Soaring out of the jungles on the southern border of Mexico, the Zapatista Air Force took flight. Almost exactly six years after the Zapatista Liberation Army (ELZN) first occupied the Chiapas in 1994 to oppose neoliberal and repressive government policies, they launched hundreds of planes over Mexican soldiers in the city of Amador Hernandez (Lane, 2003, p. 129). Throughout … [Read more...] about Cyber Sit-Ins: Grassroots to Gigabytes
Politics
Point, Click, Kill.
By Josephine Marat Imagine yourself returning home one evening, opening your laptop, and logging on to YouTube. You become bored with all the mindless video clips, and you’re about to shut down your computer when you see a thumbnail for what appears to be footage from a new spy flick. The film has been shot with an infrared camera and there is no audio feed, giving it an … [Read more...] about Point, Click, Kill.
“Legislating from the Bench” in Tarasoff v. UC Regents
Preface: In order to understand how the Tarasoff verdict was reached and why it is an example of judicial activism, it is first necessary to be aware of the facts that led to the initiation of the case. In 1969, a man named Prosenjit Poddar began seeing a psychologist named Lawrence Moore who worked for the Cowell Memorial Hospital at UC Berkeley (Tobriner 1976, 2). Poddar … [Read more...] about “Legislating from the Bench” in Tarasoff v. UC Regents
Casual Labor
“Social participation is the oil of the digital economy.” – Trebor Scholz[1] “The consumer is sovereign in a jungle of ugliness, where the freedom of choice is imposed on him.” – Jean Baudrillard[2] Histories of Play and Labor In his short essay “Money for Nothing: Virtual Worlds and Virtual Economies,” Steven Shaviro traces what he sees as the historical trajectory … [Read more...] about Casual Labor
Accountability on the High Seas: Royal Caribbean and Labor Rights Abuses
A 2008 Royal Caribbean commercial dares the consumer to “cast off conventions of life on land and set sail, free to ask, ‘Why not?’ Why not ice skate on the equator? Sunbathe past glaciers? Climb mountains at sea? […] Or do nothing at all?” Royal Caribbean’s ships are like giant playgrounds at sea for adults and children alike. As the commercial proudly points out, … [Read more...] about Accountability on the High Seas: Royal Caribbean and Labor Rights Abuses