Author: Justin Podur

Author of Siegebreakers. Ecology. Environmental Science. Political Science. Anti-imperialism. Political fiction.

Free Software as a Social Movement

http://www.zcommunications.org/free-software-as-a-social-movement-by-richard-stallman

NOTE: ZNet has begun to explore the possibility of converting to free software. If you would like to help in this effort, please go to the Free ZNet Project forums, register, and introduce yourself.

Richard Stallman is one of the founders of the Free Software Movement and lead developer of the GNU Operating System. His book is ‘Free Software, Free Society’. I caught up with him by phone on December 1/05.

JP: Can you first of all explain the “Free Software Movement’.

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Aristide the Film

Review: Aristide and the Endless Revolution. 2005. Baraka Productions. 83 min. Movie site: www.aristidethefilm.com Available from www.firstrunfeatures.com

Each fact is disputed. Haiti’s President, Jean Bertrand Aristide, was overthrown in a coup and kidnapped by the United States on February 29, 2004, says Aristide himself. Aristide left voluntarily, say US officials Colin Powell and Roger Noriega.

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Fisk: War is the total failure of the human spirit

http://rabble.ca/news/fisk-war-total-failure-human-spirit

Robert Fisk is one of the world’s best known journalists. He has been based in the Middle East as the UK Independent’s Middle East correspondent for nearly 30 years, during which he has reported on two U.S. wars in Iraq, two Afghan wars, the Israel/Palestine conflict, Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, the civil war in the former Yugoslavia.

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Stephen Lewis’s ‘Race Against Time’

Stephen Lewis did the Massey Lectures this year. Previous Massey lecturers (that I’ve read and loved) include Noam Chomsky, Thomas King, and (that I’ve read and found interesting) Richard Lewontin and John Ralston Saul.

For those who don’t know who Stephen Lewis is, he’s the UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa. He’s also been a politician in Canada, a very important activist for Canada’s social democratic New Democratic Party (NDP).

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Christian Peacemaker Team abductions in Iraq

I have traveled to quite a few places where I’ve encountered volunteers with Christian Peacemaker Teams. I’ve never been to Iraq, so that’s not one of the places. But I can say this, which is what others have been saying since some of the CPTers (as they are known to anglophones) were abducted in Iraq last week. The CPTers might have the word ‘Christian’ in their name, but they are no missionaries. They might have ‘peacemaker’ in their name, but that isn’t a euphemism for imperialism the way ‘peacekeeping’ or ‘peacebuilding’ can be. They are people of conscience who are very much anti-imperialist in the most important way – in their actions.

They should be released unharmed. Sign a petition here.

‘Despicable murderers and scumbags’: Canada in Afghanistan

A Change of Tone

On July 11, 2005, Canada’s Chief of Defence Staff General Hillier discussed the forces arrayed against NATO forces in Afghanistan with great nuance and understanding: “These are detestable murderers and scumbags, I’ll tell you that right up front. They detest our freedoms, they detest our society, they detest our liberties.”

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For those in Toronto in December

An event announcement in which I am personally implicated, below.

I also was, courtesy of some great organizers in Halifax, on the Atlantic Coast of Canada over this past weekend. I gave a talk on Haiti at St. Mary’s University and another on Israel/Palestine at Dalhousie. I was very happy to speak to engaged audiences of awake and interested people, not to mention to spend time with the local activists who made the events happen.

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