May 18
Seattle Sites of the Day:

Citizens' Campaign for Commercial-Free Schools

"Some of our areas of interest include: ... Eliminating 'Channel One' from the Seattle Public Schools. ... Working against exclusive marketing contracts between corporations and the Seattle School District. ... Eliminating 'Sponsored Educational Materials' (SEMs)."

"The next CCCS meeting will be Thursday, May 18 at 7034 Ravenna Ave NE, Seattle, 7 pm. For directions, call: (206) 523-4922. Everyone welcome!"

"Action Items - Seattle School administrators are planning joint advertising between the school district and private companies (Mariners, AirTouch). Call SB President Barb Schaad-Lamphere at (206) 933-5327 to protest."

Peace Between People: Alternatives to Violence Project of Washington

"AVP's goal is to reduce the level of violence by introducing people to ways of resolving conflict that reduce their need to resort to violence as the solution."

"Peace Between People conducts workshops in three Washington State Prisons and in schools, organizations, and the community."

"Creative Conflict Resolution: Basic Level - This workshop includes 2-1/2 days of experiential exercises in communication, community building, ... techniques for conflict resolution, and fun. ... bringing the techniques and philosophy of nonviolence into prisons, schools, organizations, and the community."

"All workshops will be offered again in fall, 2000. We also sometimes offer one-day workshops on specific themes. For details, please check back, or join our mailing list... call (206) 517-4047 or email us at pbp@scn.org."

Seattle Displacement Coalition

"The reality - and what the 'pro-Sidran' crowd ignores - is that safe streets and parks are not assured through passage of laws which target and criminalize homelessness such as our parks exclusion law and no-sitting law." ...

"In a town, where there are 5500 homeless on any given day but only 2500 hundred shelter beds, it's obvious why we have so many people sleeping out in our parks." ...

"We certainly are not barring middle class white professionals from our parks for violating off-leash laws or a myriad of other park rules like opening a bottle of wine or littering. Nor are we citing them when they sit on the sidewalk. Those being hit with fines, jail, or exclusions are predominantly young people, people of color, and the homeless. And for the most part, the Sidran laws are only enforced in Downtown, the U-District, and a few other select areas where the homeless congregate.

"Denying due process and other basic rights to a whole class of people..."

FreeB92.net

May 18 - "Radio B2-92 fell under a blanket banning which affected RTV Studio B, Radio Indeks, the occupation of Belgrade's highest-circulation daily, Blic, and TV Mladenovac." ...

"Employess of Blic and Radio Index were prevented from entering their premises today in the Beogradjanka building which was sealed off by police yesterday when the government took over Studio B. In a statement to Beta, Blic's Editor in Chief Veselin Simonovic demanded an explanation from the Ministry for Information but he has received no response." ...

"One sound Technician and several police are said to be occupying Radio Index, which is playing music today. ...

"Six people were seriously injured after police action at 10:45 p.m. last night in front of Beogradjanka...

"RTV Pancevo... stopped working yesterday afternoon and the police have sealed off access to the transmitter, without explanation."

May 18 - "The critical importance of CPSR's Shaping the Network Society symposium was underscored by the seizure of B292 broadcasting equipment by security forces in the former Yugoslavia. Station manager Veran Matic who was scheduled to discuss the importance of a 'public sphere' to 500 attendees at CPSR's Seattle symposium was compelled to remain at home after the seizure. Matic and other B292 employees are currently working to keep the news flowing using Internet streaming technology. Veran Matic's name card will still be displayed at the symposium in front of his empty chair. A statement from Matic will be read at the symposium and symposium organizers are exploring other ways of ensuring that his important message will not be silenced."
- Doug Schuler

Netwar in the Emerald City

"The Direct Action Network's strategy is a classic example of 'netwar' conflict. Netwar is a concept introduced in the early 1990's by two researchers at the RAND corporation, ... David Ronfeldt and John Arquilla proposed a new framework for viewing conflict in the information age."

"The essence of netwar is ... one or more of the major participants consist of networks, rather than institutions. The central feature... is the struggle for understanding and knowledge, as opposed to more traditional conflicts which focus on controlling territories or resources."

"In the case of the Direct Action Network, the central prize consisted of the understanding that the WTO multi-lateral trade agreements are intensely corrosive to democracy, at least that form of democracy which entails a knowledgeable public participating in policy formation in meaningful ways." ...

"By Monday evening, November 30, the forces had aligned themselves. ... What would happen next was anybody's guess, but the best guessers would win and the others would lose." ...

"Floating above the tear gas was a pulsing infosphere of enormous bandwidth, reaching around the planet via the internet." ...