The images in this photo spread in V Magazine's July 20, 2007 issue have been manipulated to portray decapitated and mutilated women stuffed into photos of expensive high heel shoes. One characteristic or even definition of pornography, as opposed to erotica, as defined by feminist anti-pornography activists, is that it sells the idea that violence, especially violence against women, is sexy.

V's web promos for this pornographic cross between editorial content and advertising explicitly claim that their depiction of hacked-up women is sexy. V called the piece, "Foot Fetish." According to the V website, in this layout, "Photographer Bela Borsodi points his lens at the season's hottest heels. Shoes have never been this sexy."

By Sam Diener, Peacework Co-Editor, with additional research by Peacework interns Ivy Sánchez and Shaundra Cunningham

The carmaker Audi ran a half page ad in the July 23, 2007 New York Times with the headline, "Separate. Yet equally capable of shaking up a tired old category."

I am appalled that a corporation would, in 2007, apparently endorse Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court case which deemed racist segregation laws constitutionally valid because they were separate but equal. For more on this, including the surprising response of one of the advertising professionals with Venables, Bell, and Partners who worked on the ad, please see this blog entry on the Peacework site. Audi has so far refused to comment, or to pledge to stop running the ad, but protests can be lodged by calling Audi USA at 248/754-5000 or Venables at 415/288-3300.

I support refusing to fund the war. But failing that, Congress could attach an amendment to the Iraq war supplemental funding bill to defund: wiretapping without warrants, extraordinary rendition, Guantanamo prison, physical coercion (torture), all secret CIA prisons, spying on domestic opponents of the war, national security letters, and other executive branch usurpations of the constitution (see this New York Times editorial for a decent "Must Do" list)?

The US military insisted it will continue to deploy military personnel suffering from PTSD, despite new legislation and in spite of investigative reporting which has documented the deadly consequences of this approach.

The military issued new guidelines while insisting the new guidelines don't change anything. Congress inserted language into the Fiscal Year 2007 Defense Authorization Act mandating a review of the old policy in response to the outrage generated by investigative reports documenting some of the psychological toll, including suicides, that the policy is exacting.

Below the fold are more details about the bill, and links to some of the investigative journalism pieces that broke the story.

Peacework Magazine asked activists across the country to fill in the blank, "If I could show one under-appreciated film or video to a room full of potential organizers, I'd show..." and explain why or how they'd use that film.

The resulting article provides mini-reviews of films ranging from the classic, such as Fail Safe, to the essentially unknown, such as Breaking Our Silence.

Please comment on these movies, and suggest your favorite activist films, on our first-ever, experimental, Peacework readers' forum.

Please add your voice to the mix: what movie would you show? How come?

Special Issue of Peacework Magazine

100 Years of Gandhian Nonviolent Action

On September 11, 1906, in South Africa, Mohandas Gandhi launched his first campaign of nonviolent direct action. A hundred years later, it's time to reflect: what is the legacy of Gandhian nonviolent action today?

Many people around the US and around the world will commemorate the fifth anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001 (and the 33rd anniversary of the US and Chilean military's coup in Chile). In this special issue (September 2006) of Peacework Magazine: Global Thought and Local Action for Nonviolent Social Change, highlights the importance of responding to violence through transformative nonviolent action with articles and essays critically exploring Gandhi's legacies today.

We've enclosed the Table of Contents and an image of the cover below. You can see the content of the issue on our new website: www.peaceworkmagazine.org.