Thomas for US President.

Europe launches her own presidential candidate for the US Election in 2008

The Europe 2008 Exploratory Committee is sending representatives in July 2007 to canvass the US for a suitable native-born American presidential candidate. The candidate will pledge to run for president in 2008 on a platform of European issues such as

· Enhanced international cooperation through bodies like the UN and EU
· To leave the case of Iran for Europe to deal with
· Withdrawing all US troops from Iraq, replacing them with UN forces and European intellectuals
· Quick implementation of the Kyoto protocol with a further pledge to cut greenhouse emissions by 50% in 2050
· Recommit Federal Government to the rule of law
· Recommit the US to the International Criminal Court treaty and 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties
· The immediate closure of the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay
· A universal national single-payer health care system
· Cutting federal funding for faith-based initiatives and charitable choice programs
· Banning religiously-based curricula in government-funded public schools
· Slashing all tariffs on European-make vehicles
· Limiting bans on indoor smoking
· Increasing federal funding of stem cell research, abolishing all restrictions
· An ambitious federal programme of subsidies for soccer and cricket schools across the nation

The delegation will be headed by PNEC Chairman Thomas Altheimer and Senior Press Officer Simon Robertsen, acting as exemplary Europeans.


Altheimer says this to the press:
“We have a huge task in front of us but I am confident that Europe eventually will win the hearts and minds of the great American people. The character and the abilities of our presidential candidate will obviously not be of capital importance, as he or she will be assisted at all times by a team of capable European advisers. The only requirements are to be able to appear likeable to the general public and to dress in style—except for the latter, not unlike the current incumbent.”

Simon Robertsen adds:
“Ours is a message of common-sense, secularism, good taste—and maybe also of slight decadence. Foremost it is a message of hope. Unlike the nationalist Europe of the past, modern-day Europe has, through painful experience, matured to offer the world thoughtful, visionary, multilateral leadership—moving the world towards an all inclusive future where every individual is given a voice. I believe we will see a new cosmopolitan world order arise from this campaign.”

CONTACT:
www.europe2008.org
robertsen@europe2008.org
Tel: +44 (0)7946 733 092
Tel: +44 (0)7812 796 740
Fax: +44 (0)8701 349 567
See www.parallelaction.com for further information and documentation

Camp Taussig

I promise there will be more reports here and on Trinketization about our visit to Camp Taussig, where we have much discussed over and under, inside and outside (by the river, by the campfire) the anthro predicament, the writing premedicament, the global indictment... and despite my well rehearsed reservations, there is something to be said for gatherings that challenge and provoke a revaluation/change of temperament... So, more to come, but for the moment this little bit will have to serve as a holding report on a talk Mick gave here in High Falls (I am writing by the river now) and just this gap in time will be all there is to evoke the deep method-anti-method thought that has churned out Indigo lives here. Hate to have to say it, yet there are reasons to think anthro can still be redeemed (if it changes completely). Yet even this only if everyone takes the time to work through politics/ghosts/writing/voodoo/imperialism/beauty/institutions/... and much more besides.

Short coins

Some years ago, I wrote a piece about the coins Job Charnok used to buy the three villages that eventually became the city of Kolkata. These were pieces of silver arned from the slave trade, making an interesting if brutal link between the great british adventure of exploitation in India and across the Atlantic. Coins are of course the potent symbol of capitalism. And I guess of stereotypes about Calcutta too - that scene with the coin tricks in the Swayze film City of Joy. THere is much more to say (so dig out my chapter on Calcutta coinages in Bell and Haddour's book "City Visions" 2000), but this little item caught my eye today as I was perusing the northern press (as one does):

"Mysterious shortage of coins grips Calcutta

This is from The Scotsman 16 June 2007

A MYSTERIOUS coin shortage gripping Calcutta has shop-keepers begging for change from beggars and buying coins at prices above their face value.

No one knows exactly why there is no change in the eastern Indian city, but the situation has spurred the Reserve Bank of India to emergency measures, distributing millions of coins to try to satisfy the demand.

Since the coin shortage became acute in early June, the bank has distributed five mill-ion rupees ($121,950) worth of coins, including a million on Thursday alone, said Nilanjan Saha, the bank's treasurer in the city. But the emergency supplies have failed to stem the demand.

"There is no reason for it ," said Saha. "But I have heard reports that some unscrupulous traders are melting coins because the face value of the coins is lower than the metal value."
"

Sons of Malcolm.

A post by Sukant on "Sons of Malcolm" alerts us to this reminder that Big Brother is not a television sit-com:

Sunday, 10 June 2007
‘OURAIM Magazine on Hamas & Hizbullah’ made illegal in Britain

OURAIM

Organisation to Understand Radical Arab & Islamist Movements

===========================================

‘OURAIM Magazine on Hamas & Hizbullah’ now illegal in Britain

By Sukant Chandan

Sukant.Chandan@gmail.com

Editor of OURAIM publications

09 June 2007

SUMMARY:

- Magazine containing articles, extracts of books from academics and intellectuals and leaders of Hamas and Hizbullah closed down and magazines seized by police on Saturday 09 June under Section 44 Terrorism Act 2000 for displaying the Hamas logo on front cover.

- An attack on the democratic freedom to write, print and distribute information

- Reject criminalisation of independent media and journalistic activity

- The OURAIM Magazine on Hamas and Hizbullah has no direct or indirect organisational link to either organisation, and OURAIM does not support any Islamist movement

- An attack on the development mutual-understanding and respect between British and Arab and Muslim people, specifically Palestinians and Lebanese

- OURAIM stresses the necessity for developing dialogue and understanding as opposed to conflict and hostility

Visit OURAIM here.

American Anthropologist reviews our Celebrating Transgression book.

Click on the image to enlarge.
Celebrating Transgression.

Stimulus Respond

Jack Boulton is on fire...
The Stimulus team proudly present it's eighteenth issue - Animals.

For more information on Stimulus and to subscribe for free, please visit www.stimulusrespond.com.

Articles edited by Tara Blake Wilson include:

Animal Astronauts
Words by Janet Harbord

Dead Meat
words by Michael Taussig
Illustrations by Cecilia Piemontese

The Politics of Cats
words by John Hutnyk
Images by Jan Cihak

Zoosex
Words by Rebecca Cassidy

Download the entire magazine here
.