Human Terrain Systems is the term with private companies increasingly hired by the US army (and Australia) to use anthropologists and other related fields to gather “intelligence” in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. 21st century warfare (privatised, of course): More about this film here.
Category General
Egypt, before the revolution
A beautiful short film, Maydoum, by Omar Robert Hamilton: Maydoum [short film, 2010] from Omar Robert Hamilton on Vimeo.
Prevention of Injury; a short film about American political prisoner Bradley Manning
Prevention of Injury (POI) from kyle broom on Vimeo. More here.
Iraqi “liberation” keeps many US secrets
Interesting piece on the New York Times At War blog: Several weeks ago, we heard that a local businessman had purchased some trailers from a closing American base. We were told the trailers were parked at a nearby junkyard, so one afternoon I headed out with our security team to find them. I didn’t believe…
Neo-liberalism isn’t the default position
New Statesman on British workers fighting “austerity”, which in effect are the most vulnerable being shafted to pay for the mistakes of the 1%: Last week, a group of public sector workers, supporters and others who’ve had enough of the neoliberal mantra that “public services improve if they’re run by the private sector” protested outside…
How French Jews are embracing an anti-Muslim, French bigot named Marine Le Pen
Tablet reports on how blind love for Zionism and hatred of Islam has become a toxic mix: Since its inception in the 1970s, the Front National has wrapped itself in the repellent rags of traditional French anti-Semitism. The series of outrageous… dérapages, or verbal slips, of the movement’s founder and longtime leader Jean-Marie Le Pen—Marine’s father—are…
Understanding humanity in the back of an ambulance
My friend Benjamin Gilmour, author of the wonderful new book Paramedico… – he works alongside ambulance workers across the world – speaks on commercial Australian TV and mentions US crimes with drones against the people of Pakistan: