Echoes of the Class War (Aug 31)

August 30: International Day of Missing People:

UN acknowledges 57,200 missing people (desaparecidos) in Colombia, much more than all dictatorships of the continent together ··> Azalea Robles[es].

Colombian watchdogs actually claim 61,604 missing. One of the latest is ecologist Sandra Viviana Cuéllar who disappeared in February this year by order of local and multinational speculators ambitioning the lands she fought for ··> LINYM[es].

Amnesty International laments that Spanish "socialist" PM Rodríguez Zapatero ignores the victims of Civil War, Fascism and post-Fascism ··> SA[es].

UN: Spain should clarify who and where are in the mass graves (of the Civil War and Fascist repression). 130,000 remain in mass graves without identification ··> 20 minutos[es].

Basque Country: 

Donostia neighbors threatened for hanging banners demanding the repatriation of Basque Prisoners scattered many hundreds kilometers away ··> SA[es].

Former prisoner threatened with fascist style graffiti at her home town of Zizur Nagusia ··> SA[es], Ateak Ireki[es].

A hundred people protest brutal repression against youths before ruling party see at Pamplona ··> Ateak Ireki[eu].

Slovakia: Left appeals for protests against anti-communist laws that will make any sympathy with the achievements of the socialist system a crime ··> Morning Star.

Germany - NATOland: Christian-Zionist  islamophobic extremist meet at Berlin. The Breivik-like militants include Hilde de Lobel and Barbara Bonte from Vlaams Belang (Flemish fascist party), Susanne Winter of FPÖ (Austrian fascists) and Tylor Rose from the US Youth for Western Civilization, akin to the Tea Party (Gringo fascists within the far-right Republican Party). Several protests were attempted against this neonazi meeting but they were protected by police and the German state ··> Diagonal[es].

Sardinia:  thieves use sleeping gas against the super-wealthy. Probably the only work available soon at your area: to be smarter than the filthy rich smartasses who steal our lives ··> The Guardian.

Palestine: Israel trains death squads among settlers. New genocide spurt in the making? ··> BBC.

USA: 

Wikileaks' cable show that US diplomats promote GMOs worldwide (see also Monsanto note at bottom of this entry) ··> Uruknet.

Much of defense budget wasted in frauds and scams ··> Uruknet.

Maryland:  nuclear power plant lost transformer and one emergency generator with hurricane Irene ··> Energy News. 

Virginia: water pipes under damaged nuclear power plant are potentially a major danger (who decided to build water-pipes under a nuclear power plant, I wonder?). Demand that plant distributes bottled water to residents ··> Energy News.

California: arrests of speakers at BART station in San Francisco metropolitan area. I am not sure what this conflict is around but it's clear that Californians are very angry at this public transport company ··> video at PO.

Bolivia: military and political criminals declared guilty of genocide for the massacres of Black October 2003 ··> BBC, LINYM[es].

Brazil: homophobic aggressions leave one dead (an elderly man) and one seriously injured (a straight man, who was attacked by error) ··> SA[es].

South Africa: internal ANC crisis deepens as police represses demonstrators supporting Youth leader Julius Malema, who criticized President Zuma and denounced neighboring Botswana as a puppet regime (of the imperialist powers) ··> BBC, video at PO. 

Japan: 

Government finds many locations in 100km area that would have been evacuated by Chernobyl standards, yet they remain ignored by the authorities ··> Energy News.

Yokohama city determined to poison its children with radioactivity no matter what ··> Ex-SKF.

Environment, agriculture, science: Monsanto super-seeds losing in the evolutionary match: genetically engineered seeds no longer resistant against bugs ··> Wall Street Journal.

External article: 'Iceland's On-going Revolution' (Deena Stryker at Daily Kos)

Some excerpts:

...


Grimsson said: “We were told that if we refused the international community’s conditions, we would become the Cuba of the North.  But if we had accepted, we would have become the Haiti of the North.”

...

Icelanders didn't stop there: they decided to draft a new constitution that would free the country from the exaggerated power of international finance and virtual money. (...)  To write the new constitution, the people of Iceland elected twenty-five citizens from among 522 adults not belonging to any political party but recommended by at least thirty citizens. This document was not the work of a handful of politicians, but was written on the internet. The constituent’s meetings are streamed on-line, and citizens can send their comments and suggestions, witnessing the document as it takes shape. The constitution that eventually emerges from this participatory democratic process will be submitted to parliament for approval after the next elections.

... read full article at Daily Kos.

External article: 'Review of “The Working Poor: Invisible in America”' at The Red Phoenix

In capitalism’s mythology, society functions according to merit. Wealth and decadence are the tell-tale signs of hard work and brilliance paying off, while poverty is a sign of laziness, irresponsibility and a disposition or work-ethic undeserving of the products of society.

...

Yet there is one facet of our social reality that is missed in this chauvinist analysis — a facet which, by its very existence, defeats this perception. There are those in our society who, despite working long hours under stressful (even dangerous) conditions and laboring in positions which are essential for the success of our overall economy, live well below the poverty line and must combine their long hours of work with public assistance programs to survive.

... read the full article at The Red Phoenix. 

 

Spain bows to multinational banks with debt ceiling "constitutional reform"

We want to decide

There's no difference between the two twin parties of the Spanish (or any other bourgeois) political system. They quickly agreed one of the few constitutional reforms since Franco's death and they are performing it without any referendum whatsoever. 

The reform is meant to establish a debt ceiling, what in practical terms means to cut the army and the police forces to zero and to massively tax the rich. Just joking of course, in practical terms it means suppressing all established public services except the institutional repression in favor the bourgeois class and its privilege of property. 

And that's the trend in Europe and all NATOland. 

Naturally a referendum would mean, most likely, that the reform would be rejected.

Meanwhile critical reforms like the recognition of the right of self-determination of the peoples are and will never be produced. I'm bored of listening to the propaganda pre-designed phrase "but we have democracy". No we do not have democracy while the Basque People cannot freely decide our destiny. 

But even Spaniards have no democracy, being only able to choose between identical twins... evil twins.



Important Update: demo at Madrid on Thursday

A demonstration has been called for next Thursday September 1st at Madrid at Atocha (street?, plaza? station?).

Some of the adherents are: Vallekas' Assembly for the General Strike, Popular Athenaeus of Solidarity among the Peoples, Antifascist Coordination of Madrid, CJC, Communist Initiative, IzCa, Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain, Red Network, SAS...

The legal argument is that any constitutional reform that affects fundamental rights must go through referendum and this one does because it establishes how the citizens must be enslaved to pay to the banks and speculators; so this hurried modification is in unconstitutional and, if it goes ahead, amounts to a true coup.

That is why a referendum is demanded.

Further info in Spanish at the Antifascist Coordinator of Madrid, interesting video also at Sare Antifaxista.



Important Update:

Another demo has been called by the twin mainstream unions UGT and CC.OO. for September 6. While these two unions have been losing appeal because of being part of the false democracy system, they still retain some capacity of mobilization. 

··> AFP.

Echoes of the Class War (Aug 30)

Basque Country: Anonymous stickers appeal to place thumbtacks on roads as the Spanish nationalist biking competition La Vuelta is imposed again on the Basque Country taking advantage of a unilateral ceasefire by armed organization ETA:

Thumbtack Day, says the sticker

Traditionally, since I have memory,  every single time that the Spanish authorities tried to impose La Vuleta on the territory of the Basque Country bomb threats dissuaded them or made the march so painfully slow and cautious that became worthless as competition and sport show.

As ETA has declared a unilateral cease fire for some time now, any such bomb threat may be not credible, but that does not mean that the Basque People is resigning to the Spanish impositions and is instead reacting with creativity, I would say. 

··> Sare Antifaxista[es].

USA:

Nuclear Regulatory Commission report underlines that Virginia's North Anna nuclear power plant is in a an unanalyzed condition that significantly degrades plant safety. The earthquake may have exceeded the resistance capacity of the nuclear site ··> Energy News. 

Radioactive cesium in San Francisco supermarket milk close to maximum levels accepted by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ··> Energy News, University of California Berkeley.

Colombia:

Student assassinated by policeman in Bogota on Aug. 19. Diego Felipe Becerra, 16, was shot down by policemen while running away after being caught while drawing graffiti ··> CPDDH.

Diego Felipe Becerra, assassinated by the Colombian state for drawing graffiti

Korea:

Workers march in Seoul demanding readmission of 400 fired comrades from Hanjin and are attacked with water cannon ··> Asia One.

Japan:

Tokyo metropolitan area's incinerator ash above radiation limit to allow it to be buried normally (must be treated as radioactive material). In some cases (Chiba) not significantly different from Fukushima (both 10x times the level of central Tokyo, which is already above the limit). Another seriously affected area is Iwate prefecture in the NE of Honshu ··> The Manichi Daily News, Japan Times, Energy News.

Fukushima I worker died of acute leukemia ··> Ex-SKF.

On lumpenproletariat and lumpenized proletariat

I just came across a vindication of the early Marxist concept of lunpenproletariat (in Spanish at Aporrea and mirrored by the Coordinadora Antifascista de Jaén).

I tried to reply to the latter but then I realized that the comment sections is for members only, so here it is (because I think I came with something relevant to say) translated to English and also in the original Spanish version (scroll down).

The term lunpenproletariat is a most ambiguous concept because it could well be said that all workers are lumpen because, specially today with so much unemployment, all workers depend on the caprice of bourgeoisie. Also most of them lack a class ideology.

It is therefore normal that the concept of lunpenproletariat is ignored because, sincerely, I know drug traffickers with greater class consciousness than many workers with a contract.

As generic idea, the lunpenproletariat may be a useful concept, but it is not easy to make a difference with the other classes, specially at individual level. I do not think either that Fascism is based mainly on the lumpen, but on the petty bourgeoisie (specially when it becomes impoverished) and bourgeois-ized sectors of the working class.

Much more dangerous than the lumpen, which generally lacks of any power of its own, is the proletariat under bourgeois direction. We must not forget that Capitalism is nothing but the product of the working class, under the direction of a parasitic class: bourgeoisie, unable to create anything by itself but very capable of monopolizing power (mostly by economic but also political means) and of manipulating the working class against its own collective objective interests.

The keystone of the revolutionary process is the emancipation of the working class from ideological, economic and political domination by the parasitic bourgeois class. Marx as bourgeois (and in spite of his genius and greatness) had a somewhat bourgeois-ized view of the working class - and the working class itself often has it because it is mesmerized by the bourgeois imagnary, which steals its consciousness and destroys its revolutionary potential, effectively 'lumpenizing' almost all the proletariat.

______________________ . ______________________

Spanish version

Es un concepto muy ambiguo porque realmente se podría decir que tod·s los trabajador·s son entonces lumpen porque, especialmente hoy día con tanto paro, tod·s dependen del capricho de la burguesía. Además también están casi tdo·s desideologizad·s.

Es normal que el concepto se ignore porque yo conozco traficantes de drogas con más conciencia de clase obrera que much·s trabajador·s con contrato.

Como idea genérica, el lumpenproletariado puede ser un concepto útil pero no es fácil distinguirlo de las demás clases, sobre todo a nivel individual. Tampoco creo que el fascismo se base principalmente en en el lumpen, sino en la pequeña burguesía (sobre todo cuando se ve empobrecida) y sectores aburguesados de la clase obrera.

Más peligroso que el lumpen, que en general carece de poder, es el proletariado bajo la dirección burguesa. No olvidemos que el Capitalismo no es otra cosa que un producto de la clase obrera, bajo la dirección de otra clase parasítica: la burguesía, incapaz de crear nada por si mism·s pero muy capaz de monopolizar el poder (por vías principalmente económicas pero también políticas) y manipular a la clase obrera en contra de sus propios intereses objetivos colectivos.

El quid del proceso revolucionario es la emancipación de la clase obrera de la dominación ideológica, económic y política por parte de la clase burguesa parasítica. Marx como burgués (a pesar de su genialidad y grandeza) tenía una visión un tanto aburguesada de la clase obrera - y la clase obrera misma suele tenerla porque está hipnotizada por el imaginario burgués que le roba su conciencia y destruye su potencial revolucionario, efectivamente "lumpenizando" al proletariado en casi su totalidad.

Nepal gets first communist Prime Minister

Baburam Bhattarai (left), Vice-Chairman of the Unified Communist party of Nepal (Maoist) has become Prime Minister with the support of the United Democratic Madhesi Front. Together (plus smaller allies) they gathered some 340 votes for Bhattarai, slightly short of an absolute majority in the 594 seats' Parliament but enough to secure the appointment of the communist leader as Prime Minister. 

The other candidate, Ram Chandra Poudel, of the Nepali Congress Party got only 235 votes, even if it gathered the support of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist). 

The UCPN(M) alone has 230 seats, more than the Congress and the CPN(UML) together. 

According to Harry Sims, posting at Revolution in South Asia today, the Congress party and their Marxist-Leninist allies reject Maoist participation in government because it retains a separate military apparatus (negotiations to integrate it in the Nepali Army have repeatedly failed). Also that:

The Maoist victory was made possible, thanks to a last minute ‘four-point agreement’ with the Madhesi parties on fundamental issues of ‘peace, constitution and functioning of a joint government’. The Maoists agreed to ‘positively revise’ their proposal for the integration and rehabilitation of Maoist combatants.


Political sources told The Hindu that the Madhesi parties would get 10-12 ministries, including Home and Defence.

See also: Wikipedia: Politics of Nepal.

MOST WANTED: South African racist child murderer

A yet unnamed individual self-identified as 'Terrorblanche' (wordplay with the surname of Terreblanche a notorious Nazi killed last year in a murky rape incident) has become the most wanted criminal in South Africa overnight. The reason? This photo posted in his Facebook page:

The photo, which hurts the soul (sorry about that) appears to show a murder of a young boy, with the aggravation of racism. 

The criminal had 588 'friends' on Facebook, many of which may have seen the photo, and none of which denounced the crime. In some cases they even left favorable remarks. These people are accomplices under South African and International laws. 

However I fear that the justice system is too lenient with this type of crimes: even death penalty is too merciful for such devils. 

Source: Sare Antifaxista[es].

Echoes of the Class War (Aug 28)

Antifascism also in Bilbao fiestas

I will have to be terribly succinct because just a couple of days not posting and hundreds of feeds pile up at my inbox and my provisional folders.

Basque Country:

Demo in Berriozar (Navarre) for civil and human rights for the Basque People ··> video at Ateak Ireki[eu].

Homophobic aggressions in Bilbao fiestas rejected by society (right) ··> SA[es] (1, 2).

Guardia Civil (military police) takes over the mountains this summer (just another provocation) ··> SA[es].

Basque and Afro-American festival to be held in Baiona (Bayonne) on September 9-11 ··> SA[eu]:

 Massive demonstration for national democratic rights in Bilbao fiestas ··> SA[es].

NATOland:  NATO Secretary General suffers civic red ink "attack" on his immaculate suit of mass murder (from PO):

Greece: students protest against elitist education reforms ··> video at PO.

Catalonia: Antifascist demo in Salt against PxC Nazi party ··> video at SA[es].

Spain/France/EU ··> Indignants' march reaches Bordeaux ··> Spanish Revolution blog.

Popular march to Brussels - We go slow because we go far

Austria: another Fitzl-style case of incestuous rape in nightmare 41 years-long slavery of daughters ··> The Guardian.

Romania/Europe: Fukushima radioactivity detected in Romania. ··> Environmental Research Web (via Fukushima Diary). 

Britain: rights groups protest plans by Tory-Fascist Cameron government to shut down Internet in case of social unrest ··> The Inquirer.

Libya: The total air raids of NATO mass-murder machinery was 20,518 (official figure). Most of them were bombing of civilian areas with depleted uranium bombs that leave radioactivity for centuries. ··> Atilio Boron[es]. 

Palestine: El Salvador acknowledges Palestine statehood, with the right to exist within safe and internationally recognized borders (the usual Zionist hypocrite statement reversed) ··> LINYM[es].

USA:

Madison (Wisconsin) demo "We won't pay for your crisis!" ··> video at PO.

Nashville (Tennessee) demo against job cuts ··> video at PO.

CIA demands cuts on book by FBI agent, evidencing that CIA let the alleged terrorist do their bid ··> Truthout.

Nuclear Plant at Maryland reports unusual event following hurricane Irene ··> Energy News.

BP spill and abuse of dispersants caused totally unique illnesses in the Gulf of Mexico ··> FOSL.

Footage of oil popping up at Deepwater Horizon site ··> video at FOSL.

Oil over Macondo site matches BP chemical signature ··> FOSL.

Federal reserve admits to own no gold ··> video at PO (min. 1:40 and on).

Structural damage at Virginia nuclear plant (between Washington D.C. and Norfolk naval base, the very heart of )

Oil spill at damaged Virginia nuclear plant ··> Energy News.

Spent fuel facility threatened by wildfire in Idaho ··> Energy News.

USA/China:

Disney products made at slave and child labor factory in China. Concern over dangerous chemicals ··> The Guardian.

Chile: 

When one falls, thousands arise

First mortal victim of social protests. Manuel Gutiérrez Reinoso, 14, was shot down by the Carabineros (military police) while walking at his neighborhood, for no reason at all. Another person, Mario Parraguez Pinto, 18, was critically injured by a bullet in the eye ··> LINYM[es], SA[es].

Also video of clashes Aug 25 with impressive images of water cannons and gas used by the police against citizens ··> PO.

Nicaragua:

Minimum salaries more than doubled while Sandinistas in power ··> LINYM[es].

Honduras:

Honest journalists fired from Radio Globo and Globo TV ··> LINYM[es].

Japan:

Food chaos as government renounces to any safety control of radiation ··> Fukushima Diary. 

Physicians against Nuclear War sent letter to Naoto Kan asking to take rational measures  to prevent radioactive contamination by food ··> Scribd document (via Fukushima Diary).

Citizens challenge radiation safety levels proclaimed by government against all good practices ··> Energy News.

Papua:

Amnesty International calls for liberation of Papuan nationalist prisoner Melkianus Bleskadit. He was sentenced to two years of prison for organizing a peaceful protest ··> Jakarta Globe.

Environment:

Arctic sea routes opened again as global warming destruction of the ice caps re-emerges after three years of  pause because of Solar minimum ··> BBC.

Scented laundry products are carcinogenic and uncontrolled ··> Science Daily.

Chile General Strike: Day Two

Police abuses young boy in Chile today

The Chilean National Walkout for the social state and free quality education completed its second  and last day.

The government authorized three demos but forbade the one which meant to go through the center of Santiago. The morning thus began with clashes between citizens and military police in the center of the capital, at the Alameda and around the University of Chile, which has been taken by students.

At least 108 arrested people (only in the morning) added to the 348 captured by police on Wednesday.

285 buses were damaged.

Earlier in the night residents of the suburbs fought back against military police shooting live fire. This resulted in three carabineros severely injured.

The forbidden demonstration gathered some 500,000 people. Police blocked the route, which meant to arrive to the presidential palace, La Moneda.  Some socialdemocrats attempted to impede that the people fought back against police but fled the place when the police charged in full strength, beating them the same as the others.

Some five blocs away from La Moneda was where most fighting happened, with barricades and fires being set up.

The clashes continued until dusk.

Hunger strike ends

Also the students who had been on hunger strike for 35 days decided to stop the protest because of the risk for their lives.

Source: La Haine[es], some photos also from Cryptome (high quality photo gallery).

Echoes of the Class War (Aug 25)

Palestine: five more murdered by the IDF in gratuitous terrorist bombings in Gaza tonight ··> Uruknet.

Palestine: settlers uproot olive trees, grapevines near Hebron ··>  Uruknet.

Italy: Unions call 24 hrs. General Strike for September 6 ··> Il Manifesto[it].

Sweden: Ikea's founder Ingvar Kamprad, Nazi to the marrow. His wealth (our money and our work, you Capitalist thief!) is surely still financing far-right extremism in Europe and around the World, beware! ··> BBC.

Catalonia: Nazi pseudo-democratic party Plataforma x Catalunya forces resignation of two elected municipal councilors for... having Black boyfriends. Spanish humor magazine El Jueves call them all jerks (right):

Jerk the party itself for pretending to be democratic and be now pictured for what they really are: racist rednecks.

Jerks the councilors. Immigrant boyfriend and PxC card? May we know what they are playing to?

And jerks their respective friends for going out with militants of such a horrible party.

··> Sare Antifaxista[es].

Libya: Chaos and terror take over Tripoli as rebels move in ··> Uruknet (1, 2).

Kashmir: Ali Abuminah reminds us the terrible reality that Kashmiris suffer every day under Indian occupation, with constant risk of extrajudicial killings, rape, atrocious tortures... ··> Electronic Intifada.

Add caption

Chile: Police raided squats in Valparaiso and Santiago without presence of attorney and with fake judge authorizations, they found nothing, yet arrested people ··> Contra Info.


Chile: General Strike continues today with violence (left). Will make a synthesis later on ··> La Haine[es].

USA: Environmentalist freed after White House protest ··> Rutland Herald (see also this article at Journal Star for background).

USA: Nuclear risk: 

• Minor release of radiation at shattered Virginia nuclear power plant ··> Energy News.
• Virginia NPP went into automatic shut down after all, damaging the systems ··> Energy News.
• Dark colored steam from Virginia NPP ··> Video at Energy News.
• Hurricane Irene threatens Connecticut NPP (uh, actually it threatens all NYC area for what I can tell) ··> Energy News.

Japan: Nuclear catastrophe:

• Chinese researchers detect high levels of cesium-134, strontium-90 and argentum-110 (radioactive silver) in marine life East of Fukushima ··> Energy News.
• Japanese government to monitor blogs and tweets instead of using the budget to evacuate the North and contain radioactive scatter ··> Energy News.

Five years in prison for being naked

I must show here my total solidarity with this brave Scotsman, Stephen Gough (left), who has spent the last five years in prison only for walking around without clothes. One would think that repression of nudism was an obsolete disgrace and that had died with the likes of De Gaulle and Franco but it is still very much widespread and going around naked is only allowed in very few spaces, mostly beaches and private areas. 

Whatever we may think it is a shame that anyone is being jailed just for walking around the way he is. He is not wearing a burka, he is not wearing a tie... he is not even wearing any pants at all. And that is his right, in Scotland as in Mecca. 

And for that reason, for being as he is ('as God made him' that would say the monotheists), he is being thrown once and again in prison, where he has spent his last many years. 

Is that fair? Is that freedom? No! 

Free Stephen Gough now! 

Supress Judeo-Christiano-Muslim (Hindu, Buddhist, Confucian...) hypocrisy now!

External article: 'The mighty Zionist struggle against racism' (Gabriel at JSF)

The relation between Zionism and racism never ceases to amaze. On the one hand, Israel's willing apologists can't see 90% of the racism in Israel. Some can't see 110%. On the other hand, they have an ear with absolute pitch and subliminal sensitivity, that identifies not just racist notes, but even forth and fifth harmonics of racism, no matter how inaudible even to expert musicologists. But they hear those exquisitely difficult to hear tones on two conditions only: 1. The victim of racism is not an Arab. 2. The "perpetrator" of racism has criticized Israel.

... continue reading at Jews sans frontieres.

48 hrs. General Strike in Chile

The first journey of General Strike (or National Stop) in Chile has been completed but the second one begins now.

The strike has been a total success and has put upside down the South American country (at least the capital Santiago that hosts 40% of the population). It was announced already on Tuesday with a cacerolazo (massive pot banging).

The demands are varied but emphasis is on public quality non-profit education, increase of taxes to companies, formation of a state pension fund and more resources for health care and education: in other words, the state as re-distributor and proactive keeper of certain social equality and not as mere executor of the Capital.

Since very early in the morning barricades were set up in order to make the protest visible, impede road traffic and allow the free passage of the demonstrations. Police charged against them, arresting dozens.

Later a demonstration marched onto the see of the government the Palacio de la Moneda.

While 300 people tried to capture a police station at La Pincoya neighborhood, a drunk policeman shot on the hand his own boss.

In the afternoon the unions declared themselves very satisfied by the following of the national walkout, with one claiming 80% of following. Some 35 people are reported arrested.

The clashes between groups of people and police increased, being reported in many corners of the capital Santiago and cities of the interior. The use of petrol bombs seemed widespread. One of the street battles took place just a few blocs away from the government's see, while others took place near university buildings.

A notorious incident happened in the evening when a carabinero (military police) tried to arrest a student, causing her teacher to intervene in her help. At that point another policeman arrived and crying threats of "I'm going to shoot" threatened everybody. Finally both officers evacuated without making any arrests nor shooting nor anything else but the episode was filmed and has been watched thousands of times already:

By the evening police surrounded the offices of the major union, the Unitary Workers' Central (CUT). 

Incidents may have continued through the night but I do not have confirmation at this point.

Source: La Haine[es].

Zionists attack Gaza again, Palestinian Government demands international intervention

Whether Israel is occupant (the Zionist point of view) or it is a civil conflict of colonialist, apartheid, genocide and racist nature (the Native Palestinian viewpoint) the continuous aggression of Israel against Gaza Strip (as well as other Palestinians, Syrians, etc.) has no justification and would demand UN intervention if the UN made anything other than obey the USA (which in turn obeys to the Zionist Lobby with such dedication that is shameful even for those of us who are not North Americans). 

Today Israel, with no pretext whatsoever, bombed again Gaza Strip. Three people were killed, assassinated.

If this is not a terrorist attack, what is terrorism?

Israel exerts terrorism every single day against Palestinians. But some days are worse than others. 

A permanent Gernika, a permanent death camp... 

When will the so-called International Community intervene to protect civilians?, to stop terrorism?, to defend democracy? 

The democratically elected government of Palestine, led by Hamas, requested it. 

The democratic media ignored the plea. 

Will they bomb Tel Aviv, the same that they bomber Tripoli with depleted uranium bombs? 

We all know that they will not. Their hypocrisy is infinite, their compassion nil. 

Will us allow them to claim to represent us, making us accomplices of their criminal complicity? Or will we oust them and begin a new era. 

Palestine is a reflection of the injustices and most serious problems that exist where you live, where I live... 

There's only one Earth: it is small, it is crowded, dirty, exhausted, feverish... and we must fix it and we must do it soon.

··> Uruknet, Al Jazeera.

External article: Fukushima robot operator's diary recovered from caché after it was deleted

The diary from robot operator H.S. is again available online after being taken down. It has been recovered from cache by IEEE Spectrum.

The diary begins in April 26th and ends in July 4th, covering the bulk of the Fukushima catastrophe as seen by an insider. As such it is a valuable present history document. However the content is not too informative: it's mostly about training with robots...

Some particularly notable excerpts:

April 27th

One of my dosimeter’s alarms began to go off and would not stop... When I asked one of the radiation management personnel... he said, "There is nothing wrong with it, so please continue your work". So, I did!

May 11th

The No. 4 nuclear reactor building where I was during the earthquake is now a disaster because of the tsunami. When I imagine what would have happened if I had been just 5 minutes late, even now I feel so fearful thinking of it.

July 3rd

Today we went and used two PackBots to measure the radiation levels on the first floor portion of the No. 3 nuclear reactor building where the Warrior cleaned (decontaminated) yesterday.

As a result, the radiation levels dropped on average about 10%.


If you are just looking at the measurement results, they still look pretty high, but on the other hand, if you just look at the difference [in certain areas], you get the feel that it was quite effective.


There are places where the level dropped to a maximum of 80 Sv/h.

Thanks to Fukushima Diary for the heads up.

LINK.

Echoes from the Class War (Aug 24)

Basque Country: Bilbao fiestas on strike today. The konpartsak (popular festive clubs which are the backbone of the fiestas) close down for the full day in solidarity with two of them, Kaskagorri and Txori Barrote, banned by the Town Hall for placing photos of Basque prisoners. ··> Sare Antifaxista[es], Bilboko Konpartsak[eu].

Closed down txosna today

Only the visit to the hospitalized children and the official txupin (rocket shooting) took place today. However yesterday, the txupinera went to show her solidarity with the threatened social center Kukutza Gaztetxea:

 

··> Sare Antifaxista[es].

Basque Country: abandoned manufacture occupied in  Eibar to be used as social center (gaztetxe) ··> Euskal Herriko Gaztetxe eta Gazte Asanblada Koordinadora[eu].

Greece: Denounce the framing of social activists as alleged bank robbers ··> Contra Info.

Haiti: UN occupation force may be disbanded, as Brazil moves out of it. Dady Chery writes about it at Black Agenda Report.

Chile: Chilean students on 35th day of hunger strike, one is in serious condition already ··> TeleSur video at PO, reproduced here (Spanish with English subtitles):

USA: Virginia earthquake too close to Lake Anna Nuclear Power Plant. 

Earthquake sensors around the plant were removed because of costs. 

One of the pumps was damaged, one reactor venting steam (allegedly "not radioactive", pictured left). 

Michio Kako at ABC News:

··> Washington's Blog, Energy News (1, 2, 3).

By the resolution of fields and roads it's obviously just a few Km. away

Echoes from the Class War (Aug 23)

Palestine: the following joint struggles against Apartheid happened in the last few days, reports Ilan Aganist the Wall:

• Beit Omar: Residents, internationalists and Jewish citizens demonstrated in slidarity with Gaza, where the IDF terrorist organization murdered 15 people. Five were arrested and one cruelly abused.
• Bil'in: Residents with internationalists and 30 Jewish citizens walked through olive groves occupied by the IDF, which make up some 30% of the village. They reached the apartheid wall demanding the freedom of Marwan Barghouti and other political prisoners and chanting support for the UN recognition of Palestine as member state. 
• And many other protests.

Palestine: Jewish settler protesters begin infighting on the issue of Apartheid. The quite pointless protests of Israeli youths in Tel Aviv about to be broken on whether the rights of Palestinian Arabs are important or not. A sector of protesters held a vigil for the colonists killed without any mention to those murdered by the IDF, others meanwhile chanted Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies, while the first ones accused them of traitors and of stirring civil war (as if there was not one already).  ··> Haaretz.

Egypt: protests extend to private residence of Zionist ambassador in Cairo ··>  video at PO.

USA: oil rising again from Macondo well ··> Stuart Smith Blog.

USA: most fish in Gulf of Mexico still damaged, BP spill likely cause ··> CBS.

USA: Chocolate manufacturer Hershey tries to avoid negative publicity from slave workers' walkout and child labor denunciations ··> Penn Live.

USA: Progressives and Black political activists will not back Obama for re-election and search for alternative Democrat candidate ··> Black Agenda Report. 

USA: Hurricane Irene heading for nuclear power plant in North Carolina ··> Energy News.

Honduras: large teachers' and students' demonstration ··> photo-gallery at LINYM[es].

Chile: one million people join student protest (that's 6% of all Chileans and 14% of all residents in metropolitan Santiago) ··> CCTV video at PO.

Australia: demonstrations against Israel in spite of political persecution by the establishment and defamation campaigns ··> Press TV video at PO.

Japan: Fukushima Diary says:

• Don't let your children go to school in Yokohama and other places in Japan, where they force-feed them radioactive beef.
• Don't trust their radiation checks: insider manipulation is happening at all government levels.
• Japanese government uses lower radiation counter on purpose.
• Get out of Miyagi right now and better not eat rice in Japan.

Miyagi prefecture is just North of Fukushima I

Japan: Prof. Chris Busby (European Committee on Radiation Risk) interviewed in Japanese media: I’m too frightened to go closer to this site than 100 km… And even 100 km I’m not too happy about ··> videos at Energy News (English with Japanese subtitles).

Japan & World: Arnie Gundersen (retired nuclear engineer) denounces that the tent being built around Fukushima I reactor no.1 is actually going to send the radiation further away, solving nothing. He denounces that Japan must acknowledge the severity of the problem if it is to fix it at all ··> video at Fairewinds Associates.

Science: ecological half-life of Cesium-137 is 5-10 times larger than believed ··> Ex-SKF.

Astronomy: 'Snow White' is actually red. A lot of new information about one of the less known (and as of yet unnamed) dwarf planets in the Kuiper Belt area ··> Science Daily. Check also the blog of Mike Brown, the discoverer.

Snow White's red apple? (artist's rendering of 2007 OR10)

Opinion: I'd rather not be Anna [Hazare] by Arundathi Roy ··> Indian Vanguard, originally at The Hindu. I feel that it's important to expose the fascist fraud of Hazare and Roy, as always, does marvelously.

Opinion (in Spanish): ¿Arde el Mundo? (Is the World Burning?) by Luis Britto. Or how to evolve from indignation to revolution, using as reference the English Revolution of 1645, the French Revolution of 1789 and the Russian Revolution of 1917.

Music/Opinion: Nepal - Politics and Punk at the Top of the World ··> Revolution in South Asia.

Naya Faya - If I can't dance, this isn't my revolution.

Today's song: some relaxing Basque folk music for a change: Ibon Koteron's Aizea (the wind):