70,000 students march through Barcelona

Striking students took in large numbers (70,000) to the streets of Barcelona today against increased university tariffs and the sell off of education to private bloodsuckers.

Some groups threw bananas to the police and broke glasses of bank offices.

Upon finishing the demonstration, the students marched to the rectorate, which was occupied in spite of police intervention. Some students continued the occupation tonight, while others marched in the evening to Plaça Espanya where there was the Mobile World Congress fair.  They were confronted by anti-riot police.

12 people were arrested, two of them minors. A speaker of the students described the arrests as scapegoats and unrelated to any specific incidents.

Source: Ara[cat].

From the Net: 'World's oldest nuclear power station closes... but it will take 90 more years and £954m to clear it completely' (N. Enoch at theDaily Mail)

The world's oldest running nuclear power station was shut down today after 44 years in use - but will take another 90 years to clean up.

Staff at Oldbury Nuclear Power Station near Thornbury, South Gloucester switched off the site's only remaining reactor - which first generated electricity in 1967.

As well as the time factor, it will also cost £954million for the 175 acre site to be completely cleared, with the final stage anticipated to take place between 2092 and 2101.

... full story at the Daily Mail (found via Fukushima Diary).

It is interesting how costly is in the long run nuclear power and it never really washes away fully, you know. 

Everything looks like, well, from the 60s, you know.

The rich are rich because they are greedy and cheat

There's a new study out there set to open some minds to reality:

Raul K. Piff et al., Higher social class predicts increased unethical behavior. PNAS 2012. Pay per view (free in six months or already depending on global region).

Abstract

Seven studies using experimental and naturalistic methods reveal that upper-class individuals behave more unethically than lower-class individuals. In studies 1 and 2, upper-class individuals were more likely to break the law while driving, relative to lower-class individuals. In follow-up laboratory studies, upper-class individuals were more likely to exhibit unethical decision-making tendencies (study 3), take valued goods from others (study 4), lie in a negotiation (study 5), cheat to increase their chances of winning a prize (study 6), and endorse unethical behavior at work (study 7) than were lower-class individuals. Mediator and moderator data demonstrated that upper-class individuals’ unethical tendencies are accounted for, in part, by their more favorable attitudes toward greed.

They even justify their unethical behavior because for them greed is somehow ethical, something good (as Reagan would memorably state in his reign), justifying almost everything (while for the rest of us it is obviously not). 

I wonder if there is a greedy gene and if we could inactivate it with genetic engineering. Of course I also wonder if such thing could be ethical... but sounds better than guillotine, right?

In the media: The Independent, Kaos[es].

Other great discoveries of modern psychological science: conservatives are quite scared, and progressive and open minded people are generally smarter.

The dirty war continues in the Basque Country: boy kidnapped and threatened by police

As I have been sadly forced to denounce once and again here, the Spanish authorities are doing everything in their hands to reverse the peace process. In this case I have to report the continuity of dirty war tactics by police forces, which include persistent stalking, kidnappings and death threats. 

The latest most outrageous case was that of Iker Uruburu, from Bilbao, who was first bothered by two policemen in plain clothes on January 6th when he went to work. Without further explanations and after being violently pushed against a wall, he was threatened repeatedly with arrest. 

He was followed in the next days. 

On February 23rd, in the afternoon, he was kidnapped by several unidentified individuals who forced him into a car. He began yelling and hitting the doors of the car demanding to be released until they threatened him with being shot on the spot. 

Then they brought him to a rather hidden park (Los Caños), where they pulled from his hair and threw him to the floor while yelling threats and insults. They threatened him with arrest if he did not cooperate.

Today, together with a large support group, he has denounced these aggressions before the media. 

Stop police stalking!

His attorney, Roberto Zenón, has denounced that they are collecting many testimonies like his these days and that they suspect that many others remain unreported for fear.

A protest has been called before the government subdelegation on March 10th at 12:00.

Sources[es]: Branka, Gara.

From the Net;: 'Strike hits mining in Chhattisgarh' (Zee News)

The nationwide strike called by the country's trade unions has hit bauxite, coal and iron ore mining in mineral-rich Chhattisgarh, officials said on Tuesday.

Reports coming in from the state's northern Surguja district say that bauxite mining has been severely hit at Mainpat area, about 450 km north from here. Aluminium major BALCO, in which Vedanta Resources Plc holds 51 percent stake, has mines in Manipat. 

... full story at Zee News. Found via Revolution in South Asia.

US ambassador led the coup in Honduras (Wikileaks)

Zelaya and Llorens

Just in case anyone had any doubts it has been known today, thanks to the new Wikileaks information hoards, that former US ambassador in Tegucigalpa, Hugo Llorens, was actively behind the 2009 coup that ousted legitimate President Manuel Zelaya and initiated a terror war against the Honduran People.

Llorens met former President Ricardo Mauro, Tegucigalpa Mayor Ricardo Álvarez and the CEOs of major companies: Antonio Travel, Emilio Larach y Emin Barjum, all which seem involved in the coup. 

Source: LibreRed[es].

See also this entry about the CIA agent who apparently managed all the coup and also: Leherensuge cat. Honduras, FWWATWB cat. Honduras.

Luca Abba will survive but injuries severe - TAV/HSR works continue in spite of massive protests

As mentioned yesterday, Italian farmer and ecologist Luca Abba was severely injured after suffering electrocution and fall from an electricity tower, when police was murderously chasing him without any regard for security. 

Struggles in Italy reports today that Abba is out of mortal danger but that he has extense burns, broken spine in several places, lung puncture and a minor head injury. Besides burns, the electric shock may have damaged some organs, something that is not clear yet. 

As result of this murderous police aggression, a large spontaneous reaction took place in all the Val Susa, with workers walking out of their jobs and people cutting the highway in protest and duel (it was still blocked by the night).

Demonstrations ensued in the evening in many Italian cities and also Barcelona and Stuttgart.

See also: Contra Info, for more details on the protests.

Popular road blockade at Val Susa

From the Net: 'Insecticide used with GM corn highly toxic to bees' (Food Freedom)

New research should nail the coffin lid shut on a toxic bee-killing pesticide; Entire food chain found to be contaminated, from soil to pollen to dead bees.

The Sierra Club calls on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to immediately suspend the registration of the insecticide clothianidin, based on new scientific evidence of extensive contamination in bees and soil.

... full story at Food Freedom.

From the Net: 'Independent Investigation Commission on Fukushima Accident: Confusion from Interference from PM Kan and His Ministers Made the Situation Much Worse' (Ex-SKF)

The Independent Investigation Commission set up by a private foundation called Rebuild Japan Initiative Foundation has issued the report of its findings of the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident.

Unlike the investigation commissions set up by the administration and the Diet, the RJIF Commission has collected and studied information from the general public as well as from the experts.

...

Confusion caused by the interference by the Prime Minister's Office, chain reaction of "doubts begot doubts", a private investigation commission on Fukushima Nuclear Plant accident says
 

...

The private Commission was set up last September, and has heard from about 300 people including then-Prime Minister Naoto Kan and then-Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano and other top government officials.

...

The report points to the direct interference of the Prime Minister's Official Residence into the response at the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, causing confusion.

...

In my rare defense of TEPCO, it is a lie propagated by Naoto Kan himself that TEPCO wanted to completely withdraw from the plant. TEPCO's president wanted to protect workers who were not directly involved in nuclear emergency response by evacuating them from the plant, when the radiation level at the plant spiked to extremely dangerous levels.

...

He insisted he visit the plant on the morning of March 12 when everyone at the plant was scrambling to figure out what was happening (or figure out what to do about the meltdown that was happening). When he arrived, he went shouting and screaming at the plant management and workers.

... full article at Ex-SKF.

From the Net: 'Val di Susa, Italy: Clarea mountain hut evicted, authorities’ land expropriation and a comrade in extremely serious condition' (Contra Info)

In the morning of February 27th the eviction and demolition works at the Clarea mountain hut (meeting place of NO TAV* resistants in Susa Valley) began along with transport of construction material and authorities’ land expropriation.

At around 8.30am Luca Abbà, a NO TAV activist, climbed an electricity pylon trying to slow down the military-industrial operation. A cop started climbing the pylon too, in an attempt to take him down —an absolutely murderous maneuver, without safety nets or any such equipment at the spot.

Despite the cops’ pressure, Luca communicated that he would not desist, and indeed he would have ascended higher if he had not suffered a strong electric shock, causing him to fall from several metres. The cops-murderers’ responsibility is irrefutable.

Luca was transferred by helicopter to the CTO hospital in Turin after almost an hour since the ‘accident’ caused by the repressive forces.

... full story at Contra Info.

Luca Abbà and the electric tower where he was murderously attacked by police

__________________________________________

* TAV: Italian and Spanish acronym for High Speed Rail. 

From the Net: 'Okinawa will accept radioactive debris' (Fukushima Diary)

Japanese prime minister Noda visited Okinawa on 2/26/2012, then Nakaima Hirokazu, the Okinawa mayor decided they will accept radioactive debris if Japanese government asked them.

Having this decision, Naha shi and Haebaru shi have decided to be forward to accepting the radioactive debris.

Onaga Naha city mayor stated, “As Japanese citizen, we shall help disaster area by accepting the radioactive debris.”

... full story at Fukushima Diary.

_________________
Note: yes, that is the absurd, idiotic, suicidal attitude of the Japanese officialdom and some sheepish citizens: instead of trying to contain the damage to where it happened (NE Honsu) they are spreading it to all Japan "in solidarity". Stupid like nothing I have seen before.

From the Net: 'Dr. Vandana Shiva: Occupy our food supply!' (Grist)

Today, Feb. 27, is an Occupy Our Food Supply day of action. The following essay is just one of several related posts that will be appearing around the internet to mark the day.

The biggest corporate takeover on the planet is the hijacking of the food system, the cost of which has had huge and irreversible consequences for the Earth and people everywhere.

From the seed to the farm to the store to your table, corporations are seeking total control over biodiversity, land, and water. They are seeking control over how food is grown, processed, and distributed. And in seeking this total control, they are destroying the Earth’s ecological processes, our farmers, our health, and our freedoms.

It starts with seeds. Monsanto and a few other gene giants are trying to control and own the world’s seeds through genetic engineering and patents. Monsanto wrote the World Trade Organization (WTO) treaty on Intellectual Property, which forces countries to patent seeds. (...)

... full story at Grist (found via Food Freedom).

Wikileaks is back with the 'shadow CIA' files

Actually it has been active all this time for what I can see in their main page, but only today it has jumped to the media (in Spanish language at least) with a new exclusive media bunch of leaks.

These are the files of a global private intelligence company: Stratfor. While I and possibly you had never before heard of this company, it has already earned the nickname of "shadow CIA". 

At the moment of writing this, I have only got yet a very shallow notion of what all this is about but I imagine that we will know much more in the following days and weeks. 

By the moment in Spain it has hit the front pages[es] that the spies secretly mocked former ultra-conservative, recycled fundamentalist fascist, prime minister J.M. Aznar, whom they considered the more extremist political leader of the West back in the day, much more extremist that Israeli officers, go figure!

The list of media with special access to these leaks, after the Guardian-NYT-Spiegel fiasco, is much more diverse:

Pick your source(s). 

A central theme is about Stratfor and other agencies' attempts to subvert Wikileaks and imprison Julian Assange. Other issues are corruption of journalists by Stratfor or Zionist infiltration in Venezuelan political leadership and attempts of taking control of Hugo Chávez in person by sexual, financial or psychological means.

We'll see what comes out.

Resources: Wikileaks main page, Wikileaks: The Global Intelligence Files, Público: Wikileaks The Global Intelligence Files[es].

Official declaration from the Basque Nationalist Left, dismissed by other actors

Image from the presentation

It seems that for the Spanish nationalists and their lackeys of the Basque Nationalist Party (Basque regionalist Catholic conservative party) nothing is enough and are willing to push for more and more demands forever in a farce whose obvious intention is only to reignite the armed conflict in the Basque Country. 

Whatever the reactions, the Basque Nationalist Left presented yesterday in Donostia a document in four languages (Basque, Spanish, French and English) in which they share their determination for peace and fears for the lack of progress by the imperialist side. 

Some quotes:

The Peace Process is stuck for lack of political will from Madrid:

So, Abertzale Left has contributed its part to building peace in our country. It has done everything in its power to make a new time possible. This however has not meant that peace has automatically come to the Basque Country. Peace is still to be built and the unilateral end to one side violence does not bring peace. There are other forms of violence, a repression that must end. The repressive policy of the States must end in order to begin talking of a non-violent scenario and real democracy.

...

ETA has ended its armed activity. This has not brought the end of all violence.

Thus, we consider necessary the end of the current inhumane prison policy. Seriously ill prisoners and those that have completed 3/4 or 2/3 of their sentence should be released. Dispersal policy of Basque political prisoners must come to an end, transferring them to the Basque Country, as a first step on a process that do possible to them to return home. The policy of repression, police harassment and arrests against pro independence activists, as well as trials and imprisonment must finally end. The different emergency policies must end and all civil and political rights must be guaranteed to Basque citizens, most notably the urgent legalization of the political party Sortu.

...

A country in peace does not need thousands of armed people. It is necessary to start demilitarising our country.

...

No conflict in the world has ended maintaining hundreds of people imprisoned for decades.

...

Proposing South-African style reconciliation by mutual recognition

There are and will be diverse opinions among our People on what happened in the past and while we must seek the truth, this whole truth will be the sum of diverse and even different truths.

...

The Abertzale Left considers that it is crucial to talk about what happened, to recover the truth about what happened. Our People need to know the truth, but they must know the whole truth about the political conflict and its consequences. Knowing it will make easier to move from a scenario of violence to a democratic scenario, and it will make us freer. It will also help reconciliation.

...

They close with an specific proposal of four points:

1. Accepting the Mitchell Principles:
1. Commitment to democratic and exclusively peaceful means to resolve political issues.
2. Commitment to renounce the use of force or the threat of using it...
3. Commitment to agree to submit to the terms of any agreement reached during multi-party negotiations and to resort to democratic and exclusively peaceful means to try to alter of any aspect of this outcome with which it may not agree.
2. Political projects must be differentiated from democratic solutions.
3. Acknowledging and respecting plurality in the Basque Country.
4. Recognizing and respecting all rights, including the Right to Self-Determination

You can read the full document at Gara (PDF).

From the Net: 'Kilkis, Northern Greece: Message from a member of the workers’ general assembly, from the occupied city’s hospital' (Contra Info)

Hello all,

Thank you so much for your interest and support.

The occupation of our hospital in Kilkis by its workers started on Monday, February 20th, at 8:30 local time. This occupation is not only about us, the physicians and the workers at the Kilkis Hospital. Neither is it only about the Greek National Health System, which is collapsing, indeed. We are in this fight because what are in real danger now is the human rights. And this threat is not against just a nation, or against a few countries, or a few social groups, but against the low and middle classes in Europe, America, Asia, Africa, in the whole world. Today’s Greece, is tomorrow’s picture of Portugal, Spain, Italy and the rest of the countries worldwide.

The workers at the Kilkis Hospital and at most of the hospitals and health centers in Greece are not paid on time and some of them see their salaries being cut down to practically zero. A fellow-worker of mine was transferred to our cardiologic clinic in shock, when he realized that instead of receiving the usual check of 800 euros (yes; that is his monthly salary) from the state, he received a note saying that not only he will be paid nothing for this month, but he is also to return 170 euros. Other workers were paid only 9 (nine) euros for this month. Those of us who still receive some kind of a salary will support them in any way we can.

This is a war against the people, against the whole community. Those who say that the public debt of Greece is the debt of the Greek people are lying. It is not the people’s debt. It was created by the governments in collaboration with the bankers in order to enslave people. The loans to Greece are not used for salaries, pensions and public care. It is exactly the opposite: salaries, pensions and care are used to pay the bankers...

... full letter at Contra Info.

Massive demo in Bilbao against social cuts

More than 20,000 people demonstrated yesterday through the Gran Vía of Bilbao against social cuts, heating the ambient for the general strike of March 29th.

The anger is really appreciable in the declarations of some speakers of associations and unions. For example LAB speaker Sonia González criticized the hypocrisy of the good practices code announced by the banks because these are the biggest mafiosi to ever set foot on Earth, asking for a Penal Code of popular justice for bankers and businessmen. She ended her discourse with the following memorable sentence:

Do not ever bow your heads because you belong to a higher class: the working class.

Sources: Gara[es], Berria[eu], Sare Antifaxista[es].

From the Net: 'Clashes across West Bank for the opening of Shuhada St.' (Anarchists Against The Wall)

Open Shuhada Day was commemorated in demonstrations throughout the West Bank this Friday. In the heart of Hebron itself two protest marches took place: one organized by "Youth Against Settlements" and the other by the three leftist Palestinian parties – the PFLP, the DFLP and the communist People's Party. Together, both demonstrations were attended by about one thousand people, including some 100 Israelis and international activists. Both demonstrations were met with army forces, which tried to disperse the non-violent processions with tear gas, "skunk" water cannons and arrests.

While he first demonstration developed into heavy clashes, including stone throwing and Molotov cocktails, the second remained non-violent, and ended when a funeral procession needed to pass through the same street as the demonstration. However, the funeral too was attacked with water canons. A video from this demonstration shows the army's use of an American made non-lethal weapon. One can hear a recording saying "This is a test of the Long Range Acoustic Device – LRAD – from American Technology Corporation".

... full story at Anarchists Against The Wall.

Note: Suhada Street in the center of Hebron, West Bank, is banned to Palestinians since 2001 in order to protect an urban Zionist colony. For that reason it is one of the many hotspots of Zionist Apartheid in Palestine (aka Israel).

From the Net: '4 major Japanese corporations are evacuating to Osaka' (Fukushima Diary)

On the regular press conference of Tokyo mayor on 2/24/2012, it turned out that 4 major Japanese corporations are moving the head offices from Tokyo to Osaka.

The companies are

Mitsubishi Corporation
Mitsui&CO.,LTD
The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd
Sumitomo Mitsui banking corporation

The journalist asked,
The city income of Tokyo has been decreasing for these 5 years.

Yesterday, the Mitsubishi Corporation, Mitsui&CO.,LTD, The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd, Sumitomo Mitsui banking corporation and Panasonic (← Note : This is wrong. The head office of Panasonic is in Osaka from the beginning.) published they are going to move their head offices from Tokyo to Osaka.

It’s likely to damage the income more. What is your opinion ?

Ishihara Tokyo mayor,
Yes, that’s a problem, but it would be better for the entire economy of Japan.

From Fukushima Diary. 

See also at the same resource: Tokyo station is contaminated like as mandatory evacuating zone in Fukushima.

It seems to me that the worst case scenario is being realized in spite of the government's efforts of extend-and-pretend: all the Eastern half of Honsu is too damaged, and the government's attitude only destroys confidence on the remaining of Japan and its industry.

From the Net: 'Today’s Love Goes to Arizona’s Banned Book Smugglers' (J. Rivas at Colorlines)

The Librotraficante Caravan is bringing contraband books—or “wet-books”—to Arizona. The project is also intended to raise awareness of the “prohibition” of the Mexican-American Studies Program and the removal of books from classrooms.

“When we heard that Tucson Unified School District administrators not only prohibited Mexican-American Studies, but then walked into classrooms, and in front of young Latino students, during class time, removed and boxed up books by our most beloved authors - that was too much. This offended us down to our soul. We had to respond,” said Tony Diaz, founder of Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers Having Their Say, which has led the charge.

Diaz added, “With their record of anti-immigrant legislation, politicians in Arizona have become experts in making humans illegal. We did not do enough to stop that, thus that anti-immigrant legislation spread to other states such as Alabama and Georgia. Now, these same legislators want to make thoughts illegal. If we allow this to happen, these laws, too, will spread. Other branches of ethnic studies will be prohibited, and other states will follow suit.”

The Librotraficante Caravan will travel from Houston, Texas, to Tucson, Ariz., carrying a payload of contraband books, creating networks of Underground Libraries and leaving community resources in its wake.

With just days away from launching the caravan Libroficante could use your help. A Kickstarter fundraising campaign didn’t work out they way hoped for, so donations are critical. For more information on how you can make a tax-deductible donation visit librotraficante.com/Donate.html.

From Colorlines.

From the Net: 'Greenwash this!' (Jews sans frontieres)

Here's a report just in from Associated Press under the headline, Israeli nixes solar energy for Palestinians:

Electricity from solar panels and wind turbines has revolutionized life in rural Palestinian herding communities: Machines, instead of hands, churn goat milk into butter, refrigerators store food that used to spoil and children no longer have to hurry to get their homework done before dark.

But the German-funded project, initiated by Israeli volunteers, is now in danger. Israeli authorities are threatening to demolish the installations in six of the 16 remote West Bank communities being illuminated by alternative energy, arguing the panels and turbines were installed without permits.

Ah, no permits, I see. But what's this?

At the same time, Israeli officials argue that the Palestinian herders of the southern West Bank are nomads with no legal claim to the lands they squat on.

Which roughly translated means they're Arabs and so can't get permits and because they can't get permits they can't settle and because they can't settle they are nomads and because they are nomads they can't get permits and, oh never mind.

Just so you know, dotted through the piece are references to something called "the peace process".

From Jews sans frontieres.

Negev Bedouins = illegal 'Israelis'. No apartheid? No genocide? Equal rights?

See also: Bedouin-Jewish Justice in Israel.

Tokyo City councilor who measured radiation in parks murdered

Takashi Kabayama, councilor of Tokyo (LDP), was found dead on January 7th with a plastic bag on his head. Against all logic, in an act of obvious complicity, police ruled suicide.

Kabayama had been measuring radiation through Tokyo and found that in some public parks (Mizumoto specifically) was equivalent to that of the Chernobyl no-go zone (1.48 million Bq/m²).

The news has only now been known in languages other than Japanese, thanks to Fukushima Diary (link 1, link 2). 

From the Net: 'China: The Wukan uprising and its lessons' (Socialist World)

China: The Wukan uprising and its lessons

23/02/2012

Workers’ strikes and new local rebellions use the slogan “Learn from Wukan”

Vincent Kolo and Zhang Shujie, chinaworker.info

Wukan is the fishing village in southern China’s Guangdong province that achieved worldwide fame as a symbol of mass resistance. Like thousands of other rural communities in recent years, the 13,000 inhabitants of Wukan rose up against corrupt local officials who have stolen land and made millions in profits. But Wukan achieved something else, by displaying a new level of organisation and mass mobilisation, setting up independent popular committees and campaign structures. In so doing, Wukan has become a benchmark for future struggle in China. 

(...)

(...) the impact of the Wukan uprising is enormous and goes far beyond its boundaries and even those of Guangdong province. This was, according to numerous commentators, the first time since 1949 that the CCP totally lost control of an administrative area. During a few short weeks the struggle in Wukan shattered the idea that the Chinese people need one-party dictatorship and are incapable of governing themselves democratically. 

(...)

Along with several other concurrent struggles – including some very significant workers’ strikes – Wukan shows that mass protests in China are becoming more organised, more bold, and their methods and tactics more sophisticated. In short, they are adapting to the changing situation, studying and taking stock of the evolution of the one-party dictatorship as it upgrades its repressive methods. (...)

“What is happening in Wukan gives an extraordinary view of the social tensions that exist in China,” noted BBC reporter Martin Patience, who was one of several foreign journalists inside Wukan during the struggle. Incredibly, China experienced more mass protests last year than the entire Arab world, based on sheer numbers. (...)

Official figures show that 43 percent of China’s villages have suffered from land seizures over the last decade, and every year four million peasants lose their land. A whole generation of local ‘communist’ politicians have become millionaires as a result of this lucrative trade in what is technically still ‘collectively-owned’ land. This massive sequestration of land, smashing the fiction of communal ownership, has been a major ingredient in China’s booming economy. 

(...)

... full article at Socialist World. Found via Kasama.

Fascist threats against Valencian high school

The Lluis Vives High School of Valencia has reported threats from the small fascist political party España 2000. The fascist organization claimed that they would end the job that police could not finish, in reference to the scandalous repression of this week against student protests.

It seems that the infamous Police Chief of Valencia, Antonio Moreno Piquer (pictured), is in very good relations with this fascist party, which is essentially the political cover of the largest prostitution ring of Spain and a private security firm, Levantina de Seguridad. All three are headed by the same person, José Luis Roberto, apparently a quite close friend of said Police Chief. 

Source[cat]: VilaWeb (link 1, link 2).

Italian skin head tifossi attack Russian football aficionados in the center of Bilbao

Surreal but real: a group of 30 or 40 masked skinheads attacked today some Russian supporters of the Lokomotiv (Moscow football team) who were drinking and singing in the center of Bilbao (Basque Country), bothering no one according to witnesses.

Apparently the attackers are Italian supporters of basketball team Montepaschi of Siena, which had lost against the Bizkaia hours earlier.

The Russian supporters who were so violently beaten by the fascist mob are local residents, mostly students, who had gathered to support their home team at San Mames. At least one is seriously injured.

Source: Sare Antifaxista[es].

From the Net: 'Reactor 2 went over 100º again' (Fukushima Diary)

Following up this article ..Tepco secretly increased the water amount to reactor2

Tepco started decreasing the water amount to inject to reactor2 from the night of 2/19, but the heating gauge attached at RPV bellows seal, which is on the top of the container vessel is showing the temperature rapidly increasing.

... full story at Fukushima Diary.

From the Net: 'Survival uncovers shocking human rights abuses in Ethiopia'

Survival has uncovered shocking new evidence of human rights abuses against tribes in Ethiopia’s Omo Valley, as government efforts to develop lucrative sugar cane plantations in the region intensify.

Bulldozers are flattening land near a UNESCO World Heritage Site, destroying villages and forcing local communities to give up their pastoral way of life.

Fear is growing as violence becomes commonplace and reports of beatings, rapes and arrests spread among tribes close to the Omo River.

As recently as January 2012, Survival received reports of three Bodi men being beaten to death in an Ethiopian jail.

The forests and savannah of the Omo valley (L) are being cleared for plantations (R)

... full story at Survival International. Found via Pasado y Futuro[es].

Forecast for Greece

Part of the pro-bankster coalition deal in Greece was that elections would be held in April 2012, that is: within two months, more or less. But naturally the continuous sell-off of the nation by the current leadership has taken a toll, eroding the support of the parties conforming the coalition: the Socialist Panhelenic Party (PASOK), New Democracy (ND) and the far-right Christian-Fundamentalist neofascist bloc LAOS (National Orthodox Rally). The latter broke ranks this past week but looks unlikely to be able to benefit too much, at most stealing some voters to ND.

The conservatives of New Democracy, which already took a serious beating in the 2009 elections, are still bleeding out and can't expect to get more than 28% of the votes (33% in 2009) and will more likely be around 24% (min. 19%)

The social-democrats of PASOK are set to collapse. The Papandreu dynastic party gathered 44% of the vote in 2009 but can't expect today to get more than 14% (more like 11% and maybe as little as 8%). 

As mentioned above, LAOS is stuck in voters' support (4.5-6.9%, from a 5.6% in 2009), so who is benefiting from the collapse of the bourgeois dual single party system?

The Left. However the Greek Left is wide and divided. Ignoring the Greens (stuck in their share of 3.5% of the vote) and very minor parties, there used to be two blocs at the left of PASOK: the old school (Stalinist) Communist Party of Greece (KKE), the new school Communist Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) and its breakaway faction by the right the Democratic Left (DIMAR). 

This DIMAR party is the greatest uncertainty because they are bound to become kingmakers in the new parliament. They claim to be Democratic Socialist (in theory at the left of Social-Democracy but in practice probably no difference at all) and promote reformist strategies (not revolutionary ones) within Europeanism.

In practice this probably means that they are just waiting to gather enough bargaining tokens (votes) to form a bourgeois coalition government, extending the current one in new form into the immediate future. It surely means a new Papademos government with their support (or something of the like).

But in theory at least they may have the possibility to lean to the left and form an ample Left coalition government with Syriza and KKE (and maybe the small Green party). Together they are at the very edge of getting sufficient majority in the Greek Parliament (approx. 41.5% of the popular vote needed and together the Left parties, not counting PASOK, reach as much as 47% in some of the latest polls - and growing).

Can this happen? In truth I do not know. The situation of Greece does not allow for intermediate ways: either they bow to the demands of the Troika or they break away, declaring unilateral bankruptcy and having to use quite radical socialist measures to keep the country stable. 

Of course NATO would not allow such thing to happen and would instigate military coups and/or border conflicts with Turkey (an all-out invasion is unlikely but not impossible) but let us for a moment assume that this does not happen and that Greece is irrationally allowed to declare bankruptcy and nationalize at will in a bubble of sorts.

So let's dream awake a bit and assume that DIMAR, SYRIZA and KKE can join forces and form a serious consistent genuinely Socialist government ready to at least try a Icelandic option of sorts by means of declaring unilateral bankruptcy. And let's assume that all that happens is that the Council of the European Union freaks out and suspends Greece membership in EU (or even expels it altogether), maybe embargoing its foreign assets or whatever. 

That would be the KKE or Stalinist option of socialism in one state, which is hardly sustainable but of course there you have Cuba. Nowadays life in Cuba is probably enviable for a growing number of Greeks, who are being dispossessed of all, even their dignity as citizens, workers and human beings, in the unholy name of Usury. 

Are there other options? Not at the moment. If and when the crisis and revolutionary awareness extends to other parts of Europe (what will probably happen eventually, maybe soon but just not yet), then Greece will have other choices but right now it's between a rock (IMF-EU blackmail) and a hard place (determined Socialist policies in isolation - other than that of worker and popular solidarity organizations elsewhere).

Would it be my decision, I have no doubt: Socialism in one state (provisional solution) and arming the people for territorial self-defense.

But it's not, so my forecast is that DIMAR will form a pro-bankster second coalition government with ND and PASOK, maybe even still led by that pathetic Papademos. However the IMF-EU blackmail will be harder and harder to swallow, with growing unrest in the streets (even more!), and within a year or two (maybe just a few months) the coalition will collapse with its members suffering from even more erosion in terms of popular support. 

Then we will see: the revolutionary exit is the only likely exit for Greece sooner than later (and the Greek People has demonstrated that they have the strength to push it ahead) but how exactly it will materialize: earlier or later, in isolation or in a larger European revolutionary wave, whether it will trigger a military reaction by NATO or what... all that is very hard to forecast. It is just clear that the path set for Greece at Brussels is doomed to not work at all. 

Note: an option is that elections may not take place until legally demanded (c. October 2013), allowing for the constitutional reforms demanded by Brussels to take place. But further delays can only cause further erosion of the coalition members, further growth of the Left (voting intention but also popular convictions) and further instability.

Sources for the vote intention data: IDOM (which has a very interesting article, somewhat different from what I ponder here), EMGR.

Russian Anarchist murdered

Nikita Kalin 1991-2012

A las Barricadas[es] reports that Nikita Kalin, 21, was murdered on February 9th in his hometown of Samara, Russia. His corpse was found before dawn with nothing less than 61 stab marks, several broken ribs and head injuries. 

Police reported to his mother that one of the suspects is a neonazi and that there are others unnamed suspects as well. The fact that they are hiding the names and they have not even bothered in interrogating the last people who saw Nikita alive, makes many suspect that the murder is institutional and will be brushed under the rug, as often happens under the fascist rule of Vladimir Putin and camarilla. 

From the Net: 'Greece: Eurogroup imposes interest of usurers to be guaranteed by the constitution' (S. Karayannopoulos at IDOM)

[The last] Eurogroup meeting in Brussels finally reached a deal and, in the most provocative manner, put a seal on the drama that the Greek working people have had to endure for the past two years.

The highlight of this provocative deal is the obligation on the Greek parliament to revise the constitution in 2013 and insert a clause that will safeguard the interests of lenders and transform these into a national priority. Healthcare, education, wages and pensions, issues of vital importance for the Greek people, are to be regarded as insignificant compared to the need to ensure the profits of the usurers.

... full story at In Defense of Marxism. 

_________________________

Note by Maju: this essentially demonstrates how the EU as we know it must be scrapped in order to save Europe, both as sociological reality and as project of continental convivence and sharing. As it is, the EU is just the enemy of Europeans. 

Police attacks students, teachers and parents in Valencia

Pasado y Futuro[es] reports that Spanish police charged today (Monday 20) against a student demo in Valencia (Valencian Country). Later, they charged again against a more diverse protest of students, teachers and parents, all protesting against the cuts in education. 

Besides protesters, several journalists have also suffered the beatings of the police. 

Result: 17 arrested and many injured. 

Photo-gallery at Público. Vídeo at Pasado y Futuro.


Update: La Plataforma reports[cat/es] 26 arrested, five of them underage and "many injured". Being the fourth day of protests the total of people arrested in Valencia alone is of 42.

On the positive side the repression has got some decent TV coverage, bringing to question the attitude of the Spanish occupation authorities: government delegate and police chief.

Sare Antifaxista[es], has three videos of the police aggressions. 


Update (Feb 22):

Numerous and large demonstrations took place in several cities of the Catalan Countries and Castile in solidarity with the victims of police violence in Valencia, while the authorities tried to save face but often only resulting shameful and contradictory.

While the Government Delegate blamed the chief of police in private discussion with student representatives, only to deny such thing minutes later, the Minister of Interior initially admitted excesses but then blamed them on the students (who kept a perfectly nonviolent attitude all the time). But if there is one person on the tight rope, that's Police Chief Commissary Antonio Moreno Piquer, who in press conference declared the students and the general public as "the enemy" (while hitting the table angrily) and has been noticed as responsible of excessive violence (more excessive and more violent than usual - excepted the Basque Country of course, where this kind of gratuitous repression is just routine) before the new government took power.

If someone would resign or be ceased on this row that would be him. But in Spain that's how police officers actually get a promotion and a medal: torturing and repressing mercilessly. So I would be surprised if he's punished at all. At the most he might be moved around to a less controversial position, I would say, specially as the year promises to be very hot (considering the extremist destruction of worker rights and social achievements decreed recently) and the new far-right government should want all the repressive power they can muster available, even if under their hierarchical control. It is very likely that nobody will be ceased at all.

In any case large demos took place in Madrid, Barcelona, Murcia (and maybe many other cities - unconfirmed), as well as Valencia itself, choring "I am also the enemy" and demanding resignations.

Madrid protested in solidarity with Valencia

Partial sources and more info (in Spanish): Público, Tercera Información, Kaos en la Red, Diagonal.

Also there is a call for tomorrow February 23rd to take Puerta del Sol in Madrid against the corporative coup. It commemorates in negative light the infamous coup of 1981-Feb-23, which effectively prevented the democratization process in the state of Spain to advance any further. 

From the Net: 'Brazil: Amid the Carnival, the military police raided the students’ autonomous space in the University of São Paulo (USP)' (Contra Info)

In the morning of Monday, February 6th, a warning regarding police presence close to the main gate of the university campus mobilized the students’ movement and other supporters. It was the deadline for the repossession of the students’ autonomous space, known as Moradia Retomada (‘Retaken House’), located on the ground floor of the G block of the residential premises of the USP (CRUSP).

After series of human rights’ violations during the repossession of the occupied rectorate, late last year, the persecution of the USP workers’ union, mass layoffs and attacks on the ‘Black Awareness Cell’, the rector keeps managing the university as if it were a business. This time, he decided to ‘sweep’ the university campus a few days before the first-year students’ registration, which took place from February 8th to 9th.

In the early hours of February 19th, during the Carnival holiday, the military police of São Paulo seized the opportunity to attack the students’ autonomous space of the USP. The cops used rubber bullets, and no student from the next buildings could get close to at least film the repressive operation. Twelve students were arrested.

... full story (and videos) at Contra Info.

Several people stabbed by Nazis in Toledo (Castile) with the passive complicity of the authorities

Sare Antifaxista[es] reports that, on Saturday night, some 15 masked neonazis attacked four citizens in Toledo with baseball bats and knives. Three of them suffered stab injuries, two remaining under emergency care at hospital. All four victims were known left wing activists. 

All this happens without the government or police doing anything about them, in spite of the repeated denounces, becoming obvious that these death squads (it's only a matter of time before they actually kill someone) are acting under direct orders and supervision of the so-called conservative authorities of Spain and Castlie-La Mancha.

We know well that these conservatives, christian-democrats and liberals, recycled themselves into fascists in 1936 only to change clothes again in the 70s: CEDA > FET-JONS > UCD > PP.

A protest took place on Sunday with people arriving from other parts of Southern Castile (picture).

Spain refuses Basque prisoners' petitions to be moved closer to home

The Spanish government has rejected all and each one of the individual petitions written by Basque political prisoners to be moved towards the Basque Country. Today most of them are scattered many hundreds of kilometers away from home.

According to the Ministry of Interior the petitions "were a legal fraud" because they did not "ask for forgiveness to the victims" or "expressed any rupture with ETA". Many Basque political prisoners are not even ETA members at all but victims of the ideological repression of the last decade, which has brought so many journalists and politicians to jail. 

The Collective of Basque Political Prisoners announced in December that they would perform this formalism and asked the states (Spain and France) to respond positively in order to advance towards peace.

However it would seem that Spain is determined not to allow peace to happen, that they are much more comfortable in a dynamic of open war.

Source: Gara[es].

Map of Basque prisoners' dispersion (source)

From the Net: 'Hundreds attend Bil’in’s 7th annual day of struggle against the Wall' (AATW)

In the beginning there were engineers, soldiers and bulldozers. It was after the International Court of Law in The Hague had already barred construction of The Separation Wall within the West Bank, and before the Israeli High Court of Justice found the Wall’s route in Bil’in illegal. It was after someone somewhere decided that more than 2,000 dunams of the village’s agricultural lands were to be annexed to Israel by force, and before countless people would be arrested and injured, and two killed. The engineers marked which trees to uproot, and the villagers removed the marks. The soldiers came to disperse the demonstrations, and the demonstrators tied themselves to the olive trees. The bulldozers started tearing the land, and the activists stood in their way. Day after day. A battle for every tree and every yard.

Seven years have passed since the first engineers, soldiers and bulldozers appeared in Bil’in. Seven years since the local Popular Committee against the Wall and the Settlements was founded, drawing from the experience of villages such as Mes’kha, Bidu and Budrus. Seven years since the Israelis and internationals were first invited to join in on the popular struggle. In the years that passed a fence was erected, causing incredible damage, and recently torn down in favor of a new wall, in a route which gives the village back some of its lands – but not all of them. The village has gained international attention and has become an example of a people’s unarmed struggle for liberation – a struggle which goes on to this day.

... full story at Anarchists Against the Wall.

From the Net: 'Japan's nuclear evacuees denied Canadian refuge' (Calgary Sun)

A Japanese woman who claimed exposure to radiation from damaged nuclear reactors has been denied refugee status in Canada almost one year after that nation was rocked by an earthquake and tsunami that left more than 100,000 people homeless.

The woman’s identity has not been released by an Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) since she’s seeking asylum in this country. She is among several dozen Japanese nationals who filed refugee claims to stay in Canada following the disaster and is one of the first decisions to be reached by the IRB.

“The claimant feared risks of exposure to radiation,” an IRB member said in a ruling. “She was not convinced by the Japanese government’s assurances of safety from radiation.”

The woman was one of hundreds of Japanese citizens who sought refuge in other countries following the March 11, 2011 catastrophe caused by a magnitude 9.0 quake and tsunami that left more than 15,000 dead and nearly 3300 missing.

... full story at Calgary Sun (found via EneNews). 

No more Fukushimas, Garoña shut down

The very old and obsolete nuclear power plant of Garoña is not just the closest one to where I live but it is also too similar to the design of the ill-fated Fukushima to be relaxed about it at all. The license of the plant is being extended once and again in spite of reports and promises. 

For that reason and, coincident with the unwanted visit of the monarch of the occupant power Juan Carlos Borbon Borbon (alias 'Double Bourbon' - for good reason, mind you) on Tueday 21st there will be a protest before the monster tower of Iberdrola (the local feudal electricity company) which is formally inaugurated in that day (building pictured).

More details at Sare Antifaxista[es]: link 1, link 2.

The greatest risk area of Garoña includes most of the Basque Country

Brutal police repression in Valencia

Spanish police charged yesterday mindlessly in Valencia against students who, quite ironically, were protesting against police violence the previous days, as well as against budgetary cuts in education.

When the demo arrived to the Government Delegation (all powerful Spanish proconsul's office) it was surrounded by scores of police vans and their usual porcine meat cargo. Charges began immediately, followed by many arrests.

This was followed by a protest at the central police station, which again was responded by police charge and more arrests, including the beating of elected deputy Mònica Oltra.

A third police attack happened  at the central station, where parents and teachers had gathered separately. Six people, including a minor, were arrested. 

I forecast a very hot year in the state of Spain, because all the two-neuron IMF-docile government knows is to unleash the dogs.

The single twin party PPSOE lost four million votes in the last general elections and now rules with the support of only 15 million votes (roughly).

Sources[cat/es]: La Haine, Kaos en la Red (videos).

Union leader murdered in Guatemala, violence against unions increasing

The LINyM[es] reports that Miguel Ángel González Ramírez, member of the Banana Workers Union of Izabal (SITRABI) was shot dead when he returned home after a football match. He is the fifth member of this union murdered in the last 10 months alone. 

He used to have police protection since his relative Marco Tullio Ramírez Portela, leader of the same union, was murdered in 2007. However the government removed his protection recently in spite of the growth in class murders.

SITRABI has repeatedly denounced the lack of protection by the Guatemalan state, a mere client of North American corporations.

From the Net: international communication from Occupied Crete (yes, the occupation of the prefecture continues)

Greece: Greetings from occupied Crete

Location of Chania regional unit/prefecture

This is the 8th day of the occupation of the building of prefectural administration in Chania, Crete. We just translated our main communiqué in English and we send it to you, to inform and spread the message of the occupations worldwide. There is also a French translation available here. We also have a blog and internet radio, live from the occupation. Today at 18.00 GMT+2 we have organized a march in the main streets and the neighbourhoods of Chania. On Crete there are also occupied buildings in Rethimno and Lasithi. Moreover, the students are occupying their schools day by day. There at least 11 schools occupied in Chania today.

On February 15th, after a unanimous decision, the open public assembly of the prefectural administration in Chania occupied the studio of the corporate TV channel ‘Nea Tileorasi Kritis’ (NEA TV). Here’s the related video:

[video in Greek language]

The occupied administrative building

Communiqué of the occupied prefectural administration of Chania

We are also part of the struggling people that rushed into the streets for the 48hour strike demonstrations and the massive protest of Sunday, February 12th, against the devaluation of our employment and the pauperization of our lives. Since Friday, February 10th, after the march in the city streets, we have occupied the building of Prefecture of Crete in Chania. The occupation serves as a meeting and coordination centre of a collective effort to organize the struggle for a life that is characterized by solidarity, resistance and dignity. By blocking the ordinary function of a central administrational building, we pose political pressure against the implementation of the recent decisions of the foreign and local exploiters. We are referring to the voting by the Greek parliament of the second Memorandum and the new austerity measures according to the commands of Troika (EU/IMF/ECB) and global capitalism.

We salute the hundreds of thousands demonstrators that during the last few days, and especially on Sunday, February 12th, fight against barbarism and the plundering of the basic social goods such as health, education, electricity and water.

We are a part of dozens of occupied state administrative, educational and labour buildings that spread across the country the last few days. Against a spirit of struggle decline and defeatism after the voting of the new laws by the parliament, we continue to fight against the fake dilemmas they impose, such as ‘default or consent’. We call the grassroots labour unions of Chania to take decisions towards a long-term general strike. We call all the citizens of Chania and the countryside, students, workers and unemployed, immigrants and locals, to join our ideas, agonies and creativity.

To defend the dignity in our employment and in our life

No prosecution to the detainees of the strike demonstrations

Solidarity – Victory to the long-lasting strike of the ‘Greek Steelworks’ and all labour struggles

All ahead towards a wild permanent general strike

We call all people to participate in the public open assembly daily at 20.00 in the occupied prefectural administration of Chania and in actions that are decided. The last few days hundreds of people have participated in the decisions of these assemblies.

From Contra Info.