On strike: blog closed today

As you may know a general strike has been called in the Basque Country and Galicia, and later another parallel one was also called in Spain by different unions. 

The strike is against the draconian social cuts and the retrograde ultra-capitalist destruction of workers' rights imposed by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund and implemented by the new ultra-conservative government (which has no significant more support that had when they were opposition a few months ago).

Therefore this blog will not be edited in the next 24 hrs. and I will not participate in any discussions (unless something extremely dramatic happens that requires immediate reporting).

Brief review of the latest fascist attacks in Chile and Catalan Countries

Daniel Zamudio (pictured), who was left in coma after a Nazi homophobic attack in Santiago de Chile died today in hospital at the age of 24 (··> SA[es]).

Albert M.G., 16, who was brutally attacked by  Nazis in Manresa (Catalonia) weeks ago, tells how he pretended to be dead and even visualized how bad he must look when he did. He has clear that the Nazi gang wanted to kill him (··> SA[cat]). 

Security guards brutally beat communist youths in Valencia, when these were looking for places to put their general strike propaganda posters. When municipal police intervened the agents justified the guards' violence saying that the logical thing would have been to shoot them down, go figure! (··> SA[es]).

This is the situation: fascist death squads are every day more common and the next victim could be you or someone you love. 

Natural gas accident at North Sea looking very dangerous

I did not even realize until today that an abandoned gas platform owned by TOTAL had suffered a major accident and is releasing massive and dangerous amounts of methane to the sea and atmosphere near Norway and Scotland. 

Worst is that the operation to stop the leak may well be of the dimension of what happened with the Blackwater Horizon in the USA. The only thing not that bad is that, methane being a gas, it will not directly pollute as much as oil and needs no dispersants. 

The very bad thing is that it is a very flammable gas and if sufficient amounts are released it could well ignite accidentally, creating a huge burst. Hypothetically a sufficiently large methane bubble could be catastrophic, and some have argued it to be a cause of mass extinctions in the past (however this kind of leak is surely too small). 

But The Guardian discusses today that an explosion would be cause of major pollution and damage for the local sea life. Also the methane is not pure but is mixed with hydrogen sulphide which is very poisonous:

Martin Preston, marine pollution specialist and honorary research fellow at the University of Liverpool, said that from an environmental standpoint, both greenhouse gas emissions and local fish deaths were a concern. "The methane release represents a very significant explosion hazard, and of course methane is a potent greenhouse gas. The gas in this field is 'sour gas' – ie it contains hydrogen sulphide which is very poisonous to humans and aquatic life – so localised risks to marine life are likely. The hydrogen sulphide content of the current release is unclear at present. Localised fish kills cannot be ruled out."

My biggest concern is indeed that it may get complicated to fix the leak and there is serious risk of massive deflagration, which would kill workers and aggravate the problem. 

That's what the Mail Online argues today, remembering the Piper Alpha catastrophe of 1988, which killed 167. More than 200 workers have been evacuated already. 

The options considered are the same as for the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe near Louisiana two years ago: sealing the leak with a concrete-mud mix (so-called dynamic killing) or drilling a relief well nearby and extracting the gas that way. TOTAL pretends to believe that the leak may well die off on its own but sounds like wishful thinking and stock-market damage minimization strategies in my humble opinion.

It looks like yet another serious problem ahead.

Police controls and threats to citizens in Bilbao main green zone

The city of Bilbao does not have much space nor have many parks but something it does have is mountains. Notably the Pagasarri mountain is a major leisure area in spite of the relative hardiness of its access and is frequented by citizens in weekends and weekdays alike. 

But since a new highway was opened near it the Spanish military police corps Guardia Civil, which has nothing else to do but have not been made redundant in spite of the budgetary cuts, have got the custom of going to the mountain to bother citizens, including families with young children, asking for their identifications and even interrogating them about their private life.

This attitude can only be intended to create a climate of terror among the citizenry and to hush us away from our only accessible and sizable green area.

Some days this city feels like a prison. 

Ref.: Gara[es].

10 lies on the end of armed struggle in the Basque Country

The excellent critical political blog Borroka garaia da! (It's time of struggle!) has today a quite interesting read (in Spanish language) on how all the lies and wishful thoughts issued on the, once-hypothetical and now quite real, end of the armed struggle by ETA were and are all false. My own version (rather than a literal translation):

1. Without ETA's armed struggle there would be no more pretexts for the state: pretexts are that: pretexts and therefore are not the real causes. The state keeps denying the Basque-Spanish conflict or making any effort to solve it constructively.
2. Without ETA's armed struggle all Basque nationalists would rally together: the reality is in fact largely the opposite, with the Basque Nationalist Party each time more and more leaning towards unionist positions.
3. Without ETA's armed struggle everything would be possible (meaning self-determination, independence and what not): not in your wildest dreams, much less in reality.
4. Without ETA's armed struggle repression would cease: in fact it has increased in many aspects and, in any case, no meaningful decrease, never mind a total cessation, of political repression has happened at all.
5. Without ETA's armed struggle the main obstacle for popular struggle would vanish: no significant increase of popular struggle can be reported. In fact demobilization can become an issue in the mid-run.
6. Without ETA's armed struggle the internationalism in Spain and France towards the Basque struggle for freedom would increase: on the contrary: it seems that the rule is that if they look weak, hit them harder. Spanish and French "class" organizations are also obviously puppets of their national bourgeoisies.
7. Without ETA's armed struggle the economy of the Basque Country would improve: it's worsening fast and never ETA's activity seem to have damaged the real economy in the past either. 
8. Without ETA's armed struggle the political debate would come to the forefront: actually all political parties are immersed in some sort of via crucis, demanding repentance and what not. I'd add that, as lack of democratic institutions and media are so consolidated, the "political debate" is totally one-sided and Spanish unionists just repeat their clichés like parrots in a public TV that nobody watches anymore.
9. Without ETA's armed struggle the reaction would not have a pretext: same as in point 2: pretexts are just pretexts. In fact they seem to feel ratified in their previous intolerance, fundamentalism and right-wing extremism.
10. Without ETA's armed struggle there would be peace: what peace. You need two to dance tango, peace with the Spanish occupation forces still all around? Peace with all the exception laws and ad-hoc measures still all around? Peace when you can be arbitrarily arrested at any time just because?

The conflict has not ended: all wounds remain open and bleeding. You don't heal any conflict that way: you just perpetuate it. 

'There's no democracy in Greece anymore' (video)

Short video of some this weekend's lockdown of Athens:

Athens on lockdown from Ross Domoney on Vimeo.

Found at Occupied London - From the Greek Streets.

'Gulf Dolphins exposed to oil are severely ill' (NYT)

Dolphins in Barataria Bay off Louisiana, which was hit hard by the BP oil spill in 2010, are seriously ill, and their ailments are probably related to toxic substances in the petroleum, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration suggested on Friday.

As part of a continuing assessment of damages caused by the three-month spill, which began with an explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico, NOAA scientists performed comprehensive physicals last summer on 32 dolphins from the bay. They found problems like drastically low weight, low blood sugar and, in some cases, cancer of the liver and lungs.

... full story at New York Times (found via FOSL). 

'After lengthy analysis, scientists say BP oil spill the culprit for heavy toll on corals' (Washington Post)

NEW ORLEANS — After months of laboratory work, scientists say they can definitively finger oil from BP’s blown-out well as the culprit for the slow death of a once brightly colored deep-sea coral community in the Gulf of Mexico that is now brown and dull. 

In a study published Monday, scientists say meticulous chemical analysis of samples taken in late 2010 proves that oil from BP PLC’s out-of-control Macondo well devastated corals living about 7 miles southwest of the well. The coral community is located over an area roughly the size of half a football field nearly a mile below the Gulf’s surface.

... full story at Washington Post (found via FOSL)

'Vt. consultant Gundersen: Tokyo soil would be nuclear waste in US' (The Republic/AP)

MONTPELIER, Vt. — A Vermont-based consultant on nuclear issues say soil samples he took in Tokyo about a year after the Fukushima nuclear disaster would qualify as nuclear waste in the United States.

Arnie Gundersen, chief engineer with Burlington-based Fairewinds Associates, says he traveled to Tokyo recently, took soil samples from parks, playgrounds and rooftop gardens around the city and brought them back to be tested in a U.S. lab.

Arnie Gundersen, chief engineer with Burlington-based Fairewinds Associates, says he traveled to Tokyo recently, took soil samples from parks, playgrounds and rooftop gardens around the city and brought them back to be tested in a U.S. lab.

He says they showed levels of radioactivity would qualify them as nuclear waste in the U.S.

Gundersen says the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and U.S. nuclear industry don't consider the costs of mass evacuations and radioactive contamination in their cost benefit analysis used to license nuclear power plants.

... from The Republic, found via EneNews.

Inquisition jails 18 citizens of Laudio for protesting the illegalization of the ruling party

Laudio

Laudio (also known as Llodio in Spanish) is a small industrial town between Bilbao and Vitoria-Gazteiz. It has been always governed by Basque Nationalist options for as long as free elections were in place.

Upon the stubborn illegalization of the Basque Nationalist Left by the occupant power (Spain) some citizens performed a protest in the town hall which has nothing of peculiar nor violent, specially if we listen to what the police witnesses said.

However, even if the state attorney wanted to charge just misdemeanors, the 18 Basque citizens were brought to the Spanish political tribunal Audiencia Nacional (alias New Inquisition) with charges of terrorism. The accusation, a bunch of Spanish fascists from the ruling PP party, asked for 76 years.

That's what many Spaniards understand as justice: if you're Basque and proud, then rot in jail.

In the end the Inquisition has in fact condemned 16 of the accused to two months in jail for crime against the institutions of the State, wile two others got a whole year in prison for aggression. Individual sentences for injuries and threats were also issued on the same unlikely grounds.

Police agents and private bodyguards all attested that there was no violence nor threats, just a peaceful protest. But the PP councilors lied and the tribunal (against the law, which considers a police agent's testimony to be higher in fact) considers the testimony of these political opportunists to be more qualified.

That's what they call justice up there in Spain.

Source: Gara[es].

Tasio Erkizia's jail sentence confirmed in the Supreme Court

Tasio Erkizia

Tasio is maybe the most veteran Basque nationalist political leader alive. He was jailed for paying homage to José Miguel Beñaran Ordeñana (Argala), guerrilla militant (he was crucial to the execution of Carrero Blanco, Franco's right hand) but also victim of state terrorism, victim of a bomb planted by Spanish military spies in collaboration with French and Italian fascist terrorists.  

For crying Gora Argala! (Long Live Argala!) in Arrigorriaga now Tasio is in jail because the Spanish courts consider this to equate to support of terrorism, exactly as if he would have cried Gora ETA!

Source: Gara[es].

Navarre loses €500 million with its savings bank

That amounts to 77% of the real value of the Caja de Ahorros de Navarra (CAN, Savings Bank of Navarre), which was estimated in €658 million in 2010, a 3.6% of the Navarrese GDP that same year.

It was in 2010 when the CAN, owned by the chartered kingdom and the City of Pamplona, was fused with a random array of Spanish savings banks from Castile, Andalusia and Canary Islands forming the short-lived Banca Cívica. And it was in that fusion that its value was estimated to be €658 million euros. 

Yesterday all Banca Cívica was acquired, almost overnight, by the all-powerful Caixabank (formerly the savings bank of Catalonia, La Caixa). As result of all the agreed transferences, Navarre and Pamplona will only have 1.4% of the stocks of Caixabank, amounting to a mere €150 million.

The loss is scandalous, specially considering that the CAN has not lost anything apparent in the meantime. It has just been a scam to the Navarrese people. 

Isidre Fainé* is the new capo di capi

With this acquisition Caixabank becomes the largest bank of Spain, outranking Banco Santander and BBVA, which were the leaders until now. Caixabank is controlled by La Caixa, which previous to this acquisition had more than 80% of the stock of Caixabank. La Caixa is a semi-private semi-public corporation with a complex organization (private investors, charities and foundations, municipalities and a small worker representation) but effectively lead by the Catalan bourgeoisie as a private corporation.

Caixabank in turn holds 12% of Repsol YPF (major oil company), 5% of Telefónica (major telecommunications company) and controls Gas Natural Fenosa, which I had to denounce years ago for their criminal policies in Guatemala.

Main source: Gara[es].

_____________________________________________

*Fainé i Casas was speculated to be the misspelt Isintro phenomena casket (sic) who participated in the Bilderberg meeting 2009 in Athens.

Palestine: diplomats and demonstrators attacked by Zionist forces (and other stories of resistance and persistence) - Anarchists Against the Wall

A Child is Injured in Nabi Saleh, Diplomats Teargassed with Demonstrators and the IDF Threatens a Village with Curfew

26/03/2012

Kfur a-Dik

Activists arrived in the village on Friday and were met by members of the local Popular Committee. They were informed of the news that the army had threatened the village with a curfew for a week and that the labourers working in the near by Ariel Industrial Estate would be fired were they to go ahead with a demonstration this week. We will post further news as and when we receive it and continue to support the village in their struggle against the occupation

Kfur Kaddum

Some 300 residents of Kufr Qaddum gathered Friday noon in the village centre for the weekly demonstration against Israeli land grabs, joined by several dozens of Israeli and international activists. Amongst the demonstrators were also a member of the PA's legislative council and diplomats from South Africa and Portugal who came to witness the army's treatment of the demonstration, following last week's incident in which soldiers unleashed an attack dog at protesters.

(...)

South African diplomats evacuated after Zionist gassing

Nabi Saleh 

Women took the lead in the demonstration and sat down peacefully. According to activists in Nabi Saleh, the Border police were completely confused and didn't know what too do. Also in the village the demonstration was met with the usual barrage of tear gas, skunk machine and rubber bullets. A young boy was injured by a rubber bullet who was shot in the face from about 20m away following the violent dispersal of the weekly demonstration against the occupation. He was taken to hospital in Ramallah where he stayed over night under observation and for stitches.

Under military order 101, all forms of political demonstrations in the West Bank are deemed illegal by the Israeli authorities, and are routinely attacked and violently dispersed. 

14 y.o. boy hit with a rubber bullet shot at short distance

al Ma'asara

Local demonstrators joined by Israeli and international activists marched through the village to the main entrances only to be faced with a heavy military presence.

 (...)

Biliin

Over 30 internationals and 15 Israelis joined the local Palestinian demo in Bil'in against Zionist oppression. In accordance with the recent trend the demo included a relatively small amount of gas, a few rubber bullets, and quite a bit of barbed wire cutting.

(...)

Pruning the thorns of Apartheid

 Full report at Anarchists Against the Wall.

The people throws class war against militarism in Greece's national day

In spite of the massive deployment of police to defend the military parades, the people of the troubled Balcanic country has not felt intimidated by the illegitimate IMF government show of force and went out to clash with the police and force the military buffoonery into a halt.

Crete has been so far one of the most active areas and this case was not different: the military parade through the capital Heraklion had to be canceled. An anti-memorandum demo was held in its place. 

Images from Crete TV:

In Patras the parade was held only thanks to massive use of tear gas and police violence. As soon as it ended, the cops were forced to retreat. 

Source: Occupied London - From the Greek Streets.

Probably there is much more going on. I just do not know yet.

Update: Contra Info reports of police raid in the Autonomous Hangout (occupied social center?) Baruti, in the town of Veria (Macedonia), confiscating everything they could find (furniture, books, posters). 26 or 29 people were arrested and charged with "insulting authority" and "posession of weapons" (not reported anywhere to exist at all, maybe a pocket knife?). At least 400 police agents took over Veria today.

Many rally in Galicia for the general strike

The general strike of this Thursday 29 was first called by the Basque and Galician national (separatist) unions. The servile Spanish twin unions UGT-CC.OO. were expressly excluded from the call because they are considered subservient to the regime, specially since they have signed once and again brutal labor rights destruction pacts. 

However, some time later, they decided to call a strike that same day. But actually they are not the ones really calling for the strike but rather trying to pretend that they still have any control at all of the working class in the state of Spain. 

A mere farce. 

However the strike is likely to be a massive success because people, unionized or not, is generally most angry. 

These days one of the two original strike-calling blocs, the Galician labor union CIG (Galician Inter-Union Confederacy), has rallied its members in several towns.

Photo-gallery at La Haine.

Police violence in Spain: immigrant arrested healthy and exits tetraplejic and the cops claim he injured himself

It happened in Guadalajara, Castile/Spain, March 2012.

Mohamed Elashli (pictured) was arrested for not carrying his ID card (it was undergoing paperwork). After six days not knowing anything, his friends reached out to the police station and asked about Elashli: they are hushed out with claims that he was sent back to Morocco.

Later that week they got a call from hospital: Mohamed Elashli was in coma: police brought him to hospital, less than three hours after the arrest, and he entered coma soon after. 

Later he recovered from the coma but has been left tetraplegic.

Now police claims that he injured himself by running against a wall. What?!

Source: Kaos en la Red[es] (link 1, link 2).

Protests continue in Pamplona

This evening young people form the Pamplona district have held an open assembly at Gaztelu Plaza, then marching to the City Hall and the offices of the ruling PP party, heir of Spanish fascism. All in protest for the eviction tonight of the camp established yesterday, in demand to the right to education and against the extremist scrapping of hard-fought-for labor rights.

Source: Ateak Ireki[eu].

Thousands rally in Washington against fundamentalism in the USA

If something we know about the most powerful country of Earth, the USA, is that it ranks only second in fundamentalism and pointless mentions to God every day in the G20, right after Saudi Arabia.

But behold, atheism and generic agnosticism are growing in the land where even money has the name of God printed on it and where every hotel room has a bible or two.

As result some ten thousands of them attended a rally for secularism and strict separation of state and religion in the capital, Washington D.C. It was named the Reason Rally. 

To be honest I'm not really fond of the name: while reason is no doubt important it's also cold and you need some passion to fight against a force that is mostly emotional and irrational: the fantasy of Yaveh (alias God, alias Allah...)

You need something like the Cult of Reason... or maybe the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster... 

But whatever. The case is that a lot of people, also in the USA is demonstrating against the manipulation of public opinion through appeals to an imaginary authority. 

And that is good.

Next: Saudi Arabia... I hope.

Mali: the most idiotic coup ever

Touré was a popular president

As you know there was a coup in Mali a few weeks before elections and after a long period of stable formal democracy. 

Overnight and totally unexpected there was a coup lead by some unknown captain. Political program? Not a line. Complaints? One: they have not enough weapons (allegedly to crush the endemic Tuareg rebellion, going on for some 50 years). But can you rule a country from the mere viewpoint of the "needs" of military officers? That's absurd. 

I've been waiting trying to discern if there was something else going on. But found nothing. The Mali military coup is just a bunch of disgruntled petty military officers without anything that looks like a political program or any known social backing (most people could not care less about the Tuareg uprising out there in the Sahara desert: they may care about salaries, jobs or human rights but hardly about what happens out there in the dunes of the far north).

So I officially proclaim the military coup in Mali the stupidest coup ever.

They are bound to fail, I understand: the time of militarist petty tyrannies is over.


Update: Global Research argues that the USA is behind the coup:

Captain Amadou Haya Sanogo participated in the America’s International Military Education and Training program, sponsored by the US State Department, Public Affairs representative Patrick Barnes revealed to The Washington Post.  

...


Despite condemning the coup, the US is not planning to reconsider its $140-million aid program to Mali in 2012.

Camp at Gaztelu Plaza evicted by Spanish police at night

At 6 am, Spanish National Police evicted the people who were camping at Gaztelu Plaza in Pamplona. Cries calling to the general strike of next Thursday could be heard in the darkness:

Source: SA[es].

Spring 2012 begins? Citizens take over Gaztelu Enparantza in Pamplona

Dozens of young people have camped in Gaztelu Enparantza (Castle Square) in Pamplona (Navarre, Basque Country) against employment instability and budgetary cuts.

It is related to the student strike on Thursday 22nd and the upcoming general strike of next Thursday 29th.

Of course municipal police is already causing trouble:

Sources[eu]: Ateak Ireki, Twitter: #Martxokoiraultza, Agoitz Gorria.

Spanish governor forbids homage to antifascist fighters

The conservative Basque Nationalist Party was illegal in 1969 when two of its members died fighting against the Fascist regime of Franco. This is enough for the current Delegate of the Spanish Government in the (Western) Basque Country, Carmen Alba, to ban a planned homage to Jokin Artajo and Alberto Asurmendi, members of this party, who died when the bomb they were preparing exploded, killing both. 

No wonder, after all those elements are the direct heirs of Franco and his minions. And they know it. 

Source: Sare Antifaxista[es].

Bahraini repression continues killing civilians

Bahrain Center for Human Rights reports today that, under the fascist Khalifa regime:

• Tear gas or lethal gas: 32 killed by US-made gas munitions
• Bahraini minister banned ambulances from reaching the victims of repression
• UN calls for probe into Bahraini violent repression

Antisemitic (Anti-Arab) attempted pogrom in Jerusalem

According to Jews sans frontieres, citing Haaretz, hundreds of Zionist hooligans (supporters of Beitar Jerusalem team) attacked cleaners at a shopping center (Malha) in what was described as a mass-lyncing attempt. The security guards could do little to stop them, and the multitude of racist hooligans took the hall of the mall chanting racist slogans. 

Police took 40 minutes to arrive. It is unclear if anyone was injured. 

In spite of CCTV footage nobody has been arrested. Police says that is because no complaint was filled. 

I say it is because of institutional racism of the Apartheid Regime in Palestine (aka Israel).

Warsaw: Elba squat attacekd by mercenary thugs (Contra Info)

Elba squat was raided on March 16th, 2012, by henchmen of a private security company who received assistance from the Polish police. The project was established in 2004. The Finnish company Stora Enso (the owner of the premises) has been well aware of Elba’s existence and activity and, after protests two years ago, the presence of the squatters in the area was accepted. No user of the building was notified of a scheduled date of eviction, so the incursion came as a total surprise for the people living in the squat, which is the biggest and oldest active social and cultural centre in Warsaw.

Shortly after 11am, guards hired by the ‘Skrzecz’ security agency broke into the building. They didn’t present an eviction warrant and used violence against squatters in order to force them to leave the property. The squatters resisted, and one person barricaded himself in his room and at least six others occupied the roof of the building. They issued an urgent call for help and support. Soon, police units arrived at the place. The fact that the attempted eviction was illegal was ignored by the police, who instead started to block the solidarity demo.

... full story and videos at Contra Info.

'Strike brings Portuguese services to a halt' (Al Jazeera)

A 24-hour union strike against austerity measures has brought public services to a stand-still in Portugal.

Thursday's strike, the second in four months, is in protest against the broad cost-cutting measures agreed to by the government of President Aníbal Cavaco Silva in return for an international bailout of the recession-hit economy.

"The participation rate is strong in the public transport sector, among garbage collectors and the health sector,"  Armenio Carlos, secretary general of the Confederation of Portuguese Workers (CGTP), the group organising the strike, told reporters on Thursday.

The union is opposed to government austerity measures such as the elimination of public employees' Christmas and vacation bonuses - each roughly equivalent to a month's pay - in an effort to rein in the public deficit.

Public transportation in the capital, Lisbon, and Oporto - Portugal's second-largest city - were closed, forcing tens of thousands of commuters to find an alternative way to get to work or school. The majority of ports, including those in Lisbon and Viana do Castelo in the north, were also closed.

... full story and video at Al Jazeera.

Message from within the largest concentration camp in history: "Gaza is Dying" (from Jews sans frontieres)

Since June, 2007 Israel has adopted a continuous series of measures harming the civilian population. In September,2007 Gaza was declared "an enemy entity," and imports were restricted to 9 basic materials. Prohibited have been such items as certain medicines, furniture, electrical appliances, cows and cigarettes, and decreased amounts of such basic foods as fruits, milk and dairy products. Fuel and electricity supplies have also been cut. Gaza used to depend 100% on Israel for its fuels and close to 60% for its electricity. Gazans, however, resorted to digging tunnels on the Egyptian borders with Palestine in order to get fuel, medicine and other necessities. The Mubarak regime took every possible step to tighten the siege and destroy the tunnels. The ousting of Mubarak should have meant the end of the deadly siege imposed on Gaza. This has not happened yet, one year after the great Egyptian revolution! The Rafah crossing is still “partially” open; supply of fuel through tunnels has completely stopped, and the electricity ration is only for 6 hours a day! Hospital generators have stopped!

Israel has turned the Gaza Strip into the largest concentration camp with the largest population of prisoners in the world. The international conspiracy of silence towards the slow genocide taking place against the 1.5 million civilians in Gaza indicates complicity in these war crimes.

According to UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights: "everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age, or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

We, therefore, call upon the international community to demand that the rogue State of Israel end its siege and compensate for the destruction of life and infrastructure that it has visited upon the Palestinian people. We also call upon all Palestine solidarity groups and all international civil society organizations to demand:

• An end to the siege that has been imposed on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.
• The protection of civilian lives and property, as stipulated in International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law such as The Fourth Geneva Convention (to which Israel itself is a signatory.)
• Immediate opening of the Rafah Crossing (24/7) and the flow of goods, fuel and medicine.
• That Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip be provided with financial and material support to cope with the immense hardship that they are experiencing
• An end to occupation, Apartheid and other war crimes.
• Immediate reparations and compensation for all destruction carried out by the Israeli Occupation Forces in the Gaza Strip.

Besieged Gaza, Occupied Palestine

One Democratic State Group
Palestinian Students’ Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel
University Teachers’ Association in Palestine
Israel Apartheid Week Organizing Committee-Gaza

From Jews sans frontieres.

 __________________

The Final Solution is happening in Gaza and Palestine before our eyes and most are still trying to appease the new Hitler (= the Zionist leadership). Shame on us!

Student strike heats the ambient for the general strike next week - two arrested

Students in Pamplona took out to the streets today[eu] in a strike in defense of public education, performing a sit-in before the Education Department. 

Yesterday they occupied a high school[es] and performed road cuts[eu]. 

Two people were arrested at some point (unsure of the details right now) sparking protests also before a police station today.

Police evicted occupants at Eunate H.S. yesterday

Sit-in before the Education Department today

Sit-in before police station in solidarity with the arrested (today also)

All images and info from Ateak Ireki (specific links in-text).

Update: 

Gara[es] reports that the arrests happened in the popular neighborhood of Txantrea, which has a long history of class struggle and self-organization. They are not either clear on the details: it may well be that there was some clash between police and the students, who might have thrown over some trash containers or something.

Serbian fascist mafia members arrested in Valencia

Those who are old enough to remember the wars of the Balcans have surely heard of the infamous fascist mafioso and terrorist Arkan, as well as his death squad, known as Arkan's Tigers, which spread terror among Bosnians and Kosovars. While Arkan was killed in 2000, his organization outlived him and became a major mafia again, known as Zemun Clan.

Now Sare Antifaxista reports[es] that some of its members have been arrested in Valencia: Luka Bojović (boss), Vladimir Mijanović "Zuba" (liutenant) and Siniša Petrić "Zenica"(hitman).

They rejected food and water for days for fear of being given the truth drug. Remnants of one of their victims (an alleged traitor of their own gang) were found in the Manzanares river, Madrid. parts of him had been eaten by the other members.

Tamil Nadu: Many arrested in protests against nuclear power plant

The nuclear power plant is being built in Kudankulam (Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, India) and, if the government has its way, it will be at full power in six months. 

Ironically, in the aftermath of Fukushima, the state government declared that people has nothing to fear from the nuclear facility.  As many as six reactors (the same number as in Fukushima) are expected to be built in the facility. 

Fishermen, farmers and other workers concentrated at St. Lourdes (sic) church in protest were rounded by the police (about 100 arrested).  Meanwhile subsidies to charities and even to the Catholic Church, accused of backing the anti-nuclear movement, were frozen in a clear act of institutional blackmail. 

A German living in the area and apparently unrelated to the protests was deported, a Fukushima resident heading to give a conference was denied entrance.

Sources: Energy News, Reuters, The Bellingham Herald.

From the Net: 'Two victims pass away because of tear gas in less than 24 hours' (Bahrain Center for Human Rights)

Jaffar Jassem Radhi, 41 years old, died 17 March 2012 after severe deterioration of his health as a result of excessive tear gas that was shot directly at his house in the previous night 16 March 2012. His brother stated to BCHR that the deceased was healthy and not suffering from any health issues, until his house was targeted by tear gas which led to suffocation of the victim followed by his death.

Family members of martyr Sabri Mahfoodh Yousif, 27 years old from Shahrakan, confirmed to BCHR his death on 19 March 2012 as a result of toxic gas asphyxiation. Sabri was subjected to torture during period of the State of National Safety(Emergency law period) and had also suffered from an illness after being hit by a grenade in his chest.

Thousands participated in the mourning rallies of the two men, unsurprisingly, mourners were attacked by security forces using tear gas leading to suffocation and a number of injuries.

... full story at Bahrain Center for Human Rights.

Rif revolt continues and show signs of independentism

Riffian banners, Riffian protests

Cuarto Poder[es] reported yesterday that the Riffian national banner has been sighted in the protests against the totalitarian Moroccan regime that erupted earlier this month. The ensign was official in the Rif Republic of the 1920s, when famous Berber leader Abd el-Krim held against the joint imperialist forces of Spain and France for many years. 

Because it seems that in spite of repression, the uprising is extending, village after village, through all the country. IDOM compares it to the harira, the traditional soup, which simmers in a low fire. The Riffian uprising has begun indeed. 

The rebels chant "down with Houlal VI" in reference to the Moroccan monarch, who gets compared with the idol Houlal, destroyed by Mohammed some thirteen centuries ago in Mecca.  This kind of direct confrontation with the figure of the monarchy, indeed sacralized to the point of idolatry, is very rare to see in Morocco. 

But Morocco is a state that breaks apart in its many troubles: even before the "Arab Spring" began, Morocco was already being shattered by revolts in occupied West Sahara and the southern town of Sidi Ifni. The contact with Europe is here even greater than its neighbors, Algeria and Tunisia, and that means that unavoidably the centuries-old mosque-blessed certainties of the Alaouite dynasty are being decodified. Just like any other traditional reality: it is the destructive law of Capitalism: appropriate, use and discard. 

The police forces that attack the protesters in vain are being described as 'occupation forces', just as they are here in the Basque Country. Whatever the Moroccan correspondent of IDOM says, the seed of Riffian independentism is clearly there in such a language and such anti-Alaouite determination. 

Berbers after all are not happy by how the Arabized majority treat them and their millenarian culture. However the demands of the Riffian revolt are also of the kind of jobs for the unemployed: nothing more, nothing less.

Besides the epicenter of the uprising, Bni Bouayach, which has been declared in state of siege and sealed from the outside world, large protests have also been reported in Imzouren, Boukadine and Nador, and outside the Rif region proper, in Oujda and Tangiers also. 

The ample Riffian diaspora has also organized solidarity protests in Madrid, Paris, Brussels and La Hague.

Turkey kills one person in repression of Kurdish protests

Demo at Ankara

The Newroz or Kurdish New Year (Spring equinox) began early this time and began hot. Protesters have taken over many cities, including North Kurdish capital of Amed (Diyarbakır) and the major Turkish cities of Istanbul  and Ankara (where Kurds are a most important minority).

Turkish response has been brutal, with one person already killed and more than 100 arrested.

New Year celebrations

The mortal victim is Haci Zengin, who was shot by police with a tear gas canister in Kazlıçeşme (Istanbul).

The protests have been called by both the legal BDP and the illegal PKK in demand for autonomy for Northern Kurdistan, which has no political nor cultural rights whatsoever and makes up one of the poorest and most marginalized parts of the centralist and ultra-nationalist Turkish state.

Sources: Ekurd, Reuters, Euronews (video).

Lone gunman of Toulouse probably a fascist: all victims belong to minorities [Update: an Islamist fascist in the end]

It has finally surfaced, after the attack against the Jewish school in Toulouse, that all three previous victims of the motorcycle gunman of Toulouse belonged to ethnic minorities. 

Previously it was only known, at least to me, that they were military personnel, what made the xenophobic motivation of a Le Pen or Sarkozy supporter less apparent. So today, as I read on the massacre in the Ozar Hatorah religious school, I even speculated with a lone Islamist criminal (who may hold generic resentment against Jews for the Zionist colonial imposition), but after reading the small print today at Euronews, which clearly said: 

All the troops were from ethnic minority backgrounds.

... I immediately realized that the murderer must be a racist.

The killer had already murdered in the past days three soldiers and injured a fourth one, and now also a Jewish religion teacher and three children (aged 3, 6 and 10), two of them sons of the educator, while seriously injuring yet another person.

The attacker used always the same modus operandi, attacking in cold blood with a pistol (the same one in all three attacks until it got jammed, when he began using a second weapon) and running away in a motorcycle. 

While I can't be sure, I would imagine that he is a member or former member of the armed forces, not only because accessing weapons is difficult in the French state but also because his first victims were all troopers. 

References: Euronews, Gara[es].


Update:

It seems that my logic was right and three Nazi officers are being investigated already. The officers were briefly (in)famous in 2008 when they published a photo of themselves with the Nazi ensign and performing the Roman (Fascist) salutation with the extended arm.

All three correspond with the profile of the murderer: a tattooed and very strong man dressed all in black.

Refs.: Le Point[fr], Público[es].


Update (March 20):

The attacker may be a follower of the butcher of Utoya, A. Breivik, because he apparently carries a camera to document his crimes, as allegedly Breivik advised to do (or so claims Al Jazeera - first time I heard that).

However while Breivik was openly Christian-Zionist and resented European fascist antisemitism as useless and counter-producing, this terrorist is obviously antisemitic. So the comparison stops there.


Update (Mar 21): 

A young man aged 24 is in the end apparently the murderer. Against expectations, he is an Islamic Fundamentalist (another type of fascist), identified as Mohamed Merah and who claims to be member of Al Qaeda. The gunman claims that he killed the soldiers in protest for French intervention in Afghanistan and the Jewish children to avenge the Palestinian victims of Israel.

As of now Merah has been surrounded by police in his apartment of Côte Pavée (a neighborhood of Toulouse), from where he has shot against the agents. An attempt to involve his mother in preventing further bloodshed failed as she declared to hold no influence on her son.

Merah is a French citizen of Algerian origins who had been indoctrinated, apparently, in Pakistani and Afghani infamous madrasas.

Japan bans foreign radiation dosimeters, Geiger counters

Fukushima Diary reports that radiation dosimeters not built in Japan have been banned to sell in the East Asian state. This includes repairs of already sold or gifted Geiger counters.

Iori Mochizuki also mentions that after last year's catastrophe, thousands of dosimeters were donated to Japan from outside, however as many as 40,000  are missing (the authorities dumped them probably). 

In a separate post, the same author mentions that some among the corrupt Japanese elite, (specifically the vice-governor of Tokyo, Mr. Inose) are considering restoring conscription (abolished after WWII) in order to send the Japanese youth to work in Fukushima forcibly instead of the seemingly costly subcontractors, which he compares with mercenaries. 

Of course, he has not volunteered himself to clean up the radioactive rubble, talk about shamelessness and hypocrisy!

A personal warning for the Japanese people: either you go out to the streets massively now and throw down the current regime of you will live in a totalitarian state worse than North Korea very soon. Why do I say that worse than North Korea? Because in that state so far there is no widespread radiation pollution being scattered around by corporate mafioso madmen, as happens in Japan.

Punk-rock band 'Ardor de estómago' brought to the Inquisition for saying the truth about the King of Spain

Ardor de Estómago (Heartburn) has been brought before the Spanish state's political tribunal Audiencia Nacional (aka New Inquisition, created by fascist dictator Franco under the name of  Public Order Court). The reason? Insults to the King.

This did not happen 25 years ago, mind you. Spain has been evolving more and more in the direction of absolute monarchies like Thailand or Morocco, in which no dissidence or disrespect to the icon of the monarch is tolerated (a clear sign of weakness incidentally).

But worse is that they are being accused for simply saying the truth: all the lyrics (except the chorus which is subjective and I'd say that sexist) just states the truth on the monarchy. Hence I'm translating the lyrics here for your interest:

(Note that it's full of references to the 1981 February 23rd coup and other dark issues of the monarch's past - see below for explanations). 

Who killed his own brother

with a hunting rifle**?

Who shot in strange circumstances?

Who was named successor

by a creepy dictator?

Who was the White Elephant*?

Who was Franco's friend?

Chorus:

The son of a bitch of King Juan Carlos

The son of a bitch of the King - Bastard!

(repeat)

Who has ships given as gifts

by the bankers and capitalists?

Who is above the Law

and pretends to be popular?

Who censors hazardous affairs?

Who is best buddy of mafiosi?

Who spoke badly of Adolfo Suárez*

in front of the generals?

Who made Tejero and Armada uprise*

then leaving them on their own?

Who showed up in television

as leader of the Transition?

Whose back is well protected

through state secrets?

Who has adulators stuck to him as limpets

following him everywhere?

(Chorus).

Notes:

* All these elements are references to the whitewashed role of the Bourbon monarch in the 23-F coup, which was intended to stop or weaken the democratic reform, specially the federalist trend, and which, in spite of the appearances succeeded in most aspects. It is generally accepted outside the mainstream quasi-official versions that the leader of the coup (which was not as straightforward as some believed) was the King (the White Elephant in the code of the conspirators) and that only the fact that Colonel Tejero, who was the most fascist and naive of all those implicated, resisted the second part of the maneuver, which implied that he was sent to Venezuela in a plane and a "national unity" government with social-democrats and communists was formed afterwards, actually damaged the plan.

** Juan Carlos Bourbon-Bourbon killed his brother (15) when he was barely 18 years old in a so-called accident. Some versions even pretend that the victim shot himself. Nobody who is not monarchic believes it was an accident but rather a personal and dynastic settlement.

Video with the song (lyrics in Spanish at YouTube):

Naturally, if, as they say we are all equal before the law, then the criticism of the King, as of any public figure should be automatically accepted as a matter of course. It was that way in the past. I do not remember any trial of any sort against, for example La Polla Record for their "I want to be King" (in which they called him lazy and hypocrite) and so many others. Yet since the turn of century freedom of speech is more and more difficult in the realm and more and more criticisms of the institutions are considered crimes, what, as I said before, can only be understood as a sign of weakness by institutions which have no legitimacy whatsoever.

Source: Sare Antifaxista[es].

Update: They have been sentenced to fines of €900 each (SA[es]).

Australian authorities want to import radioactive Fukushima soil

Why? Because they expect that way to attract Japanese investments (never mind that Japan as economic power is doomed: radioactive countries with low transparency can't export). 

Whatever the reasons, the move is the first one to actively export the Fukushima catastrophe outside Japan. Already the Japanese government has managed to lure with promises of money and demands of "solidarity" (solidarity through suicide?) many municipalities through Japan, even in Okinawa, rendering that way all the country contaminated with radiation. 

Now they aim to export that pollution and the first useful fool to eat the bait has been Australia. 

Source and more info at Ex-SKF.

From the Net: 'Women demand change to Moroccan rape law' (Euronews)

Women’s rights activists in Morocco have demonstrated outside the parliament building in Rabat, to demand a change in the law on underage rape.

It follows the suicide of a 16 year old girl, who was forced to marry the man she claimed had raped her.

Amina Filali’s mother said the girl found herself in an abusive relationship after being pressured into the marriage in a custom enshrined in law.

Fouzia Assouli from Morocco’s Democratic League for Human Rights said: “What we have witnessed is scandalous. We have had enough. We must change this law. We must change this penal code.”

... full story and video at Euronews.

From the Net: 'Protests in solidarity with Hana Shalabi and against the wall brutally suppressed across the West Bank'

Bilin

Upon the arrival to the Abu Lemon area participants raised Palestinian flags, posters of prisoner Hana Shalabi and slogans calling for national unity, the end of the occupation, destruction of the apartheid wall, and freedom for Palestinian prisoners. A few protesters entered between the barbed wire fence and the wall. Some were able to remove additional part of the barbed wire fence. Some young demonstrators threw rotten eggs at the soldiers. The soldiers reacted with a sound bomb, rubber bullets, tear gas canisters and the "skunk" machine.

...

Also at Kfur Qaddum, al Ma'sara, Nabi Saleh, Beit Ummar,Nil'in and Rafah: full story at Anarchists Against the Wall.

Blogger now redirects all blogs to state adresses and half the gadgets don't work

You may have noticed that all Blogger blogs you're visiting have now the local state address of the jurisdiction you are under, so if for example you're in Sweden, this blog should show up as:

forwhatwearetheywillbe.blogspot.com.se 

instead of the proper address which is

forwhatwearetheywillbe.blogspot.com

This is a big problem for links and stuff and it is already showing up in many gadgets that do not work properly anymore, for example the followers' window on the right or even something as simple as the quick edit button under each post because, even if I am the author, I can only watch my blog and you blog and every Blogger blog as:

<name>.blogspot.com.es 

and not anymore under the universal

<name>.blogspot.com

Besides of the technical issues, which I imagine that they will work out eventually, the fact of having an adress ending with the locator of the state that is invading my country doesn't please me at all. 

But most worrisome is why is Blogger changing this:

Q: Why is this happening?
A: We are doing this to provide more support for managing content locally. If we receive a removal request that violates local law, that content may no longer be available to readers on local domains where those laws apply. This update is in line with our approach to free expression and controversial content, which hasn’t changed.

In other words: bending to the possible censorship demands from the states.

I just discovered this tonight so I will have to sleep over it but I think this means that I will be migrating to Wordpress or some other resource. 

After an arbitrary, never explained total closure of my Google account not long ago, which was eventually solved by ringing up from a borrowed mobile phone (can't Google understand that I do not have a damn cell phone?) but with extremely bad robotic attention in any case, I became concerned about my dependency on a single source, Google, for much of my Internet life (mostly mail and blogging but that's a lot). 

It's always bad when you are too dependent on a single resource: that's why species go extinct and civilizations collapse: lack of diversity, lack of options. So when Google+ came I decided to stay away less that all my Google account could be scrapped overnight without any explanation. 

So right now I'm considering seriously a migration before I have to repent of my laziness. 

Anyhow, in the meanwhile, please take notice of this trick:

Q. Can users outside of the United States still access the service’s .com domains?
A. Yes, we allow anyone to view the .com version of a Blogger blog by typing: http://[blogname].blogspot.com/ncr – which always goes to the .com version of the blog. The “no country redirect” (ncr) will temporarily prevent Blogger from redirecting readers to the local version of the blog.

Whatever they say, you may want to do it as user as well, specially if you love your quick edit buttons.

From the Net: 'Japan’s triple disaster: An indictment of capitalism' (WSWS)

...

The natural forces unleashed on March 11, 2011 were uncontrollable, but the impact of the disaster was greatly magnified by the inadequacy of the safety and emergency procedures, the government’s chaotic response and the lack of money for relief and reconstruction. The terrible consequences are an indictment of capitalism, especially as Japan is a sophisticated industrial economy, the world’s third largest.

The subordination of the social needs of ordinary people to corporate profit was most graphically exposed in the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Despite the warnings of scientists, emergency planning by the Tokyo Electric Company (TEPCO) failed to take into account a massive tsunami. The wave swamped the plant and cut its electricity supplies, triggering a chain of events that led to a partial meltdown in three of the six reactors.

TEPCO downplayed the extent of the disaster to minimise the impact on its share prices and profits. Despite its record of safety breaches and cover-up, the government of Prime Minister Naoto Kan left the corporation in charge. A recently released report revealed that Kan and his top officials were forced to consider a worst-case scenario that involved a “demonic chain reaction” of nuclear plant meltdowns, necessitating the evacuation of 30 million people from Greater Tokyo. Yet the public was deliberately kept in the dark.

At every stage, the government put the interests of TEPCO ahead of working people.

... full story at WSWS.