscribe/Unsubscribe:
<http://www.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/vorsicht>
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2001 00:25:46 +0100
From: Station Rose <gunafa@well.com>
Subject: Webcast 134 with topic " rights & ownership online"
STATION ROSE STReaming-Fahrplan:
<http://www.stationrose.com>
dear Gunafa Netizen,
here is the new Fahrplan:
MON/26.2.01, 9pm CET:
NetSTReam - Webcast 134 with topic " rights & ownership online"
- -------------------------------------------------------------------
live @home <http://www.stationrose.com>
Station Rose in conversation with Dr. Udo Kornmeier, lawyer for music,
copyright and media.
topic: "rights & ownership online"
content: author´s rights, ownership online, Napster/ BMG & more
extra:
1) which rights have to be discussed here? (downloads, streaming, webradio
etc.) Protection through ownership rights? (Napster case)
2) who controls these rights? (author, publisher, Gema etc.)
3) which sources of income do or will exist for the author?
4) which job has the author´s rights society/GEMA to do?
Dr. Udo Kornmeier
age 48, one of the leading german lawyers for music and media,
situated in Frankfurt, with bureaus in Cologne and Berlin. Co-manager of
Technoclub "U 60311" in Frankfurt, and last but not least head of
"Dr. K Entertainment GmbH".
The conversation will be mainly in German.
................................................................................
Themen:
1. Um welche Rechte geht es? (Downloads, Streaming, Webradio etc).
Wie ist der Schutz nach dem Urheberrecht? (Fall Napster)
2. Wer kontrolliert diese Rechte? (Autor, Verlag, Gema etc)
3. Welche Einnahmequellen bestehen bzw. entstehen, an denen die Kreativen
zu beteiligen sind? (Einzellizenzen, Abogebuehren, Werbeeinnahmen, Abgaben
auf Brenner etc)
4. Rolle der Verwertungsgesellschaften / Tarife
Dr. Udo Kornmeier
48 Jahre, Musik- und Medienanwalt in Frankfurt. Frueher Leiter Business
Affairs und Verlagschef bei Sony Music. Betreibt heute eins der
fuehrenden Anwaltsbueros im Musik- und Medienbereich in Deutschland,
mit Bueros in Frankfurt, Koeln und Berlin. Klientele sind Künstler,
Produzenten, Autoren, Labels, Multimediafirmen, Agenturen und
andere Kreative. Im "Nebenberuf" ist Udo Kornmeier Mitbetreiber des
Technoclubs U 60311 in Frankfurt und betreibt schließlich die
Dr. K Entertainment GmbH, die u.a. Tontraegerprojekte in der
Tontraegerindustrie vermittelt.
................................................................................
stay with us & don´t go away!
"Cyberspace is Our Land!"
;-)
station rose 2-2001
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2001 18:03:18 -0700
From: "manse jacobi" <jacobi@freespeech.org>
Subject: Invitation to the People's Summit on Globalization
For media interviews contact:
Jaime Smith (jaime.smith@colorado.edu) 303.492.2507
Manse Jacobi (jacobi@freespeech.org) 303.492.5024
==========================================
The People's Summit on Globalization
March 8-11th, 2001
University of Colorado - Boulder, Colorado
==========================================
A conference to educate, empower, and unite people striving for justice in
the face of corporate globalization.
http://www.colorado.edu/studentgroups/summit/
This conference aims to bring speakers, community members, students,
workers, activists, and other global citizens to learn about the effects of
globalization and to change the power structures that affect our world. More
than just a "conference" in the traditional sense, we will be training,
planning and networking with each other to better organize and mobilize
ourselves for future action.
Don't miss an exciting, and perhaps the largest, conference on globalization
in the United States. Please visit the website for (free) registration and
more information.
Scroll below for:
1. Confirmed keynote speakers
2. List of workshops and panels
3. Venue, housing and travel tips
===============================
1. Confirmed keynote speakers:
===============================
[Vandana Shiva] Indian physicist, eco-feminist, writer, and leader in the
international movements to preserve and extend indigenous agricultural and
environmental knowledge.
[Chol-Soon Rhie] Director of the Korean Women Workers Associations United,
and organizer of one of the world's first women's unions with textile
workers in Korea.
[Danny Kennedy] Co-founder of Project Underground and director of its
efforts to work with indigenous communities domestically and abroad that are
threatened by mining and oil industries.
[Kevin Danaher] Co-founder and Director of Public Education for Global
Exchange, a non-profit research, education, and action center dedicated to
promoting people to people ties around the world.
[Ignacio Ibarra] A leading figure in an organizing effort initiated by Sin
Fronteras called the Border Agricultural Workers Project (BWAP), a farm
worker center, in El Paso,
[Njoki Njoroge Njehu] Director of 50 Years Is Enough, a network of over 200
NGOs and faith-based groups dedicated to the profound transformation of the
World Bank and the IMF.
[Raquel Sancho] Program Director at the Santa Clara Center for Occupational
Safety and Health (SCCOSH), a non-profit, community-based organization
empowering immigrant workers in the Silicon Valley.
[Amy Goodman] Host of Pacifica Radio's nationally syndicated daily
newsmagazine Democracy Now!.
[Julie Davids] Longtime member of ACT UP Philadelphia, the largest and most
diverse grassroots AIDS activist group in the US.
[Carlos Zorilla] Founder the Organization for the Defense and Conservation
of Intag, (Decoin), a grassroots group comprised of farmers, peasants and
priests.
[Micheal Morrill] Executive director of the Pennsylvania Consumer Action
Network and the state coordinator of the Pennsylvania Fair Trade Campaign.
[Orrin Williams] As manager of the AIDS Research Allianc, Williams oversees
the health care needs of low-income HIV infected patients. He also works
with the Center for Urban Transformation
[Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer] Author of numerous articles and books on hunger,
faith, the arms race and U.S. foreign policy, including "School of
Assassins: The Case for Closing the School of the Americas"
[Ward Churchill] Co-director of the American Indian Movement of Colorado,
Vice Chairperson of the American Anti-Defamation Council, and a National
Spokesperson for the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee.
=======================================
2. Partial list of panels and workshops
=======================================
- - Corporate Institutions Driving Corporate Globalization
- - History of Neoliberalism, International Trade and Finance
- - What are We Fighting for?
- - The Role of Direct Action: Resistance to Trade Agreements
- - Making Trouble: Youth Agitate for Justice
- - How to Organize a Grassroots Campaign
- - How to Observe Cops/Copwatch
- - Break the Bank: World Bank Bonds Boycott
- - Citigroup--Organizing Effective Campaigns to Reform it
- - Legislative Efforts for Social Justice
- - Build an Organization--One Door at a Time
- - Women's Rights as a Global Right
- - Combating Environmental Injustice
- - Immigrant Labor in the Global Economy
- - The Race to Incarcerate
- - The Politics of Sanctions: The Case of Iraq
- - US Counter Insurgencies: Vietnam and Colombia
- - BP-Amoco Campaign
- - Global Development and the Worlds Ecosystems
- - Rethinking Urban Communities
- - Center The World Bank: Who's Bank is it?
- - Globalization and the World Food Supply
- - Effects of Global Development on Land-Based Communities
- - The New Tools for Breaking News
- - Cyberspace: Transcending Borders and Community -Building
- - Grassroots and Globalized Media
- - Media Workshop for Direct Action
- - Non Violence Workshop (Betty Ball and Dana Wilson)
- - Climbing Techniques for Trees and Banners
- - Campaigning and Culture Jamming
- - Action Planning and Strategy
- - Jobs With Soul: Above and Beyond Corporate Treadmills
- - Work on Sweatshops
- - Organized Labor in a Globalized Free Market
- - Know Your Rights on the Job Workshop
- - Labor Organizing Workshop
- - Bag o' Theater Tricks for Activists
- - Globalization and Beyond
- - Answers to Globalization for Global Justice
- - Neo-Classical Economic Theory: Why is it Wrong?
- - School of the Americas
- - Copwatch Overview and Know Your Rights
- - Transforming Global Problems into Sustainable Solutions
- - How to do Activism in the New Globalized Movement
- - Eco-Physiological Awareness
- - Anti-Oppression Training Workshop
- - Zapatismo: The Struggle in Chiapas
- - Organizing Against Genetically Modified Foods
- - Que es Comunidad? A Community Growing Workshop
==================================
3. Venue, travel tips, and housing
==================================
The conference will be taking place on the campus of the University of
Colorado at Boulder. If you are traveling by plane, you need to fly into
Denver International Airport, and take the hourly bus to Boulder. Just tell
the driver you need to get off at the University Memorial Center stop, where
there will be an information desk inside the building.
We may be able to assist you with housing and meals. Fill out the
registration form at:
www.colorado.edu/studentgroups/summit/registration.html
Weekend airfare to Denver, with a 14 day notice, costs approximately
$100-$300 from most major cities in the United States. If you are willing to
carpool with others traveling from within the region, let us know in your
registration form, and we'll connect you with the appropriate participants.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2001 14:09:43 +0100
From: Kalina Bunevska <kalina@scca.org.mk>
Subject: SEAFair 2001 - Society and Genomic Culture
SEAFair 2001 - Society and Genomic Culture
Date and place: 15 - 20 June, 2001
Museum of Contemporary Art - Skopje,
Republic of Macedonia
Organizer: Contemporary Art Center - Skopje;
Curator: Melentie Pandilovski
http://seafair.scca.org.mk/
tel. (+ 389 2) 133.541;
e-mail: scca@scca.org.mk, misko@scca.org.mk;
AIM
Creating of critical discourse, and an on-going debate regarding the cultural, social, ethical
and ideological issues of genetics and biotechnology.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
SEAFair 2001 - Society and Genomic Culture
The project Society and Genomic Culture investigates the overall implications of the cross-issues
of biotechnology, genetics (GM Food, Human Genome Project, etc.), informatics, and
techno-utilization.
The Center has envisioned the project Society and the Genomic Culture as
a forum bringing together artists, sociologists, biotechnologists,
ethicists, culture theoreticians and practitioners, in a constructive dialogue.
We expect the project to produce an open atmosphere for critical
discourse, and an on-going debate regarding the
ideological, social, and ethical issues of genetics and biotechnology.
The idea of this edition of SEAFair is to investigate what the abandoning of the
electronic for the moist, or their fusion
will result with in the next period, and how the evolution of society,
politics, networks, and media, will be critically examined in an overall
platform. This platform will include series of continuous standpoints
questioning the very ideology of biotechnology and genetic engineering,
but should as a consequence result with a developing of a sensible
attitude to the corpus of biotechnological issues. This especially
because current research of broad fields in biotechnology and aspects of
genetic engineering (GM food, Human Genome Project, etc.) in a cultural
and a social sense, may assist us in the visualizing of our future.
STRUCTURE
The project in itself has 8 phases:
i. Selection of participants
ii. On-Line Debate
iii. Exhibition
iv. Workshop
v. Symposium
vi. Publishing of catalogue and book
vii. Producing of Bio Tech Art
viii. Media Campaign and Coverage
All artists, theorists, curators, who are active in this field are invited to participate in the event.
The idea of the biotech project must have a content wise potential for
further development in artistic way.
· The On-Line Debate is thought-out as concentrating on issues of
ideology and biotechnology.
The debate will feature an on-going discussion for a period of 2 months before the Symposium
regarding ideological, social and ethical discourses of genetics and
biotechnology. The discussion will take into account the spreading of
Bio-Sciences (including flourishing bio-business, genetic databanks,
security issues) and the reception by the politics, media, and the
general public.
· Exhibition
The exhibition will feature between 15-20 artworks by leading contemporary international and
domestic artists. The artworks are in fact a collaboration of a rtists
with scientists in the fields of: genomics, biotechnology,
media &communication bio works.
The artworks will be displayed in the Skopje Museum of Contemporary Arts in the period
June 15 - September 1, 2001.
· Symposium
A two-day Symposium, by leading theoreticians in the field is planned. Around 10
international and domestic theoreticians will be invited to participate.
Also the artists taking part in the exhibition and workshop will be
invited to participate in the Symposium. The main theme of the Symposium
will be SOCIETY AND GENOMIC CULTURE (the influence of techno-scientific
change upon society, the ethical implications of Genetic Engineering,
research and industrialization).
· Publishing
The book and catalogue will be printed in English and Macedonian, with a possible translation to other
East European languages.
· Workshop
The artists will be gathered in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Skopje, Macedonia. They will be
provided with experimental tools and a room with-in the Museum. The
audience will also be able to see the work of the artists on the
workshop. The workshop will be led by international and domestic experts
dealing with the aesthetic, scientific, and ethical aspects in
connection with the use of biotechnology and genetics as artistic medium.
The workshop will be aimed at 20 artists from Macedonia and Central&Eastern Europe
who will take part in it. The artists will be provided lodging and food.
The workshop will take place
June 15 - 20. The workshop will serve as a theoretical and practical
introduction in the creation of biotech art.
During this period the leaders of the workshop will perform:
1. - Introduction to Bio-tech Art and relevant international work to the artists attending the workshop
2. - Practical demonstration and development of individual concepts for work in Bio-tech Art.
3. - Assistance in the realization of their works and bringing the artists to a level from which the
artists can continue to develop the projects on their own.
The goals of the workshop are:
· To enhance the knowledge of artists in the workshop about envisioning, preparation, and
implementation of bio-tech art projects.
· To enable the artists to disseminate information and experiences gathered in this workshop
to colleagues in their own surrounding.
· To produce the improved version of their projects.
· To test their ideas.
· To prepare their future work.
· To have a public presentation on the end of the workshop, in the framework of the EXHIBITION.
· Producing of Bio-tech Art work
The Contemporary Art Center will attempt to produce the initiated projects on the workshop. The aim of the
new produced biotech artwork is for it to be a part of major international
art events and flows.
The deadline for application is April 15, 2001.
You may pick up the application from :
http://seafair.scca.org.mk/01/default.asp
The selection decision will be made by May 1, 2001.
- -------------------------------------------------------
Melentie Pandilovski
Director
Contemporary Arts Center - Skopje
Orce Nikolov 109, 1000 Skopje
Republic of Macedonia
Tel/Fax: +389.2.133.541
Tel/Fax: +389.2.214.495
Mobile: +389.70.217.075
http://www.scca.org.mk
- -------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2001 18:18:48
From: Leslie Arschgeiger <jean_snark@yahoo.com>
Subject: Call for articles - Lumpen Magazine
Lumpen Magazine needs your help.
We need articles for our April/May issue (our ten year
anniversary issue!!!).
We'd like to address the following:
-GM Foods (particularly in response to the editorial in the
Wall Street Journal [see below])
-The FTAA, particularly in respect to Quebec in April
-Depleted Uranium (usage in Kosovo and Iraq)
-Mad cows, poisoned toys
-And anything else you'd like to talk about of interest to
our anarchist rag (we can print it in our next issue or run
it on our website, which we're reconstructing right now and
will be up very soon [go to www.lumpen.com])
Also, since it is our May issue, we would like to run
something on MAYDAY, so anything you send us would be great
(eg, the Haymarket Riot, why work).
Unfortunately, Lumpen is a nonprofit magazine and we can't
pay you but what we can't offer up in coffers we can make
up in gratitude - lots of it. Not to mention we have a
print run of 30,000 and growing. We are also freely
distributed in ten cities in the United States, such as New
York City, Chicago, Detroit, Boston, Washington DC).
Questions? Please contact Jean Kang: jean@supersphere.com
or jean_snark@yahoo.com
Here is the editorial we hope to respond to:
http://interactive.wsj.com/archive/retrieve.cgi?id=SB982707555382561612.djm&template=atlas.tmpl
From: The Wall Street Journal
February 21, 2001
Review & Outlook
No Green Peace
"Never put off doing something useful for fear of evil that
may never arrive."
-- James Watson, Nobel Prize in Medicine, 1962
Will someone please explain to us just what, exactly, is
wrong with genetically modified foods?
Trolling through Greenpeace's 50,000 or so press releases
of the past few years, we read about how certain consumers
reject GM, certain farmers don't want GM, certain
corporations are telling lies about GM, certain governments
have destroyed GM crops. But the only thing we came upon
that actually explains why GM is bad is contained in the
following statement:
"Current understanding of the way in which genes are
regulated is extremely limited. Any change to the DNA of an
organism at any point may well have knock-on effects that
are impossible to predict or control."
In other words, the reverse of Dr. Watson's dictum: For
fear that some evil may possibly arise, do nothing. Anyone
seeking to find out where this concept leads ought to put
it into practice in his own life for a single day: Don't
bathe because you might slip in the tub; ignore breakfast
because you might get food poisoning; don't go outside
because . . . you get the idea.
Now it appears the European Union is getting the idea
too-sort of. Last Wednesday, the European Parliament lifted
a three-year moratorium on GM foods by approving
legislation regulating their introduction. The legislation
is described by its author, Socialist MEP David Bowe, as
the "toughest in the world." It mandates an arduous
approval process for GM crops to ensure their safety. And
it mandates labeling requirements. But it also provides
companies that win a license with a 10-year "consent
period," during which their GM foods may legally be sold
throughout Europe.
So far so good. Even onerous regulation is better than the
extralegal blanket prohibition that obtained in Europe
before. Putting the EU's imprimatur on "approved" biotech
foods should help allay some of the GM hysteria.
Biotech companies can now operate in a more predictable
regulatory environment. Consumers get expanded choice. And
if Europeans really don't want to eat GM foods, labeling
allows them to choose something else.
But this is not how it's likely to play out. By treaty, EU
member states must accommodate this directive in their
national laws within 18 months.
But at least six countries-France, Austria, Italy, Denmark,
Luxembourg and Greece-appear unwilling to do so unless a
slew of conditions are met. The politically influential
organic-farming lobby is also opposed, and they have just
gained a champion in the figure of Renate Kuenast,
Germany's Green Party agriculture minister. So it is much
too soon to say whether this law will settle anything.
Let's face it: The GM scare is based on less than nothing.
Genetic manipulation of food and animal breeds has been
going on for centuries. Here in America we have been
gobbling up nutritious GM food for years with no adverse
health effects. And yet the scare refuses to go away,
causing many people to believe that there just must be
something to it. Why? One reason is that certain groups
have developed vested interests in perpetuating the scare.
For instance, as our Holman Jenkins reported, John Fagan,
dean of "Maharishi University" has created a company called
"Genetic ID" that tests for GM. Does Mr. Fagan want the
scare to go away? Ponder that for a second. But the issue
here goes deeper. Instead of standing up to scaremongers,
politicians in Europe and elsewhere have attempted to
placate them with ever more complex regulations. In this
way, they appear to be "doing something." But the actual
effect is to lend legitimacy to the fringe, and to embolden
it. This is not a good idea.
People, it's 2001, we were supposed to be in orbit around
Jupiter right now. Instead, too many of Earth's inhabitants
are gripped by fears -- of depleted uranium, mad cows,
poisoned toys, and GM foods -- more appropriate to the
Middle Ages.
------------------------------
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