Protests shatter USA on acquittal of Ferguson cop

Almost every day a black person is killed by police in the USA. Never mind the thousands who are arrested and convicted on minor crimes such as possession of marihuana to feed the slavery system of the private prisons. Ferguson is just the tip of the iceberg of a colonial racist system in an extremely undemocratic context.

No wonder that an uproar has surged in the streets of the cities across the Imperial Core.

→ https://twitter.com/hashtag/Ferguson?src=hash

Los Angeles march took over major highway

This uproar is good and necessary and does not only answers to circumstances. However for things to get straight there needs to be a Socialist focus that tackles the problem of oligarchic rule and lack of democracy. Only People's Power can address the very urgent needs of Humankind in the USA or anywhere else. 

The objective conditions for Revolution are here, and not just in the USA, however the subjective ones are not. People is angry with very good reason but they do not seem to know yet how to tackle the prevalent injustice, how to defeat the bourgeois oligarchy and establish a Real Democracy.

Without conscience we are powerless. With class conscience we can change it all. 

Update:

The situation across the USA seems to have been developing towards increased protests all across the territory as well as towards increased violence, particularly from police forces, which had no qualm about gassing around everyone or even shooting at them with rubber bullets and possibly even live ammo (unconfirmed).  

Twitter reports from Ferguson tell of police commanding the press to leave the city at once and also of heavy automatic gunfire. This kind of violence is not only found in the suburb of St. Louis but also in many other cities. 

LA cop shooting against demonstrators with a drum-fed grenade launcher (source)

Millions vote in Catalan independence referendum: 81% support independence

2.3 million Catalans (updated figure) voted yesterday in the independence referendum organized by Catalan institutions and declared illegal by the residual Spanish Empire. The worst fears of military intervention did not materialize and Catalans could vote on the future of their country in spite of all, although with most unionist forces not recognizing the vote. 

The figures are still provisional but reflect 96,8% of the votes, with the following results:

• 80.72% voted for an independent Catalan state
• 10.09% voted for a Catalan state but against independence (i.e. federalism)
• 4.45% voted against a Catalan state
• The rest include blank ballots and irregular choices like yes to independence but no or no choice regarding the concept of "state". This "other" category gathered more than 3% of the votes, suggesting that there is a sizable number of independentists against the state format.

The controversy now is on whether the referendum has any bearing at all, as it is "illegal" by the Imperial dictate of Madrid, and, more subtly if the turnout is enough to legitimate the vote. Obviously this is the burning nail of unionists, who want to somehow count the indifferent in their side this way, even if opinion polls show that the unionist option is much weaker than the independentist one.

For comparison: 

• The 2014 EU elections had a 2.5 million voter turnout
• The 2012 Catalan elections had a 3.7 million voter turnout
• The 2011 Spanish elections had a 3.5 million voter turnout
• The 2006 new statute referendum had a 2.6 million voter turnout

It is obvious that the majority of those who oppose independence did not vote but rather attempted to sabotage the vote with their abstention, supporting that way the Spanish Imperialist doctrine of negation of the right to self-determination of Catalonia and other nations imprisoned within its borders. But how many these abstaining unionist are? 300,000 or 1.5 million? Almost certainly the real figure is somewhere in between, say 800,000, judging on past electoral behavior and opinion polls. 

So while they may be willing to cast doubt on the result of the referendum, their argument is extremely weak and can only resound in the ears of the ignorant and those who are already persuaded. The reality is that at least 2/3 of Catalans who take a stand strongly support independence.

Figures' source: La Vanguardia[es]


Update: Spanish and even Basque institutional media is just ignoring the vote, as if it never happened.

Catalonia is voting its independence

Large queues, a clear sign of popular enthusiasm, are the main thing to mention at noon. In spite of all legal prohibitions, the People of Catalonia is voting massively in this journey of democratic hope. 

The main incident so far took place in a polling station of Girona, where a group of fascists attempted to violently sabotage the vote. Two of them were arrested. 

The spirit of disobedience is riding higher than expected and even the Catalan police corps have declined to identify those in charge of opening the polling stations, while the Catalan Government has assumed all responsibility in this act of democratic empowering and defiance. 

Catalan citizens decide today on the following double question: Do you want Catalonia to be a state? If so, do you want this state to be independent?

Unionists therefore can vote no to the first question, federalists yes to the first one and no to the second one and independentists (expected to win the vote by landslide) yes to both questions.


Madrid: damned if you do, damned if you don't

The Spanish authorities, extremely weakened by extreme loss of legitimacy of both of the twin parties of the post-fascist pseudo-democratic regime, sunk in corruption scandals and social-economic collapse under EU-orchestrated anti-social policies, seem powerless. Legally they could even order the establishment of martial law and what not but that would only escalate the conflict and debilitate the already weak state even more.

Spanish President Mariano Rajoy has claimed that he will stay in government for the whole year that he has left, what he can force because of the technical but non-representative majority his party has in Congress. However reality is tough and his position is every day weaker.

In this sense he recently acknowledged that sending the military police to impede the vote would be so terribly shaming for Spain that can't be actually done.

The journey has not finished yet but the first half of it has been so far a total success for democracy and for the demands of the stateless peoples of Europe. Congratulations Catalonia, thank you Catalonia.

Spanish state at the crossroads

The military-tutored "democracy" in the Kingdom of Spain is clearly collapsing as we speak. Almost 40 years after the death of dictator Franco, his brainchild, the restored Bourbonist constitutional monarchy, integrated in NATO and EU, is dying too. And the almost unnoticed recent change in the identity of the unelected monarch is just a symptom (the former King resigned as the popularity of the Franco's appointed monarchic institution was collapsing, amidst corruption scandals that shatter the whole political establishment, in a rather desperate attempt to refresh the decadent dynasty with a new untested face). 

Catalonia

In three days there will be a referendum in Catalonia for independence almost certainly. It has been declared illegal but it is clear that it cannot be canceled unless whole military occupation of the country is implemented overnight, something that is certainly not impossible but seems quite unlikely to succeed. 

Catalonia, with 16% of the population of the State and probably a larger share of its economy, is almost certainly way too large and its independence movement way too massive, able to take millions to the streets, to be just tackled with a mere military intervention. Never mind the correlative loss of prestige internal and external of the Spanish regime if they dare to do that.

What exactly will happen we will only know on November 9th and rumors abound as a military convoy of 15 armored vehicles, apparently transporting infantry and weapons, crossed through Barcelona yesterday, and a video showing military units being trained for mass unrest quelling has also raised quite an scandal. 

Collapse of the twin party

But surely even more important is the fact of the neo-francoist political establishment suffering a very clear collapse, with the new party Podemos (We Can), which has copied its program almost literally from that of United Left but has a distinct approach to grassroots participation in politics, leading by quite a margin in the most recent official opinion polls (Barómetro CIS Oct. 2014).

Asked about spontaneous vote intention in hypothetical elections tomorrow (question 23), 18% of Spaniards answered that they'd vote for Podemos, followed by 15% for the social-libera PSOE and only 12% for the conservative PP (currently in power). Interestingly, support for the traditional leftist option United Left (coalition around the Communist Party and akin to Greek Syriza although with a more elderly leadership that seems to lack enough charisma) also appears to fall, not reaching 4% in this question.

The combined vote intention plus sympathy compound (table 24b) also places Podemos first in the opinion poll, with 19% of overall popular support, closely followed by the center-left PSOE (18%) and at some distance by the right-wing ruling party PP (14%).

It is interesting to notice that the average popular perception of Podemos, which insists of disdaining the left-right classical polarization, is slightly farther to the left than that of United Left: 2.4 vs 2.7 in a scale where 1 is absolute left and 10 absolute right. Only Amaiur (now EH Bildu, Basque Nationalist Left coalition) is perceived as further to the left, with a 2.2 score.

It is also interesting to notice that the right-wing parties PP and its Navarrese ally UPN lead the extreme distrust results (question 16), with 60% declaring that they would never vote to the PP and (in Navarre only) with 88% declaring that they will not vote to its local ally UPN. Both are ruling in their respective areas and both have been shattered by massive corruption and mismanagement scandals. 

The UPN data evidences that the political situation in Navarre will no doubt change quite radically when local and regional elections are held next spring.

In this question, the best scoring parties are the Catalan Republican Left (ERC) which gets a 3.7 average (on a 1-10 scale) in Catalonia and Podemos with 3.1 (state-wide). These results clearly emphasize the kind of seismic shift that is happening in the Spanish state.

However it must be said that the twin party still probably has enough support to muster a narrow majority in Congress, notably considering the heavily biased Spanish electoral system that strongly favors rural provinces (where sociological change is generally slower and small parties' options almost nil). The deadline for general elections is just a year away and the examples of Italy and Germany show that NATO's quasi-official twin parties are willing to join forces to prevent the much demanded change from happening. 

On the other hand it is not impossible that a snowball effect of sorts attracts even more support to the Podemos phenomenon and hence even that "solution" becomes impossible. In any event, it is clear that the desire for radical change is crystallizing in various forms and that, especially considering its traditional trans-Atlantic links with Latin America, where similar political phenomena (Bolivarianism and also other left options) have been growing in the last decades, the State of Spain becomes a vortex of change in old Europe in the short run.

We will see.

Kurdistan, Kobanê, Communism and everything else

Pepe Escobar has written a good article explaining the issue of Kobanê, Kurdistan and Turkish-led Islamism, I strongly recommend reading it:

The Kobani riddle
By Pepe Escobar

The brave women of Kobani - where Syrian Kurds are desperately fighting ISIS/ISIL/Daesh - are about to be betrayed by the "international community". These women warriors, apart from Caliph Ibrahim's goons, are also fighting treacherous agendas by the US, Turkey and the administration of Iraqi Kurdistan. So what's the real deal in Kobani? 

... continue reading at Asia Times Online.

Linked in the article but very much worth a separate mention is the ideological handbook of the Kurdish Revolutionaries: Abudullah Oçalan's "Democratic Confederalism", which is surely one of the most advanced theoretical analyses of the issue of nations, the so-called "nation-state" and how it must be overcome in Communism (of the libertarian kind, naturally). 

As I have mentioned several times the Kurdish revolutionaries are at the forefront of the renovation of Western* (and possibly other) Revolutionary ideals and clearly deserve our respect and attention.

_______________________

*Western understood as West Eurasian (i.e. roughly the lands West of Pakistan and North of the Sahara). I don't really care for the rusty medieval remnant of Islamo-Christian divide, which may be still somewhat noisy and painful but is a dead man walking anyhow.

As the Fascists enter Kobane, Kurds protest in Western Europe

Kurdish protest at La Hague

The Fascist Islamist genocidal threat is reaching the streets of the besieged town of Kobane in Western Kurdistan (formally part of the Syrian state). The city is being attacked from the South by the Nazil-like forces of the Western-organized Islamic State and cut from its only possible support via the North by the Turkish Army and Police, which do not allow Kurds to cross the artificial border line on the railroad to join the fight. 

As reaction, Kurdish emigrants in Western Europe have been holding major rallies in London and La Hague, among other places. In London they occupied the largest subway station, Oxford Circus, while in La Hague they took the gates of of the Dutch Parliament. They demand decided action against the Islamic State and in support of Kurdistan. 

Meanwhile in Kobane the self-defenses have declared the town military zone and asked all civilians to leave, as it is well known that the Islamic State holds a genocidal policy against all those they consider their enemies. By the moment it seems that the presence of Fascists in the streets of Kobane is limited to a few outskirts buildings but the situation is dire in any case, with US air attacks (secretly approved by Damascus) shown to be nearly useless. 

In this sense Kurdish forces demand mainly one thing: good weapons that can be used against the Fascists, whose equipment is excellent thanks to Western support and the takeover of large hoards from the Iraqi Army. As we have seen in Ukraine, this kind of technical advantage may not be enough against a decided popular resistance fighting for their lives, but, while the Ukrainian Christian-Fascists have only a very weak grasp on the populace and totally plays the Western Imperial game as subordinates, the Arab Islamo-Fascists seem to have a much better organization, capable to defy established stats like Syria and Iraq and co-opt large chunks of the Sunni Arab population, including expert soldiers, while their game is blurrier: with vague pretenses of establishing a supposedly anti-Western empire but clearly historical and present day support by Western Imperialist forces. 

The most obvious one is Turkey. While Saudi Arabia, the USA and even Israel now pretend to be against the Islamic State, taking some formal and even military actions against it. Turkey is clearly playing in favor of their Arab Fascist allies by blocking any possibility of support from Northern Kurdistan (under Turkish occupation). 

Naturally the USA is playing with two decks here: the IS is designed to be an excuse for the Empire to intervene in Syria and Iraq, weakening the influence of Iran, Russia and China in the area. By the moment the USA has conducted some air strikes, which seem to have no or very limited impact in the developments on the ground. The situation is in nearly all aspects a repetition of the Islamist uprising in Mali, which served the USA to gain some drone bases in the region and for France to return to its traditional role of post-colonial "protector" of the African regimes.

However West Asia is by all means much more geostrategical and volatile than West Africa. And the perilous game that the Western agents are playing there will have no doubt much greater consequences for all, including Europe. 

Biden speaks out

US Vice-President Joe Biden has been saying a few truths as of late, even if he had to apologize for them and some imperialist press paint him as prone to the foot-in-mouth disease. The reality is that he's saying, very mildly, what needs to be said. 

First of all, he accused Erdogan's Islamist Turkey of supporting the IS by allowing many of its members to enter Syria, what is true. Erdogan claimed to Heaven and Hell for his innocence and said that those fanatics crossed the border as unarmed tourists.

He also claimed that, as it is true that they kept the border way too open in the past, now they are keeping it tightly closed. What translated to plain English means: yes, we did allow the Fascist Islamists to enter Syria and provided all kind of help to them and now we won't allow the Kurdish militias to help the defense of Kobane. 

A full confession in diplomatic slang. Still Biden had to apologize, what underlines the actual role that the USA and its allies in the region are playing regarding the IS: covert support and a mere pretense of indignation, mostly oriented to gain imperialist control.

Another interesting remark by Vice-President Biden was that the USA has embarrassed its European allies by forcing sanctions against Russia that mostly harm the EU.

Kurdistan as bastion of Humanism and Progress in West Asia

Kurdistan and the Kurdish People stand today as the main bastion of resistance against Islamism and Imperialism. But they are more than that: in the course of their struggle for self-determination, they have developed strong progressive and socialist ideals, even recently trying to overcome the burden of bourgeois nation-state cages by appealing to confederate democratic self-rule of the peoples and communities of the region. 

It is not needed to mention that, among Kurds, and in spite of the deeply rooted historical burden of Muslim Patriarchy, women enjoy increasingly equal status, largely thanks to their own commitment in the guerrillas and militias that defend their country against their oppressors. Socialist ideals stand high among Kurds and definitely they hold better than anyone else the banner of Humanism in West Asia, being nearly impossible to defeat thanks to their numbers (the largest stateless nation on Earth) and the mountains that shelter them. 

In this sense I can't but issue again another appeal for almost unconditional support for the Kurdish cause, because it is not different in essence to the cause of Humankind. 

Long Live the Kurdish People!

Long Live Free Kurdistan!

Catalonia calls independence referendum

Support for independentism in Catalonia per the 2012 elections

Yesterday at 10:30, Catalan President Artur Mas, backed by his cabinet and the parliamentary majority, solemnly signed the decree 129/2014, which calls for a referendum on Catalan independence on November 9th. 

After signing such a historical decree, Mas spoke to the press in Catalan, Spanish and English, emphasizing the broad majority that supports this decision and recalling the massive citizen mobilizations of the last years, which have gathered millions once and again, in support for the right of self-determination of Catalonia. 

Then he walked out to the street to personally greet members of the movements National Catalan Assembly (ANC) and Òmnium Cultural, which have been impelling the movement for self-determination at grassroots level in a non-partisan way. 

These organizations installed a giant urn and a counter, which yesterday marked 42 days and 12 hours until the referendum. 

Meanwhile in the offices, Vice-President Joana Ortega was approving the technical aspects of the vote: the census that will be used (the population registry of the Catalan Statistical Office, Idescat), printing the ballots, organizing the urns, etc. An informative campaign on the referendum was also initiated. 

Most of the parties supporting the referendum already have clear that they will call for a YES vote. These are Democratic Convergence (CDC), Republican Left (ERC) and the Popular Unity List (CUP). Two other parties are still debating: Democratic Union (UDC), minor partner of Mas' CDC, will decide their position on a meeting this Sunday, while Intiative for Catalonia - The Greens will do so via an internal vote. 

Meanwhile the Spanish Nationalist parties PSOE, PP and the racist far-right seedling Ciutadans, have all decided to ignore the referendum altogether, as they consider it illegal.

For reference, this is the representation that each party or coalition has in the Parliament of Catalonia:

1. Convergence and Union (CiU = CDC + UDC): 50 seats
2. Republican Left (ERC): 21 seats
3. PSC-PSOE: 20 seats
4. PP: 19 seats
5. Initiative for Catalonia - Greens: 13 seats
6. Ciutadans: 9 seats
7. People's Unity: 3 seats

Notice that in the European elections and opinion polls CiU has yielded much support to ERC, while the Spanish Nationalist parties have clearly lost support, among other reasons for their support and implementation of draconian EU pro-bankster anti-social policies but also because of the striking national awakening of the Catalan People. 

Madrid dead-set to veto democracy

With their usual imperialist arrogance and disrespect for democracy, the Spanish twin party PP-PSOE stands clearly determined to block the right of Catalans to decide on their own affairs. 

Today an emergency cabinet meeting will be held in Moncloa Palace, the see of the Spanish government. The cabinet will appeal the referendum to the Constitutional Court, which will meet on Tuesday. It is widely expected that the Spanish tribunal will veto the Catalan decree that very day. 

While this outcome is widely expected no matter what, as there is no real separation of powers in Spain nor effective judicial independence, from a purely legal viewpoint the reason seems to stand in favor of Catalonia. In this sense the preamble of the referendum decree clearly underlines that Catalonia has been transferred the right and management of popular consultations in order to gauge the opinion of the people. 

Technically the referendum is just consultative and the Catalan authorities have the power to promote Constitutional reforms and to ask Catalans on their opinion for this purpose. With the law on hand, the referendum is therefore absolutely legal. 

Even if the Spanish Constitutional Court vetoes the referendum, Mas has announced that he will keep the process rolling on the pretext that, if the decree is suspended and not directly declared null, this suspension can theoretically be removed at any moment, reason why the whole process must keep going. 

Source: Gara[es].

Spain on the eve of its dissolution

The very continuity of the State of Spain, as we have known it, presents every day more question marks. This is how Gara's cartoonist Tasio sees this critical moment:

... with the pen of the Catalan referendum decree being a torpedo that threatens to sink Ship Spain. 

No kidding: France, Spain and many other European and Mediterranean states built on the uniformist, assimilationist and hyper-centralist Jacobin (neo-Absolutist) model designed by the French bourgeoisie after the Revolution, have serious cohesion issues. 

The case of Spain is however paradigmatic: Catalonia, with 7.6 million inhabitants, makes up 16% of all the population of the state. Together with almost three million Basques, who are also fighting for our self-determination, that is more than 21% of the so-called "Spanish" population. In industrial and overall economic might, the share is even greater. And I haven't yet counted the other Catalan Countries or the other nations like Galicia where independentism is a strong force. Even in historical core areas like Andalusia or Aragon, nationalism, particularly left-wing nationalism with a strong social consciousness and revolutionary programs, is clearly growing as we speak.

Naturally not just Castile or "core Spain" will actively and even violently fight against the rights of the Catalan and Basque peoples to rule ourselves in democracy, but France particularly will do as well. By extension and design so will do all NATO. So shaking off the joke of Spanish and French occupation does not seem easy at all. 

But Spain is the weakest link in all this Western Imperial alliance bloc. It has been so historically and it is even more nowadays. Spain is economically and politically weak. Even in its recent apogee in the late 1990s and early 2000s, it could not manage to be accepted among the G7 powers, not even in the much wider G20, a clear sign of its dependency on other powers such as France, the USA, Germany and Britain. The weakness of its "economic miracle", based on real state speculation even more than in the USA or Britain, was revealed under the light of the global economic crisis that began in 2007 and shows no sign of abating.

It is of course very possible that Spain will, very provisionally, survive this ongoing process of self-determination in Catalonia and the Basque Country, thanks to its police and military might and its international alignment as vassal of the NATO Empire. But it is extremely clear that it is weakened to the marrow and that its chances of survival, in its current extension, in the mid term are very close to zero. Time and the will of the Peoples strongly work against this authoritarian monster created only by the power of military bullying. 

Today this military authoritarian only pillar of the Kingdom of Spain is clearly not anymore enough to keep the state together. We don't live anymore in the times of Absolutist nor Fascist tyrants: cohesion can't be produced only by military violence, the Peoples are not willing to swallow that anymore, the whole social paradigm has changed and, sooner than later, Democracy will prevail.

ETA calls for a broad national agreement for self-determination

On the Basque Fighters' Day, September 27th, the Basque guerrilla Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (Basqueland And Freedom), in unilateral permanent ceasefire since more than three years ago, has issued a new communication.

They argue that the international situation for self-determination of oppressed peoples has entered a new stage with the Scottish and Catalan referendums and that, being the right to decide an overwhelming demand of Basque society, a broad-spectrum agreement must be reached among the political forces around this immediate goal.

While this demand is clearly hegemonic among Basques, the occupant authorities from Madrid of Paris are doing everything to harm the Basque Country, imposing all kind of laws and economic impositions and increasing political repression against Basque citizens. 

That is why ETA calls for a broad National Agreement with the goal of effectively implementing the right of self determination in the Basque Country. Being this a key historical moment for the hopes of freedom of the Basque Nation.

With the sight quite clearly on Catalonia, which is calling for a referendum for November 9th in spite of all Spanish legal and political obstacles, ETA mentions that the upcoming months will see critical developments for the hopes of the Basque People, making a rally call for all activists of the Basque Nationalist Left to work for the success of this opportunity.

They reckon that the way ahead is not easy, but they sustain that it is possible:

We are building the road to freedom and, with faith in our strength, illusion and energy, we will achieve it.

They finish with the usual slogan:

Long live the Free Basque Country!

Long live the Socialist Basque Country!

Keep working until independence and socialism are achieved!

Sources: Gara: 

• Full ETA communication in Basque language.
• Synthesis of the previous communication in Castlian-Spanish language.

Tortures reported in political trial against Basque youths

The five youths arrested in Loiola are part of a much larger group of 28 being tried for their political activism and ideology at the Spanish Inquisition (Audiencia Nacional) these days in Madrid. 

The trial began yesterday with the victims of political persecution turning their backs to the court in signal of non-recognition and showing banners in demand of repatriation of Basque prisoners. 

After an hour and a half of suspension the farce trial continued at close doors with the declarations of the victims of persecution, most of whom have denounced tortures that forced them to sign self-inculpatory declarations. 

Ander Maeztu reported systematic beatings and the so-called "bag" torture (asphyxia by putting a bag on your head). Garazi Autor denounced sexual agressions and beatings. 

Izaskun Goñi, who knew for two years before her arrest that she was being under persecution, reported the anguish suffered for all that time expecting that any night (it's almost always by night) police entered her home and arrested her, beginning the much feared "long journey". When it finally happened she suffered a panic attack. 

Among the "evidence" against her is her participation in a protest against the murder of baker Anger Berrueta by a policeman in Pamplona in 2004. 

Ohiana López and Eneko Villegas reported systematic beatings and forced physical exercise up to extenuation. They say that their declarations are totally false. 

Ibon Esteban and Egoi Irisarri also denounced tortures. Esteban managed to identify one of his torturers and showed a photo of this vile man to the court. Irisarri declared that in Canillas [police station] I went through hell.

The only one not reporting tortures this first day of the trial was Endika Pérez, who was arrested by French police in the Northern Basque Country, soon after taking part in a sit-in in Izpura precisely to denounce the possibility of being arrested and deported to Spain. 

Second day of the hearing

The day began with the court sending to prison the five citizens arrested in Loiola, claiming risk of evasion, action that was opposed by the defense on the grounds that they were all the time localized and never attempted such evasion. 

Then the narrations of torture sessions continued:

Imanol Beristain reported being subjected to forced postures, beatings and kickings, sexual aggressions. He reported to have lost consciousness because of the pain, waking up drenched in sweat. 

Rubén Villa declared that he began to be tortured already in the Bilbao police station. He was told, sarcastically, that he could relax, that they would not pull out his fingernails nor bury him in quicklime (as happened to two ETA members decades ago, after being captured by the Spanish police). Then they dragged him to a window, pulling half his body out and said: this is the last time you will breathe the air of Bilbao. The forensic doctor did not even pay attention to his complains. 

Xabat Moran explained: they manage to make your head crack... your body is still yours but your head they own it. I did not control my own actions. 

Moran denounced forced postures, beating, "the bag" (asphyxiation) and insinuations that they were raping his girlfriend in the nearby room. Just an hour before being sent to the instruction judge he was naked and in state of shock in the very room he had been tortured, being that the reason he signed a false declaration. 

Ainara Ladrón reported "hell" in the journey to Madrid: they beat me, they hit me with their fists on my ribs, they pushed me against the window and yelled at me all the time. She also denounced sexual aggressions in the police station, rejecting what she signed then, even if this declaration was not self-inculpatory. She has requested to skip the bulk of the trial sessions on the grounds of being pregnant, request that has been granted.

Ikoitz Arrese, Saioa Zubiaur and Xabier Bidaurre also reported tortures in the incommunicado period of their arrest. Arrese denounced a fake execution, with a policeman placing a gun on her head. Among other tortures, Bidaurre reported that he was threatened with the rape of his companion.

The farce trial continues today. 

Source[es]: Naiz Info (link 1, link 2).

Civil resistance against political repression at Loiola

The five youths challenging the Spanish Inquisition

Several Basque youths under political persecution by the Spanish authorities have staged today, along with a huge number of supporters an act of civil resistance against the repression they are subjected to for their political ideas. The scenario chosen for this act of defiance was the Sanctuary of Loiola, a Jesuit temple erected in the home lands of Eneko Loiola, known to posterity as Ignatius of Loyola.

"Basque" police soon appeared in riot gear, their faces covered under the black masks of mercenary shame. The result can be watched in the following videos:

Sources: Borroka Garaia Da, Argia.

Masks made easy identification of the persecuted impossible

Update (Sep 24): 

Those above were just the first videos that made it to the web. The police intervention lasted three hours and included a good deal of violence. Besides the five victims of inquisitorial persecution, two others have been arrested accused of "aggression" against a policeman, almost certainly untrue.

You can watch several other videos at Muy Basto and judge yourself.

It is true that a cop was injured but that's because he slipped badly on the stairs, falling down painfully, but all on his own. 

Many citizens were also injured by police violence.

The names of the five victims of inquisitorial persecution are: Jazint Ramirez, Xabier Arina, Imanol Salinas, Igarki Robles and Irati Tobar.

Repression for civil resistance: huge fines requested against some nonviolent activists

In a distinct but related development, five Basque citizens are being judged for taking part in the "human wall" that attempted to protect another victim of political persecution, Urtza Alkorta, last year (see here and here).

Arbitrarily accused of "aggression against authorities", four of them face possible fines of € 8850, around a year's salary for many.

Source: Naiz Info[eu].

Imagine that there is a pro-occupation demo and nobody goes...

Go away!!

Yes, I'm paraphrasing the old war resisters' slogan "Imagine that there is a war and nobody goes". It's not that different in fact and that is exactly what happened.

Far right groups called for a demo in Pamplona in support of the Spanish occupation forces. Only some ten fanatics showed up and the demo was canceled right away by the organizers, admittedly because nobody had come.

It seems obvious that NOBODY supports the Spanish military and police occupation or Navarre or the Basque Country in general.

Source: Sare Antifaxista[es].



Update (Sep 24):

Image of the demo:

Satire of the failed demo:

Source: BGD!

Fundamentalist pincer against Kurdish civilians

The Western-armed "Islamic State" has attacked the Kurdish town of Kobanê (also known as Ayn al-Arab), causing the flight of some 70,000 civilians to Northern Kurdistan, under Turkish occupation. The Islamist government of Ankara, known to be the most unconditional supporter of Ibrahim's "Caliphate", has closed the artificial colonial border, which runs along the Istanbul-Baghdad railroad through this part of Kurdistan. 

Thousands of Northern Kurds have been pushing towards the barbed-wire occupation line with the intent of helping the refugees or even joining the struggle against the Islamists. As the Turkish occupation forces wouldn't let them move freely, clashes began near the checkpoint.

A large number of civilians remain trapped south of the occupation line (→ video) without food nor water after being forced to run for their lives as the Islamist forces advanced around Kobanê destroying everything.

As happens with the Yezidi refugees taken under the protection of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the Turkish state is not at all willing to help them even passively, regardless of the fact that the PKK and Ankara have been in a stable truce for a whole year now. The attitude of Ankara has been all the time to support the Islamic State and favor their war crimes. Thousands of Ibrahim's fanatic followers are Turkish, the Turkish Army has trained Islamic State's thugs in NATO's most important airbase in the region: Incirlik (what implies also US participation and blessing) and, while closing the occupation line to Kurds, has allowed the border to remain open for the Islamist terrorists. 

Much as in Ukraine or Palestine: NATO, the US Empire and its many puppets, means fascist dictatorship and terror for the civilians everywhere, whose lives become incidental to the power-mongering of the imperialist forces and totally expendable. Kurdistan is no exception and, especially considering that the Kurdish forces have one of the most advanced socio-political analysis in our West Eurasian region, they deserve all the solidarity we can muster: because they are the only good guys and girls in all the region, the only ones who seem to have clear priorities of equality, freedom and respect and not some fanatic fascist agenda that only serves the oligarchs of the World at the expense of the people.  

The Humanist ideals in West Asia are spelled "Kurdistan", let's give them all our support, let's smash those fascists!

Scotland votes today on its future

Will the majority of Scots vote for an independent Scotland or prefer to stay under English rule? Whichever their choice, what is most important is that they do get to choose, something that most people-nations in Europe or elsewhere are not allowed to. 

This makes the Scottish referendum a central reference in the ongoing process of internal European decolonization, which is one of the most painful democracy issues in the subcontinent awaiting resolution. 

All other oppressed people-nations of Europe look at Scotland today with great interest and to London also with some admiration for being able to allow the fundamental democratic right to secession. Meanwhile the petty tyrants of Madrid, Paris and other neo-Absolutist (Jacobin) regimes shiver and grunt, fearing not just contagion (most of the separatist movements in their residual empires are older and stronger than the Scottish one) but particularly the difficulty of justifying repression against attempts of democratic empowering when such a precedent has been set.

Would I live in Scotland (where I'd be entitled to vote as resident EU citizen, per the rules of this referendum), I would definitely vote YES. No nation has ever repented from regaining sovereignty, even if some times the road to freedom may be difficult. Ask the Estonians if they would want to be again under Russian domination, ask the Angolans if they would like to be Portuguese again, ask the Irish if they would rather be British, ask the Icelanders if they'd prefer to be Danes, ask the Kosovars if they'd wish to be under Serbia or ask the Greeks if they'd want to be under the Turkish yoke? Nobody ever repented from getting their natural rights. And that will also be the case with Scotland if the YES option succeeds today. 

Of course it is the decision of Scots and we must all respect it, whichever it is, but we must also all be glad that they get the right to choose, something that is a fundamental human right, seldom respected. 

Hopefully soon Basques, Catalans, Corsicans, Bretons, Kurds, Chechens, Sahrawis and other oppressed peoples of this part of the World will follow suit. It is time of decolonization.

Millions of Catalans march for freedom in their National Day

a segment of the massive demo

Some 1.8 million people (according to police sources) gathered at central Barcelona to form a human "V" on the two main avenues of the capital. 

This is the third consecutive year in which millions demonstrate for Catalan independence on their national day. But this year it seems even more relevant because a referendum on independence is scheduled for November 9th, but this one has been declared illegal by Spanish Imperialism. 

Catalans showed their defiance in this day. Muriel Casals, of Òmnium Cultural, said in her speech: 

We are not afraid, the voice of the Catalan People is above whatever a tribunal in Madrid may say. 

It is also the 300th anniversary of the defeat of Catalonia, which fought for the Habsburgs in the War of Spanish Succession - because these granted their statehood, suppressed by the Bourbons upon French-Castilian victory. This was reminded by Carme Forcadell, of the non-partisan Catalan National Assembly (ANC) movement, who said:

We have demonstrated that our People is able to take upon any challenge and, thanks to that, on November 9th we will decide on whether we want to remain part of the Spanish State or become a free and sovereign state of our own.

She then demanded from the Catalan elect authorities to adhere to the will of the People and set the urns. President Artur Mas showed his adherence to this demand in press conference later on.

general view of the demo

Some international representatives were also present, among them Liam O'Hare of the Radical Independence Campaign of Scotland, who showed his disapproval of the Spanish veto to the Catalan referendum. 

Pathetic Unionist counter-demos

A few thousand concentrated in Tarragona at the call of all the so-called Catalan Civil Society, gathering representatives of all Unionist parties (PP, PSOE, UPyD, PxC, MSR - some of them outwardly fascist). A small fascist group also tried to sabotage the acts in Barcelona.


Sources: Gara[es], photos from La Vanguardia and El Periódico.

Ukraine: Mariupol surrounded by the Militia: fascists and NATO officers inside

The latest news from Ukraine are that the Antifascist Militias advanced very clearly in the South of Donetsk People's Republic surrounding two new pockets of variegated Junta troops, which include police forces, the remnants of the Nazi battalions "Azov" and "Dnepr" and six NATO officers. These Western officers, specialists in informatics, were in charge of the propaganda war but somehow ended up in the frontline (almost certainly because the Junta lacks loyal troops and even loyal commanders) and now they seem to be trapped in the port city of Mariupol, whose citizenry clearly stands with the rebels.

The Militia's advance towards the coast has been dramatic as can be seen in the following maps, which show the situation on mid-August and the end of the month:

Overall military situation in August 14-24

Mariupol surrounded in August 29th

Global research discusses the Late August defeat of the Junta in a rather detailed article (from which the first map was taken).

Meanwhile the Junta only seems able to make bombardments of civilian buildings in Lugansk, where several apartment buildings and a school were destroyed, and Donetsk (no details reported). Meanwhile, in a single day, they lost 7 tanks, 28 other armored vehicles, 22 other vehicles, two missile launchers type "Grad".

Source: Euskal Herria - Donbass Solidarity Committee[es/eu] (link 1, link 2, link 3).

Teens against fascism

Also Kristina Rus mentions in her Facebook page the emotive story of 72 teenagers, too young to be allowed to join the Militia but who were not willing to see their hometowns taken by the Nazis, so they organized their own resistance:

Battalion "Youth Self-defence" consisted of 72 16-18 year olds from Lisichansk and Severodonetsk, who were too young to join the militia, but wanted to defend their cities. 24 girls joined the battalion. 72 kids held Lisichansk for 2 days by themselves against 2,000 fighters of National Guard, when Mozgovoi's battalion "Ghost" left the city, waiting for reserves from Lugansk. They were armed with just AK's, 3 machine guns and 2 sniper rifles. Neutralized several dozen national guardsmen, 3 armed vehicles and 2 Grads. When they began to retreat to Alchevsk, after realizing that no help is coming, they were shelled with Grad, and 18 of them were killed. So, 18 of them won't be going back to high-school or college this fall ...

Gaza devastation seen from the air

This short video shows how the neighborhood of Shujaiya was flattened by Zionist genocidal hatred:

(via The Electronic Intifada)

The images were taken with a quadrocopter drone.

Almost even worse than the devastation is the impunity of Zionist hate-speech online. Just go to the corresponding YouTube page and read the many anti-semitic (anti-Arab) murderous comments...

Dominican Republic: Army attacks peaceful ecologists with machine-guns

The fascist degeneration of the Dominican Republic continues. After all kind of absurdly racist maneuvers like the removal of citizenship to all people with origins in nearby Haiti since a century ago or the pathetic fiasco of forcing women to straighten their hair in order to get the ID card photo taken, today the fascist involution of the Dominican state has taken a further step. 

A Green March in defense of the declaration of Loma Miranda as National Park was held these days (picture), with a camp being set in the would-be park. The Dominican Army has surrounded the camp, what triggered the mass support of the local inhabitants of El Algarrobo for the protesters. 

The Army has reacted by firing gun-machines. It is unclear at this time if anyone has been injured or killed. 

Source: Webguerrillero[es] (background[es])

France: Rothschild minion appointed new Economy Minister

François Hollande and Emmanuel Macron

The French government crisis has been "solved" with an even greater turn to the Right, removing the three critical ministers and replacing them with loyal minions of the Capitalist International, notably former Adjunct Secretary to the Presidency, Emmanuel Macron, who used to be a high executive (2008-12) of Rothschild & Cie Banque, the investment branch of Paris Orléans SCA, which is the flagship of the Rothschild Banking Group.

The other new ministers are Najad Vallaud-Belkacem (Education) and Fleur Pellerin (Culture). 

The only critical minister keeping her position is Christine Taubira (Justice), who is best known for having promoted the homosexual marriage law. 

The majority of the Valls government in the National Assembly is thin, with the PS holding a mere plurality of the seats (48.5%), some of which are openly hostile to this reactionary cabinet, and needing hence the support of the so-called Party of the Radical Left (meaning the left-leaning faction of the liberal "radicals", almost identical to the PS in their liberalism), who hold 2% of the parliamentary weight but three of the portfolios. 

Negotiations to gather the support of Europe Ecology - The Greens have failed. No other party supports the cabinet, although there are some independents (collectively known as miscellaneous left) who may do.

Sources[es]: Gara, Público. 

Government crisis in France underlines the failure of EU "austerity"

Aggressive discourses against Germany-led "austerity" (recession) policies in the Eurozone were issued by several prominent ministers in this dramatic government crisis. The collapse of the popularity of the very reactionary "socialist" Prime Minister Manuel Valls (who is still in charge but for how long?) and the rise of these "rebel" ministers who openly criticize the Eurozone policies and the destructive leadership of Germany in all this social and economical catastrophe, underline that it is a most serious conflict on the socio-economic model in the French Republic and in the whole European Union. 

One of those rising PS stars is Arnaud Monteburg, former Minister of Economy, who has been very fierce in his criticism of Merkel and generally German euro-destructive policies. Excerpts of his commentaries:

You have to raise your voice. Germany is trapped in an austerity policy that it imposed across Europe (...) France is the eurozone's second-biggest economy, the world's fifth-greatest power, and it does not intend to align itself, ladies and gentlemen, with the excessive obsessions of Germany's conservatives (...) The priority must be exiting crisis and the dogmatic reduction of deficits should come second.

Montebourg is a heavyweight in the Socialist Party, getting 17% of the votes in the 2012 presidential primaries. He has been minister since Hollande became president but not anymore because he is now openly confronting the corporate subservient policies of his bosses.

The Minister of Education, Benoît Hamon, agreed wholeheartedly:

Merkel cannot be anymore the one leading Europe's course. (...) You cannot sell anything to the French unless they have money in their pockets.

Former Housing Minister, Cécile Duflot (Greens) has also attacked very verbosely both Holland and Valls for their disaster policies. 

No matter what, the new Valls cabinet plans to apply the EU-demanded €50 billion budget reduction in three years. And will do it by loading the cost on the popular classes: pension and public salary cuts and destruction of public services.

It seems however that Valls has not at all granted the support of Parliament for this endeavor, as more and more critical voices arise from inside his own party. Naturally they will get no support from the Right, which hopes for snap elections.

Sources: Gara[es], Russia Today.

Ukraine: Fascists flee as Militias march on Mariupol

The Fascist troops that occupied the harbor town of Mariupol, south of Donetsk, have evacuated the city as the Militias march decidely against them, fleeing towards the west (Zaporozhie and Mangushev).

Source: EHDEK[es], Novorus.info[ru]

Other news from Ukraine:

→ Nazi prisoners paraded in Donetsk (videos and photo-slide)

→ Interview with Borotba activist fighting in Donbass (in Spanish)

→ Communication of the Internationalist Spanish "Carlos Palomino" Brigade (in Spanish)

→ Interview with a member of the aforementioned Brigade (in Spanish)

→ Interview with French internationalists in Donbass (in Spanish)

Also solidarity with Palestine and Donbass in the fiestas of my hometown Bilbao (source):

Peoples resist through the destruction of the media blockade!

Hydrogen from water with cheap catalysts

Until now all hydrolysis catalysts were made out of precious metals, making relatively impractical to produce hydrogen (a top quality fuel that emits only water vapor as residue) in large quantities out of water, what implied the use of polluting methane instead, a bad "solution". 

However US researchers have now developed a nickel-based catalyst that performs even better than the old expensive ones, shows promise of durability and even reduces the electric tension needed so much that even a common 1.5 V battery can do the job. 

Scaled up industrial designs are under research but seem perfectly feasible, judging on the excellent results of these nickel catalysts. 

Effective transformation of electric energy into hydrogen and a modicum of political will are all that are needed to make the jump from a petroleum-based energy system to one based on renewables with minimal, if any, pollution impact.

The main problem of renewable sources of energy is that their supply is somewhat unstable and their relative low portability. However being able to store all that energy in hydrogen form, split out of water, should solve these inconveniences and, politics allowing, even fully replace our current, polluting and growingly expensive, reliance on fossil fuels.

Ukraine: Anarchist guerrilla arises in Zaporozhia

Nestor Makhno

The most striking recent development in Ukraine's war against Fascism is the raising of an Anarchist guerrilla, named Makhno Battalion, which is operating behind the lines not just in Zaporozhia but also in Dniepropetrovsk. 

Their ideology is rather different from the more generically nationalist slogans that often dominate the discourse in the rebel Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, figuring among them the goal of liberating all Ukraine from Fascism and not just certain regions. They are also different from the fake "anarchists" financed by Western oligarchs like George Soros to create confusion, which have been spreading disinformation about what is actually happening in Ukraine.

The Makhno Battalion first attacked a column of the Fascist National Guard, accompanied by US military advisors, on August 7th, destroying several tanks. 

On August 21st they attacked again the National Guard in the region of Dniepropetrovsk. The Fascist unit was retreating from Ilovaysk, where they had been previously crushed by the Donbass Militia. The bounty was Zionist-made body armors and machine guns Fort-221.

Sources: Euskal Herria - Donbas Elkartasun Komitea[es], Politikus[ru], Segodnia[ru].

See also for historical background at Wikipedia: Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine and Free Territory.

Other developments

With date of August 21st, Euskal Herria - Donbass Solidarity Committee, mirrors another military report in English (originally from Novorossiya News Agency) which briefly mentions a number of battles, particularly around Lutgino, where the Junta's forces have managed to make a limited but potentially dangerous breakthrough, which is being countered by Militia's counter-attacks and some successful defense actions. 

They also mention Militia's progress around Slavyanoserbsk and a clear advance to the North of Lugansk, still in development at the time of this report. Most enemy forces are described as "Nazis", what suggests that they are either part of the National Guard or the armored battalions organized by the oligarchs, all them full of Banderista fanatics. Regular troops are only mentioned in relation with the pocket of Zhdanovka, where they have been systematically besieged and punished by the Militia since weeks ago. 

In general terms there would seem that there is not any more a regular Ukrainian Army worth that name, just Fascist units in rather difficult situation. 

The Basque Solidarity Committee also mentions[es] that the the Russian humanitarian aid trucks have successfully arrived to Lugansk in spite of the Junta's bombings, sanctioned by NATO, which claims that sending humanitarian aid is a "violation of sovereignty". No mention to the many crimes against humankind committed by the Junta, of course, let alone their absolute lack of legitimacy. 

Russian humanitarian aid convoy