Basque Country: transport sabotages in protest for arrests

The electric system of a railroad was sabotaged at Erriberabeitia (Araba) with leaflets spread denouncing the recent political arrests. 

Also chains were placed at various roads in Donostia (Gipuzkoa) blocking traffic. Four people have been arrested for this last incident.

Graffitti denouncing the collaboration of regionally ruling EAJ-PNV with the Spanish Inquisition have been spotted at the see of this party in Barakaldo (Biscay). It read: PNV: keep your dogs tied.

Source: Naiz Info[es].

Guatemala: Ríos Montt trial suspended

The trial for Crimes Against Humankind of former dictator Efraín Ríos Montt has been suddenly suspended. 

On April 18th, judge Carol Patricia Flores, previously suspended in her attributions but then restored, decided unilaterally the suspension of the procedures including the contrast of witnesses, which had already seen more than one hundred testimonies. 

The trial against the fascist mass-murderer dictator has been delayed once and again by means of these kinds of legal tricks, denying the right to justice to the victims of the Guatemalan Genocide, most of them Native Americans (who make up more than 40% of the population but are systematically excluded from power in a clearly racist regime). 

Source: LINyM[es].

Italy: political standoff highlights contradictions in the PD

First of all we must remind that the extremely low democratic quality of the Italian electoral law, that requires 20% of votes for any coalition to be able to be represented in that mockery of Parliament, radically corrupts the democratic representativity of the system, leaving out the real Left. This authoritarian distinction between party and coalition lists is also present in the Greek electoral system, what has forced SYRIZA to become a party in order to hope for electoral victory within the system (when originally and logically they were a coalition of multiple forces, some of which preferred to stand aside). Of course there are many other tricks to distort popular representation and favor the bourgeois twin party system like Anglosaxon "winner-takes-all" districts but... another day. 

Then we must recall that the Democratic Party (PD) in Italy comes from the Left Democratic Party (PDS), which in turn comes from the once very combative and highly popular Italian Communist Party (PCI). The Bersteinian bourgeois decadence of this once communist party has no parallels in the recent history of Western Europe: once carefully kept out of the system by a coalition of bourgeois parties, led always by the Christian Democracy, sponsored by the Mafia and NATO, it first became "Eurocommunist" as reaction to the military invasion of Czechoslovakia, then Socialdemocrat after the collapse of the late Stalinist system in Eastern Europe, adopting the name of PDS and finally merely Liberal Bourgeois with the US-mimicking name of Democratic Party. 

However the grassroots of the party have not changed that much yet and they feel betrayed by their support of Mario Monti's perpetual exception semi-colonial government and now again by the flirting with Berlusconi's PDL in the name of stability and what-not, what resulted yesterday in the re-election of ailing right-wing President Giorgio Napolitano.

From Struggles in Italy (emphasis mine):

This situation has already taken its toll on the Democratic Party. On April 19, Pierluigi Bersani, Secretary of the PD, resigned after the failure of his proposed ‘mediation’; so did Rosy Bindi, former Christian Democrat and current president of the Party’s General Assembly.

The high ranks of the party are shaking under the rage of the many rank-and-file members of the Party who carried hopes of a political renewal. Many old-school militants have publicly announced their disappointment with a party that systematically refuses to listen to its base of supporters. Meanwhile, old hawk of the PD Massimo D’Alema (who briefly lead the Executive in 1999) was spotted calmly strolling in Rome, and many see his shadow in the disastrous outcome of the PD-PDL mediation. Finally, this situation opens a breach in the already fragile centre-left electoral cartel, with SEL publicly walking out of the alliance to give open support to the M5S candidate.

(...) this solution seems to mark the end of the Democratic Party, undermining its already compromised political representativeness. Once again, the left failed to achieve real change but fell prey to its internal divisions, promoting an old name that failed to satisfy its own core of activists and members.

What now? Either the twin party Berlusconi-PD agree in another Monti-style perpetual emergency joint cabinet or they agree to call new elections, elections in which the PD may easily collapse, yielding power again to the corrupt gerontocracy of Bunga-Bunga Berlusconi.

An alternative may be the rise of billionaire buffoon Beppe Grillo but I seriously doubt that this populist movement without ideology can actually win elections, even if their rise clearly highlights the limitations of the current semi-colonial partitocracy.

Protests in the Basque Country

Donostia (San Sebastian):

Hundreds surrounded the Spanish government delegation in solidarity with the prisoners of conscience arrested yesterday in Donostia because of their peaceful political activities:

Source: Ateak Ireki[es].


Iruñea (Pamplona):

Hundreds marched in support of politically persecuted class pickets:

Source: Ateak Ireki[es].


Bilbao:

Hundreds marched in San Inazio neighborhood against the harsh penalties imposed to political prisoners Ibai Beobide, Eider Zurriariain, Euri Albisu, Xabier Atristain, Juan María Maizkurrena, Miren Josune Balda and Jose Agustin Camacho. They denounced this persecution as war strategy, i.e. opposed to the peace process unilaterally impelled by the Basque Nationalist Left and ETA.  

Source:  Bilboko Branka[eu].

Update: In Iruñea-Pamplona there was also another demonstration, gathering some 3000 people in demand of social rights and against poverty. 

They spoke against the "government of bankers and capitalists" and in favor of "a government that ends with poverty and not with the poor as they are doing now". One of the main demands present was the right to a decent home because there are many empty homes which are not being rented to the people who need them.

Source: Naiz Info[es].

Aragon: police arrests one in antifascist protest

Zaragoza has become a nest of international fascist activities under the protection of the "conservative" government. Today the Nazis were allowed to commemorate Adolf Hitler's birthday.

Against those meetings of hatred, the lively antifascist camp of the Aragonese city gathered a multitude which was attacked by police resulting in one arrest. 

Source: El Ventano[es].


Update (Apr 21): arrested person was released at 19:30. Previously a protest had been organized before the police station gathering dozens. 

Source: AraInfo[es].

F1 kills: 5 y.o. kid loses eye to Bahraini repression

Source and more details: Bahrain Center for Human Rights.

Greece: mafioso terror and banking corruption

Greek journalist hero Kostas Vaxevanis, who published the Lagarde List of probable tax evaders months ago, is again digging, at risk of his life, on the muddy waters of the deeply corrupt and parasitic Greek banking system. 

Yanis Varoufakis publishes today an English translation of his latest research:

In May 2012, I investigated the functioning of Greek banks, with special emphasis on a certain Greek Bank (The Bank henceforth) and its Chairman (The Chairman). I found that The Chairman’s family members were the secret owners of a number of offshore companies that would receive loans from the bank without any real collateral. These loans would then: (a) be written off as unserviceable, or (b) be used to buy office space that would immediately be resold to other parties which would then lease them to The Bank or sell them to The Bank at inflated prices. In addition, other offshore companies were used by The Chairman to borrow substantial amounts from two other Greek banks, again with no collateral, for the purposes of buying shares The Bank (thus helping the bank demonstrate its capacity to draw in private capital). Since then the owner of one of these two other banks has been imprisoned (on different charges) while the second bank involved has played a central role in bringing down the Cypriot banking system (after its merger with one of the island’s now collapsed banks and the transfer of its headquarters from Greece to Cyprus).

... continue reading at Yanis Varoufakis blog. 

Men in black with large black backpacks at Boston attack scene

A military or paramilitary unit of some sort seems to have been active in the scene of the Boston bomb attack. Their "plain clothes" are actually an informal uniform (beige trekking pants and boots, black jackets and backpacks) with many of them wearing also a black cap with a stylized white skull, an icon used variedly by the US Navy SEAL unit, as well as Blackwater (Xe, Academi) and other military subcontractors.

Source: Infowars (link 1, link 2), via Ex-SKF.

These images raise a lot of questions: who exactly are these men in black? Who they obey to? What were they doing in the Boston Marathon? Neither the US Navy nor paramilitary contractors have any jurisdiction on civilian affairs and while the FBI insists on a discourse of "nothing to see here, move along", they do not seem FBI agents either. 

Let's not forget that the US Navy has been previously involved in strange affairs, notably the drill they were performing on invading Haiti on humanitarian pretext exactly when they got one such humanitarian pretext in the form of shallow unexpected massive earthquake. And, of course, they invaded immediately. Earthquake causing weapons do exist nowadays, indeed.

Basque Country: police arrests prisoners of consciece after facing massive nonviolent resistance

A human wall of some 800 people was not enough to counter the violence of police forces at the service of the Spanish autocracy. The popular resistance succeeded yesterday but not tonight.

And indeed why do political arrests always take place in the night?

The eight arrested were sentenced to six years of prison by the Spanish special political court Audiencia Nacional (aka Inquisition) for being active politically in an organization of their choice.

Source: Naiz Info[es].

Internationalism: protest at Morocco's consulate for Sahrawi political prisoners

Dozens gathered today at Morocco's consulate in Bilbao (Basque Country) in support of Sahrawi political prisoners especially and in homage to all political prisoners of oppressed peoples of the World (West Sahara, Basque Country, Palestine, Kurdistan, Wallmapu, Colombia, Corsica, Galicia, etc.) under the slogan: "Freedom for the political prisoners of the World". 

"Let out the prisoners of Sahara"

Almost when the protest was scheduled to end, several activists hang a huge banner of solidarity with Sahrawi prisoners from the facade of the Moroccan consulate as can be seen in the image.

Police intervened but could do little other than identify the activists.

Fascist Morocco replaced Fascist Spain as colonial master of West Sahara in 1975. Since then an endless state of war exist.

Source: Herri Kolore[es].

Basque Country: nonviolent sit-in prevents arrests twice

The popular Aske Gunea (Freedom Zone) installed in the Boulevard of Donostia (San Sebastian) prevented twice tonight that police arrested eight Basque youth leaders sentenced to six years of prison for their political activity. 

The victims of the Spanish Inquisition this time are: Imanol Vicente, Nahikari Otaegi, Ekaitz Ezkerra, Aitor Olaizola, Adur Fernández, Oier Lorente, MIkel Arretxe  and Egoi Alberdi.

Videos:

Source: Naiz Info[es].

India: Kalpakkam nuclear station shut down by fire

A "minor" fire forced the shut down of the controversial Kalpakkam nuclear station in Tamil Nadu. It will take a month to restart. 

Source: EneNews.

Greece: immigrant workers shot by capitalist death squad when claiming their 6-month unpaid salaries

At least 34 Bangladeshi workers were injured by shots fired at them by strawberry fields' managers when they were demanding their unpaid salaries from six months in an incident that recalls images of colonial-fascist Honduras or Colombia but pretty much unheard of in Europe... until now. 

Police has arrested the owner but the perpetrators were able to flee to Patras. The crime took place in Manolada, Ilia.

This is not the first time that violent incidents take place around the unpaid salaries to farm workers but it is the first time in which live fire was used. 

Communist parties SYRIZA and KKE have condemned the racist attack.

Source: I Can't Relax in Greece.


Update: international boycott call against Manolada strawberries → I Can't Relax in Greece.

Update (Apr 19): video of the aftermath of the massacre (from ICRING again):

Living quarters of the workers

Update (Apr 21): the three criminal foremen have been arrested, a well as another person who was sheltering them.

One of the criminals was previously involved in a similar racist aggression case, for which he has yet to be tried: he carjacked an Egyptian immigrant. 

None of the assassins has been named and police (which is nowadays essentially an armed extension of Golden Dawn) does not attribute racist motivations to them.

Source: ICRING.

Basque Country: political leader arrested for "organizing" event which he did not organize at all

Yesterday, the Spanish military police corps Guardia Civil arrested Iker Rodrigo Basterrechea, militant of socialist-independentist party Sortu, on the spurious accusation of organizing a homage to ETA militant Xabier López Peña, who died in strange circumstances in a French hospital days ago. 

The event was in fact organized by the relatives of López Peña with a private character and not too many people attended. Some of them however cried vivas to ETA, what has been the pretext of the Spanish authorities to order this arrest, which seems totally arbitrary and politically motivated and a clear move to push for the illegalization of Sortu and the wider coalition EH Bildu (which gets 1/4 of all votes) and any meaningful political activity in the Basque Country, forcing the return to war. 

Ref.: Naiz Info[es].

Reactionaries go on violent rampage in Venezuela after losing elections again: several killed already

The remains of a murdered PSUV sympathizer are taken away

At least seven people were killed and 67 injured by the violence rampage of the reactionary camp after narrowly losing yet another election against the socialists. 

There is little doubt that the elections were perfectly clean, as they have been internationally monitored and a throughout recount (beyond what the law demands) has been accepted by newly proclaimed President Nicolás Maduro (yet Capriles has not issued the formal demand before the electoral commission).

However the right wingers, surely incited by international actors like the USA, Colombia, Spain and the Vatican, have gone on violent, often armed, rampage killing many. 

All the victims seem to be PSUV sympathizers or police agents, as the target of the attacks have been almost invariably PSUV and government sees, as well as the homes of Chavista sympathizers. The government makes reactionary leader Eduardo Capriles responsible for the violence. 

Motorized fascist squad before a barricade

This attitude of violence is not new: electric sabotages happened through the country almost everywhere where Maduro was campaigning, while the few remaining landowners retained stock to simulate lack of supply.

This seems clearly another desperate attempt of coup by the Venezuelan reaction with more than probable support from the imperialist powers. 

I just hope that everyone responsible is arrested and that the steps to full socialism, eradicating significant private property altogether, are accelerated as result of this intolerable coup attempt by the counter-revolution.

Main sources[es]: VTV (photos, video), TeleSur, Tercera Información, La Jornada, Noticias 24, LINyM, Borroka Garaia Da!

Official global list of "too big to fall" banks

I just came to know of the existence of an official FSB list of "too big to fall" banks, which are therefore allowed to operate beyond any law nor common sense.

The list is as follows:

• Top "bucket": none
• Second "bucket": 
• USA: Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase
• Europe: Deutsche Bank, HSBC
• Third "bucket":
• Europe: Barclays, BNP Paribas
• Fourth "bucket":
• USA: Bank of America, Bank of New York Mellon, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley
• Europe: Credit Suisse, Royal Bank of Scotland, UBS
• Asia: Mitsubishi UFJ FG
• Fifth "bucket":
• USA: State Street, Wells Fargo
• Europe: BBVA, Groupe BPCE, Group Crédit Agricole, ING Bank, Nordea, Santander, Société Générale, Standard Chartered, Unicredit Group
• Asia: Bank of China, Mizuho FG, Sumitomo Mitsui FG

Dexia, Commerzbank and Lloyds were dropped from the 2011 list. BBVA and Standard Chartered were added instead.

Let them fall!

Source: Golem XIV, via Raging Bull-Shit, via Naked Capitalism.

Catalonia: Anarchist group claims bomb attack against bank in bourgeois neighborhood

A so-called Affinity Group for Anarchy has claimed a bomb attack (apparently without explosion) against a bank office of La Caixa in the neighborhood of Las Tres Torres of Sarriá district of Barcelona. 

They claim to have chosen this area because of its outstanding bourgeois character and its relation with personalities like "Princess" Cristina Bourbon and her controversial family entourage (involved in corruption scandals: Noós case), with strong connections to Isidro Fainé (CEO of La Caixa, largest domestic bank of Spain, main benefitiary of the CAN/Banca Cívica corruption scandal, member of the Opus Dei pseudo-religious mafia, and vicepresident of many other companies: Telefónica, Repsol and the Sociedad General de Aguas de Barcelona). 

The artifact is said to be made by a 3 kg butane container filled with 2 kg of gunpowder, complemented by two smaller camping-gas containers. 

Full text of the communication: Contra Info → original Spanish, English translation.

Koriyama children fight a desperate legal battle for the right to live free from radiation

From Japan Today:

Lawsuit seeks evacuation of Fukushima children

TOKYO — Their demand: The right to live free of radiation. The plaintiffs who started the legal battle: 14 children.

A Japanese appeals court is expected to rule soon on this unusual lawsuit, filed on behalf of the children by their parents and anti-nuclear activists in June 2011 in a district court in Fukushima city, about 60 kilometers west of the crippled nuclear plant that spewed radiation when a massive earthquake and tsunami hit it more than two years ago.

The lawsuit argues that Koriyama, a city of 330,000, should evacuate its children to an area where radiation levels are no higher than natural background levels in the rest of Japan, or about 1 millisievert annual exposure.

In a culture that frowns upon challenging the authorities, the lawsuit highlights the rift in public opinion created by the baffling range in experts’ views on the health impact of low dose radiation. Although some experts say there is no need for children to be evacuated, parents are worried about the long-term impact on their children, who are more vulnerable to radiation than adults. Consuming contaminated food and water are additional risks.

... full story at Japan Today.

I have already said that most Northern Honsu, including Greater Tokyo, should be evacuated or otherwise restricted for inhabitation. This is particularly true for 2/3 of Fukushima prefecture where Koriyama lays. 

Protest in Madrid demanding investigation of convicted fascist murderer Emilio Hellín

Emilio Hellín Moro was the material author of the kidnapping, torture and murder of Basque communist student, resident in Madrid, Yolanda González in 1980. In spite of being a convicted criminal it was recently known he is assessing with several police forces of Spain, including the Western Basque Autonomous Police Corps (Ertzaintza).

Yolanda González Martín was member of the Workers' Socialist Party (PST) and an active student leader in Vallecas (Madrid), where she studied electronics. She was kidnapped by Emilio Hellín, Ignacio Abad, José Ricardo Prieto and Félix Pérez, who made up a fascist death squad, Grupo 41 (a commando of the Batallón Vasco-Español state terrorist unit). These four and two accomplices were tried and sentenced to several penalties, Hellín getting the maximum possible one back then: 30 years, plus another penalties: 13 years, three months and again three months.

After just 14 years in jail, Hellín managed to run away to Paraguay, where he was protected by the fascist regime of Stroessner. Later, back in Spain, he changed his name to Luis Enrique and never went back to jail. 

Recent homage to Yolanda González in Deustu, Bilbao

While the various authorities have promised to "investigate the matter", so far they have done nothing but a mockery and Hellín remains salaried and protected by the state, evidencing once again that Spain is a terrorist state against its own citizens. 

Main source: Diario Octubre[es].

Basque Country: thousands demonstrate in the anniversary of the murder of Iñigo Cabacas

While the new Security Councilor pretends it was a sad accident, the multitude cried that it was no accident but a murder. 

It was known recently that the policemen on the scene called their commander to tell that there were no incidents, that everything was calm. Yet the commander ordered them to charge against the multitude who was celebrating the football match, resulting in the death of Iñigo Cabacas. The identity of this ultimate culprit is not yet known nor any procedure has been opened against him/her at all.

Source: Bilboko Branka[eu].

Update (Apr 15): the whole communications between police agents the day when Iñigo Cabacas was killed can be heard (or read in the transcription) here (in Spanish language), a shorter version is here.