[Autonogram] Labor, cannabis, and critical science!

[Ben at Autonomedia]

Hello, list subscribers --

Here's a quick update about goings-on around the Autonomedia sphere.

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1. NYC: Critical Art Ensemble benefits coming up 10/3 and 10/21
2. NYC: Doug Nufer reading all over town next week!
3. New Book: Caliban and the Witch by Silvia Federici 
(http://www.autonomedia.org/caliban)
4. New Book: Orgies of the Hemp Eaters, edited by Hakim Bey and Abel 
Zug (http://www.autonomedia.org/orgies)
* * *

1. Many fundraising events have happened or are being planned for 
Steve Kurtz and Critical Art Ensemble in their legal struggle with 
the Federal government. Here in Brooklyn, we're hosting one this 
Sunday, October 3, a screening of critical-science films at the 
Ocularis film night at Galapagos, a neighborhood arts bar. We'll be 
showing several films from CAE's archive, as well as newer material 
from a bunch of exciting filmmakers who get thick with 
bioengineering, the Patriot Act, state-induced paranoia, and the 
such, AND an older film from Manuel Delanda covering his graffiti 
activities from the late 1970s. Several artists who've worked 
alongside CAE over the years will be presenting material as well, and 
all proceeds from the evening will go to Steve's defense fund.

October 3, 7pm, $6. Galapagos is at 70 North Sixth Street, 
Williamsburg Brooklyn, between Wythe and Kent Aves. More details, 
including the full film schedule with descriptions, are online at 
http://info.interactivist.net/article.pl?sid=04/09/27/1518204

Another fundraiser will be held at Tonic, the new-music venue in the 
Lower East Side, on October 19. Check 
http://www.caedefensefund.org/events.html for details on this and 
many other fundraisers around the country. Also, 
http://www.caedefensefund.org will give you gobs of background 
information on Steve's case.

* *

2. Doug Nufer will be in NYC next week reading from his new books 
"Negativeland" (Autonomedia) and "Never Again", and in true Nufer 
style (this is the Nufer who had three books all published at the 
same time this past summer!), he'll be reading all over the place in 
a short time:
Sunday, October 10, Zinc Bar, 90 West Houston,  7 pm.
Monday, October 11, Cornelia Street Cafe, 29 Cornelia Street, 6 pm 
(with Brendan Lorber and Anna Mockler)
Thursday, October 14, Fusion Art Museum, 57 Stanton Street, 8:30 pm 
(with Anna Mockler and Sharon Mesmer)

Check out the Village Voice's review of Negativeland at 
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0434/aviv.php, as well as 
http://www.autonomedia.org/negativeland

* *
New Book Updates

All new Autonomedia books are now listed on our web site at 
http://www.autonomedia.org/newbooks

3. "Caliban and the Witch" is Silvia Federici's long-anticipated 
history of witches and women's bodies in the historical transition 
from feudalism to capitalism. "Caliban" is based in feminist 
scholarship analyzing the essential role of reproductive labor in 
producing and maintaining accumulated capital (specifically Mariarosa 
Dalla Costa, Selma James, and the Wages for Housework Movement), but 
asks the overlooked question, why were hundreds of thousands of 
"witches" executed in the transition to capitalism? What were the 
specific historical circumstances under which this persecution 
happened, and how did it enable the rise of capitalism?

Silvia takes on the task of answering these questions through 
rigorous analysis of demographic and economic documents of the day, 
carefully examining contemporary land and labor policies, and 
illustrates her work with dozens of images from the period. By 
studying and identifying women's reproductive lives as a contested 
site and thus a place of resistance, the history presented in this 
book is an essential tool in conceiving alternatives to capitalism.

285 pp, $15.95, http://www.autonomedia.org/caliban

*

4. "Orgies of the Hemp Eaters": This huge anthology explores the many 
roles of Cannabis in Eastern and Western culture over the past 
several hundred years. Comprised primarily of excerpted material from 
many dozens of literary sources (including the 1895 New York Herald 
piece from which the book derives its title), the book gives great 
insight to the uses of pot in many different times and places, as 
well as the changing language used in talking about pot, bunches of 
recipes from different eras of Cannabis cuisine, and depictions of 
Cannabis consumption in the visual arts. Introduced with a long piece 
by Hakim Bey on the religious uses of Cannabis from ancient China to 
contemporary Manhattan, and heavily illustrated.

694 pages, $24.95, http://www.autonomedia.org/orgies

* * * * *

That's it for now, but stay tuned for more book announcements coming 
soon, and feel free to change your subscription attributes with the 
links at the very top or bottom of this email.

bests,
Ben at Autonomedia