You may have noticed a few cosmetic changes around this site, including a change of banner, and a more open front page. And, most notably, the disappearance of the old site banner.

Some of y'all have asked where it's from. It comes from Diego Rivera's mural at the Palacio Nacional, on the Zocalo in Mexico City. It's a picture of Karl Marx, pointing to the bold future that awaited the Mexican people. It's a picture about which I've a fair amount of ambivalence. The future is a monoculture, at least in the picture. And, as Michael Pollan has so eloquently put it "there's no such thing as a sustainable monoculture". Marx, in other words, got it wrong. So probably not the best banner for this site, then. ... read more »

Raj's blog | 1 comment

Posted on 31 January, 2007 - 01:00

If you found Ngaire Woods' report on how the WTO works a little dry, you probably won't appreciate the humour at this site, run by the Yes Men.

They've posted a press release from the WTO announcing a "Formalized Slavery Model for Africa".

"The same can be applied to poor Africans", claims GATT.org.

The press release continues

"a WTO initiative for "full private stewardry of labor" for the parts of Africa that have been hardest hit by the 500 years of Africa's free trade with the West. ... read more »

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Posted on 12 January, 2007 - 22:06

The Meatrix turned over 10 million people on to the dangers of industrial agriculture. Even if its final message ('buy organic') didn't quite get to the heart of the trouble with the food system today, it was vastly entertaining, and a great Food System 101 course in just over two minutes.

Now, they've released not only The Meatrix 2:Revolting but, below, The Meatrix 2½. ... read more »

Raj's blog | 1 comment

Posted on 30 November, 2006 - 22:57

The killing in computer games isn't all 'blast'em with your BFG' or 'cast a spell with the Blade of Thringgarrr'. You can now administer an unpleasant end using nothing more than some misplaced pig shit.
... read more »

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Posted on 30 November, 2006 - 22:32