Iran

George Bush should resist a Wagnerian exit from the White House.

“WE ARE not planning for a war with Iran.” So said Robert Gates, America's new defence secretary, on February 2nd. You cannot be much clearer than that. With a weak and isolated president, and an army bogged down in the misery of Iraq, the American Congress and people are hardly in fighting mood. Nonetheless, and despite Mr Gates's calming words, Iran and America are heading for a collision. Although the risk is hard to quantify, there exists a real possibility that George Bush will order a military strike on Iran some time before he leaves the White House two years from now.


Here we go again, the build up is like the build up to the invasion of Iraq, wmds, wmds, wmds...oops disaster....600,000 dead and counting in Iraq, rapture here we come in Persia.

Even the Economist (see above)who supported the invasion of Iraq over WDMs, is resisting this war, we must make it politically too costly for the US to attack Iran.

this is from Jo Abbess...


dear fellow human,

i am writing to ask you to do all that
you can to save iran from air attack :-

http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,,2010086,00.html

i know you want to save your family
and friends from terror.

stop the war : start the peace :-

http://www.peace-not-war.org

24 february 2007 : hyde park, london.
all day and into the night...

maybe later air attacks will be made
illegal. for now, we have to protest.

please pass this message on.

one. we're all one.

jo.

Paul Watson defends Sea Shepherd against the japanese whalers

Canada cancelled the registration of the Farley Mowat in August 2006. Registration under the Belize Flag was cancelled after only 10 days in December 2006, after Japan had requested the ship be deregistered. The British Government has said the registration of the Robert Hunter will expire on the 18th February, after a request by Japan based on the use of the ship. This makes both Sea Shepherd vessels effectively "pirate ships" with no state registration. An irony considering that both vessels purport to be upholding international law and treaties to which no State has been willing to also enforce other than through ineffective diplomatic approaches.

"We haven't broken any law or regulation, but now we're not registered anywhere -- we're technically a pirate ship without a flag," said Captain Paul Watson from the Farley Mowat. "It means that we could be attacked and confiscated at will by any nation including the Japanese," he said.

More here from the good Captain

Radley Lake ecosquatters evicted

I was sad to hear this

green politics is served by direct action against the forces of destruction, I am so sad, protesters protest and often lose a battle but their efforts must be cheered on by all of us who simply want a future for our children.

A rather scary women with Brian Haw at the politics awards (ch 4) told me that his demand for peace was 'not revolutionery', I told her that sadly all the common sense/decent demands for enough to eat and a future for our planet, the non killing of kids were 'revolutionery'

She ticked me off, quite annoyed and walked off happy she had won the argument.

I persist, the revolutionery eco protesters just want to save some lakes but hey despite everyone apparently saying how green they are, the real greens get busted by the cops once again!

Well in the spirit of Captain Paul Watson....lets all keep on keeping on.

Any way FCUK npower, change your contract, tell them why and keep resisting ...may be just may be the lakes can still be saved.

Derek Wall condemns Uk government on anti-whaling register

Dr. Derek Wall, Green Party Principal Speaker, today criticised the UK government for 'bowing to Japan's economic muscle', in refusing to register various ships belonging to the anti-whaling and conservation group Sea Shepherd.

Dr. Wall said: "The Green Party has learnt that in December of last year, whilst Sea Shepherd were seeking to register the ship Farlay Mowat with the UK, Japan contacted our Foreign and Commonwealth Office, who in turn spoke with the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency, seeking to prevent the ship taking the UK flag.

"As a result, the ships application was rejected.

"Whatever the merits of the situation, the MCA should be acting independently.

"Despite the international ban on commercial whale hunting, Japanese crews are on a mission to kill about 850 minke whales and 10 fin whales, claiming this is for scientific research.

"But this is simply a tactic to circumvent the regulations, and amounts to commercial whaling in all but name. Operation Leviathan, from Sea-Shepherd, seeks to stop the Japanese whaling fleets’ illegal slaughter.

"Whaling is a premeditated, deliberate and unnecessary cause of animal suffering. It is not justified even if supposedly undertaken as 'scientific research' or 'subsistence hunting' rather than for commercial profit.

The Green Party condemns those governments who seek, through the International Whaling Commission and otherwise, to continue whaling. We call on all governments to outlaw whaling. The Green Party is fundamentally opposed to all lethal and harmful commercial utilisation of cetaceans. This includes all whaling, so called scientific whaling and any whaling conducted under the cover-all of 'aboriginal subsistence whaling.

Dr. Wall continued: "The Green Party opposes any move to end the current moratorium on commercial whaling. We call on all nations to declare the waters under their control havens from whaling, to provide sanctuary throughout those waters for cetaceans, and to co- operate in achieving global sanctuary for cetaceans in the longer term.


ENDS


For further information please contact the Press Office


Green Party Press Office
020 7561 0282
http://www.greenparty.org.uk

Lets make Brian Haw our new prime minister

Lets make Brian Haw our new prime minister, I know he is a bit religious and has met David Icke (mad,bad..uninteresting to know) but we need some ethical leadership which is not going to come from any New Labourite least of all Gordon Brown.

I wrote the above a few weeks ago. I

A few weeks later, go into a fight with him over the megaphone at the demonstration during the parliamentary vote on Iraq. With Brian telling me 'don't fuck about..get on with it', I in reply suggested to Brian politely that I rarely 'fuck about, I like to think about what I am going to shout through the megaphone before I shout it.

It all came out a bit ranty with Brian urging me on!

Any way everyone seems to know the news that he won the Channel 4 political award, we went along last night to the awards which will be shown on saturday at 7pm.

Even managed to get a seat, Chris Bryant MP didn't turn up so I borrowed his place. Nice to discuss Chavez with John Snow, talk about green snp possibilities with various Scottish political figures and discuss the heritage of Islam with David Davies!

I also quizzed Austin Mitchell about monetary reform, he is a supporter but I think I alarmed him with the discussion!

Guido Fawkes was very civil to us Greens, indeed everybody seems to be taken us a tiny bit more seriously which is good.

The night was one where the parliamentary road lost to the ranty direct action voice of dissent.

Brian made an excellent speech against genocidal war.



Would be nice to see Tony Greenstein (despite the green socialist voting splitting) or Mumia Abu-Jamal up for these awards but hey it's not going to happen, in this country that had an incomplete transition from feudalism..

Mourides: literally liberal Islam

Like so many Senegalese migrants (some of whom drive taxis in New York or pick lemons in Spain), those Roman peddlers belong to a dynamic Sufi Muslim movement called the Mourides. They are followers of Cheikh Amadou Bamba, a religious leader who died in 1927. Inspired by his teaching, they have made an ingenious response to the advent of global markets in goods and labour.

Most of Senegal's 11m people are Muslims, and they usually belong to one or other of two big movements, the Mourides or the older Tidjanes. Bamba described the teaching now known as Mouridism as a return to Islam's roots. But his Islam has little in common with the more austere variety propagated from Saudi Arabia. For one thing, Mouridism has a cult of saints and shrines—including the tomb of its founder—which devout Saudis would reject. But the self-sufficient Mourides don't care; they raise money for their favourite causes and build their own mosques with no need of Saudi cash.

This is from Europe's Senegal connection
Faith in the market

Dec 19th 2006 | ROME AND TOUBA, SENEGAL
From The Economist print edition

I guess its assumed I only read Marx and Jonathon Porritt but this is far from true, you have to be open to everything (incidentally the early Porritt had his moments, less so today), so yes I am a keen Economist reader. Very nice to get witty, well argued, interesting and relevent material, from those you disagree with.

The Economist with some exceptions such as the war in Iraq, combine free market philosophy with the traditional liberal belief in libertarian choice, when it comes to many issues from the death penalty to cannabis and beyond their views are pretty similar to the Green Party and much of the left.

Like the Economist I am a fan of the Sufis and acknowledge the civilisation which is Islam, so I was interested to read this on the Mourides, who according to the Economist are literal market liberal Muslims, reliant, enterprising traders.

Free movement of people by the way is a liberal value rejected by New Labour governments keen on free trade globalisation.

I don't know whether there is more to the story of the Mourides, some of whom are in Italy selling umbrellas? I would love to know.

The usual Islamphobia continues in Britain, with daily scare stories.

Where does the worst most intolerant Islam come from, not from your neighbour in Bradford who is likely to be a sufi but from religious schools in Saudi Arabia.

The Saudis who are close to Blair, are armed by our government...our allies.

Greens protest Trident

We have been debating the Rethinking Trident campaign, which seems to be from moderate labour party group Compass, as Greens we have not on the whole been impressed.

Lets scrap a new generation of mega death weapons that are quite horrible, the weaknesses of the Lib Dems and Compass is shown that they are 'thinking' about doing this or not.

Just say 'no trident'...see it wasn't that difficult.

Green Party in England & Wales

Tomorrow, Wednesday 7th Feb, will see the Green Party take the case against Trident renewal direct to No. 10, when leading Green delegates headed up by Principal Speaker Siân Berry deliver a letter to Downing St outlining our position on this issue.

1PM: GREEN PARTY TO DEMONSTRATE AGAINST THREAT OF TRIDENT RENEWAL IN PARLIAMENT SQUARE

Caroline Lucas, Green Euro-MP for the South East and a member of CND's National Council, to speak

2PM: LEADING GREEN DELEGATES ATTEND DOWNING ST TO HAND LETTER TO NO. 10

Green Party Principal Speaker Siân Berry and Caroline Lucas MEP will lead a delegation to No. 10 Downing St - including Green London Assembly Members Darren Johnson and Jenny Jones, Green Party National Campaigns Co-ordinator Tim Summers and Dylan Banks, Co-Chair of the Young Greens, to hand in a letter outlining the reasons why the Green Party is opposed to renewal of Trident.

Green Party Principal Speaker Siân Berry today said: "Nuclear weapons herald the extinction of all life on our planet. Alongside climate change, this is perhaps the biggest threat facing us today, demanding urgent and global action.

"After the publication of the White Paper on Trident replacement in December 2006, the government again promised to hold a debate on the issue. But, as is the case with so many of this government's important policy decisions, no such debate has happened. The many organisations and politicians who are attempting to raise the serious concerns about Trident held by most ordinary people in the UK, are being ignored.

"In what circumstances - and against whom - do the government think Trident will be used?

"Every pound wasted on nuclear weapons is a pound not spent on tackling climate change - the threat of which is very clear. How then can the government justify the staggering £76 billion it is estimated this will cost?

"The Green Party's letter outlines our grave concerns about the danger, expense and folly of renewing Trident. A decision of this magnitude must not be taken without the widest possible consultation, and we want to ensure that the views of our voters and supporters are heard, though our undemocratic voting system means we are not represented in the Commons."


Caroline Lucas MEP and Siân Berry will later meet Derek Twigg MP, the Junior Defence Minister, to discuss the Green Party's reasons for opposing Trident renewal.

ENDS

For further information, including a copy of the letter, please contact the Green Party Press Office on: 020 7561 0282 / 07958 339 716

Green Party Press Office
020 7561 0282
http://www.greenparty.org.uk

Published and promoted by Jim Killock for the Green Party, both at
1a Waterlow Road, London N19 5NJ.