The Medical College Democratic Students Association is a progressive students association at the Calcutta Medical College, Kolkata, India. MCDSA originated as an anti-authoritarian left student movement against the vandalism of the National Students Union of India of the Congress (Indira) in 1976. It had its roots in the erstwhile Social Service Association of Calcutta Medical College.
It swept to power in the students union elections in the following year, which it held till 1983. In the initial years, there were strong influence of Marxist-Leninist politics. This character changed considerably through the year as it started espousing a position of open debate within the organization. Various left currents including Marxist, anarchist, post-structuralist, social-democratic ideals have controlled the overall direction of the organization. It is at present a radical left-liberal organization.
It had made some lasting effects with respect to the then milieu of medical colleges. MCDSA had championed the ideal of Dr. Norman Bethune and likes. Instead of being "cases" people as an active agent in clinical medicine began to be appreciated in the discourses of medical students. People's Health Movement began to assume some non-nebulous structured language and programs.
Its central slogan is "Democracy - Unity - Progress". It came very near to winning back the students union from the NSUI twice, losing both times to below-the-belt tactics of the Congressites including violence and intimidation. It also has adverserial relations with the Students Federation of India, with whom clashes have erupted as students hostels at several times in the last years. In July 2005, clashes between the two organizations erupted over recruitment drives amongst new students at the Medical College. MCDSA alleged that SFI had locked up newly admitted students in hostel rooms. SFI alleged that MCDSA members had physically tortured one newcomer and that MCDSA had locked up four SFI members and ransacked rooms belonging to SFI members. Later during the day, police intervened. 1 2 In the Hostel elections that followed,MCDSA trounced the SFI winning all posts.SFI contested all seats but failed to win a single one. MCDSA remains one of the very few independent left-wing student organizations in the CPI(M) ruled West Bengal which have successfully trounced the pro-government SFI both electorally as well as in "direct action".
Various off-shoots and tendencies have been formed at various stages of the organization, at times strengthening it and at times weakening it. They include the NDCC, the Margins Collective and the Cultural Forum among others. It had a historic role in leading the Junior Doctors' movement of West Bengal in the 1980s. It has shown solidarity at various times with the All India Students Association, Progressive Democratic Students Federation, Democratic Students Front, Independents' Consolidation, etc.
In the 2005 election to the students union of the Medical College, the MCDSA won 35% of the votes.
66°NORTH is an Icelandic clothing manufacturer, specialising in outdoor wear. Though widely popular in Iceland for many years, the company's products have recently begun receiving international attention after beginning exports to the United States in 2004. The company is owned by the international filmmaker Sigurjón Sighvatsson.
66°NORTH was founded in 1926 by Hans Kristjansson as a means of making clothing to shield fishermen from the Icelandic elements. It was named after the latitudinal line of the Arctic Circle which touches the northernmost part of Iceland, the island of Grímsey. By the 1960s, the company had begun to produce a range of worker-themed casual wear, aiming to design clothes that were both attractive and comfortable in cold climates. The brand subsequently became one of the most popular in Iceland; it was once dubbed by the Wall Street Journal as "practically Iceland's national clothier." In recent years, however, it has begun to face increasing competition in this home market.
66°NORTH remained little-known outside of Iceland until 2004, when it expanded overseas, selling distribution rights in the United States and other countries. Its distributors used its Icelandic origins as a marketing ploy in an attempt to break into the competitive outdoor garments industry. It is currently being sold in a range of department stores, as well as a handful of chain stores, including Urban Outfitters, with prices ranging from US$250 to $US450.
Latino Fanclub (sometimes "The Latino Fanclub") is a gay male pornographic film production company which specializes in films starring Latino men.
The majority of the films released by the company feature "street tough", uber-masculine Latino men who sport tattoos and represent "gangsta" culture. Much of the [...] action in the films revolves around either un-commented-on casual [...] between these allegedly heterosexual men, or of these men "allowing" a gay male to have [...] relations with them (often through some kind of coercion). Often uncircumsized penises are fetishized in the videos; as such the logo of the company is a large banana being unpeeled.
The website is notorious for finding talent by hiring Latino male escorts. Many of the men who star in the films offer their services as prostitutes and their contact information can be found on the website for the company.
A variety of recurring themes or "plots" occur in several film series for the company. These include Urban Jungle Gym (fitness club/locker room themed), Speedy's Delivery (delivery boy themed), Dr. Penis Erectus (Doctor/patient themed), and others.
Because of their specialty market, Latino Fan Club DVD or VHS releases generally retail for between $50-60 (American).
Martin De Leon (born May 25, 1981) is a Mexican-American writer, editor and music critic based in Brooklyn, New York. He has a monthly column in the San Francisco electronic music magazine, XLR8R, and is one of the few Latinos covering avant-garde music in the United States. "Warsaw", a minicomic with the illustrator Andres Vera will be published by Drawn and Quarterly in 2007. His collection of short stories, The Queen is Dead, Again, is forthcoming and will be available on iTunes. Two books are also in the works including one of essays on music, literature and philosophy called Invisible Turntables and a novel entitled Aurora. He was a finalist for the 2004 Austin Chronicle Short Story Contest. He is co-founder and editor of Blank Screen, an art webzine that covers news, interviews and articles on visual pop. De Leon has written about hip-hop, indie-rock and DJ's for, among others, Urb, Vibe, The New York Press, The Austin Chronicle, Stop Smiling and Signal to Noise.
He has a blog, here.