FIFTH ESTATE #367, Winter, 2004-2005, Vol. 39, No. 4, page 3
Special thanks to artist-activist Joy Garnett for providing us with our cover illustration, taken from her 2004 painting “Burn.” Garnett’s paintings are based on mass-media news photographs of figures swept up in states of extreme emotional or physical expression, from street riots to rock ‘n’ roll stage performances. One of her paintings, “Molotov,” is taken from a 1979 photograph of a Sandinista hurling a flaming Pepsi bottle; it prompted a copyright lawsuit claiming that Garnett “stole” the image. In response to threats from the intellectual property mafia, artists who challenge the idea that media images (especially those that are supposedly documentarian) can be owned, licensed, bought and sold have begun an action campaign called “Joywar.” For more information on Joywar, copyright, and political economy of images, see Garnett’s essay “Steal This Look” from the Summer 2004 issue of the on-line journal “Intelligent Agent”: intelligentagent.com/archive/Vol4_No2_ip_garnett.htm
The Fifth Estate (FE) is an unincorporated, cooperative magazine published since 1965. An anti-authoritarian publication produced by a volunteer collective of friends and comrades, we hold a range of views on all issues, but share an anarchist orientation and a commitment to a non-dogmatic and action-oriented radical politics. As opposed to professionals who publish to secure wages or invest in the media information industry, we produce the magazine as an expression of resistance to an unjust and destructive society.
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