Israel's last crime against humanity targeted humanitarian aid activists!
Pazartesi, 31 Mayýs 2010
Istanbul, 31 May 2010 - We, as Turkish Greens, strongly condemn the deadly raid against the activists on their way to Gaza with humanitarian aid. Although not confirmed yet, there are widespread concern over the increasing number of deaths, which stood at 10 at the moment. Israeli army detained the boats and since nobody can reach the group with any means, we are concerned over the activists' lives.
Although the IHH foundation (the organizing foundation) repeatedly iterated that the humanitarian aid would have been sent by the channel of Kızılay (Turkish Red Crescent), Israeli government chose not to react, and continued its blockage against Palestinian people.
This is a crime against humanity and Israeli government breached the international law by attacking civilian boats on the international sea.
The official declerations of Israeli government is far from reflecting the truth.
Isreal should lift the blockade of Gaza immediately.
We urge all European governments, as well as Turkish, to follow what Swedish, Greek and Spanish governments did. We welcomed the decision of these governments by withdrawing their ambassodors from Israel. The international community should impose sanctions until Israel stops the occupation and withdraws to the 1967 borders.
We call all European Green Party member parties for action and raise their voices against this crime against humanity.
Yeşiller Partisi
Green Party of Turkey
31 May 2010
Thousands demonstrate against Gaza massacre in London
Just been sent this by Theresa of Green Left, the video is from counterfire and is a speech by Lowkey, Britain's premier political rapper
Just back from London demo, Shahrar (who read out Caroline's statement and gave a well-received speech) and hero of the day Mark D, who ensured at very short notice lots of Green Party placards were very visible. Andy H and I carried the GL banner. I'm sure there were others so sorry if I missed you!
I'm not one for inflating attendance figures, but ignore the press, there were at least 3 - 4,000 people. We blocked off Whitehall, and then marched down to the Israeli Embassy. Emotions were running high, but it was a peaceful and vocal demo with a broad section of people in attendance.
There are plans to demonstrate every evening outside the embassy at 5.30 if you're in central London.
Teresa
Green candidate Mockus will fight for every vote in round two of Colombian election
This is my approximation from facebook with google translate, you don't just need Spanish you need the context, some of which I don't have.....'Minga yes, no piñata.' well I know what this is hinting at and I know Pinata is the birthday thing you burst and Minga is mobilisation, but it is still a bit WTF....original here
Today we reached a goal that a few months ago seemed impossible to reach, to get to the second round: more than 3 million citizens have joined what has become a genuine green wave of hope. We know that together we can transform society. We know that violence, inequality and corruption are not a destination, but are problems we can overcome.
This represents a new citizenship that begins to assess the political, wishes to participate and does so with vision, effectiveness and decency. With the help of new technology, building a remarkable politics where participation is voluntary, disinterested and working in kind and gentle ways to correct each other. With commitment and creativity many are finding countless ways to explain, enhance and spread the message.
All we understood that we can be much better than we have hitherto been.
Today Achievements
This campaign has been an amazing learning process. Through social networking, person to person conversation and voting today million of Colombians participated, some resident in Colombia and others abroad; girls, children, youth, adults and the elderly , housewives, women and men, entrepreneurs and workers in the countryside and the city, indigenous and Afro-Colombians, and many Colombians who did not vote. And we have been spreading for three demands:
1) That each of us takes the lives of others and life itself as sacred.
2) That the public resources are resources of utmost value.
3) Not everything goes! We can achieve the desired results without sacrificing the principle.
With this second round we have the opportunity to move towards a profound cultural transformation that sees our country free of violence, drug trafficking and patronage. Which also free us from the extreme inequality that offends us all and whose desire to overcome the most privileged.
Education and cultural change, advocacy of law enforcement are also the best strategy for the preservation and sustainable use of ecosystems. In this way, Colombia will consolidate what was its first global environmental task: in fact, almost 40% of the territory is taken away by law to trade, to preserve, together, biodiversity and cultural diversity. More water, more green. Greener, more water. More cultures, greener, more water.
The meaning of the vote today
Today I feel that each of our voters, to mark the ballot in the Green Party, said: "Life is sacred." It was also as if we declare to each other "Your life is sacred." "Your life is sacred."
By voting, more than three million people committed today to play fair, to comply with the rules, respect others, to combat the culture of the shortcut. We already have a collective voice that resounds far and wide throughout Colombia and that we can say that if we are innovative enough to win the second round to push this cultural change.
The road
As Enrique and Lucho began to build this road, going through the cities, talk to people on the street, this project seemed impossible. The skepticism of self and others went beyond hope. However, the tide began to grow. Already on March 14, against all odds, we were more than one million eight hundred thousand.
Then came the union with Sergio Fajardo and his Movement Citizen Engagement. He and his team gave Colombia a beautiful demonstration of generosity. They had come a long way, had built an organization, had studied the situation in Colombia and had made proposals of deep content. And they decided to put the result of all his work in the service of the collective cause.
The Green Wave led us to discover our capacity for action. We feel that if we unite, every dream is achievable: unity is strength! Unity is strength!
We decided that ours will be a quiet force, a force law-abiding.
Today we are confident that by an ingenious educational process through a major cultural change, it is possible to build a functioning democracy, deliberative and peaceful, it is possible to end the influence of drug trafficking and corruption, it is possible to drastically reduce violence and may achieve a more egalitarian society.
The union has allowed us to add experience, achievements and knowledge, we must now multiply with you.
And is not the first time there is a mobilization of this magnitude in Colombia. Almost twenty years ago, Colombians enshrined in the Constitution a project based on the recognition and enjoyment of rights, based on a careful balance of powers, based on the autonomy of the regions and based on the duties of compliance with which we are all stewards.
Substantially advance the realization of that dream, the dream of the Constitution, it is our aim for the next four years. Our mission is clear. At this stage the story at this stage the story is written in pencil and constitution, not the blood with pencil and constitution, not the blood! We persist in the desire to form a government team of the highest quality.
Thank centered learning
I am grateful to life the opportunity to participate in this campaign, the opportunity to meet with this extraordinary team and the opportunity to discover the power of millions of Colombians who have recovered and show their hope.
I learned a lot. Above all, I rediscovered the power and pleasure of teamwork. Success in small, finished calling to millions of Colombians. I repeat, we can be much better than we have hitherto been!
However, by decision of the citizens, we must face in the second round to Dr. Juan Manuel Santos. Citizens are faced with two very different options. Dr. Santos has shown, in many ways, he is convinced that the end justifies the means. It is also supported by a political class whose behavior has undermined confidence in the institutions. The two have distinctly different interpretations of our reality. Our proposals for the country are very different. The Colombians will choose the next June 20 between these two paths: the continuity of results regardless of the media-make-better-or performance without sacrificing ethics or legality of the no-anything goes. We want to win but not at any price, we want to govern but not in any way.
I admire my other rivals in the first round. I also admire their vice presidential candidates.
Germain Vargas proved to have studied the situation in the country wisely. In its proposals, based on a wealth of experience as a parliamentarian, there are many useful tools for the Colombians tackle our problems and opportunities for integration in the contemporary world.
With Gustavo Petro have ideological differences, but for years we have participated in democratic settings in which we agree in an emergency: the urgent need for citizens to recover the political and economic power, and assure victims return of their lands, those lands the Mafia, as he calls them, have taken by force.
Sanin's tenacity and his enduring appeal to regain the public transparency and ensure opportunities for the most vulnerable sectors of society and also for women, will find resonance in a Green Party government.
As Rafael Pardo, I join the many voices of appreciation to their preparation, their intellectual ability and their personal. I confess that during the campaign greatly values its proposals to build a Fair Colombia. Their contributions will be crucial in building the country we want. We agree with the liberal defense of freedom and the dream of having a more egalitarian society.
By grouping in the Green Party, Sergio Enrique, Lucho and I believed that Colombian democracy requires strong parties. I believe in a public and transparent approach to parties, not the traditional agreements between them. There is nothing to divide, only shared principles and ideals. Mobilisation yes, no piñata.
By maintaining this attitude of respect for the parties, we leave the door open. We call on all citizens, those who voted for us today, those who voted for a different option, even those who did not turn out to vote, in the second round to join the alliance citizen. Together we can show that with the stylus and the Constitution, it can be.
Today we are the second largest political force in the country. This gives us the authority and responsibility to lead a citizens' alliance that leads us to the next June 20 is the winning project of democratic legality.
Gracias, gracias, gracias.
Today we reached a goal that a few months ago seemed impossible to reach, to get to the second round: more than 3 million citizens have joined what has become a genuine green wave of hope. We know that together we can transform society. We know that violence, inequality and corruption are not a destination, but are problems we can overcome.
This represents a new citizenship that begins to assess the political, wishes to participate and does so with vision, effectiveness and decency. With the help of new technology, building a remarkable politics where participation is voluntary, disinterested and working in kind and gentle ways to correct each other. With commitment and creativity many are finding countless ways to explain, enhance and spread the message.
All we understood that we can be much better than we have hitherto been.
Today Achievements
This campaign has been an amazing learning process. Through social networking, person to person conversation and voting today million of Colombians participated, some resident in Colombia and others abroad; girls, children, youth, adults and the elderly , housewives, women and men, entrepreneurs and workers in the countryside and the city, indigenous and Afro-Colombians, and many Colombians who did not vote. And we have been spreading for three demands:
1) That each of us takes the lives of others and life itself as sacred.
2) That the public resources are resources of utmost value.
3) Not everything goes! We can achieve the desired results without sacrificing the principle.
With this second round we have the opportunity to move towards a profound cultural transformation that sees our country free of violence, drug trafficking and patronage. Which also free us from the extreme inequality that offends us all and whose desire to overcome the most privileged.
Education and cultural change, advocacy of law enforcement are also the best strategy for the preservation and sustainable use of ecosystems. In this way, Colombia will consolidate what was its first global environmental task: in fact, almost 40% of the territory is taken away by law to trade, to preserve, together, biodiversity and cultural diversity. More water, more green. Greener, more water. More cultures, greener, more water.
The meaning of the vote today
Today I feel that each of our voters, to mark the ballot in the Green Party, said: "Life is sacred." It was also as if we declare to each other "Your life is sacred." "Your life is sacred."
By voting, more than three million people committed today to play fair, to comply with the rules, respect others, to combat the culture of the shortcut. We already have a collective voice that resounds far and wide throughout Colombia and that we can say that if we are innovative enough to win the second round to push this cultural change.
The road
As Enrique and Lucho began to build this road, going through the cities, talk to people on the street, this project seemed impossible. The skepticism of self and others went beyond hope. However, the tide began to grow. Already on March 14, against all odds, we were more than one million eight hundred thousand.
Then came the union with Sergio Fajardo and his Movement Citizen Engagement. He and his team gave Colombia a beautiful demonstration of generosity. They had come a long way, had built an organization, had studied the situation in Colombia and had made proposals of deep content. And they decided to put the result of all his work in the service of the collective cause.
The Green Wave led us to discover our capacity for action. We feel that if we unite, every dream is achievable: unity is strength! Unity is strength!
We decided that ours will be a quiet force, a force law-abiding.
Today we are confident that by an ingenious educational process through a major cultural change, it is possible to build a functioning democracy, deliberative and peaceful, it is possible to end the influence of drug trafficking and corruption, it is possible to drastically reduce violence and may achieve a more egalitarian society.
The union has allowed us to add experience, achievements and knowledge, we must now multiply with you.
And is not the first time there is a mobilization of this magnitude in Colombia. Almost twenty years ago, Colombians enshrined in the Constitution a project based on the recognition and enjoyment of rights, based on a careful balance of powers, based on the autonomy of the regions and based on the duties of compliance with which we are all stewards.
Substantially advance the realization of that dream, the dream of the Constitution, it is our aim for the next four years. Our mission is clear. At this stage the story at this stage the story is written in pencil and constitution, not the blood with pencil and constitution, not the blood! We persist in the desire to form a government team of the highest quality.
Thank centered learning
I am grateful to life the opportunity to participate in this campaign, the opportunity to meet with this extraordinary team and the opportunity to discover the power of millions of Colombians who have recovered and show their hope.
I learned a lot. Above all, I rediscovered the power and pleasure of teamwork. Success in small, finished calling to millions of Colombians. I repeat, we can be much better than we have hitherto been!
However, by decision of the citizens, we must face in the second round to Dr. Juan Manuel Santos. Citizens are faced with two very different options. Dr. Santos has shown, in many ways, he is convinced that the end justifies the means. It is also supported by a political class whose behavior has undermined confidence in the institutions. The two have distinctly different interpretations of our reality. Our proposals for the country are very different. The Colombians will choose the next June 20 between these two paths: the continuity of results regardless of the media-make-better-or performance without sacrificing ethics or legality of the no-anything goes. We want to win but not at any price, we want to govern but not in any way.
I admire my other rivals in the first round. I also admire their vice presidential candidates.
Germain Vargas proved to have studied the situation in the country wisely. In its proposals, based on a wealth of experience as a parliamentarian, there are many useful tools for the Colombians tackle our problems and opportunities for integration in the contemporary world.
With Gustavo Petro have ideological differences, but for years we have participated in democratic settings in which we agree in an emergency: the urgent need for citizens to recover the political and economic power, and assure victims return of their lands, those lands the Mafia, as he calls them, have taken by force.
Sanin's tenacity and his enduring appeal to regain the public transparency and ensure opportunities for the most vulnerable sectors of society and also for women, will find resonance in a Green Party government.
As Rafael Pardo, I join the many voices of appreciation to their preparation, their intellectual ability and their personal. I confess that during the campaign greatly values its proposals to build a Fair Colombia. Their contributions will be crucial in building the country we want. We agree with the liberal defense of freedom and the dream of having a more egalitarian society.
By grouping in the Green Party, Sergio Enrique, Lucho and I believed that Colombian democracy requires strong parties. I believe in a public and transparent approach to parties, not the traditional agreements between them. There is nothing to divide, only shared principles and ideals. Mobilisation yes, no piñata.
By maintaining this attitude of respect for the parties, we leave the door open. We call on all citizens, those who voted for us today, those who voted for a different option, even those who did not turn out to vote, in the second round to join the alliance citizen. Together we can show that with the stylus and the Constitution, it can be.
Today we are the second largest political force in the country. This gives us the authority and responsibility to lead a citizens' alliance that leads us to the next June 20 is the winning project of democratic legality.
Gracias, gracias, gracias.
Salma Yaqoob says'Join with me to protest at Israel’s terrorist attack'
Councillor Salma’s statement
Monday, 31 May 2010
Join with me to protest at Israel’s terrorist attack
This murderous attack by the Israeli government on an aid convoy sailing in international waters is an act of state sponsored terrorism. It is also an attack on the entire international community. Over 700 people from 40 countries, 28 of whom are British, are taking part in the convoy.
Israel acts with such shameless contempt of world opinion because it feels it is above international sanction. And for far too long it has been. This situation must change. The British government must express its outrage at the attack on its citizens and the aid convey in the strongest terms. The British Ambassador should be withdrawn from Israel and the Israeli Ambassador asked to leave Britain. Support should be given to the Palestinian call for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council. Effective International sanctions must now applied. The world must unite to send the strongest message to that such acts of terrorism will not be tolerated. And the International Palestinian solidarity movement must send the strongest message we will redouble our efforts to break Israel’s brutal siege of Gaza.
I know today is a Bank Holiday, and that many people will be planning to spend it with their friends and families. I urge you to change those plans and join me in attending the Emergency Protest at 2pm today outside Downing Street in London.
My thoughts and prayers are with familes of those killed and injured and with all those on the convoy whose lives are still endangered.
Monday, 31 May 2010
Join with me to protest at Israel’s terrorist attack
This murderous attack by the Israeli government on an aid convoy sailing in international waters is an act of state sponsored terrorism. It is also an attack on the entire international community. Over 700 people from 40 countries, 28 of whom are British, are taking part in the convoy.
Israel acts with such shameless contempt of world opinion because it feels it is above international sanction. And for far too long it has been. This situation must change. The British government must express its outrage at the attack on its citizens and the aid convey in the strongest terms. The British Ambassador should be withdrawn from Israel and the Israeli Ambassador asked to leave Britain. Support should be given to the Palestinian call for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council. Effective International sanctions must now applied. The world must unite to send the strongest message to that such acts of terrorism will not be tolerated. And the International Palestinian solidarity movement must send the strongest message we will redouble our efforts to break Israel’s brutal siege of Gaza.
I know today is a Bank Holiday, and that many people will be planning to spend it with their friends and families. I urge you to change those plans and join me in attending the Emergency Protest at 2pm today outside Downing Street in London.
My thoughts and prayers are with familes of those killed and injured and with all those on the convoy whose lives are still endangered.
Caroline Lucas MP condemns Israeli attack on peace activists
If you are a Liberal Democrat contrast this with the silence of your leader, I could be wrong but I haven't heard anything from the current Labour leader Harriet Harman, time to join the Green Party if you care about peace and justice. Join here
The Green Party Leader, Caroline Lucas MP, has called on the Government to condemn the actions of the Israeli troops in firing on a ship carrying volunteers and medical supplies to Gaza, and to back an urgent inquiry into the incident.
In a strongly worded message to Foreign Secretary William Hague, she has demanded that he urgently contact the Israeli authorities to demand an end to the attacks, and that he ensure that Israel is held fully to acount for an illegal and unprovoked attack.
Speaking this morning, she said:
"I completely condemn this deadly attack on the humanitarian aid convoy. I am deeply shocked by the brutality of the assault, which has left a still unkown number of people dead and wounded. My thoughts are with the victims and their families.
"This attack is a serious infringement of the principles of international law. The Green Party calls on the UK Government, and the EU, to apply pressure to lift the ongoing blockade of Gaza, which makes essential humanitarian aid for the population of Gaza virtually impossible to deliver. We also call for the quick establishment of an international inquiry to shed light on the circumstances of this attack."
The Green Party Leader, Caroline Lucas MP, has called on the Government to condemn the actions of the Israeli troops in firing on a ship carrying volunteers and medical supplies to Gaza, and to back an urgent inquiry into the incident.
In a strongly worded message to Foreign Secretary William Hague, she has demanded that he urgently contact the Israeli authorities to demand an end to the attacks, and that he ensure that Israel is held fully to acount for an illegal and unprovoked attack.
Speaking this morning, she said:
"I completely condemn this deadly attack on the humanitarian aid convoy. I am deeply shocked by the brutality of the assault, which has left a still unkown number of people dead and wounded. My thoughts are with the victims and their families.
"This attack is a serious infringement of the principles of international law. The Green Party calls on the UK Government, and the EU, to apply pressure to lift the ongoing blockade of Gaza, which makes essential humanitarian aid for the population of Gaza virtually impossible to deliver. We also call for the quick establishment of an international inquiry to shed light on the circumstances of this attack."
Gaza tells Israel 'collective punishment is a crime against humanity'
CALL FROM GAZA FOR GLOBAL RESPONSE TO KILLINGS ON THE FREEDOM FLOTILLA
We Gaza based Palestinian Civil Society Organizations and International activists call on the international community and civil society to pressure their governments and Israel to cease the abductions and killings in Israel’s attacks against the Gaza Freedom Flotilla sailing for Gaza, and begin a global response to hold Israel accountable for the murder of foreign civilians at sea and illegal piracy of civilian vessels carrying humanitarian aid for Gaza.
We salute the courage of all those who have organized this aid intervention and demand a safe passage through to Gaza for the 750 people of conscience from 40 different countries including 35 international politicians intent on breaking the Israeli-Egyptian blockade. We offer our sincerest condolences to family and friends who have lost loved ones in the attack.
By sailing directly to Gaza, outside of Israeli waters, with cargo banned illegally by Israel, such as the 10,000 tonnes of badly needed concrete, toys, workbooks, chocolate, pasta and substantial medical supplies, the flotilla is exercising international law and upholding article 33 of the Geneva Convention which clearly states that collective punishment is a crime against humanity.
The hardships of Israel's closure of Gaza have been well documented by all human rights groups operating, most recently by Amnesty International in their Annual Human Rights Report concluding that the siege has "deepened the ongoing humanitarian crisis. Mass unemployment, extreme poverty, food insecurity and food price rises caused by shortages left four out of five Gazans dependent on humanitarian aid. The scope of the blockade and statements made by Israeli officials about its purpose showed that it was being imposed as a form of collective punishment of Gazans, a flagrant violation of international law." The United Nations continuously states that only a fraction of the required aid is entering the Strip due to what it calls ‘the medieval siege’, with John Ging the Director of UNRWA in Gaza specifically expressing the need for the Flotilla to enter Gaza. The European Union’s new foreign affairs minister Catherine Ashton has just reiterated its call for, “an immediate, sustained and unconditional opening of crossings for the flow of humanitarian aid, commercial goods and persons to and from Gaza.”
The people of Gaza are not dependent people, but self sufficient people doing what they can to retain some dignity in life in the wake of this colossal man-made devastation that deprives so many of a basic start in life or minimal aspirations for the future.
We, from Gaza, call on you to demonstrate and support the courageous men and women who went on the Flotilla, many now murdered on a humanitarian aid mission. We insist on severance of diplomatic ties with Israel, trials for war crimes and the International protection of the civilians of Gaza. We call on you to join the growing international boycott, divestment and sanction campaign of a country proving again to be so violent and yet so unchallenged. Join the growing critical mass around the world with a commitment to the day when Palestinians are entitled to the same rights as any other people, when the siege is lifted, the occupation is over and the 6 million Palestinian refugees are finally granted justice.
Press Contacts:
Dr Haidar Eid: One Democratic Sate Group and University Teachers' Association
Dr Mona El Farra: Middle East Children's Alliance, Gaza 00.972(0)598.868.222
Adie Mormech: International Solidarity Movement, Gaza 00.972(0)597.717.696
Max Ajl: Gaza Freedom March, Gaza 00.972(0)597.750.798
Signatory Organisations:
The One Democratic State Group
University Teachers Association
Arab Cultural Forum
Palestinian Students’ Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel
Association of Al-Quds Bank for Culture and Info
Popular Committee against the Wall and Settlements
International Solidarity Movement
Palestinian Network of Non-Governmental Organisations
Palestinian Women Committees
Progressive Students Union
Medical Relief Society
The General Society for Rehabilitation
Gaza Community Mental Health Program
General Union of Palestinian Women
Afaq Jadeeda Cultural Centre for Women and Children
Deir Al-Balah Cultural Centre for Women and Children
Maghazi Cultural Centre for Children
Al-Sahel Centre for Women and Youth
Ghassan Kanfani Kindergartens
Rachel Corrie Centre, Rafah
Rafah Olympia City Sisters
Al Awda Centre, Rafah
Al Awda Hospital, Jabaliya Camp
Ajyal Association, Gaza
General Union of Palestinian Syndicates
Al Karmel Centre, Nuseirat
Local Inititiative, Beit Hanoun
Union of Health Work Committees
Red Crescent Society Gaza Strip
Beit Lahiya Cultural Centre
Al Awda Centre, Rafah
We Gaza based Palestinian Civil Society Organizations and International activists call on the international community and civil society to pressure their governments and Israel to cease the abductions and killings in Israel’s attacks against the Gaza Freedom Flotilla sailing for Gaza, and begin a global response to hold Israel accountable for the murder of foreign civilians at sea and illegal piracy of civilian vessels carrying humanitarian aid for Gaza.
We salute the courage of all those who have organized this aid intervention and demand a safe passage through to Gaza for the 750 people of conscience from 40 different countries including 35 international politicians intent on breaking the Israeli-Egyptian blockade. We offer our sincerest condolences to family and friends who have lost loved ones in the attack.
By sailing directly to Gaza, outside of Israeli waters, with cargo banned illegally by Israel, such as the 10,000 tonnes of badly needed concrete, toys, workbooks, chocolate, pasta and substantial medical supplies, the flotilla is exercising international law and upholding article 33 of the Geneva Convention which clearly states that collective punishment is a crime against humanity.
The hardships of Israel's closure of Gaza have been well documented by all human rights groups operating, most recently by Amnesty International in their Annual Human Rights Report concluding that the siege has "deepened the ongoing humanitarian crisis. Mass unemployment, extreme poverty, food insecurity and food price rises caused by shortages left four out of five Gazans dependent on humanitarian aid. The scope of the blockade and statements made by Israeli officials about its purpose showed that it was being imposed as a form of collective punishment of Gazans, a flagrant violation of international law." The United Nations continuously states that only a fraction of the required aid is entering the Strip due to what it calls ‘the medieval siege’, with John Ging the Director of UNRWA in Gaza specifically expressing the need for the Flotilla to enter Gaza. The European Union’s new foreign affairs minister Catherine Ashton has just reiterated its call for, “an immediate, sustained and unconditional opening of crossings for the flow of humanitarian aid, commercial goods and persons to and from Gaza.”
The people of Gaza are not dependent people, but self sufficient people doing what they can to retain some dignity in life in the wake of this colossal man-made devastation that deprives so many of a basic start in life or minimal aspirations for the future.
We, from Gaza, call on you to demonstrate and support the courageous men and women who went on the Flotilla, many now murdered on a humanitarian aid mission. We insist on severance of diplomatic ties with Israel, trials for war crimes and the International protection of the civilians of Gaza. We call on you to join the growing international boycott, divestment and sanction campaign of a country proving again to be so violent and yet so unchallenged. Join the growing critical mass around the world with a commitment to the day when Palestinians are entitled to the same rights as any other people, when the siege is lifted, the occupation is over and the 6 million Palestinian refugees are finally granted justice.
Press Contacts:
Dr Haidar Eid: One Democratic Sate Group and University Teachers' Association
Dr Mona El Farra: Middle East Children's Alliance, Gaza 00.972(0)598.868.222
Adie Mormech: International Solidarity Movement, Gaza 00.972(0)597.717.696
Max Ajl: Gaza Freedom March, Gaza 00.972(0)597.750.798
Signatory Organisations:
The One Democratic State Group
University Teachers Association
Arab Cultural Forum
Palestinian Students’ Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel
Association of Al-Quds Bank for Culture and Info
Popular Committee against the Wall and Settlements
International Solidarity Movement
Palestinian Network of Non-Governmental Organisations
Palestinian Women Committees
Progressive Students Union
Medical Relief Society
The General Society for Rehabilitation
Gaza Community Mental Health Program
General Union of Palestinian Women
Afaq Jadeeda Cultural Centre for Women and Children
Deir Al-Balah Cultural Centre for Women and Children
Maghazi Cultural Centre for Children
Al-Sahel Centre for Women and Youth
Ghassan Kanfani Kindergartens
Rachel Corrie Centre, Rafah
Rafah Olympia City Sisters
Al Awda Centre, Rafah
Al Awda Hospital, Jabaliya Camp
Ajyal Association, Gaza
General Union of Palestinian Syndicates
Al Karmel Centre, Nuseirat
Local Inititiative, Beit Hanoun
Union of Health Work Committees
Red Crescent Society Gaza Strip
Beit Lahiya Cultural Centre
Al Awda Centre, Rafah
Complain to BBC for justifying Gaza killings
Helen Boaden Director of BBC News; helenboaden.complaints@bbc.co.uk
Peter Horrocks Head of BBC TV News; Peter.Horrocks@bbc.co.uk
Dear Peter,
I was disgusted that the BBC ran an interview with an Israeli representative justifying the killing of peace protestors this morning.
It was shocking that no one from the Gaza peace convoy or representing them was allowed to speak.
Is the BBC propaganda outfit for Israel?
Derek Wall
Peter Horrocks Head of BBC TV News; Peter.Horrocks@bbc.co.uk
Dear Peter,
I was disgusted that the BBC ran an interview with an Israeli representative justifying the killing of peace protestors this morning.
It was shocking that no one from the Gaza peace convoy or representing them was allowed to speak.
Is the BBC propaganda outfit for Israel?
Derek Wall
Protest 2pm Downing Street against killing of peace activists
In Manchester there is a protest at 5pm today at the BBC on Oxford Road called by Manchester Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC)
Please tell everyone and get as many people there as you can
[bbc website entry is below – no challenge at all as to why Israel should be allowed to commit piracy on the high seas – on BBC Radio 4 they again let the Israeli spokesperson Regev off the hook]
There is a protest today at 2pm at Downing Street
http://www.livestream.com/insaniyardim?utm_source=lsplayer&utm_medium=ui-content&utm_campaign=insaniyardim&utm_content=insaniyardim
http://smpalestine.com/2010/05/30/flotilla-update-israel-attacks-convoy-deaths-reported/
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=128420§ionid=351020202
norma
Deaths as Israeli forces storm Gaza aid ship
Page last updated at 7:15 GMT, Monday, 31 May 2010 8:15 UK
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Printable version
Turkish TV footage appeared to show Israeli troops on board
More than 10 people have been killed after Israeli commandos stormed a convoy of ships carrying aid to the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army says.
Armed forces boarded the vessels overnight, clashing with some of the 600 protesters on board.
The incident happened about 40 miles (64 km) out to sea, in international waters.
The ships are carrying 10,000 tonnes of aid to try to break a long-standing Israeli-led blockade.
Israel says when its soldiers boarded they were attacked by the activists with knives, one of whom grabbed a soldier's gun.
"The people on the boats were very, very violent toward the soldiers," Israeli military spokeswoman Lt Col Avital Leibovich was quoted by AFP news agency as saying.
Organisers of the flotilla said at least 30 people were wounded in the incident. Israel says four of its officers were injured.
Audrey Bomse, a spokesperson for the Free Gaza Movement, which is behind the convoy, told the BBC Israel's actions were disproportionate.
"We were not going to pose any violent resistance. The only resistance that there might be would be passive resistance such as physically blocking the steering room, or blocking the engine room downstairs, so that they couldn't get taken over. But that was just symbolic resistance."
Israel says it will tow the boats to its port in Ashdod, from where it says the passengers will be deported.
Condemnation
Israeli government minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer expressed his "sorrow over all the deaths".
Most of the people on board the boats were Turkish.
Turkey said it "strongly condemn[ed] these inhumane practices of Israel", AFP reported.
In Turkey, dozens of protesters tried to storm the Israeli consulate in the Istanbul, while the Israeli ambassador has been summoned to the Turkish foreign ministry.
Turkish TV pictures taken on board the Turkish ship leading the flotilla appeared to show Israeli soldiers fighting to control passengers.
The footage showed a number of people, apparently injured, lying on the ground. It is not clear whether the fighting is continuing.
Al-Jazeera TV reported from the same ship that Israeli navy forces had opened fire and boarded the vessel, wounding the captain.
The Al-Jazeera broadcast ended with a voice shouting in Hebrew, saying: "Everybody shut up!"
'Provocation'
The six-ship flotilla left international waters off the coast of Cyprus on Sunday and was expected to arrive in Gaza later on Monday.
Israel had said it would stop the boats, calling the campaign a "provocation intended to delegitimise Israel".
Israel and Egypt tightened a blockade of Gaza after the Islamist movement Hamas took power there in 2007.
Israel says it allows about 15,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid into Gaza every week.
But the United Nations says this is less than a quarter of what is needed.
Please tell everyone and get as many people there as you can
[bbc website entry is below – no challenge at all as to why Israel should be allowed to commit piracy on the high seas – on BBC Radio 4 they again let the Israeli spokesperson Regev off the hook]
There is a protest today at 2pm at Downing Street
http://www.livestream.com/insaniyardim?utm_source=lsplayer&utm_medium=ui-content&utm_campaign=insaniyardim&utm_content=insaniyardim
http://smpalestine.com/2010/05/30/flotilla-update-israel-attacks-convoy-deaths-reported/
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=128420§ionid=351020202
norma
Deaths as Israeli forces storm Gaza aid ship
Page last updated at 7:15 GMT, Monday, 31 May 2010 8:15 UK
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Printable version
Turkish TV footage appeared to show Israeli troops on board
More than 10 people have been killed after Israeli commandos stormed a convoy of ships carrying aid to the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army says.
Armed forces boarded the vessels overnight, clashing with some of the 600 protesters on board.
The incident happened about 40 miles (64 km) out to sea, in international waters.
The ships are carrying 10,000 tonnes of aid to try to break a long-standing Israeli-led blockade.
Israel says when its soldiers boarded they were attacked by the activists with knives, one of whom grabbed a soldier's gun.
"The people on the boats were very, very violent toward the soldiers," Israeli military spokeswoman Lt Col Avital Leibovich was quoted by AFP news agency as saying.
Organisers of the flotilla said at least 30 people were wounded in the incident. Israel says four of its officers were injured.
Audrey Bomse, a spokesperson for the Free Gaza Movement, which is behind the convoy, told the BBC Israel's actions were disproportionate.
"We were not going to pose any violent resistance. The only resistance that there might be would be passive resistance such as physically blocking the steering room, or blocking the engine room downstairs, so that they couldn't get taken over. But that was just symbolic resistance."
Israel says it will tow the boats to its port in Ashdod, from where it says the passengers will be deported.
Condemnation
Israeli government minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer expressed his "sorrow over all the deaths".
Most of the people on board the boats were Turkish.
Turkey said it "strongly condemn[ed] these inhumane practices of Israel", AFP reported.
In Turkey, dozens of protesters tried to storm the Israeli consulate in the Istanbul, while the Israeli ambassador has been summoned to the Turkish foreign ministry.
Turkish TV pictures taken on board the Turkish ship leading the flotilla appeared to show Israeli soldiers fighting to control passengers.
The footage showed a number of people, apparently injured, lying on the ground. It is not clear whether the fighting is continuing.
Al-Jazeera TV reported from the same ship that Israeli navy forces had opened fire and boarded the vessel, wounding the captain.
The Al-Jazeera broadcast ended with a voice shouting in Hebrew, saying: "Everybody shut up!"
'Provocation'
The six-ship flotilla left international waters off the coast of Cyprus on Sunday and was expected to arrive in Gaza later on Monday.
Israel had said it would stop the boats, calling the campaign a "provocation intended to delegitimise Israel".
Israel and Egypt tightened a blockade of Gaza after the Islamist movement Hamas took power there in 2007.
Israel says it allows about 15,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid into Gaza every week.
But the United Nations says this is less than a quarter of what is needed.
Israelis kill twenty peace activists
The Israelis have stormed a peace convoy ship and killed twenty people.
They have already been on the BBC lying enthusiastically about their actions.
I wonder whether Mossad will be outside Palestine Solidarity Campaign meetings, shooting those who campaign for Gaza.
Any opposition, even non violent, is terrorism for these people.
Will the British government make any statement, no! Nick Clegg is part of the most pro-Israel government for decades.
30 May 2010
Tragically looks like Mockus loses in Colombia
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-05-30/santos-takes-lead-in-colombia-first-round-of-presidential-vote.html
so more war, corruption, repression and biofuels in Colombia.
so more war, corruption, repression and biofuels in Colombia.
David Laws to resign as MP
Yep he is thinking of throwing the towel in as MP for Yeovil....I guess he could be the first MP to be kicked out if new rules come in to make MPs stand down over expenses issues, so now he is thinking of resigning not just as a minister but a member.
Lets see what happens but he could be leaving politics, according to his resignation statement.
Nice if we valued nurses, teachers, farmers rather than former city bankers as politicians like Laws.
At least he isn't taking his £19,0000 severance pay for 18 days work.....nice if you can get it.
Scandal ridden past Liberal Democrat MPs for his constituency Yeovil include Paddy 'Pantsdown' Ashdown, at least he was anti-nuclear, as a reward he was later made ruler of Bosnia.
The classic West Country Liberal scandal which had everything including the killing of a lovers pet is chronicled in Rinkagate, 'a scandal so mind-bogglingly complex (and lurid) that it somehow just had to happen in the staid, square Britain of the seventies (Rinka was a Great Dane, shot and killed by an assassin on a lonely West Country moor)....all parties have political scandals but the libs seem to make particularly major waves.
Climate change denier tea party politician sues scientists over temperature data
'The University of Virginia should fight a witch-hunt by the state's attorney general [...] Kenneth Cuccinelli, a firebrand conservative who was elected late last year as attorney general of Virginia. The grants had multiple recipients, but the official target of the probe is Michael Mann, an internationally respected climate scientist who was an investigator on all five grants while working at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville between 1999 and 2005.
On 23 April, Cuccinelli filed what amounts to a subpoena ordering the University of Virginia to hand over, by 26 July, all available documents, computer code and data relating to Mann's research on the five grants. He also demanded all correspondence, including e-mails — from 1999 to the present — between Mann, now at Pennsylvania State University in University Park, and dozens of climate scientists worldwide, as well as some climate sceptics. The order stated that Cuccinelli was investigating Mann's possible violation of the 2002 Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act — although no evidence of wrongdoing was given to explain invoking the law, which is intended to prosecute individuals who make false claims in order to access government funds.'
A US politician is now trying to sue a climate change scientist, no doubt to curry favour with the far right tea party voters.
Some on the right wing of US politics literally seem to have a death wish, working hard to prevent action on climate change until it is too late.
A kind of burn baby burn politics, which sees the right to waste as sacred.
Still it is a country where many seem to see the British National Health Service as an instrument of Satan.
There is also talk of some American politicians wanting to teach that the 'rapture' is fact and environmental damage is fiction.
Locura indeed....take a look here
Of course many prominent Conservatives in Britain like Lord Lawson treat climate change as science fiction.
The journal Nature noted in an editorial:
Cuccinelli's actions against Mann hark back to an era when tobacco companies smeared researchers as part of a sophisticated public relations strategy to raise doubts over the science showing that tobacco caused cancer, and delayed the introduction of smoking curbs for decades. Researchers found themselves bogged down in responding to subpoenas and legal challenges, which deterred others from the field. Climate-change deniers have adopted similar strategies with alacrity and, unfortunately, considerable success.
Against Nature
Huysmans book 'Against Nature' is worth a read.
Well more 'Against the Grain', Oscar Wilde with bad attitude, Beckett's Mr Knott in Watt and Vincent Price in Dr Phibes(see video above) all come to mind.
A classic in which nothing happens. It has nothing to recommend it on the political plane, a tale of a decadent stewing in his own rich juices.
Having said that where else would you find a sex scene with a ventriloquist
Our (anti-) hero is at home pretending he is out of France and enjoying London.
His hunger was nearly satisfied. He nibbled a bit of blue Stilton, a sweet cheese with an underlying touch of bitter, pecked at a rhubarb tart, and then, to vary the monotony, quenched his thirst with porter, that British black beer which tastes of liquorice juice from which the sugar had been extracted.
He drew a deep breath; for years he had not guzzled and swilled so much. The change of habits, the choice of unexpected and satisfying viands had roused the stomach from its lethargy. He sat back in his chair, lit a cigarette and prepared to enjoy his cup of coffee, which he laced with gin.
More here
urgent protect Gaza flotilla under threat
Carole SwordsMay 30, 2010 at 12:29pm
Subject: cut and paste and send it will only take 30 seconds
Please copy and paste this letter into an e mail.
...Then, copy and paste the various e mail addresses below the letter, and send it off.
private.office@fco.gov.uk
AINAGCorrespondence@fco.gov.uk
haguew@parliment.uk
Dear Respected Office,
I write this letter to you with a real sense of danger which is prevailing on our British citizens who are in danger of kidnap, and imprisonment by the Israel Navel forces.
No doubt you are well aware of the 4 year long illegal siege imposed on Gaza and it's inhabitants by Israel, but you have chosen to stay quite, and let Gaza become a natural death camp, which is being suffocated of all living supplies.
Yet you chose to invade countries as big as Iraq, and feel proud by claiming to have liberated the people from a cruel dictator. The list goes on and on, and I can give you other examples. However, I feel now is not the time, because right now, time is in short supply.
In January of this year, British citizens were among 500 people who took part in a convoy of aid to the stricken region. When the convoy reached Egypt, British Citizen’s were brutally attacked by Egyptian Riot Police. In March '09, British Citizens were attacked in the same town, while on a previous convoy.
On both occasions, you chose to stay quite, and didn’t indulge in talks with Egyptian authorities to provide help, protection, and support for the British Citizens.
Yet, you claim to liberate a whole country from a dictator by sending our armed forces who have paid with their live’s to protect the live's of another nation. But yet you fail to protect our own British citizens from attacks, and torture at the hands of the Egyptian forces.
Your silence can be seen as supporting a very illegal siege on Gaza, even at the extent of peaceful British humanitarians being harmed.
The situation which I turn to you for your unprecedented support and resolve, is in regards to the “Freedom Flotilla” which is currently positioned in international waters. 750 people from 50 different countries, along with 15,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid are destined for Gaza. On Sunday, May 30th, they will sail towards Gaza through International waters. The journey time will be 24 hours.
There is great fear and danger surrounding this peaceful mission, as Israel as publicly stated that it has launched "Operation Sky Winds", whereby they willl stop the flotilla by any means. They have issued threats saying they will use force, kidnap all the passengers, and place them in a make shift prison. They will then process and deport everyone, and will sieze the 15,000 tonne of humanitarian aid on board, as well as the ships
I feel you are duty bond, and morally burdened to help the safe passage of the Flotilla, along with the British Citizens who are on board. Therefore, in line with the EU’s call for their safe passage, we ask you to conduct dialogue with Israel to ensure that the flotilla and British Citizens are under no threat of force or imprisonment. Can I trust you to do that?
This matter is one of great urgency, and I, along with the hundreds of thousands of British people look forward to an immediate reply to this letter. Please detail what actions you will be taking to ensure the safety of our British Citizens?
I hope that unlike previously, you choose to act, and act straight away, because I am informing you of the real dangers which our Citizens will face in the next 24 hours.
Therefore your actions need to be taken immediately before any harm can come to our citizens. I feel that if you ignore the contents of this letter, you will be failing to fulfil your duty to protect the citizens of this country.
I am confident that you will act promptly to the above concerns, and I look forward to a positive and rapid response, with which I can provide to the thousands of British citizen’s who seek assurance that our Government will, and is protecting our citizens to ensure a great nation remains sovereign.
Awaiting your response
Subject: cut and paste and send it will only take 30 seconds
Please copy and paste this letter into an e mail.
...Then, copy and paste the various e mail addresses below the letter, and send it off.
private.office@fco.gov.uk
AINAGCorrespondence@fco.gov.uk
haguew@parliment.uk
Dear Respected Office,
I write this letter to you with a real sense of danger which is prevailing on our British citizens who are in danger of kidnap, and imprisonment by the Israel Navel forces.
No doubt you are well aware of the 4 year long illegal siege imposed on Gaza and it's inhabitants by Israel, but you have chosen to stay quite, and let Gaza become a natural death camp, which is being suffocated of all living supplies.
Yet you chose to invade countries as big as Iraq, and feel proud by claiming to have liberated the people from a cruel dictator. The list goes on and on, and I can give you other examples. However, I feel now is not the time, because right now, time is in short supply.
In January of this year, British citizens were among 500 people who took part in a convoy of aid to the stricken region. When the convoy reached Egypt, British Citizen’s were brutally attacked by Egyptian Riot Police. In March '09, British Citizens were attacked in the same town, while on a previous convoy.
On both occasions, you chose to stay quite, and didn’t indulge in talks with Egyptian authorities to provide help, protection, and support for the British Citizens.
Yet, you claim to liberate a whole country from a dictator by sending our armed forces who have paid with their live’s to protect the live's of another nation. But yet you fail to protect our own British citizens from attacks, and torture at the hands of the Egyptian forces.
Your silence can be seen as supporting a very illegal siege on Gaza, even at the extent of peaceful British humanitarians being harmed.
The situation which I turn to you for your unprecedented support and resolve, is in regards to the “Freedom Flotilla” which is currently positioned in international waters. 750 people from 50 different countries, along with 15,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid are destined for Gaza. On Sunday, May 30th, they will sail towards Gaza through International waters. The journey time will be 24 hours.
There is great fear and danger surrounding this peaceful mission, as Israel as publicly stated that it has launched "Operation Sky Winds", whereby they willl stop the flotilla by any means. They have issued threats saying they will use force, kidnap all the passengers, and place them in a make shift prison. They will then process and deport everyone, and will sieze the 15,000 tonne of humanitarian aid on board, as well as the ships
I feel you are duty bond, and morally burdened to help the safe passage of the Flotilla, along with the British Citizens who are on board. Therefore, in line with the EU’s call for their safe passage, we ask you to conduct dialogue with Israel to ensure that the flotilla and British Citizens are under no threat of force or imprisonment. Can I trust you to do that?
This matter is one of great urgency, and I, along with the hundreds of thousands of British people look forward to an immediate reply to this letter. Please detail what actions you will be taking to ensure the safety of our British Citizens?
I hope that unlike previously, you choose to act, and act straight away, because I am informing you of the real dangers which our Citizens will face in the next 24 hours.
Therefore your actions need to be taken immediately before any harm can come to our citizens. I feel that if you ignore the contents of this letter, you will be failing to fulfil your duty to protect the citizens of this country.
I am confident that you will act promptly to the above concerns, and I look forward to a positive and rapid response, with which I can provide to the thousands of British citizen’s who seek assurance that our Government will, and is protecting our citizens to ensure a great nation remains sovereign.
Awaiting your response
Ecosocialist congress in Switzerland
The Swiss ecosocialist party had their first national congress yesterday have a look at their facebook for more details, I am sure action on Islamaphobe is part of the package.
Subject: Chers-ères amis-es de La Gauche, camarades,
C'est avec un immense bonheur que je vous annonce officiellement la naissance de "La Gauche - Alternative Linke - La Sinistra".
http://www.facebook.com/l/b5973;www.la-gauche.ch/adhesion-adesione/
Je vous souhaite à toutes et à tous un excellent week-end, et au plaisir de vous rencontrer prochainement dans une manifestation organisée par La Gauche.
Salutations militantes et solidaires
Frédéric Charpié - Secrétaire du collectif national
Subject: Chers-ères amis-es de La Gauche, camarades,
C'est avec un immense bonheur que je vous annonce officiellement la naissance de "La Gauche - Alternative Linke - La Sinistra".
http://www.facebook.com/l/b5973;www.la-gauche.ch/adhesion-adesione/
Je vous souhaite à toutes et à tous un excellent week-end, et au plaisir de vous rencontrer prochainement dans une manifestation organisée par La Gauche.
Salutations militantes et solidaires
Frédéric Charpié - Secrétaire du collectif national
29 May 2010
David Laws partner worked for lobbyist
His partner James Lundie is a director with Edleman.
Socialist Worker can reveal that this was among the seven receptions Edleman had at the House of Commons in a year and a half from 2004.
On 7 September 2004 Laws hosted a dinner for 14 people in a plush Parliament dining room. The rather limited register of rooms bookings show that the dinner was to host representatives from Edelman.
Edelman’s clients include Microsoft, Kraft, Starbucks, Walmart, Shell and EON. The firms specialises in industrial relations PR.
Great article in Socialist Worker showing the real reason for David Laws resignation here
Socialist Worker can reveal that this was among the seven receptions Edleman had at the House of Commons in a year and a half from 2004.
On 7 September 2004 Laws hosted a dinner for 14 people in a plush Parliament dining room. The rather limited register of rooms bookings show that the dinner was to host representatives from Edelman.
Edelman’s clients include Microsoft, Kraft, Starbucks, Walmart, Shell and EON. The firms specialises in industrial relations PR.
Great article in Socialist Worker showing the real reason for David Laws resignation here
The secret war
Socialist Resistance Meeting 'The secret war in Pakistan: Farooq Tariq LPP and Lindsey German StWC'
The LPP has opposed the Musharaf military dictatorship, as well as American imperialism and religious
fanaticism. Many of the LPP supporters were jailed under the Musharaf regime for demanding
democratic rights or in the struggle for workers’ and peasants’ rights.
The LLP has worked to maintain its political space and refused to be driven underground. Since
its inception the Labour Party Pakistan has put special emphasis on helping to develop independent
social, labour and peasant organizations.
LPP supporters have worked to develop networks with other left groups and social movements.
These have included the Labour Education Foundation, Anti-War Committee Pakistan and the Anti-
Privatization Alliance.
Farooq Tariq is a national spokesperson for the LPP
Lindsey German is the joint convenor for the Stop the War Coalition
Speakers:
Farooq Tariq Labour Party Pakistan
Lindsey German Stop the War Coalition
MEETING:
The hidden war
in Pakistan
TUESDAY 1 JUNE, 7.30pm
ULU, Malet street, WC1
Download field
The LPP has opposed the Musharaf military dictatorship, as well as American imperialism and religious
fanaticism. Many of the LPP supporters were jailed under the Musharaf regime for demanding
democratic rights or in the struggle for workers’ and peasants’ rights.
The LLP has worked to maintain its political space and refused to be driven underground. Since
its inception the Labour Party Pakistan has put special emphasis on helping to develop independent
social, labour and peasant organizations.
LPP supporters have worked to develop networks with other left groups and social movements.
These have included the Labour Education Foundation, Anti-War Committee Pakistan and the Anti-
Privatization Alliance.
Farooq Tariq is a national spokesperson for the LPP
Lindsey German is the joint convenor for the Stop the War Coalition
Speakers:
Farooq Tariq Labour Party Pakistan
Lindsey German Stop the War Coalition
MEETING:
The hidden war
in Pakistan
TUESDAY 1 JUNE, 7.30pm
ULU, Malet street, WC1
Download field
David Laws resigns, Chris Huhne to replace him at Treasury
David Laws, chief secretary to the Treasury, has resigned.
This was over paying his partner over room rental.
A bit sad, as a gay man he wanted to be private, which is fair enough.
However inappropriate expenses is particularly inappropriate for a government axe man.
I suspect he will be replaced by another (neo) liberal, keen to cut the public sector and feed all which is market based and corporate.
I think we are in for a good five years of a government that while appearing a little to the centre will move the UK in an even more capital friendly direction, shrinking the public sector, crushing trade unions and opposing things like open source/free software.
The weak will suffer, the rich will gain....although the Capital Gains Tax reform does appear to be a socialist exception from a government of the right.
Chris Huhne will take up David Laws post, apparently.
Six essential habits for effective climate deniers
* 1. Allege that there's a conspiracy. Claim that scientific consensus has arisen through collusion rather than the accumulation of evidence.
* 2. Use fake experts to support your story. "Denial always starts with a cadre of pseudo-experts with some credentials that create a facade of credibility," says Seth Kalichman of the University of Connecticut.
* 3. Cherry-pick the evidence: trumpet whatever appears to support your case and ignore or rubbish the rest. Carry on trotting out supportive evidence even after it has been discredited.
* 4. Create impossible standards for your opponents. Claim that the existing evidence is not good enough and demand more. If your opponent comes up with evidence you have demanded, move the goalposts.
* 5. Use logical fallacies. Hitler opposed smoking, so anti-smoking measures are Nazi. Deliberately misrepresent the scientific consensus and then knock down your straw man.
* 6. Manufacture doubt. Falsely portray scientists as so divided that basing policy on their advice would be premature. Insist "both sides" must be heard and cry censorship when "dissenting" arguments or experts are rejected.
MORE HERE
* 2. Use fake experts to support your story. "Denial always starts with a cadre of pseudo-experts with some credentials that create a facade of credibility," says Seth Kalichman of the University of Connecticut.
* 3. Cherry-pick the evidence: trumpet whatever appears to support your case and ignore or rubbish the rest. Carry on trotting out supportive evidence even after it has been discredited.
* 4. Create impossible standards for your opponents. Claim that the existing evidence is not good enough and demand more. If your opponent comes up with evidence you have demanded, move the goalposts.
* 5. Use logical fallacies. Hitler opposed smoking, so anti-smoking measures are Nazi. Deliberately misrepresent the scientific consensus and then knock down your straw man.
* 6. Manufacture doubt. Falsely portray scientists as so divided that basing policy on their advice would be premature. Insist "both sides" must be heard and cry censorship when "dissenting" arguments or experts are rejected.
MORE HERE
GPTU reiterates support for BA strikers
29/5/10
GPTU reiterates support for BA strikers
GPTU still supports British Airways cabin staffing their dispute.The threat by management to worsen their pay, their conditions and cut back on jobs is something which organised workers are right to resist. This is especially so in a climate where employers are mounting attacks on workers, if BA management get their way many other workers, in other industries could be the next to suffer.
As Greens we are critical of the aviation industry and we do believe its polluting activities need to be cut back, but we are committed to a JUST transition to a low carbon economy, not one where workers are made to suffer for problems which are not of their making. BA managements and all other employers should be negotiating with Unions and governments to ensure that the changes necessary to prevent disastrous damage caused by climate change can take place without workers being exploited.
GPTU reiterates support for BA strikers
GPTU still supports British Airways cabin staffing their dispute.The threat by management to worsen their pay, their conditions and cut back on jobs is something which organised workers are right to resist. This is especially so in a climate where employers are mounting attacks on workers, if BA management get their way many other workers, in other industries could be the next to suffer.
As Greens we are critical of the aviation industry and we do believe its polluting activities need to be cut back, but we are committed to a JUST transition to a low carbon economy, not one where workers are made to suffer for problems which are not of their making. BA managements and all other employers should be negotiating with Unions and governments to ensure that the changes necessary to prevent disastrous damage caused by climate change can take place without workers being exploited.
"I hate all white people. You are thieves and liars".
Saw this note about Sitting Bull on the BBC website today:
In 1883, Sitting Bull was invited as guest of honour to address a celebration of the completion of the Northern Pacific Railway. Speaking in Sioux through a translator, his speech began: "I hate all white people. You are thieves and liars". The interpreter, taken by surprise, hastily improvised a string of flowery complements in English, with the result that the speech greeted with rapturous applause, much to Sitting Bull's amusement.'
28 May 2010
New Film 'Cuba: Defending Socialism, Resisting Imperialism'
'Cuba: Defending Socialism, Resisting Imperialism' is a new film about socialist activists from London who travel to Cuba during the 50th anniversary of the 1959 revolution.
Its a celebration of Cuba's achievements but a thoughtful one, with interviews with a variety of Cubans including a Jehovah Witness working on an organic farm as his religion does not allow him to be in the military, a political activist, an economist and a speech therapist who has been working to help people in Venezuela.
Its a great little film with a lot of food for thought and a good corrective to all the anti-Cuban stuff in the media, the interviews are fascinating and say a lot about the difficulties the country continues to face.....very interesting in terms of Cuban ideas of grassroots democracy and the problems of running an economy with a blockade.
If you can try and make the showing at Bolivar Hall.....the participants contrast the inspiration of Cuba with the less than inspiring realities of London with a government committed to capitalism and foreign wars.
Rock around the Blockade presents:
Our documentary film
Cuba: Defending Socialism, Resisting Imperialism
Followed by an open discussion of the issues raised
Tuesday 8 june, 7.30pm
@ Bolívar Hall
54 Grafton Way
London W1T 5DL
Tube: Warren Street (see map)
The premiere of our own documentary made during the 2009 Rock around the Blockade 11th solidarity brigade to Cuba. It includes interviews with Cubans from all walks of life and includes inspiring footage of Cubans celebrating 50 years of the Revolution on Mayday 2009.
*Free entry
Email: info@ratb.org.uk, Tel: 020 7837 1688,
Cuban scientist wins 'Green Nobel'
Pablo at Alborada sent me this.
News: Cuban Researcher Receives the 'Green Nobel'
Fri, 05/28/2010 - 11:13 — Anonymous Cuban Researcher Receives the 'Green Nobel'
Friday 28th May 2010, by Cuba 50
The representative of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Havana, Ana Maria Navarro, congratulated Cuban researcher Humberto Rios Labrada who last week became the first Cuban to receive the Goldman Environmental Prize, sometimes called the Green Nobel and the largest prize in the world given to grass-roots environmentalists.
Humberto Rios Labrada is an expert on biodiversity research with the Cuban National Institute of Agricultural Sciences and he has been working with nearly 50,000 Cuban farmers. His campaign involves choosing the crops and seed varieties best for their lands and educating farmers on how to grow strong healthy crops with less dependence on farm chemicals.
He has also been lecturing across Cuba on how to mix seed combinations to improve yields and quality, techniques that have helped produce bigger beans, tastier squash, heartier rice and better varieties of other crops across the country.
The six Goldman 2010 recipients were announced last April by an international jury that chose the winners among candidates from six regions worldwide. Winners received $150,000 at a ceremony in San Francisco on Monday night.
The prize has been awarded to 139 people from 79 countries since philanthropist Richard Goldman and his late wife Rhoda created it in 1990.
ORIGINAL SOURCE:
http://www.cuba50.org/index.php?page=newsitem&article=184
News: Cuban Researcher Receives the 'Green Nobel'
Fri, 05/28/2010 - 11:13 — Anonymous Cuban Researcher Receives the 'Green Nobel'
Friday 28th May 2010, by Cuba 50
The representative of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Havana, Ana Maria Navarro, congratulated Cuban researcher Humberto Rios Labrada who last week became the first Cuban to receive the Goldman Environmental Prize, sometimes called the Green Nobel and the largest prize in the world given to grass-roots environmentalists.
Humberto Rios Labrada is an expert on biodiversity research with the Cuban National Institute of Agricultural Sciences and he has been working with nearly 50,000 Cuban farmers. His campaign involves choosing the crops and seed varieties best for their lands and educating farmers on how to grow strong healthy crops with less dependence on farm chemicals.
He has also been lecturing across Cuba on how to mix seed combinations to improve yields and quality, techniques that have helped produce bigger beans, tastier squash, heartier rice and better varieties of other crops across the country.
The six Goldman 2010 recipients were announced last April by an international jury that chose the winners among candidates from six regions worldwide. Winners received $150,000 at a ceremony in San Francisco on Monday night.
The prize has been awarded to 139 people from 79 countries since philanthropist Richard Goldman and his late wife Rhoda created it in 1990.
ORIGINAL SOURCE:
http://www.cuba50.org/index.php?page=newsitem&article=184
27 May 2010
Urgent Alert: Albert Pizango arrested and under threat!
Albert Pizango, the leader of Aidesep, the indigenous network in the Peruvian Amazon, spent a year in exile after a government militia massacred local people protesting at Amazon destruction.
This week he returned to Peru after a year in Nicaragua and was arrested yesterday.
He is accused of formenting violence. When the violence occurred in Bagua, it involved the Peruvian authorities first shooting and killing over a hundred protesters. And Pizango was hundreds of miles away in Lima.
Aidesep have done a wonderful job preventing the Amazon from being taken by oil and gas companies. Because they protect the environment, they face imprisonment and death.
Please protest.....letter to Peruvian President Alan Garcia here. (the link is in spanish but you can write in English and use google translate if you need to!)
For background please look here
And please spread the word, if you care about your planet the most effective thing you can do is to support Aidesep.
First Green MP delivers maiden speech in parliament
"Politics needs to renew itself, and allow new ideas and visions to emerge"
The threat from climate change featured strongly in the first speech to the
House of Commons by Britain's first Green MP this afternoon.
But the new MP for Brighton Pavilion also drew attention to the UK's need
for greater gender equality, for an elected House of Lords, for an
improvement to Britain's record on civil liberties, and for the introduction
of a genuinely proportional electoral system. "Politics needs to renew
itself, and allow new ideas and visions to emerge," she told the House.
Finally turning her attention to climate change, Caroline Lucas said:
"I have worked on the causes and consequences of climate change for most of
my working life, first with Oxfam - for the effects of climate change are
already affecting millions of people in poorer countries around the world -
and then for ten years in the European Parliament.
"But if we are to overcome this threat, then it is we in this chamber who
must take the lead.
"We must act so that the United Kingdom can meet its own responsibilities to
cut the emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases that are changing our
climate, and encourage and support other countries to do the same.
"This House has signed up to the 10:10 Campaign - 10% emissions reductions
in 2010. That's very good news. But the truth is that we need 10% emission
cuts every year, year on year, until we reach a zero carbon economy.
"And time is running short. If we are to avoid irreversible climate change,
then it is this Parliament that must meet this historic task.
"That gives us an extraordinary responsibility - and an extraordinary
opportunity.
"Because the good news is that the action that we need to tackle the climate
crisis is action which can improve the quality of life for all of us -
better, more affordable public transport, better insulated homes, the end of
fuel poverty, stronger local communities and economies, and many more jobs."
She concluded:
"I look forward to working with Members from all sides of the House on
advancing these issues."
Note
The full speech can be read at:
http://www.greenparty.org.uk/mediacentre/releases/27-05-2010-Caroline-Lucas-
maiden-parliamentary-speech.html
The threat from climate change featured strongly in the first speech to the
House of Commons by Britain's first Green MP this afternoon.
But the new MP for Brighton Pavilion also drew attention to the UK's need
for greater gender equality, for an elected House of Lords, for an
improvement to Britain's record on civil liberties, and for the introduction
of a genuinely proportional electoral system. "Politics needs to renew
itself, and allow new ideas and visions to emerge," she told the House.
Finally turning her attention to climate change, Caroline Lucas said:
"I have worked on the causes and consequences of climate change for most of
my working life, first with Oxfam - for the effects of climate change are
already affecting millions of people in poorer countries around the world -
and then for ten years in the European Parliament.
"But if we are to overcome this threat, then it is we in this chamber who
must take the lead.
"We must act so that the United Kingdom can meet its own responsibilities to
cut the emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases that are changing our
climate, and encourage and support other countries to do the same.
"This House has signed up to the 10:10 Campaign - 10% emissions reductions
in 2010. That's very good news. But the truth is that we need 10% emission
cuts every year, year on year, until we reach a zero carbon economy.
"And time is running short. If we are to avoid irreversible climate change,
then it is this Parliament that must meet this historic task.
"That gives us an extraordinary responsibility - and an extraordinary
opportunity.
"Because the good news is that the action that we need to tackle the climate
crisis is action which can improve the quality of life for all of us -
better, more affordable public transport, better insulated homes, the end of
fuel poverty, stronger local communities and economies, and many more jobs."
She concluded:
"I look forward to working with Members from all sides of the House on
advancing these issues."
Note
The full speech can be read at:
http://www.greenparty.org.uk/mediacentre/releases/27-05-2010-Caroline-Lucas-
maiden-parliamentary-speech.html
Greens call for U-turn on Academies scheme
“Power in education should go to schools, teachers and parents – not sponsors”
The Green Party today publicly condemned proposals to offer all schools an option of Academy status.
Rachel Fryer, the Greens’ education spokesperson, said “There is clear evidence that Academies do not improve performance and in some cases make it worse.
“The Green Party has always spoken in favour of greater freedom for the school to decide how it is run and the school curriculum. However this does not and must not mean putting the running of the school into the hands of a private sponsor who may know nothing or very little about education, and taking the power away from parents and teachers who have little representation on the governing body at an Academy.
“Academies can see principals paid in excess of £120,000 whilst there is a high turnover of valued and committed staff lower down the pay scale as they are invited to reapply for their jobs on different pay scales.
“Time and again Greens and others have asked why the freedoms and funding attached to Academies cannot be given without the strings of creeping privatisation and millionaire sponsors attached. Yet no answer is given.”
Ms Fryer, who is also one of the Green Party’s city councillors in Brighton and Hove, concluded:
“With the proposals of up to 25% cuts across local authorities, inevitably affecting front-line staff including teachers, we could be facing the situation of having new buildings without the teachers to go in them. Let’s give the money directly to schools through greater investment and through bringing back BSF (Building Schools for the Future) money, trusting schools and teachers to know the best way to spend money to improve education.
The Green Party today publicly condemned proposals to offer all schools an option of Academy status.
Rachel Fryer, the Greens’ education spokesperson, said “There is clear evidence that Academies do not improve performance and in some cases make it worse.
“The Green Party has always spoken in favour of greater freedom for the school to decide how it is run and the school curriculum. However this does not and must not mean putting the running of the school into the hands of a private sponsor who may know nothing or very little about education, and taking the power away from parents and teachers who have little representation on the governing body at an Academy.
“Academies can see principals paid in excess of £120,000 whilst there is a high turnover of valued and committed staff lower down the pay scale as they are invited to reapply for their jobs on different pay scales.
“Time and again Greens and others have asked why the freedoms and funding attached to Academies cannot be given without the strings of creeping privatisation and millionaire sponsors attached. Yet no answer is given.”
Ms Fryer, who is also one of the Green Party’s city councillors in Brighton and Hove, concluded:
“With the proposals of up to 25% cuts across local authorities, inevitably affecting front-line staff including teachers, we could be facing the situation of having new buildings without the teachers to go in them. Let’s give the money directly to schools through greater investment and through bringing back BSF (Building Schools for the Future) money, trusting schools and teachers to know the best way to spend money to improve education.
26 May 2010
What do I want for my birthday?l
Well half way to ninety today and have dozens of happy birthday greetings on my facebook.....and of course as a cyclist I am happy with each new birthday particularly!
Slightly dodgy birthday because I got back home to find, not a surprise party and extra cake but an electricity blackout, apparently a vast swathe of Warfield, Ascot and Winkfield has been in the dark because of a problem with a sub-station at Chavey Down.
in 1993 I spent my birthday in the cells of the Bristol cops because of a bit direct action at Golden Hill in a Tescos/greenfield protest....so I am not complaining about a bit of non electricity compared to being imprisoned.
Anyway otherwise, great birthday, nice presents and lots of greetings from all over the world.....but if you want to give me a present link to Intercontinental Cry and take action http://intercontinentalcry.org/call-on-authorities-in-brazil-to-protect-the-guarani-people/
Material goods are so last century and indigenous struggle to protect tierra madre is so this millenium....so make the link
25 May 2010
John Africa on Water & Pollution
John Africa on Water & Pollution
[col. writ. 5/20/10] (c) '10 Mumia Abu-Jamal
It was after the first major MOVE confrontation in Philadelphia, August 8th, 1978, when MOVE Founder, John Africa dictated The Judge's Letter, 15 pages of pointed outrage, not just of MOVE's treatment by the government, but of corporate and state pollution of the natural world.
His words came back to me in the aftermath of one of the most destructive oil spills in history: the tens of thousands of barrels of oil boiling from below the Gulf, the direct result of corporate greed and government collusion; deregulation in everything but name.
In the very beginning of his letter, John Africa wrote:
The courts are the tools of industrial plague, granting big
business privilege to poison our earth...[T]aking our water, familiar
and clean, and turning it into a potion that's poison...[.p1]
These words brought to mind the recent U.S. Supreme Court case which greatly lessened damages on Exxon for its role in the 1989 leak of the oil tanker, Exxon Valdez in Alaska, destroying shore land and animal life for decades -- indeed, it has still not recovered.
Of water pollution generally, John Africa observed:
INDUSTRY HAS NOT ONLY POISONED THE SOURCE OF LIFE,
IT HAS CREATED ANOTHER MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR INDUSTRY
TO SO CALLED CLEAN IT UP, ALL THEM CHEMICALS THEY PUT
IN THE WATER TO SO CALL[ED] PURIFY IT IS A RESULT OF
THE SAME INDUSTRY THAT POISONED THE WATER, SO THAT
THEY NOT ONLY MAKE MULTI-BILLIONS FOR POISONING THE
WATER, BUT MORE MULTI-BILLIONS FOR SO-CALLED
CLEANING THE WATER UP...[.p7]
In light of the great and continuing disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, John Africa could've written these words yesterday, especially given the recent announcement that British Petroleum (BP) is now pumping tons of chemicals into the Gulf waters to clean up the oil, the effects of which no one can predict -- for no one knows.
This is a massive catastrophe; an experiment on the living that may have effects that we may one day come to rue.
--(c) '10 maj
[Source: Africa, John, The Judges Letter (ca. 1978) (typed) MOVE Organization, P.O. Box 19709, Phila, PA 19143
=======
[col. writ. 5/20/10] (c) '10 Mumia Abu-Jamal
It was after the first major MOVE confrontation in Philadelphia, August 8th, 1978, when MOVE Founder, John Africa dictated The Judge's Letter, 15 pages of pointed outrage, not just of MOVE's treatment by the government, but of corporate and state pollution of the natural world.
His words came back to me in the aftermath of one of the most destructive oil spills in history: the tens of thousands of barrels of oil boiling from below the Gulf, the direct result of corporate greed and government collusion; deregulation in everything but name.
In the very beginning of his letter, John Africa wrote:
The courts are the tools of industrial plague, granting big
business privilege to poison our earth...[T]aking our water, familiar
and clean, and turning it into a potion that's poison...[.p1]
These words brought to mind the recent U.S. Supreme Court case which greatly lessened damages on Exxon for its role in the 1989 leak of the oil tanker, Exxon Valdez in Alaska, destroying shore land and animal life for decades -- indeed, it has still not recovered.
Of water pollution generally, John Africa observed:
INDUSTRY HAS NOT ONLY POISONED THE SOURCE OF LIFE,
IT HAS CREATED ANOTHER MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR INDUSTRY
TO SO CALLED CLEAN IT UP, ALL THEM CHEMICALS THEY PUT
IN THE WATER TO SO CALL[ED] PURIFY IT IS A RESULT OF
THE SAME INDUSTRY THAT POISONED THE WATER, SO THAT
THEY NOT ONLY MAKE MULTI-BILLIONS FOR POISONING THE
WATER, BUT MORE MULTI-BILLIONS FOR SO-CALLED
CLEANING THE WATER UP...[.p7]
In light of the great and continuing disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, John Africa could've written these words yesterday, especially given the recent announcement that British Petroleum (BP) is now pumping tons of chemicals into the Gulf waters to clean up the oil, the effects of which no one can predict -- for no one knows.
This is a massive catastrophe; an experiment on the living that may have effects that we may one day come to rue.
--(c) '10 maj
[Source: Africa, John, The Judges Letter (ca. 1978) (typed) MOVE Organization, P.O. Box 19709, Phila, PA 19143
=======
24 May 2010
Nick Griffin throws in towel
I guess he may change his mind, 2013 is a long time away in British politics, but good news. Despite the General Election Griffin has proved to be the most effective leader the far right in Britain has had.
A strategic thinker it will be good to see him replaced, he raised the game for the far right compared to the hapless John Tyndall.
Or may be its a bluff to take the pressure off after the BNP lost so many council seats....wonder who will be fighting for the fuehrer post.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8700333.stm
A strategic thinker it will be good to see him replaced, he raised the game for the far right compared to the hapless John Tyndall.
Or may be its a bluff to take the pressure off after the BNP lost so many council seats....wonder who will be fighting for the fuehrer post.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8700333.stm
Crisis in West Papua alert
Urgent Action for Pucak Jaya Humanitarian Crisis’s
Sunday, May 23, 2010 5:40 PM
From: "office@freewestpapua.org"Add sender to ContactsTo: freewestpapua@lists.riseup.net
Dear Friend of West Papua.
It is with great sadness that I write to let you know about a humanitarian
crisis that is developing in Puncak Jaya region of the West Papua highlands.
Indonesian military have been launching sweeping operations for the past week
in the Tingginambut district. Homes in three villages have been burnt, two
people killed, one lady raped, and all livestock killed by Indonesian military.
The Indonesian military are trying to find Papua freedom fighters led by
Goliath Tabuni and have set a deadline of 28th June for them to surrender. But
there will never be any surrender by the Papuan people in our struggle. We all
want freedom.
The people of West Papua need your help to put pressure on the Indonesia
Government before something terrible happen on 28th June.
We need United Nations to send peacekeeping force to West Papua immediately. We
need foreign media and human rights groups allowed to Papua immediately.
Why does Indonesia not allow any journalists or human rights groups to enter?
It is because they do not want the world to know what they are doing to my
people.
Please find below contact details for high officials in the police and military
in West Papua. Your support can make big difference.
Thank you for your kindness and support for us.
Benny Wenda
Make phone call, send fax or send the letter to:
1.Man of the Responsible Military Operation in Tinginambut Head of Puncak Jaya
Regency LUKAS ENEMBE
Mobile: +62 8128349090
2.Man of the Give the Bayet to Militari Operation in Hall West Papua Governor
of Papua Barnabas Suebu office
Telephone: +62 967-534395
3.AKBP. Drs. MH Ritonga, Msi Head of Jaya Wijaya District Police (Kepala
Kepolisian Resort Jaya Wijaya) Jl. Sapri Darwin Nomor 1 Jaya Wijaya, Provinsi
Papua INDONESIA
Tel: +62 969 3268,
Mobile 62 8128281991
Fax: +62 969 31075 ,
4. Lieutenant Colonel. Inf. Septinus Eduard Ginting Commander of District
Military command 1702 of Jaya Wijaya Regency (Kodim 1702 Kabupaten Jaya Wijaya
Provinsi Papua) INDONESIA
Tel: + 62969-31085,
Fax: +62 969 31086
5. Gen. A.V. Nasution Commander of Regional Military Command XVII Cendrawasih
(Kemiliteran Daerah Papua / Kodam Papua) Jl. Polimak atas Jayapura Provinsi
Papua INDONESIA
Fax. +62 967 533763
Tel: +62 969-31085
6. Mr. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono President of Republic of Indonesia
Presidential Palace, Jl. Medan Merdeka Utara Jakarta Pusat 10010 INDONESIA
Tel: +62 21 384 5627, ext. 1003
Fax: +62 21 231 4138,
345 2685, 345 7782
Email: mallarangeng@yahoo.com
7. General Djoko Santoso The Indonesian Military Commander (Panglima TNI)
Markas Besar TNI, Cilangkap, Jakarta 13870 INDONESIA
Tel: +62 8459-1244, 8459-1243
Fax: +62 845-6805
8. General Bambang Hendarso Danuri Chief of Indonesian National Police Jl.
Trunojoyo No. 3 Jakarta Selatan INDONESIA
Tel: +62 21 721 8012
Fax: +62 21 720 7277
Email: polri@polri.go.id
forwarded by;
Les Evenchick
New Orleans
Sunday, May 23, 2010 5:40 PM
From: "office@freewestpapua.org"
Dear Friend of West Papua.
It is with great sadness that I write to let you know about a humanitarian
crisis that is developing in Puncak Jaya region of the West Papua highlands.
Indonesian military have been launching sweeping operations for the past week
in the Tingginambut district. Homes in three villages have been burnt, two
people killed, one lady raped, and all livestock killed by Indonesian military.
The Indonesian military are trying to find Papua freedom fighters led by
Goliath Tabuni and have set a deadline of 28th June for them to surrender. But
there will never be any surrender by the Papuan people in our struggle. We all
want freedom.
The people of West Papua need your help to put pressure on the Indonesia
Government before something terrible happen on 28th June.
We need United Nations to send peacekeeping force to West Papua immediately. We
need foreign media and human rights groups allowed to Papua immediately.
Why does Indonesia not allow any journalists or human rights groups to enter?
It is because they do not want the world to know what they are doing to my
people.
Please find below contact details for high officials in the police and military
in West Papua. Your support can make big difference.
Thank you for your kindness and support for us.
Benny Wenda
Make phone call, send fax or send the letter to:
1.Man of the Responsible Military Operation in Tinginambut Head of Puncak Jaya
Regency LUKAS ENEMBE
Mobile: +62 8128349090
2.Man of the Give the Bayet to Militari Operation in Hall West Papua Governor
of Papua Barnabas Suebu office
Telephone: +62 967-534395
3.AKBP. Drs. MH Ritonga, Msi Head of Jaya Wijaya District Police (Kepala
Kepolisian Resort Jaya Wijaya) Jl. Sapri Darwin Nomor 1 Jaya Wijaya, Provinsi
Papua INDONESIA
Tel: +62 969 3268,
Mobile 62 8128281991
Fax: +62 969 31075 ,
4. Lieutenant Colonel. Inf. Septinus Eduard Ginting Commander of District
Military command 1702 of Jaya Wijaya Regency (Kodim 1702 Kabupaten Jaya Wijaya
Provinsi Papua) INDONESIA
Tel: + 62969-31085,
Fax: +62 969 31086
5. Gen. A.V. Nasution Commander of Regional Military Command XVII Cendrawasih
(Kemiliteran Daerah Papua / Kodam Papua) Jl. Polimak atas Jayapura Provinsi
Papua INDONESIA
Fax. +62 967 533763
Tel: +62 969-31085
6. Mr. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono President of Republic of Indonesia
Presidential Palace, Jl. Medan Merdeka Utara Jakarta Pusat 10010 INDONESIA
Tel: +62 21 384 5627, ext. 1003
Fax: +62 21 231 4138,
345 2685, 345 7782
Email: mallarangeng@yahoo.com
7. General Djoko Santoso The Indonesian Military Commander (Panglima TNI)
Markas Besar TNI, Cilangkap, Jakarta 13870 INDONESIA
Tel: +62 8459-1244, 8459-1243
Fax: +62 845-6805
8. General Bambang Hendarso Danuri Chief of Indonesian National Police Jl.
Trunojoyo No. 3 Jakarta Selatan INDONESIA
Tel: +62 21 721 8012
Fax: +62 21 720 7277
Email: polri@polri.go.id
forwarded by;
Les Evenchick
New Orleans
23 May 2010
GOOD LIVING AND ECOSOCIALISM
THE ALTERNATIVE ECOSOCIALIST: CAPITALIST DESTRUCTION OR NEW CIVILIZATION - Gustavo Fernández Colón
Gustavo Fernández Colón
Professor at the University of Carabobo, Venezuela
Email: fernandezcolon@gmail.com
(Paper presented to the Forum "ecosocialism XXI century", in Caracas, Venezuela, in June 2009)
The most serious aspect of the crisis facing the global capitalist system is not the bankruptcy of financial corporations, or the global economic downturn, or the discrediting of its institutions of political control. The greatest threat to the continuity of the capitalist mode of production is the environmental crisis caused by the irrational destruction of nature, to the point of jeopardizing the ability of self-regeneration of the ecosystems on which our survival depends.
For many analysts, however, a new long cycle of economic growth would be to take off thanks to the efforts of countries like China and India, now converted into more desirable markets to transnational capital because of its abundant cheap labor and "unregulated." What analysts often do not reveal is that the high rates of GDP growth in China, over 10% annual figures are misleading if one takes into account that do not involve the serious environmental and social liabilities generated by the "market socialism" adopted by this nation since 1979. Indeed, since the late nineties, "the World Bank estimated that pollution costs the country the equivalent of 8% of its annual production. That is, the enviable growth in China (...) is almost offset by environmental costs [and social] hidden, such as reduced life expectancy and declining arable land [1].
But not only the economies of China and India will be forced to include in its accounting, sooner or later, the huge economic losses caused by global warming and climate disasters, depletion and water pollution, deforestation and desertification of soils, chemical pollution of food, declining wild fish stocks, the mass extinction of plant and animal species, depletion and scarcity of renewable energies, overpopulation and pollution in cities, migration and pandemics, but each and every one of these environmental liabilities must be paid, on time, for all humanity.
The invoices generated by climate change, for example, have already begun to alarm some sectors of financial capitalism as insurance companies. In 2000 a group of researchers led by Andrew Dlugolecki, belonging to CGMU Insurance Group (the largest insurance group in Britain), published a report according to which the property damage caused by global climate change show a growth rate of 10% annually. This trend continues, by the year 2065 the upward curve of the loss curve will cross the Gross World Product growth, estimated at 3% annually. This means that the magnitude of the damage caused by the greenhouse effect that year will be identical to the volume of all the wealth produced on the planet. According Dlugolecki, long before the two lines intersect the global economy will become bankrupt [2].
Given this evidence, it is becoming more uncertain the possibility that capitalism (powered by China, U.S., or both) to reach a new cycle of expansion similar to what occurred between 1945 and 1970. Similarly, it is absurd to think that it is feasible to transform the prevailing social relations of production and build a new society truly equitable, participatory and sustainable, using the same energy patterns, technology and products developed over the past three centuries by the system of domination it aims to transform.
This apparent impasse does not mean that we are doomed to barbarism or that we reject outright the entire scientific and technological legacy of modernity. What corresponds to this dilemma is to be cautious against the risk of shipwreck, which would be any alternative socio-political project, to be led by the compulsive desire for reproduction of productive forces deployed by capitalism, without a critical assessment of its effects ecological, social, political and cultural. Do not forget that the stranglehold of political democracy and workers' management on behalf of the priority given to technology and arms competition with the West, was one of the fundamental causes of the collapse or involution of the most important trials of the twentieth century socialists.
Good Living
Against this background, it is important to examine the responses to the problem of ecological unsustainability of "progress" generated by left-wing political movements that have recently won power in Latin America. Beyond the philosophical differences, programmatic and contextual, a first common feature of the new popular government has been the emphasis on the role of the state to curb social imbalances aggravated by free-market policies implemented in the nineties. In practice, this has meant a greater concern for social justice, the strengthening of government services and health education, the emphasis on economic sovereignty and greater cooperation and integration among the countries of the region to try to escape their historical subordination to the United States.
While recognizing the merits of this effort, we note with concern that the problem of the unsustainability of our economies still not a priority for most governments in the new Latin American left. Categories such as "development", "progress" and "economic growth" continue to guide the public policy objectives, what continues to be understandable given the urgency to grow our economies to distribute wealth more equitably and address problems of poverty that afflicts the vast majority of our population.
But despite the dominance of the development ideology, it is fair to say that there have been some significant achievements in the fight to rid the legitimating myths of capitalist modernity and lay the foundations for a truly alternative political paradigm. An example is the principle of Good Living, which underlies the constitutions of Bolivia and Ecuador. Good Living or Sumak Kawsay, in Quechua, is a concept from the worldview of the native peoples of the Andes and the Amazon, which refers to community life in harmony with nature and culture or wisdom of the ancestors. It has nothing to do with modern anxiety "better", nor with the ideology of unlimited growth and progress, as it responds to a world view totally different from the capitalist ethic which encourages us to compete with others to produce and consume more, regardless of why our fellows have to "live evil." As Leonardo Boff says:
"On the contrary, points to a Good Living Ethics enough for the whole community, not just for the individual. Good Living is a holistic and integrated human being, immersed in the great earth, which also includes humans, air, water, soils, mountains, trees and animals (...) in deep communion with Mother Earth [3].
The Good Life is one of the most original conceptions inspiring revolutionary processes taking place in Latin America. Based on this philosophy, it is possible to characterize the fundamental force lines of the transition that will allow us to save civilization from the devastation and contribute to the flourishing capitalist societies ecosocialists XXI century.
Five Dimensions of the transition
The first dimension of this complex transition would be the end of the cycle of non-renewable and polluting energy sources (coal, oil, gas, nuclear energy) and the beginning of the era of clean and renewable energies (wind, solar, hydro, geothermal, tidal, etc.). Another affine transformation is the replacement of industrial agriculture based on monoculture and the use of pesticides and genetically modified seeds for a new agricultural model geared toward caring for biodiversity, organic farming methods, the rescue of knowledge and techniques traditional farmers and indigenous and local self-sufficiency. It also would have to proceed to the replacement of individual car of public transport by non-polluting to facilitate reducing the size of cities, as well as fostering a culture of recycling and frugal consumption, minimizing the weight of our "ecological footprint" on Mother Earth.
The second transition would be marked by the transition from private ownership and hierarchical and authoritarian means of production, to different forms of collective ownership and participatory management of production, distribution and services. This economic dimension of the ongoing transformation, has its roots in centuries of popular struggle to end poverty and exclusion caused by the "invisible hand" of the market.
The third would be the transition from representation to participation as guiding criteria of the political organization of society. The crisis of parties and democracy delegations noted the need to build a new institutional framework to respond to the aspirations of peoples' permanent participation in making decisions on matters of collective interest. In this context, participatory democracy and direct democracy are the trends that emerged as alternatives to the old political order in agony on the horizon of the twenty-first century.
The fourth transition is reflected in contemporary struggles against cultural homogenization imposed by blood and fire from the fifteenth century European colonization of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania, and implemented, from the twentieth century, through strategies seduction advertising developed by the mass media. Faced with this attempted annihilation of popular identities, different expressions of cultural resistance rise to combat the defects of discrimination, racism and xenophobia and promoting intercultural dialogue within a framework of mutual respect for differences.
Finally, the fifth transition has to do with the end of the historical cycle of dominance of patriarchal societies and the establishment of new relations of gender equity, as evidenced by the growing role of women in the exercise of roles previously reserved for men and vindicating the civil rights of sexual identities.
In short, these five trends and others which teem in the womb of capitalism senile form the context in which the ecosocialism erupts as political expression of an ethic, which is both global and local levels, focusing on shared responsibility to preserve the continuity of life on Earth by the selection of technological and friendly energy patterns of the health of human beings and nature. An ethics to safeguard the inalienable right of peoples to travel its own path toward the common good, in accordance with the ancient knowledge and indigenous cultural identities. An ethic that makes possible the construction of a new fair international economic order and solidarity, where poverty, exclusion and the fratricidal war to become, sooner rather than later, in the remains of a historic step for mankind overcome.
_______
[1] Johnson, Ian (1998, January 2). The cities 'bumper' hamper migration in China. Wall Street Journal.
[2] Climate change will bankrupt the world (2000, November 1924). The Independent. Available: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20001124/ai_n14354408?tag=untagged
[3] Boff, Leonardo (2009, April 3). To live better or 'Good Living'? Fusion Magazine. Available: http://www.revistafusion.com/20090403817/Firmas/Leonardo-Boff/ivivir-mejor-o-el-buen-vivir.htm
Gustavo Fernández Colón
Professor at the University of Carabobo, Venezuela
Email: fernandezcolon@gmail.com
(Paper presented to the Forum "ecosocialism XXI century", in Caracas, Venezuela, in June 2009)
The most serious aspect of the crisis facing the global capitalist system is not the bankruptcy of financial corporations, or the global economic downturn, or the discrediting of its institutions of political control. The greatest threat to the continuity of the capitalist mode of production is the environmental crisis caused by the irrational destruction of nature, to the point of jeopardizing the ability of self-regeneration of the ecosystems on which our survival depends.
For many analysts, however, a new long cycle of economic growth would be to take off thanks to the efforts of countries like China and India, now converted into more desirable markets to transnational capital because of its abundant cheap labor and "unregulated." What analysts often do not reveal is that the high rates of GDP growth in China, over 10% annual figures are misleading if one takes into account that do not involve the serious environmental and social liabilities generated by the "market socialism" adopted by this nation since 1979. Indeed, since the late nineties, "the World Bank estimated that pollution costs the country the equivalent of 8% of its annual production. That is, the enviable growth in China (...) is almost offset by environmental costs [and social] hidden, such as reduced life expectancy and declining arable land [1].
But not only the economies of China and India will be forced to include in its accounting, sooner or later, the huge economic losses caused by global warming and climate disasters, depletion and water pollution, deforestation and desertification of soils, chemical pollution of food, declining wild fish stocks, the mass extinction of plant and animal species, depletion and scarcity of renewable energies, overpopulation and pollution in cities, migration and pandemics, but each and every one of these environmental liabilities must be paid, on time, for all humanity.
The invoices generated by climate change, for example, have already begun to alarm some sectors of financial capitalism as insurance companies. In 2000 a group of researchers led by Andrew Dlugolecki, belonging to CGMU Insurance Group (the largest insurance group in Britain), published a report according to which the property damage caused by global climate change show a growth rate of 10% annually. This trend continues, by the year 2065 the upward curve of the loss curve will cross the Gross World Product growth, estimated at 3% annually. This means that the magnitude of the damage caused by the greenhouse effect that year will be identical to the volume of all the wealth produced on the planet. According Dlugolecki, long before the two lines intersect the global economy will become bankrupt [2].
Given this evidence, it is becoming more uncertain the possibility that capitalism (powered by China, U.S., or both) to reach a new cycle of expansion similar to what occurred between 1945 and 1970. Similarly, it is absurd to think that it is feasible to transform the prevailing social relations of production and build a new society truly equitable, participatory and sustainable, using the same energy patterns, technology and products developed over the past three centuries by the system of domination it aims to transform.
This apparent impasse does not mean that we are doomed to barbarism or that we reject outright the entire scientific and technological legacy of modernity. What corresponds to this dilemma is to be cautious against the risk of shipwreck, which would be any alternative socio-political project, to be led by the compulsive desire for reproduction of productive forces deployed by capitalism, without a critical assessment of its effects ecological, social, political and cultural. Do not forget that the stranglehold of political democracy and workers' management on behalf of the priority given to technology and arms competition with the West, was one of the fundamental causes of the collapse or involution of the most important trials of the twentieth century socialists.
Good Living
Against this background, it is important to examine the responses to the problem of ecological unsustainability of "progress" generated by left-wing political movements that have recently won power in Latin America. Beyond the philosophical differences, programmatic and contextual, a first common feature of the new popular government has been the emphasis on the role of the state to curb social imbalances aggravated by free-market policies implemented in the nineties. In practice, this has meant a greater concern for social justice, the strengthening of government services and health education, the emphasis on economic sovereignty and greater cooperation and integration among the countries of the region to try to escape their historical subordination to the United States.
While recognizing the merits of this effort, we note with concern that the problem of the unsustainability of our economies still not a priority for most governments in the new Latin American left. Categories such as "development", "progress" and "economic growth" continue to guide the public policy objectives, what continues to be understandable given the urgency to grow our economies to distribute wealth more equitably and address problems of poverty that afflicts the vast majority of our population.
But despite the dominance of the development ideology, it is fair to say that there have been some significant achievements in the fight to rid the legitimating myths of capitalist modernity and lay the foundations for a truly alternative political paradigm. An example is the principle of Good Living, which underlies the constitutions of Bolivia and Ecuador. Good Living or Sumak Kawsay, in Quechua, is a concept from the worldview of the native peoples of the Andes and the Amazon, which refers to community life in harmony with nature and culture or wisdom of the ancestors. It has nothing to do with modern anxiety "better", nor with the ideology of unlimited growth and progress, as it responds to a world view totally different from the capitalist ethic which encourages us to compete with others to produce and consume more, regardless of why our fellows have to "live evil." As Leonardo Boff says:
"On the contrary, points to a Good Living Ethics enough for the whole community, not just for the individual. Good Living is a holistic and integrated human being, immersed in the great earth, which also includes humans, air, water, soils, mountains, trees and animals (...) in deep communion with Mother Earth [3].
The Good Life is one of the most original conceptions inspiring revolutionary processes taking place in Latin America. Based on this philosophy, it is possible to characterize the fundamental force lines of the transition that will allow us to save civilization from the devastation and contribute to the flourishing capitalist societies ecosocialists XXI century.
Five Dimensions of the transition
The first dimension of this complex transition would be the end of the cycle of non-renewable and polluting energy sources (coal, oil, gas, nuclear energy) and the beginning of the era of clean and renewable energies (wind, solar, hydro, geothermal, tidal, etc.). Another affine transformation is the replacement of industrial agriculture based on monoculture and the use of pesticides and genetically modified seeds for a new agricultural model geared toward caring for biodiversity, organic farming methods, the rescue of knowledge and techniques traditional farmers and indigenous and local self-sufficiency. It also would have to proceed to the replacement of individual car of public transport by non-polluting to facilitate reducing the size of cities, as well as fostering a culture of recycling and frugal consumption, minimizing the weight of our "ecological footprint" on Mother Earth.
The second transition would be marked by the transition from private ownership and hierarchical and authoritarian means of production, to different forms of collective ownership and participatory management of production, distribution and services. This economic dimension of the ongoing transformation, has its roots in centuries of popular struggle to end poverty and exclusion caused by the "invisible hand" of the market.
The third would be the transition from representation to participation as guiding criteria of the political organization of society. The crisis of parties and democracy delegations noted the need to build a new institutional framework to respond to the aspirations of peoples' permanent participation in making decisions on matters of collective interest. In this context, participatory democracy and direct democracy are the trends that emerged as alternatives to the old political order in agony on the horizon of the twenty-first century.
The fourth transition is reflected in contemporary struggles against cultural homogenization imposed by blood and fire from the fifteenth century European colonization of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania, and implemented, from the twentieth century, through strategies seduction advertising developed by the mass media. Faced with this attempted annihilation of popular identities, different expressions of cultural resistance rise to combat the defects of discrimination, racism and xenophobia and promoting intercultural dialogue within a framework of mutual respect for differences.
Finally, the fifth transition has to do with the end of the historical cycle of dominance of patriarchal societies and the establishment of new relations of gender equity, as evidenced by the growing role of women in the exercise of roles previously reserved for men and vindicating the civil rights of sexual identities.
In short, these five trends and others which teem in the womb of capitalism senile form the context in which the ecosocialism erupts as political expression of an ethic, which is both global and local levels, focusing on shared responsibility to preserve the continuity of life on Earth by the selection of technological and friendly energy patterns of the health of human beings and nature. An ethics to safeguard the inalienable right of peoples to travel its own path toward the common good, in accordance with the ancient knowledge and indigenous cultural identities. An ethic that makes possible the construction of a new fair international economic order and solidarity, where poverty, exclusion and the fratricidal war to become, sooner rather than later, in the remains of a historic step for mankind overcome.
_______
[1] Johnson, Ian (1998, January 2). The cities 'bumper' hamper migration in China. Wall Street Journal.
[2] Climate change will bankrupt the world (2000, November 1924). The Independent. Available: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20001124/ai_n14354408?tag=untagged
[3] Boff, Leonardo (2009, April 3). To live better or 'Good Living'? Fusion Magazine. Available: http://www.revistafusion.com/20090403817/Firmas/Leonardo-Boff/ivivir-mejor-o-el-buen-vivir.htm
Antanas Mockus will defeat death squads!
Declaration of the Global Green Coordination regarding the presidential election campaign of the Colombian Green Party and its candidate Antanas Mockus
20th May 2010
The Global Green Coordination representing more than 80 green parties from around the world, greets the surging campaign for the upcoming presidential elections being conducted by the Colombian Green Party and its candidate Antanas Mockus. The spectacular support they are receiving opens a completely new and promising perspective for this country, delivering hope to overcome the dominating violence, corruption and social injustice. We call on the Colombian electorate to vote for Antanas Mockus and the proposals of the Colombian Green Party.
Antanas Mockus as President would mean putting an end to the eight years of the Uribe government, marked by failure to respect the constitution, stressing often a militaristic approach to resolve conflicts, contributing to intensify regional tensions, tolerating a high level of corruption and the maintenance of an unacceptable level of poverty despite the economic growth achieved by the country.
The election of Antanas Mockus would open the possibility of setting a new course based on moderation, strict enforcement of the constitution, citizen’s participation, honesty, respect for human rights, job creation and the emergence of new opportunities for young people including a determined effort to improve the education system, which is a key to the future of the country. At the same time, electing Antanas Mockus would help to relegate to the past the artificial tensions which have characterized relations between Colombia and neighbouring countries in recent years.
Greens worldwide will be following closely this electoral process and will put pressure on the institutions in which we are represented as well as on the governments of our countries in order to ensure that the democratic and honest nature of the electoral contest is fully respected by the Colombian Government. We hope that all parties refrain from the temptation to manipulate or violate the free and democratic elections that the country deserves. These elections can and should become a model of democracy and an example for everyone.
Once again we would like to call the people of this great country of Colombia to support the perspective that Antanas Mockus and the Green Party are offering to the voters: his proposals open the way to a better future for all Colombians and a unique chance for peace and hope.
The Global Green Coordination
Notes: The first round of the Colombian presidential elections will be on 30 May, with a runoff election on the 20 June if no candidate gains a majority.
For more information please consult the following web pages: http://www.partidoverde.org.co
20th May 2010
The Global Green Coordination representing more than 80 green parties from around the world, greets the surging campaign for the upcoming presidential elections being conducted by the Colombian Green Party and its candidate Antanas Mockus. The spectacular support they are receiving opens a completely new and promising perspective for this country, delivering hope to overcome the dominating violence, corruption and social injustice. We call on the Colombian electorate to vote for Antanas Mockus and the proposals of the Colombian Green Party.
Antanas Mockus as President would mean putting an end to the eight years of the Uribe government, marked by failure to respect the constitution, stressing often a militaristic approach to resolve conflicts, contributing to intensify regional tensions, tolerating a high level of corruption and the maintenance of an unacceptable level of poverty despite the economic growth achieved by the country.
The election of Antanas Mockus would open the possibility of setting a new course based on moderation, strict enforcement of the constitution, citizen’s participation, honesty, respect for human rights, job creation and the emergence of new opportunities for young people including a determined effort to improve the education system, which is a key to the future of the country. At the same time, electing Antanas Mockus would help to relegate to the past the artificial tensions which have characterized relations between Colombia and neighbouring countries in recent years.
Greens worldwide will be following closely this electoral process and will put pressure on the institutions in which we are represented as well as on the governments of our countries in order to ensure that the democratic and honest nature of the electoral contest is fully respected by the Colombian Government. We hope that all parties refrain from the temptation to manipulate or violate the free and democratic elections that the country deserves. These elections can and should become a model of democracy and an example for everyone.
Once again we would like to call the people of this great country of Colombia to support the perspective that Antanas Mockus and the Green Party are offering to the voters: his proposals open the way to a better future for all Colombians and a unique chance for peace and hope.
The Global Green Coordination
Notes: The first round of the Colombian presidential elections will be on 30 May, with a runoff election on the 20 June if no candidate gains a majority.
For more information please consult the following web pages: http://www.partidoverde.org.co
Kayapo resistance continues!
It's been exactly one month to the day since a group of Kayapo set up a ferry blockade across the Xingu River in an ongoing protest against the controversial Belo Monte hydro dam. The Kayapo were dispatched to the site on April 22, the same day the Brazilian government granted out rights to build the ... Continue Reading: http://intercontinentalcry.org/brazil-kayapo-blockade-heads-into-second-month/
Founding congress of New Ecosocialist Party
Founding Congress / 29 May in Lausanne of the new ecosocialist Party, the Left in Switzerland.
for more details have a look at their facebook http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=63683942107
Building a climate and just transition movement in Europ
From many different organisations and networks in Europe, we invite you to a meeting in Bonn on 5 and 6 June to discuss climate justice and the building of a just transition movement in Europe.
We start from the example resistance in Copenhagen and the spirit of climate justice. We will discuss:
How to carry the spirit of Cochabamba forward;
Building a climate and just transition movement in Europe, including actions in Octber and December;
The alternative Europe we want;
Mobilising for Cancun.
We will meet at Sitzungssaal, LVR-LandesMuseum Bonn, Colmantstr. 14-16, 53115 Bonn from 9 to 12.30 on Saturday to discuss global issues, and then go on the climate demonstration. On Sunday we will meet from 10 to 5 to discuss more European issues.
This is an open meeting, and you do not have to book ahead. But if you are coming, it will help if you reply to Alexis Passadakis on passadakis@gmx.net. Please tell us your name and organisation, and any translation you will need. The main language will be English, but we will try to arrange translation if you tell us beforehand. So if you would like to attend and need translation, please let us know to ensure your full participation is possible. This meeting should also help to prepare ourselves for the European Social Forum in Istanbul.
Attac Germany
Campaign against Climate Change, UK
Climate Justice Now
European Attac Network
Friends of the Earth Europe
Klimaforum
Research and Degrowth (R&D)
Seattle to Brussels Network
Transnational Institute
We start from the example resistance in Copenhagen and the spirit of climate justice. We will discuss:
How to carry the spirit of Cochabamba forward;
Building a climate and just transition movement in Europe, including actions in Octber and December;
The alternative Europe we want;
Mobilising for Cancun.
We will meet at Sitzungssaal, LVR-LandesMuseum Bonn, Colmantstr. 14-16, 53115 Bonn from 9 to 12.30 on Saturday to discuss global issues, and then go on the climate demonstration. On Sunday we will meet from 10 to 5 to discuss more European issues.
This is an open meeting, and you do not have to book ahead. But if you are coming, it will help if you reply to Alexis Passadakis on passadakis@gmx.net. Please tell us your name and organisation, and any translation you will need. The main language will be English, but we will try to arrange translation if you tell us beforehand. So if you would like to attend and need translation, please let us know to ensure your full participation is possible. This meeting should also help to prepare ourselves for the European Social Forum in Istanbul.
Attac Germany
Campaign against Climate Change, UK
Climate Justice Now
European Attac Network
Friends of the Earth Europe
Klimaforum
Research and Degrowth (R&D)
Seattle to Brussels Network
Transnational Institute
22 May 2010
Mumia 'Globalization is here - and it ain't pretty'
STATE AGAINST PEOPLE
[col. writ. 5/16/10] (c) '10 Mumia Abu-Jamal
There is, at the heart of American society, a profound disquiet about the overwhelming powers of government, one which waxes and wanes according to the felt needs of the time.
That's partly because, while we say the government was formed to support freedom, we know that this wasn't true. We know that the government was an instrument of despotic and tyrannical power - especially when it comes to Black people.
This government began in slavery, not in freedom - unless one argues it was begun to protect freedom of some to enslave others.
Thomas Jefferson, in his Notes On the State of Virginia, describing slavery, called it a system of "unremitting despotism."
That he was, at once, an alleged freedom fighter and, an owner of several hundred slaves gives us some sense of the contradiction at the core of the United States.
Government then, and now, supports the efforts of the wealthy, at the expense of the many. It is an instrument of wealth and corporate power - period.
Those who saw the quicksilver response to Wall Street's problems, and the half-hearted responses to the unemployed, the foreclosed, the hungry and the homeless should take that lesson to heart.
How else could any government support efforts like NAFTA (North America Free Trade Agreement), which destabilized millions of middle class workers (not to mention poor folks in Mexico), and please financial speculators and investors on Wall St.?
Former President Bill Clinton sold NAFTA like a carnival barker, and promised good jobs for all.
It didn't exactly work out that way, did it?
The neo liberal project of globalization was never intended to provide good jobs - for anybody, but elites. It was designed to maximize corporate profits, unhindered by any government restraints.
The bubbling light crude poisoning the waters of the Gulf of Mexico - right now - is the direct result of neo liberal deregulation - which frees business to profit - but also to create multinational disasters. It's government in hock to capital, and capitalism run wild.
And while the media hypes about environmental damage to Louisiana, Texas or even Florida, have you noticed no one has even mentioned Mexico's east coast, or Cuba's west coast?
Globalization is here - and it ain't pretty.
Only great and sustained struggle and resistance can change that tune.
--(c) '10 maj
=====================
[col. writ. 5/16/10] (c) '10 Mumia Abu-Jamal
There is, at the heart of American society, a profound disquiet about the overwhelming powers of government, one which waxes and wanes according to the felt needs of the time.
That's partly because, while we say the government was formed to support freedom, we know that this wasn't true. We know that the government was an instrument of despotic and tyrannical power - especially when it comes to Black people.
This government began in slavery, not in freedom - unless one argues it was begun to protect freedom of some to enslave others.
Thomas Jefferson, in his Notes On the State of Virginia, describing slavery, called it a system of "unremitting despotism."
That he was, at once, an alleged freedom fighter and, an owner of several hundred slaves gives us some sense of the contradiction at the core of the United States.
Government then, and now, supports the efforts of the wealthy, at the expense of the many. It is an instrument of wealth and corporate power - period.
Those who saw the quicksilver response to Wall Street's problems, and the half-hearted responses to the unemployed, the foreclosed, the hungry and the homeless should take that lesson to heart.
How else could any government support efforts like NAFTA (North America Free Trade Agreement), which destabilized millions of middle class workers (not to mention poor folks in Mexico), and please financial speculators and investors on Wall St.?
Former President Bill Clinton sold NAFTA like a carnival barker, and promised good jobs for all.
It didn't exactly work out that way, did it?
The neo liberal project of globalization was never intended to provide good jobs - for anybody, but elites. It was designed to maximize corporate profits, unhindered by any government restraints.
The bubbling light crude poisoning the waters of the Gulf of Mexico - right now - is the direct result of neo liberal deregulation - which frees business to profit - but also to create multinational disasters. It's government in hock to capital, and capitalism run wild.
And while the media hypes about environmental damage to Louisiana, Texas or even Florida, have you noticed no one has even mentioned Mexico's east coast, or Cuba's west coast?
Globalization is here - and it ain't pretty.
Only great and sustained struggle and resistance can change that tune.
--(c) '10 maj
=====================
Colombian Green Party flash mob today
Alas can't make this but yes a green tide is sweeping Latin America!
FLASH http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=117873868253262&index=1>MOB!!! Los VERDES nos tomamos el South Bank
Where: Parque entre City Hall y Tower Bridge
When: Today from 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm (Sat. 22nd) The GP are leading in the Columbian Presidential election. Think of it - thefirst Green Government!!! They have asked us to come out and support them. Apparently there are 400Columbian GP people in London. Please get down to City Hall tomorrow afternoon and bring some placards. .
FLASH http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=117873868253262&index=1>MOB!!! Los VERDES nos tomamos el South Bank
Where: Parque entre City Hall y Tower Bridge
When: Today from 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm (Sat. 22nd) The GP are leading in the Columbian Presidential election. Think of it - thefirst Green Government!!! They have asked us to come out and support them. Apparently there are 400Columbian GP people in London. Please get down to City Hall tomorrow afternoon and bring some placards. .
20 May 2010
Jerry Hicks ‘Unite behind John McDonnell’
‘Unite behind John McDonnell’
Jerry Hicks a candidate in the election for the General Secretary of Unite, Britain's biggest union, today urged Labour MPs to nominate John McDonnell MP to be the new Leader of the Labour Party.
Jerry Hicks said "I welcome John McDonnell's commitment to a leadership debate based on the policies. I applaud John McDonnell's long-standing support for workers' rights, the trade unions and repealing the anti-trade union laws; a peaceful foreign policy, bringing our troops home, publicly owned services, progressive taxation, an emergency council housing programme, a living wage and civil liberties.
I also welcome his determination that working people must not be made to pay for a crisis that is not of their making. He is the perfect alternative to the David and Ed the ‘Moribund’ brothers and the other candidates from Continuity New Labour. He also offers a genuine alternative to the Cameron-Clegg Government ."
Jerry Hicks believes that John McDonnell is exceptional in that he has support that reaches far beyond that of the Labour Party itself. Who would not now agree that had he [McDonnell] been on the ballot paper last time around enabling discussion and debate on the real issues instead of the Brown coronation, that the Labour Party would have been more electable and maybe still have been the government not the opposition.
Jerry Hicks, though not a Labour Party member, hopes that the Labour Party fields the widest number of candidates so that its members can make an informed choice and thereby re-establish itself to benefit ordinary people.
Ends:
Notes to editors:
Jerry Hicks will be standing later this year for the position of single General Secretary of Unite, the UK's largest trade union and biggest single donator to the Labour party. He is considered by many as the possible winner. In last year’s election for joint General Secretary he (Jerry Hicks) came second to Derek Simpson, Mr Simpson will not be standing this time.
Jerry Hicks a candidate in the election for the General Secretary of Unite, Britain's biggest union, today urged Labour MPs to nominate John McDonnell MP to be the new Leader of the Labour Party.
Jerry Hicks said "I welcome John McDonnell's commitment to a leadership debate based on the policies. I applaud John McDonnell's long-standing support for workers' rights, the trade unions and repealing the anti-trade union laws; a peaceful foreign policy, bringing our troops home, publicly owned services, progressive taxation, an emergency council housing programme, a living wage and civil liberties.
I also welcome his determination that working people must not be made to pay for a crisis that is not of their making. He is the perfect alternative to the David and Ed the ‘Moribund’ brothers and the other candidates from Continuity New Labour. He also offers a genuine alternative to the Cameron-Clegg Government ."
Jerry Hicks believes that John McDonnell is exceptional in that he has support that reaches far beyond that of the Labour Party itself. Who would not now agree that had he [McDonnell] been on the ballot paper last time around enabling discussion and debate on the real issues instead of the Brown coronation, that the Labour Party would have been more electable and maybe still have been the government not the opposition.
Jerry Hicks, though not a Labour Party member, hopes that the Labour Party fields the widest number of candidates so that its members can make an informed choice and thereby re-establish itself to benefit ordinary people.
Ends:
Notes to editors:
Jerry Hicks will be standing later this year for the position of single General Secretary of Unite, the UK's largest trade union and biggest single donator to the Labour party. He is considered by many as the possible winner. In last year’s election for joint General Secretary he (Jerry Hicks) came second to Derek Simpson, Mr Simpson will not be standing this time.
Unite General Secretary ballot could put left in charge
Please find an attachment giving the details of the timetable for the election of Unite General Secretary. As you will see the nomination months for Branches and workplaces are July and August, with the balloting of our 1.7 million members throughout October.
Our campaign continues at a pace, not least in the miles that we are travelling (with my bum taking up the shape of a National Express coach seat!).
We have over 20 support groups set up across the country, with hundreds more people doing loads of stuff, where they are and how they know best. Let me know if you want to be put in touch with peolpe near you, by emailing me on jerryhicks4gs@yahoo.co.uk
Also the latest leaflet/s (A5 and A4) are now at the printers as of today and will be sent out next week.
Finally, take a look at this most recent youtube clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAx2MmrXYOY of Ken Loach giving his support to our campaign, nice one.
Hold on to your hats and fasten your seat belts, and above all........... keep on keeping on; Jerry.
Our campaign continues at a pace, not least in the miles that we are travelling (with my bum taking up the shape of a National Express coach seat!).
We have over 20 support groups set up across the country, with hundreds more people doing loads of stuff, where they are and how they know best. Let me know if you want to be put in touch with peolpe near you, by emailing me on jerryhicks4gs@yahoo.co.uk
Also the latest leaflet/s (A5 and A4) are now at the printers as of today and will be sent out next week.
Finally, take a look at this most recent youtube clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAx2MmrXYOY of Ken Loach giving his support to our campaign, nice one.
Hold on to your hats and fasten your seat belts, and above all........... keep on keeping on; Jerry.
19 May 2010
Caroline Lucas to speak at Compass event
Caroline ran and won on a programme of greater democracy, equality and of course sustainability. Let's find out, now she is in Parliament, how she proposes to push this common agenda.
'This is why we've invited Caroline to speak: to help us forge new progressive alliances, develop fresh thinking, to listen to, learn from and be challenged by those with different perspectives and help us to forge a truly new politics.
Other high-profile speakers at the event who'll also join us to debate the ideas, campaigns and coalitions needed to build a new progressive consensus for the 21st century include: Jon Cruddas MP; Chuka Umunna MP; Baroness Helena Kennedy QC; Polly Toynbee, The Guardian; John Harris, The Guardian; Prof Ruth Lister CBE; Will Straw, Left Foot Forward; John Hilary, War On Want; Seumas Milne, The Guardian; Mehdi Hasan, New Statesman; Fiona Millar; Kat Banyard, UK Feminista; Louise Christian; Hilary Wainwright, Red Pepper; Noel Hatch, Compass Youth; Sam Tarry, Young Labour; Ceri Goddard, Fawcett Society; Andrew Simms, nef; Tony Robinson, actor & broadcaster; Clifford Singer, mydavidcameron.com; Pam Giddy, POWER 2010; Jonathan Rutherford, Soundings; Prof David Blanchflower and Paul Mason, author & broadcaster. We'll be announcing further high-profile speakers in the coming days.'
Compass are very much a centre left Labour Party organisation, so I am intrigued they have given Caroline Lucas, our new Green Party MP, star billing at their conference on 12th June.
More on the left seem to be experimenting with green left politics.
Talking of which fingers crossed John McDonnell MP will get on the Labour Party leadership ballot.
If you want to register for the Compass event have a click here.
'This is why we've invited Caroline to speak: to help us forge new progressive alliances, develop fresh thinking, to listen to, learn from and be challenged by those with different perspectives and help us to forge a truly new politics.
Other high-profile speakers at the event who'll also join us to debate the ideas, campaigns and coalitions needed to build a new progressive consensus for the 21st century include: Jon Cruddas MP; Chuka Umunna MP; Baroness Helena Kennedy QC; Polly Toynbee, The Guardian; John Harris, The Guardian; Prof Ruth Lister CBE; Will Straw, Left Foot Forward; John Hilary, War On Want; Seumas Milne, The Guardian; Mehdi Hasan, New Statesman; Fiona Millar; Kat Banyard, UK Feminista; Louise Christian; Hilary Wainwright, Red Pepper; Noel Hatch, Compass Youth; Sam Tarry, Young Labour; Ceri Goddard, Fawcett Society; Andrew Simms, nef; Tony Robinson, actor & broadcaster; Clifford Singer, mydavidcameron.com; Pam Giddy, POWER 2010; Jonathan Rutherford, Soundings; Prof David Blanchflower and Paul Mason, author & broadcaster. We'll be announcing further high-profile speakers in the coming days.'
Compass are very much a centre left Labour Party organisation, so I am intrigued they have given Caroline Lucas, our new Green Party MP, star billing at their conference on 12th June.
More on the left seem to be experimenting with green left politics.
Talking of which fingers crossed John McDonnell MP will get on the Labour Party leadership ballot.
If you want to register for the Compass event have a click here.
17 May 2010
Mumia Abu-Jamal asks is this 'The Fall of the House of Labour'
The Fall of the House of Labour
[col. writ. 5/12/10] (c) '10 Mumia Abu-Jamal
When Gordon Brown surrendered the post of Prime Minister to his Conservative opponent, David Cameron, he signaled the collapse of the Labour Party from its heady days of the '90's, at the end of the Thatcher era.
In 1997, when Tony Blair took power, he gave an extraordinary speech to the Labour Party Conference, which looks all the more remarkable in hindsight. Blair announced to the assembled throngs:
Since this is a day for honesty, I'll tell you my heroes aren't just
Ernie Bevin, Bye Bevan and Attlee. They are also Keynes,
Beveridge, Lloyd George. Divisions among radicals almost
one hundred years ago resulted in a 20th century dominated by
Conservatives. I want the 21st century to be the century of the
radicals [Labour & Trade Union Review, No 197 (May '09) .p3]
Blair became the youngest Prime Minister since 1935, and an heir to a party that held power only 25 years in the preceding century. He held power for a decade before turning it over in 2007 to Gordon Brown, the former Chancellor of the exchequer, the British equivalent to Finance Minister.
The Iraq war and its discontents soured huge swathes of the population on Labour, and small parties of left, right and center began to nibble off of the behemoth's carcass.
George Galloway, of the anti-war party, Respect, spoke to Parliament in June, 2009:
When, in 2005, I was elected as the first left-of Labour member of parliament in England for 60 years, I was elected because of Iraq. The Labour Party's membership has halved because of Iraq. Millions of Labour voters have left them and new parties - some of the left and some of the right - are proliferating and strengthening, in substantial part, because of Iraq. That has happened not directly, but indirectly because of the poison that the Iraq question has caused to pulse around the British body politic. The lack of credibility of the British political class has also been the result of Iraq. [Labour & Trade Union Review, No. 199 (July/Aug. '09) p.11]
Blair and his supporters turned the government into an instrument of corporate power, and an extension of U.S. Imperial power, and thereby betrayed not just their party but their class, and their nation. For in fashioning 'New Labour', he sold the machinery of the state to the marketplace, and turned his back on his constituents. In truth, workers had a party in name only.
Their slavish bowing and scraping to Bush, Wall St;, and the banks and financial houses of London led to the fall of Labour and the emergence of Conservative power in Parliament.
As for his 'heroes', they'd hardly applaud the mess Blair and NL made of the party. For Ernest Bevin (1881-1951) was quoted as saying: "There never has been a war yet which, if the facts had been put calmly before the ordinary folk, could not have been prevented... The common man, I think, is the great protection against war." Aneurin Bevan (1897 -1960) once said, of his loathing for the Tories 'New Labour'--indeed.
--(c) '10 maj
[col. writ. 5/12/10] (c) '10 Mumia Abu-Jamal
When Gordon Brown surrendered the post of Prime Minister to his Conservative opponent, David Cameron, he signaled the collapse of the Labour Party from its heady days of the '90's, at the end of the Thatcher era.
In 1997, when Tony Blair took power, he gave an extraordinary speech to the Labour Party Conference, which looks all the more remarkable in hindsight. Blair announced to the assembled throngs:
Since this is a day for honesty, I'll tell you my heroes aren't just
Ernie Bevin, Bye Bevan and Attlee. They are also Keynes,
Beveridge, Lloyd George. Divisions among radicals almost
one hundred years ago resulted in a 20th century dominated by
Conservatives. I want the 21st century to be the century of the
radicals [Labour & Trade Union Review, No 197 (May '09) .p3]
Blair became the youngest Prime Minister since 1935, and an heir to a party that held power only 25 years in the preceding century. He held power for a decade before turning it over in 2007 to Gordon Brown, the former Chancellor of the exchequer, the British equivalent to Finance Minister.
The Iraq war and its discontents soured huge swathes of the population on Labour, and small parties of left, right and center began to nibble off of the behemoth's carcass.
George Galloway, of the anti-war party, Respect, spoke to Parliament in June, 2009:
When, in 2005, I was elected as the first left-of Labour member of parliament in England for 60 years, I was elected because of Iraq. The Labour Party's membership has halved because of Iraq. Millions of Labour voters have left them and new parties - some of the left and some of the right - are proliferating and strengthening, in substantial part, because of Iraq. That has happened not directly, but indirectly because of the poison that the Iraq question has caused to pulse around the British body politic. The lack of credibility of the British political class has also been the result of Iraq. [Labour & Trade Union Review, No. 199 (July/Aug. '09) p.11]
Blair and his supporters turned the government into an instrument of corporate power, and an extension of U.S. Imperial power, and thereby betrayed not just their party but their class, and their nation. For in fashioning 'New Labour', he sold the machinery of the state to the marketplace, and turned his back on his constituents. In truth, workers had a party in name only.
Their slavish bowing and scraping to Bush, Wall St;, and the banks and financial houses of London led to the fall of Labour and the emergence of Conservative power in Parliament.
As for his 'heroes', they'd hardly applaud the mess Blair and NL made of the party. For Ernest Bevin (1881-1951) was quoted as saying: "There never has been a war yet which, if the facts had been put calmly before the ordinary folk, could not have been prevented... The common man, I think, is the great protection against war." Aneurin Bevan (1897 -1960) once said, of his loathing for the Tories 'New Labour'--indeed.
--(c) '10 maj
Caroline Lucas MP to speak at Brighton solidarity meeting
BRIGHTON WORKERS SPEAK OUT
Tuesday, 25 May 2010 at 19:30 - 21:30
in the Auditorium,Brighthelm Centre
North Road (corner of Queens Rd),5 mins from Brighton station
SPEAKERS -
SUSSEX UCU (currently striking for jobs)
BRIGHTON RMT (currently balloting for jobs)
NUT (currently boycotting the SATS tests)
BRIGHTON AND HOVE UNISON (meeting organisers)
CAROLINE LUCAS MP FOR BRIGHTON PAVILION
plus Brighton Benefits Campaign, & Greek activist
With the Tories now in office and promising attacks on jobs and services not seen since the 1930s,Brighton and Hove unison is hosting this public meeting. Its aim is to bring together all those prepared to support trade unionists at the frontline of resisting the coming Tory onslaught.
* We need to prepare now to give whatever support we can to each other as our working conditions,pay,jobs,and services are attacked over the next year.
* We need to strengthen networks of support so that no group of workers is left to resist the cuts alone.
* We can also ask local political representatives, including Caroline Lucas, what they are going to do to help us.
Our last meetings were a great success with 60-70 hearing GMB reps from the bin depot,the RMT,Unite at Edwards Engineering,Sussex UCU and the FBU put their case. As with previous meetings,there will be plenty of time to organise solidarity with existing stikers - particularly BA cabin crew.
It will also be a good opportunity to meet informally with local union activists,including the growing local trades council who are supporting this meeting.
--
Pip Tindall
Brighton & Hove Green Party
Brighton Workers Solidarity Group
http://brightonworkerssolidarity.wordpress.com/
Brighton Benefits Campaign
http://brightonbenefitscampaign.wordpress.com/
Posted by DON'T dis US at 04:11
Tuesday, 25 May 2010 at 19:30 - 21:30
in the Auditorium,Brighthelm Centre
North Road (corner of Queens Rd),5 mins from Brighton station
SPEAKERS -
SUSSEX UCU (currently striking for jobs)
BRIGHTON RMT (currently balloting for jobs)
NUT (currently boycotting the SATS tests)
BRIGHTON AND HOVE UNISON (meeting organisers)
CAROLINE LUCAS MP FOR BRIGHTON PAVILION
plus Brighton Benefits Campaign, & Greek activist
With the Tories now in office and promising attacks on jobs and services not seen since the 1930s,Brighton and Hove unison is hosting this public meeting. Its aim is to bring together all those prepared to support trade unionists at the frontline of resisting the coming Tory onslaught.
* We need to prepare now to give whatever support we can to each other as our working conditions,pay,jobs,and services are attacked over the next year.
* We need to strengthen networks of support so that no group of workers is left to resist the cuts alone.
* We can also ask local political representatives, including Caroline Lucas, what they are going to do to help us.
Our last meetings were a great success with 60-70 hearing GMB reps from the bin depot,the RMT,Unite at Edwards Engineering,Sussex UCU and the FBU put their case. As with previous meetings,there will be plenty of time to organise solidarity with existing stikers - particularly BA cabin crew.
It will also be a good opportunity to meet informally with local union activists,including the growing local trades council who are supporting this meeting.
--
Pip Tindall
Brighton & Hove Green Party
Brighton Workers Solidarity Group
http://brightonworkerssolidarity.wordpress.com/
Brighton Benefits Campaign
http://brightonbenefitscampaign.wordpress.com/
Posted by DON'T dis US at 04:11
Thirty years since Shining Path went to war against the people of Peru
May 17th 1980 Shining Path, a Maoist group that split from the Communist Party of Peru undertook the first action in their 'Peoples' War', burning ballot papers in an obscure village.
Until their leader, a philosophy professor specialising in Kant, was captured in the 1990s, they took part in a bloody war which claimed the lives of 10,000s of people and displaced 100,000s.
They killed not just those they sought to over throw but targeted all on the left and in the social movements who did not support them, typically they would dynamite opponents in front of their families.
They were the most brutal of the Maoists along with the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.
If they had won, who knows how many they would have murdered.
Successive Peruvian governments responded with brutal repression....ordinary Peruvian citizens suffered terror from both sides.
Now Shining Path are made up of a few hundred guerillas and are heavily involved in the cocaine trade. A spent and diminishing force.
Shining Path and the counter repression in Peru, destroyed the left, now as we know the indigenous peoples in the Peruvian Amazon provide much of the energy and leadership for the left in Peru.
I was shocked when after the massacre of Peruvian indigenous people last year at Bagua, I heard the Peruvian Ambassador to the UK talk about Shining Path as if the indigenous were linked to them so as to help justify the bloodshed.
On the contrary the indigenous people far from being manipulated, give leadership by their example, to activists across Latin America and beyond.
DEAD FISH AND OIL DRENCHED BIRDS HANG FROM TURBINE HALL
TATE MODERN TENTH BIRTHDAY SEES ACTION AGAINST SLICK BP SPONSORSHIP
DEAD FISH AND OIL DRENCHED BIRDS HANG FROM TURBINE HALL
Tate Modern was forced to close down parts of its No Soul For Sale tenth anniversary exhibition on Saturday (15 May) whilst it struggled to remove dozens of dead fish and oil-soaked birds hanging from huge black balloons let loose in the Turbine Hall.
Art activists from LIBERATE TATE, a growing network dedicated to ensuring the museum drop its sponsorship deal with BP (British Petroleum), infiltrated Tate Modern's Turbine Hall and released dozens of helium-filled black balloons with dead animals attached. Crowds of tourists and art lovers gathered to watch the balloons rise up in the air until they filled the ceiling of the Turbine Hall.
Josephine Buoys, who took part in the art action, said: “We took this action whilst Tate sponsor BP is creating the largest oil painting in the world. Across the Gulf of Mexico ecosystems and livelihoods are being devastated by their oil spill. Every day Tate scrubs clean BP’s public image with the detergent of cool progressive art. Yet there is nothing cool about a corporation that cares more about its profits than life or the future of our fragile world.”
By late afternoon Tate staff had burst some the oil bubble-like black balloons by climbing onto a high gantry, but many remained out of reach and the rotting fish and sea birds hovered above the evening's celebrations headlined by Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth. Rumours circulated that Tate would commission a marksman to shoot the remaining balloons down from the top of the former power station.
LIBERATE TATE said: "Every time we step inside the museum Tate makes us complicit with acts that are harming people and creating environmental destruction and climate change, acts that will one day seem as archaic as the slave trade. We call on Tate to become a responsible, ethical and truly sustainable organisation for the 21st century and drop its sponsorship by oil companies. As a public institution the Tate’s Trustees, chaired as they are by an ex-CEO of BP, must abandon its association with BP. All visitors to the Tate must be able to enjoy great art with a clear conscience about the impact of the museum on society and the environment.”
LIBERATE TATE distributed a communiqué (online here http://bit.ly/9RFfxJ) throughout the Tate Modern 10th anniversary promising further actions to 'free art from oil' by artists and activists across Britain until Tate ends its association with BP.
LIBERATE TATE have issued an open invitation for artists, activists, art lovers and other concerned members of the public to act to ensure that Tate ends its oil sponsorship by the end of 2011 ahead of Tate Modern's expansion into its cleaned out underground oil tanks.
LIBERATE TATE contact details:
web: www.twitter.com/liberatetate email: liberatetate@gmail.com
DEAD FISH AND OIL DRENCHED BIRDS HANG FROM TURBINE HALL
Tate Modern was forced to close down parts of its No Soul For Sale tenth anniversary exhibition on Saturday (15 May) whilst it struggled to remove dozens of dead fish and oil-soaked birds hanging from huge black balloons let loose in the Turbine Hall.
Art activists from LIBERATE TATE, a growing network dedicated to ensuring the museum drop its sponsorship deal with BP (British Petroleum), infiltrated Tate Modern's Turbine Hall and released dozens of helium-filled black balloons with dead animals attached. Crowds of tourists and art lovers gathered to watch the balloons rise up in the air until they filled the ceiling of the Turbine Hall.
Josephine Buoys, who took part in the art action, said: “We took this action whilst Tate sponsor BP is creating the largest oil painting in the world. Across the Gulf of Mexico ecosystems and livelihoods are being devastated by their oil spill. Every day Tate scrubs clean BP’s public image with the detergent of cool progressive art. Yet there is nothing cool about a corporation that cares more about its profits than life or the future of our fragile world.”
By late afternoon Tate staff had burst some the oil bubble-like black balloons by climbing onto a high gantry, but many remained out of reach and the rotting fish and sea birds hovered above the evening's celebrations headlined by Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth. Rumours circulated that Tate would commission a marksman to shoot the remaining balloons down from the top of the former power station.
LIBERATE TATE said: "Every time we step inside the museum Tate makes us complicit with acts that are harming people and creating environmental destruction and climate change, acts that will one day seem as archaic as the slave trade. We call on Tate to become a responsible, ethical and truly sustainable organisation for the 21st century and drop its sponsorship by oil companies. As a public institution the Tate’s Trustees, chaired as they are by an ex-CEO of BP, must abandon its association with BP. All visitors to the Tate must be able to enjoy great art with a clear conscience about the impact of the museum on society and the environment.”
LIBERATE TATE distributed a communiqué (online here http://bit.ly/9RFfxJ) throughout the Tate Modern 10th anniversary promising further actions to 'free art from oil' by artists and activists across Britain until Tate ends its association with BP.
LIBERATE TATE have issued an open invitation for artists, activists, art lovers and other concerned members of the public to act to ensure that Tate ends its oil sponsorship by the end of 2011 ahead of Tate Modern's expansion into its cleaned out underground oil tanks.
LIBERATE TATE contact details:
web: www.twitter.com/liberatetate email: liberatetate@gmail.com
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