Lobster 57 (The last hard copy Lobster)
(Hull, Summer 2009, ISSN 0964-0436)

Lobster is a magazine for “parapolitics” that has been appearing since 1983 at roughly two issues per year, edited by Robin Ramsay.
The main themes have always been the machinations of the secret state and various conspiracy theories, so MI5 and MI6, New Labour, Mind Control, JFK, Diana’s death etc featured prominently. Interestingly they stayed more or less clear of 9/11 conspiracy theories.
As announced on the cover of the latest issue, this is the last one in paper format, since Ramsay says he can’t be bothered to take care of printing and distributing 1′000 copies as on the internet many more readers could be reached without the hassle the former implies. If this is true remains to be seen [Read more →]

10 years after June 18

It’s worth pointing out that today it’s a decade ago that the international protests dubbed J18 against the G8 meeting in Cologne took place in many cities around the world.
I was in London at the time for the protest there, organised by Reclaim The Streets, which was a pivotal point in the development of a possible revolutionary movement in the UK. What seemed to be a peak and the start of something new would soon decline and be suppressed. [Read more →]

VENERDI’ 12 GIUGNO @ 21.00
DATACIDE CONFERENCE 01 : cultura elettronica e controcultura

DUKA: introduzione
CHRISTOPH FRINGELI: hedonsm and revolution
HANS CHRISTIAN PSAAR: kindertotenlieder for rave culture

SABATO 13 GIUGNO @ 21.00
DATACIDE CONFERENCE 02 : cultura elettronica e controcultura

DUKA: introduzione
NEIL TRANSPONTINE: a loop da loop era: towards an (anti)history of “rave”
ALEXIS WOLTON: tortugan towerblocks: pirate signals in the 90s

All datacide talks will be held in English with simultaneous translation in Italian.

This datacide event is part of Electrode 09 at Forte Prenestino in Rome. For the full lineup including parties please visit the website of Forte Prenestino and the website of Electrode 09.

Ten years ago NATO forces attacked and bombed the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and occupied the autonomous province of Kosovo. The reason for this was on the surface the claim, that the Federal Republic, its army and police units aided by Serb paramilitaries, were conducting a policy of “ethnic cleansing” against the Albanian minority. The intervention was supposed to prevent a “genocide” from happening, it was thus a “humanitarian intervention”, so the official version went. [Read more →]

The feature length film “Saila” by Julia Ostertag situates in the industrial ruins of East Berlin a visceral enactment of post apocalyptic terror. The remnants, both broken people and destroyed environments, after the near end of the world are never given a reason for continued life, nor is it ever specified what catastrophes coalesced to become everyday life for the film’s protagonists. “Saila” can be viewed as an experimental project that attempts to critique film as a visual medium and standardized genre by doing away with traditional narrative strategies such as linear character development and causal storytelling. [Read more →]