MAY 2001

Comrades!

While the Turtle's track record of efficient missive distribution may have been a little blemished over the past few months, the Editors are pleased to remind our faithful subscribers that the People's Organ has never once failed to celebrate -- promptly and with vim -- the First of May. Once again, the Shell of the Turtle swells up with pride as we send out our traditional May Day Greetings to the Workers of the World!

May Day 2001 brings much to celebrate. Popular forces of radicalism, together with Venezuelan popular hero Hugo Chavez, flicked two fingers at the Summit of the Americas participants in Quebec City. An international consortium of drugs manufacturers have acknowledged the South African's right to have cheap retroviral drugs. And a pleasing amount of new material has just been deposited in the Memory Bank of the Turtle, with New Writing from New Contributors.

We have two dispatches from the barricades in Quebec City -- one from Chelonian Laureate Martin O'Neill, and a debut media corrective from Mary Leng. Also from North America, Kayte Meola makes her first scratchmarks on the Turtle's Clay Tablet with a report from Ithaca, NY, where Michel Camdessus, erstwhile managing director of the IMF, reared his unlovely head earlier this month. The Turtle continues to conquer new territory on the cultural front, too. With his doctorate out of the way, Ted Vallance has been slumped in front of the telly applying himself to the questions that matter: this month he addresses the important matter of whether "The West Wing" is Left-Wing? And a comment on Italy's Marxist football manager Renzo Ulivieri has found its way into the Dictionary of the Turtle, thanks to the work of our Soccer Stakhanovite Jonathan Wilson.

Perhaps the most significant development at the Turtle this month, though, is the development -- under the steely eye of Linnie Rawlinson -- of a brand new section. It has been an unfortunate contradiction that while The Voice of the Turtle often trumpets, we have so far carried no musical reporting. All this has changed, and we will very shortly be pleased to post the first of what we hope will be many reviews. For her guiding inspiration, and dedication to sound aural and political praxis, the Turtle is overjoyed to proclaim Linnie Rawlinson as our Stakhanovite of the Month for May 2001! To flesh out our monthly accolades, our Salute goes to the men and women of the Progressive Student Labor Movement on the thirteenth day of their occupation of Harvard University's Massachusetts Hall to demand a "living wage" for all University employees, and our Comrade of the Month is London's Mayor Ken Livingstone for his attempts to dissuade us all from exercising our democratic rights today on the streets of the capital.

It has, in short, been an exceptionally good month at the Turtle. Our subscription list continues to grow, the ambit of the Turtle has expanded, and wholesale domination of cyberspace can, surely, be only weeks away. To expedite this, we end with our usual call. The Enthusiasm of the Editors is just one of the many gifts that contributors receive. Self confidence, an assured hit when you type your name into search engines, and the warm glow that comes of contributing to the People's Organ, together with a chance of receiving the coveted Stakhanovite of the Month award, can all be yours when you send your opinions, reviews, and ill-tempered ranting to be shouted from the rooftops by the Voice of the Turtle.

Hoping that your Mayday celebrations are suitably insubordinate,

Avanti!