Comrades!
After a
slack summer, and a slack-jawed post-September 11th, we'd like to
explain the absence of Turtle Missives to our unflinching and constant
dedication to anti-war activism. This would be noble, but largely
untrue. While we at the Turtle's Editorial Collective have been protesting,
rallying and mobilising, we've also been distracted by the more mundane
activities of teaching, dissertating, and drinking. Apologies, as
usual.
Our indolence
hasn't, happily, staunched the flow of two of the Turtle's favourite
things - subscribers and articles. Despite having done very little
on the site, the number of subscribers has soared. For those of you
to whom this missive may be a little unexpected, welcome! This is
the mostly-monthly dividend for having subscribed to the Turtle -
a list of new articles, celebrations, events and a ceaseless quest
for new material.
For stalwarts,
we have much to be pleased about. Since our last missive, we've a
smattering of new writers and a fistful of new articles. From Africa,
Kelly Dietz presents the first of two reflections on the World
Conference on Racism, which convened in Durban at the beginning
of September. A first-time writer for the Turtle, Leo Zeilig, has
sent us a short, punchy biography on resistance from Nigeria.
There are three articles on the war-flank of the Turtle, the first
from David Renton, who sent us his instant reaction to the falling
of the bombs; the second from Turtle newcomer Naunihal Singh on
the media's dodgy coverage of the racist
backlash in the United States, and the third from Uri Gordon,
on what
anti-capitalists should, or should not, be doing these days. The
Turtle's cultural front has been joined by a scathing review of Robert
Putnam's unreasonably successful Bowling
Alone, from Jim Murphy, and a
poem about a dog, the debut contribution from Philip Kane. And
we'll shortly have an article - with luck, the first of three - from
Yanick Noiseux on the political
economy of Mexico.
A day before
the World Trade Organization summit opens in sunny Doha, the Turtle
is proud to announce a trio of articles by Aziz Choudry, activist
and logorrheac from New Zealand, who has provided a firm voice of
reason from the South Pacific on the struggle against neoliberalism
there. So much in excess of his quota is Aziz that the Editors are
pleased to dub him Stakhanovite of the Month for November 2001, our
occasional award for outstanding contribution to the people's Organ.
There's
some bubble and froth inching it's way up the people's Pipeline, too.
Aziz has promised to write on music; award-winning novelist Rajeev
Balasubramanyam is writing exclusively for the Turtle on "Living
with the Whites"; and Linnie Rawlinson will be kicking off
our long-awaited series, "What's the Turtle Swimming in This
Month?", by consuming a bottle of her favourite Cuban rum and
writing about it.
Sweet though
these articles will undoubtedly be, Editors get nervous about promises.
We're always very happy to publish your thoughts, wisdom, bile, poetry,
reviews, commentary and reaction (to current affairs), and we can
even pass half-baked ideas through our Turtle-O-Matic, to save you
the hassle of weeding out poor prose and politically-inappropriate
thinking. Please send on your writing, and help the Turtle soar ever
higher into cyberspace.
Avanti
Popolo!
The Editorial
Collective
<editors@voiceoftheturtle.org>
