Can't-cún

Derek Wall looks at the outcomes of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Cancún
The reality of climate change becomes more evident every day with devastating floods in countries as far apart as Pakistan and Australia, forest fires in Russia, and another severe drought affecting the Amazon. Yet the process whereby the world’s nations come together to tackle climate change seems to be stalling. In Cancún, Mexico, the latest international climate conference occurred during December. Whereas the previous meeting, in Copenhagen in December 2009, was widely regarded as a disaster, reactions to Cancún have been mixed.

One country, Bolivia, rejected the agreement reached at the Cancún conference claiming that the programme was so weak it guaranteed that millions of people, especially those in Latin American and African countries, would die. The Bolivians also believe that unless radical action is taken, low-lying islands, such as the Maldives, will be submerged totally.

The Bolivians argue that not only do we need to move beyond carbon trading but also that the current economic system, based on infinite economic growth, is ecologically unsustainable. They want an explicit carbon justice element acknowledging the carbon debt of richer countries like the UK and US which have produced far more carbon dioxide than poorer countries. Most radically, the Bolivian President, Evo Morales, argues that we should respect what he calls Pachamama, the indigenous Bolivian term for Mother Earth.

Dr Simon Lewis, a climate change scientist from Leeds University, who took part in the negotiations as a science advisor for the government of Gabon in central Africa, argues that the whole process of international agreements can appear to have failed “because the obvious solution to climate change, keeping most fossil carbon out of the atmosphere by keeping fossil fuels in the ground, was not solved or even much discussed”.

Yet he points to the fact that, while progress was modest, the process which could have collapsed totally, with some countries like Russia exiting, is at least continuing; “many were arguing whether the UN or multilateralism had any future if 193 countries can’t agree on anything, so I think Cancún was important because countries generally were willing to compromise to keep the chance of a multilateral, UN-brokered deal, alive. This in my view is preferable to letting a small club of powerful countries lay claim to the governance of the global climate.”

MORE HERE

Keny Arkana - Terre mère n'est pas à vendre

Mother Earth isn't for sale!

Keny Arkana shows that ecosocialism can do revolutionary hip hop!

Boyd Barrett elected as MP for Dun Laoghaire! Yes!

Boyd Barrett has taken the last seat at Dun Laoghaire.

Nail biting stuff but good to see him win and enjoy the video above.

I hope that he speaks up for green ideas now the greens in Ireland have been wiped out.

The Network of Free Ulema - Libya

Just had this

This is an urgent appeal from religious scholars (faqihs and Sufi sheikhs), intellectuals, and clan elders from Tripoli, Bani Walid, Zintan, Jadu, Msalata, Misrata, Zawiah, and other towns and villages of the western area of our beloved Libya to all of humanity, to all men and women of good will, The Libyan regime has been firing live ammunition at peaceful demonstrators who have been simply asking for their divinely endowed and internationally recognised human rights.


We appeal to every Muslim, within the regime or assisting it in anyway, to recognize that the killing of innocent human beings is forbidden by our Creator and by His beloved Prophet of Compassion (peace be upon him), and that whoever commits such crimes-against-humanity, or assists in committing them in any way, shall subject himself to condemnation to God’s wrath and eternal damnation. Human life is sanctified by God Himself, and is protected by Divine Shariah and International Law. Do NOT kill your brothers and sisters. STOP the massacre NOW!”

“We appeal to the faithful and brave Libyan people to help each other in all ways possible and to remain united.”

Full recount in Dun Laoghaire is scheduled for 10.30am tomorrow

update: looks like bad losers labour are calling for a recount!


Socialist Workers Party member Richard Boyd-Barret is very close in Dun Laoighaire!
!

Official result as Joe Higgins wins.

Joe Higgins stated recently

“Far from being a bail-out, your IMF/EU intervention in Ireland is a mechanism to make vassals of Irish taxpayers to the European banks,” “You are destroying our services and the living standards of our people."

Good to see him elected, figures here



DUBLIN WEST

turnout 82.3%
quota: 8,495

Lab Joan Burton 9,627
FG Leo Varadkar 8,359
SOC Joe Higgins 8,084
FF Brian Lenihan, Jnr 6,421
FG 3,190
Lab 2,686
SF 2,597
FF 623
Green 605
Ind 280

Urgent Action, Sandra Viviana environmental researcher disappeared

UA request - Sandra Viviana environmental researcher disappeared

Sandra Viviana environmental researcher was 'disappeared' en route to give a lecture
at National University, Palmira, near Cali, Colombia.

Please see urgent action from Friends of the Earth below

CENSAT 'Agua Viva', Friends of the Earth Colombia

International solidarity needed: Pressure the Colombian authorities to find Sandra Viviana Civil society organisations in Colombia have reported the disappearance of Sandra Viviana Cuellar Gallego, in Cali on February 17. Friends of the Earth International and Censat Agua Viva / Friends of the Earth Colombia need your help to pressure the Colombian authorities to step up the search for her.

Sandra Viviana Cuellar GallegoSandra is a 26 year-old environmental engineer who works on water, basin protection and wetland issues. Her work involves advocating for the equal participation of local communities in the environmental decisions that affect them. She used to work with Censat Agua Viva / Friends of the Earth Colombia on forestry issues.

Her identity card and cell phone were found on February 19, near the place where she was supposed to take a public bus to the National University of Colombia in Palmira.

According to her family's report, the activist might have been approached by criminals in the Belalcazar neighbourhood, close to her parents home. However, political motivations for her disappearance have not been ruled out.

In Cali, Colombian environmental activist Hildebrando Velez, is leading the local efforts in the search for Sandra.

He spoke to us about the need for the international community to know about her case in order to put pressure on the authorities to speed up their search.

Too many environmentalists have been murdered or "disappeared" in Colombia.
We need to send a message to the Colombian authorities to show them that we are monitoring their response.

Please add your name to the letter below which will be sent to the
Director of the Presidential Program for Human Rights, the Ombudsman and
the Attorney General.

*You can send the letter directly from this link:

www.foei.org/en/get-involved/take-action/sandra-gallego

Socialist Joe Higgins wins in Dublin West as John Gormley loses in Dublin South East

Glad to see this!

Joe Higgins is on 8,304 and needs 8,495.

As its an STV election he is guaranteed to win on transfers.

He is the veteran Socialist Party activist, presently an MEP.

John Gormley is on 6.7% but the Green Party leader will lose in Dublin South East

Fine Gael are going to win and will be just as bad as Fianna Fail but the left are doing well.

Ireland is ruled by the IMF and the ECB, if you don't take to the streets you get smashed by the bankers and tragically this is
what has happened in Ireland.

The role of the Irish Green Party has been appalling but all the main parties have been pro banker.

Ireland needs to learn from Egypt and so do we in Britain.

Also an excellent lesson in how not to do green politics!

My friends Owen and Jen storm council cuts meeting

I had breakfast with Jen and Owen on thursday morning , who took part in this protest at the York council meeting making the cuts, with Jen asking me should me chain ourselves to the balcony or something similar.

To which I said of course but 'find a third person'.

Debt is an excuse to create a low wage corporate Britain.....but protest could get results, we have have already defeated the sale of the forests through protest.

Look at what happens when there is compromise instead of protest, in Ireland the economy and society have been devastated.

Derek Wall 'Join me tomorrow for save the NHS demo'

Join us on our protest against the Equity and Excellence bill that
threatens to decimate our beloved NHS.
Date: SATURDAY 26TH FEBRUARY 2011
Time: NOON
Start: North Carriage Drive entrance to Hyde Park
End: 10 Downing Street
Speakers include:
Dr Ron Singer – Medical Practitioner Union Rep for Unite a role which he
represents with Keep the NHS Public and the British Medical Association
Derek Wall – Former Principal Speaker of the Green Party
Andrew Burgin – Secretary Coalition of Resistance
Bob Archer – NUT
Barry Cross – Keep Our NHS Public
Upkar Rai – British Sikh Council
Wilson Chowdhry – British Pakistani Christian Association

After Friday prayer the citizens of Tripoli march on Gadaffi (Video just in)

The video is from an independent source but Al Jazeera's reporting remains sold gold.

Violence flared up even before the Friday sermons were over, according to a source in Tripoli.

"People are rushing out of mosques even before Friday prayers are finished because the state-written sermons were not acceptable, and made them even more angry," the source said.

Libyan state television aired one such sermon on Friday, in an apparent warning to protesters.

"As the Prophet said, if you dislike your ruler or his behaviour, you should not raise your sword against him, but be patient, for those who disobey the rulers will die as infidels," the speaker told his congregation in Tripoli.

FROM AL JAZEERA

....however a rare item of good Guardian information discussing the influence or lack of influence of Al Qaida HERE

Caroline Lucas conference speech condemns 'killer' Cameron the arms dealer

The courage of the protesters in Tarhir Square, facing the stones, clubs and bullets of the pro-Mubharak thugs.
And the extraordinary courage of so many ordinary people in Libya, armed only in their belief in democracy and human rights.
Contrast that to the actions of our own Prime Minister, David Cameron.
I have to confess that when I first saw him on TV in Tahrir Square earlier this week, I genuinely thought for a moment that he was really there to express solidarity with the pro-democracy movement in Egypt. And I thought great, good on him.
And then the horrifying reality: he was there, in the Middle East, at a time of such violence and chaos, with a delegation of arms traders, to sell more arms.
More guns, more tanks, more armoured vehicles, stun grenades, tear gas, riot-control equipment.
I know that ethical foreign policy has gone out of fashion, but frankly the blatant opportunism of this visit is morally obscene.
But perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised.

FULL CONFERENCE SPEECH HERE

Clare Solomon's election manifesto 'WE ARE GOING TO ROCK'

'WE ARE GOING TO ROCK ULU'


‎*ALL* University of London students can vote, ie, you do NOT need a ULU card.

The University of London Union needs a President who sticks to their manifesto pledges and defends education for all, unlike the Cleggs and Camerons of this world.

I promised a campaigning ULU: you got it, with ULU at the heart of the student protests over cuts and fees.


Voting details: ONLINE ONLY 9-16th March. Check your college inbox (and check spam) for your username and password. If you can't find it email elect2011@ulu.lon.ac.uk.

See all the manifestos at http://www.ulu.co.uk/elections/content/index.php?page=98225

I’m proud of the role ULU played in helping pull together the biggest student movement for a generation. ULU helped support occupations and demonstrations across the city, becoming a powerful voice for students in London and beyond. That’s a voice we will need over the coming year as education faces exceptionally tough times.

A more relevant, visible ULU means greater student engagement. ULU's turnover is up, with 11,000 more people through our doors than last year. I’ve organized events and conferences on everything from education to immigration, and widened ULU’s range of cultural activities, along with the NUS Black Students conference.

As promised, I’ve taken steps to improve ULU democracy, establishing the regular London Student Assemblies and ensuring Senate meetings are open to all. I want to build on this record by pushing ULU harder, improving our services and policies, and ensuring the London Living Wage is implemented here and across university institutions.

I will continue to work with and apply pressure on the NUS, working with them where possible and taking a lead where they fail us. I’m asking for your vote to ensure London students keep their union campaigning.
See my manifesto at ulucampaigner.wordpress.com and join in the campaigns.

Green Party admit that have taken Ireland back 2,000 years and encourage people to vote Sinn Fein

Well at least they have a sense of humour....

And they no longer support biofuels....

Can I think of one other positive thing to say about the eco gombeen men and women?

No!

My message to Green Party conference 'you can't pay the debt with recycled bottles'

"When an environmental issue is probed to its origins, it reveals an inescapable truth - that the root cause of the crisis is not found in how men (sic) interact with nature, but in how they interact with each other - that to solve the environmental crisis we must solve the problem of poverty, racial injustice and war - that the debt to nature, which is the measure of the environmental crisis, cannot be paid person by person, in recycled bottles or ecologically sound habits, but in the ancient coin of social justice."

The cuts are not in any sense about our real debt to the planet or living better.

If we were really "all in it together" cuts in the armed forces and rising taxes on the rich would be as significant as burdens on the poor.

Yet this is not the case.

VAT, which takes a larger proportion from those on lower incomes, has gone up, while the tax on corporations has been cut.
What we have is a crisis caused by the gambling habits of wealthy finance capitalists and we, the people, are picking up the tab for their expensive casino losses.

Housing benefit is being cut, pensions attacked, vital services being sold off to pay off bills incurred by bankers.
The slogan "close down a children's nursery to fund a capitalist" comes to mind.

We should not pay for their crisis.

Social welfare should not be cut to sponsor bankers.
The cuts have nothing to do with the environment - the very fact that the government tried to sell off our forests shows this.
In an uncertain world we need to share more and provide security for all.
What could be more ecological than a library, where we can share books and other resources. yet libraries are being crushed by the cuts.

In fact the Green Party has resisted the cuts because of these concerns.

During the general election Green Party leader Caroline Lucas made opposing the cuts the party priority.
Lucas has published a report showing that the deficit can be tackled by taxing the wealthiest rather than hitting the poor, and by cutting Trident rather than cutting vital public services.

The Camp for Climate Action has also become involved in the Coalition of Resistance set up to fight the cuts.
This is not shared austerity.

Instead it is a way of using government debt as a justification for restructing British society to make it more friendly to corporations.

Capitalism drives the ecological crisis and the cuts mean more capitalism rather than any kind of rational conservation.
Sweetened with the big society rhetoric, the cuts programme is about rolling back controls on business and completing Thatcher's project of smashing the unions, and cutting and selling public services.

So greens need to be at the forefront of the anti-cuts movement.
This throws up a number of strategic considerations.

Greens have to link opposition to the cuts to an ecological agenda, which is what leaders like Morales have done - coming to power through social movements fighting back against IMF-inspired cuts and privatisation.

Green councillors and all councillors on the left need to fight cuts rather than simply make them more acceptable.

In councils up and down the country budgets are now being set that will destroy services.
There is an argument that the cuts should be based on participatory budgets, so voters choose how they will be punished or cuts softened in various ways.

However, while councillors often have little power against central government, to go through with cuts is naive - it makes the government's task easier.

Real, tough and determined opposition can have an effect.
The protesters against forest sales did not ask how they could raise money to buy the woodlands or how they could reform the plans.

They took to the streets and the woods, raised a storm and sometimes threw eggs at Tory MPs.
We are in era where global financial forces such as bond markets and global neoliberal institutions use a kind of economic violence to control societies.

But whether in the Forest of Dean or the Middle East, determined people can raise a storm and resist.

MORE HERE

Possibly the worst Green Party in the World!

The Irish Green Party has provided a textbook example of how not to do green politics. Who would have thought a Green Party would cut bus services and support motorway-building through a heritage site? Who would have believed that a Green government elected partly because of its opposition to the Iraq war would allow US war planes to refuel in Ireland at Shannon?

The Irish Greens have had councillors, MEPs and members of the Irish parliament elected because of the country's system of proportional representation.

Ireland has two centre-right political parties, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, which have often been linked to allegations of corruption involving property deals.

The Greens made their name as critics of Fianna Fail. In February 2007, Green leader Trevor Sargent told the Irish Times: "I do not see myself leading the party into coalition with Fianna Fail due to its culture of bad planning, corruption and bad standards."

However, after the May 2007 general election, Sargent resigned as leader and 80 per cent of party members voted to join a Fianna Fail government in coalition.

The results have been catastrophic.

In Mayo, local people believe that a gas pipeline and processing plant being built by Shell will create pollution and bring no benefit to the local community.

The Irish Green Party, which once strongly supported the Mayo protesters, has become silent since joining the government.


MORE HERE

Romayne Phoenix 'As public services are cut and redundancy notices hit the doormat the people of Britain will find a voice'

Romayne will make an excellent Green Party London Assembly Member hope she, Noel Lynch, Farid Bakht and Andy Hewett get a massive vote and show Greens are committed to fighting the cuts.

A rebellion is developing across Britain in the face of huge spending cuts by the Conservative Party-Liberal Democrat coalition government.

The scale of the cuts is huge. The government is seeking to privatise huge swathes of the economy and hundreds of thousands of public sector jobs are under threat.

They have also cut corporation tax, but sharply increased the goods and services VAT tax from 17.5% to 20%, which hits those on lower incomes hardest.

By changing the inflation measure used to determine benefits and pensions, the government is plunging more people into poverty.

There are real fears that the cuts will swing the British economy back into recession. Secretary of state for justice Ken Clarke has noted the “calamitous state of the economy”.

The cuts have been justified by reference to Britain’s rising government debt. However, left-wing Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn said: “It is not budget balancing we are experiencing, but an agenda of shifting power and money to the rich and selling off public assets ... [it is about the] asset stripping of our public resources.”

MORE HERE

'You must be joking I'm not Green, I smoke, drive a car and drink beer'

My friend Jessica Goldfinch is standing in a Green Party internal election, I loved the line above, any way have a look at her blog.

Fast forward - Adrian Ramsay and I met via our work on the 'Wright Stuff', then recorded in Norwich. Norwich Greens look away now - they've heard this story a million times, but I never tire of it!). He was too young to stand as a candidate and asked me if I would. Paraphrase and thoughts to myself: 'You must be joking I'm not Green, I smoke, drive a car and drink beer...'. I said I would only do it if I read the manifesto first. He gave me an abridged version, but being thorough and a bit of 'geek', I found and read the whole MfSS.

I realised that I was not 'stupid' or 'naive' or 'silly' for having dreams. Dreams of a future, especially for my little girl. Yet here was a group of people who had the same dreams and the expertise with which to effect that change. Greens weren't organic yak's milk weavers, they were smart, eloquent and above all compassionate.

I rang up Adrian and said something like, 'Yes, I'll be proud to stand for you'. People came from all over the country, doorknocking, leafleting, cooking, laughing, singing. It was amazing and the result? (see photo if I manage to up load it).

MORE HERE

Campaigners remain defiant after Manchester airport protest sentencing

For many of the defendants, this was their first introduction to the judicial system. One of the defendants, speaking after court stated that 'having just experienced the highly flawed and outdated justice system for the first time, there has never been a more urgent need for people to utillise civil disobedience as a tactic for campaigning.'

Campaigners from the 'Manchester Airport on Trial' group were sentenced today after a 2 day trial at Trafford Magistrates' court. The judge recognised the "sincerity" and "laudable motives" of the protesters, and handed down lenient sentences of 2 year conditional discharges and £310 court costs. One defendant received 80 hours of community service. The 6 campaigners stood trial for an action last May 2010 where they formed a human circle around the wheel of a Monarch Airline jet. All 6 pleaded not guilty to the charge of aggravated trespass, stating that they acted out of necessity to prevent the higher crime of climate change.

In November 2009 Manchester airport received planning approval to expand the World Freight Centre at Manchester Airport, which will result in the demolition of local homes and an increase in greenhouse gas emissions. Although the coalition government cancelled plans to build a third runway at Heathrow, campaigners are now focussing their action more regionally as capacity is now being increased at regional airports instead.

Martin Eakins, local councillor, described the local efforts to prevent expansion at the Airport. In response to the judge's suggestion that campaigners would have had a strong case for judicial review of the plans, he explained that they had been refused funding on the basis that their challenge would be unsuccessful. Local resident, Pete Johnson, whose home on Hasty Lane faces demolition, told the court that their "efforts were thwarted by politicians with vested interests," and that he felt "angry, frustrated and cheated."

Over the 2 days the court has heard from many leading public figures who spoke out in defence of the 'Manchester Airport on Trial' group. On day one, leading scientist, Kevin Anderson, from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Research in Manchester, spoke out on the aviation industry's 'special treatment'. The aviation industry receives £9 billion a year in tax subsidies. Dr Geoff Meaden spoke on the impacts of climate change in the North West. Today public health expert Dr Robin Scott spoke on the health impacts of climate change. Expert witness statements were also read out including one written by John Mcdonnell MP who was a vocal politician in defeating the third runway at Heathrow airport.

People from across North England have now pledged to continue taking direct action to stop the expansion plans. The threatened homes in Manchester have 'twinned' with the village of Sipson which would have been demolished to make way for the Heathrow expansion.

Speaking after the ruling one of the 6 defendants Iain Hilton, said: "Whatever the outcome was today, this climate court trial will not be the last. Climate change is accelerating at the same rate as it was before and continues to be the biggest threat to life as we know it. We have heard in court peer-reviewed Science, public health advocates, witness statements from MPs and we have heard from communities whose homes are threatened by airport expansion plans at Hasty Lane. We will not wait for the judicial system to act. Civil disobedience is a duty and a responsibility and we will continue to act to stop climate change".

John Mcdonnell MP said: "When governments themselves so blatantly ignore the wishes of the people they are elected to represent, when they promote the sectional interests of one sector of business above the interests of their citizens, when they deny Parliament an effective role, when they subvert their own democratic planning processes, and when their actions so dangerously contradict their own legislation on climate change, responsible citizens are left with no alternative but to take direct action to further the cause that they believe in."

Scientist Kevin Anderson said in court: "Why is it fair that aviation continues to be a special case while every other sector has to reduce their emissions? Every year we have an exponential increase in CO2 embedding us in a future of dangerous climate change. If aviation continues to grow that means we're heading for 4 degrees, but that would only be a transient temperature on the way to an equilibrium rise of 6 to 8 degrees. A rise of 4 degrees is dire, above that it gets worse and worse- it is a future that we contemplate at our own peril."



Contact email: manchesterairportontrial@gmail.com

600 FOR REVOLUTION! MAYBE MORE!

Last Friday night I went to one of the most exciting political events I have ever been to. It was a Friday night, yet at least 600 people are crammed in, cheering the news of the revolutions in Egypt, Libya, Yeman wildly. I would say 95% are under the age of twenty, this is Britain’s revolutionary youth fresh from fighting the EMA cut and looking to new battles.

MORE HERE

Is the Green Party middle class?

The Green Party and Working Class Representation

A Workshop with:

Karen Bell - Environmental justice activist

Jose Sagarnaga - Latin American Workers’ Association

· Why do many see the Green Party as a middle class party?

· Does this prevent the party from growing?

· How does the party represent and include working class people?

This workshop is an opportunity to get together to think about and discuss these questions.

Discussion will include how the Green Party can better prioritise and represent the interests of the working class, how the working class can find a voice in the party, and how we can encourage working class people to join and vote for the Green Party. All Green Party members welcome.

Friday 25th February , 2011

3.15pm – 4.45pm

Upstairs at the Rummer Tavern, 14 Duke Street, Cardiff CF10 1AY

Supported by Green Left

Never forget Guru Nanak said 'Women are superior to men'

Article from Jagdeesh, graphic from LGBT Sikhs

WOMEN : From Guru Nanak to present day Panjaabi-Sikh community -
a sombre reflection for International Womens Day, 5th March 2011


In the fifteenth century, Guru Nanak (1469-1539), not only delcared but actively championed the principle that women are not equal but in fact superior to men, for a whole range of reasons - physical, emotional, biological, etc. This represents the first known example in history of a male spearheading the rights of women. "Sikhs, a most egalitarian society." Karl Marx, 'India's First War of Independence', 1880.

Today, 500 years on, we are witnessing gruesome live examples, from family to family, household to household, of physical and mental abuse of females. This is in Panjaab itself, and equally in our 'community' in the UK.

Our grandiose multi-million pound gurdwara buildings, and our religious rhetoric, and our vain beards and turbans, all conceal this hidden oppression of womankind amidst our community. Abusers, murders lurk within our community, protected and immune from community action aswell from legal action due to community silence, inaction and collusion.

The radical Sikh history from the 16th - 18th century, is replete with powerful examples, of Sikh warriors championing women against rogues like Ahmad Shah Abdali from Afghanistan (medieval equivalents of Colonel Gadaffi and Saddam Hussein) and the rogue rulers of the Mughal empire, who saw women as easy and simple sexual booty in warfare and tribal conflicts and often taken to be sold in the international slave market of Baghdad (current day Iraq).

The mid-17th century case of 20,000 Sikh fighters from Amritsar resolving to rescue a Hindu Brahman daughter taken by Pathan invaders on one of their routine raids into Panjaab, stands out powerfully. The daughter was rescued, with the loss of more than 10,000 Sikh lives; however, she was not accepted back into her original Hindu family as she was now 'violated' and 'impure'. Instead, she was embraced into the family and ranks of these roaming Sikh warriors, whose homes were their horse saddles, the horses their closest companions, as they roamed across the Panjaab landscape battling against Mughal and Afghan oppression and protecting indigenous communities and encouraging communal living.

Today, when I hear the terrifying examples of each case after case, of violent abuse, thrown out of the home, the deliberate failure of Gurdwara leaders to intervene and protect, the homelessness and ordeal of the victims; it makes me feel ashamed of being part of this modern day male dominated community.

Behind the religious paraphernalia, the religious sermons, the rhetoric, the rabid chantings, the cultish mentality and behaviour with a stream of holier than thou holy men (often implicated in sexual exploitation of young females), the grandiose multi-million pound palatial gurdwara buildings which refuse to give sanctuary or shelter to female victims; lies the chronic and real injustice of how we as a community treat our women folk with the same obscene, dehumanising attitudes that we accuse Muslims of and Afghans of. We are the same. We maybe more discrete. More concealed. But the difference is only in degrees.

The grievance and systematic injustice against women, however much denied and concealed, is one of the top few obstacles facing the development and empowerment of the Sikh community today. Our gurdwaras, our community organisations and our national freedom struggle, is all exclusively men led and controlled. Just like the Palestinians and Kurds cannot be fully-free and dignified in their independent statehood until they resolve their internal oppression of women, so the Panjaabi-Sikh cannot achieve a dignifity and independent statehood until we resolve our issues with women. Indeed, women in charge would probably be a much better option than the enduring mess of a male driven world! An independent Panjaab homeland which oppresses its women population, would be a horrible and undesirable contradiction.


From woman, man is born;

within woman, man is conceived;

to woman he is engaged and married.

Woman becomes his friend;

through woman, the future generations come.

When his woman dies, he seeks another woman;

to woman he is bound.

So why call her bad?

From her, kings are born.

From woman, woman is born; without woman, there would be no one at all.

– Guru Nanak, Raag Aasaa Mehal 1, Page 473





jagdeesh singh
JUSTICE FOR SURJIT

CIA says I have hosted 'prominent anti-systemic actor'

Very proud to have hosted a 'prominent anti-systemic actor' at my
home here in Winkfield.



Hugo Blanco: Blanco is an unaffiliated radical
leader that led the effort to block roads in Anta Province
outside Cusco city, according to local contacts. Blanco is a
prominent anti-systemic actor who was jailed for leading an
indigenous insurgency in Cusco in the 1960s. He now
publishes a newspaper called "La Lucha Indigena" (The
Indigenous Battle).

From US Embassy Cable from Lima

JOIN SOLIDARITY FOR THE ARAB PEOPLES PROTEST!

SOLIDARITY WITH THE ARAB PEOPLES

As millions in the Arab world take to the streets against
repressive, western backed regimes, it is very important that
people here show their support for the protestors. Libyan,
Bahraini, Egyptian and Yemeni organisations have called a United
We Stand: Solidarity with the Arab Peoples demonstration in
London this Friday 25 February.

DEMONSTRATE SOLIDARITY FOR THE ARAB PEOPLES
FRIDAY 25 FEBRUARY. ASSEMBLE 3.30 PM
BAHRAINI EMBASSY 30 BELGRAVE SQUARE, SW1X 8QB
MARCH TO DOWNING STREET VIA LIBYAN EMBASSY
Supported by Libya Watch for Human Rights, British Libyan
Solidarity Campaign, Yemeni Human Rights Watch, Egypt Liberation
Initiative, Bahraini Freedom Movement, Stop the War Coalition,
Palestine Solidarity Campaign, British Muslim Initiative.

Manchester airport protest verdict!

“Non violent direct action is essential to fight climate change, most politicians take an ostrich position, denying there is a problem or using ineffective methods like carbon trading to tackle it. In the same way that any sober analyst understood that the crazy practices of ‘investment’ bankers would lead to a financial crisis, any sober analyst understands that climate chaos is on its way. Those who direct action to combat this threat are heros, I would like to give my whole hearted support to the Manchester Airport seventeen”

Derek Wall


So proud of everyone involved with the Manchester Airport on Trial Campaign the defendants and the support team - inspiring doesn't even come close to describing them(even the judge was impressed). The verdict happened two days earlier than planned as the trial was going so well I think the Judge/Police and Prosecution were panicking. Two years conditional discharge across the board and £310 pounds costs each. Thanks to everyone who wrote statements of support.

Gayle O'Donovan

For further updates: http://www.manchesterairportontrial.org/

I heart squatters!

Superb article by Laurie Penny, a billion right wing trolls are commenting on it, kick'em out companeros.

Excellent, please reblog and spread the word, I used to be a bit of a weekend squatter (lol!).


Squatting is such an ugly word. It implies that young, skint and precariously housed people who set up homes in the vacant properties of the landed elite are somehow crouching there to defecate, rather than building communities in dead investment space abandoned by the rich.

The education activists who were evicted last weekend from Guy Ritchie's £6m Fitzrovia mansion have been portrayed by the tabloids as a "gang" of criminal yobs. They are nothing of the kind: not least because they have done nothing illegal by creating a Free School, designed to "cultivate equality through collaboration" in an empty mansion belonging to a millionaire film director who already owns several more.

Squatting empty buildings is not a criminal offence. It is, in fact, an ancient right, a tradition that can be traced back over centuries of popular dissent and pragmatism. After World War II, thousands of ex-servicemen and families with nowhere else to go began to squat in London, and their stoicism and ingenuity was vindicated by public opinion.

The social history of Britain, from the Kett rebellion to the True Levellers to Peterloo, from the Suffragettes to the environment activists who just prevented this government from selling the forests to timber companies, is largely the history of working people trying to stop the rich from hoarding space, assets and rights that were once held in common. It is a history of the struggle of ordinary people to build lives for themselves in a world whose physical boundaries are set by the interests of property and of profit, and the Really Free School, along with other similar groups that are being set up as I write, represent, in their own words, "the latest chapter in a long history of resistance".

MORE HERE

David Cameron Gun Slut

Excellent post by Chicken Yoghurt, British politicians Labour and Tory are just pimps for arms dealers.

Cameron's weapons tour of the Middle East is particularly sick given the timing.

Is chicken yoghurt really vegan? Perhaps I thinking too much.

So, following Cameron’s logic, it’s cool to flog things that kill people to countries as long as they’re on an ‘open and participatory’ trajectory. If people get killed or maimed on the journey? Let’s not think about that. That British weapons seem to be being used to prevent states becoming ‘open and participatory’ rather than being used to usher in democracy and universal values has passed the Prime Minister by.

Still, that being his argument, presumably we can look forward to the glorious day when these regimes are fully ‘open and participatory’ and are no longer firing British bullets and tear gas at peaceful protesters. Where and at who will the final British bullet be fired? Will there be a prize, a certificate maybe, for that person if they survive? BAE Systems could run a spot-the-ball style competition.

MORE HERE

Egging Tory MPs saves the forests!

Con Dem plans to privatise England's 258,000 hectare forest estate, run by the Forestry Commission, have been defeated for the time being. There have been big and rowdy demonstrations, Mark Harper the Tory MP for the Forest of Dean was egged by constituents, a flurry of newspaper articles opposed the sell off and back bench Tory and Lib Dem MPs have become restive, indeed the Daily Telegraph has suggested that 50 percent of Tory MPs opposed forest privatisation. A petition which gained over 500,000 signatures shows that cyber activism, while derided, can achieve results.

The coalition governments’ attempt and ultimate failure to privitise forests in Britain is an excellent, illustration of what the Hungarian radical Karl Polanyi described as the 'double movement'. Polanyi in his epic book 'The Great Transformation' published in 1944, a strident attack on liberal economics, noted,

'To allow the market mechanism to be sole director of the fate of human beings and their natural environment ... would result in the demolition of society (Polanyi 1957:73).’

The double movement was a process whereby attempts to marketise society, the first movement, would result in widespread resistance, the counter movement.

Forests seem to strike at the soul of millions of people in Britain, the idea of selling them off to corporations for profit instead of using them for children to play and wildlife to inhabit sickens voters. Thatcher too tried to sell off forest commission land, and was also defeated. While arguably the major environmental NGOs have been slow to act in defence of the forests, grassroots campaigns have sprung up like mushrooms, inspiring people who are not usually politically engaged to anger and action. Assaults on libraries and the NHS are also likely to provide iconic targets for anti-cuts campaigners and prove costly to the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.

MORE HERE

Venezuelan government rejects totally false claim by William Hague that Gaddafi is on way to Venezuela

Venezuelan government rejects totally false claim by William Hague that Gaddafi is on way to Venezuela

Venezuela's Information Minister and its Deputy Foreign Minister moved swiftly earlier today to reject the false claims made by Britain’s Foreign Minister William Hague that Colonel Gaddafi was heading to Venezuela.

The Venezuelan Embassy in London also strongly rejected claims from Hague that he had “seen some information suggesting he [Gaddafi] is on his way there [Venezuela] at the moment”.

Venezuelan Information and Communication Minister, Andres Izarra, said to the Associated Press that “it’s false” that Gaddafi is flying to Venezuela.

The Venezuelan Embassy in London has said that Deputy Foreign Minister Temir Porras had denied that Gaddafi was travelling to Venezuela. The Embassy added that “those British media outlets which have published the statement made by William Hague, should equally make clear the mistaken aspect of that statement.”

The Associated Press has also reported that EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton dismissed Hague's comment, saying she knew nothing about it, whilst the BBC News is now reporting that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was on the phone to Gadaffi in Libya at the time Hague made his remarks.

Venezuela Solidarity Campaign Secretary Francisco Dominguez said:
“All media outlets have a responsibility to make sure that the truth on this important matter is clearly reported and should make it explicit in their coverage that the Venezuelan government have totally denied these baseless allegations that Gaddafi was flying to Venezuela.
A former British Prime Minister once wrote that ‘A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on’. It is a disgrace that William Hague has helped false and totally unfounded claims gain widespread coverage. He should now withdraw these false allegations and reveal which sources provided the wholly unfounded claim".

Climate trial hears Manchester airport protesters 'prevented death and serious injury'.

Just got this, I salute you companeros!



The trial of six climate protesters who breached airside security at Manchester Airport began today at Trafford Magistrates Court. The defendants will argue that they acted to prevent death and serious injury by stopping emissions from the airport, a plea which echoes the defence of Greenpeace campaigners acquitted of closing down Kingsnorth Power Station. During the trial, which is expected to last three to four days, the defence will call expert witnesses including Professor Kevin Anderson from the Tyndall Centre who is speaking today in court, and experts on health and the effects of climate change. [1]

The trial begins ten years after Manchester Airport opened their second runway in February 2001, following some of the largest environmental protests of the 1990's. The six defendants will plead not guilty to the charge of aggravated trespass after they formed a human circle around the wheel of a Monarch Airline jet last May 2010.

In November 2009 the airport received planning approval to expand the World Freight Centre at Manchester Airport, which will result in the demolition of local homes. Although the coalition government cancelled plans to build a third runway at Heathrow, campaigners are now focussing there action more regionally as capacity is now being increased at regional airports instead.

People from across North England have pledged to take direct action to stop the expansion plans. The threatened homes in Manchester have 'twinned' with the village of Sipson which would have been demolished to make way for the Heathrow expansion. Witnesses for the defence at the trial will include a local Lib Dem Councillor and John McDonnell, the Labour MP for the Heathrow area.

Supporters of the 'Manchester Airport on Trial' group gathered outside court this morning with a large paper aeroplane. The mock paper plane was made from a March 2010 High Court Ruling, stating that the airport expansion plans are incompatible with the Climate Act 2008. [2]

Kerry Williams, speaking outside court from the 'Manchester Airport on Trial' group said:

“ The trial started with a huge show of support showing that people aren't willing to be bullied by airports and government greed in the face of runaway climate change. It's not OK for the aviation industry to be a special case whilst avoiding paying taxes, creating more emissions and more noise. In an age of austerity we need to continue taking direct action to protect people, the climate and not the aviation industry. " [3]

Jo Rake, Heathrow resident and climate campaigner made the journey up to Manchester and said:

“By 2050 Manchester Airport plans to be as busy as Heathrow is today, becoming 'the Heathrow of the North' with flights every 70 seconds. We showed the success of people power to scrap the 3rd runway at Heathrow and so we can't let the flights be transferred to Manchester Airport instead. We cannot allow a climate catastrophe and the demolition of family homes at Hasty Lane. If we can win at Heathrow, we can win in Manchester too.”

The defendants have received a number of statements of support from national politicians, journalists, lawyers, organisations and individuals including Zac Goldsmith MP, Caroline Lucas MP and John Sauven, director of Greenpeace. [4]


Notes to Editors
-------------------------

[1] Expert witness statements have been provided by Kevin Anderson (Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research - University of Manchester) on aviation and climate change, Dr Robin Stott on the health impacts of climate change, Dr Geoff Meaden on the impacts of climate change in the North West, John McDonnell MP on the failings of the parliamentary process to address the issue aviation and climate change, Councillor Martin Eakins on Manchester City Council's approach to rising emissions from Manchester Airport, representatives of the Aviation Environment Federation, John Stewart from Airportwatch and local Hasty Lane resident Peter Johnson.

[2] Relating to a judicial review brought by campaigners against the proposal to build a third runway at Heathrow Airport Lord Justice Carnwath stated, “"The [objectors'] submissions add up, in my view, to a powerful demonstration of the potential significance of developments in climate change policy since the 2003 white paper. They are clearly matters which will need to be taken into account under the new airports NPS [national policy statement]."

[3] The aviation industry pays no VAT on its aircraft or duty on its fuel - creating a tax subsidy of £10 billion per year. On Saturday 12th February protesters from 'Take VAT' held protest actions at Heathrow and Leeds Bradford Airports.
http://planestupid.com/blogs/2011/02/12/take-vat-targets-aviation-industry

Victory! Aaron Porter to stand down

Hapless New Labour politician Aaron Porter has just announced that he will not run again for NUS President.

More like Batista than Che, says Vince my 17 year old son, bitter as he is at Porter's attacks on militant students
Victory is sweet!

Even in defeat Porter is still full of it:

So this new regime brings with it a new landscape, and I believe NUS now needs reinvigorating into the next phase of this campaign. After considerable soul searching, I believe there needs to be a new President to lead the student movement into that next phase. As a result, I’ve resolved not to seek re-election at National Conference this year.

HIS FULL STATEMENT IS HERE


Mobbed by hostile students at recent events in Manchester and Glasgow he had to get police protection.

His close associates have been briefing against him and leaked emails showing that he has not opposed key government attacks on students have been revealled.

No doubt some new Labour stooge will be found but this is a boost to the campaign of the socialist NUS Presidential hopeful Mark Bergfeld.

I am proud to have been part of the campaign opposing Aaron Porter, he joins that band of useless right wingers pretending to be radicals which includes the Irish Green Party.

We shall fight and we shall win!

Boy George comes unstuck when quizzed on debt!

Miliband's Labour Party rocked by corruption allegations

Its another embarrassment for Miliband, if true it shows that his party still has a serious corruption problem and it looks true to me.

Just a vehicle for profit and in this case open cast coal. Killing our planet and pocketing at the same time.

Councillors who take gifts, cops who spy and fuck the people they spy on, the UK is closer to countries like Libya and Bahrain than you might think.

If you protest at open cast coal you are almost certainly being watched by private security employed by coal interests, do they employ the Labour Party as well?

Another case of political corruption has been exposed today with the revelations that Labour councillor for Ballochmyle, Jimmy Kelly accepted a number of “gifts” from Scottish Coal prior to chairing the committee which recommended the controversial mine at Dalfad for approval.

The former miner and councillor of over 20 years accepted an all expenses paid trip to Spain from Scottish Coal in 2008 which included flights, hotel and tickets to the Barcelona vs Celtic Champions League match. Kelly has also received complementary Christmas hampers from the company and was their guest at a fundraiser dinner.

MORE HERE

Video of people cheering end of Gadaffi

This is footage just in from Clare Solomon in Tunisia, people celebrating Gadaffi fleeing.

Not sure he has gone, fingers crossed.

If he goes to Venezuela a) the people will kick him out b) Rory Carroll and the CIA will use it to attack Venezuela.

If he goes to Brazil Carroll et al will say nothing!

Any watch this space, I have got my ear to the ground, will let you know when I know more.

Army joins people, end in sight for oil dictator in Libya

Just got this confirmation:

9:40 pm Mohamed, a doctor from Al Jalaa hospital in Benghazi, confirmed to Al Jazeera that members of the military had sided with the protesters.

We are still receiving serious injuries, I can confirm 13 deaths in our hospital. However, the good news is that people are cheering and celebrating outside after receiving news that the army is siding with the people ... but there is still a brigade that is against the demonstrators. For the past three days demonstrators have been shot at by this brigade, called Al-Sibyl brigade.

Armed to the teeth by countries like the US and UK, Libya is an oil dictatorship loved by the west.

Its all about oil but the people are fighting back.

Looks like the army are now joining the people, in at least some part of Libya

The army came out, ok, it was with tanks and they're telling us, seven people, protesters, that they're with them, and they're here to protect them and everything else. But we hear other things; in some other places of the city, the army's shooting people, and also I heard that they're taking over the airport and there's some airplanes arriving with more army corps from outside, from the other cities.

This is from Al-Jazeera, who very good links and coverage, here

and just seen this tweet

Dima_Khatib Dima Khatib أنا ديمة
Members of Libyan army unit say they defected & "liberated" the country's second city Benghazi from forces loyal to Gaddafi #libya #feb17

New evidence that Aaron Porter is on way out as manifesto leaked

Aaron Porter the hapless Blairite President of the NUS has had his re-election manifesto draft leaked.

Clearly even in Mubarak (I mean Porter's) inner circle dissent is growing.

NUS is dominated by career Labour Party politicians of the worst kind and has consistently failed to fight attacks on students.

Sadly some kind of New Labour bureaucrat is still likely to win, this is because students who would obviously kick Porter out don't get the chance to vote for him.

Its decided by delegates and the delagations are usually sewn up by Labour Clubs, I am hoping there will be real resistance to this but the worst kind of Labour (think Phil Woolas and Jack Straw who are both former NUS Presidents) not the Benns, Mcdonnells and Corbyns, tend to dominate.

Oh and while I am a Green Party member, all power to real Labour Party student activists, one day you may throw off the Blairites and when that day comes I will celebrate your resistance.

My good friend Mark Bergfeld is going for NUS President and as a dynamic and professional acitivist he would clearly win a free vote....however this is not going to happen, he still might win though, so if you are student make sure you vote for left candidates for your NUS conference delegations!

The leaking of the manifesto is though a very positive sign, students have inspired, they walk like Egyptians.

Though we thought the rule of the pharoahs would last for ever, King Porter could go the same way as King Tutankhamun.

Actually this is unfair Tutankhamun I am sure would have represented people better than Porter.

Oh you can read the manifesto draft here

Scenes from the British Revolution on Tottenham Court Road

PROTESTERS set up an impromptu library and comedy gig at Barclays branches around Britain over tax avoidance claims.
UK Uncut supporters hit banks in London and other cities to “open them up” and said one per cent corporation tax was “not acceptable”.
In Piccadilly Circus they waved banners saying “books not bonuses!” Barclays, which paid £113million corporation tax on profits of £11.6billion in 2009, said: “We comply with taxation laws.”


Read more:

Solidarity protest today with Libya

My good comrade Richard Searle notes 'Solidarity protest in Manchester. Sunday 20th Feb 12 noon. outside BBC building, Oxford Rd. organised by members of Manchester’s Libyan commmunity.'

Police use violence to break up kissing session

Alan Garcia, rot in hell!

The British government will ignore your abuses just like they ignore all their other puppets, human rights abuse is fine until it makes it on to prime time television!

Be great if Chris Bryant MP raised his voice, he was useless of course when Garcia was having indigenous people shot at Bagua, when Chris was a Foreign Office Minister tasked with Latin America.

Go on Chris, its not to late to stand up for people in Peru having their rights abused!

Caroline Lucas sets out the case for citizens and councillors to resist cuts

I am working to oppose the cuts. After receiving many constituency letters on proposed changes to the civil service compensation scheme, I raised concerns in parliament. I have tabled an Early Day Motion questioning Defra proposals to sell off parts of the Public Forest Estate, threatening 865 Forestry Commission jobs.

The cuts are not inevitable: they are an ideological choice. This administration is doing what Tories have always done: privatising public goods and services. There is another way: fair and progressive taxation.

The UK is one of the most unequal societies in Europe. The poorest 10% pay more tax as a percentage of their income than the richest 10%. The financial crisis is an opportunity to rebalance the tax system and reconfigure the economy.

A more progressive system might involve applying the 50% tax rate to incomes above £100,000, abolishing the upper limit for national insurance contributions, raising capital gains tax to the recipient's highest income tax rate, and helping lower earners by reintroducing the 10% tax band.

Tackling avoided, evaded and unpaid tax in the UK economy is fundamental. HM Revenue and Customs admits tax evasion and avoidance come to at least £40 billion a year. In more than 20 parliamentary questions, I have drawn attention to this staggering injustice.


MORE HERE

Green politics is failing, we need a rethink!

The world would be warmer than during any part of the period in which modern humans evolved, and the rate of climate changewould be faster than any previously experienced by humans. The world’s sixth mass extinction would be in full swing. In the oceans, acidification would have rendered many calcium-shelled organisms such as coral and many at the base of the ocean food chain artefacts of history. Ocean ecosystems and food chains would collapse.

Catastrophe just isn't on the political agenda....our economic system is killing everything, Greens need to sharpen up, get strategic....things are not good on our world.


MORE HERE

Soak the streets in blood! Saudis will invade Bahrain with British guns!

'Bahrain is a stalwart friend of the West. It’s the headquarters of America’s 5th Fleet. It’s a liberal and tolerant quasi-democracy.’

David Mellor, the former Tory Minister says it like it is for the Con Dem government.

The bullets used to shoot the democracy protesters are British.

The British Arms trade is profitable, the dictators support the USA, so its Ok!

At least the arms exports licences have been revoked for Bahrain but what about super repressers Saudi Arabia, armed to the teeth by Britain as they kill women for adultary and imprison members of the LGBT community.

The law on bribery was over turned to help arms exports to Saudi and I predict that if democracy comes to Bahrain, the Saudi's will invade and the US and UK will support them.

'Fist in the sky til we are all equal' LOGIC - 'FOR MY PEOPLE' (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)

Youth fighting for justice, equality, 'Power concdes nothing'

Produced by AGENT OF CHANGE (Twitter: @agent_of_change). Featuring Jody McIntyre and Lowkey. Available to buy on iTunes NEW MIX-CD 'LISTEN' IS AVAILABLE ONLINE FROM http://logic.bigcartel.com/ For bookings email logicgaberlunzie@yahoo.co.uk Youtube: /chosenlogic Twitter @LogicArmy

Mumia Abu-Jamal EGYPT: A Good Beginning

EGYPT: A Good Beginning

[col. writ. 2/12/11] (c) '11 Mumia Abu-Jamal

The events in Egypt of the past few weeks have raised more questions than answers, and while things seem in a state of flux, some things are clear, among them:

1) Revolutions don't just change rulers - they change systems.

2) Revolutions designed to gain democracy cannot lead to military rule, for the two are inherently opposed to each other.

3)The Egyptian struggle is at its beginning - not its end.

The forced resignation of Hosni Mubarak from the reins of power was accomplished by a convergence of forces: the demonstrations in Cairo, Alexandria and throughout the country (including numerous strikes); pressure from business interests who lost billions from empty tourism buses; and from anxious elements in the military, who saw the potential for greater and greater chaos, and perhaps their loss of power.

Mubarak didn't go easily or willingly, and his choice of Omar Suleiman as his No. 2 would've been, at any other time, considered a masterstroke, for Suleiman's primary distinction was his expertise in torture. This was designed to send a ripple of fear and dread throughout Tahrir Square.

Surprisingly, it had the opposite effect. It spurred more resistance, and hastened Mubarak's departure.

But power still rests in the hands of military, as the Tunisian and Egyptian examples illustrates. Both Ben Ali and Mubarak were military men, who depended on force to preserve their power and to control dissidents. In Tunisia, Ben Ali bore both titles: President -- and General!! Mubarak was a fighter pilot. Thus, their instincts were to fight - not negotiate.

The eruption in Egypt had its origin in the desperation of Mohamed Abouazizi of Tunisia, who, after repeated efforts at justice from an unresponsive and corrupt regime, set himself aflame.

Abouazizi was a 26 year old man who earned a Ph.D., couldn't find a job, worked as a fruit vendor, and had his wares unjustly confiscated by police. The fire that he lit took his life but inspired millions of Tunisians, who in their turn sparked millions of Egyptians, who felt deep similarities with Abouazizi's despair, to rebel.

Who knows how far these fires will rage?

Egypt may be on a long road to awaken from its long, unpleasant slumber. But this is the road's beginning; not it's end.

--(c) '11 maj

Cardiff University ban Jody McIntyre

I am off to University of London Union for the Equality movement event tonight, which other political meeting gets a 1,000 people planning to go.

The Equality movement is cutting edge, Jody McIntyre and Lowkey's movement for resistance.

Revolutionary hip hop is shaking even our nation.....Jody has been banned from speaking with Chomsky at Cardiff University.

Free speech, democracy....hope I live to see them in the UK but I am going to be an old old man!

Apparently, the problems do not end there. When inviting Professor Chomsky to speak at the university, organisers were informed by the Student Union Manager that the MI5, the MI6 and the police would be contacted to monitor Chomsky’s lecture and its guests. They were also told that if the event was open to the public, security would have to monitor the identities of every single attendee.

Organising events has not always been such a hassle at Cardiff University. When Ron Prosor, Israeli ambassador to the UK, and former commander of the IDF’s artillery division, was invited to speak in April 2010, the university agreed to host the event with no cost to the organisers. How I am bigger ‘security threat’ than a former IDF commander, the same IDF who stand accused by the United Nations of committing “actions amounting to war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity” in Gaza, is beyond me.

MORE HERE

'No place for Malthus in the Green Party'

After seeing some of the offensive materials on the Optimum Population Trust stall at Blackpool Conference I just don't see how their bitter philosophy has any place in a party which stands for social and ecological justice. This email list is for discussion of Trade Union issues and workers rights. Trade Unions are organizations which should represent the collective interests of workers. Right now, the working class and the poorest and most vulnerable in this country face the fight of their lives to defend their jobs, livelihoods and the welfare state against ideological onslaught from the capitalist class. Capitalism by its very nature creates social inequality. It exists through the exploitation of a majority who work and produce value, the surplus of which is accumulated by a minority. In times of crisis, the ruling minority pull in the drawbridge to protect their self interests, to protect their accumulated wealth, ergo to protect their power. This is the situation we face now, in collective action to fight against the cuts.

Essentially, the system is unsustainable. As Marx pointed out the social relationships necessary to the continuation of capitalism, the existence of a minority class expoiting a majority working class, is an internal contradiction which will necessitate its downfall. Only by replacing capitalism with an economic and productive model where production is democratically controlled by the workers themselves, for the benefit of the needs of all and not the few can we begin to plan collectively to solve the problems of inequality and poverty.

Equally this applies to the ecological question, Marx describing the metabolic rift between humans and nature created by capitalist production. The ecocoide and mass species loss we are witnessing are a product of the expansive and exploitative nature of capitalism, its need for profit overriding all else. It seems to me that the arguments put forward by the Malthusianists and those advocating population controls equate to the pulling in of the drawbridge which we see in times of capitalist crisis. With the pulling in of the drawbridge there is also the pouring of boiling oil over those who attempt to break the siege, if you allow me to stretch the metaphor. We see violent suppression of protest and opposition as the ruling class desperately protects its influence and power. Imposition of population controls is the boiling oil deployed by the Malthusianists.

The generation who are inheriting the world are already on the receiving end of the boiling oil (double metaphor). Education becoming a right only of the privileged few who can afford it. Ecosystems on the brink of collapse. War and conflict for resources because of the greed of the wealthy minority. Faced with the prospect of no access to education or the prospect of any meaningful employment, many working class kids are lured into the military to become cannon fodder for the imperialist interests of capitalism.

Are these the only choices we offer the generations to follow? Furthermore, the malthusianists would then dare to suggest that the only solution is to cap population, that in some way the next generation are an unwanted burden, further alienating those who inherit the future. If the malthusianists have the courage of their beliefs maybe they can try telling the students who rose up in protest that the problem was not the system, but the students themselves. It seems to me that this is the logic of their arguments. Rosa Luxemburg said we face a stark choice, socialism or barbarism. We are witnessing the barbarism of the capitalist class as people and planet become expendable against the need to protect and expand accumulated wealth. As the economic and ecological crises deepen, as the production of oil which has fuelled capitalist expansion peaks, the violence of the minority against the majority and the environment increases. So we now face a stark choice, ecosocialism or barbarism.

The problems of inequality of distribution and protecting the future sustainablity of the ecosystem will only be solved by collective action, by democratic decisions being taken about production, for need and not profit. We follow the example of the Lucas Aerospace workers in the 70s, who collectively drew up a plan to use their skills to convert production in their factory from weapons to socially and environmentally useful products.


We build trade unions which are capable of representing the collective needs of their representatives, not the bureacrats who serve themselves and a labour party which puts the needs of the capitalist system ahead of those who are exploited by it. Through collective action and solidarity we can build a movement with the capacity to remove the chains of capitalist exploitation and build a society providing for the needs of all and for the generations who follow. In the words of the early green socialist, William Morris: Educate, Agitate, Organise.

I do not see where the barbarism and elitist philosophy of Malthus fits in to the equation of building a trade union movement capable of meeting the demands of our future. I am yet to see any argument on this Trade Union Group email list which would convince me otherwise.

For peace, ecology and socialism, Andy GPTU Co-Chair

Imagine the EDL coming into a Gurdwara!

The entire EDL mob presents itself as a hooligan mob. Imagine them coming into a gurdwara! They are a very unpleasant lot, who have all the appearances of racists with their intimidating mob chanting, typical of the NF, BNP, etc.

Gurmeet 'Singh' is not a representative of the Sikh community, any Sikh group. Nor does he qualify as a 'Sikh'.

The EDL are as much dangerous a group as are all other sectarian, hate groups - Islamic, Hindu, Jewish, English, German, Russian, American, etc. Yes, they exist in all these population groups, blind to their own wrongs, and projecting an arrogant and hateful self-righteousness.

How many of these EDL minds know, for example, about the Sikh contribution to the defence of Britain?

Sikhi spirit is against EDL as much as it is against Al-Majharoun, the KKK, Russian racists, etc. Sikhs are not supposed to get into bed with one devil, to fight another devil. Sikhs, because of their enduring commitment to a historic, ethical, visible appearance distinct from mainstream clean-shaven society, are regularly taunted as 'bin-laden', 'terrorist', 'rag-head' and sneered at in public venues. Let our lonley suffering makes us strong, as it has done numerous Sikh generations of the past.

jagdeesh singh

Fianna Fail and Irish Green Party reverse poll losses to gain new support

Yes, this man is voting Fianna Fail, looks like they and the Irish Greens could be on a winner!

Video shows police attack on the village of Cajas Canchaque

2nd December from Michael Watts on Vimeo.

Video of December 2009 attack by the Police on the village of Cajas Canchaque, located in the North of Peru, where two farmers were shot dead.

Peru is a country loved by the British government. I am very very bitter about former foreign office minister Chris Bryant MP's failure to criticise them.

You know how it works, human rights abuse, allows resources to be stolen.

Of course countries like Venezuela where the police don't shot indigenous people are condemned, if they did kill indigenous like Colombia or Peru they would be praised by Blair, Obama, Cameron and all the rest!

Please watch the video and spread the word.

Spotted this on Alborada, as always essential

Q’eqchi’ Leaders Massacred in Guatemala

I am sick with rage when I read stuff by the Guardian Latin America correspondent, its all too rare stuff below gets reported, the Guardian human rights abusers are of course Hugo Chavez and Raul Castro.

The paradox is the countries without death squads are challenged over human rights but it is no real paradox, the Western governments and media love countries that abuse indigenous people because this allows resources to be stolen.

The Guardian is so poor when it comes to Latin America, with the exception of John Vidal, it is important that we do our own reporting....by spreading the word about events like the massacre below we can help save lives....please spread the word.



Alert: Q’eqchi’ Leaders Massacred in Guatemala
February 16, 2011
Guatemalasolidarityproject.org

Thousands of q’eqchi’ peasants near Livingston, Guatemala had been anticipating February 14, 2011 as a possible day of joy and celebration. Instead it became a day of unbearable grief after the bodies of three missing leaders affiliated with Encuentro Campesino (Peasant Encounter) were found floating in a lake near Livingston, covered with bullet wounds.

Encuentro Campesino is a peasant and indigenous rights organization which political prisoner Ramiro Choc helped form. February 14 was the first day that Choc became eligible for release from prison, and the three were expected to participate in activities to pressure for his freedom.

Despite their young age, all three had already earned reputations for their commitment, creativity, intellect and compassion.

Sebastian Xuc, approximately 30 years old, was a “basico” or middle school teacher at the community Quebrada Seca where all three were from. “He was a lover,” friends were overheard saying. “You didn’t have to ask him for help three times, you didn’t have to ask him for help two times, you just told him you needed something and he was there to help you right away.” In addition to his role as a teacher, Sebastian was helping move forward community controlled development which would bring much needed resources to families in Quebrada Seca. The majority of q’eqchi’ children suffer from chronic malnutrition, but the Unites States and Guatemalan government continue to violently oppose community controlled decision making. This includes through continued training of Guatemalan military at the US Army School of the Americas (soaw.org) as well as the ongoing State of Siege in Alta Verapaz. Sebastian left five children.

Catalina Mu Maas was only 23 years old, but she had already become a respected community leader. “She was very proactive from an early age. She was an amazing person,” said a friend. Catalina was the first woman from Quebrada Seca to graduate from high school. She was also the first woman to become a spiritual guide for Ak’ Tenamit, a large local organization working to promote harmony between q’eqchi’ and western culture. She was an outspoken advocate for women’s rights and women’s participation in decision making.

Alberto Coc, 26 years old, may have been the main target of the attack. Alberto was well known for his leadership in the community and with Encuentro Campesino. He was a spiritual guide and took a more active leadership role in Encuentro Campesino after the February 14, 2008 arrest of Ramiro Choc. Alberto left three children, one just several months old.

The three young leaders were trained in part by Choc, who helped them focus their intellect and passion. The three, as well as another young peasant from a nearby community, were last seen on Saturday boarding a canoe to return home from the University where they were advancing their education in addition to their numerous other responsibilities.

When they didn’t arrive at home, search parties were sent out. Alberto and several other Encuentro Campesino leaders had recently received death threats and communities feared the worst.

On Sunday their boat was found, full of blood and bullet holes. The Guatemalan navy refused to join the search, saying that their primary work in the area was to protect tourism.

On Monday the bodies were found. Each had been shot multiple times, including at least once in the face from close range. On Tuesday the body of a fourth q’eqchi’ peasant youth, Amilcar Choc, was found.

It is not certain who carried out the massacre, but hundreds of q’eqchi’ communities have been violently attacked in recent years by police, military and paramilitary soldiers. There have already been significant errors in the “investigation” into the massacre, which GSP and Encuentro Campesino will expose at a later date.

The attack was an attempt to silence and terrorize peasants in the region, and in particular Encuentro Campesino. But because of their courageous commitment, and because of starvation in their communities, Encuentro Campesino will not be silenced.

The GSP stands with Encuentro Campesino in their struggle for their legitimate rights. We will be collecting funds in support of this struggle, and in support of the children of the fallen comrades. The GSP will take no cut of donations and our volunteers will work with Encuentro Campesino to make sure they are having the desired impact. We will also be posting updates on the situation, including suggested actions to take in solidarity with the communities.

* To sign the petition to free Ramiro Choc, which includes background info and a video about him, visit http://www.change.org/petitions/free_qeqchi_leader_and_political_prisoner_ramiro_choc

* For info on the ongoing fast in support of Choc, visit http://guatemalasolidarityproject.org/fastforramiro.htm

To donate, write a check to “UPAVIM Community Development Foundation” and send to
UPAVIM, c/o Laurie Levinger, 28 McKenna Rd, Norwich, VT 05055, USA. Write the words “Encuentro Campesino” in the notes/memo section of the check to guarantee the funds will go to this and none of our other efforts. Write the words “Quebrada Seca Children” to have the funds go to support the children of the fallen comrades.

You can also send support via paypal, although they take approximately three percent of donations. Visit http://upavim.pursuantgroup.net/english/donate.htm You will see the paypal link, and you must write “GSP” or either of the abovementioned funds to guarantee the destination of the donation.

Incompetent spy emails climate camp by mistake.

Yes if you do good and work for a future for the next generations, you will be spied on, harrassed and perhaps even assaulted.

The good news is that the quality of spying is falling.

Some of the cops have been outed.

The private sector are also proving to be rubbish.....can you imagine paying people like this to spy, I mean your corporation would never dig open cast coal or kill seals or be able to sell radioactive toys to parents of young children.

Shocking when you think about it.

And you could get the info just by looking at the Camp for Climate Action website. Any way looks like some energy companies have wasted their cash.

Serious point the bad guys and girls have a lot of cash to spend making the world a worse place!

The company, Vericola Ltd, CEO Rebecca Louise Todd, has been infiltrating activist groups including the Camp for Climate Action and London Rising Tide since at least 2007. Email addresses linked to the company have been used to sign up to email lists, and Vericola has been employing people to attend meetings, events and actions to collect information.

Three clients of the company have currently been identified. Firstly, E.ON, the target of the 2008 Camp for Climate Action at Kingsnorth coal power station in Kent. Secondly, Scottish Coal, the largest opencast coal mining company in the UK, which has been targeted by the Mainshill Solidarity Camp and the ongoing Happendon Wood Action Camp. Thirdly, Scottish Power, operators of Cockenzie and Longannet coal power stations in Scotland. Alan Somerville, the Managing Director of Scottish Coal and Scottish Resources Group Estates was identified as a recipient of the information, as was Gordon Irving, Director of Group Security at Scottish Power.

According to the Scottish Power website, Gordon Irving “has close links and a very good working relationship with the police, having been in the force himself”. He was in Strathclyde Police for 30 years, and head of special branch in Scotland.

The companies’ involvement was revealed after the CEO of Vericola, Rebecca Todd, began copying her emails to the Climate Camp email account by mistake on her Blackberry, with the names of her clients included. In response to a callout for the site take of the RBS Climate Camp on 14 July 2010, Todd wrote:

Rachel
Please forward this to all usual suspects. Remember just to cut at paste the email
content I sent you and not the forward my email to you! X
Rebecca Todd
CEO
Vericola Ltd
07944896138
rt@vericola.com

FROM INDYMEDIA HERE

Authors love books! Less keen on Nick Clegg

I have signed this in today's Guardian but there are real authors like Phillip Pullman!

Speaking to the Oxford Mail last week, culture minister Ed Vaizey said: "People have to come with ideas. They have to look at different options." People the length and breadth of the UK have come up with ideas. They have discussed options. Between five and ten thousand people have rallied round their libraries (Culture minister will not intervene, 11 February). Hundreds of thousands have signed petitions. Well-known figures such as Lesley Garrett, Phill Jupitus, Tony Christie, Brian Blessed and Billy Bragg have added their voices to the call for a change of heart. At a hundred read-ins, communities, user groups and librarians have demonstrated in creative, fun ways just how much their libraries mean to them.

This is a grassroots movement. We hoped for a dozen events, but local people took up the call and made it something refreshing, urgent, local and liberating. They have put out a positive message: our libraries, our communities, our right to have a say over their future.

Over 400 libraries are under threat. Compare this with South Korea where 180 new libraries are being built. South Korea is top of the Pisa international rankings for competence in reading. In 10 years the UK has fallen from seventh to 25th. This is no time to cut libraries.

MORE HERE

Would be Green Party Mayor debates WHAT NEXT FOR THE ARAB REVOLUTIONS?

Debate
THURSDAY 17 FEBRUARY, 7pm
Egypt in revolt: WHAT NEXT FOR THE ARAB REVOLUTIONS?

SOAS, Brunei Gallery (off Russell Square)

Speakers:

Adam Hanieh, SOAS lecturer, Palestinian-Australian who has lived in Ramallah.
John Rees, Counterfire, just returned from Egypt will give a first hand report.
Roland Rance, Socialist Resistance, anti-Zionist socialist Jew
Farid Bakht, Green Left
and Tunisian democracy activist


The Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak has been toppled from power just weeks after Tunisia's Ben Ali was given the boot. These extraordinary events in the Middle East will have huge repercussions for the region and the whole world.

The Egyptian revolution is already impacting in Palestine. In a clear consequence of Friday's removal of Mubarak Abbas, the Palestine Authority has announced there will be September PA elections. Only a week ago Palestinian mobilisations in solidarity with the Egyptian masses were being violently repressed by the PA on the west bank. Demonstrations have also taken place in Algeria and Yemen.


Come to this meeting to hear a first hand report from Egypt, and discuss what is the nature of the revolutions in Egypt and the Middle East, where they are going and how it they impact on imperialism.

If you love Nick Clegg let him know on Valentines Day!

Green Party candidate for South West Devon, Vaughan Brean stated (it is said): “I have a son that is at University at the moment and living at home, he attends about 3 half days per week (if that)it costs a lot of money to run a university that inefficiently and somebody has to pay the bill for a 4 year course that could be covered in 2 (or maybe less), currently that is largely the taxpayer, much of higher education is a gravy train for the Universities and lecturers.”

I have just heard that Vaughan has resigned from the party because of our stance opposing the governments cuts programme, stating:

With some regret, I am leaving the Green Party. I support the parties core environmental views, but can not concuur with the widely shared view in the party that all cut to spending should be resisted no matter how wasteful. The general populus of this country enjoy a standard of living way beyond that to which we are entitled, and the Greens seem to be committed to encouraging people to expect and demand these ridiculous levels of consumption, whilst I agree that equality is a major issue, I consider very few to be in real poverty as opposed to relative poverty (which does exist), if the Greens adopt a more realistic stance on public expenditure, I may rejoin at some future date

Apparently a (very very small) number of Party members unhappy with our position of opposing the cuts are being drawn to the Liberal Democrats.

The cuts cause real suffering, they are not about good living or consuming within our means to protect the Earth as the assaults on libraries and forests show.

They are about making the richer richer and the rest of us poorer.

Great that Caroline Lucas is fighting hard against the cuts.

Social justice, ecological necessity....one struggle one fight!

If you love Clegg give into your passion on Valentine's day and leave us, we won't mind!