LEFT CURVE NO. 26 EDITORIAL

Putting this issue together has not been an easy task. The difficulties have hardly been technical. Given the nature of recent world events, there’s been plenty of material from which to choose. Rather, in the wake of September 11th, the difficulty has involved coming to terms with vague, yet extremely sharp, sensations of a cataclysmic tear, rupture, in the fabric of history (or, perhaps better put, "non-history") from what had been for the past decades a monotonous, suffocating, ephemeral yet inexorable, unfolding whirlwind of (non)events. Everything was always changing, yet, simultaneously, always the same. Time stood still, Space expanded everywhere, filling our deepest recesses with real or virtual acrid microbes/viruses that slowly, inexorably, eroded the core of being. All the while, the powers that be trumpeted their triumphs: the Free World had banished the Evil Empire; the individual, free, entrepreneurial spirit had swept the regimented collective state into the dust-bin of history; the deregulated Free Market God would spread its benevolent bounty everywhere; a "new economy" of indefinite growth was born, transcending the defunct industrial-welfare system with its class antagonisms; cyber space would liberate us from the fetters of provincial, grounded space; computerization and telecommunication would eliminate dull, manual tasks and bring into being a harmonious "global village" of smiling faces of all diverse hues and proclivities; biotechnology would cure all disease, replace broken body parts with cyborg implants or genetically altered and harvested organs; the life-span increased indefinitely… etc.. The possibilities were limitless.

Yet, while all this official optimism was being heralded, in the still very real, gritty, down-to-earth streets, there was the growing AIDS epidemic, homelessness, drug abuse, crime, housing crises, disappearance of the "social safety net," job insecurity, communal and family disintegration, ever degrading "entertainment," not to mention all the sensationalized scandals–like the O. J. Simpson Trial, Monika’s Blue Dress and Billy’s Cigar, the impeachment circus, the 2000 presidential election fiasco. And all of this occurred within the global context of increasing environmental degradation, global warming, unprecedented concentration of wealth in very few hands and growing, endemic poverty in much of the "non-western" world. And then all of a sudden, perhaps as a harbinger of things to come, the haughty, greed-infested Dot.com bubble imploded. And then, out of nowhere, on a clear, sunny, late summer morning, the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center–symbol and headquarters of world financial might–imploded. A deep, gapping chasm was sheered out of the very heart of the Empire. Something unprecedented, unimaginable happened. But what was/is it? "The world changed forever," we heard over and over again. The centers of the Empire, reeling in pain, shock, disbelief and deeply wounded pride, quickly mobilized and declared a World War Against Evil. The nation draped itself in flags, lit candles and yelled, "Let’s Roll!" Ignoring international law and conventions, its first target, Afghanistan, one of the most poverty-stricken countries in the world, was subdued–via mercenary proxies and massive hi-tech aerial bombardment–within a few weeks. Its regime, the Taliban–a radical, iconoclastic, anti-modern outgrowth of the U. S.-backed war against the Soviet occupation, inaugurated by the mystical cloak of the Prophet–disintegrated or, more accurately, melted away. The awesome U. S. military, financial and propaganda machine corralled, thwarted and/or bribed all comers. Yet now, half a year later, it hardly feels secure and continues to search for new targets all over the globe in a unilaterally-declared, unending "war on terrorism," while labeling, as an "Axis of Evil," three impoverished nations as direct threats to its security. In the meantime, its homeland has been turned into a virtual police state, while its designated arch-enemy, Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda, has disappeared, become like ghosts, haunting the vengeful, uneasy, paranoid conscience of its adversary. Given the overwhelming power and hegemony of the Empire, one can only wonder about the possible reasons for the unprecedented bellicosity, fear and paranoia.

So what does all this amount to? Where will it end? We have no way of knowing. In any case, it is vital for anyone who is concerned about the future of our world to deal with it. For starters, I believe it is essential to keep one’s critical faculties finely tuned and to refuse to accept the view of the world that the system is trying to construct and impose on everyone, everywhere. This refusal involves rejecting the primitive manichaean rhetoric of "Good vs. Evil" or "you’re with us or you’re with the terrorists," as well as the deceptive concept of "freedom and democracy" (which in reality means the legitimization of the oligarchal corporate system and the unfettered movement of capital). Freedom and democracy need to be approached from the point of view of the well-being of the vast majority of the people of the whole world, and not from that of the tiny minority that rule. This can be taken as a call for desertion, as meant by Antonio Negri: "We have to resist the new hierarchies which will be imposed, we have to explode them. But is there really still the possibility of struggling in a world made like this, or would it not perhaps be worth deserting in every sense? Desert with knowledge, desert in the army, desert in intellectual labor-power. That is what should be our starting point. Friends of mine are saying: ‘against the art of war, the art of desertion.’"

So dealing with all this has been the back-drop that made getting this issue together difficult. For lack of space, I’m only going to comment on a few of the works in this issue, though I encourage readers to make their own discoveries. The article by Adrian Gargett, "Resurrection Man: Osama bin Laden and Trajectories of Terrorism," by its analytic use of Deleuze and Guattari’s theory of nomadology and "lines of flight," and the prophetic writing of Jean Genet, gives us an informative, insightful and well constructed exposition of the radically new nature of this "war on terrorism." Jon Hillson’s long poem, WTC WWIII BLOWBACK BLUES, is a disturbing, rapid-fire historical rush through and into this unparalleled, unpredictable process–leaving us dangling before an abyss of what the future might bring. The pace becomes more meditative in Jack Hirschman’s Warcane, wherein a global consciousness strains to weave out of past and present nightmares to pleas of returning to "the stillness of true hearing… burned as a learning… into everyone still human… flame free and raise/their twin dawns/to the sky."

The other major, not unrelated, event that deserves comment has been the year and a half long uprising of the Palestinian people against Israeli occupation and oppression. As the last example of direct colonial expropriation, the brutal Israeli occupation and attempt to impose an apartheid system on the Palestinians can only be said to be horrific. Words are insufficient to try to describe these events. A ray of hope can be gleaned in the fact that there is a growing movement within Israel against the escalating atrocities of the Sharon government. The poetry of Philip Hyams, though written over a year ago, is an example of the reconciliatory spirit that does exist among Israeli’s, and we can only hope that it will grow to the point that this bloody occupation can finally be brought to an end.

The current conflict exploded within the process that has been labeled "globalization" during the recent past. Hardt and Negri’s "Empire" might be a more accurate term, as it poses the issue in terms of power and hegemony rather than some kind of "global uniformity." In this issue we publish several articles, from different places and perspectives, on this historical trend (pp. 36-68). Of note is the dissenting position of the Indian scholar, Prasenjit Maiti, and a rare view from within Cuba. In the latter, Mario Gonzalez Arencibia presents historical consequences of the various "really-existing socialist" responses to neo-liberal hegemony. Another locus of increasing conflict and potential serious rupture in the seam of global capitalism is the developing crisis in Latin America, best illustrated by the civil war in Columbia (see, "Our Next Vietnam" by Stan Goff in Left Curve no. 23, p 69)–as well as, of course, the economic/political melt-down in Argentina. The international dimension of this process is illustrated by the fate of the three Irishmen imprisoned by the Colombian government. To help publicize their case, we publish a letter by the "Colombia 3" and another by their friends and relatives.

The linking of western "high-art" trends, ecological stewardship of the land and the power of indigenous culture as potential source of "counter-Empire" is worth noting, as exemplified by Thomas Kaiser and Desmond Kharmawphlang’s "Talking Forest: Reforestation of a Sacred Grove as Social Sculpture." The still smoldering Kosovo situation is best illustrated by the on-going oppression of the Roma, as documented by Paul Polansky’s Blackbirds of Kosovo. Also worthy of mention is the NYPD tale by Ercole Gaudioso, Fast Ball Fooch, which gives us a harrowing insight into inner-city crime from the perspective of an honest cop. I also wish to bring attention to the excellent poetry produced by the prisoners in the Eastern Correctional Facility of New York. Patricia Lamerdin’s interview, Malcolm, is a moving and sad tale coming from the most disposable segment of our society. Sexuality, being a, if not the, major seducer used in the movement of consumer commodities, has become dehumanized to unparalleled levels. The exponential growth of pornography exemplifies how far we have come from the life-affirming nature of sexuality as the physical embodiment of the sublime creative process. Amy Greenfield’s poetry is a rare exception in expressing in, explicit yet life-affirming ways, the beauty of feminine eroticism. Finally I want to mention Ted Duce’s, "Monothink: A Radical Critique of the Scientific Mindset." It is a refreshing, somewhat off-beat, critique of the contemporary world’s dominant myth of scientific rationality, wherein mathematial models become what is real.

I hope that this issue will stimulate readers to think for themselves and break through the delusory veneer’s constructed by the dominant coporate/governmental oligarchy. If you appreciate what we’re trying to do, please subscribe or order copies and, as always, we encourage feed-back and submission of work. –editor