I came across some films that might be of interest to those watchful of our global cultural militarism, the nuances of border and surveillance issues, and the complex backlash landscapes of an emerging squatter refugee urbanism. Other than that, you know the routine. [ENTER]
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War Games by Marc Allen, is an intimate portrait of a community, recently devastated by war, struggling to put itself back together again and to stage an Olympic games for thousands of children from the surrounding villages. The film follows the organisers as they struggle with broken goalposts, hungry players, and the constant threat of bombing by the Sudan government, all in scorching daily temperatures upwards of 50 degrees Celsius

DUAL INJUSTICE: Feminicide and Torture in Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua A documentary of two missing young women in Chihuahua City: Since 1993, more than 400 women have been violently killed and there have been over 4,000 registered complaints of disappeared women in Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua. This systemic problem has been called "feminicide" and has been known as the most embarrassing human rights scandal in Mexico's recent history.

Rights on the Line: Vigilantes at the Border. For more than a decade, the southern border of the U.S. has resembled a war zone. Aggressive, military-style actions by the Border Patrol have made human rights abuses everyday events in border communities. Alongside this official militarization, armed vigilante groups have harassed border crossers and communities, but their numbers were relatively limited until recently.

WAL-MART by Robert Greenwald Documentary. 2005. The High Cost of Low Price takes the viewer on a deeply personal journey into the everyday lives of families struggling to fight goliath. From a family business owner in the Midwest to a preacher in California, from workers in Florida to a poet in Mexico, dozens of film crews on three continents bring the intensely personal stories of an assault on families and American values.



SYSTEM FAILURE WITNESS Documentary. 2005. Winner of the Criminal Justice Award Sponsored by Marcia Brady Tucker Foundation. Watch

LITTLE PEACE OF MINE by Eyal Avneri Documentary. 2005. Nadav is a charismatic twelve-year-old with a heightened sense of social and political awareness - a natural born leader. After a long summer of terrorist bombings in Jerusalem, including one that he actually witnessed, he decides to do something about the situation and announces the formation of a new movement, "Peace for the Future," consisting entirely of children.

MY BEST ENEMY/ MI MEJOR ENEMIGO by Alex Bowen.

Gaza Strip (James Longley, 2002) | Interview



ON THE FRONTLINES: CHILD SOLDIERS IN THE D.R.C. : WITNESS and Bukeni Beck (AJEDI-Ka) Documentary. 2004. Since 1996, war has ravaged the Democratic Republic of Congo. Some four million people have died as a result of the armed conflict and over ten thousand children have been used as child soldiers.Through the voices of child soldiers, "A Duty To Protect" explores the complexity of the war

Arsenal of Hypocrisy: The Space Program and the Militarization of Space The glory days of NASA are over! Today the Military Industrial Complex is marching towards world dominance through Space technology on behalf of global corporate interest. To understand how and why the space program will be used to fight all future wars on earth from space, it's important to understand how the public has been misled about the origins and true purpose of the Space Program.


BORDERisms

While Americas' urban life is being explored at the binational Insite_05 exhibition, Schwarzenegger went out and gave high-fives to the minutemen! Didn't he know it was a record number for those who died crossing the border in '05? Here's a report on how Illegal Immigration Continues to Increase. Jeb Bush pleads to brother to keep open mind about keeping border more open for immigrants, suprisingly. And I've posted on this before but another good mention of Paisanos al Rescate by Jamais Cascio about the plane-flying water-dropping humanitarian heroes looming over the border.

La Nueva Orleans Latino immigrants, many of them here illegally, will rebuild the Gulf Coast -- and stay there. No wonder the easing of labor laws is stirring a debate.



According to international law, there is no "combat" in the occuppied territories around Israel; the territories are merely defined as a "confrontation zone."

The Israeli Transportation minister, Palestinian counterpart signed agreement to establish a joint Israeli-Palestinian transportation office; Sheetrit: We will work toward building a railroad for a freight train that would run between the West Bank, Israel and Gaza; EU pledges to donate two million euros to office initiatives. Read



Read a review of Doug Suisman's speech concerning his vision for a west bank rail plan before a 100 or so people at the Greater Hartford Jewish Community Center the other night.

UN fears over checkpoint births More than 60 Palestinian women have given birth at Israeli checkpoints since 2000 and 36 of their babies have died as a result, says a UN report.

- A great article by Adam Werbach on the population debate.
- Paving central asia with malls
- Ramen noodles shoots ad in space.



From Brownfield To Battleground. Winnipeg, home to the largest concentration of Aboriginal people in Canada, considers a controversial plan to turn a 20-acre plot of abandoned industrial land into an "urban reserve" for a First Nations band, which would allow the band to operate business

Hundreds of immigrants tried to break through the border fences around the Spanish enclave of Melilla in North Africa. Read




SQUATTER Urbanism

Asia's Largest Slum Is An Economic Powerhouse: Dharavi, a slum in Mumbai, India, may appear at first to be a squalid concentration of misery. It is also the prosperous home of some 5,000 single-room factories and tens of thousands of entrepreneurs.

- More than 30,000 people have been rendered homeless in Vijayawada
- EU immigrants deported by plane



- A Refugee Camp In The Heart Of The City
- Five killed in Peru quake, thousands homeless
- UN wants $30 million for homeless in Zimbabwe
- Let's not overlook the cruel demolitions of squatter communities in Botswana.
- Homeless victims of South Africa's great eviction A million black workers have been thrown off white-owned farms since apartheid. David Blair reports on the threat of a Zimbabwe-style backlash
- Design Philosophy Papers issue on urban homelessness via http://archidose.blogspot.com/

LA Cops are being investigated for the Dumping of Homeless in Skid Row
Listen on NPR how Redevelopment in L.A. Affects the Homeless Population. And, a week ago, 229 boat people who left Vietnam seeking asylum in 1989, and have lived as stateless refugees in the Philippines, finally ended their journey to a new home as they stepped off a plane in Los Angeles.

IMF committee backs debt erasure : A deal by the world's richest states to erase debt of up to $55bn (£31bn) owed by the poorest has been backed by one of the main international lenders.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has vowed to accelerate his controversial programme of land redistribution. Under President Chavez's administration, new laws have been passed to allow the state to seize underused ranches without compensation. Read


MILITARY Urbanism

the insurgency

IRAQ: ONLY 10% OF INSURGENTS ARE FOREIGN, says study. Who are the insurgents in Iraq? The BBC examines the main groups and motives behind the insurgency.

Reuters chief says US military 'out of control,' but journalists also face dangers from insurgents.
1,000 civilians die each week in N. Uganda conflict-report
Nigeria militia storm oil station
Foreign fighters in western town stymie Marine bid to sweep out area
Insurgents seize 5 towns near Syria

Good Cop, Bad Cop The state of the Iraqi police
Pentagon cautious on police powers for U.S. troops
Rep. Pombo pitches 'ridiculous alternatives' to Alaska drilling
Does increasing democracy undercut terrorists?
Military recruiting at schools under fire. Anti-war activists push to let students opt out of pitches
How to Pitch the Military When a War Drags On?
Spinmeisters on Front Lines From government officials to insurgents, armies of propagandists in Iraq have been mobilized to sway the views of reporters.

Contractor Accused of 'Green Zone' Fraud
Basra government issues warrant for two UK soldiers, for allegedly killing an innocent iraqi civilian. after UK tanks busted them out, the British governemtn is claiming now that UK troops are immune to Iraqi law.
US accused of more abuse in Iraq
Contra Cost County legislators are calling for security study, as threats from the public has some outfitting their offices with bullet proof glass.
U.S. Weapons, Foreign Flavor



AMAZING pics of the Chernobyl "dead zone"


surveying the SURVEILLATOPIA

A Sci-Fi Future Awaits the Court : At John Roberts' confirmation hearings last week, there weren't enough discussions about science fiction. Technologies that are science fiction today will become constitutional questions before Roberts retires from the bench. The same goes for technologies that cannot even be conceived of now. And many of these questions involve privacy.

Science and politics: a dangerous mix : The Republican War on Science lives up to its incendiary title. The book will undoubtedly raise hackles among conservatives and spawn sharp-tongued counterattacks. But the real test of its efficacy may be whether or not it persuades independents and moderate Republicans that without a new approach toward science America is headed for what the author calls "economic, ecological, and social calamity."

EU pushes mass data surveillance policy
Egypt pressures UN to adopt anti-terror plan
Australia announces tougher anti-terror laws
Italy, An antiterror law makes Internet cafe managers check their clients' IDs and track the websites they visit.

Cameras And Free Wi-Fi To Combat High-Crime Area In Watts
Big Brother web cam is a renovator's delight
US Air Force launches new-generation GPS satellite
Ice explorer readies for launch Europe's Cryosat spacecraft is about to launch on a three-year mission to study the Earth's ice caps. | more on CryoSat | more on CUBESATS : the ones you can launch into space yourself.



Review Leads to Upheaval in Spy Satellite Programs

we previously reported on what NASA calls "autonomous nanotechnology swarms" (ANTS) where nonoscale robots fucntion collectively. Read about further explorations with a I SWARM. | Swarm of insect-sized robots commissioned | more

RADICAL CARTOGRAPHY
Mapping global spam