Viagra bribes for Afghan Warlords

From the BBC

America's CIA has found a novel way to gain information from fickle Afghan warlords - supplying sex-enhancing drug Viagra, a US media report says.

The Washington Post said it was one of a number of enticements being used.

In one case, a 60-year-old warlord with four wives was given four pills and four days later detailed Taleban movements in return for more.

"Whatever it takes to make friends and influence people," the Post quoted one agent as saying.

"Whether it's building a school or handing out Viagra."

'Silver bullet'

The newspaper said the use of Viagra had to be handled sensitively as the drug was not always known about in rural areas.

It quoted one retired agent as saying: "You didn't hand it out to younger guys, but it could be a silver bullet to make connections to the older ones."

In the case of the 60-year-old warlord - the head of a clan in southern Afghanistan who had not co-operated - operatives saw he had four younger wives.

The pills were explained and offered. Four days later the agents returned.

"He came up to us beaming," the Post quoted an agent as saying. "He said, 'You are a great man.'

"And after that we could do whatever we wanted in his area."

The pills could put chieftains "back in an authoritative position", another official said.

The paper said the CIA had a long line of inducements for the notoriously fickle warlords, including dental work, visas, toys and medicine.

It quoted one private security official as saying that simply handing over large sums of money would raise suspicions about newfound wealth

.

happy holidays

Xmas tree from Greece. Complements of M.F.

What We See, What We Hope: Declaration of Solidarity with the Uprising in Greece

What We See, What We Hope:
Declaration of Solidarity with the Uprising in Greece

We want first of all to say a collective yes! to the uprising in Greece. We are artists, writers and teachers who are connected in this moment by common friends and commitments. We are globally dispersed and are mostly watching, and hoping, from afar. But some of us are also there, in Athens, and have been on the streets, have felt the rage and the tear gas, and have glimpsed the dancing specter of the other world that is possible. We claim no special right to speak or be heard. Still, we have a few things to say. For this is also a global moment for speaking and sharing, for hoping and thinking together...

No one can doubt that the protest and occupation movement that has spread across Greece since the police murder of Alexis Grigoropoulos in Athens on 6 December is a social uprising whose causes reach far deeper than the obscene event that triggered it. The rage is real, and it is justified. The filled streets, strikes and walk-outs, and occupied schools, universities, union halls and television stations have refuted early official attempts to dismiss the social explosion as the work of a small number of “young people” in Exarchia, Athens or elsewhere in Greece.

What remains to be seen is whether the movement now emerging will become an effective political force – and, if it does, whether it will be contained within a liberal-reformist horizon or will aim at a more radical social and political transformation. If the movement takes the liberal-reformist path, then the most to be expected will be the replacement of one corrupt party in power by its corrupt competitor, accompanied by a few token concessions wrapped in the empty rhetoric of democracy. These would almost certainly be the smoke-screen for a reactionary wave of new repressive powers masquerading as security measures. Only radically democratic and emancipatory demands, clearly articulated and resolutely struggled for, could prevent this outcome and open the space for a rupture in a destructive global system of domination and exploitation. As we count ourselves among those who experience this system as the violent negation of human spirit and potential, we could only welcome such a rupture as a reassertion of humanity in the face of a repressive politics of fear.

Observing events in Greece and the official and corporate media discourse developing in response to them, we note the emergence of what begins to looks like a new elite consensus. The “violent unrest” in Greece, we are told with increasing frequency, is the revolt of the “700-Euro generation” – that is, of overeducated young people with too few prospects of a decent position and income. The solution, by this account, is to revitalize Greek society through more structural adjustments to make the economy more dynamic and efficient. Once all people are convinced they will be welcomed and integrated into consumer reality and rewarded with purchasing power commensurate with their educational investment, then the conditions of this “revolt” will have been eliminated. In short: everything will be fine, and everyone happy, once some adjustments have made capitalism in Greece less wasteful of its human resources.

We have seen this strategy before, in response to the uprisings in the suburbs of Paris and around the CPE “reforms” in France several years ago. Indeed, since the 1960s this has been the perennial, preferred strategy of power to all uprisings that show themselves unwilling to disappear immediately. Its functions are crystal clear: to channel the movement in a neutralizing liberal-reformist direction and to provoke divisions by means of lures and promises. Those who don’t take the bait are left isolated and can be safely targeted for repression.

We hope those in the streets and all those who sympathize with and support them in and outside of Greece will see through this strategy and expose and denounce it. We’re sure that there is much more at stake, and much more to be imagined, hoped and struggled for, than will be on offer in this neo-liberal sleeping pill. And we hope that, in the space opened up by the real rage and courage of people who have left passivity and hopelessness behind, this social movement will now organize itself into a durable political force capable of scorning such recuperative enticements.

In light of the above, we declare openly that:
1) We are moved by the courage and humanity of those who have repeatedly filled the streets and are now occupying schools and university campuses in Athens, Thessaloniki, Patras, and cities across Greece. Our solidarity with them will not be shaken by official attempts to divide the movement into “good” protesters and “bad.” In the face of the police murder of a 15-year old – only the most recent in a long series of such murders by state officers – and in the face of the grinding inhumanity and relentless militarization of everyday life under the capitalist war of all against all, the destruction of private property does not upset us. To be clear: We’re not endorsing violence blindly; in fact we’re heartened to see that actions are becoming more selective, more political, with each day. But we know how divisive fixation on the “violence” of protesters can be in moments such as these. And so we refuse to go along with attempts to isolate certain groups. Those who play along with that script allow themselves to be used in a way that delivers others to direct repression.

2) We call for the immediate liberation and unconditional amnesty for all those arrested for participating in the uprising – more than 400 people at this writing.

3) We reject all attempts to trivialize this uprising by reducing it to the revolt of an overeducated “700-Euro generation.”

4) We categorically reject any attempt to smear this uprising with the label of “terrorism.” The only terror it is appropriate to speak of here is the ongoing state terror inflicted on the autonomists of Exarchia, on immigrants, on the poor and vulnerable, and on all those who refuse to conform and submit to the bleak and violent givens of capitalist normality. We condemn any attempt, now or in the future, to apply draconian “anti-terrorism” laws and measures against those participating in this movement.

Brett Bloom (Urbana)
Dimitris Bacharas (Athens)
Rozalinda Borcila (Chicago)
Peter Conlin (London)
Alexandros Efklidis (Thessaloniki)
Markus Euskirchen (Berlin)
Nathalie Fixon (Paris)
Bonnie Fortune (Urbana)
Kirsten Forkert (London)
John Fulljames (London)
Jack Hirschman (San Francisco)
Antoneta Kotsi (Athens)
Isabella Kounidou (Nicosia)
Henrik Lebuhn (San Francisco)
Ed Marszewski (Chicago)
Jasmin Mersmann (Berlin)
Anna Papaeti (Athens)
Csaba Polony (Oakland)
Katja Praznik (Ljubljana)
Gene Ray (Berlin)
Tamas St. Auby (Budapest)
Gregory Sholette (New York)
G.M. Tamás (Budapest)
Flora Tsilaga (Athens)

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Here are links to sites for more reports and news:
http://www.occupiedlondon.org/blog/
http://anarchiststrategy.blogspot.com/
http://katalipsipolytexneiou.blogspot.com/
http://www.nomikikatalipsi.blogspot.com/
http://katalipsiasoee.blogspot.com/
http://athens.indymedia.org/?lang=en
http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=en&article_id=953020
http://www.hri.org/news/greek/apeen/2008/08-12-22_1.apeen.html

mainstream news summaries:
http://www.hri.org/news/greek/apeen/

Thomas Hirschhorn: 'Doing Art Politically: What does this mean?'

Art Review, one of the few art mags we really like has this great lecture on it by Thomas Hirschhorn.


Find more videos like this on artreview.com

Dave the Lightbulb Man Show

Our friend Reuben Kincaid produced this new tv show with Thunderhorse Video and friends.

Hail to Chicago, Beacon of American Values

By ALEXANDER COCKBURN

http://www.counterpunch.org/

America is going back to basics. When the stock market plummeted on Black Monday, September 29, the only share to rise was Campbells Soup and now, amid the funereal gloom of a rotten Christmas selling season the nation’s spirits are being rallied by the five-star political corruption scandal in Chicago centered on Governor Rod Blagojevich. Now at last the city can crawl out from under the odorless uplift of Obamian “hope” and swagger back into the fragrant, smoke-filled rooms of municipal graft, with Blagojevich’s voice booming on the FBI phone taps as he hawked Obama’s vacant senate seat for cash and ripely cursed those failing to “pay to play”.

It’s scarcely 72 hours since the FBI seized Blagojevich in his jogging clothes and already the scandal’s storyline has metastasized at pell mell speed, weaving its way through such characters as Blagojevich’s spirited wife Patti, herself worth a full episode in the upcoming tv series as the Lady MacBeth of the whole affair. Overshadowed by her dad, Dick Mell (invariably described as the powerful alderman), and her politically ambitious sister, Patti was swept off her feet by Blago’s talents as an Elvis impersonator. It was Patti who colorfully exhorted her spouse to exact a (very modest) price from the now bankrupt Chicago Tribune which was pleading for financial assistance in connection with the sale of the Cubs and the ballpark in which they play. Patti wanted a pesky editorial writer fired and I seem to remember, from the complaint, that the Trib’s men said they could do that. Why not? A state-sponsored bailout vs. a mangy pundit? No contest. Heave him over the side!

Top storyline has been the impact of Blagojevich’s indictment on Obama. At the very moment the president-elect proclaims an era of uplift and constitutional propriety, the slimy tentacles of old-style Chicago corruption snake towards his ankles. The chortles of outgoing President George Bush Jr., himself harassed by US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald in the Scooter Libby affair, must be rich and prolonged.

Blagojevich did Obama the enormous favor of denouncing him on the government’s tapes. “F--- him,” bellowed the governor during a call with top aides and Patti, covertly recorded by the FBI on November 10th, “For nothing? F--- him.” The governor was peeved that Obama’s representatives weren’t offering him any material incentives to nominate Obama’s political associate and Chicago powerhouse, Valerie Jarrett, for the senate seat vacated by Obama. The president elect can thank his stars for the expletive, but potential embarrassments still loom.

At Blagojevich’s elbow amid his corrupt intrigues was the real estate operator Tony Rezko, now serving time, who helped Obama in the early days, and subsequently to get his fine house in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood. US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald will undoubtedly use Rezko against Blagojevich and Obama’s name is sure to surface, as will that of his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, a major Democratic player in Chicago politics, whose role in the affair was certainly significant, as one might expect since a senate seat is up for grabs. Both Obama and Emanuel campaigned for Blagojevich in his two gubernatorial campaigns. Remember also that Rahm took over Blago’s congressional seat, in which cause he probably found Blago the campaigns funds to get into the governor’s mansion. Also in the loop of rumor is Obama’s political godfather, Illinois state senate president Emil Jones, one of the those – designated only by numbers in the federal indictment – angling to be nominated as Obama’s replacement.

There is fierce infighting between two leading Democrats in the US Congress. US Senate majority leader Harry Reid wants either Blagojevich, or the Illinois legislature to appoint a Democrat to succeed Obama and avoid any erosion of the Democrats’ substantial senate majority in Congress. But Illinois’ senior senator, Dick Durbin, says correctly that only a special democratic (within Illinois’s permissive definition of that word) election of the new senator will dispel the stench of scandal. In such an election a Republican could conceivably win.

Meanwhile Jesse Jackson Jr has rushed before the microphones and cameras to proclaim that he is not under federal investigation. Jackson has been named as possibly being candidate number 5. The person marked by this chaste numeral allegedly promised Blagojevich a total of $1 million in return for the nomination. (Jarrett, who had already taken herself out of the running, was supposedly candidate number one.)

Coming into focus is the familiar and always pleasing landscape of American political corruption – a rich habitat where businessmen and state officials collaborate in the allocation of no-bid contracts, bestowing of profitable concessions, permits, waivers, zoning variances, monopolies and other political mechanisms propelling the well greased axles of state and local government.

Of course the good government crowd is aghast. “I was speechless and sickened,” wails Cindi Canary, executive director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform. “In all of the millions of indictments I’ve read over the last years, I can’t remember anything as vile as this.” Another reformer moans about “the damage to the state,. It’s going to take a long time to dig out.” Nonsense. This is exactly the sort of scandal Americans understand and appreciate. Good government is the province of states animated by the social democratic ethos of prim Nordics, like the Dakotas, or Washington in the Pacific Northwest. In the riper ethnic cauldrons of Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and of course New Jersey, corruption reigns in all its intricate and creative forms. In these states no politician is beyond the reach of an indictment, and this political certainty is the truest form of Americanism and the soundest check and balance against the arrogance of power.

If defended by a capable lawyer I don’t see any reason why Blago shouldn’t emerge from his ordeal with a verdict of Not Guilty from the 12 jurors. Don’t those freedoms we supposedly enjoy include the right to dream over the breakfast table or the cocktail shaker of extorting large sums of money from ambitious politicians and venal businessmen? It’s one thing to dream and another to actually grab the bundle of cash, stick it in the refrigerator and say, The senate seat is yours. Fitzgerald pounced too soon. And even if the quid pro quo is there on film, juries can be forgiving, as their indulgent scrutinies of FBI footage of John Z.Delorean and Mayor Marion Barry attest.

Similarly, what's wrong with Jesse Jackson Jr hitting up a bunch of Indian businessmen for $1 million and pledging to dump it in Blago’s political campaign chest, in return for services rendered in the form of the senate seat? If this is felonious conduct, shouldn’t 98 per cent of all elected politicians in this country be behind bars? The American political system is fuelled by campaign contributions, and corresponding quid pro quos. Politicians are elected to deliver services. They need money to get elected. The people who need services give it to them. That’s the way the system works. The Washington Post congratulates Obama for steering clear of the slime of Chicago politics, but what actually happened is that Obama moved to richer pastures. Not for him Tony Rezko’s dingy billfold, but the dignity of anticipatory bri. . . uh, campaign contributions from the Pritzkers, the Crown family, the big ethanol interests in the Midwest, the nuclear industry, Wall Street financiers, the biggest of big time money, now graterfully acknowledged in the form of Obama’s cabinet appointments. Obama raised more money than any presidential candidate in the history of American poltics, and here we are getting excited about Rod Blagojevich?

'Yes' Vote at Republic: Workers Get Pay, Plant Occupation Ends

Victory!

'Yes' Vote at Republic: Workers Get Pay, Plant Occupation Ends
10 December, 2008
CHICAGO

After the conclusion of negotiations Wednesday evening, the membership of Local 1110, more than 200 workers, met in the plant cafeteria to hear and consider the tentative settlement that had been worked out by UE negotiators over the past three days.

The settlement was approved by a unanimous vote.
'We Did It!'

Following the vote, the UE members, led by Local President Armando Robles, marched out of the plant, chanting “We did it!” in English and Spanish.

Pres. Robles stepped to the microphones outside the front entrance to the plant, where a throng of reporters and cameras had been waiting. "The occupation is over," he announced. "We have achieved victory. We said we will not go until we got justice, and we have it."

UE Western Region President Carl Rosen, who led the union negotiating team, then described the negotiations, summarized the settlement agreement, and commented on the significance of the struggle and the workers' achievement.
Pay, Health Care, Vacation Pay

The settlement totals $1.75 million. It will provide the workers with:

* Eight weeks of pay they are owed under the federal WARN Act,
* Two months of continued health coverage and,
* Pay for all accrued and unused vacation.

JPMorgan Chase will provide $400,000 of the settlement, with the balance coming from Bank of America.
Third Party Fund

Although the money will be provided as a loan to Republic Windows and Doors, it will go directly into a third-party fund whose sole purpose is to pay the workers what is owed them.

As the Local 1110 leaders characterized the settlement, “We fought to make them pay what they owe us, and we won.”
'Historic Victory'

UE Director of Organization Bob Kingsley spoke on behalf of the National Union, describing the outcome of the occupation as “a victory for workers everywhere,” and as “an historic victory for America’s labor movement.”

Kingsley went on to call the settlement “a win for all working men and women who face uncertainty, unfairness and job loss in a troubled economy.”
The 'Window of Opportunity Fund'

Kingsley then announced the creation of a new foundation, dedicated to reopening the plant. It will be initiated with seed money from the UE national union and the thousands of dollars of donations to UE Local 1110's Solidarity Fund that have come in from across the country and around the world in just the past five days.

Melvin Maclin of Local 1110 announced the name of the foundation, which was chosen by the workers themselves: the Window of Opportunity Fund. Maclin said that the fund will be open to receive donations from all friends of the Republic workers and supporters of their struggle.

Rosen introduced U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, praising the congressman for his tireless work in behalf of the Republic workers and indispensible role in bringing about the settlement. Gutierrez spoke at some length, and then introduced David Rudis, Illinois state president for Bank of America. In a statement to reporters, Rep. Gutierrez said, "This money will only be used to pay the workers the benefits they are owed under the law, and it will not under any circumstance be used for corporate bonuses, luxury cars or any other perk for the owners of the plant."

http://www.ueunion.org/uenewsupdates.html?news=438

Update on the factory occupation

Little update:

We just got back from Republic Windows & Doors factory in Chicago.
It seems like the alarm bells are off for now. The sense of urgency and the threat to their occupation is over. There is a good chance that UE Local 1110 will resolve the issue tonight (Tuesday Dec 9) with the company and the bank and reach a settlement to compensate the workers.

However, if this falls through tonight, the workers do plan on continuing the occupation of the factory and will need some of your help.

An UE organizer we spoke to said he has never seen this much community support for an action in his ten years of organizing. Many are saying a Sit-in or factory occupation like this hasn't happened in the US since the depression of the 30s.
Watch this site:
http://www.ueunion.org/ue_republic.html

Support the Workers Occupying Factory in Chicago

We received this and many notices like it regarding the state of the workers ccupying the Republic Windows & Doors factory in Chicago.

Please forward:

As some of you may know, Illinois governor Blagojevich was arrested this morning by FBI agents on "federal corruption charges. "


However, what this means in terms of the members UE Local 1110 occupying the Republic Windows & Doors factory: ALL MEDIA ATTENTION HAS SHIFTED TO COVERING THE GOVERNOR, AND UE ORGANIZERS FEAR A RAID AT ANY TIME.

Please, GO TO THE FACTORY at any time today if you can:
Republic Windows, 1333 N. Hickory in Chicago, on Goose Island
(by the North Ave Whole Foods)


View Larger Map


Show your support and be there to observe any potential abuse, raid, and injustice. I know it's raining, and I know many of you work and will be unable to go until later this evening (like me), but please, we can each use our privilege and access to internet/communication networks today to inform as many people as possible about this, through emails and texts.
Sign up for the UE twitter updates at http://www.ueunion.org/ue_republic.html
Also sign up your friends by getting them to send the text "follow ueunion" to 40404.

***PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW, Chicago folks, Movement folks, and beyond

AND!

SUPPORT THE REPUBLIC WORKERS THIS WEEK!!!
Come to rally! Hear about their struggle!

This week CICWI will host noontime rallies at the plant each day, with the exception of Wednesday's downtown location. The schedule is:
Tuesday, Dec 9 12 noon Republic Windows, 1333 N. Hickory
Wednesday, Dec10 12 noon Bank of America, 231 S. LaSalle
Thursday, Dec 11 12 noon Republic Windows, 1333 N. Hickory
Friday, Dec 12 12 noon Republic Windows, 1333 N. Hickory
Saturday, Dec 13 12 noon Republic Windows, 1333 N. Hickory

Dec 12 Proximity magazine release party

Friday, December 12, 2008, 7:00 PM – 12:00 AM
At The Post Family (1821 W Hubbard St #202)
312.265.6406

Please join us as we celebrate the release of the third issue of Proximity Magazine at the Post Family headquarters, the Family Room.

The release party is this Friday, December 12th, from 7pm-midnight at the Family Room (1821 W Hubbard). Tickets are $5 at the door, or $10 for a drink and a copy of Proximity.

We'll have a video by Jenni Rope, the Second World Premiere of the Dave the Lightbulb Man Show (... in SPACE), and art by the Post Family Collective as well as Sonnenzimmer, Sighn, Delicious Design League, Matt Siber, and Johan Salus. Plus readings by James Kennedy, Erika
Mikkalo, and Chris Estey (as covered by Jerry Boyle).


http://www.proximitymagazine.com
Contact ed@proximitymagazine.com for help.

About:
Proximity is a magazine dedicated to contemporary art and culture. Our mission is to amplify discourse on local and global art ecologies. We hope to serve as a map—of artists, collectives and alternative spaces to commercial galleries, museums and universities—as means of connecting and cultivating sustainable creative communities.

Proximity magazine is published by the Public Media Institute a non-profit community-based grass roots arts and culture organization based in Chicago. Our mission is to promote art, technology and social activism in order to transform people - socially and intellectually – through the production of festivals, events, exhibitions, community projects, publications and other media.

APologies

We are incredibly sorry that we have to share all these listings for awesome events and announcements in December.


1. December 3-7 :: Release of Proximity #3 in Miami at NADA Art Fair
2. December 5th :: TEN YEARS OF TEMPORARY SERVICES
3. December 6th :: Two AREA Events
4. December 12th :: Proximity # 3 release party in Chicago
5. December 13th :: Three Walls Crystal Ball
6. December 19th ::: The Animation Festival 2008 at Co-Prosperity Sphere
7. Call for texts Lumpen # 111
8. Young Polish Artists (YPA) - call for participation

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1.
Proximity Issue #3 released in Miami at NADA art fair.
December 3 - 7th, 2008
at The Ice Palace,
1400 North Miami Avenue

While the economy turns, we do too, by going south for one week to release Proximity magazine # 3 to the Art fags in Miami. Visit our table at NADA Art Fair.
http://www.newartdealers.org/

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2.
TEN YEARS OF TEMPORARY SERVICES
A 10th anniversary celebration & the Chicago book release party for Public Phenomena
Friday, December 5, 2008, 7:30 PM – 12:00 AM
At the Co-Prosperity Sphere, 3219 S. Morgan, Chicago

Temporary Services is celebrating their tenth year of existence with a party and concert at the Co-Prosperity Sphere. Art and ephemera from their archives will be on display, and items from their newly created Half Letter Press will be for sale. Free food will be available and all ages are welcome.

MUSIC & ENTERTAINMENT by

The Velcro Lewis Group
(the loudest swamp rock rhythm and power group that you've ever been able to dance to)

Dead Druglords
(recorded salsa & cumbia beats with cardboard exiled criminals from Bogata)

Analog Zebras & Snebtor
(inexplicable sounds & images from Columbia via Lafayette, IN)

$5.00 admission ($15.00 gets you a copy of "Public Phenomena")

At the Co-Prosperity Sphere
3219 S. Morgan St, Chicago

Links:
Temporary Services: www.temporaryservices.org
Half Letter Press: www.halfletterpress.com
Co-Prosperity Sphere: http://www.lumpen.com/CPS/

Velcro Lewis Group: http://www.myspace.com/922889

Analog Zebras & Snebtor:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwuY4X8ifKk and http://www.myspace.com/analogzebra
and http://www.myspace.com/snebtor

ABOUT PUBLIC PHENOMENA: What do trees growing through fences, roadside memorials, and handmade basketball hoops have to do with the erosion of public space in our cities? How can a sign asking people not to repair their car in the street be an indicator of personal revolution?

Public Phenomena is a 152-page book of color photographs and writing about instances of original and self-made interventions found in public space. It is the result of years of research on common instances of small changes that impact cities in a big way.

MORE INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND AT WWW.TEMPORARYSERVICES.ORG .

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3.
Two AREA Events on December 6th, 2008:
Issue #7 Release Reception and Program & the 2nd Annual Wants and Needs Auction to Benefit AREA

1. AREA Chicago #7 Magazine Release Event: The Inheritance of Politics and The Politics of Inheritance December 6th, 2008 1-4pm
at Jane Addams Hull House Museum, 800 S. Halsted Chicago IL

1pm-2pm Public release of new issue of AREA on the theme of the legacy of 1968 in Chicago,

2pm-4pm Performances, Films and Speaking by:
Nicole Garneau's Uprising performance; Lucky Pierre performing songs for 1968/2008; James Tracy discusses researching the working class Left in Chicago; clips from Bernadine Mellis' "Struggle Baby" in-progress film on children of the New Left, and more

With contributions by and about:
The Chicago Seed, Steve Macek, Alyssa Vincent, Bernie Faber, Abe Peck, Chicago Journalism Review, Cosmic Frog, Free Schools, Blackstone Rangers, Julie Glasier, Rising Up Angry, Euan Hague, Chicago Surrealist Group, Joey Pizzolato, The Woodlawn Organization, Carrie Breitbach, Kartemquin Films, Darcy Lydum, Chicago Area Draft Resisters, SDS, A.L. Gray, Amy Martin, Negro Digest/Black World, Chris Brancaccio, Harper Court, Andrea Baer, Conservative Vice Lords, Chicago Artist Boycott, Maggie Taft, JOIN Community Union, Lauren Cumbia, James Tracy, Amy Sonnie, Africobra, Black Arts Movement, Edna Togba, UIC SDS, Earl Silbar, Sylvia Fischer, Charles Nissim-Sabat, Marilyn Nissim-Sabat, Nelson Peery, Hymie Rochman, Penelope & Franklin Rosemont, Dr. Quentin Young, Aaron Sarver, Rainbow Coalition, Mike James, PLP, April 68 Oral History Project, Sam Barnett, Barbara Jones-Hogu, Monica Barra, Rebecca Zorach, White Privilege Concept, Mike Staudenmeir, Daniel Tucker, Non Profit Industrial Complex, Eric Tang, Eve Ewing, 68 in 08 Elections, Jerome Grand, Rick Perlstein, Daley, BLW, Vietnam, Iraq, Lucky Pierre, Ben Shepard, BLW, Re-enact 68, Bert Stabler, AJ Kane, Mark Tribe, Winter Soldier, Paige Sarlin, Laura Gluckman, Nicole Garneau, Young Lords, Frank Edwards, Sam Greenlee, Judy Hoffman, Tracye Matthews, Kevin Gosztola, Old Left, Eric Triantafillou, Generation X, Dan S. Wang, Theaster Gates, Bob and Margo Crawford, Lincoln Park, Pete Zelchenko, Mark Shipley, Michael Thompson, Cathleen Schandelmeier, Louise Lincoln, Lumpen, and more.

This event is the culmination of a six month long "Project in Residence" at the Jane Addams Hull House Museum organized by AREA Chicago.

And then when you are done, please join us two miles away at our auction benefit party......

2. Second Annual "Wants and Needs" Auction to Benefit AREA
December 6th, 2008 7-11pm
at CAMPO - 511 N Noble (In a carriage house just behind the Italian restaurant on the NE corner of Grand and Noble). See below for directions.

Come Party and Support AREA Chicago.
Help us move towards financial sustainability with grassroots fundraising!

At 930pm there will be an emcee for a Live "Wants-and-Needs" Auction of Skill and Resource Sharing donated by AREA friends, contributors and advisers. Bids for the Service and Skill Sharing Auction will start as low as $5. We can accept cash, check or credit card on site at the party.

Proceeds from AREA's WANTS and NEEDS Party will benefit the spring 2009 issue of AREA, the "Everybody's Got Money Issues" Issue #8.

Details
$10 Donation at the Door, $20 Donation for admission and a t-shirt.
To RSVP or prepay for admission, email areachicago@gmail.com
Cost of admission gets you one complimentary drink. All drinks after are for cheap donation prices.

Auction items range in cost from $5 to $100

If you know you cannot make it and would still like to donate, visit http://areachicago.org/donate/

Directions

The party is at 511 N Noble (In a carriage house just behind the Italian restaurant on the NE corner of Grand and Noble). For a map click here .
o From the Jane Addams Hull House Museum, simply hop on the alsted #8 Bus going North, then get off at Grand and either walk west to Noble or take the #65 bus going west. You will have enough time between the events to grab some italian food in the Grand/Noble area.
o From north or south, this location is extremely accessibly from the #9 Ashland Bus. Simply get off at Ashland and Grand and walk east on Grand 3 blocks to Noble.
o If you are coming from the Blue Line, simply walk 9 blocks west of the Grand stop on the blue line, or take a #65 westbound bus.
o From the Kennedy Expressway, simply exit at Ogden/Exit 50A, merge onto N Racine, turn right on W Erie, and turn left and N Noble.

http://www.areachicago.org/

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4.
Proximity #3 Release Party
Friday, December 12, 2008, 7:00 PM – 12:00 AM
At The Family Room (1821 W Hubbard St #202)
312.265.6406

Please join us as we celebrate the release of the third issue of Proximity
Magazine at the Post Family headquarters, the Family Room. First, we
will be screening some videos that you might have missed, like our new TV show called The Dave the Lightbulb Man Show. We will also feature a few readings by our contributors. And last but not least, we will also be showing art by people featured in this issue, as well as work by the Post Family collective. Please come by for some food and drink and find out more about what Public Media Institute's plans are for 2009. We are starting a sister Proximity publication called Matérial, a printed Proximity poster/calendar called Proximity Buddy and a few more exciting projects.

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5.
ThreeWalls announces:
Their 4th annual holiday ball & fundraiser:
Crystal Ball

1513 N Western Avenue, 3rd Floor
December 13th, 2008
Doors at 8 pm, auction at 9:30 pm
Drinks, dancing, live music

Tickets:
$20.00, unlimited drinks
$30.00, includes one piece of ltd. edition stemware (your choice)

CHICAGO: Mark your calendars! Its threewalls annual holiday 'ball' on
December 13th, 8pm at 1513 N Western Ave, 3rd floor.

This year's party, Crystal Ball, will take you to a fantasyland of ice
palaces and wizards, snow queens and magic. So start working on your
costumes and training your fantastic beasts for our best holiday party
to date, featuring our yearly art auction, famed photobooth, fortune
telling and dancing, and a special appearance by The Christmas Wizard.
Best fantasy tattoo gets a prize!

Our auction is shaping up to be a blockbuster event with original
artwork, multiples and editioned prints by local and regional artists
and past residents of the threewalls residency. This is the
opportunity to start or add to your collection or buy a special
holiday gift while supporting the local visual arts.

Scott Speh of Western Exhibitions will play auctioneer, so be ready
with for a raucous time when he auctions off work by Amanda Curtis,
Amanda Ross-Ho, Anne Wilson, Aron Packer, Bebe Krimmer, Brian
McNearney, CamLab, Carmen Price, Carole Lung, Caroline Picard, Chris
Hefner, Chris Millar, Cody Hudson, Craig Doty, Craig Yu, Dani
Leventhal, Daniel Barrow, David Noonan, Deborah Boardman, Deborah
Slabeck-Baker, Diana Guerrero-Maciá, Edra Soto, Ellen Rothenberg, Eric
May, Jason Lahr, Jeanne Dunning, Jesse McLean, Judy Ledgerwood, Julia
Hechtman, Ken Fandell, Lisa Krivacka, Maren Erwin, Matthew Rich,
Melanie Schiff, Michael Dinges, Molly Schafer, Monika Bartholomé,
Nevin Tomlinson, New Catalog, Peter Hoffman, Rebecca Ringquist, Robert
Reinard, Selina Trepp, Sterling Ruby, William Cordova and more…

Ready and waiting to be filled with potion are our annual limited
edition glassware, a set of etched stemware by 2007/08 SOLO artists:
Ann Toebbe, Caleb Jones Lyons, Cayetano Ferrer and Heather Mekkelson.
Each artist's glass is a limited edition of 24 pieces. Glasses are
$30.00 each with free entry to Crystal Ball, or a set for $100.00.

Currently threewalls only annual fundraiser, the holiday ball helps
provide Chicago and region artists with one of the only application
based solo exhibition opportunities in the city, a residency that
brings national and international artists to Chicago to make new work
and network in our community, as well as helping support publications
like PHONEBOOK and Paper & Carriage.

Over the past year the success of the SOLO program has brought
international attention to our first of 7 exhibiting artists, we have
expanded our residency program to become a mobile collaboration with
other art and community organizations in the city and we worked with
artist John Preus on the renovation of our gallery space in order to
create a bookstore for the distribution of artist publications and
multiples.

We believe in promoting Chicago as an integral site for contemporary
art by cultivating relationships between local artists, residents,
visiting curators, thinkers and writers. threewalls applications and
the success of our program have been fueled by word of mouth: Chicago
is a great place for contemporary art!

Crystal Ball is essential to the development and maintenance of
threewalls, and by helping threewalls, you help cultivate and support
the artists that depend on us.

Join us this year for Crystal Ball and you will make this fundraiser a
success and even a greater time!

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The Animation Festival 2008 at Co-Prosperity Sphere

Chicago, Il (November 17, 2008)
Co-Prosperity Sphere
3219-21 South Morgan Street, Chicago, IL. 60608

December 19, 2008
Opens: 7:00pm
Screening begins: 8:00pm

The Animation Festival 2008 presents an eclectic compilation of
visually stunning animated shorts. The screening will consist of a
cross-section of experimental work being made by some of the most
talented contemporary animators of today. They range from Chicago
Underground Film Festival winner Martha Colburn's violent and chaotic
take on American culture, to celebrated Chicago filmmaker Jim
Trainor's darkly subversive visions, and the Canada-based Barry
Doupe's ritualized and dream-like world constructed in 3D landscapes.

A full list of participating artists include:

Lisa Barcy
Inga Birgisdottir
Sean Buckelew
Jude Chaplin
Martha Colburn
Shelley Dodson
Ryan Doherty
Barry Doupe
Erin Dunn
Lauren Gregory
Amy Lockhart
Matt Marsden
Steve Memmons
Seth Scriver
Thomas Suzimoto
Jim Trainor

The show begins at 7:00 PM with a gallery showcase of selections of original artwork from some of the animators, as well as music, popcorn and other concessions. The lights dim at 8:00 as the presentation of the animated shorts begins. The show continues after the screening with more music and drinks.

For more information please contact:
Casey Ellison
213 422-1448
caseyjaneellison@gmail.com


The Bridgeport Art District (B.A.D.) Will also be open for winter art fag action
http://bridgeportartdistrict.blogspot.com/


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ANNOUNCEMENTS

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9.
Call for texts Lumpen # 111
Deadline January 1, 2009

When will this paradigm shift begin?

We don't know what kind of kool-aid you might be drinking, but from our arm chairs in the marshes of Bridgeport it looks like the Obama presidency is looking more like a hallucination we would rather not endure. While we watch the appointments in his cabinet and research his team of annointed advisors they seem to resemble the very people we wanted kicked out when we voted for him.

Some have said that he really has little room to maneuver given the state of the global economic apocalypse. Others think going the way of the Clintons is better than another RepubliCon, but we think they are wrong. There is much much more work that needs to BE DONE than just getting the guy elected. We need to dispel the delerium of our comrades that still have a messiah complex and we need to apply severe pressure on the open arteries of our collective future. This really sucks considering how long the world has endured the pain of the Bush Dark Ages.

And it just makes us sad to think Obama has become an Obummer.

Or has he?

So... we ask you to speak up!

Tell us where you think the President elect and his team of old school insiders should make policy. Reveal the dirty secrets and hidden histories of his new coterie of advisors. Get all Nostradamus on us. We want this issue to contribute to the other substantial conversations going on out there about how we truly Change the way our country conducts ourselves overseas, at home, and in the future. There is a lot of room to begin... For one.. How do we stop the wars? How do we address the bubbles of the Financial banking system? What the hell happened anyways with those banks? And whatever happened to universal healthcare? And where is our bailout? Or maybe you think we should just cool out and give team Obama a chance to actually start their term. . But tell us something! We're worried!

Send us proposals, texts or just forward links to informed analysis and opinion that you think we should share to our readers.

And please.. no poetry..

Deadline for texts January 1, 2009
contact: ed@lumpen.com

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8.
Young Polish Artists (YPA) - call for participation

Calling all young (and not so young) Polish artists! We want you to submit your work for a Polish Solidarinose group art show! Please send us your photographs. installations, paintings, drawings, video, music and technology as a jpeg, mp3, url or proposal for possible inclusion in the YPA show this January.

submit to: polska@publicmediainstitute.org

submission deadline: december 20, 2008
show: january 16- 30, 2009
location: co-prosperity sphere (http://www.lumpen.com/CPS/about.html)

please feel free to forward this email to anyone you know that may be
interested in participating.

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