For what we are... they will be

'Journalist' A. Mora threatens anti-Zionist protester with belt (video) - resigns hours later

2012-03-07T21:37:00.000+01:00

Must watch because this gesture is only proper of a fascist.

The Journalists' Association of Granada was celebrating, in a clearly pro-Zionist act (not commemorated by anybody else as far as I know, the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Apartheid Regime in Palestine (alias Israel) and the Kingdom of Spain.

Some people staged a protest in solidarity with Palestine and Antonio Mora, President of the association, had no better idea that to take out his belt and threaten with it one of the women who were protesting with a Palestinian flag, then pushing and threatening a camera-woman.

We can only imagine that this fascist used to beat his own children that way, if he have any, being the signature of a sick man and a rotten soul.

Soon after he had to resign.

Sources: Sare Antifaxista[es], Typically Spanish.

...

Spanish police dismantles repeater antenna for Basque TV in Pamplona district

2012-03-07T20:26:00.000+01:00

The antenna had been installed on January 11th by opposition party Basque Solidarity (EA), which spent 12,000 euros in it, the main reason being that in Navarre there are no Basque-language TV channels because of institutional hostility towards Basque language and identity and that in the past there was no difficulty in watching ETB in the old kingdom.

The reaction by the Spanish Nationalist coalition government was to declare the repeater 'illegal' and to begin the paperwork to destroy it. Today Spanish police has dismantled it.

Source: Gara[es].

Military presence in the center of Pamplona

Spanish troops have been spotted occupying a square in the center of Pamplona, at Stronghold Plaza (Plaza del Baluarte), reports Ateak Ireki, with this photo:

Factoid: in Navarre more people killed by police than by ETA

2012-03-06T23:06:00.000+01:00

In a conference of Euskal Memoria (Basque Memory) on the anniversary of the murder of Angel Berrueta, victim of a policeman and neighbor, who has almost not been punished, of the 92 mortal victims of the Basque-Spanish conflict in the last decades, only 39 can be attributed to ETA, the other 52 are victims of police violence either in uniform or as members of various death squads.

Source: Ateak Ireki[es] (includes short video).

In coma after Nazi homophobic attack in Chile

2012-03-06T13:31:00.001+01:00

Daniel Zamudio, 24, was attacked by fascists in the center of Santiago de Chile apparently on the pretext of his homosexual preferences.

He is struggling for his life at hospital, in coma. The Nazis did not just beat Daniel almost to death but they cut part of his ear and engraved swastikas on his skin.

He had been previously threatened and been victims of followings.

Source: Sare Antifaxista[es].

Lukashenko's homophobia

2012-03-06T12:52:00.000+01:00

While there are still some confused minds in the so-called 'anti-imperialist left' (which is not left and doubtfully anti-imperialist but just a bunch of vocal and Cold War nostalgic neo-Stalinists) who would support any fascist tyrant claiming to oppose the "American Empire" and what not... these tyrants reveal themselves for what they really are with just paying some attention.

For example Belorussian dictator Alexander Lukashenko just declared in self-inculpatory statement that it is 'better to be dictator than gay'.

Really? I do not think so, Alex. Not only being gay is perfectly fine (neither better nor worse) but being a criminal dictator who squeezes the people has no justification whatsoever and, by a long justice tradition stemming at least from Francisco de Vitoria, deserves execution.

What we do not deserve in Europe is to have fascists like you, Alex. Hopefully this will be the last of your hurtful buffooneries.

Source: Sare Antifaxista[es].

From the Net: 'Russia: Prosecutions and detentions of demonstrators amid anti-election protests' (Contra Info)

2012-03-06T12:36:00.000+01:00

Correspondents of avtonom will spread photos and videos of events on March 5th in Moscow, as well as in St. Petersburg.

According to recent reports, during protest action in Pushkin Square in Moscow about 25 anarchists were arrested. Three more young men were detained in the beginning of the rally because they had their faces covered.

Also, on the same day in Moscow two members of the feminist punk band Pussy Riot, who were held detained from the weekend due to a band’s performance (see video below), appeared before the prosecutor; their lawyer said that his clients will remain in custody until April 24th.

In St. Petersburg, one of the slogans was ‘OUR SOLUTION: SELF-GOVERNANCE!’ There, five people were reportedly arrested. In particular, when Molotov cocktails were thrown at one point, the pigs attacked the crowd and caught the first people who were closer.

Pussy Riot intervention in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in February 21st, 2012, when Putin was described as ‘the head of the KGB’ in their lyrics:

From: Contra Info (more videos at link).

Imperial summit moved from Chicago to Camp David.

2012-03-06T12:28:00.000+01:00

The imperial summit 2012 (G8) will not be held at Chicago. The organizers have panicked after the success of the Occupy Wall Street movement and have moved it to the infamous Camp David mansion, weekend residence of the almighty emperors... opsa, US Presidents.

It is still only 100 Km. from Washington D.C. but I guess it's rural enough to be easily controlled by police and military. Or so it seems.

Still Chicago is to held the most important military imperial meeting of NATO and ISAF (occupation army of Afghanistan).

Source and further discussion at Kasama.

Iceland's former PM on trial for financial negligence

2012-03-05T13:17:00.000+01:00

Again Iceland shows us mortals the way to do things properly: former Prime Minister Geir Haarde, who mismanaged the Icesavings crisis, is standing trial for negligence, for not making sure that legal safeguards were there.

He claims that he's the victim of political persecution and a scapegoat and that he did not make sure that financial guarantees were there because he believed that was the best thing to do.

The way to Hell is paved of good intentions, say the superstitious... but it's doubtful this is the case: the guy managed to take the country hostage of private interests and only massive protests and a statesman-quality President who vetoed once and again abusive laws designed to make the citizens pay for the faults of the private banks, managed to save the small island nation, not without trouble.

Sadly enough, the example of Iceland is again not being followed in the rest of Europe. Where is for example Kostas Karamanlis, main local culprit of the Greek debt crisis? He's still the leader of the main right-wing party and not a single case has been opened against him. Or the infamous Brian Cowen, who sold Ireland to the sharks much as Haarde wanted to do with Iceland. None of them has been brought to court and it is a pity because it would seem that only harsh punishment may dissuade politicians from abusing their mandates in favor of the corporations.

Similarly, what do we see with the other culprits of the financial crisis: the core-European and US-American banks? The first are guaranteeing by these abuses that they get paid even if it is with the blood of the Greek, Irish and other European peoples, the latter, the infamous Goldman Sachs, sees its men placed as new proconsuls in Greece, Italy and even the European Central Bank.

More guillotine for the enemies of the People!

From the Net: “Why we occupied our hospital” – an open letter by a hospital doctor at the workers-run hospital of Kilkis

2012-03-05T10:10:00.000+01:00

The occupation of our hospital in Kilkis by its workers began on Monday, February 20. This occupation does not merely concern us, the doctors and the workers at the Hospital of Kilkis. Nor does it only take place in response to the greek National Health System (ESY), which is indeed collapsing.

We are undertaking this struggle because what is under threat today is human rights. And this threat is not even made against one nation, or a bunch of countries, or social groups: it is a threat made against the lower and middle classes in Europe, America, Asia, Africa; across the entire world. Greece’s today is the tomorrow of Portugal, Spain, Italy and the rest of the countries around the world.

The workers at the hospital of Kilkis and most hospitals and health centres around Greece are not paid on time, while many of them see their wages being slashed, to reach practically zero on a practical level. One colleague of mine was rushed to the heart clinic in a state of shock when he realised that instead of receiving his usual monthly cheque of 800 euros (yes, that is his monthly salary) from the state, he received a notice saying that not only was he not going to be paid for that month, but that he had to return 170 euros instead. Other workers were paid only 9 (nine) euros for that month. Those of us who continue to receive some wage will support them in any way we can.

This is a war against the people, entire the entire community. Those who claim that the public debt of Greece is a debt of the greek people are lying. It is not a debt owned by the people. It was amassed by the governments, in cooperation with the banks, with the aim of the enslavement of the people. The loans toward Greece are not used to pay wages, pensions or public healthcare. The exact opposite is happening: wages, pensions and healthcare cuts are used to pay the bankers.

... full story at Occupied London - From the Greek Streets.

From the Net: 'Singular Legal Regime Necessitates One-State Solution' (N. Erakat at Jadaliyya)

2012-03-05T10:03:00.000+01:00

The true Zionist banner

This weekend, the Harvard University community will host its conference, "One-State Conference: Israel/Palestine and the One-State Solution". The conference promises to be an invigorating discussion on the likelihood of the two-state solution, the benefits of the one-state solution, and the challenges to achieving either. In light of that discussion, I thought it useful to share the legal dimensions that demonstrate Israel’s discriminatory system both within its putative borders and the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) as a singular Apartheid regime. The unitary nature of this legal system at once triggers proper legal remedies in international law and underscores the pragmatic thrust of the one-state solution.

Since its establishment, Israel has bifurcated Jewish nationality from Israeli citizenship. Indeed, there is no such thing as Israeli nationality. Instead, the Citizenship Law of 1952, inaccurately termed “Nationality Law,” repealed the Palestinian Citizenship Order of 24th July 1925 under which the indigenous Palestinians were granted the status of citizens and nationals in their country; it resulted in the de facto “denationalization” of this entire population. Henceforth, Israeli law has distinguished between its Jewish population who are both “nationals and citizens” from its non-Jewish population, namely Palestinian Muslims and Christians, who are “citizens-only.” This distinction aims to privilege the rights of Jewish-nationals wherever they may reside and/or abridge the rights of non-Jewish nationals (Palestinian Arabs), regardless of their status as citizens of the State, residents of East Jerusalem, civilians living under occupation in the OPT, or refugees living in exile, with regard to residency rights, land ownership, freedom of movement, nationality, citizenship and the right to leave and return to one’s country.

... full article at Jadaliyya.

Bahrain: Younis Ashoori (prisioner of conscience) pushed to near death by prison abuses

2012-03-04T19:14:00.000+01:00

The Bahrain Center for Human Right alerts of the extreme danger that Dr. Younis Ashouri, 60, director of the maternity, has been pushed by the Khalifa dictatorship to near death.

Ashouri, who was kidnapped by masked policemen and then sentenced to three years after being forced to sign some papers under torture, has a number of illnesses:

... chronic urinary stone recurrences which needs a surgery, enlarged prostate, heart problem history and a type of migraine which leaves him temporarily paralysed.

Since he was imprisoned he's been denied access to his medicines, what puts his health in extreme danger.

Source and more info: BCHR.

Police violence overshadows the homage to the victims of 1976 police violence

2012-03-04T10:38:00.003+01:00

The demo

Like every year, the five workers murdered by police in March 3rd 1976 under the command of recently deceased fascist politician Manuel Fraga (founder of the PP party now in power in Spain), were paid popular homage by the Basque People in Vitoria-Gasteiz.

Exceptionally the imposed 'Basque Government' attempted to take control of the homage by making an institutional act for the press (never before in all these 36 years) and letting the dogs loose. Since the morning, police vans patrolled the area, announcing that they would make their best to turn this popular homage into violence.

Further homages were made through the day, at noon it was the parties allied in Amaiur (Basque Independentist Left), in the evening it were the majority labor unions, ELA and LAB, followed by a large demonstration through the streets of Gasteiz.

Front of the march

Some young people displayed five fake coffins before the Spanish Government Delegation. It was then when police first attacked, even if they were about to leave. They caused 15 injured and arrested three.

Then they charged against people in other areas of the city. Finally at night, they went to the hospital and arrested another person they had injured.

And this is how we live: under 'democracy' as under fascism, petty dictators appointed from outside impose their violence with a police badge.

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

See also: "Death bells" documentary on the workers massacre of March 3rd 1976 in Vitoria-Gasteiz (Spanish language).

Update: the four arrested have been set free, probably with false charges (source: SA[es]).

Update: video of the coffins' protest and police attack (via SA):

Update: According to Gazte Komunisten Kolectiboak (Communist Youth Groups), the 15 injured are seriously enough to be at hospital, one of which has been intervened surgically.

While the No TAV movement increase the protests, Italian bourgeois media label them as "terrorists"

2012-03-03T23:04:00.000+01:00

In order to justify the increased violence that police is using against the people who resist the imposition of the High Speed Rail (TAV by its Italian acronym) in Piemonte and elsewhere in Italy, the bourgeois media under the control of Berlusconi and a few others have lashed against them with unprecedented aggressiveness, labeling them as terrorist and what not.

Meanwhile the ones terrorizing everyone are the police forces who have already caused a very serious injured victim and have attacked bars and restaurants where No TAV protesters wen to eat.

Source and more details at Struggles in Italy.

Video: anti-Sarkozy protesters and police squirmish on the fields of Itsasu

2012-03-03T22:57:00.000+01:00

They come from outside, tell us what to do in our own country... at gunpoint.

Alde hemendik! Utzi pakean!

Go away! Leave us alone!

Anti-fascists clashes in Baiona

2012-03-03T22:42:00.000+01:00

Basque citizens protested against the electoral visit of the French Neonazi organization Bloc Identitaire, clashing with extremist thugs who enjoyed police protection:

Source: Sare Antifaxista (video, communication[eu]).

Homs: 'not war but slaughter of civilians', 'like Srebrenica'

2012-03-03T13:11:00.000+01:00

I normally do not trust the BBC as source for controversial matters of international policy but today they include interviews with two photographers who escaped Homs and whose testimonies of the kind of democidal intent of the Assad regime are unmistakably honest first person accounts:

Paul Conroy: Homs comparable to Srebrenica

Spanish reporter: I escaped Homs

Two arrested in protests against Sarko in the Basque Country

2012-03-01T17:49:00.002+01:00

Two people have been arrested after the military police corps known as Gendarmerie atacked the multitude protesting against the controversial visit of French President Nicholas Sarkozy to the Itsasu and Baiona (Lapurdi, Basque Country).

The protest was called by the Basque Youth Movement, Euskal Herria Bai coalition, farmers and environmentalists opposed to the High Speed Rail. In Baiona, they were also seconded by supporters of the social-democratic candidate François Hollande, and Bizi!

The massive rejection to Sarko in Baiona was countered by police charges, resulting in two arrested. Pressed hard by the multitude, and in spite of a few supporters, Sarko had to hide in a tavern, the Bar Palais, where he could still pose for the cameras with some merchants.

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

Update: In the end 12 people were arrested, of which 11 have already been released.

Video of the huge boo! against Sarko in Baiona:

Another video can be watched at BBC.

Student protests continue in Barcelona

2012-03-01T13:49:00.000+01:00

Students cut AP-7 highway and B-30 road near the Autonomous University of Barcelona, in protest for the privatization and higher costs of education. The cuts have generated several kilometers of stuck vehicles. Also the urban railroads announced not stopping today at the university for safety reasons.

Source: Gara[es] (see also the photo gallery)

See also: 70,000 students march through Barcelona (yesterday).

Popular road blockades and police violence in Italy tonight

2012-03-01T12:56:00.001+01:00

The NO TAV (High Speed Rail) deflagration continues in Piemonte, as popular blockades of roads have continued with massive assistance, as apparent in the following video:

Police attacked the blockades however, causing some 100 injured. They also attacked vehicles of the NO TAV activists, burning them in several cases. So good for the rule of law and the sacredness of private property!

At 23:00, the popular assembly decided to call off the protests for the night and begin again today. However police continued the aggressions and raided bars and pizzerias, arbitrarily arresting alleged activists found in them.

Source: Contra Info (incl. several more videos).

From the Net: 'Fears for safety at Fukushima one year on' (Economic Times)

2012-03-01T11:22:00.000+01:00

To some of the men who earn as little as $100 a day to work inside Japan's Fukushima Daiichi, the plant at the centre of a year-old nuclear disaster is far from safe - despite the official line.

Operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) and the Japanese government say the tsunami-crippled reactors are all in a "state of cold shutdown" and are keen to give the impression that there is just cleaning up to do.

They acknowledge it is the work of a few decades - perhaps 40 years - but nonetheless insist things are under control.

But that is not how those who spend their days inside the plant see it.

"I can clearly say it's not safe at all," said one worker in his 50s, a subcontractor who has been working on the plant's cooling system since September.

The man did not want to be identified for fear of losing the 8,000 yen ($100) daily paycheck he receives.

"There are many spots where radiation levels are extremely high," he said.

The man said subcontractors like him were treated like animals.

... full story at Economic Times.

That's how Japan and the Nuclear Industry treat their people and even their heroes.

70,000 students march through Barcelona

2012-02-29T22:31:00.002+01:00

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)

2012-02-29T22:28:00.000+01:00

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

2012-02-29T19:32:00.001+01:00

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

2012-02-29T14:52:00.001+01:00

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)

2012-02-29T10:49:00.000+01:00

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)

2012-02-29T10:43:00.000+01:00

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

2012-02-29T08:37:00.002+01:00

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)

2012-02-29T08:24:00.000+01:00

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)

2012-02-28T08:01:00.000+01:00

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)

2012-02-28T07:15:00.000+01:00

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)

2012-02-28T07:03:00.000+01:00

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)

2012-02-28T06:29:00.001+01:00

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

2012-02-27T13:15:00.000+01:00

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

2012-02-27T12:45:00.000+01:00

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:

Accepting the Mitchell Principles:

Commitment to democratic and exclusively peaceful means to resolve political issues.
Commitment to renounce the use of force or the threat of using it...
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.

Political projects must be differentiated from democratic solutions.
Acknowledging and respecting plurality in the Basque Country.
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)

2012-02-26T22:19:00.000+01:00

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

2012-02-26T13:03:00.001+01:00

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)

2012-02-26T05:35:00.000+01:00

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)

2012-02-26T05:27:00.000+01:00

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)

2012-02-25T13:50:00.001+01:00

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)

2012-02-25T13:44:00.000+01:00

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?

Tokyo City councilor who measured radiation in parks murdered

2012-02-24T20:07:00.000+01:00

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)

2012-02-24T08:20:00.001+01:00

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

2012-02-23T16:53:00.000+01:00

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

2012-02-23T16:39:00.001+01:00

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)

2012-02-23T04:06:00.001+01:00

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'

2012-02-23T03:58:00.000+01:00

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

2012-02-22T11:51:00.001+01:00

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

2012-02-22T10:19:00.000+01:00

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)

2012-02-22T08:42:00.000+01:00

[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

2012-02-21T01:04:00.002+01:00

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)

2012-02-21T00:27:00.000+01:00

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

2012-02-21T00:23:00.000+01:00

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

2012-02-19T22:48:00.000+01:00

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)

2012-02-19T22:34:00.000+01:00

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)

2012-02-19T04:41:00.000+01:00

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

2012-02-18T20:19:00.001+01:00

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

2012-02-18T20:08:00.000+01:00

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

2012-02-18T01:15:00.000+01:00

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)

2012-02-17T19:42:00.000+01:00

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.

Who works how much in the European Union? (or 'I want to be Dutch')

2012-02-17T10:40:00.004+01:00

As mentioned in June, the myths about Mediterranean alleged laziness are without any merit. Now again by the hand of the OECD statistics' bureau (hat tip: Marie commenting at NC), we unveil again who works how much in Europe:

If there is a lazy zone in Europe that one is towards the Northwest. Of course Norwegians are living off the oil but what about the Dutch or the Danes? Or also Germans or Brits?

Only a few peoples work above 40 weekly hours on average in Europe and, against all the Neonazi imperialist propaganda by Merkel and cronies, the Greek People is among them.

____________
Note: even if weekly hours are not provided for the USA, the yearly hours are and are exactly as Italy (1778 hrs), what means that in the USA they also work on average less than 40 hrs per week, whatever they say (37.8 to be precise).

From the Net: 'Why Bahrain is not Syria' (Pepe Escobar at ATOL)

2012-02-16T22:10:00.000+01:00

How poignant that the first anniversary of a true Arab pro-democracy movement in the Persian Gulf - then ruthlessly crushed - falls on February 14, when Valentine's Day is celebrated in the West. Talk about a doomed love affair.

And how does Washington honor this tragic love story? By resuming arms sales to the repressive Sunni al-Khalifa dynasty in power in Bahrain.

So just to recap; United States President Barack Obama told Syria's President Bashar al-Assad to "step aside and allow a democratic transition to proceed immediately" while King Hamad al-Khalifa gets new toys to crack down on his subversively pro-democratic subjects.

Is this a case of cognitive dissonance? Of course not; after all Syria is supported by Russia and China at the United Nations Security Council while Bahrain hosts the US's Fifth Fleet - the defender of the "free world" against those evil Iranians who want to shut down the Strait of Hormuz.

A year ago, the overwhelming population of Bahrain - most of them poor, neglected Shi'ites treated as third-class citizens, but also educated Sunnis - hit the streets to demand the ruling al-Khalifas allow a minimum of democracy.

Just like Tunisia and Egypt - and unlike Libya and Syria - the pro-democracy movement in Bahrain was indigenous, legitimate, non-violent and uncontaminated by Western or Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) infiltration.

... full article at Asia Times Online.

From the Net: 'On the Black Bloc' (S. Mohandesi at Viewpoint Magazine)

2012-02-16T21:18:00.001+01:00

I'm not sure if I agree in full with what is being said in this lengthy and rather well-documented opinion article by Salar Mohandesi but I find it's worth reading in any case. Some excerpts:

(...)

The obsession over the black bloc in the past few months is a distorted reflection of the very real predominance of this tactic in contemporary struggles. This is somewhat odd, because in our current cycle of struggle, the black bloc has genuinely appeared in only a few areas, mainly the Northwest United States. But while the tactic’s geographic reach is somewhat localized, its presence in the movement’s collective imagination has grown to immense proportions. It seems like the black bloc is everywhere, a palpable reality, something everyone has to take a side on – even, and perhaps especially, those who haven’t actually seen it in action firsthand.

But it’s precisely the continued obsession with this single tactic that prevents us from seriously interrogating the necessary other term in this relationship: strategy. The discussions over the so-called “diversity of tactics” indicate the problem: by focusing all our energies on disputing the merits of a tactic, we end up neglecting strategy altogether. A “diversity of tactics” has little to do with strategy; in fact, it seems to replace strategy with liberal pluralism. The question isn’t whether to pursue a “diversity of tactics,” but rather: what kind of strategy allows us to effectively incorporate a diverse range of tactics?

It soon becomes clear that the hypertrophy of this tactic is actually a direct result of the atrophy of any corresponding strategy. As Alberto Toscano has recently written, “if something marks out the contemporary resurgence of theoretical interest in communism, across its various species, it is the almost total neglect of the question of strategy.” We might also add that since strategy and tactics can only exist in a reciprocal relationship, the deformation – or perhaps even absence – of former can only lead to a destabilization of the latter.

The symptom of this destabilization is the compulsion to repeat. The tactic of street-fighting is now being repeated obsessively, overcompensating for the shortage of strategy. At its crudest, this just means repeating the same thing over and over again in the hopes of forcing some kind of breakthrough; some claim that the repetition of a tactic will in itself generate a strategy.

(...)

After the “Free Republic of Wendland” – a liberated space in Gorleben – was violently dispersed in 1980 by the largest deployment of police in Germany since Hitler, and after a wave of systematic attacks on squatters in West Berlin in December of that year, it became obvious that if they were to survive, the Autonomen would have to protect themselves in more militant ways. Groups of armed Autonomen, whose power was rooted in the social centers, quickly emerged to defend these spaces. A necessary task, no doubt, but one which would eventually consume all the energies of the movement, polarizing the Autonomen and weakening their solidarity.

“As their militant actions became attacked even by their allies,” notes historian George Katsiaficas, “radicals became increasingly autonomous – some would say isolated – from mainstream protesters and came to constitute their own source of collective identity.” These militant groups, who now engaged in offensive strikes as well strictly defensive maneuvers, began to forge a collective identity through the monopolization of a single tactic: militant confrontation through street-fighting. By the mid-1980s, as repression continued to escalate, these militant groupings solidified their cultural identity, sometimes in opposition to the rest of the movement. “The black leather jackets worn by many people at demonstrations and the black flags carried by others signalled less an ideological anarchism than a style of dress and behavior,” Katsiaficas writes. Black clothes, black flags, ski masks, helmets, and punk became “symbols of a way of life.” It is here that the modern black bloc was born.

But it was precisely at this point, when the black bloc began to fuse itself into a distinct entity, that the autonomous movements that originated it actually began to decline. This was the historical reality underlying the ideology of the black bloc. The tactic, in fact, emerged in large part as a way to stop this internal disintegration. Many activists believed that their instability was purely the result of state repression, and they assumed that the organized defense of the social centers would actually reverse this process of decomposition.

In truth, the autonomous movements, in both Germany and Italy, were on the verge of collapse. As they developed a strongly internal and oppositional identity, they found themselves increasingly incapable of reaching beyond the hegemony of a single proletarian figure. They failed to link with different layers of the working class, and were unable to form a coalition with the broader masses. Earlier in the century, when soviets were first born, this had meant linking the proletariat to the peasantry. In the late 1970s and 1980s, it meant linking the “advanced” sector of the proletariat, in this case the “social worker” – or less contentiously, a kind of amalgam of students, youth, and precarious workers that drifted through a disintegrating welfare system – to the rest of the working class. Unable, or perhaps unwilling to link the different segments of the class together, the black bloc became nothing but the rudiments of a defensive military force.

(...)

The tactic was reborn, and in fact truly came into its own, only after being transplanted to the United States – specifically Seattle in 1999 – where a movement comparable to the German Autonomen had never existed.

(...)

It was really with the eruption of the anti-globalization movement, stretching from around 1999 to 2003, that the black bloc tactic, now totally disconnected from the very idea of the social centers, began to survive independently by refashioning itself into something other than just a tactic. The vast majority of those who formed the ranks of the black bloc in Seattle had no direct memory of the German Autonomen of the early 1980s, separated by a sharp generational divide, and so had little choice but to reconstruct a new identity for themselves. The rebirth of the black bloc came at a price: the insurmountable contradiction between its existence as a tactic and its existence as an identity. Though the defeat of the anti-war movement, the onset of the Bush years, and the decline of an organized Left, forced the black bloc to more or less disappear as a material tactic, it paradoxically consolidated its identity, granting it a mystical afterlife that is being resurrected and fetishized today.

(...)

Neither a liberalism of the present nor a communism of the past is adequate today. The only thing we’re after is a communist strategy for the present. Our task is to attempt to lay the foundations for an organization of proletarian self-activity, in a form that is historically appropriate. It means reinventing the “soviets” for our time, as the autonomists did for theirs; discovering, through a process of collective experimentation, a form of struggle that will resonate with the composition of our class, linking together the various layers of that class, and recomposing this disparate body into an antagonistic subject. Only then will we be able to determine the place in our struggle for the tactic of militant confrontation through street-fighting. Without that, without a coherent communist strategy, all we have is a zombie chasing its own shadow.

... full article at Viewpoint Magazine and, mirrored, at Kasama.

From the Net: 'Demonstrators arrested on Sunday 12/02/12 in Athens were just imprisoned without a trial' (OL-FTGS)

2012-02-16T20:46:00.000+01:00

Demonstrators arrested in Athens were just imprisoned, until their trial that it may take months until it starts. Obviously it is only riot police officers who claim that they saw the arrestees breaking the law, so in a very unusual movement for their standards -and actually breaking the law, given that no trial convicted them yet- the police publish in its webpage and in their friendly TV channels the photos of the arrestees, asking for people to give any relevant information about the demonstrators.

From Occupied London - From the Greek Streets.

From the Net: 'One year later in Bahrain, killers are still free and martyrs' family members assaulted and detained' (BCHR)

2012-02-16T20:44:00.000+01:00

Families of martyrs in Bahrain have been suffering a punitive campaign of punishment since the start of the movement, as they have been targeted with arrests, intimidation, house raids and deliberate attacks by toxic gases. While none of the officials responsible for the protesters' deaths has been convicted at a court, and while the families should have been compensated both morally and materially for their losses, instead they are being attacked deliberately in an attempt of the Bahraini regime to punish them for openly accusing the regime with the murder of their sons and demanding to hold the officials accountable for these deaths. The families are being treated in a discriminative manner to force them and others into silence on the crimes of the regime. Many of the relatives have either been arrested or are in hiding in fear of an arrest.

The following are a number of cases which prove the regime's systematic manner of targeting families of martyrs. These cases are only a fraction of what the families go through, and do not include all of the attacks which they have been subjected to.

... read full article at the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (warning: some shocking pictures).

Basque General Strike called for early Spring

2012-02-16T20:41:00.001+01:00

The two major unions of the Basque Country: Basque Workers' Solidarity (ELA) and Unity of Patriotic Workers (LAB), together with the smaller or sectoral unions: Left Union Coordination (ESK), School Workers Union of the Basque Country (STEE-EILAS), Union of Farmers of the Basque Country (EHNE) the transport union HIRU (not an acronym but meaning "Three", for the three unions united in it) have called for a General Strike against the brutal reform against workers' rights imposed by the Spanish government of M. Rajoy, who is only backed by less than 25% of all citizens in the state of Spain.

The reforms basically suppress decades of conquests, bringing us back almost to the Europe of the 19th century when working from dawn to dusk in near-slavery conditions was the norm.

The General Strike will take place on March 29th and has seen the main Spanish unions (UGT and CC.OO.), which have bowed to these impositions in the hope of retaining their pathetic subsidies a few years longer, excluded from any form of participation which is not unilateral.

The answer in our hands - March 29th General Strike

Mobilize!! - General Strike!! - Antifascist workers and students on arms!!

Source (partial): Sare Antifaxista[es].

From the Net: 'February 14: The Bahraini Authorities Brutally Suppress the Protests' (BCHR)

2012-02-16T03:22:00.000+01:00

Mass arrests and suffocating residential areas with tear gas on the morning of 14 February. Tens of protestors tried to reach Lulu early morning and got attacked by tear gas, stun grenades, shotguns. Many got arrested as they walked towards Lulu. Armored vehicles were reported to be seen in Budaiya highway and inside villages. Bahraini authorities arrests prominent activists Nabeel Rajab and Naji Fateel during their attempt to march towards Lulu roundabout.

... full story (and many links) at Bahrain Center for Human Rights.

From the Net: 'Statement of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Margaret Sekaggya, on the conclusion of her official visit to Honduras' (UNHR)

2012-02-15T20:26:00.000+01:00

From the 7 to 14 February 2012, I visited Honduras and travelled to Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula and La Ceiba. During my visit, I met with the President; the Minister of Justice and Human Rights; the Minister of the Indigenous and Afro-Honduran people; the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs; the Vice-Minister for Defense; the Vice-Minister of Internal Affairs; the Vice-Minister of Security; the Director of the National Agrarian Institute; the President of the Human Rights Commission within the National Congress; the President of the Supreme Court of Justice; the Special Prosecutor Office for Human Rights, the Human Rights Commissioner. However, I regret not having met the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Security, Defense, Interior and Populations. I met as well with members of the diplomatic community (G16) and the United Nations agencies, including the Resident Coordinator.

(...)

Honduras faces serious challenges in combating violence and insecurity. The pervasive impunity and absence of effective investigations of human rights violations undermine the administration of justice and damages the public’s trust in authorities. The 2009 coup d’état aggravated institutional weaknesses, increased the vulnerability of human rights defenders and provoked a major polarisation in society. Due to the exposed nature of their activities, human rights defenders continue to suffer extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, torture and ill-treatment, death threats, attacks, harassment and stigmatisation.

I have observed that certain categories of human rights defenders are at particular risk, including journalists, staff of the National Human Rights Commission, lawyers, prosecutors and judges, as well as defenders working on the rights of women, children, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Intersex community, the indigenous and Afro-Honduran communities as well as those working on environmental and land rights issues.

I am concerned that public officials, including high-ranking authorities, have made public statements which stigmatise human rights defenders. In particular, I have received information indicating that human rights defenders working on the protection of the rights of LGBTI have been threatened and persecuted because their work is perceived to defend immoral behaviour. Defenders working on children’s rights have been harassed, particularly those denouncing social cleansing of children and youth at the hands of public and private actors. Women’s organisations raised concerns that, due to pervasive gender discrimination, their complaints of violations against their integrity and work are dismissed and that they suffer intimidation by the authorities, in particular members of the police force.

(...)

... full text at the site of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (United Nations). Found via LINyM[es].

From the Net: '[Catalonia and] Spain: Solidarity with Greece' (Contra Info)

2012-02-15T18:25:00.000+01:00

In Barcelona on February 3rd, at 22.40, several CCTV cameras were smashed throughout the metropolitan area as a solidarity gesture to the call in Athens for the next day against the ‘state of emergency’ imposed in Greece. On February 6th, at 20.30, a group of 10 comrades burned five street trash bins and made some graffiti (‘No control’, ‘Prisoners to the streets’, ‘Love freedom; attack the State’) in the context of the week of decentralized actions called in solidarity with comrades inmates who are mobilizing against torture and abuse in prisons throughout Spain via fasts, sit-ins and other acts of disobedience. Nihilist anarchists claimed responsibility for both direct actions, stating: ‘We have seen in Chile, the banlieues, in our beautiful and rebellious Exarchia, in Charleroi, Heraklion or Barcelona that the revolt is possible.’

In the city of Zaragoza, a spontaneous call spread through ‘social networks’ in the afternoon of February 13th; at the last minute, more than a hundred people marched in the city centre in solidarity with the people in Greece, protesting against the scam called crisis. The banners in the photos read: ‘All with the Greek insurrection; to extend the clash’ and ‘Solidarity with the arrestees in Greece’. Cops of the national and local police followed the march without intervening. A young protester doing graffiti was withheld by cops, but released after a few minutes. The protest ended at the university campus with the reading of a statement bearing information about what happened on Sunday night in Greece and other issues gagged by the mass media.

In Madrid, several hundred people gathered on Monday night, February 13th, outside the embassy of Greece to protest against police violence, in solidarity with the Greek people, of which the European Union demands huge sacrifices. They were monitored by numerous national police agents. Also, cops asked for many protesters’ IDs. The attendants chanted slogans similar to those of the 15-M movement, as well as ‘It only takes a strike as in Greece’, ‘Mariano [Rajoy —Prime Minister of Spain], listen up, people are not for sale’ and ‘Solidarity with the Greek people’. There was also a banner in Greek: ‘Murderers’.

From Contra Info, where there are more photos and a video.

Slavery after slavery after slavery...

2012-02-15T14:05:00.000+01:00

Widespread forced labor in the United States after 1865, mostly imposed to African Americans, is reviewed by this most interesting, impressive, shocking historical documentary: Slavery by another name, which can be watched in full for free HERE (must watch, really).

The USA was not so much built on fake self-made men but rather on the shoulders of millions of African Americans and other poor people exploited and abused mercilessly in a deeply rooted conspiration of slavery upheld by the whole social and political system, even against its own proclaimed principles.

Found via Kasama.

From the Net: 'The No-TAV Struggle in the Susa Valley' (Struggles made in Italy)

2012-02-15T12:29:00.000+01:00

[en] The No-TAV* Struggle in the Susa Valley

Background

TAV is the italian acronym for Treno ad Alta Velocità i.e. HSR, High-Speed Rail. This is a railway that allows a sustained speed higher than 200 km/h (124 mph) and its peak speed is around 300 km/h. Even though for the most recent project of the Turin-Lyon it would be more appropriate to call it TAC (Treno ad Alta Capacità, High-Capacity Train), since it’s intended mainly for transport of goods, the misleading name of TAV remains.

In 1991 a new high-speed railway between Turin and Lyon was planned to be added to the current line across the Alps in the context of the creation of a European HSR network. The Turin-Lyon TAV is part of EU project TEN (Trans-European Network), particularly of the PP6 axis, from Lyon to the Ukrainian border. TEN project doesn’t require the railway to be of high-speed type, but the Italian and French governments agreed to build the Turin-Lyon as part of such technology.

... read full story at Struggles made in Italy.

From the Net: 'NO TAV – "‘Rebel or Fuck Off’ by comrades of Bologna (Italy)" (ecologists communication at 325)

2012-02-15T12:23:00.001+01:00

Rebel or fuck off

On 27th June the forces of order evicted the Free Republic of the Maddalena [in Val Susa] in order to start the works for the construction of the high speed railway. Hundreds of NO TAV people opposed directly the military occupation of the territory. On 3rd July 70,000 people assaulted the TAV yard in Val Susa. A very special yard, as no worker could be found there but antiriot troops and police were entrenched there. This is an outstanding example of devastation of the environment, and of the interests of big capital and the mafia that goes along it. On 26th January the State arrested 32 comrades all over Italy ‘for the events of those days’. An operation that means just one thing: active resistance against infrastructures, powers, armed forces and institutions that rape and impoverish the planet is considered illegal.

In fact this police operation is the climax of a series of repressive attacks that started in Bologna last April and carried on in Florence and Cuneo in the following months, and in Modena these last days. The goal is always the same: to totally eliminate all realities and individuals in struggle against the oppression that banks, governments and bosses impose every day; to prevent these realities and individuals from joining the struggles that are now on the increase; to put a spoke in the wheel of movements that have already undertaken trajectories of conflict, like the movement against the TAV.

Not by chance these arrests came at a particular time of social unrest, which started off with the movement of the ‘Forconi’ in Sicily last week.

Italy is on the verge of a generalized revolt. The blockades of lorry drivers on the highways and the protests in Sicily and Sardinia demonstrate that capitalism can be brought on its knees, and finally annihilated by the joint action of more individuals. In this context of economic depression any person who individually or collectively opposes the system is considered a criminal, and gets arrested and repressed.

... read full communication at 325.

From the Net: 'Italy: NO TAV comrades still in prison' (Contra Info)

2012-02-15T12:16:00.000+01:00

These are the latest news about our comrades who were arrested on January 26th. Many of the NO TAV resistants were released and are now under house arrest and other restrictive measures. Nevertheless, the judges have decided the continuation of pre-trial detention for the following comrades (we add their addresses):

Alessio Del Sordo, C.C. via Pianezza 300, 10151 Torino
Matteo ‘Mambo’ Grieco, C.R. San Michele, Strada Statale 31, 15100 Alessandria
Maurizio Ferrari, Carcere San Vittore, Piazza Filangeri 2, 20123 Milano
Marcelo Damian Jara Marin, Carcere San Vittore, Piazza Filangeri 2, 20123 Milano
Gabriele Filippi, Carcere di Marassi, Piazzale Marassi 2, 16139 Genova
Giorgio Rossetto, C.R. loc. Cascina Felicina via Regioni Bronda 19/b, 12037 Saluzzo (CN)
Luca Cientanni, C.C. corso Vercelli 165, 10015 Ivrea (To)
Juan Antonio Sorroche Fernandez, C.C. Via Beccaria, 13, Loc. Spini di Gardolo, 38014 Gardolo, TN
Antonio Ginetti, Casa Circondariale, Via dei Macelli 13, 51100 Pistoia – Riesame il 16-2-2012

transl. ParoleArmate

From the Net: 'Al Jazeera English Doesn’t Care About Khader Adnan' (L. Alsaafin at Electronic Intifada)

2012-02-15T08:25:00.000+01:00

Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan has entered his 55th day of hunger strike. He has long passed the critical stage and is in danger of organ failure any moment now. In other words, Khader Adnan is dying.

The silence from international media is deafening. Much of the publicity highlighting Adnan’s case came from social media via Twitter and blogs.

Does a young father of two arrested in the dead of night from his home, held under illegal administrative detention i.e. no charges have been brought against him, beaten and tortured during his interrogation, hunger striking since December 18th—a day after his arrest—not warrant headlines?

... full story at Electronic Intifada.

From the Net: 'For those we don't hear about' (Random Pottins on Khader Adnan's hunger strike)

2012-02-15T08:20:00.002+01:00

Khader Adnan (from Alternative News)

WITH British TV news leading on whether some Muslim cleric should be deported to Jordan, and some people much concerned for the freedom of the Iranian government-sponsored Press TV, I thought we should devote a bit of space to some more deserving cases that have not had so much attention.

First, as reported by JNews among other campaigners or alternative media, tomorrow is day 60 of Khader Adnan's hunger-strike, which he started on 18 December 2011 in protest against his administrative detention (internment without trial) and the humiliating conditions of his interrogation by Israeli forces.

Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-I) is among those worried.

"Khader's condition is deteriorating. PHR-I's doctor, who visited him in hospital yesterday, said 'the clock is ticking'. At this stage, even if he stops his fast, re-feeding will be a highly complex medical procedure.

"Yesterday, 13 February, the Israeli military court of appeals rejected an appeal against Khader's detention and ordered him to complete the full four months imposed on him, until 8 May 2012".

That is four months without trial, so far.

"This is the longest hunger strike by a Palestinian detainee. For comparison, IRA Long Kesh prisoner Bobby Sands died after 66 days on hunger strike in 1981".

... full story at Random Pottins.

From the Net: '[Japanese] Governor: Why no arrests over [nuclear] crisis?' (Japan Times)

2012-02-15T08:15:00.000+01:00

Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012

Governor: Why no arrests over crisis?

By MINORU MATSUTANI
Staff writer

Saitama Gov. Kiyoshi Ueda wants to see Tokyo Electric Power Co. held criminally responsible for the Fukushima nuclear crisis.

At a regular news conference, he sharply criticized the utility and questioned why nobody in Tepco has been arrested.

"Tepco has caused this big trouble to everyone under the sun and nobody has been arrested. I want to ask, 'Doesn't anyone (in Tepco) want to turn themselves in?' " Ueda said Monday.

He was asked for comments about Tepco raising electricity bills for big users like corporations by 10 to 20 percent in April.

"Some people would be arrested if gas tanks explode or a fire breaks out in a department store," he said angrily, blaming Tepco for not taking full responsibility for the harm caused by the disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 plant. "The procedure of raising power bills without fully explaining it is unacceptable. It is extremely cruel treatment of (big users) who have been forced up to now to cooperate in saving electricity."

From: Japan Times (found via Energy News).

It is ironical however how he only rises his voice when big corporate users are affected. But still it was about time someone said that in japan.

The ABC of things... or why we should never yield to fear.

2012-02-14T19:15:00.002+01:00

Yesterday, the Spanish far right newspaper ABC published an article of totally false lies, and the worst of all lies: half truths, about a blog that I happen to follow: Borroka garaia da! (It's time of struggle!) This blog, whose name the fascists do not even know and whose sentences are all misquoted and horribly deformed, is written by a single person but is full of sincerity and sharp critical analysis, and has suddenly grown (in the imaginary of those who read such Spanish fascist pamphlet pretending to be a newspaper) to be a pro-ETA political current, always according to the Spanish fascist liars I. Reyero and J. Pagola.

It may be just inconsequential nonsense but it may well be part of a campaign of criminalization. As I wrote in the comments: ABC sets the target, Marlaska [Spanish Inquisitor] shoots and the Guardia Civil [Spanish police] tortures.

Whatever the case it is not just a manipulation and brutal lie but it is scary. For much less they have closed blogs and even full fledged newspapers and radio stations in this country, so tired of putting up with the boot of the invaders. And for much less people has gone to jail for years and years and are still awaiting to be set free.

Whatever the case, today Borrokagaraia replies again with a new entry full of poetical bravery and penetrating truth. I am translating some fragments here:

If you were not afraid, what would you do?

(...)

Repression has a function: to scare and set example. Such an old tactic as detached heads on pikes placed at strategical points for the people to see them in awe.

Fear knocked at the door, trust opened and there was nobody.

Repression has another function: to suppress someone or something.

First we will kill all the subversives, then their collaborators, then... their sympathizers, soon after that... those who remained indifferent, and finally we will kill the shy ones.

Repression needs criminals. And these must be constructed.

Nobody is innocent when his rival is the judge.

In the Basque Country repression is the law and is older than any acronym.

(...)

Choose 1, 2 or 3:

1. There is no police force nor repressive system on Earth, no matter how powerful, that can stop a rising popular mass.

2. There is no police force nor repressive system on Earth, no matter how powerful, that can stop a rising popular mass.

3. There is no police force nor repressive system on Earth, no matter how powerful, that can stop a rising popular mass.

(...)

Yes, the video of La Polla Records titled And what are you going to do me now? is part of the response.

That's how things are in the Basque Country under the reign of terror of the Spanish Inquisition and the legal blurriness of "all is ETA". Scary, uncertain, oppressive... but hopefully all that will not be enough to shut us up.

Because shutting up and giving up hope and struggle would be like surrendering to fascism, and I know already the sad stinking cowardice of those who surrendered to fascist terror without even a fight. Survival is not worth it.

Ernesto Prat to be extradited to Spain

2012-02-14T18:33:00.000+01:00

The tribunal of Pau has decided to extradite Basque citizen Ernesto Prat to Spanish jurisdiction, where he risks torture, unjust extended imprisonment and has no chance of a fair trial.

Prat was targeted by the Spanish Inquisition (Audiencia Nacional, special political tribunal which used to be known under fascism as Tribunal of Public Order) for his political activity, being member of the 2007 municipal list of Basque Nationalist Action in Doneztebe, Navarre. He was accused of being member of the ghostly political group known as Ekin, which proclaimed its self-dissolution months ago anyhow.

Under the Garzón doctrine of "all is ETA" almost any kind of Basque nationalist activism can be persecuted and punished on grounds of "terrorism". The French Republic has extensively collaborated with this political repression.

Source: Ateak Ireki[eu].

Anti-Nazi protests in Dresden

2012-02-14T18:22:00.001+01:00

Massive Red mobilization in Dresden to prevent yearly Nazi march in the anniversary of Dresde bombing.

Photo-Galleries: gallery 1, gallery 2.

Source: Sare Antifaxista[es].

From the Net: 'Switzerland: Communiqué by ecoanarchist prisoner Silvia Guerini about her hunger strike from 20th to 29th of January 2012' (Contra Info)

2012-02-14T18:19:00.000+01:00

Nanotechnologies are going to be one of the discussion points of the World Economic Forum (WEF). This is exemplary of how, along with biotechnologies, they are something more than a simple technological development. They represent a strategic and fundamental choice for the survival of this techno-industrial system; they are the bricks with which the system will rebuild itself in every sector.

‘Control the oil and you will control the nations, control the food and you will control the populations.’ (Kissinger, 1970)

(...)

I was transferred to the federal prison of Hindelbank (in the canton of Bern) in the ‘high security with psychological support’ section, which is in reality a psychiatric section, even if not defined as such. The absurd justification for this is the ‘risk of escape’, the only motivation they can use for putting me in this separated and more closed section, in this prison with no walls around but only a fence. Next to this section there is the high security one, built in the 70s for a comrade of the RAF; it is significant that afterwards it was transformed into the section for ‘dangerous’ women with ‘serious psychiatric problems’…

... full story at Contra Info.

From the Net: 'Over 500 school students are marching in Crete' (Occupied London)

2012-02-14T13:21:00.001+01:00

Over 500 students are marching now in Heracleon of Crete hurling stones to the police and banks. They tried to invade the building of the local government and the town hall. 4 high schools in the city are occupied. More as they come.

From Occupied London - From the Greek Streets.

Protests resume in Bahrain one year after

2012-02-14T13:02:00.000+01:00

Today a year ago, the Arab Revolution reached the Persian Gulf and, for the first time, directly targeted the heart of the Islamist beast: the Gulf theocracies.

What happens in Bahrain is not detached of what happens in Saudi Arabia and the other absolutist theocracies... It is more related to these than to Iran by all means. By means of Bahrain and Yemen, revolution can reach the heart of Arabia and maybe that way exorcise theocratic tyranny on Earth for good.

It's about time indeed.

Today the People of Bahrain has gone out to the streets again and has found the mercenary police (usually foreigners) defending the despised tyrant Al Khalifa.

Yesterday night already, police charged at the Pearl Roundabout against protesters, using tear gas and stun grenades.

Clashes resumed at noon when small groups of protesters tried to march to the iconic Pearl roundabout in the center of the capital Manama. Many people were arrested.

Later many humvees (armored vehicles of US manufacture) were spotted at the roundabout. Police was also reported in large numbers along the main highway of the country in a obvious attempt to control the protests and prevent villagers from reaching the capital.

In spite of all measures the number of demonstrators marching through Manama is said to be in the thousands.

Sources: Al Jazeera (1, 2, 3), BBC.

Claim 110 missing indigenous Panamanians after last week clashes

2012-02-13T09:17:00.000+01:00

LINyM[es] reports today that some 110 people have been reported missing apparently among the native Ngäbe-Buglé communities of Panama after the violent repression of last week.

The details are not clear yet but witnesses have reported more deaths that were hidden because police moved the corpses in helicopter to unknown destinations.

The Commission of Truth, investigating the conflict, could not yet confirm the reports but they are investigating them.

Third successive day of struggle in the Greek streets - Athens is burning in rage

2012-02-12T22:32:00.007+01:00

As mentioned yesterday, it was likely that the people was rather resting on Saturday after a hard week for a renewed mobilization today in Greece, even if formally the General Strike ended yesterday.

A picture is worth a thousand words: Syntagma Square was again packed with angry Greeks today

There is extensive coverage at Occupied London and Contra Info. Just some notes here:

By noon there were reports of illegal arrests at homes, including a member of the Ship to Gaza initiative.

Police attacked the occupied Law School until, by 17:00 only 200 occupiers remained inside surrounded by a large police siege. At 19:00 they evacuated the occupation but clashes continued around the building for the rest of the evening.

The occupation at of the Chania Prefecture continued as well for all the day. Other ongoing occupations seem to be: Ministry of Health in Athens, Cinema-Theatre Olympion in Thessaloniki, Building of the Regional government of Western Greece in Patras, Building of the Regional Government of Ionian islands in Corfu, Building of the Regional Government of Crete in Rethymnon, Building of the Regional Government of Thessaly in Larisa, Rethymno City Hall, Holargos City Hall, Regional Union of Imathia in Veroia.

In the night clashes seem to have continued, specially in Athens, where one of every three Greeks live. OL says:

It is entirely impossible to estimate the number of people who have taken to the streets in Athens tonight. They are definitely in the hundreds of thousands – there are simply people everywhere.

Last news is that many corporate buildings are burning:

According to Occupy London these are: Euro-Bank branch in Korai st., Costa coffee shop, and the first floor of the State’s Accounts Office (the lights in the background are the Parthenon, I think, not a fire in any case).

Previously in this blog: Greek General Strike reports: Day 1 and Day 2.

Update at 10:40 GMT(same source):

City Hall of Athens was occupied only to be evicted by police minutes later
A gun shop has been looted in Omonia, Athens
Marfin Bank has been burnt to the ground
The infamous mounted Delta unit of Greek police has been finally dealt with: people extended ropes and cables across the streets throwing down some of them
The Exarcheia police station (scene of a violent riot years ago) has been attacked by the people
A huge demo is roaming through Athens (25 mins ago) with police unable to do anything
The City Hall of Volos (Thessaly) is burning, earlier the tax office had been attacked as well
In Corfu, the offices of local "socialist" MPs were destroyed

Gara[es] mentions that the clashes in Athens began as popular musician Mikos Theodorakis, who is very vocal against the sell-out of Greece, attempted to enter Parliament. Then, without any provocation, police charged against the tens of thousands or more people gathered at Syntagma Square.

A rather impacting video of some of the early clashes by the Parliament that I found at Kaos[es]:

Update (Feb 13):

Hundreds injured (including at least 100 cops), more than 150 arrested (some 'preventively' as they left their homes), at least according to Aris, who commented at NC. Occupy London mentions smaller figures but it can be an underestimate.

Similarly Aris' estimates for the crowd taking the streets of Athens yesterday evening are of 1.2-1.7 million, while OL is more conservative and suggests 500,000.

OL also mentions that the iconic occupation of the Law School in Athens continues (apparently they could reoccupy after yesterday's eviction). They proclaimed:

It was decided by the assembly of the Law School occupation that the occupation continues. We call everyone on the streets to continue the struggle. Nothing ended, everything now starts, the Law School is a centre of the struggle and as such it will remain.

Update (Feb 13 by night):

Occupied London - From the Greek Streets mentions today that:

Marches in Patras and Agrinio this Monday. In Agrinio banks and fascist offices were attacked, in Patras the protesters attacked the offices of local PASOK MP Spiliopoulos, who voted for the Troika package, as well as luxury hotel Astir, where the conservative coalition partner New Democracy had organized an event.

In Komotini the regional government of Thrace and Eastern Macedonia has been occupied. The subsequent popular assembly decided to march tomorrow.

Also police bullets were found at Athens Law School and a video was released on how police attacked with tear gas by the rear the Antiauthoritarian march.

Update (Feb 14 at dawn): Volos, Thessaly:

Contra Info has two impressive videos and a short chronicle of the clashes in Volos yesterday, where the Eurobank was burnt to the ground and the offices of PASOK were attacked. More than a thousand people fought against police that night....

Basque Country: highest police density of all the EU

2012-02-12T22:23:00.001+01:00

Basque language newspaper Berria explains today that if the FBI needed last year 800 agents to jail 127 mafia members, in the Basque Country at almost the same time, the Spanish Guardia Civil (military police corps) needed 390 policemen to arrest a mere ten Basques. If the North American police department needs 6.2 agents to arrest an armed gangsters, the Guardia Civil needs, it seems, 50 heavily armed policemen to arrest a mere unarmed Basque.

No policemen seem enough for 'superbasques'

No wonder Basques are considered superpeople in some corners.

But worry not, if something is in excess in the Basque Country that is police agents. If in the European Union the media is two agents per 1000 people, in the Basque Country that figure is 6 per thousand, even more than in Northern Ireland or (heavily militarized non-member) Turkey.

Not counting stationed soldiers (1200), there are 18,100 police agents in the Basque country, half of which are state agents from Spain and France, of which the infamous and hated Guardia Civil is the strongest force, with 4800 troopers and 79 stations (52 in Navarre).

The rest would be the Basque Autonomous police force (7500 agents) and Chartered Police of Navarre (925). Local police agents don't seem to have been considered, although they also take part in law enforcement and sometimes political repression as well. If counted, the figure would be even worse.

Arab blogger deported to the heartland of Islamist Terror, Saudi Arabia, on accusation of 'insulting Mohammed', where he will probably be tortured and executed

2012-02-12T20:31:00.001+01:00

This and other developments really emphasize that rather than looking so much at Syria, we should be looking at Saudia, Bahrain and the other theocracies of the Arab Peninsula. After all Syria may be whatever but at least is a secular regime like almost no other in the region (correction: like absolutely no other political system in the area, all of which are more or less functional theocracies, including Judaist Israel, religious segregationist Lebanon and a Turkey that is quickly returning to theocratic values while ruled by a religious party).

Hamza Kashgari, 23, a journalist from Jeddah, dared to speak out his heart about Mohamed, whom Muslims consider the holiest prophet and what not, for what I could gather at Saudi Jeans:

In his tweets, Kashgari imagined a conversation with the Prophet in which he said they are equal, and that although he admires many of the Prophet’s characteristics there are also others that he disliked.

More specifically he seems to have told Mohamed that:

I have loved things about you and I have hated things about you and there is a lot I don't understand about you. I will not pray for you...

That is enough to get you tortured and killed in the Saudi theocracy, so when the matter became hot, he rushed to the airport and flew to Malaysia, apparently as intermediate step to New Zealand, where he hoped to get asylum.

But the Malaysian racist theocracy, another Islamist tyranny that discriminates against all non-Malays (aboriginal peoples, Indians, Chinese) and forces all ethnic Malays to remain Muslim by law, subject to Sharia tribunals instead of civil ones, has extradited the journalist, even if there was a court order against that extradition.

His Twitter account appears to have been deleted, it is not clear by whom.

Clerical mob call for his execution in TV and all around the Net

A mob of clerics has appealed for the execution of Kashgari just for having his own opinion. Some say that he has repented and must therefore be forgiven, but that is not the point at all: it is his human right to renounce to religion (it is a choice, not any obligation, can you get that in your little brains?) and even to insult Mohamed if he feels that way (I also feel insulted by so many other things, grow a thick skin!)

It is said that Mohamed despised idolaters and that idolatry is what Kashgari in his unrecognized wisdom is denouncing: idolatry of the figure of Mohamed, idolatry of the sharia, idolatry of the Quran, idolatry of mere words and idolatry of the clerical hierarchy.

But the idolaters of words won't understand they will just get more angry, stupidly so. For example:

Dumber and he would not have been born

Or:

And there is people who follow this Nazi? C'mon!

It is clear one thing: we shall only respect those who respect. Nor respect for fascists and no respect for religious fanatics but rather an all-out war.

We should get those really crazy guys shaven, feathered and sent to Mars in a rocket - one way ticket of course, let their "god" bring them back if he can/wants.

Thousands protest in the Basque Country for economic sovereignty

2012-02-12T12:26:00.000+01:00

The tide of rejection that shakes all Europe against the dictates of the international bankster mafia adopted yesterday in the Basque cities the shape of a demand for economic sovereignty, with thousands demonstrating in the different provincial capitals for this goal.

Naturally the legal reforms imposed by the Spanish national-conservatives in due obedience of the Bankster Mafia, taking a lot from workers in exchange of absolutely nothing, was in the minds of the protesters.

Source: Gara[es].

From the Net: 'Battle Against The State of Oakland - Karo's witness' (Y. de la Vega at Occupy LA)

2012-02-12T11:12:00.000+01:00

Excerpt:

The police draw their paintball guns. I am standing behind one of the barricades. They point to us. Bile piles into the back of my throat. I am their enemy. Through their megaphone they announce that the “State of California” declares us an unlawful assembly. I have lost count on the number of unlawful assemblies I have been a part of since October. I am an assembly, I am peaceful, I am here because this is my world and I want to change it. They don’t care. We duck behind the barricade, unsure of whether they will fire, whether we should stay.

The crowd begins to trickle out. The police presence is heavy. The situation is impossible, the people are not ready.

Our march moves to where the Battle of Oak Street begins.

... full article at Occupy Los Angeles.

Greek General Strike: Day Two

2012-02-12T01:16:00.002+01:00

[Updated]

I do not have much info on striking workers or demonstrations as of now. But I know that occupations have continued across the country:

In the capital of the North, Thessaloniki, a cinema was occupied by the Antiauthoritarians (Worker Autonomy):

In Heraklion, a TV station was captured at least for a while by the Anarchists (video of the emission in Greek language).

The Law School of Athens is still occupied by students. They issued a second communication:

LET’S TURN THE SOCIAL EXPLOSION INTO REVOLUTION
The era of ‘prosperity’ is over. The dream of access to consumption and advancement, as expressed by the triptych ‘show-off, consumption, career’, has suddenly become the ultimate nightmare. But now there is no turning back. The times when the employers squeezed the foreigners at farms and construction sites, the periods when you boasted as a proud volunteer for the Olympic Games and you had maids as your slaves at home, will never come back.

You see the place in which your racism has put the migrants all along, now coming for yourself and your children. And you dread this fact. When the destruction of other societies, such as Eastern Europe or Iraq, shielded your privileges within the international competition, cynically you benefited the most.

Is it perhaps time to give up capitalism, nationalism and consumerism? To stop thinking like a householder, and understand who your real enemies are? The State, the bosses, the cops, the very system of political economy…
For it is not you who loses a job, but it is your job that disappears as a potential. For it is the destructive force of capitalism that threatens the mere existence of us all.

The only potentials for survival which capitalism leaves us lie either in the soup kitchen queues, the scavenging for food through garbage, or looting of supermarkets.

For this, the only solution is Social Revolution. So as to have a life, and not survival alone.

This requires that we rise up against all economic and political institutions; and that we take our measures during the uprising, such as abolishing the State, property, nation, sexism and patriarchy, in order to bring revolution in everyday life.
WILDCAT STRIKES, SELF-ORGANIZED OCCUPATIONS,
WIDESPREAD REVOLTS EVERYWHERE
FOR THE SOCIAL REVOLUTION
Occupied Law School
February 10th, 2012

__________________________________________________

(Update) Contra Info reports that during the day there was a police siege against the occupation and that everyone who attempted to enter the School was registered. They also report on a number of various demonstrations through the country, none of them too numerous (5000 reported in Athens at the Parliament for example).

However Occupy London appears to think that people is preserving their forces for tomorrow's demos. After all it has been a long week of struggle in Greece and the end is not in sight at all.

__________________________________________________

Occupy London also reports that, among those arrested yesterday, three (a minor aged 16, a 20 y.o. French exchange student and a third person who suffers serious health problems) have been charged with one felony and three misdemeanors each. Other five people are charged only with misdemeanors, three have been released and two not yet. One of them, N.P., is in hospital with broken ribs and serious injuries through all the body because of the beatings by the police (right?)

Government instability

As I already mentioned four ministers resigned yesterday and a fifth ones days before. Among the dissident ministers, two are social-democrats, one of which emphasized that she resigned in protest against the fixation of EU with destroying labor rights.

Three however belong to the Christian-Fascist party LAOS, which has moved out of a coalition that was damaging its prospects of gaining votes at the expense of the conservatives. Simultaneously they have waved rumors of military coup, which is most unlikely, much less to succeed at all where an elected government is failing.

The coalition still should have enough votes to pass the imposition by Brussels but their position is being weakened as we speak. Based on the polls I could find online, if there were elections right now, of all the coalition members only the conservatives of Nea Demokratia (the ones who organized all the fiasco and the main culprits) can expect to hold positions, all the rest will simply collapse (PASOK and LAOS would not get more than 6% each, although some of the social-democratic vote would go to a brand new dissident party, the Liberal Democrats, who unavoidably will form part of the next coalition government to enforce IMF's dictates).

Elections are supposed to be held in the Spring (by the national coalition agreement).

That is why LAOS has moved out of the government after a symbolic participation, because they and their partners realize that they need a pseudo-radical entity to do the dirty job and be ready to replace the ruling clique and also ready to throw around all the state terrorism you can imagine.

Beware!

Serious Left parties like the Neo-Stalinist KKE or the Radical Left coalition Syriza remain opposed to all this macabre circus against the Working Class, as do the extra-parlamentarian but strong Anarchist and Antiauthoritarian movements, who lead the protests often.

Partial sources not linked in-text: Al Jazeera, Occupy London.

See also the report on the first day of the General Strike.

Fukushima children in dire situation (short video)

2012-02-11T22:54:00.000+01:00

Watch and redistribute (in Japanese with English subtitles):

The citizens of Fukushima (and much of Japan) have been left to their destinies or even forced to put up with radiation in cruel experiments worth of Mengele.

... From Fukushima Emergency - what can we do?

From the Net: 'Thousands rally against nuclear power in Japan' (Vanguard)

2012-02-11T15:29:00.002+01:00

TOKYO (AFP) – Thousands demonstrated in Tokyo on Saturday against nuclear power generation, 11 months after a massive earthquake and tsunami sparked reactor meltdowns at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

Kenzaburo Oe, the 1994 Nobel prize winner for literature, told a central rally at Yoyogi Park, “Radioactive waste from nuclear power plants will be borne by generations to come.”

“This must not be condoned by human beings. It is against ethics,” the 77-year-old novelist said.

The rally was attended by 12,000 people, according to its organisers...

... full storty at Vanguard.

From the Net: 'Where is Kropotkin When We Really Need Him?' (D. Morris at Common Dreams)

2012-02-11T13:58:00.000+01:00

Where is Kropotkin When We Really Need Him?

If you want to know what anarchism is and why we should care, read Kropotkin.

by David Morris

On February 8, 1921 twenty thousand people, braving temperatures so low that musical instruments froze, marched in a funeral procession in the town of Dimitrov, a suburb of Moscow. They came to pay their respects to a man, Petr Kropotkin, and his philosophy, anarchism.

Some 90 years later few know of Kropotkin. And the word anarchism has been so stripped of substance that it has come to be equated with chaos and nihilism. This is regrettable, for both the man and the philosophy that he did so much to develop have much to teach us in 2012.

I am astonished Hollywood has yet to discover Kropotkin. For his life is the stuff of great movies. Born to privilege he spent his life fighting poverty and injustice. A lifelong revolutionary, he was also a world-renowned geographer and zoologist. Indeed, the intersection of politics and science characterized much of his life.

His struggles against tyranny resulted in years in Russian and French jails. The first time he was imprisoned in Russia an outcry by many of the world’s best-known scholars led to his release. The second time he engineered a spectacular escape and fled the country. At the end of his life, back in his native Russia, he enthusiastically supported the overthrow of the Tsar but equally strongly condemned Lenin’s increasingly authoritarian and violent methods.

In the 1920s Roger N. Baldwin summed up Kropotkin this way:

Kropotkin is referred to by scores of people who knew him in all walks of life as "the noblest man" they ever knew. Oscar Wilde called him one of the two really happy men he had ever met…In the anarchist movement he was held in the deepest affection by thousands--"notre Pierre" the French workers called him. Never assuming position of leadership, he nevertheless led by the moral force of his personality and the breadth of his intellect. He combined in extraordinary measure high qualities of character with a fine mind and passionate social feeling. His life made a deep impression on a great range of classes--the whole scientific world, the Russian revolutionary movement, the radical movements of all schools, and in the literary world which cared little or nothing for science or revolution.

... full story at Common Dreams.

Murderous repression continues in El Aguán (Honduras) by the hand of Dole Food Co.

2012-02-11T11:27:00.000+01:00

Source: LINyM[es].

More people have been murdered by the Honduran dictatorship in the last days in the district of El Aguán. In detail:

Mariela Domínguez, age: 14, is being persecuted and threatened by Facussé's guards for months because of her father's activism.

Feb 6-8 - Armored military units marched through Rigores, Panamá and Tocoa.

David H. Murdock: guilty of murder in Honduras

Feb 6 - Arrests of several MUCA* members: Vitalino Avares, Juan Ángel Rodríguez and Pedro Cerrano.

Feb 8 - Dionis Mártines, nephew of the president of a cooperative, was shot by unknown thugs, receiving several bullet injuries.

Feb 9 - Six of eight farmer cooperatives in Balfate were evicted by a combined action of military and private forces of Standard Fruit Co., dressed as Honduran troopers. Standard is now just a brand of Dole Food Co., directed by the guy pictured at the right.

Feb 9 - Tito Rodrigues, peasant leader in Marañones, was also shot, barely staying alive.

Feb 9 - Two guards of infamous capitalist M. Facussé were shot dead by thugs. It is believed that this killing was done in order to justify violence against peasants.

Feb 9 - A military vehicle showed up in a farm of Buenos Aires asking for peasant leaders and threatening that they will capture them anyway.

____________

*MUCA: Movimiento Unificado Campesino del Aguán - United Farmer Movement of El Aguán, one of several activists peasant organizations leading occupations of lands irregularly expropriated to the communities in the past.

From the Net: 'Protester shot dead in Saudi Arabia' (BBC)

2012-02-11T00:38:00.000+01:00

A protester has been killed by security forces in eastern Saudi Arabia, activists have said.

Munir al-Medani, 21, was shot in the chest late on Thursday when police fired on a demonstration in the town of Qatif, in Eastern Province, they added.

The police confirmed a man had died, but said officers had responded after being shot at by unidentified gunmen.

The protesters were reportedly demanding the release of Shia political prisoners and democratic reforms.

... full story at BBC.

Greek General Strike: Day One (massive occupations, government collapsing)

2012-02-10T22:43:00.002+01:00

Brief review of what I have found online on the first journey of the 48hrs. General Strike in Greece.

The General Strike is taking place against the social and economical abuse by the infamous Troika (European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund) in the name of multinational bankster mafia (aka Capitalist International, Davos Club, Trilateral Commission, NATO, WTO, Bilderberg Group, Goldman Sachs old boys' club, etc.) The "agreement" imposed by this mafia is available here. Including:

Drastic reduction of salaries, nowadays already the lowest of the Eurozone.
Effective removal of the government from the economy.
Public services' radical reduction
Privatization of everything (sell off to foreign speculators)
Reduction of public sector salaries
Reduction of the number of public servants
Suppression of social spending (pensions, healthcare...) but also reduction of social security payments by capitalists
Flattening of the income taxes (the poor will pay more, the rich may pay even less)
Vague promises of reforming the treasury and statistical agency over time to prevent tax evasion (a huge problem in Greece)
Promise of bailing out of the Greek banks ("public support" blah blah - many paragraphs dedicated to this)
In spite of all the cuts, they pretend to improve also the judicial system, removing the backlog and rewriting laws to be more and more "business-friendly" (anti Working Class).

The Faculty of Law of the University of Athens was occupied early in the day. The occupants issued this manifesto. Excerpt:

In order to liberate ourselves from debt we must destroy the economy

The political and financial spectacle has now lost its confidence. Its acts are entirely convulsive. The government of “emergency” that has taken over the maintenance of social cohesion is failing in conserving the labour, and at the same time the consumption power of the population. The new measures, with which the state aims to secure the survival of the greek nation in the international financial world, lead to a complete suspension of payments in the world of work. The lowering of the minimum wage, now also in paper, comes in harmony with the full suspension of every form of direct or social wage.

Every cost of our reproduction vanishes. The health structures, the educational spaces, the “welfare” benefits and anything making us productive in the dominant system are now a thing of the past. After squeezing everything out of us, they now throw us straight into hunger and impoverishment. (...)

Other reported popular occupations include: Ministry of Health, Ministry of Labor, Town Hall of Holargos (suburb of Athens), a government building in Veria (Macedonia), the Prefecture of Larissa (Thessaly), the Polytechnic (college) of Chania (Crete), Town Hall of Rethymno, Town Hall of Mytilini (Lesbos), Prefecture of the Ionian Islands at Corfu.

Many prisons (the prisoners, not the wards) have also joined the General Strike, with diverse mobilizations: Grevena, Trikala, Larissa, Koridallos, Nea Alikarnassos–Crete, Corfu, Malandrino, Patras, Domokos, Nafplion, Thebes (female prisons), Special Youth Detention Centre in Avlona (juvenile prisons), Chios, Nigrita–Serres, Komotini.

Report from the occupied Law School (at 20:00 local time) mentioned seven people arrested (and still under police custody), plus another one from yesterday. Two of them are minors.

Tens of thousands reported to have taken part in the several demos held in cities across the country.

In Athens clashes took place at Syntagma Square (Parliament) and surroundings.

The following of the strike was masive, according to Kaos en la Red[es]: 100% among harbor workers, 60-80% in other sectors.

Several ministers (PASOK and neofascists) have resigned today (BBC), pushing the Republic a step closer to governance chaos, effective bankruptcy and a possible revolutionary solution.

An influential police union (POASY) has demanded the arrest of Troika members Poul Thomsen (IMF), Servaz Deruz (European Comission) and Klaus Mazuch (ECB) for the crimes of blackmail, conspiration for the destruction of democracy and national sovereignty, among others, all of which are clearly specified in the Greek legal system.

One of several videos of the clashes in Athens today (more at Occupy London):

Another major source for this entry is Contra Info.

Thousands of shipyard workers take A Coruña, Galicia

2012-02-10T21:47:00.000+01:00

Some 5000 workers of the Naval Industry of Ferrol and sympathizers marched onto neighboring A Coruña (Corunna), provincial capital, today in defense of their jobs in the naval industry.

'Workload now! - 17,000 jobs at risk'

Source: La Haine[es].

Sentence against Garzón: too little, too late

2012-02-10T15:20:00.004+01:00

Jabier Salutregi 'Salu', journalist and victim of Garzón

As you may know maverick Spanish political judge B. Garzón has been declared guilty of prevarication (power abuse), for tapping into communications between prisoners and their attorneys, but he still gets away without jail and will just be banished from the exercise of his profession as judge and paying a fine.

He will probably spend the rest of his life giving conferences around the World on how he almost-but-not-quite did something very cool for Human Rights, like almost-but-not-quite jailing Pinochet, etc.

His closure of newspapers, radios and research journalism magazines, jailing of reporters, systematic support of torture, central role in the extension of the concept of "terrorist" to every other citizen with dissident ideas... will be forgotten (not without our protest, of course).

Teresa Toda, journalist, victim of Garzón

In the Basque Country, where Garzón anti-democratic history is (sadly) much better known than elsewhere, the reactions have ranged between coldness and happiness, with only the occasional pro-Spanish hypocrite grunting a bit.

The major left independentist coalition Bildu reminded that this is a judge who has closed several media and who has systematically ignored all denounces of tortures. Meanwhile Nafarroa Bai speaker Patxi Zabaleta emphasized that what Garzón has done is exactly what all the other judges of the Audiencia Nacional (political tribunal) have been doing in the last 20 years, so it is about time that the AN itself is revised.

Spanish nationalist parties had confronted opinions, none of them based on Garzón's role in the political repression in the Basque Country.

(Source: Gara[es])

Iñaki Iriondo (general redactor of Gara) wrote this open letter to his colleagues Teresa Toda and Jabier Salutregi, still in prison for their work as journalists, thanks to Garzón's love for Judge Dredd's comics. Letter that I translate in full here:

Open letter to Jabier Salutregi and Teresa Toda
by Iñaki Iriondo

I write to you to say that, when I knew of the sentence against Garzón, my first thought was for you two. And not just because the prevaricating feet of the judge would have been stopped earlier, then our Egin would have never been closed nor so many of the abuses that have taken place in the Basque Country would have ever occurred. What calls my attention, what irks me is that this judge, for doing bad his job knowingly, has been sentenced to a fine of 2520 euros and 11 years of incapacitation in which he will still be able to travel around the world giving profitable conferences, while you -Teresa, Jabier- for doing well your work in a newspaper are kept in prison.

This [Spanish] Left has made its own the anti-democratic idea that we must not judge acts but people. As those involved in the Gurtel affair are shameless and evil -something we all can agree with-, the judge who investigates them can do as he pleases. As the Spanish transition was an insult and a treason to the victims of the dictatorship, in which PSOE, PCE and other varied letter soup collaborated, now 'heroes' and 'villains' are sought after for conscience cleansing. If the roadsides are still full of corpses, it is not because there was not a Garzón earlier, but because the Spanish Constitution was agreed so they were buried there for all eternity, while their murderers kept control of the centers of political, economic and ideological power.

And it is precisely this conception of judging people and not actions what keeps you two still in jail: you, Teresa, in Cordoba and you, Salu, in Burgos. There was nothing in your professional activity legally questionable, save that the paper in you directed was Egin, that there was a Prime Minister named José María Aznar who wanted to demonstrate that he dared to close it and a judge -today officially prevaricator- who needed to jail people for "membership" [in ETA] to justify such closure. In this also the Supreme Court took the reason from him. In this also too late.

Kisses and a bear hug to both of you and the others.

Most walk out in Basque public sector half-journey strike

2012-02-10T04:42:00.000+01:00

Demo in Bilbao

A clear majority of public servants and nearly all workers of public companies followed the strike called for yesterday in the Western Basque Country, which affected only half a journey (4 hours).

The strike was followed massively in the public schools, health services, municipal administrations, subway, railroad, TV, etc. The walkout included the corresponding demonstrations, which gathered thousands in the main cities.

The protests were held against massive budgetary cuts and subsequent job loses imposed by Spain (what is particularly absurd because the Basque provinces manage their own distinct budgets, holding the main capacity of taxation as well).