ZERO ANTHROPOLOGY

ISSN 2562-9948

by Maximilian C. Forte

Cyber-Terrorism: How the US and Israel Attacked Iran—and Failed

Sabotaging another nation’s power grids, or blowing up industrial plants, are actual acts of war under international law. The term “cyber-terrorism” as used in the title, almost softens the impact of that fact. In recent months and weeks, the US has been active—either by its own account, or according to target nations—in new acts of […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

WikiLeaks and Julian Assange: The Duty to Expose War Crimes

On Thursday, April 25, 2019, I had the honour of participating in two separate radio interviews concerning the case of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks. The first was with Glen Ford of Black Agenda Radio, and the second was with Chris Cook of “Gorilla Radio” at CFUV 101.9 FM—both of the sound files are available below. […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

The WikiLeaks Case: Democracy Dies in Empire

In the avalanche of news reports that have washed over the globe since the abduction of Julian Assange, this conversation struck me as containing numerous points of importance. It seemed worthwhile to have some of these points transcribed and listed here. If you have seen it, then the select transcriptions beneath the video might serve […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Julian Assange, Political Prisoner: A Dark Day for Citizenship

After a day of following RT’s live coverage of the outrageous arrest of Julian Assange, abducted from the Embassy of Ecuador in London by British police agents, and then hearing US media fall over each other in a competition for who could make the most psychotic accusations against Assange (Fox News, interestingly, distinguishing itself as […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Which States? Which Secrets? Secrets from Whom?

From the journal of the World Policy Institute comes “The Big Question“ for its Fall issue on Secrecy and Security. I have maintained a research interest in the area of the anthropology of secrecy, and understandings of power in connection with secrecy in both anthropological theory and in the work of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks (more to come […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

An Open Letter to the Media on the “Irony” of Snowden’s Request for Asylum in Venezuela and Ecuador

The supposed “irony” of whistle-blower Edward Snowden seeking asylum in countries such as Ecuador and Venezuela has become a media meme. Numerous articles, op-eds, reports and editorials in outlets such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, NPR, and MSNBC have hammered on this idea since the news first broke […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Bradley Manning: The U.S. on Trial for War Crimes

The following statement by Julian Assange was first posted on the WikiLeaks website. In addition to this, please see the Bradley Manning Trial FAQ, the “Opening statements on Bradley Manning’s intentions: trial report, day 1” on the Bradley Manning support Network website, and “Bradley Manning’s personal statement to court martial: full text.” Assange Statement on the […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Journalist, Hacker, Spy, Racketeer

What if Wikileaks, from the start, had announced itself as an anonymous group of hackers whose work aimed at producing an open access archive of leaked, stolen, and otherwise illegally obtained and illegally reproduced documents? Chances are that in a conflict with the U.S. or any other government, Wikileaks’ activists would have found themselves in […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

When it Comes to Political Violence, the U.S. Sets an Example for Itself

There is Representative Gabrielle Giffords, in photos on this page, enjoying the fruit of shock and awe, definitely a representative. Of what? That’s one question. What are not the questions worth any/further debate are whether or not Sarah Palin may have inspired or encouraged the shooting in Tucson on 08 January–the answer, plainly, is no–or […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

2010 In Review

2010 has been a great year for Zero Anthropology, with so much to celebrate that it’s difficult to know where to begin (and when to stop). From July onward we witnessed a steep comeback in terms of the number of our on-site readers, eventually breaking all of our records to the extent that now for […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Anthropology, Secrecy, and Wikileaks

[This is the third and final article in a series of three about Wikileaks. The first was “The Wikileaks Revolution” that led to a parallel article published in CounterPunch. The second one was “Wikileaks and the Moral Dualism of the U.S. State Department.”] “I,______, in the Presence of the Mighty Ones, do of my own free […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

The Wikileaks Revolution, Part 2: Notes from the Insurrection

On this site “The Wikileaks Revolution” (the first article in an ongoing series of three) provided a survey of opinions on what kind of turning point Wikileaks represents. At the same time I worked on a related article, with a nearly identical title, for CounterPunch, which was published today: “The Wikileaks Revolution: Notes from the […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

WikiRebels: The Documentary

by Maximilian C. Forte

The Wikileaks Revolution

[This is the first in a series of three articles that will be devoted to the subject of Wikileaks, secrecy, the state, and transformation. This is intended as a survey of some of the opinions I have found most interesting.] “The first serious infowar is now engaged. The field of battle is WikiLeaks. You are […]

by John Stanton

WikiLeaks Disrupts U.S. Propaganda Machinery

Flashback time: The language used to depict Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden as craven life forms has returned for a repeat performance except that this time the target is Julian Assange and his merry band of WikiLeakers. “Execute him” say dozens of U.S. politicians and assorted government officials. “Arrest him and hang him,” say […]