Hosted by Dr.G., Minister of Information of the Northbay MDS. Tune in Thursdays 4 to 5pm (PST), at 89.5FM in the northeast San Pablo Bay Area, or on a Smart Phone [link], Desktop U-stream [link], Live Mp3 (.pls) stream [link], Netbook [link]. Be a Community Journalist with our Community Journalist's Notebook [link]. Send news & info to [NorthbayMDS@) gmail.com]! Northbay Uprising News scripts [link]. Archived webpages at (archive.org) and at (archive.today) are available even if the original is taken down. News links are provided for educational purposes only, and do not constitute an endorsement of political tendencies, or, of foreign governments.
Note: the Northbay Uprising News page for June 4th was erased completely, with all that remains being the original list of links. The Minister of Information will keep this news page up, despite not being yet finished, to include the content of June 4th. Section titles will be left up even if empty as June 4th's content is placed under those sections. Please look up the Memorial Day Bell Tower created by Veterans for Peace [veteransforpeace.org/who-we-are/member-highlights/2015/04/23/vfp-belltower-coming-dc].
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Interview with...
Honduras Solidarity Network, about the current USA-backed dictatorship over the Republic of Honduras, the ongoing violence against peaceful protesters, union organizers, journalists and indigenous nations, and how the People, backed by international Solidarity, are organizing to FIGHT BACK!
* "US Activists Protest Charter Cities: An 'Assault on Honduran Sovereignty' " (2015-06-06, telesurtv.net) [archive.is/g5EX9]
San Francisco Bay Area PremierSunday • June 28, 2015
ANSWER Office • 2969 Mission St • San Francisco
Doors Open 5:30 PM with refreshments & conversation
Film at 6 PM followed by discussion with guest speakers
$5-10 Donation Suggested • No one turned away for lack of funds
Fundraiser for the Honduras Solidarity Network
WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBLE
Sponsors: Task Force on the Americas, Bay Area Latin America Solidarity Coalition, Honduras Solidarity Network
RESISTENCIA: THE FIGHT FOR THE AGUAN VALLEY (click to see the trailer)
[vimeo.com/116023226]. Montreal based filmmaker co-op recently finished a feature documentary following the farmers of Honduras' Aguan Valley for more than four years, starting with the coup, as they takeover and defend the plantations of the most powerful man in the country.
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InDIYpendent Media
Spotlight from the Northbay Uprising Media Collective
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Recommended Radical Newsletters:
Popular Resistance newsletter [popularresistance.org]:
* "See you at the barricades!" (2015-07-07) [archive.is/nu9tv]
CCDSLinks: Radical Ideas for Radical Change :
* "Social Dynamite Just Beneath the Surface" (2015-06-05) [archive.is/UOY4g]
* "Bernie's Platform Pushes the Debate to Radical Change" (2015-05-29) [archive.is/CpQzW]
The Soapbox People's Network:
* "End the Korean War NOW! w. Col. Ann Wright"(2015-06-07) [archive.is/1nt11], plus the latest episode of Vegan Radio, and a fundraiser for renowned Peace and Justice organizer Dede Miller, who is undergoing health problems and needs YOUR help!
* (2015-05-31) [archive.is/rjDM2]
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ACTION HEADLINES!
Stories are reviewed and provided by Northbay MDS Committees and Affiliates
information collected by the
SOLANO PEACE, JUSTICE, AND FREEDOM COALITION
[SolanoPeaceJustice.blogspot.com], to end the USA's endless wars, in harmony with Principle 1 & 6 of International Law [archive.today/tmncz], and the 5 protocols of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) [archive.is/LhUTj].
The Abraham Lincoln Brigade is Calling All Human Rights Documentarians!
We are now accepting submissions for Impugning Impunity 2015: ALBA's human rights documentary film festival. Impugning Impunity underscores ALBA’s commitment to upholding the values of the U.S. volunteers who fought fascism in the Spanish Civil War, bringing human rights struggles to life with the presentation of recent and independent human rights documentaries. More information can be found here [alba-valb.org/programs/human-rights-film-festival].
Films can be submitted through Film Freeway [filmfreeway.com/festival/ImpugningImpunityALBAsHumanRIghtsFilmFestival].
For further information, please email filmfestival@alba-valb.org.
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* "Unworthy victims: Western wars have killed four million Muslims since 1990" (2015-04-08, middleeasteye.net) [archive.is/RK6G1]
* "Casualty Figures after 10 Years of the 'War on Terror' Iraq Afghanistan Pakistan" (2015-03, Physicians for Social Responsibility), introduction [archive.is/I9Tnz], report [web.archive.org/web/20150423165236/http://www.psr.org/assets/pdfs/body-count.pdf]
* "Body Count Report Reveals At Least 1.3 Million Lives Lost to US-Led War on Terror; Although a conservative estimate, physicians' groups say the figure 'is approximately 10 times greater' than typically reported" (2015-03-26, commondreams.org) [archive.is/gN4Tq]* "Study by Physicians for Social Responsibility: US Wars against Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan have Killed 1.3 Million – Conservative Estimate" (2015-05-25, washingtonsblog.com) [archive.is/2QWea].
Physicians for Social Responsibility has released a new study on US war against the Middle East:
“This investigation comes to the conclusion that the war has, directly or indirectly, killed around 1 million people in Iraq, 220,000 in Afghanistan and 80,000 in Pakistan, i.e. a total of around 1.3 million. Not included in this figure are further war zones such as Yemen. The figure is approximately 10 times greater than that of which the public, experts and decision makers are aware of and propagated by the media and major NGOs. And this is only a conservative estimate. The total number of deaths in the three countries named above could also be in excess of 2 million, whereas a figure below 1 million is extremely unlikely.”
The report also notes that the 2006 study by The Lancet, which found that, due to the illegal invasion of Iraq, “655,000 people had died” by that time, was “the most meticulous of all” of the studies that have been done previously.
Further:
“There is probably no other war that has seen such a fierce and drawn-out controversy surrounding the number of its victims. One main reason for this is the lack of legitimacy for the U.S.-led attack on Iraq – even in the U.S. itself. The original pretexts for going to war quickly turned out to be spurious, and from then on only the “liberation of the country from a violent dictatorship” and the “democratization” and “stabilization” of Iraq remained as justification for the war and occupation. This picture, laboriously constructed with the help of the media, is of course impossible to reconcile with the many hundreds of thousands of war casualties.”
“…mainstream media … only quote figures given by the pro-U.S. administration in Iraq or by the project Iraq Body Count…”
“The numbers relayed by the media (previously 43,000 and now 110,000) should in themselves be terrifying enough, as they correspond to the annihilation of an entire city’s population. But apparently they are still perceived as tolerable and, moreover, even easy to explain given the picture of excessive religiously motivated violence. The figure of 655,000 deaths in the first three war years alone, however, clearly points to a crime against humanity approaching genocide. Had this been understood and recognized by the public at large, the Iraq policy of the U.S. and its European allies would not have been tenable for long.”
“A poll carried out by the Associated Press (AP) two years ago found that, on average, U.S. citizens believe that only 9,900 Iraqis were killed during the occupation. With such distorted figures, outrage about the war is hardly to be expected. This state of affairs could be very different if the public were made aware that the actual number is likely to be more than a hundred times higher.”
(Noam Chomsky observes on this point: What if Germans thought only 60,000 Jews [100 times less than the actual number] had been killed by the Nazis? Then we might perceive there was a slight problem with German society.)
* "Wars in Pakistan and Afghanistan leave 150,000 dead" (2015-06-02, AFP Newswire) [archive.is/4iqKy] [begin excerpt]:
The wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan have left nearly 150,000 soldiers and civilians dead since 2001, a new US study estimates
Another 162,000 have been wounded since the US-led offensive that toppled the Taliban government in Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks, says the study by the Costs of War Project, based at the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University.
The study focuses on death and injury caused directly by the stuff of warfare, what it calls "bullets, bombs, fire and so on."
War also causes indirect deaths, as people perish due to malnutrition, lack of health care and the hardship of displacement. But this figure is very hard to tally.
But both countries studied this time have been ravaged by military conflict, and in Afghanistan, torn by decades of war, "there is no peacetime baseline," wrote Crawford, the co-director of the Costs of Wars Program and a professor of political science at Boston University.
So it is nearly impossible to estimate indirect deaths in the two countries, she concluded. [end excerpt]
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* "12-minute video: expert lawyers explain US War Crimes; Americans: demanding arrests yet?" (2015-05-27, washingtonsblog.com) [archive.is/BFCQz], visit the page for links and footnotes [begin excerpt]:
In 2012, the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission found the following guilty of War Crimes:
- Former US President, George W. Bush
- Former US Vice President, Dick Cheney
- Former US Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld
- Former US Attorney General, Alberto Gonzalez
- Former Chief of Staff to Cheney, David Attington
- Former General Counsel for the Department of Defense, William Haynes
- Former Assistant Attorney General, Jay Bybee
- Deputy Assistant U.S. Attorney General, John Yoo
The above video [youtube.com/watch?v=JNhGkYQb4zo] has the former president of the National Lawyers Guild, and current law professor Marjorie Cohn state that she limited her book (Cowboy Republic) documenting US War Crimes to six categories, or face encyclopedic length.
For example, President Bush and Vice President Cheney have both admitted to authorizing “waterboarding,” found by courts to be unlawful violation of rights and/or torture in all previous case law in the US and internationally.
When previous US courts are unanimous in their findings, that means the legal definition of an act is absolutely certain. In this case, waterboarding, or more accurately “controlled drowning,” is unconstitutional.
The US Constitution expressly forbids cruel punishment in the 8th Amendment. United States Federal Law forbids torture under Code 18 section 2340. The US is bound by several treaties to never torture: the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (legally defining the meaning of the UN Charter treaty, and the most-translated document in world history), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (an interesting study of the US saying one thing and doing the opposite), the Geneva Conventions, and the UN Convention Against Torture.
Importantly, these laws do not say there are exceptions to allow torture; that is, the torturer cannot use the specious “ticking time bomb” excuse that torture was required to save lives. For example, one US treaty to end torture is the UN Convention Against Torture. It states under Article 2: “No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat or war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture.”
The US claims under MCA that the US can remove all protections of persons under interrogation: US Constitution, Geneva Convention, and other applicable treaties. This is in Orwellian contradiction to the US Constitution being the definition of American law (and what it means to “defend America”) and in Article 6 that US treaties are the “Supreme Law of the Land.” The word “supreme” means “highest in rank or authority…greatest, utmost…last or final.” [end excerpt]
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* "Is Washington Planning “Operation Barbarossa 2.0″? War against Russia?" (2015-06-07, by Stephen Lendman) [archive.is/ZCsLb]
* "The United States Is at War on Many Fronts. What is going on and what can we do about it?" (2015-06-05, veteransforpeace.org) [archive.is/DwWKs] [begin excerpt]:
In Iraq, the U.S. military is actively involved in the war against ISIL. Aside from aerial bombardment, the U.S. is providing advanced armaments, training and advisers to an increasingly sectarian war, and Congressional hawks are calling for a return of U.S. boots on the ground.
In Afghanistan, the U.S. war that has been “winding down” forever, U.S. troops remain actively involved in the fight against the Taliban. Watch your local newspapers, and you will notice that our GI’s continue to die, along with thousands of Afghani’s. So much for bringing peace and stability.
In Syria, the U.S. remains active in supporting the civil war to bring down the Assad government. If this means giving arms and aid to sectarian rebels, and to indirectly aiding ISIS (some say directly), then so be it. The goal, after all, remains regime change and re-making the Middle East more to the liking to empire builders in the U.S., that is: small, weak, divided, and unable to resist imperial designs.
In Yemen, thousands of civilians are dying in massive aerial bombardment led by Saudi Arabia and its “coalition” of monarchs, backed by the unseen hand of the U.S., which provides the bombs and the political cover.
In Ukraine, the U.S. and NATO are gearing up for a serious escalation of the conflict between Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine and the rightwing Ukrainian government that was installed after a U.S.-backed coup in Kiev. The western media is full of articles about an imminent Russian invasion, a wildly successful propaganda effort to justify sending U.S. arms and advisers, and continue playing chicken with nuclear-armed Russia on is own borders. Many experts believe this is the most dangerous intervention of all.
On the Nuclear Front, we must mention the recent failure of the United Nations review conference (every 5 years) of the Partial Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT). Despite the presence in New York of thousands of people from around the world (especially Japan) to cheer on the U.N. delegates, the conference ended in failure when the final document was scuttled by our Nobel Prize winning president because it called for a conference on a Nuclear Free Middle East. After all is said and done, the U.S. still supports Israeli domination of the Palestinians and its neighbors, and provides for its substantial nuclear arsenal.
Of course, the U.S. is also busy developing new generations of nuclear weapons, some said to be more “usable.”
This is not a complete list of U.S. current U.S. militarism. Far from it. We don’t have space here to do justice to the so-called “Pivot to Asia,” and increasing U.S. confrontation with China.
This is all very ugly and very ominous. The antiwar movement seems overwhelmed and unable to muster strong opposition. The threat of ISIS, which would not even exist except for the U.S. destruction of Iraq, makes it hard for the U.S. public to understand what is going on. Nonetheless, recent polls reveal that growing numbers of Americans oppose U.S. militarism abroad as counterproductive. [end excerpt]
* "Will the U.S. send more ground troops to Iraq?" (2015-05-28, answercoalition.org) [archive.is/CD5zb]
* "US general dismisses doubts about air war against IS" (2015-06-05, AFP Newswire) [archive.is/s32vE] [begin excerpt]: A top US Air Force general insisted Friday the American-led air campaign against the Islamic State was effective, rejecting criticism that it was too slow or overly cautious. The bombing raids against the IS jihadists in Iraq and Syria have had a "profound effect on the enemy" and taken out "more than a 1,000 enemy fighters a month from the battlefield," said Lieutenant General John Hesterman, head of the air fleet under US Central Command. Coalition strikes have helped ground forces in Iraq and northern Syria regain territory from the IS and destroyed most of the group's oil refining capacity, Hesterman told reporters via telephone from Qatar. President Barack Obama's administration has come under criticism at home and abroad over the air campaign, with some lawmakers and retired air force officers accusing Washington of imposing too many limits on military pilots. Despite thousands of US-led coalition bombing raids since August, the IS jihadists have gained ground in Syria and last month captured the Iraqi city of Ramadi in a stunning defeat for the Baghdad government army. Although air strikes failed to prevent the fall of Ramadi, Hesterman delivered a spirited defense of the coalition campaign, saying it could not be compared to previous air wars with more conventional targets. The general acknowledged that aircraft in roughly 75 percent of all strike flights return without dropping bombs, but he said that was because the IS militants were not a traditional army and were moving among the local civilian population.Hesterman, however, said coalition pilots were not hamstrung and that the approval for most strikes was "measured in minutes, not hours or halves of hours." The general, who oversees air forces operating over Iraq and Syria, said that the IS jihadists did not appear out in the open in large numbers in the battle for Ramadi. The coalition also had to take care to distinguish from the air between Iraqi government forces and the IS militants, while also taking pains to avoid inadvertently killing civilians, he said. According to US Central Command, which oversees forces in the Middle East, there have been 15,675 coalition strike missions over Iraq and Syria, and bombs were dropped in 4,423 of those flights. [end excerpt] Yet, despite all the optimistic propaganda, the article is accompanied by the following article, titled "IS advances on key Syrian city despite regime air raids" (2015-06-05, AFP Newswire), showing that the USA-backed Islamic State is being allowed free reign over the juriddiction of the enemy Arab Republic of Syria alongside the somewhat active defense of the USA-allied Kurdistan militias and the Republic of Iraq.
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Several Veterans For Peace (VFP) members have signed onto to a letter urging United States drone pilots, sensor operators and support teams to refuse to play any role in drone surveillance or assassination missions.
* "Retired and Former U.S. Military Personnel Urge Drone Operators to Refuse to Fly Missions" (2015-06-05, veteransforpeace.org) [archive.is/0FabG]
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* "Veterans For Peace (VFP) Hawaii Chapter Revived!" (2015-06-07): VFP Hawaii Chapter 113 met this week for the first time since 2009. Twelve members were in attendance (8 vets including a 91 year old WWII vet part of the famous Japanese-America battalion and a 27 year-old Marine who has just been granted Conscientious Objector status and is out of the Marine Corps. Visit the chapter's facebook page [facebook.com/groups/664609736972909].Did you know? In 1995, VFP accepted an invitation to become the first military veterans’ organization to be a part of the International Peace Bureau based in Geneva, Switzerland.
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* "NYT’s New Propaganda on Syria" (2015-06-03, by Robert Parry, consortiumnews.com) [archive.is/MiWZr]. Commondreams.org writes: The New York Times’ new conspiracy theory about Syria is that the Assad regime is in cahoots with the Islamic State, calling those two bitter foes only "nominal enemies" and using this new story to implicitly push for another U.S.-imposed "regime change."
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The following, written in favor of continuing war, and issued by a monopolist newswire for influencing newspaper editors across the USA, calls for a cohesive war ideology that includes all publicly known wars into a defensible foreign policy campaign.
* "An effective strategy for the 21st century" (2015-05-31, UPI Newswire) [archive.is/KRlip] [begin excerpt]: Every American president, probably dating back to George Washington, has been criticized for having no strategy or the wrong strategy. President Barack Obama is no exception. Of course, having a single overarching and existential threat such as Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union made strategizing much easier. Yet, a unifying linkage among today's many disparate threats, dangers and challenges exists. The combination of the diffusion of power and globalization and accelerated by the information revolution has made the world far more interdependent and interconnected. The result is that events regarding Russia, Putin, Ukraine, NATO and Europe are directly related to what is happening in Iraq, Syria, Da'esh (aka the Islamic State) and the Gulf of which Iran is a vital part -- and vice versa.
John Kerry's peripatetic consecutive travels in mid-May to Africa; Moscow; Turkey for the NATO Defense Ministers' meeting; the Gulf Cooperative Council summit at Camp David; and finally to Asia underscore this interconnectivity. The issue is how to relate each in an effective strategy. The Ukraine crisis has rekindled fears in former Warsaw Pact states particularly on the potentially more vulnerable "northern" (i.e. Baltic) and "southern" (Black Sea and eastern Mediterranean) flanks to Russian intimidation and aggression. But NATO has another more vulnerable "southern" flank: Turkey's 1000-mile border with Syria and Iraq. To protect this flank, NATO must build a stronger partnership with the GCC. As NATO's 28 members and many of its partners are engaged in the 62-nation coalition formed against Da'esh, expanding cooperation further should not be a bridge too far.
The GCC and other Arab states have agreed to field an Arab land force. Advancing that concept, the Combined Air Operation Center at al-Udeid Air Base in Doha, Qatar -- where a dozen GCC and western states have been operating for as many years -- is a good place to establish an initial coalition ground force headquarters to begin building that capability. The purpose is to contain Da'esh and make the regional states more militarily interoperable. NATO can and must facilitate this interoperability.
Constructing an effective strategy can be done if we understand that the foundation rests in understanding the linkages that exist between and among regions and challenges and exploiting them to achieve the outcomes we seek. But will we grasp this opportunity and act accordingly? Those are the intriguing and perplexing questions that will determine our future safety, security and prosperity. [end excerpt]
[about the author] Harlan Ullman is UPI's Arnaud de Borchgrave distinguished columnist, Chairman of the Killowen Group that advises leaders of government and business and Senior Advisor at Washington D.C.'s Atlantic Council and Business Executives for National Security.
* "Gen. Allen: ISIS War to Last ‘A Generation or More’ Obama's War Envoy Insists ISIS a Threat to Progress" (2015-06-03, antiwar.com) [archive.is/90zNM]. whowhatwhy.org writes: President Obama’s special envoy to the coalition fighting ISIS recently said that America is in yet another multi-generational war. Retired Marine General Allen told the US–Islamic World Forum in Doha, Qatar that the fight against ISIS is a struggle to protect all of humanity… and it’s going to last a long, long time. Apparently, he didn’t mention the price tag, which has reached $4.4 trillion for America’s other multi-generational affair—the Global War on Terror [costsofwar.org].
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The GCC political union of Arab dictators is not only officially becoming a military power with nuclear weapons, but is also developing space weapons. Each dictator is allowed nearly limitless loans from the World Bank, IMF or sovereign funds, so the GCC member state of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is using it's financial credit to purchase nuclear weapon designs and components, meanwhile...
* "United Arab Emirates Hopes to Reach Mars by 2021" (2015-05-30, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/2ecQn]
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The tragedy is that the samples, being alive, were discovered by the recipients and the USA Department of Defense (DoD) is not disclosing if any samples were returned, leading to speculation that this is an action operation to grant allies access to germ-weapons for clandestine warfare, as shown by the secure transport of chemical weapons to the USA-backed Global Caliphate in Syria (ISIS) for use against civilian populations who support the USA enemy Arab Republic of Syria.
* "Pentagon admits they accidentally sent LIVE ANTHRAX to 51 different labs... and could find more as investigation continues" (2015-06-03, AP Newswire) [archive.is/iEljh]
* "Pentagon appeals for scientists' help tracking anthrax shipments" (2015-06-04, Reuters newswire) [archive.is/9ASKu]
* "US military uncovers more anthrax blunders" (2015-06-02, AFP Newswire) [archive.is/T0irf]
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* "SEAL Team 6: A Secret History of Quiet Killings and Blurred Lines; The unit best known for killing Osama bin Laden has been converted into a global manhunting machine with limited outside oversight" (2015-06-06, nytimes.com) [archive.is/mZSkz]. Whowhatwhy.org writes: A team of reporters at The New York Times delved deeply into the secretive world of Seal Team 6 and found that the elite strike team has been transformed by the War on Terror into a “global manhunting machine.” According to the authors, this is the new way of American warfare—one that is moving away from traditional ground engagements toward a “relentless killing of suspected militants.” This new way of war operates in the shadows and, therefore, is largely unaccountable.
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* "Veterans for Peace Golden Rule Project" [vfpgoldenruleproject.org] [facebook.com/pages/VFP-Golden-Rule-Project/221122271247448]June 20th ship launch event [facebook.com/events/666350833498119]
[archive.is/nH5dC]
* "Golden Rule to Sail Again; 'Splashdown' on June 20" (2015-05-22, veteransforpeace.org) [archive.is/l9aiS]
* "New Mast Raised for Historic Golden Rule Vessel" (2015-06-03, lostcoastoutpost.com) [archive.is/2yttf]
* "VFP Golden Rule Project" video (2014) [youtube.com/watch?v=OLyDbkloZpc]
YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO AN EVENT COMMEMORATING THE RE-LAUNCH OF THE FIRST PEACE SHIP, THE GOLDEN RULE.
The ship that sailed out into the Pacific in 1958 to halt atmospheric nuclear weapons tests in the Marshall Islands has been rescued from a watery grave and lovingly restored by Veterans For Peace.
THE CHRISTENING AND LAUNCH WILL TAKE PLACE ON JUNE 20TH, 2015 IN EUREKA, CALIFORNIA.
We would love to have you there for the joyous occasion as the Golden Rule resumes her mission of peace.
WHAT: Christening, presentations, and launch
WHEN: Saturday June 20th 2015, 2pm. Launch at 4pm.
WHERE: Zerlang and Zerlang Marine Services 1493 Fay Avenue, Samoa, CA 95564
— AND —
WHAT: Public viewing of the boat, food & Drink, Special Guest speakers, and PARTY !! speakers representing Greenpeace, Physicians For Social Responsibility, Quaker Friends, Veterans For Peace; Crew descendants, a Hiroshima bomb survivor and others. An oral history session, is intended as an unstructured opportunity for stories from our speakers and activists such as David McReynolds, War Resisters League; Shigeko Sassimori, Hibakusha (Hiroshima Survivor); David Hartsough, Quaker; and others. Seth Rick, of the Rick Foundation, will moderate the session.
WHEN: 5pm to 8pm Saturday June 20th 2015
WHERE: Humboldt Bay Aquatic Center 921 Waterfront Dr, Eureka, CA 95501
[VFPgoldenruleproject@)gmail.com] [707.443-5180].
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Black Lives Matter - Los Angeles is camping with Ezell Ford's family outside the house of Los Angeles Mayor, Eric Garcetti's house. #OccupyLAMayor has begun...
* "How to Not Pay Taxes" [web.archive.org/web/20150406190831/http://www.shareable.net/blog/how-to-not-pay-taxes] [begin excerpt]: A little over nine years ago, the war on Iraq began. Along with many other people, I was horrified at the magnitude of the suffering the U.S. would inflict with its “shock and awe” campaign, and also at the increasingly blind, ignorant, and bloodthirsty war fever that dominated our country. But I also knew that as a taxpayer I was a small but vital part of the monster we were unleashing, and that no matter how much I protested, as long as I continued to pay taxes, I was — in a practical, bottom-line sense — a war supporter. I had a hard time getting to sleep at night and looking myself in the mirror in the morning. I knew I had to stop supporting the war, if only for my own peace of mind. [end excerpt]
* "Strike Debt Bay Area hosted a Debtors’ Assembly in Oakland; 'If I owe the bank thousands, the bank owns me; but if, together, we owe the banks trillions, then we own the banks' ":
On Saturday, June 6, Strike Debt Bay Area, the local chapter of Strike Debt, hosted a Debtors’ Assembly. Strike Debt created the Rolling Jubilee, a mutual-aid project that buys debt at steeply discounted prices and then abolishes it; the Corinthian 100 Student Debt Strike; and the Debt Resisters’ Operations Manual.
As individuals, families, and communities, most of us are drowning in debt for the basic things we need to live, including housing, education, and health care. Even those of us who do not have personal debt are affected by predatory lending. Our essential public services are cut because our cities and towns are held hostage by the same big banks that our government supports and bails out when they gamble away our collective financial security. Big banks rake in enormous profits and don’t have to pay their debts, but we do.
Debt keeps us isolated, ashamed, and afraid—of becoming homeless, of going hungry, of being crippled or killed by treatable illness, or of being trapped in poverty-level jobs. Those facing foreclosure, medical debt, student debt, and credit card debt feel alone, hounded by debt collectors, and forced into unrewarding work to keep up with payments.
Strike Debt is building a movement to challenge this system while creating alternatives and supporting each other. At the Debtors’ Assembly we came together as a community and began to rethink debt, not as an issue of individual shame, but as a political platform for collective resistance and action. Come to a future Assembly to learn about tools for escaping the closing walls of debt, to share resources and skills, and to magnify our assembled energy. As we share our experiences we can begin to take back from the financiers what they have taken from us: our freedom and our future.
Join us as we imagine and create a new world based on the common good, not Wall Street profits.
Strike Debt Bay Area: [strike-debt-bay-area.tumblr.com]
Strike Debt: [strikedebt.org]
Corinthian 100 Student Debt Strike: [debtcollective.org/studentstrike]
Rolling Jubilee: [rollingjubilee.org]
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* "Tens of Thousands March Against Global Elites Ahead of G7; 'The representatives of the richest and most powerful countries in the world lay claim to decide the fate of the entire world, without having any legitimation for this' " (2015-06-04, commondreams.org) [archive.is/lA4aT]
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SOLANO PEACE & FREEDOM PARTY
[SolanoPFP.blogspot.com] Use the ballot for our own People's candidates and legislation, campaign for the future!
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TOWARDS REVOLUTIONARY SOLUTIONS
CHICANO POWER! LUCHA PARA LA NUEVA AZTLAN!
* "Recognizing Genocide and Moving Toward Liberation: Not Counting Mexicans and Indians" (by Roberto Cintli Rodriguez) part 1 "The Many Tentacles of State Violence Against Black-Brown-Indigenous Communities" [archive.is/VlRVl], part 2 "Recognizing Genocide and Moving Toward Liberation" [archive.is/FzsXj]
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SOLIDARITY WITH THE NEW AFRICAN NATION!
The Rebellion of Baltimore is only the beginning!
A Regional Peoples Assembly & Tribunal was called for by the Baltimore Peoples Power Assembly and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Greater Baltimore Chapter, on June 6th [archive.is/zBncz], to STOP POLICE TERROR & RACISM, and to demand JOBS & LIVABLE WAGES. The purpose of the Assembly & Tribunal was outlined for the participants:
Come out & speak out – Testify if you have been abused by the police. Be a part of the tribunal process.
Join a major day long deliberation and discussion on next steps for the struggle both local and national.
Join the “Know your rights/cop watch” teams – Fight for jobs, livable wages, education, not jails!
BUILD COMMUNITY POWER
* "Gentrification and the Death of Black Communities" (2015-05-27, blackagendareport.com) [archive.is/Fg48G] [begin excerpt]: Gentrification – the displacement of Black and brown urban residents by more affluent whites – is a function of the same forces that emptied the cities of much of their white populations, generations ago: the movement of capital. Capital wants the cities back, and clears spaces for whites. “The system is stacked in favor of moneyed interests and white people.”
“The inhabitants are pushed aside to make way for transplants who may come from the suburbs, another state or even from another country.”
There is no city in this country where black people are safe from the current method of displacement known as gentrification. Washington, DC, once had a majority black population and was known as Chocolate City. Perhaps it is now the Café au Lait city as the black population has fallen below 50%. That dynamic gathers steam in New York and other cities and continues to push people out of their homes, deprive them of needed services and erode their quality of life. [end excerpt]
* "Watts housing project one of state’s top 5 percent most polluted areas" (2015-05-20, liberationnews.org) [archive.is/NCRb1]
* "McKinney, Texas: Rage Is Our Rightful Response to Anti-Black Racism; The sickening sight of black boys and girls treated like chattel by a Texas cop is a reminder that the lives and pain of black children don’t matter" (2015-06-08, theroot.com) [archive.is/3o3Au]
* "Police Attack On Black Children At Pool Party Sparks Outrage, Calls to Mobilize; Brutal assault captured on film nationally derided as racist and inhumane" (2015-06-08, commondreams.org) [archive.is/rfM2O].
* "Cops Crash Pool Party" video [youtube.com/watch?v=R46-XTqXkzE]
* "McKinney Pool Part teen interview" [youtube.com/watch?v=uZjHwOHFJGk]
* "Philly Police At War With Black Lives Matter Activists" (2015-06-05, phillyrealjustice.tumblr.com) [archive.is/CcW8X]
* "Demand justice for Marilyn Zuniga -- N.J. teacher fired for supporting Mumia Abu-Jamal" (2015-06-02, answercoalition.org) [archive.is/vbjpb]
* "Cleveland Uprising, Yet Another Battle Front For Justice" (2015-05-25, by Frank Chapman, Field Organizer for the Chicago Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression) [archive.is/7cT0M]:
First let us express our unconditional solidarity with the Cleveland protestors. Cleveland Officer Michael Brelo was a participant in a lynch style murder of two innocent Black people and the Judge, John P. O’Donnell let him go. So the Judge is just as guilty as the cop lynch mob. And our government is making claims in the international community that there is no human rights crisis in the United States when they should be prosecuting all these criminals in Cleveland who sit in positions of authority.
Some of my comrades in struggle tell me that Cleveland is just another example of the fact that there is no justice for victims of police crimes. That is true; there is no justice and our communities exist in a constant state of harassment, racial profiling and murderous assaults by the police. But this observation by itself does not capture the essence of the momentous events we are witnessing in Cleveland and throughout the land. We are not witnessing in Ferguson, New York, Madison, Baltimore and now Cleveland just more incidents of racist injustice we are witnessing in conjunction with these incidents a continuous stream of protests and uprisings. If we confine our thinking to “this is just another example” of a decrepit, racist system doing what it was designed to do then our focus is not on the momentous fact that presently there is a significant mass uprising against this unjust system so it can’t continue to do what it was designed to do.
As organizers and fighters for justice and freedom it is our job, our responsibility, to focus on the mass uprisings but not like chroniclers, pundits or distant observers. The establishment newspapers, media and official society as a whole continue to describe the uprisings as “riots, and breakdowns in law and order that cannot be tolerated”. They don’t understand that so long as the police murder our people with impunity there can be no peace between the people of oppressed communities and the police. The cries of our people have been (for decades) “No Justice, No Peace!” Today these words are not just in the mouths of a few, it is in the mouths of millions. As participants in the struggle we see in the present uprisings a turning point in the struggle against police crimes, we see the beginnings of an organized resistance movement of national and international significance. Yes this is the struggle developing before our very eyes and those of us immersed in these struggles need to pause for a moment and sake the dust out of our eyes so that we can clearly see the point that has been reached.
The unrestricted power of the police is presently being challenged in Ferguson, St. Louis, Cleveland, Baltimore, and Chicago and even in places we haven’t heard of by a mass demand for community control of the police. These are all different battle fronts with uneven advances toward the goal of empowering oppressed communities to hold the police accountable and to determine how their communities are policed.
We must pay close attention to the dynamics of all the present struggles. We must acknowledge where we have made advances and where there have been set backs. We must always be summing up our experiences and preparing for the next battle. We must keep before the people concrete political objectives like an all elected Civilian Police Accountability Council and consistently engage our people in this political struggle. We must focus on the solution part of the problem of social misery and racist injustice. We must see ourselves not just as victims of police tyranny but as freedom fighters, as strategists and tacticians in the struggle for democracy and freedom for our people.
We have entered an era of uprisings of the people where contradictions that have been ripening for decades (with Black people for centuries) are coming to light. The Black masses who have long been ignored by official society, and frequently miss led by pretended political saviors, are now entering upon the stage of history to claim their rightful place. We are learning in the dirt and blood of battle, as the world watches and often joins in solidarity with us, how to take necessary steps in the struggle against police tyranny. We have known the pain and agony of a cowardly and trivial pass of racist and political repression, we have crossed rivers of blood to get to this time and place in our movement where we say
NO MORE! THIS STOPS TODAY!
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information collected by the Committee for
STUDENT POWER!
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information collected by the Worker's Defense Committee
WORKER'S POWER!
* Presentation by Fernanda Justo, Political Activist in Mexico, to the Opening Session of the Second Labor Fightback Conference (2015-05-15) [archive.is/GZOzM]
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* "Activists demand re-hiring at Walmart" (2015-06-03, peoplesworld.org) [archive.is/znrwP]
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* "It’s official! LA City Council votes hike in minimum wage to $15" (2015-06-04, peoplesworld.org) [archive.is/OSSTB]
* " 'The Sky Remains Aloft': Dire Minimum Wage Predictions Proved Wrong Local business success stories show 'there's no reason for anyone to treat these kinds of threats as credible any longer' " (2015-06-14, commondreams.org) [archive.is/Mg3AW]
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* "Coal criminal seeks Vegas fun as he delays justice for miners" (2015-06-02, peoplesworld.org) [archive.is/3MR7F]
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* Trabajadores Agricolas San Quintin fundraiser page [www.gofundme.com/SanQuint-n] [begin excerpt]: What is happening in San Quintín? "He charges 102 pesos, about $7, for a package of 40 diapers — 30 pesos more than the discount store. Soda and other items were only slightly more expensive than at convenience stores. For laborers, even small markups sting. After juggling their debts for much of the season, many grow desperate as the end of the harvest approaches and there are fewer tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers left to pick. Wages drop — from about $14 a day at the beginning of the harvest to $4 — but prices at the tienda don't. " Due to the poor working conditions in San Quintín the workers have organized to improve the conditions. For more information on the working conditions in San Quintín check out :
* FUJ Solidarity Statement to San Quintin Farmworkers (2015-04-11) [youtube.com/watch?v=NCZDGlGNqmU], article [archive.is/k5tTU] [begin excerpt]: Felimon Pineda, Vice President of Familias Unidas por la Justicia, an independent farmworker union in Washington State recorded this solidarity statement on the weekend after the March 17, 2015 general strike that was observed by over 50,000 mexican farmworkers in the San Quintin Valley in Baja California, Mexico. The farmworkers, organized as an independent farmworker union called the Alliance of National, State and Municipal Organizations for Social Justice released a communique [archive.is/bOe8c] that contained their grievances and a list of fourteen demands. The organization blockaded a freeway in Mexico to announce their general strike and soon after began a negotiation process that has continued with no resolution from the grower and government agencies. To broaden their movement, the independent Mexican farmworker union launched a caravan to several anchor communities in Baja California to affirm their resolution to call for a statewide policy change in the treatment of farmworkers in Baja California. On April 8, 2015 the Alliance released a second communique [archive.is/c9Ddf] that announced their resolve join Familias Unidas por La Justicia’s ongoing boycott against their employer Sakuma Brothers Farms, Inc. and their Driscoll’s contracts by launching a “boycott against Driscoll’s and against the companies that make a profit based on the exploitation of our labor power” on April 10, 2015.
Familias Unidas por la Justicia also incorporated the struggle of their sister organization in Mexico in a recent demonstration at the Washington State Capitol where the farmworkers crushed Driscoll’s berries and composted them, as they delivered evidence to the Employment Security Department that union farmworkers would be displaced if Sakuma Brothers Farms was to be approved for the use of H-2A guest workers from Mexico. [end excerpt]
* Familias Unidas por la Justicia farmworker's Rally at Sakuma Bros. Farm (2013-09-11) [youtube.com/watch?v=iIDgHH_hIXE]: This video was taken Wed Sept 11thOne month to the day that Federico was fired!It is the day Ramon was fired and over 300 workers walked out on strike.
* "Farmworkers on strike at Sakuma Brothers Farms in Burlington" (2013-09-19) [youtube.com/watch?v=x5v-Svhnqg4]
Also see:
* "Product of Mexico" (2014-12-29) [latimes.com/world/mexico-americas/la-watchdog-product-of-mexico-sg-storygallery.html], being a series of articles: "In Mexico's fields, children harvest crops that make it to American tables" [is.gd/f7qVPO]; "Product of Mexico: 'They take your last peso' " [is.gd/EBat6u]; "Desperate workers on a Mexican mega-farm: 'They treated us like slaves' " [is.gd/QAAuvH]; "Hardship on Mexico's farms, a bounty for U.S. tables" [is.gd/UtWUWN].
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* "They fired me for supporting the Union" (2015-06-04, calaborfed.org) [archive.is/rNir7]:
When I heard those two words, my heart sank. "You're fired."
The offense? Standing up for what's right. Fighting for a better life for myself, my family, and my coworkers. Organizing for better salaries, adequate sick leave, and guaranteed full-time hours.
My name is Fermín Rodríguez and 5 months ago I was terminated from El Super—a California-based, Mexican owned supermarket chain where I worked for 9 years.
Supporting El Super workers' fight for justice only takes a moment -- will you sign?
Our struggle for fair treatment on the job started almost two years ago, and despite the company's constant harassment, intimidation and interrogation, we're winning. Just last month, the U.S. Government announced it is prosecuting the company for using illegal tactics to coerce and silence workers standing up for their union—including my unfair termination. Moreover, the public has our back, as more than 90,000 consumers, over 100 community organizations and elected leaders have endorsed our boycott of El Super.
Despite those victories, we still have a long way to go.
Together, we need to show El Super and its parent company in Mexico, Grupo Chedraui, that we will not stand for unfair and unjust treatment of workers. Today is an international day of action with workers and allies in Mexico, the United States and Canada standing together for fairness at El Super.
Stand with us. Sign our petition at [http://is.gd/E2ZIXJ].
In solidarity, [signed] Fermín Rodríguez
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* "Blood on Your National Geographic" (2015-06-05, labornotes.org) [archive.is/ihc56] [begin excerpt]: Thirteen workers a day die on the job in the U.S. One of them was my co-worker: a veteran electrician crushed to death at 5 a.m. on April 24 at the Oklahoma City Quad/Graphics plant. He was servicing equipment on a maintenance call when he was pinned under a crane.
The company decided not to shut down the plant. Workers were sent back to the presses to finish their shifts printing magazines while their co-worker lay dying. Lawyers and insurance agents were in the plant before the man’s family was even notified of the incident.
A month earlier, another worker died at a different Quad/Graphics facility, in Atglen, Pennsylvania—crushed under a pile of books while unclogging a baler.
THE WALMART OF PRINTING -
At 1.5 million square feet, the Oklahoma City Quad plant is the largest print facility west of the Mississippi River. It employs 650 workers, who print and ship titles like National Geographic, Time, Sports Illustrated, People, US Weekly, and Boys’ Life magazine.
Wisconsin-based Quad is the fastest-growing company in the otherwise declining U.S. print industry. It catapulted into second place in the U.S. market in 2010 when it purchased rival World Color. It’s an international player too, with plants in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Colombia, Poland, and India.
Quad’s growth has largely come through buying up other companies and consolidating their operations, transferring their equipment to its other plants, and shedding thousands of jobs in the process. In the last few years, the company has closed at least a dozen plants. Just some of the job losses: 400 near Buffalo, New York, in 2011; 600 in Jonesboro, Arkansas, in 2012; and last year, 540 in Woodstock, Illinois, and 280 in St. Cloud, Minnesota.
The closings appear to target union facilities. Some workers have been able to transfer, but they lose union protection and take a large cut in pay. Press workers with experience elsewhere report that Quad’s non-union wages are only about two-thirds of its competitors.
WALKER BACKER -
Meanwhile the company has invested $175 million to expand its operations in Wisconsin since 2010— while the state’s climate for unions has steadily worsened.
Quad is a major backer of Governor Scott Walker, who’s regularly featured in company emails and events. Before his 2012 recall election, the governor held one of his final campaign events at a Quad plant in Wisconsin, joined by South Carolina’s antiunion Governor Nikki Haley.
At a Quad/Graphics conference just days after my co-worker was crushed to death, Walker was the featured speaker. He touted the company’s U.S. job growth—from 10,000 in 2009 to 22,000 today.
Walker conveniently left out the fact that nearly all these “new” jobs came from buying other companies—and then laying off workers. Nor did he mention the workers who have lost their lives because the company refuses to invest in proper safety measures. [end excerpt]
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Summary of the Decisions of the Second Labor Fightback Conference
(Rutgers, N.J., May 15-17, 2015) [archive.org/details/LaborFightBackConference2015]:
(report presented by Alan Benjamin on behalf of the Labor Fightback Network Steering Committee and approved unanimously, following a Motion to Adopt by Donna Dewitt, President Emeritus of the South Carolina AFL-CIO)
The Second Labor Fightback Conference brought together more than 100 union leaders and activists, along with representatives of progressive community organizations, with the purpose of developing an independent mass-action program to advance the interests of the working class and our allies.
Their deliberations were spurred by the opening remarks to the conference presented by Carol Gay, president of the Industrial Union Council of New Jersey, who stated, in part:
“The winds of change are blowing! Several strong movements are now bringing people together, unlike anything we’ve seen in a long time.
“In recent years we have been inspired by the Wisconsin uprising, the Chicago teachers, and the Moral Monday movement in North Carolina, to give only a few examples. Today we are seeing new movements spring up — $15 NOW [minimum wage –ed. note] and a Union, first in Seattle and now spreading across the country, as fast-food workers and WalMart workers strike for dignity and respect.
“The #BlackLivesMatter movement is growing and spreading by leaps and bounds. Communities from Ferguson, MO, to Baltimore, MD, to Newark, NJ are coming together to loudly denounce police brutality, racism and inequality saying, ‘Enough is Enough!’ and ‘No to Mass Incarceration and the New Jim Crow!’ And students are rising up to swell the ranks of these movements as well as mount their own resistance to student debt and rising tuition costs.
“This is the political context in which our conference takes place. . . . We have an opening right now to build on these uprisings, rebellions and courageous stands for justice and democracy. The bold, united resistance and the forging of an independent labor movement — in the streets, in the workplaces and in the electoral arena — show the path that will help us realize this vision for justice and equality.”
Eight conference workshops were held with the goal of coming up with agreed-upon Action Proposals. The workshops topics were as follows: Attacks Against Labor: Forging a Fightback Strategy; Independent Labor Political Action; Crisis in Education; Redirecting War Spending to Meet Human Needs: Stopping Unjust Wars and Occupations; Immigrant Rights; Black Freedom Struggle; Single-Payer Healthcare; and Organizing the South. The Action Proposals were then submitted to plenary sessions, where they were discussed, expanded and approved.
All the Action Proposals were audio-taped and will be compiled in a comprehensive report that will be distributed widely and published on the Labor Fightback Network website.
Among all the initiatives that were proposed, however, the Labor Fightback Conference will be focusing its energies to promote three central campaigns in the coming weeks and months. These will be, so to speak, the LFN’s signature campaigns. They are:
(1) The July 25 Million People’s March Against Police Brutality, Racial Injustice and Economic Inequality in Newark, N.J.
The Labor Fightback Conference will actively build the July 25 Million People’s March Against Police Brutality, Racial Injustice and Economic Inequality. This march will take place in Newark, N.J., at the initiative of the People’s Organization for Progress (POP) and a broad list of Black community organizations. The conference urges its supporters nationwide to take this action to our unions, in particular, for endorsement and active participation.
Toward that end, the conference organizers have prepared a Sample Resolution to be submitted for adoption by unions and community organizations nationwide. The Sample Resolution frames the current situation as follows:
“Police brutality is an ongoing, growing and deadly problem in the United States of America.
“It includes the unwarranted and unjustified killing of unarmed people, the use of excessive force, the violation of peoples’ constitutional rights, racist and discriminatory practices, criminal activity, corruption and misconduct, increased militarization of police forces, and the failure of the criminal justice system to hold police accountable.
“Police brutality is not an isolated problem. It is an historical problem with roots that are deep in the social fabric of this country. It must be seen within the broader context of racial and economic injustice and inequality.
“While the victims of police brutality come from all racial groups in society, the vast majority comes from African American, Latino, Native American and other communities of color. They are overwhelmingly poor and working class. . . .”
“For these reasons the People’s Organization for Progress (POP) is calling a MILLION PEOPLE’S MARCH Against Police Brutality, Racial Injustice, And Economic Inequality. We will march to demand an end to police brutality and justice for all of its victims, police reform, and an end to the problems of racial injustice and economic inequality, which lead to police brutality.”
The Sample Resolution goes on to put forward the following demands, all lifted from the call by POP for the July 25 action:
“We demand an end to police brutality, police violence, police torture and police terror.
“We demand the firing and prosecution of police officers involved in unjustifiable killing of unarmed civilians, use of excessive force, and violation of citizens constitutional rights.
“We demand community control of the police. We demand the establishment of Civilian Complaint Police Review Boards with subpoena and disciplinary powers over police forces.
“We demand legislation at the federal, state, and local levels that will punish police that engage in the unjustifiable killing of unarmed civilians, use of excessive force, and violation of citizens’ constitutional rights. . .
“We demand an immediate halt to all efforts to further militarize the police in this country. We demand the immediate termination of the federal government’s 1033 program that provides military equipment and hardware to local police forces. . .
“We demand justice for all victims of police brutality. We demand justice for every person who has been unjustly abused, brutalized, and killed by the police.
“We demand that the police stop the mass arrest of protestors.
“We demand an immediate halt to all police actions and policies that impair, limit, attempt to control, or aim to prevent the exercise of freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, other civil liberties, and the right to protest.
“We demand an immediate halt to police efforts to spy on, infiltrate, disrupt, and destroy organizations, associations, political parties, unions and dissident groups that are not involved in illegal activities.
“We demand local, state, and federal legislation that will give Civilian Complaint Police Review Boards the power to discipline police officers.”
This, again is a very important call — and our role must be to get our unions on board. As Brother Saladin Muhammad from Black Workers For Justice put it in his message to the conference:
“The slogans Black Lives Matter and Stop the War on Black America need to be embraced by the labor movement. . . . Today’s Black-led resistance to the capitalist neoliberal policies raises the question for labor of: Which Side Are You On? As the labor movement is the largest and most organized framework with the greatest resources of the U.S. working class, this becomes a decisive question for any long-term strategy to organize and mobilize contending and transformative power. . .
“The call for Black self-determination and liberation is a call for the organizing of Black power to ensure the challenges to the deepest structural economic, social and political policies necessary to bring about a real transformation of society that benefits the entire working class without privileges.”
We agree. Forward to the July 25 Million People’s March!
(2) The Fight Against the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement Under Any Guise
Anyone who thinks that Fast Track and TPP have been defeated, think again.
Less than 72 hours after the Senate voted down Fast Track, surprising all political pundits who expected the Senate to support Fast Track and the House of Representatives to oppose it, the Senate did an about-face, with a majority of Senators now saying they could support Fast Track.
What changed?
Obama and his administration offered the liberal Democrats who opposed Fast Track a deal they could not refuse. They offered a side agreement to address the concern about currency manipulation by China and other Asian countries, and they offered a side agreement on labor rights, stating that this agreement could even be written into the body of the agreement itself.
This is déjà-vu all over again. With NAFTA, the Clinton administration proposed labor and environmental agreements to sweeten the deal and neutralize opposition to that “free trade” pact — especially opposition from the labor movement. Special tribunals were set up to prosecute violators of labor, environmental and human rights — tribunals that never met and had no mandate. While labor continued to oppose NAFTA, it backed down from challenging the president. It soon became clear that all these side agreements were not worth the paper they were printed on.
And why is this? Why can’t these “free trade” deals be rendered acceptable by “social clauses,” “social charters,” side agreements — or even labor agreements added to the body of the “free trade” deals? It’s because the very nature of these “free trade” agreements is to “remove all barriers to free trade” — meaning labor rights, trade unions, public services and public enterprises, national regulations over the environment, monopolies over the natural resources . . . and democracy itself. All these must go in the name of “opening up markets” and investments, as per the dictates of the “neo-liberal” agenda.
When side agreements are added, they are immediately trumped by the main clauses in the agreements. These parallel agreements — whether in separate documents or written into the body of the texts — are not enforceable. They have no function other than to woo an unwary public and unwary public officials into going along with these unacceptable pacts. In a word, it’s a swindle.
The labor movement has been down this road before with NAFTA. Our slogan must be, “Never Again!” The demands of an independent labor movement must be drawn as a hard line in the sand: No Fast Track, No TPP under any form, under any name! This must be the battle cry of the labor movement. For our part, we must be the most resolute advocates of this position within labor; when others waver, we must be there to insist on No TPP Under Any Guise!
And to strengthen our message, we can distribute widely and promote the adoption of the resolution passed on May 11, 2015, by the San Francisco Labor Council titled, “No Labor Money for Supporters of Fast Track/TPP.” Let the politicians know in advance that if they go down this road they will not have labor’s support. The SFLC resolution states, in part: “Whereas, United Food & Commercial Workers International President Marc Perrone, in a March 2015 statement, declared: ‘At a time when our elected leaders should be focusing on raising wages, creating more opportunity, and addressing income inequality, the TPP would do exactly the opposite. That is why labor unions from across the U.S. are joining together to cut off funding to those who are pushing this harmful agreement.’ Perrone announced that the 1.3-million-member UFCW will no longer make any contributions ‘to federal officeholders who support or refuse to take a position on the TPP and Fast Track. . . . Unless a member of Congress is on the record opposing both, they will no longer be receiving our financial assistance.”
And the SFLC resolution concludes as follows: “Therefore be it Resolved, that the San Francisco Labor Council urges its affiliates, Bay Area labor councils, California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO and the entire labor movement to refuse to provide any union or PAC funds to any Senator or member of Congress who supports or ‘declines to take a position’ on Fast Track and the TPP. Unless a member of Congress or Senate is on the record opposing both, they should no longer be receiving labor’s financial assistance. Nor should these politicians receive any endorsement or in-kind assistance, such as phone banking, campaign mailings or precinct walking, from the union movement.”
(3) Campaign for Independent-Labor Community Politics
Two years ago, at the First National Labor Fightback Conference we were not yet ready to bring in a proposed campaign for independent labor-community politics. Our focus was on building an independent labor movement in the streets and workplaces across the country, with a focus on “No Cuts!”
Building an independent labor movement is still at the heart of our orientation — but two years later, the objective situation has changed and we can expand our message to labor’s independence in the electoral arena. The 2014 mid-term elections witnessed a massive rout of the Democrats, as a huge majority of working-class voters opted to stay home, and a sizeable number of workers voted for the Republicans. The issue of independent politics has surfaced big time, moreover, with the election of a socialist to City Council in Seattle, largely with labor’s support, and the election of an independent labor slate of candidates, supported by the city’s central labor council, in Lorain, Ohio.
See Attachment A: "Open Letter to the Delegates of the North Shore (Ohio) AFL-CIO Federation of Labor by rank-and-file trade unionists urging the Central Labor Council to run independent labor candidates for public office" (.pdf file) [http://is.gd/flqdZ6].
The political anger and frustration that has continued to mount over the years within the working class needs to be channeled by the labor movement into a positive direction toward running independent labor-community candidates, beginning at the local level, lest this anger be misdirected and led into dead-ends or dangerous adventures by forces hostile to labor and democracy.
On the eve of the 2016 presidential election, many in labor will be attracted to the Bernie Sanders campaign, as his platform echoes many of the platform planks that we stand for — though his silence on some other vital questions that we champion (notably on the U.S. wars in the Middle East and the uprising of Black youth across the United States against police terror) is no less evident.
The Labor Fightback Conference does not endorse any candidates in the mainstream parties. What has united us from the beginning, what is in the LFN Mission Statement, is the view that the bosses have two parties and that working people need one of our own. We take our cue on this central point from Tony Mazzocchi, our departed mentor from the Oil Chemical and Atomic Workers union and the Labor Party.
What has united the Labor Fightback Network, what unites us here at this conference, is the view that a break with the twin parties of the bosses is more urgent than ever, and that across the country the most immediate task is the running of independent labor-community candidates rooted in the labor movement and the communities of the oppressed. The spread of such candidacies, we have insisted in our multiple postings over the past two years, would lay the foundation for building a party of and for the working-class majority based on the unions and organizations of Black people, Latinos, and other oppressed groups.
We will work with Bernie Sanders supporters on all the big united-front campaigns where we agree — building the 50th anniversary of Medicare marches and celebrations on July 30 with our demand of “Protect, Improve and Expand Medicare!” We will be out in the streets alongside Bernie Sanders supporters to demand “No to Fast Track, No to TPP!” These are just two of many issues.
The LFN is a network. Unionists and activists who support our network are free to support whatever candidate they (or their organizations) wish to support, but they cannot do this in the name of the Labor Fightback Network.
So what are we proposing to do? How can we begin to break out of the stranglehold of this two-party system dominated by the parties of Big Business?
We are proposing to make use of our LFN blog (laborfightback.wordpress.com) and establish an electronic newsletter (as part of our regular LFN postings) to promote an open dialogue around this much-needed perspective and to support practical initiatives toward independent labor-community politics.
Again, there is a new political climate — and even the top echelons of the labor movement are not shielded from these winds of change.
There has been discussion at the highest levels of the AFL-CIO about focusing labor’s energies, in a select number of states, on issue-oriented campaigns, including referenda, as opposed to election campaigns.
At a recent meeting of State and Local AFL-CIO bodies, it was strongly advised that labor should run its own candidates — as only labor candidates can know and fully articulate our issues — as opposed to supporting candidates who say their uncles or aunts were part of the labor movement.
The downside, of course, is that these candidates from the labor movement will run in the Democratic Party. But again, we in the LFN can take the discussion one step further: Yes, we need our own candidates, as only people from our ranks can truly embrace and put forward our issues. But can we run them in a party that is not ours — a party that is run, funded and controlled by the bosses?
This is where our Open Dialogue for Independent Labor-Community Politics comes in. We can have a sustained discussion on these and other questions. For example, we can begin a serious discussion on the balance sheet of Labor Party Advocates and the Labor Party. What were the strengths, what were the weaknesses, could we have done things differently, and if so, what would that have been?
We can discuss the balance sheet of the recent Chicago municipal elections: What was the role of the Chicago Teachers Union during these elections? What were the obstacles?
And, hopefully, through these discussions we can help motivate union locals and possibly even city-wide labor bodies to do what the Lorain (Ohio) Central Labor Council did by running its own independent candidates for city office — or to build labor-community coalitions, with unions at the center, that can host labor-community congresses to run candidates that take their mandate from these congresses and are answerable to them. Hopefully we can generate some examples of success.
The time is ripe to open this dialogue.
Other Immediate Action Items Approved by the Conference -
In addition to the three central campaigns outlined above, the LFN Steering Committee took note of the fact that there are important items brought up in the workshops that must be acted upon immediately. These include the following:
- Send a solidarity letter on behalf of the Fightback Conference to the organizers of the June 1 Day of Action in Haiti against the UN/MINUSTAH occupation of Haiti. The Conference supports their demands and will also urge unionists and activists to organize forums and actions on or around June 1 in support of the demands contained in the Call from Haiti. See Attachment B: "Haiti June 1st Call" (.pdf file) [http://is.gd/t4sGzD].
- Send a letter, care/of c. Fernanda J.,to the Caravana Yaqui [the Yaqui indigenous people in Northern Mexico have organized three separate caravans to Mexico City to demand the cancellation of the “Independencia” Aqueduct project and the defense of their water rights – Ed.] and to the Political Organization of the Workers and People (OPT) and the National People’s Convention in Mexico in support of the five demands put forward by the National Meeting of the Resistance Movements (Encuentro de las Resistencias) held in December 2014 at the initiative of the Mexican Electrical Workers Union (SME) and ratified at the February 2015 National People’s Convention in Ayotzinapa (Guerrero). These five points are as follows:
* The disappeared students must be brought back alive;
* The perpetrators of the heinous actions must be brought to justice;
* All political prisoners must be freed;
* The government’s “counter-reforms” (energy, education, labor, healthcare, etc.) must be repealed.
* Enrique Peña Nieto must step down!
- Draft a Conference Resolution and send a letter to the leadership of the Alianzade Organizaciones Nacional, Estatal y Municipal por la Justicia Social del valle de San Quintín – that is, the Alliance of Farm Workers of San Quintin (Mexico) – in solidarity with their struggle for an increase in their daily wage from 100 pesos to 200 pesos [raise from $8 per day to $16 per day], for an eight-hour workday, for social security, and for recognition of their independent union as the bargaining agent for the 70,000 workers on strike since mid-March. Both the resolution and letter will link the struggle in San Quintín with the struggle of the Sakuma farmworkers in the state of Washington, where a boycott of Driscoll’s is also under way. See Attachment C: "Model Resolutions in solidarity with the San Quintín and Sakuma farmworkers" (.pdf file) [http://is.gd/JpoFKf]. Note: A version of this resolution is available in Spanish upon request.
- Send an urgent LFN postingto unionists and activists urging letters, emails, and phone calls to the authorities in Pennsylvania demanding the release from prison of Mumia Abu-Jamal and immediate attention to his emergency medical needs.
- In addition to these letters, we commit to promoting and/or actively building the following:
The Labor Fightback Conference will promote and actively urge unions and our allies to build the July 30 actions celebrating the 50th anniversary of Medicare with the demand of “Protect, Improve and Expand Medicare!” This demand is a bridge to single-payer healthcare. We will promote this pivotal struggle and continue to support the Labor Campaign for Single Payer Healthcare. In this same vein, we pledge to support every effort that promotes retirement security — particularly by protecting and expanding pensions. In addition, we will continue to fight for the expansion of Medicaid to every state.
The Labor Fightback Conference will continue to actively promote the campaigns organized by U.S. Labor Against the War, including the Campaign to Move the Money (away from war spending toward rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure and massive job creation), the Campaign for Economic Conversion and Just Transition, and on a more immediate and urgent note, the USLAW campaign directed at the Obama administration and the U.S. Congress to demand: (1) repeal the sanctions against Venezuela, (2) end the funding of the forces inside Venezuela that are organized to destabilize the government of Nicolás Maduro, (3) remove Venezuela from the list of countries that represent a threat to the security of the United States, and (4) restore full diplomatic relations with the democratically elected government of Venezuela. The U.S. government is hell-bent on removing the Maduro government and will find any and all pretexts toward this end.
See Attachment D: "USLAW Statement on Economic Conversion and Just Transition" (.pdf file)[is.gd/Hyl51u], and see Attachment E: "USLAW Resolution on Venezuela" (.pdf file)[is.gd/iQQEr6].
The Labor Fightback Conference will distributewidely throughout the labor movement and among our community supporters the letter sent to this Conference by veteran Black labor and political activist Saladin Muhammad titled “Black Workers and the U.S. Labor Movement” calling on the unions to embrace the Black Freedom struggle – and in particular calling on the unions and their community allies to discuss the Draft Manifesto for Black Liberation and to send Black representatives from their organizations to the National Assembly for Black Liberation to be held in the spring of 2016. See Attachment F: "Letter from Saladin Muhammad" (.pdf file) [is.gd/u26aNt].
In relation to the struggle for immigrant rights, the Fightback Conference goes on record in support of the Dignity Campaign and its 8-point platform. This is especially important today, when politicians in the Democratic Party are reviving the Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR) as a means to corral voters — especially Latino voters — back into the Democratic Party. As the Dignity Campaign has noted, the CIR proposals fall short of what is needed, and, moreover, they include unacceptable trade-offs. See Attachment G: "Dignity Campaign Platform" (.pdf file) [http://is.gd/yJsd2k].
The Fightback Conference will promote the campaign for a $15 Minimum Wage And a Union, Not a Penny Less! This last clause – Not a Penny Less – is the demand of an independent labor movement. Politicians who are wooing labor’s support in the 2016 elections are claiming support for the $15M campaign while explaining that they would settle for $10.25, perhaps a bit more. The unions need to draw a hard line in the sand, to demand nothing less than $15 per hour.
* Rutgers Closing Comments, by Jerry Gordon – Secretary, Labor Fightback Network:
This is the final point on our conference agenda. As the saying goes, “Last but not least.”
My purpose here is to urge you to consider joining forces with us in the Labor Fightback Network. Yes, this is a room full of activists who already belong to a range of other organizations. But here is why the LFN is unique and why we believe building unity and solidarity within the LFN is essential as well.
What especially distinguishes the LFN is its call for independent labor/community political action. This means ending the bankrupt strategy of supporting lesser-evil Democrats and running our own candidates for public office on a program advancing the needs of the working class majority.
Our focus is the organized labor movement, a movement of about 14 million workers. It has the power, numbers, resources, staff, and structure to take on and defeat the billionaire class. Most important, it is in a commanding position in manufacturing, communication, transportation and the other facets of the economy to exercise decisive power. Simply put, if workers decline to work, the economy comes to a halt.
A copy of the LFN’s Mission Statement, which spells out its program of militant struggle on behalf of the working class majority, is in your kits.
In the course of our two-year history, the LFN has been actively involved in the fight against police brutality and the unjustifiable slaying of Black youth and others; preventing cuts in Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other human needs programs, while expanding and improving these programs; and stopping the endless U.S. wars and occupations resulting from the militarization of U.S. foreign policy.
We fight for immigrant rights, stating with an immediate end to all deportations. And as supporters of the Labor Campaign for Single Payer, we advocate a single payer health care system.
The critical need for a network of the type we are speaking about here can, perhaps, best be seen by recollecting what happened in Wisconsin in 2011.
When Wisconsin workers occupied the Capitol and took to the streets by the hundreds of thousands in February and March 2011 to defend their unions and living standards, the effect was electrifying. Workers throughout the U.S. and the world were elated to see American workers taking such militant actions, reminiscent of the 1930s. Messages of solidarity poured in. “WE ARE ALL WISCONSIN!” were heard around the globe. The fight against the bosses’ union-busting and austerity offensive was at last being joined by masses of U.S. workers.
But from the beginning of this struggle, labor leaders, with some significant dissenters, settled on a strategy of agreeing to Governor Scott Walker’s economic demands, which were that union workers in the public-sector pick up a significant part of the tab for their health care and pension benefits, while Walker’s budget called for $2.3 billion in tax cuts to the wealthy over the next decade. These concessions were announced publicly — without a vote taken of the affected workers — and amounted to over $100 million. But Walker rebuffed the idea that this was a sufficient basis to bring about a settlement of his dispute with the unions involved. Walker’s appetite having been whetted, he continued to demand that the public-sector unions also agree to having their members’ collective-bargaining rights stripped away, with police and firefighters excepted.
With the occupation of the Capitol and the gigantic demonstrations reaching a showdown stage, something had to give. The South Central Federation of Labor in Wisconsin adopted a resolution calling for exploration of the idea of a general strike as a possible next step.
If the labor movement had united on a national basis at that point and called a truly massive Solidarity Day 3 “March on Madison!” it could well have spurred more far-reaching actions by the Wisconsin labor movement, including a generalized work stoppage and mass civil disobedience. In the absence of such national support, Walker’s legislation was approved, and the struggle was then diverted to electoral channels by labor leaders and the Democratic Party.
Not surprisingly, the attempt to recall Walker and elect Democratic candidate Tom Barrett as governor was decisively defeated.
As Milwaukee mayor, Barrett sought union concessions that went beyond those mandated by Walker’s collective-barraging law. In a debate with Walker, he made clear he was not labor’s candidate. He also said that he would not increase taxes on corporations and the wealthy.
The Wisconsin labor movement was deeply divided in the recall campaign. According to the exit polls, 38% of union households voted for Walker, as did 67% of male blue-collar workers.
For the labor movement to shift its focus from independent mass action in the streets to supporting Democratic Party politicians was a sure recipe for defeat.
Imagine what could have happened had there been a strong Labor Fightback Network, with supporters in cities across the country at the time of this Uprising in Wisconsin? We might have been able to tip the balance of forces inside the labor movement in favor of that nationwide March on Madison, with its possible extension in massive strikes and mass actions. Hundreds of thousands of union members were only hours away and could have been called upon to join a March on Madison.
The Wisconsin experience also underscores again the need for the U.S. labor movement to establish independent labor/community coalitions and run candidates for public office, based on a program reflecting the needs and aspirations of the working class majority, and with candidates accountable to the base. Such an independent working class political movement could go a long way toward unifying the working class and cementing ties with the youth, students, communities of color, and other progressive sectors of the population.
To conclude: I urge you to join forces with us to build a network of unionists and activists pledged to bring about the changes that will enable the labor movement – with our community partners – to lead the way to establish a just society that reflects the interests of the overwhelming majority, instead of the wealthy 1%.
Thank you.
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HANDS OFF OUR HOMES!
[HandsOffHomes.blogspot.com]
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The ship that sailed out into the Pacific in 1958 to halt atmospheric nuclear weapons tests in the Marshall Islands has been rescued from a watery grave and lovingly restored by Veterans For Peace.
THE CHRISTENING AND LAUNCH WILL TAKE PLACE ON JUNE 20TH, 2015 IN EUREKA, CALIFORNIA.
We would love to have you there for the joyous occasion as the Golden Rule resumes her mission of peace.
WHAT: Christening, presentations, and launch
WHEN: Saturday June 20th 2015, 2pm. Launch at 4pm.
WHERE: Zerlang and Zerlang Marine Services 1493 Fay Avenue, Samoa, CA 95564
— AND —
WHAT: Public viewing of the boat, food & Drink, Special Guest speakers, and PARTY !! speakers representing Greenpeace, Physicians For Social Responsibility, Quaker Friends, Veterans For Peace; Crew descendants, a Hiroshima bomb survivor and others. An oral history session, is intended as an unstructured opportunity for stories from our speakers and activists such as David McReynolds, War Resisters League; Shigeko Sassimori, Hibakusha (Hiroshima Survivor); David Hartsough, Quaker; and others. Seth Rick, of the Rick Foundation, will moderate the session.
WHEN: 5pm to 8pm Saturday June 20th 2015
WHERE: Humboldt Bay Aquatic Center 921 Waterfront Dr, Eureka, CA 95501
[VFPgoldenruleproject@)gmail.com] [707.443-5180].
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BAY AREA SOLIDARITY
Updates on campaigns for for Peace, Justice, & Freedom across the greater Bay Area, Norcal, and Socal
Black Lives Matter - Los Angeles is camping with Ezell Ford's family outside the house of Los Angeles Mayor, Eric Garcetti's house. #OccupyLAMayor has begun...
* "How to Not Pay Taxes" [web.archive.org/web/20150406190831/http://www.shareable.net/blog/how-to-not-pay-taxes] [begin excerpt]: A little over nine years ago, the war on Iraq began. Along with many other people, I was horrified at the magnitude of the suffering the U.S. would inflict with its “shock and awe” campaign, and also at the increasingly blind, ignorant, and bloodthirsty war fever that dominated our country. But I also knew that as a taxpayer I was a small but vital part of the monster we were unleashing, and that no matter how much I protested, as long as I continued to pay taxes, I was — in a practical, bottom-line sense — a war supporter. I had a hard time getting to sleep at night and looking myself in the mirror in the morning. I knew I had to stop supporting the war, if only for my own peace of mind. [end excerpt]
* "Strike Debt Bay Area hosted a Debtors’ Assembly in Oakland; 'If I owe the bank thousands, the bank owns me; but if, together, we owe the banks trillions, then we own the banks' ":
On Saturday, June 6, Strike Debt Bay Area, the local chapter of Strike Debt, hosted a Debtors’ Assembly. Strike Debt created the Rolling Jubilee, a mutual-aid project that buys debt at steeply discounted prices and then abolishes it; the Corinthian 100 Student Debt Strike; and the Debt Resisters’ Operations Manual.
As individuals, families, and communities, most of us are drowning in debt for the basic things we need to live, including housing, education, and health care. Even those of us who do not have personal debt are affected by predatory lending. Our essential public services are cut because our cities and towns are held hostage by the same big banks that our government supports and bails out when they gamble away our collective financial security. Big banks rake in enormous profits and don’t have to pay their debts, but we do.
Debt keeps us isolated, ashamed, and afraid—of becoming homeless, of going hungry, of being crippled or killed by treatable illness, or of being trapped in poverty-level jobs. Those facing foreclosure, medical debt, student debt, and credit card debt feel alone, hounded by debt collectors, and forced into unrewarding work to keep up with payments.
Strike Debt is building a movement to challenge this system while creating alternatives and supporting each other. At the Debtors’ Assembly we came together as a community and began to rethink debt, not as an issue of individual shame, but as a political platform for collective resistance and action. Come to a future Assembly to learn about tools for escaping the closing walls of debt, to share resources and skills, and to magnify our assembled energy. As we share our experiences we can begin to take back from the financiers what they have taken from us: our freedom and our future.
Join us as we imagine and create a new world based on the common good, not Wall Street profits.
Strike Debt Bay Area: [strike-debt-bay-area.tumblr.com]
Strike Debt: [strikedebt.org]
Corinthian 100 Student Debt Strike: [debtcollective.org/studentstrike]
Rolling Jubilee: [rollingjubilee.org]
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* "Tens of Thousands March Against Global Elites Ahead of G7; 'The representatives of the richest and most powerful countries in the world lay claim to decide the fate of the entire world, without having any legitimation for this' " (2015-06-04, commondreams.org) [archive.is/lA4aT]
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SOLANO PEACE & FREEDOM PARTY
[SolanoPFP.blogspot.com] Use the ballot for our own People's candidates and legislation, campaign for the future!
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* "A Truly Green Economy Requires Alliances Between Labour and Indigenous People" (2015-06-04, ricochetmedia.ca) [archive.is/N3ExY]
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* "Can a Complementary Currency Help End Poverty? A Q&A with John Boik" (2014-12-12) [web.archive.org/web/20150606020038/http://www.shareable.net/blog/can-a-complementary-currency-help-end-poverty-a-qa-with-john-boik]
Benefits And Impacts Of Cooperatives (2014) [https://archive.org/download/BenefitsAndImpactsOfCooperatives/Benefits%20and%20Impacts%20of%20Cooperatives.pdf]
Fact Sheet on the Benefits and Impacts of Cooperatives -
- Cooperative enterprises address market failure: provide rural electricity or other utilities in sparsely populated areas; affordable healthy and organic foods; access to credit and banking services; access to affordable housing; access to quality affordable child or elder care; access to markets for culturally sensitive goods and arts.
- Cooperatives overcome the historic barriers to development in the ways they aggregate people, resources, and capital (Ziewacz 1994). Of 162 non-agricultural cooperatives in one study, 44% of the respondents said they could not have opened their business had it not been organized as a cooperative (Bhuyan, Lelstritz, and Cobia 1998). a The economic activity of the 30,000 cooperatives in the U.S. contributes an estimated $154 billion to the nation's total income. The co-ops have helped to create over 2.1 million jobs,with an impact on wages and salaries of almost $75 billion (Deller et al 2009).
- Cooperative businesses have lower failure rates than traditional corporations and small businesses: after the first year of startup (10% failure versus 60-80%), and after 5 years in business (90% still operating versus 3-5% of traditional businesses). (World Council of CreditUnions study in Williams 2007) - Since most cooperatives are owned and controlled by local residents, it is more likely to promote community growth than an investor-oriented firm. Since cooperative businessobjectives are needs oriented, cooperatives are more likely to stay in the community. (Zeuliet al 2003) a Cooperative businesses stabilize communities because they are community-based business anchors; and distribute, recycle, and multiply local expertise and capital within a community. They enable their owners to generate income, and jobs; accumulate assets; provide affordable, quality goods and services; develop human and social capital (Gordon Nembhard 2002, 2004b, 2008a; Fairbairn et al 1991; Logue and Yates 2005).
- Co-ops and their members pay taxes, and are good citizens by giving donations to their communities, paying their employees fairly, and using sustainable practices (Gordon Nembhard 2013; Iowa Association of Electrical Co-ops. 2011).
- Cooperative start-up costs can be low because: are eligible to apply for loans and grants from a number of federal and state agencies designed to support co-op development; are often provided relatively low cost loans from non-governmental financial institutions like cooperative banks because they are chartered or established to do so. (Zeuli, Freshwater, Markley and Barkley 2003) a WAGES in Oakland CA finds that after owning the house cleaning co-op the worker-owners'median Income increased to over $40,000 (before the co-op the Latina owners had a median income of $24,000). Ownership in the co-op has put their income higher than the national average of $38,000 for Latinos/as (WAGES no date).
- Food co-ops spend more revenues locally, buy more products locally, buy more organic produce, recycle more plastic, and create more jobs than conventional grocers. For every$1,000 spent at a food co-op, $1,606 goes to the local economy; for every $1 million in sales, 9.3 jobs are created (Yes! Magazine 2013).
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* "A Movement That Makes a Mockery of Its Conventions; How the Humanist Movement Fosters Economic Injustice" (2015-05-28, by David Hoelscher) [archive.is/rzj4r]
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* "Can a Complementary Currency Help End Poverty? A Q&A with John Boik" (2014-12-12) [web.archive.org/web/20150606020038/http://www.shareable.net/blog/can-a-complementary-currency-help-end-poverty-a-qa-with-john-boik]
Benefits And Impacts Of Cooperatives (2014) [https://archive.org/download/BenefitsAndImpactsOfCooperatives/Benefits%20and%20Impacts%20of%20Cooperatives.pdf]
Fact Sheet on the Benefits and Impacts of Cooperatives -
- Cooperative enterprises address market failure: provide rural electricity or other utilities in sparsely populated areas; affordable healthy and organic foods; access to credit and banking services; access to affordable housing; access to quality affordable child or elder care; access to markets for culturally sensitive goods and arts.
- Cooperatives overcome the historic barriers to development in the ways they aggregate people, resources, and capital (Ziewacz 1994). Of 162 non-agricultural cooperatives in one study, 44% of the respondents said they could not have opened their business had it not been organized as a cooperative (Bhuyan, Lelstritz, and Cobia 1998). a The economic activity of the 30,000 cooperatives in the U.S. contributes an estimated $154 billion to the nation's total income. The co-ops have helped to create over 2.1 million jobs,with an impact on wages and salaries of almost $75 billion (Deller et al 2009).
- Cooperative businesses have lower failure rates than traditional corporations and small businesses: after the first year of startup (10% failure versus 60-80%), and after 5 years in business (90% still operating versus 3-5% of traditional businesses). (World Council of CreditUnions study in Williams 2007) - Since most cooperatives are owned and controlled by local residents, it is more likely to promote community growth than an investor-oriented firm. Since cooperative businessobjectives are needs oriented, cooperatives are more likely to stay in the community. (Zeuliet al 2003) a Cooperative businesses stabilize communities because they are community-based business anchors; and distribute, recycle, and multiply local expertise and capital within a community. They enable their owners to generate income, and jobs; accumulate assets; provide affordable, quality goods and services; develop human and social capital (Gordon Nembhard 2002, 2004b, 2008a; Fairbairn et al 1991; Logue and Yates 2005).
- Co-ops and their members pay taxes, and are good citizens by giving donations to their communities, paying their employees fairly, and using sustainable practices (Gordon Nembhard 2013; Iowa Association of Electrical Co-ops. 2011).
- Cooperative start-up costs can be low because: are eligible to apply for loans and grants from a number of federal and state agencies designed to support co-op development; are often provided relatively low cost loans from non-governmental financial institutions like cooperative banks because they are chartered or established to do so. (Zeuli, Freshwater, Markley and Barkley 2003) a WAGES in Oakland CA finds that after owning the house cleaning co-op the worker-owners'median Income increased to over $40,000 (before the co-op the Latina owners had a median income of $24,000). Ownership in the co-op has put their income higher than the national average of $38,000 for Latinos/as (WAGES no date).
- Food co-ops spend more revenues locally, buy more products locally, buy more organic produce, recycle more plastic, and create more jobs than conventional grocers. For every$1,000 spent at a food co-op, $1,606 goes to the local economy; for every $1 million in sales, 9.3 jobs are created (Yes! Magazine 2013).
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* "A Movement That Makes a Mockery of Its Conventions; How the Humanist Movement Fosters Economic Injustice" (2015-05-28, by David Hoelscher) [archive.is/rzj4r]
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CHICANO POWER! LUCHA PARA LA NUEVA AZTLAN!
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SOLIDARITY WITH THE NEW AFRICAN NATION!
Black Power! Revive the Community! Defend the Nation!
The Rebellion of Baltimore is only the beginning!
A Regional Peoples Assembly & Tribunal was called for by the Baltimore Peoples Power Assembly and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Greater Baltimore Chapter, on June 6th [archive.is/zBncz], to STOP POLICE TERROR & RACISM, and to demand JOBS & LIVABLE WAGES. The purpose of the Assembly & Tribunal was outlined for the participants:
Come out & speak out – Testify if you have been abused by the police. Be a part of the tribunal process.
Join a major day long deliberation and discussion on next steps for the struggle both local and national.
Join the “Know your rights/cop watch” teams – Fight for jobs, livable wages, education, not jails!
BUILD COMMUNITY POWER
* "Gentrification and the Death of Black Communities" (2015-05-27, blackagendareport.com) [archive.is/Fg48G] [begin excerpt]: Gentrification – the displacement of Black and brown urban residents by more affluent whites – is a function of the same forces that emptied the cities of much of their white populations, generations ago: the movement of capital. Capital wants the cities back, and clears spaces for whites. “The system is stacked in favor of moneyed interests and white people.”
“The inhabitants are pushed aside to make way for transplants who may come from the suburbs, another state or even from another country.”
There is no city in this country where black people are safe from the current method of displacement known as gentrification. Washington, DC, once had a majority black population and was known as Chocolate City. Perhaps it is now the Café au Lait city as the black population has fallen below 50%. That dynamic gathers steam in New York and other cities and continues to push people out of their homes, deprive them of needed services and erode their quality of life. [end excerpt]
* "Watts housing project one of state’s top 5 percent most polluted areas" (2015-05-20, liberationnews.org) [archive.is/NCRb1]
* "McKinney, Texas: Rage Is Our Rightful Response to Anti-Black Racism; The sickening sight of black boys and girls treated like chattel by a Texas cop is a reminder that the lives and pain of black children don’t matter" (2015-06-08, theroot.com) [archive.is/3o3Au]
* "Police Attack On Black Children At Pool Party Sparks Outrage, Calls to Mobilize; Brutal assault captured on film nationally derided as racist and inhumane" (2015-06-08, commondreams.org) [archive.is/rfM2O].
* "Cops Crash Pool Party" video [youtube.com/watch?v=R46-XTqXkzE]
* "McKinney Pool Part teen interview" [youtube.com/watch?v=uZjHwOHFJGk]
* "Philly Police At War With Black Lives Matter Activists" (2015-06-05, phillyrealjustice.tumblr.com) [archive.is/CcW8X]
* "Demand justice for Marilyn Zuniga -- N.J. teacher fired for supporting Mumia Abu-Jamal" (2015-06-02, answercoalition.org) [archive.is/vbjpb]
* "Cleveland Uprising, Yet Another Battle Front For Justice" (2015-05-25, by Frank Chapman, Field Organizer for the Chicago Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression) [archive.is/7cT0M]:
First let us express our unconditional solidarity with the Cleveland protestors. Cleveland Officer Michael Brelo was a participant in a lynch style murder of two innocent Black people and the Judge, John P. O’Donnell let him go. So the Judge is just as guilty as the cop lynch mob. And our government is making claims in the international community that there is no human rights crisis in the United States when they should be prosecuting all these criminals in Cleveland who sit in positions of authority.
Some of my comrades in struggle tell me that Cleveland is just another example of the fact that there is no justice for victims of police crimes. That is true; there is no justice and our communities exist in a constant state of harassment, racial profiling and murderous assaults by the police. But this observation by itself does not capture the essence of the momentous events we are witnessing in Cleveland and throughout the land. We are not witnessing in Ferguson, New York, Madison, Baltimore and now Cleveland just more incidents of racist injustice we are witnessing in conjunction with these incidents a continuous stream of protests and uprisings. If we confine our thinking to “this is just another example” of a decrepit, racist system doing what it was designed to do then our focus is not on the momentous fact that presently there is a significant mass uprising against this unjust system so it can’t continue to do what it was designed to do.
As organizers and fighters for justice and freedom it is our job, our responsibility, to focus on the mass uprisings but not like chroniclers, pundits or distant observers. The establishment newspapers, media and official society as a whole continue to describe the uprisings as “riots, and breakdowns in law and order that cannot be tolerated”. They don’t understand that so long as the police murder our people with impunity there can be no peace between the people of oppressed communities and the police. The cries of our people have been (for decades) “No Justice, No Peace!” Today these words are not just in the mouths of a few, it is in the mouths of millions. As participants in the struggle we see in the present uprisings a turning point in the struggle against police crimes, we see the beginnings of an organized resistance movement of national and international significance. Yes this is the struggle developing before our very eyes and those of us immersed in these struggles need to pause for a moment and sake the dust out of our eyes so that we can clearly see the point that has been reached.
The unrestricted power of the police is presently being challenged in Ferguson, St. Louis, Cleveland, Baltimore, and Chicago and even in places we haven’t heard of by a mass demand for community control of the police. These are all different battle fronts with uneven advances toward the goal of empowering oppressed communities to hold the police accountable and to determine how their communities are policed.
We must pay close attention to the dynamics of all the present struggles. We must acknowledge where we have made advances and where there have been set backs. We must always be summing up our experiences and preparing for the next battle. We must keep before the people concrete political objectives like an all elected Civilian Police Accountability Council and consistently engage our people in this political struggle. We must focus on the solution part of the problem of social misery and racist injustice. We must see ourselves not just as victims of police tyranny but as freedom fighters, as strategists and tacticians in the struggle for democracy and freedom for our people.
We have entered an era of uprisings of the people where contradictions that have been ripening for decades (with Black people for centuries) are coming to light. The Black masses who have long been ignored by official society, and frequently miss led by pretended political saviors, are now entering upon the stage of history to claim their rightful place. We are learning in the dirt and blood of battle, as the world watches and often joins in solidarity with us, how to take necessary steps in the struggle against police tyranny. We have known the pain and agony of a cowardly and trivial pass of racist and political repression, we have crossed rivers of blood to get to this time and place in our movement where we say
NO MORE! THIS STOPS TODAY!
information collected by the Committee for
STUDENT POWER!
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Defend Public Higher Education
information collected by the Worker's Defense Committee
WORKER'S POWER!
* Presentation by Fernanda Justo, Political Activist in Mexico, to the Opening Session of the Second Labor Fightback Conference (2015-05-15) [archive.is/GZOzM]
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* "Activists demand re-hiring at Walmart" (2015-06-03, peoplesworld.org) [archive.is/znrwP]
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* "It’s official! LA City Council votes hike in minimum wage to $15" (2015-06-04, peoplesworld.org) [archive.is/OSSTB]
* " 'The Sky Remains Aloft': Dire Minimum Wage Predictions Proved Wrong Local business success stories show 'there's no reason for anyone to treat these kinds of threats as credible any longer' " (2015-06-14, commondreams.org) [archive.is/Mg3AW]
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* "Coal criminal seeks Vegas fun as he delays justice for miners" (2015-06-02, peoplesworld.org) [archive.is/3MR7F]
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* Trabajadores Agricolas San Quintin fundraiser page [www.gofundme.com/SanQuint-n] [begin excerpt]: What is happening in San Quintín? "He charges 102 pesos, about $7, for a package of 40 diapers — 30 pesos more than the discount store. Soda and other items were only slightly more expensive than at convenience stores. For laborers, even small markups sting. After juggling their debts for much of the season, many grow desperate as the end of the harvest approaches and there are fewer tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers left to pick. Wages drop — from about $14 a day at the beginning of the harvest to $4 — but prices at the tienda don't. " Due to the poor working conditions in San Quintín the workers have organized to improve the conditions. For more information on the working conditions in San Quintín check out :
* FUJ Solidarity Statement to San Quintin Farmworkers (2015-04-11) [youtube.com/watch?v=NCZDGlGNqmU], article [archive.is/k5tTU] [begin excerpt]: Felimon Pineda, Vice President of Familias Unidas por la Justicia, an independent farmworker union in Washington State recorded this solidarity statement on the weekend after the March 17, 2015 general strike that was observed by over 50,000 mexican farmworkers in the San Quintin Valley in Baja California, Mexico. The farmworkers, organized as an independent farmworker union called the Alliance of National, State and Municipal Organizations for Social Justice released a communique [archive.is/bOe8c] that contained their grievances and a list of fourteen demands. The organization blockaded a freeway in Mexico to announce their general strike and soon after began a negotiation process that has continued with no resolution from the grower and government agencies. To broaden their movement, the independent Mexican farmworker union launched a caravan to several anchor communities in Baja California to affirm their resolution to call for a statewide policy change in the treatment of farmworkers in Baja California. On April 8, 2015 the Alliance released a second communique [archive.is/c9Ddf] that announced their resolve join Familias Unidas por La Justicia’s ongoing boycott against their employer Sakuma Brothers Farms, Inc. and their Driscoll’s contracts by launching a “boycott against Driscoll’s and against the companies that make a profit based on the exploitation of our labor power” on April 10, 2015.
Familias Unidas por la Justicia also incorporated the struggle of their sister organization in Mexico in a recent demonstration at the Washington State Capitol where the farmworkers crushed Driscoll’s berries and composted them, as they delivered evidence to the Employment Security Department that union farmworkers would be displaced if Sakuma Brothers Farms was to be approved for the use of H-2A guest workers from Mexico. [end excerpt]
* Familias Unidas por la Justicia farmworker's Rally at Sakuma Bros. Farm (2013-09-11) [youtube.com/watch?v=iIDgHH_hIXE]: This video was taken Wed Sept 11thOne month to the day that Federico was fired!It is the day Ramon was fired and over 300 workers walked out on strike.
* "Farmworkers on strike at Sakuma Brothers Farms in Burlington" (2013-09-19) [youtube.com/watch?v=x5v-Svhnqg4]
Also see:
* "Product of Mexico" (2014-12-29) [latimes.com/world/mexico-americas/la-watchdog-product-of-mexico-sg-storygallery.html], being a series of articles: "In Mexico's fields, children harvest crops that make it to American tables" [is.gd/f7qVPO]; "Product of Mexico: 'They take your last peso' " [is.gd/EBat6u]; "Desperate workers on a Mexican mega-farm: 'They treated us like slaves' " [is.gd/QAAuvH]; "Hardship on Mexico's farms, a bounty for U.S. tables" [is.gd/UtWUWN].
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* "They fired me for supporting the Union" (2015-06-04, calaborfed.org) [archive.is/rNir7]:
When I heard those two words, my heart sank. "You're fired."The offense? Standing up for what's right. Fighting for a better life for myself, my family, and my coworkers. Organizing for better salaries, adequate sick leave, and guaranteed full-time hours.
My name is Fermín Rodríguez and 5 months ago I was terminated from El Super—a California-based, Mexican owned supermarket chain where I worked for 9 years.
Supporting El Super workers' fight for justice only takes a moment -- will you sign?
Our struggle for fair treatment on the job started almost two years ago, and despite the company's constant harassment, intimidation and interrogation, we're winning. Just last month, the U.S. Government announced it is prosecuting the company for using illegal tactics to coerce and silence workers standing up for their union—including my unfair termination. Moreover, the public has our back, as more than 90,000 consumers, over 100 community organizations and elected leaders have endorsed our boycott of El Super.
Despite those victories, we still have a long way to go.
Together, we need to show El Super and its parent company in Mexico, Grupo Chedraui, that we will not stand for unfair and unjust treatment of workers. Today is an international day of action with workers and allies in Mexico, the United States and Canada standing together for fairness at El Super.
Stand with us. Sign our petition at [http://is.gd/E2ZIXJ].
In solidarity, [signed] Fermín Rodríguez
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* "Blood on Your National Geographic" (2015-06-05, labornotes.org) [archive.is/ihc56] [begin excerpt]: Thirteen workers a day die on the job in the U.S. One of them was my co-worker: a veteran electrician crushed to death at 5 a.m. on April 24 at the Oklahoma City Quad/Graphics plant. He was servicing equipment on a maintenance call when he was pinned under a crane.
The company decided not to shut down the plant. Workers were sent back to the presses to finish their shifts printing magazines while their co-worker lay dying. Lawyers and insurance agents were in the plant before the man’s family was even notified of the incident.
A month earlier, another worker died at a different Quad/Graphics facility, in Atglen, Pennsylvania—crushed under a pile of books while unclogging a baler.
THE WALMART OF PRINTING -
At 1.5 million square feet, the Oklahoma City Quad plant is the largest print facility west of the Mississippi River. It employs 650 workers, who print and ship titles like National Geographic, Time, Sports Illustrated, People, US Weekly, and Boys’ Life magazine.
Wisconsin-based Quad is the fastest-growing company in the otherwise declining U.S. print industry. It catapulted into second place in the U.S. market in 2010 when it purchased rival World Color. It’s an international player too, with plants in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Colombia, Poland, and India.
Quad’s growth has largely come through buying up other companies and consolidating their operations, transferring their equipment to its other plants, and shedding thousands of jobs in the process. In the last few years, the company has closed at least a dozen plants. Just some of the job losses: 400 near Buffalo, New York, in 2011; 600 in Jonesboro, Arkansas, in 2012; and last year, 540 in Woodstock, Illinois, and 280 in St. Cloud, Minnesota.
The closings appear to target union facilities. Some workers have been able to transfer, but they lose union protection and take a large cut in pay. Press workers with experience elsewhere report that Quad’s non-union wages are only about two-thirds of its competitors.
WALKER BACKER -
Meanwhile the company has invested $175 million to expand its operations in Wisconsin since 2010— while the state’s climate for unions has steadily worsened.
Quad is a major backer of Governor Scott Walker, who’s regularly featured in company emails and events. Before his 2012 recall election, the governor held one of his final campaign events at a Quad plant in Wisconsin, joined by South Carolina’s antiunion Governor Nikki Haley.
At a Quad/Graphics conference just days after my co-worker was crushed to death, Walker was the featured speaker. He touted the company’s U.S. job growth—from 10,000 in 2009 to 22,000 today.
Walker conveniently left out the fact that nearly all these “new” jobs came from buying other companies—and then laying off workers. Nor did he mention the workers who have lost their lives because the company refuses to invest in proper safety measures. [end excerpt]
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Summary of the Decisions of the Second Labor Fightback Conference
(Rutgers, N.J., May 15-17, 2015) [archive.org/details/LaborFightBackConference2015]:
(report presented by Alan Benjamin on behalf of the Labor Fightback Network Steering Committee and approved unanimously, following a Motion to Adopt by Donna Dewitt, President Emeritus of the South Carolina AFL-CIO)
The Second Labor Fightback Conference brought together more than 100 union leaders and activists, along with representatives of progressive community organizations, with the purpose of developing an independent mass-action program to advance the interests of the working class and our allies.
Their deliberations were spurred by the opening remarks to the conference presented by Carol Gay, president of the Industrial Union Council of New Jersey, who stated, in part:
“The winds of change are blowing! Several strong movements are now bringing people together, unlike anything we’ve seen in a long time.
“In recent years we have been inspired by the Wisconsin uprising, the Chicago teachers, and the Moral Monday movement in North Carolina, to give only a few examples. Today we are seeing new movements spring up — $15 NOW [minimum wage –ed. note] and a Union, first in Seattle and now spreading across the country, as fast-food workers and WalMart workers strike for dignity and respect.
“The #BlackLivesMatter movement is growing and spreading by leaps and bounds. Communities from Ferguson, MO, to Baltimore, MD, to Newark, NJ are coming together to loudly denounce police brutality, racism and inequality saying, ‘Enough is Enough!’ and ‘No to Mass Incarceration and the New Jim Crow!’ And students are rising up to swell the ranks of these movements as well as mount their own resistance to student debt and rising tuition costs.
“This is the political context in which our conference takes place. . . . We have an opening right now to build on these uprisings, rebellions and courageous stands for justice and democracy. The bold, united resistance and the forging of an independent labor movement — in the streets, in the workplaces and in the electoral arena — show the path that will help us realize this vision for justice and equality.”
Eight conference workshops were held with the goal of coming up with agreed-upon Action Proposals. The workshops topics were as follows: Attacks Against Labor: Forging a Fightback Strategy; Independent Labor Political Action; Crisis in Education; Redirecting War Spending to Meet Human Needs: Stopping Unjust Wars and Occupations; Immigrant Rights; Black Freedom Struggle; Single-Payer Healthcare; and Organizing the South. The Action Proposals were then submitted to plenary sessions, where they were discussed, expanded and approved.
All the Action Proposals were audio-taped and will be compiled in a comprehensive report that will be distributed widely and published on the Labor Fightback Network website.
Among all the initiatives that were proposed, however, the Labor Fightback Conference will be focusing its energies to promote three central campaigns in the coming weeks and months. These will be, so to speak, the LFN’s signature campaigns. They are:
(1) The July 25 Million People’s March Against Police Brutality, Racial Injustice and Economic Inequality in Newark, N.J.
The Labor Fightback Conference will actively build the July 25 Million People’s March Against Police Brutality, Racial Injustice and Economic Inequality. This march will take place in Newark, N.J., at the initiative of the People’s Organization for Progress (POP) and a broad list of Black community organizations. The conference urges its supporters nationwide to take this action to our unions, in particular, for endorsement and active participation.
Toward that end, the conference organizers have prepared a Sample Resolution to be submitted for adoption by unions and community organizations nationwide. The Sample Resolution frames the current situation as follows:
“Police brutality is an ongoing, growing and deadly problem in the United States of America.
“It includes the unwarranted and unjustified killing of unarmed people, the use of excessive force, the violation of peoples’ constitutional rights, racist and discriminatory practices, criminal activity, corruption and misconduct, increased militarization of police forces, and the failure of the criminal justice system to hold police accountable.
“Police brutality is not an isolated problem. It is an historical problem with roots that are deep in the social fabric of this country. It must be seen within the broader context of racial and economic injustice and inequality.
“While the victims of police brutality come from all racial groups in society, the vast majority comes from African American, Latino, Native American and other communities of color. They are overwhelmingly poor and working class. . . .”
“For these reasons the People’s Organization for Progress (POP) is calling a MILLION PEOPLE’S MARCH Against Police Brutality, Racial Injustice, And Economic Inequality. We will march to demand an end to police brutality and justice for all of its victims, police reform, and an end to the problems of racial injustice and economic inequality, which lead to police brutality.”
The Sample Resolution goes on to put forward the following demands, all lifted from the call by POP for the July 25 action:
“We demand an end to police brutality, police violence, police torture and police terror.
“We demand the firing and prosecution of police officers involved in unjustifiable killing of unarmed civilians, use of excessive force, and violation of citizens constitutional rights.
“We demand community control of the police. We demand the establishment of Civilian Complaint Police Review Boards with subpoena and disciplinary powers over police forces.
“We demand legislation at the federal, state, and local levels that will punish police that engage in the unjustifiable killing of unarmed civilians, use of excessive force, and violation of citizens’ constitutional rights. . .
“We demand an immediate halt to all efforts to further militarize the police in this country. We demand the immediate termination of the federal government’s 1033 program that provides military equipment and hardware to local police forces. . .
“We demand justice for all victims of police brutality. We demand justice for every person who has been unjustly abused, brutalized, and killed by the police.
“We demand that the police stop the mass arrest of protestors.
“We demand an immediate halt to all police actions and policies that impair, limit, attempt to control, or aim to prevent the exercise of freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, other civil liberties, and the right to protest.
“We demand an immediate halt to police efforts to spy on, infiltrate, disrupt, and destroy organizations, associations, political parties, unions and dissident groups that are not involved in illegal activities.
“We demand local, state, and federal legislation that will give Civilian Complaint Police Review Boards the power to discipline police officers.”
This, again is a very important call — and our role must be to get our unions on board. As Brother Saladin Muhammad from Black Workers For Justice put it in his message to the conference:
“The slogans Black Lives Matter and Stop the War on Black America need to be embraced by the labor movement. . . . Today’s Black-led resistance to the capitalist neoliberal policies raises the question for labor of: Which Side Are You On? As the labor movement is the largest and most organized framework with the greatest resources of the U.S. working class, this becomes a decisive question for any long-term strategy to organize and mobilize contending and transformative power. . .
“The call for Black self-determination and liberation is a call for the organizing of Black power to ensure the challenges to the deepest structural economic, social and political policies necessary to bring about a real transformation of society that benefits the entire working class without privileges.”
We agree. Forward to the July 25 Million People’s March!
(2) The Fight Against the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement Under Any Guise
Anyone who thinks that Fast Track and TPP have been defeated, think again.
Less than 72 hours after the Senate voted down Fast Track, surprising all political pundits who expected the Senate to support Fast Track and the House of Representatives to oppose it, the Senate did an about-face, with a majority of Senators now saying they could support Fast Track.
What changed?
Obama and his administration offered the liberal Democrats who opposed Fast Track a deal they could not refuse. They offered a side agreement to address the concern about currency manipulation by China and other Asian countries, and they offered a side agreement on labor rights, stating that this agreement could even be written into the body of the agreement itself.
This is déjà-vu all over again. With NAFTA, the Clinton administration proposed labor and environmental agreements to sweeten the deal and neutralize opposition to that “free trade” pact — especially opposition from the labor movement. Special tribunals were set up to prosecute violators of labor, environmental and human rights — tribunals that never met and had no mandate. While labor continued to oppose NAFTA, it backed down from challenging the president. It soon became clear that all these side agreements were not worth the paper they were printed on.
And why is this? Why can’t these “free trade” deals be rendered acceptable by “social clauses,” “social charters,” side agreements — or even labor agreements added to the body of the “free trade” deals? It’s because the very nature of these “free trade” agreements is to “remove all barriers to free trade” — meaning labor rights, trade unions, public services and public enterprises, national regulations over the environment, monopolies over the natural resources . . . and democracy itself. All these must go in the name of “opening up markets” and investments, as per the dictates of the “neo-liberal” agenda.
When side agreements are added, they are immediately trumped by the main clauses in the agreements. These parallel agreements — whether in separate documents or written into the body of the texts — are not enforceable. They have no function other than to woo an unwary public and unwary public officials into going along with these unacceptable pacts. In a word, it’s a swindle.
The labor movement has been down this road before with NAFTA. Our slogan must be, “Never Again!” The demands of an independent labor movement must be drawn as a hard line in the sand: No Fast Track, No TPP under any form, under any name! This must be the battle cry of the labor movement. For our part, we must be the most resolute advocates of this position within labor; when others waver, we must be there to insist on No TPP Under Any Guise!
And to strengthen our message, we can distribute widely and promote the adoption of the resolution passed on May 11, 2015, by the San Francisco Labor Council titled, “No Labor Money for Supporters of Fast Track/TPP.” Let the politicians know in advance that if they go down this road they will not have labor’s support. The SFLC resolution states, in part: “Whereas, United Food & Commercial Workers International President Marc Perrone, in a March 2015 statement, declared: ‘At a time when our elected leaders should be focusing on raising wages, creating more opportunity, and addressing income inequality, the TPP would do exactly the opposite. That is why labor unions from across the U.S. are joining together to cut off funding to those who are pushing this harmful agreement.’ Perrone announced that the 1.3-million-member UFCW will no longer make any contributions ‘to federal officeholders who support or refuse to take a position on the TPP and Fast Track. . . . Unless a member of Congress is on the record opposing both, they will no longer be receiving our financial assistance.”
And the SFLC resolution concludes as follows: “Therefore be it Resolved, that the San Francisco Labor Council urges its affiliates, Bay Area labor councils, California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO and the entire labor movement to refuse to provide any union or PAC funds to any Senator or member of Congress who supports or ‘declines to take a position’ on Fast Track and the TPP. Unless a member of Congress or Senate is on the record opposing both, they should no longer be receiving labor’s financial assistance. Nor should these politicians receive any endorsement or in-kind assistance, such as phone banking, campaign mailings or precinct walking, from the union movement.”
(3) Campaign for Independent-Labor Community Politics
Two years ago, at the First National Labor Fightback Conference we were not yet ready to bring in a proposed campaign for independent labor-community politics. Our focus was on building an independent labor movement in the streets and workplaces across the country, with a focus on “No Cuts!”
Building an independent labor movement is still at the heart of our orientation — but two years later, the objective situation has changed and we can expand our message to labor’s independence in the electoral arena. The 2014 mid-term elections witnessed a massive rout of the Democrats, as a huge majority of working-class voters opted to stay home, and a sizeable number of workers voted for the Republicans. The issue of independent politics has surfaced big time, moreover, with the election of a socialist to City Council in Seattle, largely with labor’s support, and the election of an independent labor slate of candidates, supported by the city’s central labor council, in Lorain, Ohio.
See Attachment A: "Open Letter to the Delegates of the North Shore (Ohio) AFL-CIO Federation of Labor by rank-and-file trade unionists urging the Central Labor Council to run independent labor candidates for public office" (.pdf file) [http://is.gd/flqdZ6].
The political anger and frustration that has continued to mount over the years within the working class needs to be channeled by the labor movement into a positive direction toward running independent labor-community candidates, beginning at the local level, lest this anger be misdirected and led into dead-ends or dangerous adventures by forces hostile to labor and democracy.
On the eve of the 2016 presidential election, many in labor will be attracted to the Bernie Sanders campaign, as his platform echoes many of the platform planks that we stand for — though his silence on some other vital questions that we champion (notably on the U.S. wars in the Middle East and the uprising of Black youth across the United States against police terror) is no less evident.
The Labor Fightback Conference does not endorse any candidates in the mainstream parties. What has united us from the beginning, what is in the LFN Mission Statement, is the view that the bosses have two parties and that working people need one of our own. We take our cue on this central point from Tony Mazzocchi, our departed mentor from the Oil Chemical and Atomic Workers union and the Labor Party.
What has united the Labor Fightback Network, what unites us here at this conference, is the view that a break with the twin parties of the bosses is more urgent than ever, and that across the country the most immediate task is the running of independent labor-community candidates rooted in the labor movement and the communities of the oppressed. The spread of such candidacies, we have insisted in our multiple postings over the past two years, would lay the foundation for building a party of and for the working-class majority based on the unions and organizations of Black people, Latinos, and other oppressed groups.
We will work with Bernie Sanders supporters on all the big united-front campaigns where we agree — building the 50th anniversary of Medicare marches and celebrations on July 30 with our demand of “Protect, Improve and Expand Medicare!” We will be out in the streets alongside Bernie Sanders supporters to demand “No to Fast Track, No to TPP!” These are just two of many issues.
The LFN is a network. Unionists and activists who support our network are free to support whatever candidate they (or their organizations) wish to support, but they cannot do this in the name of the Labor Fightback Network.
So what are we proposing to do? How can we begin to break out of the stranglehold of this two-party system dominated by the parties of Big Business?
We are proposing to make use of our LFN blog (laborfightback.wordpress.com) and establish an electronic newsletter (as part of our regular LFN postings) to promote an open dialogue around this much-needed perspective and to support practical initiatives toward independent labor-community politics.
Again, there is a new political climate — and even the top echelons of the labor movement are not shielded from these winds of change.
There has been discussion at the highest levels of the AFL-CIO about focusing labor’s energies, in a select number of states, on issue-oriented campaigns, including referenda, as opposed to election campaigns.
At a recent meeting of State and Local AFL-CIO bodies, it was strongly advised that labor should run its own candidates — as only labor candidates can know and fully articulate our issues — as opposed to supporting candidates who say their uncles or aunts were part of the labor movement.
The downside, of course, is that these candidates from the labor movement will run in the Democratic Party. But again, we in the LFN can take the discussion one step further: Yes, we need our own candidates, as only people from our ranks can truly embrace and put forward our issues. But can we run them in a party that is not ours — a party that is run, funded and controlled by the bosses?
This is where our Open Dialogue for Independent Labor-Community Politics comes in. We can have a sustained discussion on these and other questions. For example, we can begin a serious discussion on the balance sheet of Labor Party Advocates and the Labor Party. What were the strengths, what were the weaknesses, could we have done things differently, and if so, what would that have been?
We can discuss the balance sheet of the recent Chicago municipal elections: What was the role of the Chicago Teachers Union during these elections? What were the obstacles?
And, hopefully, through these discussions we can help motivate union locals and possibly even city-wide labor bodies to do what the Lorain (Ohio) Central Labor Council did by running its own independent candidates for city office — or to build labor-community coalitions, with unions at the center, that can host labor-community congresses to run candidates that take their mandate from these congresses and are answerable to them. Hopefully we can generate some examples of success.
The time is ripe to open this dialogue.
Other Immediate Action Items Approved by the Conference -
In addition to the three central campaigns outlined above, the LFN Steering Committee took note of the fact that there are important items brought up in the workshops that must be acted upon immediately. These include the following:
- Send a solidarity letter on behalf of the Fightback Conference to the organizers of the June 1 Day of Action in Haiti against the UN/MINUSTAH occupation of Haiti. The Conference supports their demands and will also urge unionists and activists to organize forums and actions on or around June 1 in support of the demands contained in the Call from Haiti. See Attachment B: "Haiti June 1st Call" (.pdf file) [http://is.gd/t4sGzD].
- Send a letter, care/of c. Fernanda J.,to the Caravana Yaqui [the Yaqui indigenous people in Northern Mexico have organized three separate caravans to Mexico City to demand the cancellation of the “Independencia” Aqueduct project and the defense of their water rights – Ed.] and to the Political Organization of the Workers and People (OPT) and the National People’s Convention in Mexico in support of the five demands put forward by the National Meeting of the Resistance Movements (Encuentro de las Resistencias) held in December 2014 at the initiative of the Mexican Electrical Workers Union (SME) and ratified at the February 2015 National People’s Convention in Ayotzinapa (Guerrero). These five points are as follows:
* The disappeared students must be brought back alive;
* The perpetrators of the heinous actions must be brought to justice;
* All political prisoners must be freed;
* The government’s “counter-reforms” (energy, education, labor, healthcare, etc.) must be repealed.
* Enrique Peña Nieto must step down!
- Draft a Conference Resolution and send a letter to the leadership of the Alianzade Organizaciones Nacional, Estatal y Municipal por la Justicia Social del valle de San Quintín – that is, the Alliance of Farm Workers of San Quintin (Mexico) – in solidarity with their struggle for an increase in their daily wage from 100 pesos to 200 pesos [raise from $8 per day to $16 per day], for an eight-hour workday, for social security, and for recognition of their independent union as the bargaining agent for the 70,000 workers on strike since mid-March. Both the resolution and letter will link the struggle in San Quintín with the struggle of the Sakuma farmworkers in the state of Washington, where a boycott of Driscoll’s is also under way. See Attachment C: "Model Resolutions in solidarity with the San Quintín and Sakuma farmworkers" (.pdf file) [http://is.gd/JpoFKf]. Note: A version of this resolution is available in Spanish upon request.
- Send an urgent LFN postingto unionists and activists urging letters, emails, and phone calls to the authorities in Pennsylvania demanding the release from prison of Mumia Abu-Jamal and immediate attention to his emergency medical needs.
- In addition to these letters, we commit to promoting and/or actively building the following:
The Labor Fightback Conference will promote and actively urge unions and our allies to build the July 30 actions celebrating the 50th anniversary of Medicare with the demand of “Protect, Improve and Expand Medicare!” This demand is a bridge to single-payer healthcare. We will promote this pivotal struggle and continue to support the Labor Campaign for Single Payer Healthcare. In this same vein, we pledge to support every effort that promotes retirement security — particularly by protecting and expanding pensions. In addition, we will continue to fight for the expansion of Medicaid to every state.
The Labor Fightback Conference will continue to actively promote the campaigns organized by U.S. Labor Against the War, including the Campaign to Move the Money (away from war spending toward rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure and massive job creation), the Campaign for Economic Conversion and Just Transition, and on a more immediate and urgent note, the USLAW campaign directed at the Obama administration and the U.S. Congress to demand: (1) repeal the sanctions against Venezuela, (2) end the funding of the forces inside Venezuela that are organized to destabilize the government of Nicolás Maduro, (3) remove Venezuela from the list of countries that represent a threat to the security of the United States, and (4) restore full diplomatic relations with the democratically elected government of Venezuela. The U.S. government is hell-bent on removing the Maduro government and will find any and all pretexts toward this end.
See Attachment D: "USLAW Statement on Economic Conversion and Just Transition" (.pdf file)[is.gd/Hyl51u], and see Attachment E: "USLAW Resolution on Venezuela" (.pdf file)[is.gd/iQQEr6].
The Labor Fightback Conference will distributewidely throughout the labor movement and among our community supporters the letter sent to this Conference by veteran Black labor and political activist Saladin Muhammad titled “Black Workers and the U.S. Labor Movement” calling on the unions to embrace the Black Freedom struggle – and in particular calling on the unions and their community allies to discuss the Draft Manifesto for Black Liberation and to send Black representatives from their organizations to the National Assembly for Black Liberation to be held in the spring of 2016. See Attachment F: "Letter from Saladin Muhammad" (.pdf file) [is.gd/u26aNt].
In relation to the struggle for immigrant rights, the Fightback Conference goes on record in support of the Dignity Campaign and its 8-point platform. This is especially important today, when politicians in the Democratic Party are reviving the Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR) as a means to corral voters — especially Latino voters — back into the Democratic Party. As the Dignity Campaign has noted, the CIR proposals fall short of what is needed, and, moreover, they include unacceptable trade-offs. See Attachment G: "Dignity Campaign Platform" (.pdf file) [http://is.gd/yJsd2k].
The Fightback Conference will promote the campaign for a $15 Minimum Wage And a Union, Not a Penny Less! This last clause – Not a Penny Less – is the demand of an independent labor movement. Politicians who are wooing labor’s support in the 2016 elections are claiming support for the $15M campaign while explaining that they would settle for $10.25, perhaps a bit more. The unions need to draw a hard line in the sand, to demand nothing less than $15 per hour.
* Rutgers Closing Comments, by Jerry Gordon – Secretary, Labor Fightback Network:
This is the final point on our conference agenda. As the saying goes, “Last but not least.”
My purpose here is to urge you to consider joining forces with us in the Labor Fightback Network. Yes, this is a room full of activists who already belong to a range of other organizations. But here is why the LFN is unique and why we believe building unity and solidarity within the LFN is essential as well.
What especially distinguishes the LFN is its call for independent labor/community political action. This means ending the bankrupt strategy of supporting lesser-evil Democrats and running our own candidates for public office on a program advancing the needs of the working class majority.
Our focus is the organized labor movement, a movement of about 14 million workers. It has the power, numbers, resources, staff, and structure to take on and defeat the billionaire class. Most important, it is in a commanding position in manufacturing, communication, transportation and the other facets of the economy to exercise decisive power. Simply put, if workers decline to work, the economy comes to a halt.
A copy of the LFN’s Mission Statement, which spells out its program of militant struggle on behalf of the working class majority, is in your kits.
In the course of our two-year history, the LFN has been actively involved in the fight against police brutality and the unjustifiable slaying of Black youth and others; preventing cuts in Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other human needs programs, while expanding and improving these programs; and stopping the endless U.S. wars and occupations resulting from the militarization of U.S. foreign policy.
We fight for immigrant rights, stating with an immediate end to all deportations. And as supporters of the Labor Campaign for Single Payer, we advocate a single payer health care system.
The critical need for a network of the type we are speaking about here can, perhaps, best be seen by recollecting what happened in Wisconsin in 2011.
When Wisconsin workers occupied the Capitol and took to the streets by the hundreds of thousands in February and March 2011 to defend their unions and living standards, the effect was electrifying. Workers throughout the U.S. and the world were elated to see American workers taking such militant actions, reminiscent of the 1930s. Messages of solidarity poured in. “WE ARE ALL WISCONSIN!” were heard around the globe. The fight against the bosses’ union-busting and austerity offensive was at last being joined by masses of U.S. workers.
But from the beginning of this struggle, labor leaders, with some significant dissenters, settled on a strategy of agreeing to Governor Scott Walker’s economic demands, which were that union workers in the public-sector pick up a significant part of the tab for their health care and pension benefits, while Walker’s budget called for $2.3 billion in tax cuts to the wealthy over the next decade. These concessions were announced publicly — without a vote taken of the affected workers — and amounted to over $100 million. But Walker rebuffed the idea that this was a sufficient basis to bring about a settlement of his dispute with the unions involved. Walker’s appetite having been whetted, he continued to demand that the public-sector unions also agree to having their members’ collective-bargaining rights stripped away, with police and firefighters excepted.
With the occupation of the Capitol and the gigantic demonstrations reaching a showdown stage, something had to give. The South Central Federation of Labor in Wisconsin adopted a resolution calling for exploration of the idea of a general strike as a possible next step.
If the labor movement had united on a national basis at that point and called a truly massive Solidarity Day 3 “March on Madison!” it could well have spurred more far-reaching actions by the Wisconsin labor movement, including a generalized work stoppage and mass civil disobedience. In the absence of such national support, Walker’s legislation was approved, and the struggle was then diverted to electoral channels by labor leaders and the Democratic Party.
Not surprisingly, the attempt to recall Walker and elect Democratic candidate Tom Barrett as governor was decisively defeated.
As Milwaukee mayor, Barrett sought union concessions that went beyond those mandated by Walker’s collective-barraging law. In a debate with Walker, he made clear he was not labor’s candidate. He also said that he would not increase taxes on corporations and the wealthy.
The Wisconsin labor movement was deeply divided in the recall campaign. According to the exit polls, 38% of union households voted for Walker, as did 67% of male blue-collar workers.
For the labor movement to shift its focus from independent mass action in the streets to supporting Democratic Party politicians was a sure recipe for defeat.
Imagine what could have happened had there been a strong Labor Fightback Network, with supporters in cities across the country at the time of this Uprising in Wisconsin? We might have been able to tip the balance of forces inside the labor movement in favor of that nationwide March on Madison, with its possible extension in massive strikes and mass actions. Hundreds of thousands of union members were only hours away and could have been called upon to join a March on Madison.
The Wisconsin experience also underscores again the need for the U.S. labor movement to establish independent labor/community coalitions and run candidates for public office, based on a program reflecting the needs and aspirations of the working class majority, and with candidates accountable to the base. Such an independent working class political movement could go a long way toward unifying the working class and cementing ties with the youth, students, communities of color, and other progressive sectors of the population.
To conclude: I urge you to join forces with us to build a network of unionists and activists pledged to bring about the changes that will enable the labor movement – with our community partners – to lead the way to establish a just society that reflects the interests of the overwhelming majority, instead of the wealthy 1%.
Thank you.
HANDS OFF OUR HOMES!
[HandsOffHomes.blogspot.com]
===*===*===
information collected by the Committee to
DEFEND THOSE WITHOUT HOMES!
===*===*===
COMMUNITY FASCISM WATCH
NORTHBAY COPWATCH
* "The Inauguration of Police State USA. Towards a Democratic Dictatorship?" (2012-01-01, by Prof Michel Chossudovsky) [archive.is/L91af] [begin intro] The following article first published in January of 2012 focuses on an important piece of legislation (National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) HR 1540). Barely noticed by our mainstream media, HR 1540 (signed into law by president Obama on December 31, 2011) has set the stage for the repeal of constitutional government, not to mention the development of the “Surveillance State”, which has recently been the object of heated debate.
The American republic is fractured. The tendency is towards the establishment of a totalitarian State, a military government dressed in civilian clothes.
The adoption of the “National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), HR 1540) is tantamount to the militarization of law enforcement, the repeal of the Posse Comitatus Act and the Inauguration in 2012 of Police State USA. As in the Weimar Republic in Germany in the 1930s, fundamental rights and freedoms are repealed under the pretext that democracy is threatened and must be protected.
Domestic radical groups and labor activists constitute in the eyes of the Obama administration a threat to the established economic and political order.
The media is complicit in the demise of constitutional government. All the components of Police State USA are currently in place. They go far beyond government snooping of emails and telephone conversations. [end intro]
* "The Guardian UK embarrasses All US Media but will we notice?" (2015-06-03, dailykos.com) [archive.is/oyFkR] [begin excerpt]:
The Guardian UK has decided to keep a running total of ALL people killed by police in 2015, and keep a live running total that you can check on their website.
They break it down demographically and by state to make it easy to see what is happening in this nation.
It's even interactive. You can give them info, that they might not have been given by local agencies where you live.
Can you imagine any entity in our so called free press doing something like this?
I can't, because nothing has stood in the way of any newspaper or network and prevented them from doing the same thing. Yet until The Guardian did, we've been told that the Federal government doesn't keep track of this, local and state governments don't coordinate the data and as a result doing it was impossible for any American media to accomplish.
That they are doing so has been referenced in another diary as a source of data, but the focus of that diary was a specific set of data in a companion project covering police killings from 2012-2015.
It wasn't focused on what an incredible undertaking this is by a foreign media outlet to give Americans news that our own media has never tried to give us and until recently basically claimed it was impossible to accomplish since there are no central reporting structures to ask.
The fact that this data was so available to anyone asking that a British paper published it without turning over heaven and earth really should embarrass our own media, all of it. Even our most Liberal entities never have seemed to gather themselves up to do the same thing.
The link below will take you directly to the map along with the running count. While you visit, you can find the other half of the project detailing police killings from 2012 up to the beginning of 2015.
The Counted: People killed by police in the US [www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2015/jun/01/the-counted-police-killings-us-database]
A Great Debate on Police Violence at the New York Struggle Committee Initiative (SCI) meeting March 2015 [youtube.com/watch?v=zsemXOtCFXQ]
-
* "The US government could count those killed by police, but it's chosen not to; We’ve had the authority to collect and publish data on law enforcement’s use of force for 20 years. We can’t wait another 20 for transparency or accountability" (2015-06-03, theguardian.com) [archive.is/fQH7x]
---
Federal Lawsuit of S.F.P.D. filed
Contact: Agustin Pradillo [323-725-0917], [apradillo@mbc4law.com]
Family of Guatemalan resident, Amilcar Perez Lopez, who was shot and killed by Mission District SFPD officers, will file a federal lawsuit exposing SFPD lies surrounding the police shooting. Family to announce plea for federal investigation.
Mission District resident, AmilcarPerez Lopez, was shot and killed on February 26, 2015 by SFPD officers, Craig Tiffe and Eric Rebolli. Immediately after the shooting, SFPD Chief Greg Suhr announced that one of the officers shot five times in self-defense because the suspect had lunged at him with a knife, and that the other officer shot once. After the SFPD’s autopsy was performed and after being briefed by his investigators, Chief Suhr declared at a town-hall meeting that the Mission District shooting happened on a sidewalk as the officers were attacked by Amilcar Perez Lopez. Chief Suhr used a detailed diagram of the incident to memorialize the SFPD’s official version of the shooting and declared that the officers acted in self-defense.
The official version, however, is completely inconsistent with the physical evidence, the photographic evidence, and the eye-witness accounts collected by the attorneys representing Amilcar’s family.
The family of Amilcar Perez Lopez has undertaken an exhaustive investigation of the shooting. The family has conducted a private autopsy, has hired private investigators to conduct interviews of eye-witnesses, and has located contemporaneous post-shooting photographs of the incident. This evidence, and in particular the autopsy findings, unequivocally confirms that the officers were in no threat of anydanger as Amilcar Perez Lopez was not attacking the officers—but rather fleeing from the officers after having dropped the knife. Most importantly, this evidence unequivocally confirms that the killing of Amilcar Perez Lopez was absolutely unjustified. The physical evidence collected during the autopsy and the scene photographs confirm that the SFPD’s official version, which was announced to the public by Chief Suhr, is a fabrication intended to shield the shooting officers from prosecution.
The family will share the findings of their autopsy and investigation at a press conference where they will repudiate the official police version. The family’s attorneys will challenge Chief Suhr to recant his misrepresentations to the press and retract the accounts that make up the official version of the incident. The attorneys will share copies of the lawsuit and ask that the US Department of Justice conduct a criminal investigation into the shooting. Based on Chief Suhr’s misrepresentations, the City and County of San Francisco cannot be trusted to conduct an honest and impartial investigation.
At the press conference announcing the lawsuit, April 24th, Amilcar’s parents appeared via Skype from Guatemala accompanied by their attorneys Arnoldo Casillas, Jonathan Melrod and Bill Simpich. Also joining them were local community representatives from the Mission District and members of the clergy, all joining the demand for Justice!
---
* "What's up with the SCPD?" (2015-05-16, by Becky Johnson):
As communities across the country fight against police oppression and brutality, we galvanize in our resolve to reform police departments so that they are the servants of the people, protecting us from harm, and under the control of the City Manager and the City Council.
Because when we entrust certain individuals to carry lethal force, with the power to detain, cite, arrest, and later testify in court against us, we must be sure they are following a code of conduct that is consistent with fair and ethical behavior.
Different police departments go astray in different ways. In Ferguson, the Black majority of the population were singled out for massive ticketing to fill the City's coffers.
In Oakland, a thuggish mentality won out that was so corrupt financially, a State Auditor had to take over control of the administration.
In San Jose, Ca., police have an inordinately high rate of shooting mental ill people. Call a cop. Execute your family member.
But what's up with the SCPD? First, we have an unusually high rate of arrests per officer. It's 11.1 arrests per officer per year. By comparison, Oakland, Berkeley, and San Francisco, with, presumably larger criminal populations, the average is 4 arrests per officer per year.
We have 99 sworn police officers and a total of 135 paid employees. This in a City with a population of 62,000 with a ratio of one officer per 697 residents.
But wait! That population figure includes UCSC which also has its own police department.
While crime rates are dropping, in some cases precipitously, our jails are still overflowing and our courts are jammed. In fact, the Board of Supervisors recently approved a $25 million jail EXPANSION in already, the most incarcerated state in the union.
So who is getting detained, cited, arrested, convicted, and jailed?
According to Vice-Chief Steve Clark, 42% of arrests are of homeless people. 32% of the citations written are to homeless people, virtually none for violent crimes. In fact, the three most-cited crimes in Santa Cruz do not have an actual victim complaining.
The crime wave in Santa Cruz requiring such a large police force is mostly for BEING in a park after hours, camping, or for smoking. This means either sleeping at night, using a blanket, or for setting up a campsite. A "campsite" can be a car. It can be a piece of cardboard set down on wet grass in a park. Lay a blanket on the ground & have a picnic? Not in Santa Cruz! That's a crime! 72% of adult homeless people smoke. (Most soldiers in foxholes smoked too). The City has made it illegal to smoke or vape in over 2000 acres of public land composed of parks, green belts & recreational trails. There are people sitting in Santa Cruz County Jail today for smoking a cigarette about which no individual complained.
The budget for the police department is $24,663,471, or 32% of the general fund, and is by far the biggest budget item. We have more paid officers than any other City in the Bay Area. The next closest City is Palo Alto, with 85 sworn officers, but double the population of Santa Cruz.
The safest way to curb police power is to reign in their budgets.
---
===*===*===
Community Fascism in San Jose:
* "Strange Fruit Of San Jose" (2015-04-29, buzzfeed.com) [archive.is/iAnHu] [begin excerpt]: Gregory Johnson Jr., Antonio Guzman-Lopez, and Donald Williams are three men of color who have been subject to discrimination and brutality at San Jose State. Johnson, a victim of a reported suicide; Guzman-Lopez, shot while carrying a construction tool; and Williams, beaten and forced to wear a bike lock by his roommates. These three incidents underscore tension towards Black and Latino men that either attend school at the university or work in the surrounding community. [end excerpt]
===*===*===NORTHBAY COPWATCH
* "The Inauguration of Police State USA. Towards a Democratic Dictatorship?" (2012-01-01, by Prof Michel Chossudovsky) [archive.is/L91af] [begin intro] The following article first published in January of 2012 focuses on an important piece of legislation (National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) HR 1540). Barely noticed by our mainstream media, HR 1540 (signed into law by president Obama on December 31, 2011) has set the stage for the repeal of constitutional government, not to mention the development of the “Surveillance State”, which has recently been the object of heated debate.
The American republic is fractured. The tendency is towards the establishment of a totalitarian State, a military government dressed in civilian clothes.
The adoption of the “National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), HR 1540) is tantamount to the militarization of law enforcement, the repeal of the Posse Comitatus Act and the Inauguration in 2012 of Police State USA. As in the Weimar Republic in Germany in the 1930s, fundamental rights and freedoms are repealed under the pretext that democracy is threatened and must be protected.
Domestic radical groups and labor activists constitute in the eyes of the Obama administration a threat to the established economic and political order.
The media is complicit in the demise of constitutional government. All the components of Police State USA are currently in place. They go far beyond government snooping of emails and telephone conversations. [end intro]
* "The Guardian UK embarrasses All US Media but will we notice?" (2015-06-03, dailykos.com) [archive.is/oyFkR] [begin excerpt]:
The Guardian UK has decided to keep a running total of ALL people killed by police in 2015, and keep a live running total that you can check on their website.
They break it down demographically and by state to make it easy to see what is happening in this nation.
It's even interactive. You can give them info, that they might not have been given by local agencies where you live.
Can you imagine any entity in our so called free press doing something like this?
I can't, because nothing has stood in the way of any newspaper or network and prevented them from doing the same thing. Yet until The Guardian did, we've been told that the Federal government doesn't keep track of this, local and state governments don't coordinate the data and as a result doing it was impossible for any American media to accomplish.
That they are doing so has been referenced in another diary as a source of data, but the focus of that diary was a specific set of data in a companion project covering police killings from 2012-2015.
It wasn't focused on what an incredible undertaking this is by a foreign media outlet to give Americans news that our own media has never tried to give us and until recently basically claimed it was impossible to accomplish since there are no central reporting structures to ask.
The fact that this data was so available to anyone asking that a British paper published it without turning over heaven and earth really should embarrass our own media, all of it. Even our most Liberal entities never have seemed to gather themselves up to do the same thing.
The link below will take you directly to the map along with the running count. While you visit, you can find the other half of the project detailing police killings from 2012 up to the beginning of 2015.
The Counted: People killed by police in the US [www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2015/jun/01/the-counted-police-killings-us-database]
A Great Debate on Police Violence at the New York Struggle Committee Initiative (SCI) meeting March 2015 [youtube.com/watch?v=zsemXOtCFXQ]
-
* "The US government could count those killed by police, but it's chosen not to; We’ve had the authority to collect and publish data on law enforcement’s use of force for 20 years. We can’t wait another 20 for transparency or accountability" (2015-06-03, theguardian.com) [archive.is/fQH7x]
---
Federal Lawsuit of S.F.P.D. filed
Contact: Agustin Pradillo [323-725-0917], [apradillo@mbc4law.com]
Family of Guatemalan resident, Amilcar Perez Lopez, who was shot and killed by Mission District SFPD officers, will file a federal lawsuit exposing SFPD lies surrounding the police shooting. Family to announce plea for federal investigation.
Mission District resident, AmilcarPerez Lopez, was shot and killed on February 26, 2015 by SFPD officers, Craig Tiffe and Eric Rebolli. Immediately after the shooting, SFPD Chief Greg Suhr announced that one of the officers shot five times in self-defense because the suspect had lunged at him with a knife, and that the other officer shot once. After the SFPD’s autopsy was performed and after being briefed by his investigators, Chief Suhr declared at a town-hall meeting that the Mission District shooting happened on a sidewalk as the officers were attacked by Amilcar Perez Lopez. Chief Suhr used a detailed diagram of the incident to memorialize the SFPD’s official version of the shooting and declared that the officers acted in self-defense.
The official version, however, is completely inconsistent with the physical evidence, the photographic evidence, and the eye-witness accounts collected by the attorneys representing Amilcar’s family.
The family of Amilcar Perez Lopez has undertaken an exhaustive investigation of the shooting. The family has conducted a private autopsy, has hired private investigators to conduct interviews of eye-witnesses, and has located contemporaneous post-shooting photographs of the incident. This evidence, and in particular the autopsy findings, unequivocally confirms that the officers were in no threat of anydanger as Amilcar Perez Lopez was not attacking the officers—but rather fleeing from the officers after having dropped the knife. Most importantly, this evidence unequivocally confirms that the killing of Amilcar Perez Lopez was absolutely unjustified. The physical evidence collected during the autopsy and the scene photographs confirm that the SFPD’s official version, which was announced to the public by Chief Suhr, is a fabrication intended to shield the shooting officers from prosecution.
The family will share the findings of their autopsy and investigation at a press conference where they will repudiate the official police version. The family’s attorneys will challenge Chief Suhr to recant his misrepresentations to the press and retract the accounts that make up the official version of the incident. The attorneys will share copies of the lawsuit and ask that the US Department of Justice conduct a criminal investigation into the shooting. Based on Chief Suhr’s misrepresentations, the City and County of San Francisco cannot be trusted to conduct an honest and impartial investigation.
At the press conference announcing the lawsuit, April 24th, Amilcar’s parents appeared via Skype from Guatemala accompanied by their attorneys Arnoldo Casillas, Jonathan Melrod and Bill Simpich. Also joining them were local community representatives from the Mission District and members of the clergy, all joining the demand for Justice!
---
* "What's up with the SCPD?" (2015-05-16, by Becky Johnson):
As communities across the country fight against police oppression and brutality, we galvanize in our resolve to reform police departments so that they are the servants of the people, protecting us from harm, and under the control of the City Manager and the City Council.
Because when we entrust certain individuals to carry lethal force, with the power to detain, cite, arrest, and later testify in court against us, we must be sure they are following a code of conduct that is consistent with fair and ethical behavior.
Different police departments go astray in different ways. In Ferguson, the Black majority of the population were singled out for massive ticketing to fill the City's coffers.
In Oakland, a thuggish mentality won out that was so corrupt financially, a State Auditor had to take over control of the administration.
In San Jose, Ca., police have an inordinately high rate of shooting mental ill people. Call a cop. Execute your family member.
But what's up with the SCPD? First, we have an unusually high rate of arrests per officer. It's 11.1 arrests per officer per year. By comparison, Oakland, Berkeley, and San Francisco, with, presumably larger criminal populations, the average is 4 arrests per officer per year.
We have 99 sworn police officers and a total of 135 paid employees. This in a City with a population of 62,000 with a ratio of one officer per 697 residents.
But wait! That population figure includes UCSC which also has its own police department.
While crime rates are dropping, in some cases precipitously, our jails are still overflowing and our courts are jammed. In fact, the Board of Supervisors recently approved a $25 million jail EXPANSION in already, the most incarcerated state in the union.
So who is getting detained, cited, arrested, convicted, and jailed?
According to Vice-Chief Steve Clark, 42% of arrests are of homeless people. 32% of the citations written are to homeless people, virtually none for violent crimes. In fact, the three most-cited crimes in Santa Cruz do not have an actual victim complaining.
The crime wave in Santa Cruz requiring such a large police force is mostly for BEING in a park after hours, camping, or for smoking. This means either sleeping at night, using a blanket, or for setting up a campsite. A "campsite" can be a car. It can be a piece of cardboard set down on wet grass in a park. Lay a blanket on the ground & have a picnic? Not in Santa Cruz! That's a crime! 72% of adult homeless people smoke. (Most soldiers in foxholes smoked too). The City has made it illegal to smoke or vape in over 2000 acres of public land composed of parks, green belts & recreational trails. There are people sitting in Santa Cruz County Jail today for smoking a cigarette about which no individual complained.
The budget for the police department is $24,663,471, or 32% of the general fund, and is by far the biggest budget item. We have more paid officers than any other City in the Bay Area. The next closest City is Palo Alto, with 85 sworn officers, but double the population of Santa Cruz.
The safest way to curb police power is to reign in their budgets.
---
Domestic Security Agencies and private-sector partners
* "RPT-Strong ties bind spy agencies and Silicon Valley" (2013-07-05, Reuters newswire) [archive.is/4tGxa]
* "Tech Companies Hiding Depth of Cooperation with NSA Surveillance" (2013-07-07, thenewamerican.com) [archive.is/zESIY]
* "Software Suites for Data Mining, Analytics, and Knowledge Discovery" catalog (2013, kdnuggets.com) [archive.is/rdQWi]
* "The Russian Military Asked Me to Publish Its Propaganda" (2015-03-23, by David Swanson), an account of a private-sector USA clandestine agent posing as a diplomat from the Federation of Russia is an attempt to entrap a well-known anti-war author and organizer. page 1 [web.archive.org/web/20150607044248/http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Russian-Military-Asked-by-David-Swanson-Military-Infiltration-Of-Peace-Movement_Propaganda_Propaganda_Propaganda-And-Political-Myths-150323-977.html], page 2 [https://web.archive.org/web/20150607044720/http://www.opednews.com/articles/2/The-Russian-Military-Asked-by-David-Swanson-Military-Infiltration-Of-Peace-Movement_Propaganda_Propaganda_Propaganda-And-Political-Myths-150323-977.html]
* USA Action Propaganda Agent declares a competitor is a "Russian agent", but admits to having no proof, according to his article "Russian Propaganda Expose: GlobalResearch" (2014-11-03) [archive.is/Tg1sW]
* "Senate passes bill to privatize surveillance: Telcos to act as arm of law enforcement and collect, store data for US govt" (2015-06-02, legitgov.org) [archive.is/OirED]. Citizens for Legit Government writes: I can't help but think that this has been the goal all along. Nearly all of the previous privacy abuses will continue, but the costs will skyrocket so telco corpora-terrorists can make a killing on the spying.
* "Obama signs bill to resume, overhaul NSA surveillance" (2015-06-02, foxnews.com) [archive.is/60biR] [begin excerpt]: The Senate gave final approval Tuesday to legislation that would restart -- but also overhaul -- controversial government surveillance programs that went dark over the weekend after lawmakers missed a key deadline. In a 67-32 vote, the chamber approved the so-called USA Freedom Act. The legislation, which already won approval in the House, now goes to President Obama's desk. The vote comes after key surveillance programs -- most notably, the National Security Agency's bulk collection of Americans' phone records -- were suspended Sunday after Congress missed the deadline for reauthorization.
The USA Freedom Act would:
- Resume the NSA data collection program, but only for a transition period of six months. After that, the legislation would no longer allow the NSA to sweep up Americans' records in bulk. Instead, it would leave the records with phone companies and give the government the ability to seek access with a warrant.
- Continue other post-9/11 surveillance provisions that also lapsed Sunday night. These include the FBI's authority to gather business records in terrorism and espionage investigations and to more easily eavesdrop on suspects who are discarding cellphones to avoid surveillance.
---
Five-Eyes, and other transnational partners
* "RPT-Strong ties bind spy agencies and Silicon Valley" (2013-07-05, Reuters newswire) [archive.is/4tGxa]
* "Tech Companies Hiding Depth of Cooperation with NSA Surveillance" (2013-07-07, thenewamerican.com) [archive.is/zESIY]
* "Software Suites for Data Mining, Analytics, and Knowledge Discovery" catalog (2013, kdnuggets.com) [archive.is/rdQWi]
* "The Russian Military Asked Me to Publish Its Propaganda" (2015-03-23, by David Swanson), an account of a private-sector USA clandestine agent posing as a diplomat from the Federation of Russia is an attempt to entrap a well-known anti-war author and organizer. page 1 [web.archive.org/web/20150607044248/http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Russian-Military-Asked-by-David-Swanson-Military-Infiltration-Of-Peace-Movement_Propaganda_Propaganda_Propaganda-And-Political-Myths-150323-977.html], page 2 [https://web.archive.org/web/20150607044720/http://www.opednews.com/articles/2/The-Russian-Military-Asked-by-David-Swanson-Military-Infiltration-Of-Peace-Movement_Propaganda_Propaganda_Propaganda-And-Political-Myths-150323-977.html]
* USA Action Propaganda Agent declares a competitor is a "Russian agent", but admits to having no proof, according to his article "Russian Propaganda Expose: GlobalResearch" (2014-11-03) [archive.is/Tg1sW]
* "Senate passes bill to privatize surveillance: Telcos to act as arm of law enforcement and collect, store data for US govt" (2015-06-02, legitgov.org) [archive.is/OirED]. Citizens for Legit Government writes: I can't help but think that this has been the goal all along. Nearly all of the previous privacy abuses will continue, but the costs will skyrocket so telco corpora-terrorists can make a killing on the spying.
* "Obama signs bill to resume, overhaul NSA surveillance" (2015-06-02, foxnews.com) [archive.is/60biR] [begin excerpt]: The Senate gave final approval Tuesday to legislation that would restart -- but also overhaul -- controversial government surveillance programs that went dark over the weekend after lawmakers missed a key deadline. In a 67-32 vote, the chamber approved the so-called USA Freedom Act. The legislation, which already won approval in the House, now goes to President Obama's desk. The vote comes after key surveillance programs -- most notably, the National Security Agency's bulk collection of Americans' phone records -- were suspended Sunday after Congress missed the deadline for reauthorization.
The USA Freedom Act would:
- Resume the NSA data collection program, but only for a transition period of six months. After that, the legislation would no longer allow the NSA to sweep up Americans' records in bulk. Instead, it would leave the records with phone companies and give the government the ability to seek access with a warrant.
- Continue other post-9/11 surveillance provisions that also lapsed Sunday night. These include the FBI's authority to gather business records in terrorism and espionage investigations and to more easily eavesdrop on suspects who are discarding cellphones to avoid surveillance.
---
Five-Eyes, and other transnational partners
from the Committee to
FREE 'EM ALL!
[PoliticalPrisonersUSA.blogspot.com] End the Drug War! Stop Jim Crow! Close the Torture Chambers!
Become a Human Rights Pen Pal! [link]. [solitarywatch.com] [facebook.com/incarceratedworkers] [supportprisonerresistance.noblogs.org] [denverabc.wordpress.com] [prisonlegalnews.org] [prisonbooks.info][nycabc.wordpress.com] [powmedicaljustice.com] [sacprisonersupport.wordpress.com]
* "What would compel a man to try to cut his own face off?" (2015-01-03, by Kevin “Rashid” Johnson) [archive.is/qWrqe] [begin excerpt]: I recently witnessed a man try to cut his own face off. For me this wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, but as it played out, I imagined the reactions and questions that might arise in the mind of someone in society if they’d observed the same.
They would probably wonder in shock, “What sort of conditions could be so unbearable that they’d drive a person to suffer cutting through the skin, nerves, muscles and arteries of his own face, at the risk of permanent disfigurement, disability or even death?”
I, of course, knew the answer: torture. More specifically, the torture by official design of living in one of the many solitary confinement units in Amerika’s vast prison system, which is why seeing this sort of thing isn’t uncommon for me — I’ve lived in solitary for nearly two decades.
And, yes, Amerika inflicts such extreme torture on prisoners that they routinely commit such acts as could never be expected of a sane and stable mind. And this is the point — solitary confinement drives people into insanity. [end excerpt]
* “Breaking Down the Box” video (40 min.)
[nrcat.org/torture-in-us-prisons/breaking-down-the-box]
Produced by filmmaker Matthew Gossage, the film examines the mental health, racial justice and human rights implications of the systemic use of solitary confinement in U.S. prisons. It is a call to action for communities of faith to engage in the growing nationwide movement for restorative alternatives to isolated confinement that prioritize rehabilitation, therapeutic interventions, and recovery. Watch the film online and then download or order a DVD for use in your congregation or community, at no cost. More resources and DVD order form at [nrcat.org/breakingdownthebox]
- Download the Discussion Guide to accompany a screening of the film in your congregation, organization, or community [web.archive.org/web/20150609180958/http://www.nrcat.org/storage/documents/breaking-down-the-box-discussion-guide.pdf].
- Join a State Campaign [nrcat.org/torture-in-us-prisons/join-a-state-campaign].
* "Wrongly Incarcerated Youth, Scarred at Rikers Prison, Commits Suicide After enduring severe mistreatment in Rikers Island prison, Kalief Browder wanted to share his story in order to help others avoid similar fates" (2015-06-08, commondreams.org) [archive.is/ftMQP]
---
* "Delbert Africa Solidarity Week" (2015-06-01, onamove.com) [archive.is/xPujm]
From June 1st – 5, 2015, we are asking people to flood the phone lines of The Pennsylvania Parole Board for Delbert Africa Solidarity Week. Please call The Parole Board (717) 772-4343.
Call and inquire into why:
(1) Leslie Grey A former Police Officer who is new to the parole board and obviously has a clear bias against The Move Organization allowed to vote over whether Delbert receives parole or not .
(2) Michael Green and Jeffrey Imboden who were both appointed to The Parole Board by the same man who prosecuted Move in 1980 Edward Rendell.
Delbert has the recommendation of his own prison for parole, and they know him far better than The Parole Board. Delbert also has a home plan, employment set up for him upon his release from prison and massive community support so this is now in our hands. This entire week let’s keep the pressure on The Parole Board. Please call The Parole Board at (717) 772-4343 and demand Parole for Delbert “Orr” Africa Am -4985.
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* Leonard Peltier: "My life is in your hands" (2015-06-05):
Greetings friends, supporters and Native Peoples.
I would like to begin by saying thank you to those of you who have beenwith me over these nearly 40 yrs, I know some have passed and we all miss them. Many of them gave their all to help Native nations.
Those of you still around have seen a lot of changes with the ILPDC. Most of the good volunteers had to leave for their own careers or health reasons and some just wanted to move on. But before they did go, they did some awesome things in building the Committee. Then there were, I must admit, a few who came along who had their own agenda. In the end, I was the one who lost out as a lot of the work done by others was lost. That is the situation with the Committee now.
So when my son Chauncey came to visit me after I hadn't seen him for over 16 yrs, I asked him if he would like to help me I needed someone to take care of my art work and to hire a good lawyer. We needed to reopen the Defense Committee, too. Chauncey said he would love to help me. Chauncey has been working hard. Please check out peltierart.com. If you can afford to purchase artwork, it would be a big help. The available art isn't bad, I'm told :-)
Together with Peter Clark and a new Board, Chauncey is also rebuilding the Committee as quickly as he can. But I can't wait for the Committee to get back working at full strength as time is running out for me to file a clemency petition. So I have to ask you supporters around the world for help.
I hear some people claim I don't need lawyers. That's not true. And it's important for supporters to understand that some of my attorneys work for free, but they have expenses the Committee needs to cover. Not all of my attorneys work for free, though, and some are very expensive.
I also hear that supporters think all my celebrity supporters have donated to the Committee? They rarely do and when they do their donations are far less than you might imagine.
No. The fact is that it's always been you supporters who have kept my hope for freedom alive. Now more than ever before I need and want your support.
But I don't just need funds. I need you to keep contacting President Obama. My life is in your hands. Please do your part to help convince the President to let me go home.
Thank you.
Doksha, [signed] Leonard Peltier
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* "Latest update on Mumia Abu-Jamal!" (2015-06-01, sacprisonersupport.wordpress.com) [archive.is/cw3dv] [begin excerpt]: I saw Mumia for an extended visit this past Thursday, May 28. Mumia seemed much better able to handle a four hour visit than he had been when I last saw him, and had I not had to leave, it would have been an even longer visit. He was still in a wheel chair because his swollen feet and legs make it very painful to stand. Despite this pain he makes sure to walk at least a half hour a day. Though thin because of the huge weight loss, he looked a lot better than when I saw him about a month ago. He has gained some weight but is still way below his weight prior to getting ill. [end excerpt]
* "PA Department of Corrections is Concealing Mumia’s Medical Records" (2015-06-04, powmedicaljustice.com) [archive.is/3ePhS]
* "No Execution by Medical Neglect! Unions Demand Decent Medical Treatment for Mumia Abu-Jamal" (2015-06-02, The Labor Action Committee to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal) [laboractionmumia.org] [archive.is/FpL5b]:
Mumia Abu-Jamal was recently sent back to prison after having been hospitalized for the second time. There are some reports that his health is improving. He said to Suzanne Ross of the International Concerned Friends and Family of Mumia Abu-Jamal that “if there had not been an international outcry about the lack of appropriate treatment, in fact AGAINST the 'treatment' that was bringing him so close to death, he was sure he would not be alive today”.
In some good news, he was also told by the prison doctor that his biopsy results came back negative.
However, neither Mumia nor his wife, lawyers or consulting doctors have been seen the actual medical reports detailing his condition. The Department of Corrections refuses to hand over his medical records, claiming that they don't have to hand them over because there is litigation to have them released! Denying Mumia and his family his medical records is an outrage!
We would like to inform you about some recent actions taken by unions around the world on behalf of Mumia.
- Unite, the largest union in the UK, representing over 1.4 million members, wrote letters to Governor Tom Wolf, Department of Corrections Secretary John Wetzel and Legal Counsel Theron Perez protesting Mumia's treatment. Read the (.pdf) file here [is.gd/QbYWbA]
- The International Dockworkers Council, representing 90,000 dockworkers from affiliated unions around the world, wrote an appeal to the labor movement calling for action on behalf of Mumia (.doc file) [is.gd/4rSPBK].
- The Inlandboatmen's Union of the Pacific sent a protest letter to Department of Corrections Secretary John Wetzel. Read the (.pdf) file here [is.gd/w5h7FV]
We hope that you will continue to take action on behalf of Mumia. Please call and email Department of Corrections Secretary John Wetzel and demand the following:
1) Mumia Abu-Jamal is an innocent man! He should be freed immediately!
2) Confirm what Mumia's medical condition is. Release his medical records to his family and lawyers!
3) Allow Mumia to be given medical treatment from a doctor of his choice. His doctor should be allowed to conduct an on-site medical examination, to communicate by phone with Mumia, and to communicate freely with prison medical staff.
4) Allow Mumia daily visits from his family, friends and lawyers!
5) Conduct an independent investigation of healthcare treatment inside the Pennsylvania prison system!
DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, SECRETARY JOHN WETZEL 717 728 4109
E-mail ra-contactdoc@pa.gov
Wetzel’s secretary: secyra-crpadocsecretary@pa.gov
We are also attaching a sample union resolution for you to use as a template [is.gd/03srtx]. Please consider submitting it to your union and asking them to take action on behalf of Mumia. We would also be happy to work with you and make a presentation to your union or community group about his condition.
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* "Released and Retrial Banned"
International Coalition to Free the Angola 3| 221 Idora Ave.| Vallejo|CA| 94591
*Oh Happy Day!!!*
We are ecstatic to announce that late this afternoon Judge Brady granted the unicorn of habeas rulings--an "unconditional writ" ordering Albert's immediate release and barring a retrial. [web.archive.org/web/20150609182115/http://files.ctctcdn.com/2ecd037a001/01c776c3-9e77-4b20-8e99-e19c1cadb6d1.pdf]
He argues that this extraordinary remedy is merited due to the following 5 factors: "Mr. Woodfox's age and poor health, his limited ability to present a defense at a third trial in light of the unavailability of witnesses, this Court's lack of confidence in the State to provide a fair third trial, the prejudice done onto Mr. Woodfox by spending over forty-years in solitary confinement, and finally the very fact that Mr. Woodfox has already been tried twice and would otherwise face his third trial for a crime that occurred over forty years ago."
The State immediately announced their plans to appeal and request an emergency stay of the order from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. Though we don't yet know if Albert will be released in days or months, he has never been closer to freedom. We will let you know more as soon as we do.
* Angola 3 Newsletter (2015-06-11) part 1 [archive.is/Lz8pB], part 2 [archive.is/PKMsn]
UPDATE: Angola 3 Newsletter, June 11, 2015:
Take Action with Amnesty Intl! Act quickly: Albert Woodfox's fate could be decided Friday (tomorrow)! Featured below, reprinted in full, is a new Amnesty International action alert for Albert Woodfox, just released this morning.
Please Take Action Here, Petition Link [is.gd/d2o4dc]!
On Monday night, I heard news almost too incredible to believe: After four decades of hellish isolation, a federal judge ordered that Louisiana prisoner Albert Woodfox finally be unconditionally released and never re-tried by the State of Louisiana. After so many years in solitary confinement, Albert was set to walk free.
It marked the most promising development to date in Albert's case.
But Albert's nightmare isn't over yet. The Louisiana Attorney General acted quickly to file an emergency stay, keeping Albert behind bars until an appeals court can decide his fate. The court is set to make a decision TOMORROW.
Until Albert walks out of prison, our work is not done. Join me in telling the Louisiana authorities to stop standing in the way of justice so that Albert's ordeal can finally end.
Albert was first placed in solitary confinement in 1972, shortly after a young white prison guard named Brent Miller was fatally stabbed inside Louisiana State Penitentiary - also known simply as "Angola."
Although no physical evidence tied Albert to the crime, he was immediately assumed to be guilty and placed in solitary confinement - isolated in a small cell for 23 hours each day. He has remained in isolation for four decades, despite the fact that his conviction has now been overturned three times.
Albert has been fighting to prove his innocence, even as the Louisiana Attorney General has publicly maligned him and vowed to keep him behind bars.
It is time for Albert's nightmare to end. The only just and humane action that the state can take is to ensure his release.
Will you call on Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal to ensure that Albert's cruel and unjust isolation is not his legacy?
With hope, [signed] Jasmine Heiss, Senior Campaigner, Amnesty International USA
Write Albert:
Albert Woodfox #72148
West Feliciana Parish Detention Center
PO Box 2727
St. Francisville, LA 70775
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* "Robert Seth Hayes #74-A-2280 Medical Justice Days of Action: June 2 - 5, 2015" [archive.is/I8wag] [begin excerpt]: Seth’s medical condition continues to worsen, and he has not been evaluated or treated for potentially life-threatening symptoms despite following formal medical care request procedures within the prison. Because the medical staff at the prison and Health Services of the Department of Correction continue to neglect his medical needs despite numerous calls from concerned medical providers and other citizens, we are urging both Commissioner Annucci and Governor Cuomo to exercise oversight and see to it that Seth finally receives proper medical care.
Robert Seth Hayes is one of the longest held political prisoners in the US. He is 66 years old and suffers from multiple chronic and concerning medical problems. As many of you know, we waged a medical campaign for him a few months ago regarding rapid and concerning weight loss as well as poorly controlled diabetes. Neither of these concerns has been addressed to date. NYS DOCCS states on its website that denial of adequate medical care is a violation of a person’s eighth amendment constitutional rights, so please help demand that Seth be provided with proper care.
Since we began our campaign, Seth's medical situation has actually worsened. He has had a cough with shortness of breath. He is also intermittently coughing up blood tinged mucous. He has not been evaluated or treated for these symptoms. He has a mass in the upper left quadrant of his abdomen which puts pressure on his diaphragm, increasing his difficulty breathing.
We must keep the pressure on and be consistent, insistent and persistent to make sure we do not lose yet another of our beloved freedom fighters due to deliberate medical neglect. [end excerpt]
[web.archive.org/web/20150528035806/http://www.jerichony.org/images24/05-17-15_Seth_Sick_Call_Request.pdf]
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* "IN SOLIDARITY WITH KALI!" (update 2015-05-31, antirepressionbayarea.com) [archive.is/KiFOF]:
Here is the latest from the Bay Area Anti-Repression Committee on Kali, who has been in prison since December of 2011:Our beloved comrade Kali has finally been transferred to a new facility – California State Prison in Sacramento. He has long been looking forward to being transferred closer to home for the final period of his incarceration. This transfer had been delayed for months due to a surgical procedure he needed for his eyes. The procedure was finally undertaken and he reports that he is recovering and healing well. He is extremely happy to have finally been transferred out of California Men’s Colony (CMC) where he had been held in solitary confinement for the past year. He also relayed that he was driven through Oakland during his transfer, and how it reminded him of all the solidarity and support he has received. He expresses his appreciation of this in virtually every letter he sends. So we ask that the community rise up in solidarity and flood him with support to help him through this final period of state repression. Please write to Kali at the address below:
Marcel Johnson
#AM1002
California State Prison – Sacramento
P.O. Box 290066
Represa, CA 95671
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* newsletter (2015-06-05) [archive.is/zX774]: The Freedom for Nestora Campaign - U.S. sent a delegation to Mexico City on May 31 in an urgent effort to press for Nestora Salgado's release. Read below for the latest delegation activities and media coverage, which includes their visit with Nestora June 2, a trip to the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City on June 3, and a large protest June 4 by teachers which included support for political prisoners and marched to the prison where Nestora is being held. For coverage of U.S. and international solidarity actions visit [FreeNestora.org]. Leaders of the National Coordinator of Education Workers (CNTE), a Mexican trade union whose leaders have been camped out at the Monument to the Revolution in Mexico City while in negotiations with the Secretary of the Interior, joined a demonstration in support of Nestora Salgado today. One of the banners which led the march was brought to Mexico by the delegates of the US Campaign to Free Nestora Salgado, an ex-comandante of the community police in Olinála, Guerrero. The families of other political prisoners and teachers marched to the Tepepan prison where Salgado is being held, after she was moved at the beginning of the week from a federal maximum security prison in Tepic, Nayarit. Spirits were high as she waved out the window of her hospital room, photo and brief at [archive.is/yOKMQ]. Video of the protest, part of a larger campaign against fascism in the United States of Mexico, (2015-06-02, TeleSurTV.net) [youtube.com/watch?v=ZF_T9fh0lsQ].
* "Nestora’s family asks the U.S. embassy for assistance" (2015-06-04, jornada.unam.mx) translated [archive.is/JzRre]: Activists and relatives of Nestora Salgado Garcia requested a meeting this afternoon with officials from the U.S. embassy in Mexico to ask them to intervene in the release of the ex-comandante of community policing from Olinalá, Guerrero, who remains on a hunger strike after 30 days. Grisel Rodriguez, Rivero Sandino, Stephen Durham, Patricia Coley, and Daniel Vila Rivera, who are delegates representing the international campaign to free Nestora, were at the U.S. Embassy, located in the capital, to request a meeting with diplomats.
“My mother is American and is entitled to consular help and we want to know what the American government is doing to help,” said Grisel Rodriguez to these agencies, after delivering the request for a meeting. “We came hoping they would listen to us, that they would give us an appointment and, if we are successful, an opportunity to ask questions,” said Rodriguez. The goal is to know what actions have been taken by the embassy and what more can be done.
“They have the power to take her (out of prison), that's more than obvious, they just need to adopt a more aggressive attitude with the Mexican government. They can do it, they simply need to want to, or need to press the Mexican government until they act,” added the daughter of ex-comandante.
For his part, the lawyer Sandino Rivero said he hoped that at the next meeting, which may be held in two weeks, that there will be representatives of American diplomatic staff, in addition to relatives of Nestora and other international human rights organizations. “Nestora Salgado is a U.S. citizen and has the right to consular assistance, and that her government defend her, regardless of whether she has a defense team,” he said.
According to Rivero, the embassy knew that Nestora Salgado is an American citizen, but to Nestora’s family it is important to meet with the diplomats to question them about what they have done or what they can do to win her freedom. For the lawyer, the Mexican government did not respect the right to consular assistance, even when they were required to do it, since they never informed the embassy about Nestora’s arrest.
Salgado Garcia emigrated to the U.S. when she was 19 years-old to earn a living with her daughter who was just three. Once there she worked as a baker, waitress and cleaner in the state of Washington. More than 10 years passed before she could come back to Guerrero. In 2002, she returned to Guerrero and with “papers” that recognized her as a U.S. citizen.
On May 29, Salgado Garcia was relocated to the prison Tepepan, south of Mexico City, after an agreement between the Interior Ministry and the government of Guerrero to move her from the maximum security prison in Tepic, Nayarit, to a prison in the capital, in order to receive medical attention for her serious health problems. The lawyer explained that the legal defense is at the moment making a presentation of the evidence against the three Olinála activists facing charges of kidnapping.
“The fact that she has been transferred to the prison of Tepepan itself is a breakthrough because legally we can interview her every day,” he said.
In the maximum security prison in Tepic, visits with lawyers were complicated by changes in defense attorneys (besides which the meetings only lasted 40 minutes) and although communication can now be more efficient, “you cannot forget that the charging party is in the mountains of Guerrero, and that,” said the lawyer, “delayed the process.” Sandino Rivero also reported that visitors from the Human Rights Commissions (National and DF) went to the prison to ascertain Nestora’s health status, while her daughters and husband are insisting that Nestora stop fasting.
On August 21, 2013, the ex-comandante was arrested by forces of the Army, Navy and state police who, aboard tanks, hummer trucks and a helicopter arrived at mountain area and detained her, accusing her of “kidnapping and organized crime.” The incident occurred after the Community Police arrested the procurator of Olinalá, Armando Jimenez, for a pattern for alleged cattle rustling (cattle stealing) and for allegedly covering up the murder of two ranchers.
* "U.S. government not supporting freedom for Nestora Salgado, laments daughter" (2015-06-01, jornada.unam.mx) translated by Bob Price, San Francsico, California [archive.is/QfgUh]: Mexico City. Members of U.S. organizations and committees, along with Nestora Salgado’s family members, demanded the immediate release of the Olinalá, Guerrero community police comandanta, and that of all other members of her force who are being held as political prisoners.
In a press conference held at the Center for Human Rights (Centro Prodh), Stephen Durham of the U.S. Free Nestora campaign, and Patricia Coley, labor organizer with the Seattle Nestora Committee, pointed out that the federal government “has the power to free Nestora” and other unjustly incarcerated political prisoners. “We are here to express our solidarity with the Mexican people who continue to mobilize for justice, also to ask President Peña Nieto to free Nestora Salgado and all political prisoners, including Gonzalo Molina and Arturo Campos, who are still on hunger strike along with Nestora.”
“We are part of an international campaign that is demanding freedom today in many U.S. states, and in Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Japan, Australia, South America, and Europe,” said Durham.
Nestora’s daughter, Grisel Rodríguez lamented that the U.S. government is not supporting freedom for the comandanta, a U.S. citizen. “On the contrary, they’ve abandoned her.” Cleotilde Salgado warned that her sister was in “a poor state of health”, due to the hunger strike that Nestora started 28 days ago.
Daniel Vila Rivera, of the U.S. Nestora Salgado Campaign, read a document signed by the president of the Washington State Labor Council. “On behalf of the nearly 400 thousand members of the state AFL-CIO, we urge the immediate release of Nestora Salgado from prison, where she is held as a political prisoner, without being found guilty of any crime.” The text points out that Nestora is a defender of the people, and that her work to guarantee a safe community by means of a legally sanctioned and democratically elected community police force “should be recognized as an act of courage, and not punished by continuous detention. Her imprisonment is a grave injustice.”
“We in the labor movement believe in the words of Martin Luther King, ‘an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.’ We call on all the leaders in the United States and on all of our brothers and sisters in Mexico that work for justice and righteousness, to intervene and bring about the immediate and secure release of Ms. Salgado.”
Lynne Dodson, Secretary Treasurer of the labor organization, also signed the letter.
Nestora’s family added that they will continue holding demonstrations. One of these will be a march this Thursday, from the Taxqueña light rail to the Tepepan prison, where Nestora Salgado was transferred last weekend.
* "Prison Revolt: Letter from Tecumseh Prison" (2015-06-04, Chadrick Fitzgerald) [archive.is/7pt6m] [begin excerpt]: Greetings my friends. My name is Chadrick Fitzgerald, IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) membership number X385061. As I write these words, I am sitting in a cell on the SMU gallery in Tecumseh Corrections Facility under investigation for the uprising that took place on 5-10-15. The Nebraska DOC has been run poorly for some time, we have had a number of changes in directors and that’s about it. The number of problems are too long to list but somewhere at the top of that list sits overcrowding, lack of programming, and the mistreatment of the inmates. To give you an idea of how out of control it has become, prison guards themselves have sued the state of Nebraska and won because they were being abused by coworkers via racial slurs at work. The ACLU has threatened to sue over the amount of overcrowding and current living conditions. The inmate population has tried many times to get programming that would help us upon release and time and again, nothing. [end excerpt]
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articles recommended by the
SAN PABLO BAY ECOLOGICAL PRESERVATION ASSOCIATION
Campaigns, info, and more [SanPabloBayEPA.blogspot.com]
The "cross-pollination" of genetically modified organisms released into the wild with their natural-born counterparts will interrupt the life-cycle of the entire species.
* "Genetically Modified Mosquito Sparks a Controversy in Florida" (2015-06-04, e360.yale.edu) [archive.is/7WFHD]. whowhatwhy.org writes: Officials in Florida are turning to a brave new world solution to what is likely to become a bigger and bigger problem for a rapidly-warming planet—the spread of tropical diseases from the “hot zones” to the “heating-up zones.” In this case, officials want to stop the spread of dengue fever by disease-carrying mosquitoes. The introduction of genetically-modified mosquitoes interrupts the insects’ lifecycle and stops the spread of disease. But it is also making Floridians very uncomfortable.
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* "EPA Report Finds Fracking Water Pollution, Despite Oil and Gas Industry's Refusal to Provide Key Data" (2015-06-05, biologicaldiversity.org) [archive.is/P4hmk]
* "The EPA’s Fracking Study, Explained" (2015-06-05, foodandwaterwatch.org) [archive.is/Vd3tB]
* "No widespread danger to water from fracking: US agency" (2015-06-04, AFP Newswire) [archive.is/F9uSE]
Health and the Human Ecology
Monopolists enforce a regime that does not recognize the natural right to health and life
* "Disturbing New Study Links Fracking Wells to Lower Birth Weights; 'These findings cannot be ignored,' urges University of Pittsburgh researcher" (2015-06-04, commondreams.org) [archive.is/kfF5Q]
* "USDA Staff Urged Foster Farms Recall Almost Nine Months Before it Took Effect" (2015-06-04, foodandwaterwatch.org) [archive.is/yydbc]
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Save The Birds [link]! and the Bees [link]!
A campaign to preserve and expand the habitat and populations of pollinators in the San Pablo Bay Area.
===*===*===
articles recommended by the
NO NUKES! campaign
[StopNuclearDeath.blogspot.com]
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articles recommended by the
SAN PABLO BAY SOVEREIGNTY Think-tank
[SovereignSanPabloBay.blogspot.com]* "Trees are source for high-capacity, soft batteries; A method for making elastic high-capacity batteries from wood pulp was unveiled by researchers in Sweden and the US. Using nanocellulose broken down from tree fibres, a team from KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Stanford University produced an elastic, foam-like battery material that can withstand shock and stress" (2015-06-01, kth.se/en) [archive.is/ZZNO6]
===*===*===
articles recommended by the Committee for
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Protect Earth's Sentient Life!
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Save the Whales!
===*===*===
UNITED STATES FASCISM WATCH
[UnitedStatesFascism.blogspot.com] Current trends among fascists, monopolists, and their vanguards.
* "Star Wars fan? Lucas wrote this ‘false flag’-terrorism-war story about America devolving to dictatorship" (2015-06-04, washingtonsblog.com) [archive.is/ecb2m].
George Lucas said: “How do democracies get turned into dictatorships? The democracies aren’t overthrown; they’re given away… Star Wars was really about the Vietnam War.” & , in 1973, he said “The (Star Wars) Empire is like America ten years from now.”
* "Star Wars as Allegory for the Vietnam War … or How Not to Offend Anyone" (2013-08-23, futureofstarwars.wordpress.com) [archive.is/brSV4]
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The following article relies on the usual fabrications concerning the old Soviet Union in comparing reports of the tyranny there with today's USA. The irony is that the USA is now worse than the old Soviet Union. Recall that the Gulags, or labor prisons, held less prisoners and treated their prisoners better than that of the USA, and that the economic dictators of the USA engineers famines against entire peoples, like in the Philippines, and Honduras.
* "How corporations have made America like the USSR" (2012-07-17, alternet.org) [archive.is/g30ad] [begin excerpt]: The ironies abound. Even as China has ramped up its efforts to inculcate creativity and critical thought in its students, the United States has voluntarily given up on those values — our competitive edge over the world for the past 150 years — in favor of a centralized, test-driven schooling regimen that only a Soviet bureaucrat could love. Increasingly, the doors to the best high schools and universities are closed to everyone but those in the top echelons of society, just as the best schools in the USSR were set aside for the children of the Party leadership. But the greatest irony of all is that, far from being done in the name of the state, this is being done by taking education out of the hands of the state and giving it over to for-profit corporations. Again, the more “private industry” gets involved, the more the outcome looks like something from a 1950s John Birch caricature of the horrors of Soviet life.
And On It Goes!
* Our modern homes are designed by marketing researchers working for Soviet-style large developers that dictate what The People’s Houses should look like.
* Our food supply is dominated by Soviet-style government-mandated (but privately run) monoculture.
* Our voting system is increasingly restricted to people who are acceptable to the party hierarchy, just as the Soviet system limited Communist Party membership to a small percentage of the population; and corporate-owned machines count our votes.
* Our increasingly privatized and militarized law enforcement is starting to owe a lot to the brutal Soviet policing style, too. We have gulags now — and the corporations are running them, too.
* Our response to climate change is being driven by another form of Lysenkoism — a science-denial movement driven by corporations that are threatened by any demand that they change their ways.
* And anybody who’s dealt with a bank foreclosure can tell you stories that would cross Franz Kafka’s eyes about the runaround they get every time they try to contact their lender. Checks and papers vanish, and must be sent over and over. Payments are never posted. And you can never talk to the same person twice. (We used to think the DMV was bad enough, but now we know: it takes a corporation to really screw things up.) This kind of faceless, brutally inhuman bureaucracy used to be the stuff of totalitarian nightmares. Now, it’s everyday reality for tens of millions of American homeowners.
This is corporate-sponsored tyranny that comes at a huge expense to the masses. The great irony of our age is that, over the past 60 years, the more energy we put into resisting Communism by raising up the cult of the consumer (and the corporations that serviced it), the more our own corporate overlords were able to seize our resources and energy, and divert them into the goal of consolidating their power and inflicting their own totalitarian, centrally planned hell on us. [end excerpt]
* "Report Reveals $8.5 Trillion Missing From Pentagon Budget" (2015-06-02, crooksandliars.com) [archive.is/Ufmaq] [begin excerpt]: Yahoo Money' The Daily Ticker [archive.is/4cxJg] is reporting that is has discovered a Reuters investigation that reveals $8.5 trillion – that's trillion with a "T" – in taxpayer money doled out by Congress to the Pentagon since 1996 that has never been accounted for [web.archive.org/web/20150605052002/http://www.reuters.com/investigates/pentagon/#article/part2].
You read that right. While Republican politicians rush to slash food stamps [archive.is/kROEh] for the 47 million Americans living in poverty – the highest amount in nearly two decades – Republican U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel has the audacity to complain that $20 billion dollars in automatic sequester cuts to the massive and secretive $565.8 billion Defense Department budget are " too steep, too deep, and too abrupt" [archive.is/3pw3K], all while the Pentagon and the Defense Department are overseeing massive fraud, waste, and abuse. For anyone wondering, Reuters reports that the D.O.D.'s 2012 budget totaled $565.8 billion, more than the annual defense budgets of the 10 next largest military spenders combined, including Russia and China. [end excerpt]
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The monopolist's version of the "Left" is anti-socialist, and pro-war. Many of the monopolist's "Left" media is funded by the CIA itself, or by companies who benefit from unlimited war and "free enterprise", and it comes as no surprise when these monopolist "Leftists" denounce an anti-war socialist candidate!
* "U.S. ‘Progressive’ Magazines Deep-Sixed Senator Sanders’s Incipient Presidential Campaign" (2015-05-28, washingtonsblog.com) [archive.is/qTrON]
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* "The precarious existence of the working poor; More than 40% of families here are just one crisis away from catastrophe" (2015-05-31, jconline.com) [archive.is/OzLzs]
* "Chart: What’s the real unemployment rate?" (2015-06-04, cnbc.com) [archive.is/XnW4K]. whowhatwhy.org writes: Today’s headlines are celebrating the latest unemployment rate—5.5%—as further evidence of a “firming” jobs market. But there is another number—the "U-6"—and that adds the “unemployed” with “marginally attached workers” plus those who are “employed part time for economic reasons.” These are often called “underemployed” workers. That rate is at 10.8%. And it still doesn’t account for those who’ve dropped out of the labor market [archive.is/ppkzQ].
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The unelected private bureaucracies dominating the economy are themselves beholden to their shareholders, and it is important to note the ideological viewpoints of them, such as in the following example which shows that the shareholders are for the destruction of our ecology, and for unrestricted influence over public-sector government.
* "Chevron shareholders vote for political spending" (2015-05-28, UPI Newswire) [archive.is/rqZJD] [begin excerpt]: Chevron stockholders voted on 13 items, with just under half of them tied in part to political or environmental issues. More than 70 percent of the shareholders voted against reports on lobbying and nearly all of them voted against an end to using corporate funds for political purposes. On environmental issues, 91 percent voted against a proposal to cut greenhouse gas emissions and 80 percent voted against a move to consider an independent director with environmental expertise. [end excerpt]
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* "Lawsuit: Conspiracy by Gov. Brown, oil companies tainted aquifers" (2015-06-03, sfgate.com) [archive.is/9S22o]
* "State let oil companies taint drinkable water in Central Valley" (2015-04-08, sfgate.com) [archive.is/iw4ci]
---
Petroleum companies are set to conduct ecocide for the benefit of private profit. The State of Alaska is reliant on petroleum extraction for it's economy, but the profits are for the companies who extract the petroleum. To stifle the act of preserving the ecology for the sake of "the economy" is stupid. Some of the "profit" is given to State Citizens, but not enough to make a real difference in quality of life (the grants are worth about a month of food, or a big-screen television).
* "Back off, Alaskan energy group tells Shell activists" (2015-06-03, UPI Newswire) [archive.is/vp9Hm]: With pressure building on Shell's port activity in Seattle, an Alaskan energy coalition said the state's economy won't be held hostage by external activists. "We don't like our economy being held hostage by activists from another state," Anne Seneca, president of the Consumer Energy Alliance-Alaska, said in a statement. With federal approval in hand, Shell said it may start its drilling campaign in the arctic waters off the coast of Alaska as early as this summer. Shell's drilling rig, Polar Pioneer, is stationed at the Port of Seattle ahead of the program's start. In mid-May, a flotilla of kayakers took to the waters off the coast of Seattle to protest Shell. Advocacy group Friends of the Earth launched a legal challenge against the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management for approving Shell's exploration program. "We argue that the agency failed to include potentially significant environmental effects, such as marine mammal distribution and habitat use, and failed to assess the particular risks of a large oil spill during the exploratory phase," the group said in a statement. Shell is proposing as many as six wells in a region known as the Burger prospect, located in shallow waters, using the Noble Discoverer and Polar Pioneer rigs. Its drillship Kulluk struck ground off the Alaskan coast in 2012, and the U.S. Coast Guard blamed harsh winter conditions and the company's efforts to escape Alaskan tax laws for the incident. The Consumer Energy Alliance said it had the support of 13 other state organizations and 19 Alaskan lawmakers in backing Shell's plans. With nearly 90 percent of the state revenue coming from energy resources, the coalition said the arctic program is critical to the success of the Alaskan economy. Alaska Gov. Bill Walker toured the Polar Pioneer drilling rig last week, saying arctic drilling "will happen."
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* "The Unintended Consequences Of North Carolina’s ‘Ag-Gag’ Law" (2015-06-07) [web.archive.org/web/20150609045445/http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/06/07/3666617/north-carolina-ag-gag-environmental-impacts/]. Whowhatwhy.org writes: “Ag-Gag” laws have taken root in states where Big Ag has big factory farms and big influence greased by big bucks. These laws prohibit surreptitiously-obtained evidence of animal abuse, illegal dumping of chemicals, hazardous conditions in slaughterhouses and un-permitted polluting of waterways. These laws dovetail with the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act of 2006 [archive.is/2Gzjd] which actually conflates corporate whistleblowers and animal rights activists with terrorists [archive.is/SZS8C]. The latest battleground in this little-known free speech fight is North Carolina, home to a $3 billion per year hog farming industry... and to streams and rivers choked with effluvia from those hog farms.
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Two Party Dictatorship
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State Media Watch
* "Want News on Big Money in Politics? Don't Look to Major Media Networks" (2016-06-04, commondreams.org) [archive.is/kypac]
* "For AP, Being Shot by a Cop Makes You a Suspect" (2015-06-08, fair.org) [archive.is/iBLSU]
FOX News propaganda is designed to appear as "reasonable" and is designed by marketing agents to package absolute fascism in the guise of "liberty", including eliciting absolute hatred for anyone of lower-income.* "Bill Says There Is No Such Thing as Income Inequality; Americans Are Just Stupid" (2015-06-08, ringoffireradio.com) [archive.is/I6NAy] [begin excerpt]: According to Bill O’Reilly, income inequality is just a ruse by the Democratic party to get votes America’s idiotic poor. What Bill O’Reilly claims is that the free market dictates who will make money in this country and that if you aren’t one of the lucky individuals making money, it’s because you are lazy. But Bill has more evidence than just his opinion to go off of: he has his personal experience as well. Bill wants to rub his success in the faces of those suffering the sting of income inequality. “Where I grew up, there were literally hundreds of kids in that neighborhood, all of the same economic circumstance; not much money,” said O’Reilly. “[…] They are not going to make the kind of money I am making.”
Fascist propaganda works to create a narrative that the dominant culture is under threat by the targeted victim, even if of a captive demographic, and that it is right and correct to attack the victim for, it is claimed, preparing to do what the fascists already plan on doing.
* "Pastor Fears America Will Start Exterminating Christians, Nazi-Style" (2015-06-10) [www.ringoffireradio.com/2015/06/pastor-fears-america-will-start-exterminating-christians-nazi-style/]: Christians love to think of themselves as the quintessential victims. Nowhere is that reality more apparent than on the conservative media outlets like Fox News. During a recent segment on Sean Hannity’s program, a panel attempted to respond to a very popular clip from Bill Maher that outlined how the ‘War on Christians’ is little more than a matter of perception, and self-martyrdom. As part of the panel, a pastor Hannity brought onto the show said: "This isn’t imaginary, it’s real. And sure, it doesn’t rise to the level of having your head chopped off by Isis in the Middle East, but it’s all the same attitude that allows for those attacks."
He wasn’t done there though, Reverend Robert Jeffress needed to take this comparison all the way back to Nazi Germany. "I want to remind people that, you know, the Nazis weren’t able to take the Jews to the crematoriums immediately. The German people wouldn’t have allowed for it. Instead, the Nazis had to change public opinion. They marginalized the Jewish people, disparaged them, and make them objects of contempt."
Watch the video [youtube.com/watch?v=RV8VAUi0Rj4], part of the "Christians Under Attack" propaganda broadcast on FoxNews.
* "Cold War II to McCarthyism II" (2015-06-08, by Robert Parry, consortiumnews.com) [archive.is/lK7mA] [begin excerpt]: With Cold War II in full swing, the New York Times is dusting off what might be called McCarthyism II, the suggestion that anyone who doesn’t get in line with U.S. propaganda must be working for Moscow. What has been most striking in the behavior of the Times and most other U.S. mainstream media outlets is their utter lack of self-awareness, for instance, accusing Russia of engaging in propaganda and alliance-building that are a pale shadow of what the U.S. government routinely does. Yet, the Times and the rest of the MSM act as if these actions are unique to Moscow. A case in point is Monday’s front-page story in the Times entitled “Russia Wields Aid and Ideology Against West to Fight Sanctions,” which warns: “Moscow has brought to bear different kinds of weapons, according to American and European officials: money, ideology and disinformation.”
The article by Peter Baker and Steven Erlanger portrays the U.S. government as largely defenseless in the face of this unprincipled Russian onslaught: “Even as the Obama administration and its European allies try to counter Russia’s military intervention across its border, they have found themselves struggling at home against what they see as a concerted drive by Moscow to leverage its economic power, finance European political parties and movements, and spread alternative accounts of the conflict.”
Like many of the Times’ recent articles, this one relies on one-sided accusations from U.S. and European officials and is short on both hard evidence of actual Russian payments – and a response from the Russian government to the charges. At the end of the long story, the writers do include one comment from Brookings Institution scholar, Fiona Hill, a former U.S. national intelligence officer on Russia, noting the shortage of proof.
“The question is how much hard evidence does anyone have?” she asked. But that’s about all a Times’ reader will get if he or she is looking for some balanced reporting.
Plus, there’s the failure to recognize that many of Official Washington’s own accounts of global problems have been riddled with propaganda and outright disinformation.
For instance, much of the State Department’s account of the Aug. 21, 2013 sarin attack in Syria turned out to be false or misleading. United Nations inspectors discovered only one rocket carrying sarin – not the barrage that U.S. officials had originally alleged – and the rocket had a much shorter range than the U.S. government (and the New York Times) claimed. See Consortiumnews.com’s “NYT Backs Off Its Syria-Sarin Analysis” [archive.is/mQkbq].
Then, after the Feb. 22, 2014 U.S.-backed coup in Ukraine, the U.S. government and the Times became veritable founts of propaganda and disinformation. Beyond refusing to acknowledge the key role played by neo-Nazi and other right-wing militias in the coup and subsequent violence, the State Department disseminated information to the Times that later was acknowledged to be false.
In April 2014, the Times published a lead story based on photographs of purported Russian soldiers in Ukraine but had to retract it two days later because it turned out that the State Department had misrepresented where a key photo was taken, destroying the premise of the article. See Consortiumnews.com’s “NYT Retracts Ukraine Photo Scoop” [archive.is/SfY2J]. [end excerpt]
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"10th Amendment Movement", "Constitutionalist Militias", & "Sovereign Citizens"
Non-fascists whose goals support fascism [tenthamendmentcenter.com]
* "Timothy McVeigh’s anti-government views have moved from the extremist fringe into the GOP mainstream" (2015-06-01, rawstory.com) [archive.is/vKiY5]
===*===*===
GEOPOLITICAL NEWS
Provided by Northbay MDS Committees, and the 5th World News service [FifthWorldNews.blogspot.com], including Institutions of Self-Government not recognized by the United Nations. USA State Dept.'s legal statement supporting unilateral declarations of independence (2009-07) [.pdf link]: "The legal principle of territorial integrity does not prevent non-state entities from peacefully declaring its independence." Legal mandate set by the UN International Court (2010-07-22) [archive.today/mc6sX]: "No general prohibition may be inferred from the practice of the Security Council with regard to declarations of independence,” and “General international law contains no prohibition on declarations of independence."
WORLD FASCISM WATCH
Documenting the global economic dictatorship
* "WikiLeaks Strikes Again: Leaked TISA Docs Expose Corporate Plan For Reshaping Global Economy; Leaked Docs reveal that little-known corporate treaty poised to privatize and deregulate public services across globe" (2015-06-03, commondreams.org) [archive.is/NSRQL]---
* "How the Red Cross Raised Half a Billion Dollars for Haiti and Built Six Homes; Even as the group has publicly celebrated its work, insider accounts detail a string of failures" (2015-06-03, propublica.org) [archive.is/nPSTE]
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* "US Lawmakers Pass Bill for Space Mining in the Future; Under the Spurring Private Aerospace Competitiveness and Entrepreneurship (SPACE) Act, which the US House of Representatives passed Thursday, firms involved in asteroid mining will be able to keep whatever they dig up" (2015-05-29, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/bRPfU]
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* "Let’s stop TPP in its fast track! TPP: economic embodiment of the U.S. Empire’s war at home and abroad" (2015-05-29, by Ray O' Light) [archive.is/LGvup] [begin excerpt]: The contradiction between the handful of major imperialist powers and the hundreds of millions, now billions, of colonial and dependent peoples of the world: Certainly, most of the eleven other countries whose governments have participated in the TPP negotiations these past six years are in some form of dependent status in relation to U.S. imperialism. (Even Japan, the other major imperialist power in the mix, seventy years after the end of World War II, has thousands of U.S. troops as an occupation force on its territory and is still militarily dependent on U.S. imperialism.) Lenin taught that the essence of imperialism resides in the distinction between the oppressing and the oppressed nations. Among those governments that vote to affiliate to the Trans Pacific Partnership, the tyrannical character of the TPP will no doubt provide great potential for extra abuse and exploitation of their countries by the dominant U.S. imperialist power — from selection and use of the secret corporate tribunals to favoritism in corporate decisions, fines, lawsuits, etc. The TPP will only serve to exacerbate this contradiction. [end excerpt]
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Weapons for a New World Order
* "Raytheon opens new cyber facility" (2015-06-03, UPI Newswire) [archive.is/jOzc2]
* "Raytheon strengthens Philippines' coastal monitoring" (2015-06-02, UPI Newswire) [archive.is/Porwu]
* "IS jihadists out of reach in online 'dark space': FBI" (2015-06-03, AFP Newswire) [archive.is/CKIGf]
* "Patent for Navy small space debris tracker granted" (2015-05-28, UPI Newswire) [archive.is/Wp6Z5]. "Small Space Debris" includes small satellites, like CubeSats.
* "Bomb Without a Bomb – US Air Force Develops Electromagnetic Pulse Weapon" (2015-05-28, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/uGb1c]. Image: CHAMP, or Counter-electronics High-powered Microwave Advanced Missile Project.
---* "Raytheon strengthens Philippines' coastal monitoring" (2015-06-02, UPI Newswire) [archive.is/Porwu]
* "IS jihadists out of reach in online 'dark space': FBI" (2015-06-03, AFP Newswire) [archive.is/CKIGf]
* "Patent for Navy small space debris tracker granted" (2015-05-28, UPI Newswire) [archive.is/Wp6Z5]. "Small Space Debris" includes small satellites, like CubeSats.
* "Bomb Without a Bomb – US Air Force Develops Electromagnetic Pulse Weapon" (2015-05-28, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/uGb1c]. Image: CHAMP, or Counter-electronics High-powered Microwave Advanced Missile Project.
#OPDeathEaters [WorldFascists.blogspot.com]
===*===*===
Global Anarchist vanguards & autonomous zones[anarchistnews.org] [ainfos.ca] [libcom.org]
* "Prairie Struggle is Dead and the Struggle Continues" (2015-06-03, by Prairie Struggle Organization - Regina Collective) [archive.is/3yXjm] [begin excerpt]: As much as this pains those who have participated in the anarchist communist experience between 2011 and 2014 in the Canadian prairies, today, Prairie Struggle announces its official secession and subsequent disbandment. To this day, Prairie Struggle was the only specific platformist organization in the Canadians prairies. Though some may recall the existence of an anarchist communist group in Regina affiliated to the ACF (Anarchist Communist Federation of North America) in the 80s, organized anarchism in the prairies has had many difficulties, some of which the Prairie Struggle Project has failed to overcome. Despite its downfall, Prairie Struggle, for one last time, offers a look into the organization, its failures and its small victories. [end excerpt]
===*===*===
World Anti-Imperialist Alliance for People's Democracy (Marxist-Leninist-Maoist)[signalfire.org] [maoistcommunistgroup.com]
* "On Maoist Practice": We must, then, understand the infinite creativity of the masses not as an empirical fact, but as a political determination: the infinite creative power of the masses is determined as the knotting together of the revolution with communism. The role of the class organization is to make this infinite creative power live by serving as a processing plant for partial forms of mass organization and ideas that emerge in class situations. It is not to dream up unprecedented forms of class struggle. In carrying out its role, the class organization must deploy a series of weapons—social investigation, actions, meetings, proposals, summations—in order to systematize the forms of struggle already at work in the mass movement. In this limited but powerful arsenal, the decisive weapon is the summation.”
* Three documents of the Maoist Communist Group [web.archive.org/web/20150610060121/https://maoistcommunistgroup.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/threedocuments-mcg1.pdf]
===*===*===
European racial vanguards* "The Rise of the Neo-Nazi Party 'Golden Dawn' in Greece; Neo-Nazi mobilization in the wake of the crisis" book (2013, by Dimitris Psarras) [web.archive.org/web/20150608074809/http://rosalux-europa.info/userfiles/file/PsarrasEN.pdf]
* "Golden Dawn: organising, encouraging, sustained by violence" (2015-05-31, opendemocracy.net) [archive.is/Qja79]
===*===*===
Canada, Quebec, & the federation of First Nations
* "Constitutional Lawyer Rocco Galati: C-51 A 'Fascist And Dictatorial Piece Of Legislation' " (2015-06-01, huffingtonpost.ca) [archive.is/pwKLN]
---
* "Canada’s Genocide against First Nations’ Children. Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Whitewash Canada's Elaborate Coverup of its own Genocide nevertheless proves Guilt, Criminal Intent of Government, Churches" (2015-06-06, by Dr. Gary G. Kohls) [archive.is/ZrfiE]
* "6,000 Kids Died in Residential Schools: Canada Truth and Reconciliation Commission" (2015-06-02, indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com) [archive.is/B1pAg]. Photo caption: Truth and Reconciliation commissioner Murray Sinclair, in a black suit, marches along with Assembly of First Nations Chief Perry Bellegarde (in headdress) in an Ottawa march on Sunday that was part of the closing events of the commission's work. Between 7,000 and 10,000 participants marched.
===*===*===
"Indian Country" and the sovereign nations within the USA
[indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com] [bsnorrell.blogspot.com]
* Indigenous news: May 27 to June 3 (collected by peoplesworld.org) [archive.is/qJqmV], includes digest versions wrapping-up the following headline articles:
- "Ottawa study offers grim look at mental health of aboriginal youth" [archive.is/jZrj7]
- "An ancient Native American drought solution for a parched California" [archive.is/pvtrW]
- "Players lead Atlanta Dream basketball team to victory" [archive.is/VHuZO]
- "Hip hop event highlights Apache youth activism" [archive.is/2gb8k]
===*===*===
Regional insights for the lands of
Anahuac, Carib, and Abya Ayla ("Latin" America)
English language news [upsidedownworld.org] [narconews.com] [narcosphere.narconews.com] [cepr.net] [cedema.org], Spanish language news [contrainjerencia.com]
===*===*===
Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of Our Americas (ALBA)
[HandsOffBolivarianVenezuela.blogspot.com]
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Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
* "Facts About the Media Garbage Against Diosdado Cabello" (2015-05-28, venezuelanalysis.com) [archive.is/OK5vH]
* "The Latest Attack Against Venezuela" (2015-05-15, democracycuba.com) [archive.is/nJbCX] [begin excerpt]: Despite worldwide disapproval, the number of media campaigns against Venezuela has increased since then through a US-led propaganda apparatus that is now especially concentrating its attacks on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela’s National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello. They are accusing him of being linked to international drug trafficking, a slanderous and yet unproved charge rapidly echoed by hundreds of newspapers and other media from all over the world.
Who is Diosdado Cabello and why is he under attack?
Ever since he was a young officer, he joined Hugo Chavez in the struggle against the abuse and corruption that marked the Fourth Republic and after that, in the peaceful transformation conducted by the Bolivarian Revolution. He played a key role in the popular movement of resistance that thwarted the fascist coup in 2002 and returned Chavez back being head of State for which he had been democratically-elected by most Venezuelans.
In a clumsy maneuver to divide Chavismo, and following Chavez’s unfortunate death, the same hardcore right-wingers who are now vilifying him tried to make him President of the Republic, but he adamantly refused. Diosdado Cabello gave a remarkable example of revolutionary firmness and spirit of unity, proving that he is moved by flattery no more than he is by threats. [end excerpt]
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Republic of Cuba
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Pluri-National State of Bolivia
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Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
* "Facts About the Media Garbage Against Diosdado Cabello" (2015-05-28, venezuelanalysis.com) [archive.is/OK5vH]
* "The Latest Attack Against Venezuela" (2015-05-15, democracycuba.com) [archive.is/nJbCX] [begin excerpt]: Despite worldwide disapproval, the number of media campaigns against Venezuela has increased since then through a US-led propaganda apparatus that is now especially concentrating its attacks on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela’s National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello. They are accusing him of being linked to international drug trafficking, a slanderous and yet unproved charge rapidly echoed by hundreds of newspapers and other media from all over the world.
Who is Diosdado Cabello and why is he under attack?
Ever since he was a young officer, he joined Hugo Chavez in the struggle against the abuse and corruption that marked the Fourth Republic and after that, in the peaceful transformation conducted by the Bolivarian Revolution. He played a key role in the popular movement of resistance that thwarted the fascist coup in 2002 and returned Chavez back being head of State for which he had been democratically-elected by most Venezuelans.
In a clumsy maneuver to divide Chavismo, and following Chavez’s unfortunate death, the same hardcore right-wingers who are now vilifying him tried to make him President of the Republic, but he adamantly refused. Diosdado Cabello gave a remarkable example of revolutionary firmness and spirit of unity, proving that he is moved by flattery no more than he is by threats. [end excerpt]
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Republic of Cuba
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Pluri-National State of Bolivia
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Republic of Ecuador
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Republic of Nicaragua
===*===*===
United States of Mexico
* "Teachers' Protests Fill Mexico City Streets" (2015-06-02, TeleSurTV.net) [www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF_T9fh0lsQ]: Thousands of angry teachers took to the streets of the Mexican capital to protest labor policies that they charge are a step toward privatization of public education and put their workplace rights in jeopardy. The teachers' opposition to the government's educational reform is also accompanied by a rejection of the prevailing political system and the call to boycott next Sunday's elections. Clayton Conn reports from Mexico City.
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The Good Government and the EZLN ("Zapatistas")
[chiapas-support.org] [enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx] [zeztainternazional.ezln.org.mx]
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Communique from the Revolutionary Popular Democratic Party-Popular Revolutionary Army
* "ORGANIZE THE FIGHT AGAINST STATE TERRORISM" (2015-05-25) [archive.is/ow3DF] [begin excerpt]: Gabriel Alberto Cruz Sánchez and Edmundo Reyes Amaya, activists of our party, proven is that they were detained and disappeared by the military police of the Mexican state apparatus on May 25, 2007 in the city of Oaxaca, in the context of widespread repression that the state and federal government was exercised against people who demanded a solution to their demands.Our partners Gabriel and Edmundo were arrested and disappeared for being a revolutionary; for his libertarian ideas; by its consistency in the revolutionary struggle; for its attachment to the defense of the interests of the people; for its high sensitivity and human dignity; for his combative attitude toward the class enemy. They were detained-disappeared, tortured, subjected to cruel and degrading treatment by being PDPR-EPR militants.
The date of the arrest and disappearance of our colleagues Gabriel Alberto Cruz Sánchez and Edmundo Reyes Amaya, to today, hundreds of thousands of victims of this crime, a fact that reconfirms that is a State policy and enforced disappearance in Mexico this continues to implement the unpopular and repressive government. The police-military, corporations, official and unofficial paramilitary groups acting on their mandate and acquiescence of the state, individuals called "isolated" when you want to dilute the crimes against humanity belong to the repressive apparatus of the Mexican State.
The problem of poverty and misery that exists in the country is added the enforced disappearance as a State policy, these are the main problems to which they live in Mexico, from the government and its institutions shun their solution because those in power have decided to exit a fascist economic, political and social contradictions in the country.
Hunger and misery explains not only the impoverishment of society, but also deeply anti-popular character of the government; forced disappearances for political and social reasons expresses the repressive nature of the regime, both express the genocidal policy imposed violently from the Mexican state.
The disappearance besides being a crime against humanity imprescriptible in Mexico through these heinous crimes State terrorism spreads and low intensity war against the people becomes widespread, gaining new victims every day and raising hundreds of Thousands criminal figures of state terrorism.
The fight against state terrorism is imperative that we all must fly and take, but it must organize, structure it and generalize before being victims; the disappeared yesterday and today are children of the people, they belong to the people, are the people, therefore it behooves us all raise the demand for their live presentation.
The disappeared are not one, not two, not tens, hundreds of thousands and our struggle is for all of them, because it is the struggle of our people against their oppressors that transcends blood affinities and political standards, the positions sectoralists , parochial and sectarian only facilitate more committed crimes against humanity and prevent the unity of the people, the only political-organizational weapon in the fight against state terrorism. [end excerpt]
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Central America, an "Economic Sacrifice Zone"
After criticizing the failure to take human trafficking seriously, InSight Crime offers some advice to the Central American countries.
* [http://www.insightcrime.org/news-analysis/how-central-america-can-better-fight-human-trafficking]
With the support of "Brot fur die Welt", several Latin American organization have published reports on the mining situation in their countries.
* [http://movimientom4.org/2015/06/estudios-sobre-normativa-minera-en-paises-de-america-latina/]
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Republic of Guatemala
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Republic of El Salvador
Inhabitants of Southern Honduras denounces that maras from El Salvador came to their boarder communities recruiting gang members.
* [http://criterio.hn/mareros-salvadorenos-estarian-reclutando-jovenes-en-zona-sur-de-honduras/]
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Republic of Honduras
[northbaymds.blogspot.com/2014/10/world-fascism-watch-honduras.html] Most of the comments are collected from the daily "Presente Honduras Digest", and from the "Honduras Solidarity Network" listserve, authored by experts in geopolitics and history of Latin America. Libre is the "leftist" party working to uphold human rights and sovereignty, JOH is the dictator of Honduras supported by the USA.
The USA is currently dictating foreign and economic policy to the states of El Salvador and Guatemala in the "Northern Triangle", two of which previously suffered genocide conducted by USA agencies throughout the 20th century to protect monopolist land-holdings against democratic campaigns, while the third state, Honduras, represented in the following photo by smiling dictator JOH, served as the land base for that genocide.
Some points of interest that we are hearing from pretty much everyone we have spoken with (COFADEH, REd de Defensoras, LIBRE/FNRP, CNTC, SITRAUNAH- union of national university employees, C-Libre, MADJ) are that with JOH what we are seeing is the consolidation of a dictatorship in which the judicial powers, ministries, entities such as the INA and other governmental commissions, the national university administration, the Church, the army, the press, etc. are incorporated in one way or the other- in either an alliance (the Church) or subordinated to the Presidency which is also strongly supported by at least most of the oligarchy. In Congress there is a struggle --- the National Party and part of the Liberal Party as party of the dictatorship (they have a majority) and an opposition LIBRE, PAC, and Villeda's Liberals, that LIBRE believes if they can consolidate they can stop or at least effectively hold back the dictatorship.
Regarding the US role, the whitewashing and monetary support for JOH continue but there are some folks who usually have very good information who say that the US Embassy/State has some problems with JOH, however he is strongly supported by the US SouthCom.
Other news: violent evictions of campesinos, assassinations, threats but also a step up of protests by street vendors (against new taxes) LIBRE/FNRP folks, and a deep anger on the street about the National Party's plunder of the health system (social security).
Salon has published a great piece on the role of US presidential primary candidate Hilary Cliton during the Honduran coup d'etat.
* [www.salon.com/2015/06/08/exclusive_hillary_clinton_sold_out_honduras_lanny_davis_corporate_cash_and_the_real_story_about_the_death_of_a_latin_america_democracy/]
The US and Honduras Armed Forces announced a joint humanitarian exercise.
* [http://criterio.hn/eeuu-y-honduras-haran-ejecicios-militares-nuevos-horizontes/]
* "US underwrites corruption and violence in Honduras; Washington continues to prop up Hernández's regime, despite its blatant disregard for human rights" (2015-06-01, aljazeera.com) [archive.is/k7BSY].
The TIGRES special forces count with 179 new members -the US ambassador took an active part in the graduation ceremony. He also took the opportunity to claim that drug circulation has dropped substantially in the country thanks to the two countries collaborating.
* [http://www.tiempo.hn/nacion/item/33012-honduras-a-combatir-el-crimen-179-nuevos-elementos-del-comando-elite-tigres]
* [http://www.tiempo.hn/nacion/item/33011-embajador-de-ee-uu-reconoce-exito-en-lucha-anti-drogas-de-honduras]
Despite it all, the USA-backed coup was launched under the reason that the democratically elected President Zelaya was seeking re-election through a constitutional change where it otherwise was forbidden by constitutional law, and expanding the ability for regular people (the poor) to participate in free and fair elections as part of the accusation that his political party sought to "pack the ballots", criticism which attacks the basis for democracy itself.
Today's USA-backed dictator is now seeking the same privileges in order to benefit his death-squad regime over the current "managed democracy". There is now a back and forth regarding the presidential reelection. After the recent statement by the president of the Supreme Court (CSJ), the door now seems to be open again. To guarantee enough votes, the National Party is at the same time preparing the ground to allow members of the military and police, as well as inmates, to vote.
* [http://criterio.hn/fallo-de-la-sala-constitucional-es-aberrante-dice-experto-constitucionalista]
* [http://criterio.hn/nacionalistas-cabildearan-para-habilitar-voto-de-militares-policias-y-prisioneros]
KGNU reports live from Honduras on the National Party's push for allowing the presidential reelection.
* [http://news.kgnu.org/2015/05/honduras-the-people-take-back-the-vote/]
A new report by the Central American Institute for Fiscal Policy (ICEFI) claims that the JOH administration leads a fiscal policy strategy that harms the Honduran people.
* [http://radioprogresohn.net/index.php/comunicaciones/noticias/item/2099-gobierno-de-hern%C3%A1ndez-sostiene-pol%C3%ADtica-fiscal-a-costa-del-bienestar-del-pueblo-hondure%C3%B1o-se%C3%B1ala-informe]
Carlos A. Lanza wonders why there is not more pressure by the main media against JOH.
* [http://www.alainet.org/es/articulo/170165]
Instead of improving, the situation of the Honduran campesinx movement is worsening as can be seen in an increase of threats, violent evictions and criminalization campaigns.
* [http://radioprogresohn.net/index.php/comunicaciones/noticias/item/2115-se-incrementan-amenazas-criminalizaci%C3%B3n-y-desalojos-contra-movimientos-campesinos]
Fosdeh demands an integral change in the fight against poverty in Honduras. The current policies have failed their aim completely.
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/06/inservible-multimilloria-inversion-para.html]
Apparently 90% of all Honduran public education institutions don't possess an operating agreement.
* [http://www.radiohrn.hn/l/noticias/el-90-por-ciento-de-los-institutos-p%C3%BAblicos-operan-de-forma-ilegal]
In its newest monthly report, Casa Alianza speaks of 79 murdered teenagers in May. According to them, the murders reveal a clear pattern of executions.
* [http://www.pasosdeanimalgrande.com/index.php/en/contexto/item/820-79-jovenes-fueron-ejecutados-solo-en-el-mes-de-mayo]
Honduran sex workers protested yesterday against the impunity in the murder cases of their colleagues.
* [http://www.radiohrn.hn/l/noticias/trabajadoras-sexuales-realizan-marcha-por-la-impunidad-en-asesinatos]
Radio Progreso published an insightful text on organized crime and appearances in Honduras.
* [http://radioprogresohn.net/index.php/comunicaciones/nuestra-palabra/item/2090-cuando-las-apariencias-ocultan-a-las-mafias-27-mayo-2015]
* "Updates from Honduras Solidarity Network delegations" (2015-06-07):
Copinh member murdered in Santa Barbara; Barra Vieja trial against Garifuna community went in the community's favor but it is understood that the golf resort company (Indura) will appeal case. Massive protests against corruption demanding the creation of an international commission to investigate corruption/impunity. Petitions being circulated etc. Protests have big participation including middle class that has not mobilized before and including some of the organizations funded by State Dept. (Association for Peace and Justice; Assoc. for a More Just Society). Otherwise seem to be organized by political opposition (LIBRE, PAC, PINU etc). Not clear responsibility or clear what a Commission would do or mean.
The role of US needs to be watched, State Dept. may have issues with JOH, not clear if US wants a commission to investigate. Also noted is that a delegation met the family of recent forced disappearances (Donatilo Jimenez), and that human rights violations of all types continue. Government/powers that be using lawsuits on defamation to silence human rights defenders, journalists, families and victims of human rights violations (Gladys Lanza, Donatilo's family, journalist from channel 36, possible Berta Caceres). Key witnesses in cases have been killed in last week.
The IACHR demands form the Honduran government a thorough investigation into the disappearance of union leader Donatilo Jimenez Euceda.
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/06/la-comision-interamericana-de-derechos.html]
* [http://conexihon.hn/site/noticia/libertad-de-expresi%C3%B3n/cidh-emite-medida-cautelar-favor-de-dirigente-sindical-desaparecido]
For denouncing the lack of investigation in the disappearance of union leader Donatilo Jiminez, their husband and brother respectively, Sonia Martinez and Jackeline Jiminez now face charges for defamation.
* [defensoresenlinea.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3554:por-exigir-justicia-querellan-a-familia-de-lider-sindical-desaparecido&catid=54:den&Itemid=171]
A thesis called "In Honduras it is a Sin to Defend Life - An Ethnography of the Discourses, Practices and Dangers of Opposition to Mining in Honduras" was published back in July 2014 (hat-tip to Jen).
[http://edepot.wur.nl/312775]
The threats against journalist Modesto Acosta continue. On May 13, the blind journalist Franklin Johan Dub?n was murdered. Now C-Libre reports that his supposed murderer was found dismembered on May 26.
* [http://www.pasosdeanimalgrande.com/index.php/en/denuncias/item/822-se-reanudan-los-mensajes-amenazantes-contra-periodista-modesto-acosta]
* [http://www.clibrehonduras.com/alerta/desmembrado-encuentran-supuesto-criminal-de-locutor]
C-Libre presented its annual report yesterday. They also rewarded two journalists - Gladys Lanza and Jose Gilberto Galvez - criminalized for doing their work.
* [http://www.defensoresenlinea.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3556:informe-de-lucha-por-la-libre-expresion&catid=42:seg-y-jus&Itemid=159]
* [http://www.defensoresenlinea.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3555:premian-a-defensores-de-la-libertad-de-expresion&catid=71:def&Itemid=166]
* [http://conexihon.hn/site/noticia/libertad-de-expresi%C3%B3n/silencio-forzado-por-aumento-de-asesinatos-de-periodistas-en-honduras]
In a new editorial, Dina Meza writes about the right to information and the attacks against it in Honduras.
* [http://www.pasosdeanimalgrande.com/index.php/en/editorial/item/829-editorial-el-derecho-a-la-informacion-y-sus-contrastes]
According to a new article by Radio Progreso, the state remains the main culprit for attacks against the freedom of expression.
* [http://radioprogresohn.net/index.php/comunicaciones/noticias/item/2097-estado-principal-responsable-de-ataques-a-la-libertad-de-expresi%C3%B3n-revela-informe-en-honduras]
The two journalist David Romero and Hector Amador denounce that Tigo has cut the signal of Globo TV last week.
* [http://www.web.ellibertador.hn/index.php/noticias/nacionales/98-denuncian-a-multinacional-tigo-por-bloquear-senal-de-globo-tv]
Meanwhile, the president of Congress denigrates journalists for reporting on the IHSS corruption scandal.
* [http://www.web.ellibertador.hn/index.php/noticias/nacionales/100-presidente-del-congreso-hondureno-dice-callarse-cuando-lo-critican]
C-Libre denounces that an agent of the Public Prosecution Office (MP) monitored and even chased Ivis Alvarado, the sub-coordinator of Globo TV. Globo's David Romero continues to be harassed. He reports that four armed men, apparently criminal investigative agents, parked in front of his house for several minutes.
* [http://www.clibrehonduras.com/alerta/analista-del-ministerio-p%C3%BAblico-acecha-y-persigue-periodista]
* [http://www.pasosdeanimalgrande.com/index.php/en/denuncias/item/835-hombres-armados-en-vehiculo-se-estacionan-frente-a-casa-de-periodista]
Pasos de Animal Grande denounces the attackagainst two students by National Party supporters during a rally infavor of JOH.
* [http://www.pasosdeanimalgrande.com/index.php/en/contexto/item/834-turba-de-simpatizantes-del-partido-nacional-agrede-a-estudiantes-universitarios]
El Tiempo reported that an 18-year-old former Instituto Central Vicente C?ceres student, Alejandra Desire Ord??ez, was murdered. According to El Tiempo, her family members said she was a key protected witness in the murder of 13-year-old student Soad Nicole Ham Bustillo earlier this year. Also according to her relatives, they got her out of the country a few weeks back but she returned to Honduras from Nicaragua last week. She was shot twice in the head, El Tiempo reported.
La Tribuna also reported on her murder, though it's possible that they were just reporting Wednesday from what El Tiempo published Tuesday night. La Tribuna does mention that the Office of the Public Prosecutor (MP) neither confirmed nor denied the information (presumably that she was a witness and/or protected witness in Soad's case).
* El Tiempo [http://www.tiempo.hn/sucesos/item/33018-matan-testigo-protegido-por-muerte-de-soad]
* La Tribuna [http://www.latribuna.hn/2015/05/28/matan-a-testigo-protegido-de-crimen-de-estudiante-centralista/]
* [http://www.web.ellibertador.hn/index.php/noticias/nacionales/101-honduras-asesinan-a-testigo-protegido-de-estudiante-soad-nicole]
The mother of David Pineda, a student murdered by the police three years ago together with the son of Julieta Castellanos, denounces constant harassment and intimidation.
What is more, on May 26, the lawyer Mirna Ch?vez was murdered, a key witness in the case.
Instead of finally going through with a real clean-up, the National Police presents its new uniform...
* [http://www.clibrehonduras.com/alerta/intimidaci%C3%B3n-esp%C3%ADas-
y-un-cad%C3%A1ver-frente-casa-de-madre-de-universitario-ejecutado]
* [http://www.clibrehonduras.com/alerta/asesinan-dos-testigos-una-hab%C3%ADa-declarado-por-crimen-ligado-protesta-estudiantil]
* [http://www.radiohrn.hn/l/noticias/polic%C3%ADa-nacional-presenta-su-nuevo-uniforme]
The CInPH denounces the arrest of one of its members.
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/06/honduras-cinph-denuncia-urgentecapturan.html]
The son of Marigza Arevalo of Madre Tierra and COHAPAZ murdered today.
* "Asesinan a hijo de companera defensora de derechos humanos" (2015-05-27, issued by the Asociacion Madre Tierra, and the Comite Hondureno de Accion por la Paz COHAPAZ.) machine translated [archive.is/c5kJA].
Centro de Prevencion Tratamiento y Rehabilitacion de Victimas de la Tortura CPTRT [comunicacioncptrt@) gmail.com]
---
* "Vidal: Only the government can ask Commission Against Impunity" (2015-06-06, elheraldo.hn) machine translated [archive.is/aqWAO]. According to Consuelo Vidal, the representative of the UN in Honduras, only the state can demand the installation of a International Commission against Impunity (CICI) and even then, it would be a rather long process. Not just the protesters ask for an new international commission - in its days the demand for an International Commission against Impunity (CICI) was high on the list of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Participants of a recently held forum against corruption agree on the importance of a CICI. Arturo Corrales, the new Foreign Secretary, told the press that the Honduran government wouldn't want to install such a commission. Apparently the UN already negated twice this possibility.
* [http://criterio.hn/comision-de-la-verdad-recomendo-instalacion-de-la-cici/]
* [http://criterio.hn/sociedad-civil-exige-un-verdadero-estado-de-derecho/]
* [http://www.web.ellibertador.hn/index.php/noticias/nacionales/119-gobierno-de-honduras-no-quiere-instalacion-de-comision-antimafias]]
* [http://www.proceso.hn/politica/item/103689-canciller-afirma-que-onu-le-neg%C3%B3-en-dos-oportunidades-la-instalaci%C3%B3n-de-cici-en-el-pa%C3%ADs.html]
Am?rico Roca Dalton reports on the protest held in Geneva againstrampant corruption in Honduras. Again the wish for a InternationalCommission against Impunity was voiced.
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/06/protesta-en-ginebrasuiza-frente-al.html]
---
Mass movement against the dictatorship, calls for legal impeachment of "President" JOH!
El Libertador criticizes the main press for silencing the scale of the protests. Criterio speaks of some 70'000 protesters that marched the main Honduran cities on Friday. Luis Mendez published on Youtube with some rather impressive images.
* "Traditional honduran press minimizes demonstrations against impunity" (2015-06-06, web.ellibertador.hn) machine translated [archive.is/dBLtn]
* "Outraged massive mobilization in Honduras" (2015-06-06, criterio.hn) machine translated [archive.is/GD2v4]
* "HONDURAS INDIGNADA: 2da. Movilización de las Antorchas -Tegucigalpa" [youtube.com/watch?v=G1RrotY2ugg]
* "Honduras: 'Indignant' protest today in San Pedro Sula for embezzlement IHSS; Hondurans in Miami march against corruption" (2015-06-06, hondurastierralibre.com) machine translated [archive.is/vEBga]
* "Thousands rally to call for Honduras president to quit; Protest held after Juan Orlando Hernandez said his 2013 campaign took money from companies linked to corruption scandal" (2015-06-06, aljazeera.com) [archive.is/BHRuN]
Thousands of Hondurans took to the streets again yesterday. The marched to the Honduran UN seat, where they handed off a petition calling for the creation of a Anti-Corruption Commission.
Criterio outlines why it would be a big mistake to see this new protests just as the usual party politics.
Radio Progreso ask the right question in where these new surge in protests will lead.
Finally, there are even protests announced in the US, Spain and Switzerland.
* [http://www.web.ellibertador.hn/index.php/noticias/nacionales/120-miles-de-hondurenos-caminan-por-tegucigalpa-en-marcha-de-las-antorchas]
* [http://criterio.hn/los-indignados-un-fenomeno-en-honduras-que-envia-un-claro-mensaje/]
* [http://criterio.hn/joven-indignado-ponganse-vivos-cabrones-que-estamos-jodidos/]
* [http://radioprogresohn.net/index.php/comunicaciones/noticias/item/2112-%C2%BFhacia-d%C3%B3nde-apuntan-las-recientes-protestas-en-honduras?]
* [http://www.elheraldo.hn/hondurenosenelmundo/846834-331/hondure%C3%B1os-marchar%C3%A1n-en-ee-uu-y-espa%C3%B1a]
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/06/suiza-ginebra-movilizacion-contra-la.html]
* "Photos: Thousands march with torches in Honduras demanding the resignation of the government" (2015-06-07, rt.com) machine translated [archive.is/cjAUl]
* "Thousands of Hondurans 'outraged' take to the streets against corruption" (2015-06-06, diariomeridiano90.com) machine translated [archive.is/81mBx]
* "Majestic mobilization of the torches in Honduras" (2015-06-05, web.ellibertador.hn) machine translated [archive.is/Tdcap]
Students in San Pedro Sula took up protests again.
* [http://www.tiempo.hn/nacion/item/33346-paralizan-clases-en-la-unah-vs]
Tierra Libre outlines in a new article why calling for the demonstrations to be apolitical can itself be seen as political.
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/06/honduras-el-apoliticismo-de-julieta.html]
The sociologist Leticia Salom?n offers her analysis of the protests.
* [http://criterio.hn/honduras-esta-indignada/]
---
JOH announced a new wave of arrest against corrupt officials. On the by he also spoke of new special facilities for the Military Police in the main Honduran cities.
* [http://cholusatsur.com/noticias/joh-anuncia-mas-capturas-contra-corruptos-lo-hace-para-calmar-al-pueblo-que-protesta-en-las-calles/]
The newly created Multiparty Commission to investigate high-profile corruption cases raises more questions than answers.
* [http://radioprogresohn.net/index.php/comunicaciones/noticias/item/2096-con-m%C3%A1s-dudas-que-respuestas-surge-comisi%C3%B3n-multipartidaria-para-investigar-corrupci%C3%B3n-en-honduras]
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/05/diputada-gutierrez-critica-lentitud-y.html]
The executive power announced that there will be more cases opened against corruption in various state entities.
* [http://www.elheraldo.hn/pais/847366-331/ejecutivo-anuncia-judicializaci%C3%B3n-de-nuevos-casos-de-corrupci%C3%B3n]
Former General Attorney Edmundo Orellana, meanwhile, demands that the highest echelon of the MP quits or is removed by Congress.
* [http://www.elheraldo.hn/pais/847361-331/orellana-fiscales-deben-renunciar]
A court declared a sub-commissioner of the National Police guilty for money laundering.
* [http://www.tercerpoder.hn/tribunal-declara-culpable-a-sub-comisario-de-policia-por-lavado-de-activos/]
Rafael Leonardo Callejas Lopez, the son of the former president Callejas, has been freed of any charges by a court in Comayag?ela. But there remain some important unanswered questions.
* [http://criterio.hn/aun-cuando-se-investiga-porque-le-dieron-medidas-sustitutas-juez-otorga-libertad-a-hijo-de-callejas/]
---
* "Honduran president admits illegal financing of his campaign" (2015-06-05, contrainjerencia.com) machine translated [archive.is/NZS6W]
According to new documents, Congress paid over 6.5 million Lempiras for the final campaign rally of JOH. Marches against his government are seen all over the country.
* [http://cholusatsur.com/noticias/7-millones-de-lempiras-salieron-del-congreso-nacional-para-el-cierre-de-campana-de-joh/]
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/06/honduras-manifestaciones-de-norte-sur.html]
* [http://criterio.hn/hondurenos-levantan-antorchas-para-exigir-justicia/]
* [http://cholusatsur.com/noticias/gobierno-de-honduras-se-tambalea-manifestaciones-en-todo-el-pais-contra-joh/]
The Liberal Party and Libre demanded in Congress to question the General Attorney Oscar Fernando Chinchilla. Then Mario P?rez, Nationalist Congressman and Congress' secretary, claimed that the majority wasn't in favor of discussing this motion and wanted to go on. The political opposition started to protest and P?rez suspended Congress...another way to slow the investigation into the IHSS corruption scandal.
The coordinator of the Anti-Corruption Council (CNA), Gabriela Castellanos, fears that the - forced - departure of prosecutor Roberto Ram?rez Aldana will slow down the investigation even more. Libre congressman Edgardo Casa?a, who is part of the Multiparty Commission, says that in the first report they received from the MP, there are already 10 checks mentioned which transferred 6 Million Lempiras to the National Party.
The statements by the original 'Junta Interventora' of the IHSS have change completely. Just days back they claimed that no checks had been emitted to any party, no supposedly all parties have received money. What a happy outcome for the National Party...
* [http://cholusatsur.com/noticias/una-cachurecada-mas-suspende-sesion-para-aprobar-interpelacion-del-fiscal-general/]
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/06/honduras-doble-discurso-temor.html]
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/06/caso-ihss-tendra-un-atraso-con-salida.html]
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/06/en-solo-10-cheques-el-pn-recibio-mas-de.html]
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/06/contradicciones-de-interventores-del.html]
Lauren Carasik outlines the part of the US in the Honduran corruption scandal.
* "Washington Complicit in Honduras' Corruption Scandal" (2015-06-05, telesurtv.net) [archive.is/dBAms]
Roberto Carlos Salinas, a member of the 'Junta Interventora del IHSS', accuses Radio Globo and Channel 36 of inciting hatred against the National Party, and this only because they report on the IHSS corruption scandal.
* "Social Security Auditor draws TV Globo and Canal 36 of inciting hatred and damage the image of the National Party" (2015-06-06, pasosdeanimalgrande.com) machine translated [archive.is/g3In8]
Meanwhile, it has been announced that Jose Ramon Bertetty, the former administrative director of the IHSS, will be the first on trial for the corruption scandal.
* "Bertetty a first trial for looting the IHSS" (2015-06-07, laprensa.hn) machine translated [archive.is/LV7j3]
There is also news regarding the investigation into the IHSS corruption scandal. The lead public prosecutor, who days back was sent to the UNICEF, published an open letter, saying that he didn't want to be transferred.
* [http://www.tiempo.hn/nacion/item/33595-ramirez-aldana-el-organo-de-inteligencia-propuso-mi-salidainmediata-del-pais]
Cholust Sur published a picture of, supposedly, one of the checks from the IHSS to the JOH campaign.
* [http://cholusatsur.com/noticias/historico-el-cheque-que-recibio-juan-orlando-hernandez/]
For pressing the corruption case, PAC's Salvador Nasralla has received death threats and is being accused of defamation.
* [http://www.web.ellibertador.hn/index.php/noticias/nacionales/96-querella-contra-opositor-politico-por-denunciar-corrupcion-anuncia-partido-nacional]
It seems that Tigo has blocked another signal. This time it interrupted the one of the Spanish version of CNN, while it aired an interview with Oscar Alvarez on the IHSS corruption case.
* [http://www.web.ellibertador.hn/index.php/noticias/nacionales/103-censuran-programa-de-cnn-en-espanol-que-indaga-saqueo-en-el-ihss]
* "Salvador Nasralla Confronts Oscar Alvarez with the Truth on Honduran TV (Participacion del Ingeniero Salvador Nasralla en Frente a Frente hoy 27 de Mayo)"
This Video is in Spanish. Salvador Nasralla, head of the Ant-Corruption Party confronts Oscar Alvarez, head of the National Party Caucus of the Honduran National Congress. Nasralla presents documents that prove that "ghosts" companies engaged in embezzlement of funds from the Honduran Institute of Social Security and that those stolen funds found their way into the National Party coffers. Alvarez can only accuse Nasralla of lying even when faced with government documents proving otherwise. To this Alvarez says that it is for a court to decide guilt at which Nasralla states that the judges of the Supreme Court are owned by the NP. Alvarez keeps repeating that it can't be proven that Juan Orlando Hernandez had anything to do with the creation of these ghost companies to which in essence Nasralla says JOH ran the Congress which approved the contracts between the comp[anies and the IHSS and that Pepe Lobo admitted that he knew about the fraud, but said nothing because of its affect on the impending election in 2013. Nasralla is being accused of "bullying" Alvarez and in addition to receiving death threats he is being threatened with possible charges of defamation of character. This being the NP's current means for criminalising those who expose the corruption of this Government as in the case of Gladys Lanza and Berta Ceceres.
Oscar Alvarez is the nephew of General Gustavo Alvarez Martinez who created and led Battalion 316 in the 1980s which functioned as a death squad and was responsible for the disappearances and murders of students, labor leaders and others protesting government corruption. Oscar, who is a former member of the Honduran Special Forces, has praised his uncle's actions and is quoted as saying, "The Argentines came in first, and they taught how to disappear people. The United States made them more efficient." During Pepe Lobo's administration Alvarez was Minister of Internal Security whose "duro mano" policies allowed the National Police to murder suspected gang members in the streets. He was also Security Minister during the presidency of Ricardo Maduro who began these strong hand policies of death squads eliminating youth from the streets. It was during this time that 69 inmates in La Ceiba and 107 in San Pedro Sula died mysteriously. During Lobo's presidency 361 inmates died in a mysterious fire that has still to be investigated. The vast majority of these inmates had not been convicted and were awaiting trial. Alvarez trained in the US with the Army Rangers, the Special Forces and Army Corp of Cadets at Texas A&M with connections to the CIA.
Globo's David Romero presented more proof of the link between the National Party and the IHSS corruption scandal. Meanwhile, Hondurans took to the streets to protest against the rampant corruption in Honduras and demanded an end to the JOH administration.
* [http://criterio.hn/presentan-mas-pruebas-de-multimillonaria-estafa-al-ihss/]
* [http://cholusatsur.com/noticias/video-fuera-joh-gritaban-en-la-marcha-de-las-antorchas/]
* [http://www.web.ellibertador.hn/index.php/noticias/nacionales/104-hondurenos-encienden-velas-a-muertos-por-quiebra-del-seguro-social]
* [http://www.laprensa.hn/honduras/844943-410/sampedranos-marchan-contra-la-corrupci%C3%B3n-y-la-impunidad]
* [http://criterio.hn/miles-de-hondurenos-recuerdan-muertes-del-fraude-al-ihss-y-exigen-renuncia-del-gobierno-de-hernandez/]
* [http://www.telesurtv.net/news/Multitudinaria-marcha-exige-renuncia-del-presidente-de-Honduras-20150530-0004.html]
* [http://www.tiempo.hn/nacion/item/33441-protestan-contra-el-saqueo-del-ihss]
Cholusat Sur reveals some new information on the money flow in the IHSS corruption scandal, claiming that $22 millions were used for JOH presidential campaign. MADJ presented yesterday an official complaint at the Public Attorney's Office (MP) demanding a thorough investigation and the imprisonment of all actors involved. According to Criterio, the Multiparty Commission must investigate the role of Deputy Attorney General Rigoberto Cuellar in slowing down the investigation. It seems that these recent events are bringing the political opposition closer together: Mauricio Villeda (PL) is strengthening the position of Salvador Nasralla (PAC). The latter argued on Frente a Frente with the head of the National Party, Oscar Alvarez.
* [http://cholusatsur.com/noticias/juan-orlando-hernandez-si-recibio-dinero-del-ihss/]
* [http://redefensorashn.blogspot.ch/2015/05/carcel-para-el-partido-nacional-y-los.html]
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/05/honduras-inminente-destitucion-de.html]
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/05/honduras-villedacallar-y-amenazar.html]
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/05/honduras-video-asi-fue-el-intenso.html]
Journalist Jose Modesto Acosta received threats on his mobile for speaking about the IHHS corruption case.
* [http://www.pasosdeanimalgrande.com/index.php/en/denuncias/item/812-calladito-te-ves-mas-bonito-dice-mensaje-amenazante-contra-modesto-acosta-corresponsal-de-radio-globo]
---
Radio Progreso outlines how the recent Honduran economic policy has more or less been written by the IMF.
* [http://www.alainet.org/es/articulo/170171]
Javier Suazo offers some new insights into the IMF deal.
* [http://www.alainet.org/es/articulo/169940]
JOH is about to sign a free trade agreement with Peru.
* [http://www.radiohrn.hn/l/noticias/honduras-firmar%C3%A1-tratado-de-libre-comercio-con-per%C3%BA]
According to Criterio, JOH is traveling to the European Union while the Honduran citizens take to the streets in thousands to demand an end to corruption and impunity.
* [http://criterio.hn/presidente-viaja-a-europa-dejando-a-honduras-en-protestas/]
The Observatory of Mining Conflicts in Latin America (OCMAL) has published its newest annual report. During his visit to Chile, JOH met with the National Mining Society.
* [http://movimientom4.org/2015/05/conflictos-mineros-en-america-latina-extraccion-saqueo-y-agresiones-estado-de-situacion-en-2014/]
* [http://www.laprensa.hn/honduras/844051-417/joh-se-re%C3%BAne-con-mineros-y-concesionarios-chilenos]
On Project Censored Radio, Dana Frank and Mark Sullivan discuss the US-backed Honduran government’s program of free-market “model cities” (ZEDEs), in which corporate control will supersede the rights of Honduran citizens. [projectcensored.org/nick-turse-dana-frank-and-mark-sullivan/]
Radio Progreso informs about the problems with so-called mega-projects in Honduras.
* [http://radioprogresohn.net/index.php/comunicaciones/nuestra-palabra/item/2094-megaproyectos-o-el-sue%C3%B1o-hondure%C3%B1o-29-mayo-2015]
The more than 60 organization that represent the Southern Environmental Movement came to Tegucigalpa to protest against the announced ZEDE in their region.
* [http://redefensorashn.blogspot.ch/2015/05/protestas-contra-los-megaproyectos-que.html]
* "Honduras to Unveil First ZEDE in March Korean Development Partner to Reveal Blueprints For Pacific Port, Logistics Hub" (2015-01-20) [archive.today/yMoTb]
The over-use of the adjective 'disruptive' has now reached democracy itself. OFRANEH reports of an event in San Francisco called 'DISRUPTING DEMOCRACY: CHOICE AMONG GOVERNANCE FOR HONDURANS', another whitewash of the charter city idea.
* [https://ofraneh.wordpress.com/2015/05/28/interrumpiendo-la-democracia-en-honduras-islas-distopicas-las-zede-y-nuevas-formas-de-gobernanza/].
In the US an event promoting Zones of Economic Development and Employment (ZEDE) is held today. But due to the protest in the country - what they call civil unrest - JOH, Ebal Diaz and Octavio Sanchez cancelled. They are replace by two lesser known promoters, Alejandro "Alex" Chafuen and Guillermo Pe?a Panting. But protest has also been announced in the US itself.
* [http://www.telesurtv.net/english/analysis/US-Activists-Protest-Charter-Cities-An-Assault-on-Honduran-Sovereignty-20150606-0011.html].
* "Message from Lincoln Labs to attendees of FREE TO CHOOSE CITIES: New Opportunities for Enterprise & Governance in Honduras and Beyond" (2015-06-07): Due to civil unrest in Honduras, our panelists President Hernandez, Ebal Diaz and Octavio Sanchez were forced to cancel their trip to attend to issues facing their nation. We will still host our event about Free to Choose Cities in Honduras as planned. Filling in for the panelists are Alejandro "Alex" Chafuen and Guillermo Pena Pantig. Alex is a member of the commission, along with Mr. Diaz and Mr. Sanchez, which approves and oversees the Zones of Economic Development and Employment (ZEDE). Guillermo is a Honduran national and co-leader of a proposed ZEDE. We look forward to your attendance and participation in this timely discussion. Regards, [signed] Lincoln Labs, The Seasteading Institute, and The Independent Institute. Event page [archive.is/gDJgD], speaker biographies page [archive.is/qisRd]
* Original event page, titled "Disrupting Democracy: Choice among governance for Hondurans" [archive.is/u0EOP]: Honduras has enacted the boldest legislation of any nation in recent history, effectively opening a new jurisdictional frontier. Zones for Economic Development and Employment, (ZEDEs) will be developed with entirely new governmental systems, embracing the concept of competitive governance.The event will feature the President of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, The Executive Director of The Seasteading Institute Randolph Hencken and moderator Mary Theroux of The Seasteading Institute. Learn about the opportunities in ZEDEs and expect a major announcement.
* Revised event page, re-titled with the more democratic sounding "FREE TO CHOOSE CITIES: New Opportunities for Enterprise & Governance in Honduras and Beyond" [archive.is/O8ctA]: Honduras has enacted the boldest legislation of any nation in recent history, effectively opening a new jurisdictional frontier. Zones for Economic Development and Employment, (ZEDEs) will be developed with entirely new governmental systems, embracing the concept of competitive governance. The event will feature Octavio Sanchez, ZEDE legislative architech and Commissioner, Ebal Diaz, Chief of Staff to the President of Honduras, The Executive Director of The Seasteading Institute Randolph Hencken and moderator Mary Theroux of The Independent Institute. Learn about the opportunities in ZEDEs and expect a major announcement. Speakers biographies page [archive.is/s7IOW].
* Speakers biographies page included the following information about the ZEDEs, and the scheduled speakers [archive.is/qisRd] [archive.is/s7IOW]: The Republic of Honduras may now have enacted the boldest legislation of any nation in recent history, effectively opening a new jurisdictional frontier of what are called "charter cities," "model cities," "free-trade zones," "micro-cities," or "voluntary cities." Inspired by the economic marvels of Hong Kong and Singapore, these Honduran Zones for Economic Development and Employment (ZEDEs) are intended to be free of the strangulating regulation, taxation, cronyism, violence, and corruption so pervasive elsewhere, fostering a market of governance bodies competing to attract residents, investors, and trade throughout the Americas and globally. Co-sponsored by the Independent Institute, Lincoln Labs, and the Seasteading Institute, this very timely, upcoming event will discuss the prospects and opportunities in ZEDEs realizing the potential for fostering a revolution in individual liberty, entrepreneurship, innovation, economic well-being, self-government, and the rule of law.
- Guillermo Peña Panting: Founder and Executive Director of Fundación Eléutera in the Republic of Honduras, he has played a direct role in the development of the Honduran Zones for Economic Development and Employment, and he currently is proposing a ZEDE. He has worked with the Honduran National Business Council, Honduran Manufacturing Association, National Industrialists Association and the Chamber of Commerce of Cortes, and he is also the current Executive Director of the Honduran Free Zones association, which is looking to lead its members into a more competitive, regulation-free zone. More information at [archive.is/GHJTc]
- Alejandro A. Chafuen: Member of the 21-person commission that approves and oversees the Honduran ZEDEs. He is President of the Atlas Network and President and Founder of the Hispanic American Center of Economic Research, both of which have pioneered networks of free-market think tanks, civic and business leaders, educators, journalists, and policymakers throughout Latin America. He received his Ph.D. in economics from International College, and he is member of the board of Grove City College, the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty, and the Fraser Institute. More information at [archive.is/HpUmr].
- Ebal Díaz: Minister Executive Secretary of the Cabinet of the Republic of Honduras, a Member of the Committee on Best Practices, and President of the Board of Directors of the Property Institute. Between 2010 and 2014, he was the Head of Advisors of the National Congress and headed the technical committee that drafted the legislation for the creation of the Zones of Employment and Economic Development (ZEDEs). More information at [archive.is/d28Mi].
- Octavio Sánchez: Legislative Architect and Commissioner in the Republic of Honduras for the Zones for Economic Development and Employment (ZEDEs). Former Minister of Culture, Honduran presidential advisor and Member of the Committee for the Adoption of Best Practices, he is Visiting Professor at the University of Arizona and Senior Fellow at the National Law Center for Inter-American Free Trade. More information at [archive.is/RxNo1].
---
Garifuna nation within the Republic of Honduras
Tomorrow the trial in the case of the Gar?funa community Barra Vieja continues.
* [http://www.pasosdeanimalgrande.com/index.php/en/contexto/item/817-este-03-de-junio-continua-la-audiencia-para-un-despojo-anunciado-a-la-comunidad-garifuna-de-barra-vieja]
---
Tolupan nation within the Republic of Honduras
In its weekly newsletter, Radio Progreso offers an actualization of the situation in Locomapa, where the Tolupan leaders continue to be threatened.
* [http://radioprogresohn.net/index.php/comunicaciones/noticias/item/2098-contin%C3%BAan-amenazas-a-l%C3%ADderes-de-tribu-francisco-en-locomapa-yoro]
===*===*===
Republic of Haiti
===*===*===
Republic of France Overseas Department of Guadeloupe
===*===*===
Republic of Colombia
[colombiasupport.net]
* "FARC rebel strike blamed as another Colombian town loses power" (2015-06-03, AFP newswire) [archive.is/LxdDM]
---
Towards a Bolivarian Republic of Colombia
* "A SENSIBLE READING OF THE SITUATION" (2015-05-29, BY TIMOLEON JIMENEZ) [archive.is/a8yRR]
* FARC-EP, 51 YEARS OF STRUGGLE FOR PEACE [archive.is/SDK99] [begin excerpt]: The FARC-EP celebrate this May 27 the anniversary of our birth in Marquetalia. For 51 consecutive years we have fought to military and Colombian police forces, their paramilitary groups, their American supporters, British, Israelis and others, with an impressive asymmetry of resources of all kinds, driven exclusively by our convictions, inspired by our martyrs and unchanged in one millimeter of our principles and objectives. And we are fighting them, the price of our blood and our lives with the same courage and willingness.
Our armed struggle for over half a century in Colombia has been the particular expression of an economic, ideological and political struggle universal, facing the powers of capital, estates and violence against the aspirations of the peoples, workers and peace . We took up arms more than five decades ago, because in our country the legal democratic channels were closed violently for the exercise of opposition political activity. For speaking out against the injustice of the capitalist system and the exclusion of the political regime, it was turned into crime because prison and tomb safe destination made for those who refuse to follow the voice of the traditional parties of the oligarchy kneeling before the Washington government.
The FARC-EP settle along these 51 years, a huge fellowship of Colombians from all regions and cultures of far greater dimensions and depth to our armed structures. We have the sincere affection and solidarity of many peoples of the continent and the world. We can say proudly that they are the very high degree of awareness, fighting spirit and heroism of this great fariana fellowship, which enabled us to face, never intimidating us, the more intense military ideological onslaught, political and undertaken by imperialism, the oligarchy and its allies against the people of our America in its history.
The FARC are a political party in arms, we are from the day of our birth. Marquetalia had in our ideas and proposals for isolated communities and agricultural colonies derived from the bitter night of liberal conservative violence. But with the huge onslaught that were victims in May 1964, by order of President Guillermo Leon Valencia and running of the Pentagon's plans, we elaborated amid the confrontation, a simple statement that we call the fighters Agricultural Program in which they were reflected the reasons for our historic struggle, the nature of our objectives and the need to form a broad national movement for urgent changes required by the country.
For over five decades, we have released numerous documents contentivos our approach to Colombia, always hated by those in power, distorted and manipulated by the media, pursued by all devices of death and terror. In the long journey towards the realization of peace, every time the FARC-EP have us sitting at a negotiating table with the federal government, we have released the country and the world our thoughts and aspirations for Colombia. So we did with the political platform that served as launch Patriotic Union political movement, as in the many public hearings in Caguan. Also we act today with the proposed minimum on each of the agenda items of Havana.
Our main concern along these 51 years of struggle has been the formation of a great political movement which becomes a true alternative to the country's democratic transformation. A gigantic mass stream that has the ability to corner the ruling oligarchy in Colombia and seize power. We have always believed that taking power is unthinkable without the active and decisive participation of the people organized, and that purpose have spent the most important part of our efforts. The greed of US imperialism and the ruling oligarchy in Colombia, has made them see in any leader or social organization or political opposition, a real threat to their interests, which must be removed from the middle of exemplary manner. That explains the continued bloodshed of our country.
We have never ceased to assimilate the idea of peace with democracy and social justice. Because poverty and deprivation, inequalities own social inequality and political privileges, are the main source of discontent and protest against a regime. People, the underprivileged, claiming their rights when they are denied or violated, are politically organized in opposition when the guarantees are granted to do so. But if they are prevented from organizing in opposition, if it pursues, imprisons and kills by putting present their disagreement, the violence, the absolute negation of democracy, the institutionalization of crime and terror become the main food of rebellion , the leading cause of armed rebellion and war.
The FARC-EP are raised political opposition in arms because violence and terror prevailing State in Colombia have been ordered to ban political expressions of dissatisfaction with the regime. What they claim the echoes of our guns is the right to life of all Colombians who believe in the benefits of the system is the right to express ideas freely and play politics with them, without getting thrown shot twice in the neck at the door of his house. No country in the continent, even those of the Southern Cone for years endured horrendous dictatorships, have under his belt with such an impressive number of victims of state violence that has Colombia, whose democratic stability boast with real cynicism classes dominant.
The complete extermination of political organizations, the very high number of political killings, overwhelmed and unpunished action of paramilitary groups and hired assassins, the terrifying list of massacres, disappearances, judicial assemblies, violent plunder of property, forced displacement, threats and exile The daily occurrence of repressive police brutality, false positives and terror military operations, all attributable to the State, its officials and military and police officers, supported by foreign governments, senior businesspeople, traditional political leaders, landowners, mass media communication and sectors of the Catholic Church, can not be concealed or justified. These are truths that prove indelibly the absence of real democracy in our country, and are thus the main cause to address and resolve in the pursuit of peace. [end excerpt]
Communiques from the Delegation of Peace - FARC EP
* "ESCALATION IS NOT THE WAY" (2015-05-25) [archive.is/gEJTc]
* "PEACE IS TO STOP GENERATING NEW VICTIMS" (2015-05-26) [archive.is/362hM]
* "THE FATE OF COLOMBIA MAY NOT BE THE WAR" (2015-05-27) [archive.is/u5KMb]
* "DECLARATION OF THE GUARANTOR COUNTRIES OF THE TALKS" (2015-05-27) [archive.is/GCpWu]
* "FARC RESPONSE TO THE STATEMENT OF THE GUARANTOR COUNTRIES OF THE PEACE PROCESS" (2015-05-28) [archive.is/b2J4V]
* JOINT STATEMENT: PROGRESS DECONTAMINATION PLAN OF THE TERRITORY OF EXPLOSIVES (2015-05-29) [archive.is/db7p9]
* "IN THE EL OREJÓN HOPES FOR PEACE ARE SOWN" (2015-05-30) [archive.is/zeusl]
* "THE EXISTENCE OF PARAMILITARISM IS INCOMPATIBLE WITH A PEACE AGREEMENT" (2015-05-31) [archive.is/cTUqj]
* "ARE THE VICTIMS AT THE CENTER OF THE SETTLEMENT?" (2015-06-02) [archive.is/kWtrv]
Communiques from the National Liberation Army (ELN)
* "THE TRUTH ABOUT THE MINING CONVENTION" (2015-05-17) [archive.is/Vs07S]
* "CREATE CONDITIONS FOR ENDING THE ARMED UPRISING" (2015-05-17) [archive.is/Xyk9g]
* "THE INABILITY TO SUSTAIN A UNILATERAL CEASEFIRE" (2015-05-24) [archive.is/izODR]: The National Liberation Army stands in solidarity and sorrow with the sister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia organization, to all family and friends of nearly thirty guerrillas, killed by the armed forces of the State, on 22 May in Guapi, Cauca.
The painful event forced the FARC comrades to lift the unilateral truce decreed on December 20 last year.
Without doubt, the bold decision to declare a unilateral ceasefire indefinitely, is a bold gesture to create a climate conducive to peace, but the decision to finish ante action of such magnitude in their contracts, is the clear demonstration of the and inability to keep disadvantage; because the government of Santos far from understanding this gesture, took advantage to take military advantage, as it always does, that the insurgency has declared unilateral truces.
The painful event and the lifting of the unilateral truce by the FARC should be a new reason to demand the government the urgency of agreeing on a bilateral ceasefire and verifiable hostilities, as real effort of the parties, through which a climate of trust is generated and is guaranteed to continue the peace process in Colombia.
Colombia for workers!
Not one step back, release or death!
* MESSAGE NO. 14 TO THE ARMED FORCES: "THE TRUTH IS ENOUGH" (2015-05-25) [archive.is/aFJqi]
* "RESPONSE TO "NEWS OF PEACE" INTERNATIONAL FORUM OF VICTIMS" (2015-06-01) [archive.is/bnKZ1]
* "I GREET THE II FORUM FOR PEACE IN COLOMBIA" (2015-06-01) [archive.is/zmYfY]
===*===*===
Towards a People's Republic of the Andes (Peru, Ecuador)
[movadef.net]
* "Martial law against anti-mine resistance in Arequipa" (2015-05-25, signalfire.org) [archive.is/je9gC]: Resistance continues against the Tia Maria project of Southern Copper, the Peruvian subsidiary of the multinational monopoly Grupo Mexico owned by German Larrea already known for his contamination of the water supply in Sonora. Strike ongoing for more then 50 days with a force of 2000 police and 1000 Army personnel authorized to use fire arms by the Interior Ministry. At least four people have been killed and hundreds injured. Most recently the Peruvian state has announced a 60 day period of martial law in Arequipa during which constitutional rights will be suspended.
Photo "La Mina Contamina! Humula Asesina (The Mine Contaminates! Humula is an asassin!) [archive.is/T0Wlr], photo of battles between the People and the police [archive.is/KkgaQ] [archive.is/nOUNz] [archive.is/BGe0W], wounded person [archive.is/oRzOg], collection of police ammunition jackets [archive.is/yyfYR].
Videos
[youtube.com/watch?v=gv_SxQBHFsk]
[youtube.com/watch?v=8TaIsLVXfHo]
[youtube.com/watch?v=Dg3EtTRqqvo]
[youtube.com/watch?v=wVmbIi79yi0]
[youtube.com/watch?v=gaJTmtsVTDw]
* "LONG LIVE THE 35th ANNIVERSARY OF THE INVINCIBLE PEOPLE'S WAR!" (2015-05-27) machine translated [archive.is/Rlz6A] [begin excerpt]: On this date greeted with jubilation revolutionary leaders, cadres, members, fighters of the PLA and the masses of PCP from home and abroad to continue in the struggle to persist in the remaining task of the Reorganization Gral. Party to Overcome the Bend particularly the MPP which is promoting the political task of PCP in the MCI and forging the Communist International, wielding Maoism and People's War. In the current context of the international situation; We boost demand growing popular protest, fight the fascist, genocidal and country-selling that since the 90's with Fujimori, Toledo, P. Garcia and Humala govern us today. Promote the growing popular protest, unite the people against imperialist aggression worldwide, mainly Yankee, to lay a solid foundation in the Reorganization Gral. Party. Promote the growing popular protest to develop the People's War and crush their counterrevolutionary strategy of low intensity warfare (GBI), the increasing income of US troops (with heavy weaponry) scheduled for September 1, 2015 Yankees Go Home! Peru Yankees Out! Yankees widely spread and burn flags, supposedly come to "fight narcoterrorism" the background is electioneering repression and genocide to ensure their candidates in 2016, his reactionary elections (acute collusion and contention) Overall make them crucial today than yesterday , of course we say: Elections, NO! People's War, Yes! [end excerpt]
Communiques from the Alfarist Revolutionary Movement (ARM), "Alfaro is Coming, Bastards!"
* "THE FABLE IS OVER CORREÍSTA" (2015-05-24) [archive.is/NTqrL]
* "ALFARO IS REVOLUTIONARY ... CORREA REACTIONARY" (2015-06-05) [archive.is/oPDOv]
!POETRY INSURRECTA¡
Our dead
Which will come lightning or breeze.
They will race, surf, deep root
Centennial oak, autumn forest where permeates
With its amarrillos oils. Cries of birds
Blue plume and white chest.
They will be the star lit on every house, on every town.
They will return liquids like river, stoic,
Ants like the verb on the edge of glow,
they will be lightning and wind, will echo
Freedom ...
(by Carlos Oramas. The poet confesses that he has not come to sing praises, but it does)
===*===*===
Federation of Brazil
===*===*===
NEW AFRIKAN PEACE MOVEMENT[northbaymds.blogspot.com/2014/10/world-fascism-watch-honduras.html] Most of the comments are collected from the daily "Presente Honduras Digest", and from the "Honduras Solidarity Network" listserve, authored by experts in geopolitics and history of Latin America. Libre is the "leftist" party working to uphold human rights and sovereignty, JOH is the dictator of Honduras supported by the USA.
The USA is currently dictating foreign and economic policy to the states of El Salvador and Guatemala in the "Northern Triangle", two of which previously suffered genocide conducted by USA agencies throughout the 20th century to protect monopolist land-holdings against democratic campaigns, while the third state, Honduras, represented in the following photo by smiling dictator JOH, served as the land base for that genocide.
Some points of interest that we are hearing from pretty much everyone we have spoken with (COFADEH, REd de Defensoras, LIBRE/FNRP, CNTC, SITRAUNAH- union of national university employees, C-Libre, MADJ) are that with JOH what we are seeing is the consolidation of a dictatorship in which the judicial powers, ministries, entities such as the INA and other governmental commissions, the national university administration, the Church, the army, the press, etc. are incorporated in one way or the other- in either an alliance (the Church) or subordinated to the Presidency which is also strongly supported by at least most of the oligarchy. In Congress there is a struggle --- the National Party and part of the Liberal Party as party of the dictatorship (they have a majority) and an opposition LIBRE, PAC, and Villeda's Liberals, that LIBRE believes if they can consolidate they can stop or at least effectively hold back the dictatorship.
Regarding the US role, the whitewashing and monetary support for JOH continue but there are some folks who usually have very good information who say that the US Embassy/State has some problems with JOH, however he is strongly supported by the US SouthCom.
Other news: violent evictions of campesinos, assassinations, threats but also a step up of protests by street vendors (against new taxes) LIBRE/FNRP folks, and a deep anger on the street about the National Party's plunder of the health system (social security).
Salon has published a great piece on the role of US presidential primary candidate Hilary Cliton during the Honduran coup d'etat.
* [www.salon.com/2015/06/08/exclusive_hillary_clinton_sold_out_honduras_lanny_davis_corporate_cash_and_the_real_story_about_the_death_of_a_latin_america_democracy/]
The US and Honduras Armed Forces announced a joint humanitarian exercise.
* [http://criterio.hn/eeuu-y-honduras-haran-ejecicios-militares-nuevos-horizontes/]
* "US underwrites corruption and violence in Honduras; Washington continues to prop up Hernández's regime, despite its blatant disregard for human rights" (2015-06-01, aljazeera.com) [archive.is/k7BSY].
The TIGRES special forces count with 179 new members -the US ambassador took an active part in the graduation ceremony. He also took the opportunity to claim that drug circulation has dropped substantially in the country thanks to the two countries collaborating.
* [http://www.tiempo.hn/nacion/item/33012-honduras-a-combatir-el-crimen-179-nuevos-elementos-del-comando-elite-tigres]
* [http://www.tiempo.hn/nacion/item/33011-embajador-de-ee-uu-reconoce-exito-en-lucha-anti-drogas-de-honduras]
Despite it all, the USA-backed coup was launched under the reason that the democratically elected President Zelaya was seeking re-election through a constitutional change where it otherwise was forbidden by constitutional law, and expanding the ability for regular people (the poor) to participate in free and fair elections as part of the accusation that his political party sought to "pack the ballots", criticism which attacks the basis for democracy itself.
Today's USA-backed dictator is now seeking the same privileges in order to benefit his death-squad regime over the current "managed democracy". There is now a back and forth regarding the presidential reelection. After the recent statement by the president of the Supreme Court (CSJ), the door now seems to be open again. To guarantee enough votes, the National Party is at the same time preparing the ground to allow members of the military and police, as well as inmates, to vote.
* [http://criterio.hn/fallo-de-la-sala-constitucional-es-aberrante-dice-experto-constitucionalista]
* [http://criterio.hn/nacionalistas-cabildearan-para-habilitar-voto-de-militares-policias-y-prisioneros]
KGNU reports live from Honduras on the National Party's push for allowing the presidential reelection.
* [http://news.kgnu.org/2015/05/honduras-the-people-take-back-the-vote/]
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A new report by the Central American Institute for Fiscal Policy (ICEFI) claims that the JOH administration leads a fiscal policy strategy that harms the Honduran people.
* [http://radioprogresohn.net/index.php/comunicaciones/noticias/item/2099-gobierno-de-hern%C3%A1ndez-sostiene-pol%C3%ADtica-fiscal-a-costa-del-bienestar-del-pueblo-hondure%C3%B1o-se%C3%B1ala-informe]
Carlos A. Lanza wonders why there is not more pressure by the main media against JOH.
* [http://www.alainet.org/es/articulo/170165]
Instead of improving, the situation of the Honduran campesinx movement is worsening as can be seen in an increase of threats, violent evictions and criminalization campaigns.
* [http://radioprogresohn.net/index.php/comunicaciones/noticias/item/2115-se-incrementan-amenazas-criminalizaci%C3%B3n-y-desalojos-contra-movimientos-campesinos]
Fosdeh demands an integral change in the fight against poverty in Honduras. The current policies have failed their aim completely.
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/06/inservible-multimilloria-inversion-para.html]
Apparently 90% of all Honduran public education institutions don't possess an operating agreement.
* [http://www.radiohrn.hn/l/noticias/el-90-por-ciento-de-los-institutos-p%C3%BAblicos-operan-de-forma-ilegal]
In its newest monthly report, Casa Alianza speaks of 79 murdered teenagers in May. According to them, the murders reveal a clear pattern of executions.
* [http://www.pasosdeanimalgrande.com/index.php/en/contexto/item/820-79-jovenes-fueron-ejecutados-solo-en-el-mes-de-mayo]
Honduran sex workers protested yesterday against the impunity in the murder cases of their colleagues.
* [http://www.radiohrn.hn/l/noticias/trabajadoras-sexuales-realizan-marcha-por-la-impunidad-en-asesinatos]
Radio Progreso published an insightful text on organized crime and appearances in Honduras.
* [http://radioprogresohn.net/index.php/comunicaciones/nuestra-palabra/item/2090-cuando-las-apariencias-ocultan-a-las-mafias-27-mayo-2015]
* "Updates from Honduras Solidarity Network delegations" (2015-06-07):
Copinh member murdered in Santa Barbara; Barra Vieja trial against Garifuna community went in the community's favor but it is understood that the golf resort company (Indura) will appeal case. Massive protests against corruption demanding the creation of an international commission to investigate corruption/impunity. Petitions being circulated etc. Protests have big participation including middle class that has not mobilized before and including some of the organizations funded by State Dept. (Association for Peace and Justice; Assoc. for a More Just Society). Otherwise seem to be organized by political opposition (LIBRE, PAC, PINU etc). Not clear responsibility or clear what a Commission would do or mean.
The role of US needs to be watched, State Dept. may have issues with JOH, not clear if US wants a commission to investigate. Also noted is that a delegation met the family of recent forced disappearances (Donatilo Jimenez), and that human rights violations of all types continue. Government/powers that be using lawsuits on defamation to silence human rights defenders, journalists, families and victims of human rights violations (Gladys Lanza, Donatilo's family, journalist from channel 36, possible Berta Caceres). Key witnesses in cases have been killed in last week.
The IACHR demands form the Honduran government a thorough investigation into the disappearance of union leader Donatilo Jimenez Euceda.
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/06/la-comision-interamericana-de-derechos.html]
* [http://conexihon.hn/site/noticia/libertad-de-expresi%C3%B3n/cidh-emite-medida-cautelar-favor-de-dirigente-sindical-desaparecido]
For denouncing the lack of investigation in the disappearance of union leader Donatilo Jiminez, their husband and brother respectively, Sonia Martinez and Jackeline Jiminez now face charges for defamation.
* [defensoresenlinea.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3554:por-exigir-justicia-querellan-a-familia-de-lider-sindical-desaparecido&catid=54:den&Itemid=171]
A thesis called "In Honduras it is a Sin to Defend Life - An Ethnography of the Discourses, Practices and Dangers of Opposition to Mining in Honduras" was published back in July 2014 (hat-tip to Jen).
[http://edepot.wur.nl/312775]
The threats against journalist Modesto Acosta continue. On May 13, the blind journalist Franklin Johan Dub?n was murdered. Now C-Libre reports that his supposed murderer was found dismembered on May 26.
* [http://www.pasosdeanimalgrande.com/index.php/en/denuncias/item/822-se-reanudan-los-mensajes-amenazantes-contra-periodista-modesto-acosta]
* [http://www.clibrehonduras.com/alerta/desmembrado-encuentran-supuesto-criminal-de-locutor]
C-Libre presented its annual report yesterday. They also rewarded two journalists - Gladys Lanza and Jose Gilberto Galvez - criminalized for doing their work.
* [http://www.defensoresenlinea.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3556:informe-de-lucha-por-la-libre-expresion&catid=42:seg-y-jus&Itemid=159]
* [http://www.defensoresenlinea.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3555:premian-a-defensores-de-la-libertad-de-expresion&catid=71:def&Itemid=166]
* [http://conexihon.hn/site/noticia/libertad-de-expresi%C3%B3n/silencio-forzado-por-aumento-de-asesinatos-de-periodistas-en-honduras]
In a new editorial, Dina Meza writes about the right to information and the attacks against it in Honduras.
* [http://www.pasosdeanimalgrande.com/index.php/en/editorial/item/829-editorial-el-derecho-a-la-informacion-y-sus-contrastes]
According to a new article by Radio Progreso, the state remains the main culprit for attacks against the freedom of expression.
* [http://radioprogresohn.net/index.php/comunicaciones/noticias/item/2097-estado-principal-responsable-de-ataques-a-la-libertad-de-expresi%C3%B3n-revela-informe-en-honduras]
The two journalist David Romero and Hector Amador denounce that Tigo has cut the signal of Globo TV last week.
* [http://www.web.ellibertador.hn/index.php/noticias/nacionales/98-denuncian-a-multinacional-tigo-por-bloquear-senal-de-globo-tv]
Meanwhile, the president of Congress denigrates journalists for reporting on the IHSS corruption scandal.
* [http://www.web.ellibertador.hn/index.php/noticias/nacionales/100-presidente-del-congreso-hondureno-dice-callarse-cuando-lo-critican]
C-Libre denounces that an agent of the Public Prosecution Office (MP) monitored and even chased Ivis Alvarado, the sub-coordinator of Globo TV. Globo's David Romero continues to be harassed. He reports that four armed men, apparently criminal investigative agents, parked in front of his house for several minutes.
* [http://www.clibrehonduras.com/alerta/analista-del-ministerio-p%C3%BAblico-acecha-y-persigue-periodista]
* [http://www.pasosdeanimalgrande.com/index.php/en/denuncias/item/835-hombres-armados-en-vehiculo-se-estacionan-frente-a-casa-de-periodista]
Pasos de Animal Grande denounces the attackagainst two students by National Party supporters during a rally infavor of JOH.
* [http://www.pasosdeanimalgrande.com/index.php/en/contexto/item/834-turba-de-simpatizantes-del-partido-nacional-agrede-a-estudiantes-universitarios]
El Tiempo reported that an 18-year-old former Instituto Central Vicente C?ceres student, Alejandra Desire Ord??ez, was murdered. According to El Tiempo, her family members said she was a key protected witness in the murder of 13-year-old student Soad Nicole Ham Bustillo earlier this year. Also according to her relatives, they got her out of the country a few weeks back but she returned to Honduras from Nicaragua last week. She was shot twice in the head, El Tiempo reported.
La Tribuna also reported on her murder, though it's possible that they were just reporting Wednesday from what El Tiempo published Tuesday night. La Tribuna does mention that the Office of the Public Prosecutor (MP) neither confirmed nor denied the information (presumably that she was a witness and/or protected witness in Soad's case).
* El Tiempo [http://www.tiempo.hn/sucesos/item/33018-matan-testigo-protegido-por-muerte-de-soad]
* La Tribuna [http://www.latribuna.hn/2015/05/28/matan-a-testigo-protegido-de-crimen-de-estudiante-centralista/]
* [http://www.web.ellibertador.hn/index.php/noticias/nacionales/101-honduras-asesinan-a-testigo-protegido-de-estudiante-soad-nicole]
The mother of David Pineda, a student murdered by the police three years ago together with the son of Julieta Castellanos, denounces constant harassment and intimidation.
What is more, on May 26, the lawyer Mirna Ch?vez was murdered, a key witness in the case.
Instead of finally going through with a real clean-up, the National Police presents its new uniform...
* [http://www.clibrehonduras.com/alerta/intimidaci%C3%B3n-esp%C3%ADas-
y-un-cad%C3%A1ver-frente-casa-de-madre-de-universitario-ejecutado]
* [http://www.clibrehonduras.com/alerta/asesinan-dos-testigos-una-hab%C3%ADa-declarado-por-crimen-ligado-protesta-estudiantil]
* [http://www.radiohrn.hn/l/noticias/polic%C3%ADa-nacional-presenta-su-nuevo-uniforme]
The CInPH denounces the arrest of one of its members.
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/06/honduras-cinph-denuncia-urgentecapturan.html]
The son of Marigza Arevalo of Madre Tierra and COHAPAZ murdered today.
* "Asesinan a hijo de companera defensora de derechos humanos" (2015-05-27, issued by the Asociacion Madre Tierra, and the Comite Hondureno de Accion por la Paz COHAPAZ.) machine translated [archive.is/c5kJA].
Centro de Prevencion Tratamiento y Rehabilitacion de Victimas de la Tortura CPTRT [comunicacioncptrt@) gmail.com]
---
* "Vidal: Only the government can ask Commission Against Impunity" (2015-06-06, elheraldo.hn) machine translated [archive.is/aqWAO]. According to Consuelo Vidal, the representative of the UN in Honduras, only the state can demand the installation of a International Commission against Impunity (CICI) and even then, it would be a rather long process. Not just the protesters ask for an new international commission - in its days the demand for an International Commission against Impunity (CICI) was high on the list of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Participants of a recently held forum against corruption agree on the importance of a CICI. Arturo Corrales, the new Foreign Secretary, told the press that the Honduran government wouldn't want to install such a commission. Apparently the UN already negated twice this possibility.
* [http://criterio.hn/comision-de-la-verdad-recomendo-instalacion-de-la-cici/]
* [http://criterio.hn/sociedad-civil-exige-un-verdadero-estado-de-derecho/]
* [http://www.web.ellibertador.hn/index.php/noticias/nacionales/119-gobierno-de-honduras-no-quiere-instalacion-de-comision-antimafias]]
* [http://www.proceso.hn/politica/item/103689-canciller-afirma-que-onu-le-neg%C3%B3-en-dos-oportunidades-la-instalaci%C3%B3n-de-cici-en-el-pa%C3%ADs.html]
Am?rico Roca Dalton reports on the protest held in Geneva againstrampant corruption in Honduras. Again the wish for a InternationalCommission against Impunity was voiced.
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/06/protesta-en-ginebrasuiza-frente-al.html]
---
Mass movement against the dictatorship, calls for legal impeachment of "President" JOH!El Libertador criticizes the main press for silencing the scale of the protests. Criterio speaks of some 70'000 protesters that marched the main Honduran cities on Friday. Luis Mendez published on Youtube with some rather impressive images.
* "Traditional honduran press minimizes demonstrations against impunity" (2015-06-06, web.ellibertador.hn) machine translated [archive.is/dBLtn]
* "Outraged massive mobilization in Honduras" (2015-06-06, criterio.hn) machine translated [archive.is/GD2v4]* "HONDURAS INDIGNADA: 2da. Movilización de las Antorchas -Tegucigalpa" [youtube.com/watch?v=G1RrotY2ugg]
* "Honduras: 'Indignant' protest today in San Pedro Sula for embezzlement IHSS; Hondurans in Miami march against corruption" (2015-06-06, hondurastierralibre.com) machine translated [archive.is/vEBga]
* "Thousands rally to call for Honduras president to quit; Protest held after Juan Orlando Hernandez said his 2013 campaign took money from companies linked to corruption scandal" (2015-06-06, aljazeera.com) [archive.is/BHRuN]
Thousands of Hondurans took to the streets again yesterday. The marched to the Honduran UN seat, where they handed off a petition calling for the creation of a Anti-Corruption Commission.
Criterio outlines why it would be a big mistake to see this new protests just as the usual party politics.
Radio Progreso ask the right question in where these new surge in protests will lead.
Finally, there are even protests announced in the US, Spain and Switzerland.
* [http://www.web.ellibertador.hn/index.php/noticias/nacionales/120-miles-de-hondurenos-caminan-por-tegucigalpa-en-marcha-de-las-antorchas]
* [http://criterio.hn/los-indignados-un-fenomeno-en-honduras-que-envia-un-claro-mensaje/]
* [http://criterio.hn/joven-indignado-ponganse-vivos-cabrones-que-estamos-jodidos/]
* [http://radioprogresohn.net/index.php/comunicaciones/noticias/item/2112-%C2%BFhacia-d%C3%B3nde-apuntan-las-recientes-protestas-en-honduras?]
* [http://www.elheraldo.hn/hondurenosenelmundo/846834-331/hondure%C3%B1os-marchar%C3%A1n-en-ee-uu-y-espa%C3%B1a]
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/06/suiza-ginebra-movilizacion-contra-la.html]
* "Photos: Thousands march with torches in Honduras demanding the resignation of the government" (2015-06-07, rt.com) machine translated [archive.is/cjAUl]
* "Thousands of Hondurans 'outraged' take to the streets against corruption" (2015-06-06, diariomeridiano90.com) machine translated [archive.is/81mBx]
* "Majestic mobilization of the torches in Honduras" (2015-06-05, web.ellibertador.hn) machine translated [archive.is/Tdcap]
Students in San Pedro Sula took up protests again.
* [http://www.tiempo.hn/nacion/item/33346-paralizan-clases-en-la-unah-vs]
Tierra Libre outlines in a new article why calling for the demonstrations to be apolitical can itself be seen as political.
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/06/honduras-el-apoliticismo-de-julieta.html]
The sociologist Leticia Salom?n offers her analysis of the protests.
* [http://criterio.hn/honduras-esta-indignada/]
---
JOH announced a new wave of arrest against corrupt officials. On the by he also spoke of new special facilities for the Military Police in the main Honduran cities.
* [http://cholusatsur.com/noticias/joh-anuncia-mas-capturas-contra-corruptos-lo-hace-para-calmar-al-pueblo-que-protesta-en-las-calles/]
The newly created Multiparty Commission to investigate high-profile corruption cases raises more questions than answers.
* [http://radioprogresohn.net/index.php/comunicaciones/noticias/item/2096-con-m%C3%A1s-dudas-que-respuestas-surge-comisi%C3%B3n-multipartidaria-para-investigar-corrupci%C3%B3n-en-honduras]
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/05/diputada-gutierrez-critica-lentitud-y.html]
The executive power announced that there will be more cases opened against corruption in various state entities.
* [http://www.elheraldo.hn/pais/847366-331/ejecutivo-anuncia-judicializaci%C3%B3n-de-nuevos-casos-de-corrupci%C3%B3n]
Former General Attorney Edmundo Orellana, meanwhile, demands that the highest echelon of the MP quits or is removed by Congress.
* [http://www.elheraldo.hn/pais/847361-331/orellana-fiscales-deben-renunciar]
A court declared a sub-commissioner of the National Police guilty for money laundering.
* [http://www.tercerpoder.hn/tribunal-declara-culpable-a-sub-comisario-de-policia-por-lavado-de-activos/]
Rafael Leonardo Callejas Lopez, the son of the former president Callejas, has been freed of any charges by a court in Comayag?ela. But there remain some important unanswered questions.
* [http://criterio.hn/aun-cuando-se-investiga-porque-le-dieron-medidas-sustitutas-juez-otorga-libertad-a-hijo-de-callejas/]
---
* "Honduran president admits illegal financing of his campaign" (2015-06-05, contrainjerencia.com) machine translated [archive.is/NZS6W]
According to new documents, Congress paid over 6.5 million Lempiras for the final campaign rally of JOH. Marches against his government are seen all over the country.
* [http://cholusatsur.com/noticias/7-millones-de-lempiras-salieron-del-congreso-nacional-para-el-cierre-de-campana-de-joh/]
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/06/honduras-manifestaciones-de-norte-sur.html]
* [http://criterio.hn/hondurenos-levantan-antorchas-para-exigir-justicia/]
* [http://cholusatsur.com/noticias/gobierno-de-honduras-se-tambalea-manifestaciones-en-todo-el-pais-contra-joh/]
The Liberal Party and Libre demanded in Congress to question the General Attorney Oscar Fernando Chinchilla. Then Mario P?rez, Nationalist Congressman and Congress' secretary, claimed that the majority wasn't in favor of discussing this motion and wanted to go on. The political opposition started to protest and P?rez suspended Congress...another way to slow the investigation into the IHSS corruption scandal.
The coordinator of the Anti-Corruption Council (CNA), Gabriela Castellanos, fears that the - forced - departure of prosecutor Roberto Ram?rez Aldana will slow down the investigation even more. Libre congressman Edgardo Casa?a, who is part of the Multiparty Commission, says that in the first report they received from the MP, there are already 10 checks mentioned which transferred 6 Million Lempiras to the National Party.
The statements by the original 'Junta Interventora' of the IHSS have change completely. Just days back they claimed that no checks had been emitted to any party, no supposedly all parties have received money. What a happy outcome for the National Party...
* [http://cholusatsur.com/noticias/una-cachurecada-mas-suspende-sesion-para-aprobar-interpelacion-del-fiscal-general/]
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/06/honduras-doble-discurso-temor.html]
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/06/caso-ihss-tendra-un-atraso-con-salida.html]
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/06/en-solo-10-cheques-el-pn-recibio-mas-de.html]
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/06/contradicciones-de-interventores-del.html]
Lauren Carasik outlines the part of the US in the Honduran corruption scandal.
* "Washington Complicit in Honduras' Corruption Scandal" (2015-06-05, telesurtv.net) [archive.is/dBAms]
Roberto Carlos Salinas, a member of the 'Junta Interventora del IHSS', accuses Radio Globo and Channel 36 of inciting hatred against the National Party, and this only because they report on the IHSS corruption scandal.
* "Social Security Auditor draws TV Globo and Canal 36 of inciting hatred and damage the image of the National Party" (2015-06-06, pasosdeanimalgrande.com) machine translated [archive.is/g3In8]
Meanwhile, it has been announced that Jose Ramon Bertetty, the former administrative director of the IHSS, will be the first on trial for the corruption scandal.
* "Bertetty a first trial for looting the IHSS" (2015-06-07, laprensa.hn) machine translated [archive.is/LV7j3]
There is also news regarding the investigation into the IHSS corruption scandal. The lead public prosecutor, who days back was sent to the UNICEF, published an open letter, saying that he didn't want to be transferred.
* [http://www.tiempo.hn/nacion/item/33595-ramirez-aldana-el-organo-de-inteligencia-propuso-mi-salidainmediata-del-pais]
Cholust Sur published a picture of, supposedly, one of the checks from the IHSS to the JOH campaign.
* [http://cholusatsur.com/noticias/historico-el-cheque-que-recibio-juan-orlando-hernandez/]
* [http://www.web.ellibertador.hn/index.php/noticias/nacionales/96-querella-contra-opositor-politico-por-denunciar-corrupcion-anuncia-partido-nacional]
It seems that Tigo has blocked another signal. This time it interrupted the one of the Spanish version of CNN, while it aired an interview with Oscar Alvarez on the IHSS corruption case.
* [http://www.web.ellibertador.hn/index.php/noticias/nacionales/103-censuran-programa-de-cnn-en-espanol-que-indaga-saqueo-en-el-ihss]
* "Salvador Nasralla Confronts Oscar Alvarez with the Truth on Honduran TV (Participacion del Ingeniero Salvador Nasralla en Frente a Frente hoy 27 de Mayo)"
This Video is in Spanish. Salvador Nasralla, head of the Ant-Corruption Party confronts Oscar Alvarez, head of the National Party Caucus of the Honduran National Congress. Nasralla presents documents that prove that "ghosts" companies engaged in embezzlement of funds from the Honduran Institute of Social Security and that those stolen funds found their way into the National Party coffers. Alvarez can only accuse Nasralla of lying even when faced with government documents proving otherwise. To this Alvarez says that it is for a court to decide guilt at which Nasralla states that the judges of the Supreme Court are owned by the NP. Alvarez keeps repeating that it can't be proven that Juan Orlando Hernandez had anything to do with the creation of these ghost companies to which in essence Nasralla says JOH ran the Congress which approved the contracts between the comp[anies and the IHSS and that Pepe Lobo admitted that he knew about the fraud, but said nothing because of its affect on the impending election in 2013. Nasralla is being accused of "bullying" Alvarez and in addition to receiving death threats he is being threatened with possible charges of defamation of character. This being the NP's current means for criminalising those who expose the corruption of this Government as in the case of Gladys Lanza and Berta Ceceres.
Oscar Alvarez is the nephew of General Gustavo Alvarez Martinez who created and led Battalion 316 in the 1980s which functioned as a death squad and was responsible for the disappearances and murders of students, labor leaders and others protesting government corruption. Oscar, who is a former member of the Honduran Special Forces, has praised his uncle's actions and is quoted as saying, "The Argentines came in first, and they taught how to disappear people. The United States made them more efficient." During Pepe Lobo's administration Alvarez was Minister of Internal Security whose "duro mano" policies allowed the National Police to murder suspected gang members in the streets. He was also Security Minister during the presidency of Ricardo Maduro who began these strong hand policies of death squads eliminating youth from the streets. It was during this time that 69 inmates in La Ceiba and 107 in San Pedro Sula died mysteriously. During Lobo's presidency 361 inmates died in a mysterious fire that has still to be investigated. The vast majority of these inmates had not been convicted and were awaiting trial. Alvarez trained in the US with the Army Rangers, the Special Forces and Army Corp of Cadets at Texas A&M with connections to the CIA.
Globo's David Romero presented more proof of the link between the National Party and the IHSS corruption scandal. Meanwhile, Hondurans took to the streets to protest against the rampant corruption in Honduras and demanded an end to the JOH administration.
* [http://criterio.hn/presentan-mas-pruebas-de-multimillonaria-estafa-al-ihss/]
* [http://cholusatsur.com/noticias/video-fuera-joh-gritaban-en-la-marcha-de-las-antorchas/]
* [http://www.web.ellibertador.hn/index.php/noticias/nacionales/104-hondurenos-encienden-velas-a-muertos-por-quiebra-del-seguro-social]
* [http://www.laprensa.hn/honduras/844943-410/sampedranos-marchan-contra-la-corrupci%C3%B3n-y-la-impunidad]
* [http://criterio.hn/miles-de-hondurenos-recuerdan-muertes-del-fraude-al-ihss-y-exigen-renuncia-del-gobierno-de-hernandez/]
* [http://www.telesurtv.net/news/Multitudinaria-marcha-exige-renuncia-del-presidente-de-Honduras-20150530-0004.html]
* [http://www.tiempo.hn/nacion/item/33441-protestan-contra-el-saqueo-del-ihss]
Cholusat Sur reveals some new information on the money flow in the IHSS corruption scandal, claiming that $22 millions were used for JOH presidential campaign. MADJ presented yesterday an official complaint at the Public Attorney's Office (MP) demanding a thorough investigation and the imprisonment of all actors involved. According to Criterio, the Multiparty Commission must investigate the role of Deputy Attorney General Rigoberto Cuellar in slowing down the investigation. It seems that these recent events are bringing the political opposition closer together: Mauricio Villeda (PL) is strengthening the position of Salvador Nasralla (PAC). The latter argued on Frente a Frente with the head of the National Party, Oscar Alvarez.
* [http://cholusatsur.com/noticias/juan-orlando-hernandez-si-recibio-dinero-del-ihss/]
* [http://redefensorashn.blogspot.ch/2015/05/carcel-para-el-partido-nacional-y-los.html]
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/05/honduras-inminente-destitucion-de.html]
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/05/honduras-villedacallar-y-amenazar.html]
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/05/honduras-video-asi-fue-el-intenso.html]
Journalist Jose Modesto Acosta received threats on his mobile for speaking about the IHHS corruption case.
* [http://www.pasosdeanimalgrande.com/index.php/en/denuncias/item/812-calladito-te-ves-mas-bonito-dice-mensaje-amenazante-contra-modesto-acosta-corresponsal-de-radio-globo]
---
Radio Progreso outlines how the recent Honduran economic policy has more or less been written by the IMF.
* [http://www.alainet.org/es/articulo/170171]
Javier Suazo offers some new insights into the IMF deal.
* [http://www.alainet.org/es/articulo/169940]
JOH is about to sign a free trade agreement with Peru.
* [http://www.radiohrn.hn/l/noticias/honduras-firmar%C3%A1-tratado-de-libre-comercio-con-per%C3%BA]
According to Criterio, JOH is traveling to the European Union while the Honduran citizens take to the streets in thousands to demand an end to corruption and impunity.
* [http://criterio.hn/presidente-viaja-a-europa-dejando-a-honduras-en-protestas/]
The Observatory of Mining Conflicts in Latin America (OCMAL) has published its newest annual report. During his visit to Chile, JOH met with the National Mining Society.
* [http://movimientom4.org/2015/05/conflictos-mineros-en-america-latina-extraccion-saqueo-y-agresiones-estado-de-situacion-en-2014/]
* [http://www.laprensa.hn/honduras/844051-417/joh-se-re%C3%BAne-con-mineros-y-concesionarios-chilenos]
On Project Censored Radio, Dana Frank and Mark Sullivan discuss the US-backed Honduran government’s program of free-market “model cities” (ZEDEs), in which corporate control will supersede the rights of Honduran citizens. [projectcensored.org/nick-turse-dana-frank-and-mark-sullivan/]
Radio Progreso informs about the problems with so-called mega-projects in Honduras.
* [http://radioprogresohn.net/index.php/comunicaciones/nuestra-palabra/item/2094-megaproyectos-o-el-sue%C3%B1o-hondure%C3%B1o-29-mayo-2015]
The more than 60 organization that represent the Southern Environmental Movement came to Tegucigalpa to protest against the announced ZEDE in their region.
* [http://redefensorashn.blogspot.ch/2015/05/protestas-contra-los-megaproyectos-que.html]
* "Honduras to Unveil First ZEDE in March Korean Development Partner to Reveal Blueprints For Pacific Port, Logistics Hub" (2015-01-20) [archive.today/yMoTb]
The over-use of the adjective 'disruptive' has now reached democracy itself. OFRANEH reports of an event in San Francisco called 'DISRUPTING DEMOCRACY: CHOICE AMONG GOVERNANCE FOR HONDURANS', another whitewash of the charter city idea.
* [https://ofraneh.wordpress.com/2015/05/28/interrumpiendo-la-democracia-en-honduras-islas-distopicas-las-zede-y-nuevas-formas-de-gobernanza/].
In the US an event promoting Zones of Economic Development and Employment (ZEDE) is held today. But due to the protest in the country - what they call civil unrest - JOH, Ebal Diaz and Octavio Sanchez cancelled. They are replace by two lesser known promoters, Alejandro "Alex" Chafuen and Guillermo Pe?a Panting. But protest has also been announced in the US itself.
* [http://www.telesurtv.net/english/analysis/US-Activists-Protest-Charter-Cities-An-Assault-on-Honduran-Sovereignty-20150606-0011.html].
* "Message from Lincoln Labs to attendees of FREE TO CHOOSE CITIES: New Opportunities for Enterprise & Governance in Honduras and Beyond" (2015-06-07): Due to civil unrest in Honduras, our panelists President Hernandez, Ebal Diaz and Octavio Sanchez were forced to cancel their trip to attend to issues facing their nation. We will still host our event about Free to Choose Cities in Honduras as planned. Filling in for the panelists are Alejandro "Alex" Chafuen and Guillermo Pena Pantig. Alex is a member of the commission, along with Mr. Diaz and Mr. Sanchez, which approves and oversees the Zones of Economic Development and Employment (ZEDE). Guillermo is a Honduran national and co-leader of a proposed ZEDE. We look forward to your attendance and participation in this timely discussion. Regards, [signed] Lincoln Labs, The Seasteading Institute, and The Independent Institute. Event page [archive.is/gDJgD], speaker biographies page [archive.is/qisRd]* Original event page, titled "Disrupting Democracy: Choice among governance for Hondurans" [archive.is/u0EOP]: Honduras has enacted the boldest legislation of any nation in recent history, effectively opening a new jurisdictional frontier. Zones for Economic Development and Employment, (ZEDEs) will be developed with entirely new governmental systems, embracing the concept of competitive governance.The event will feature the President of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, The Executive Director of The Seasteading Institute Randolph Hencken and moderator Mary Theroux of The Seasteading Institute. Learn about the opportunities in ZEDEs and expect a major announcement.
* Revised event page, re-titled with the more democratic sounding "FREE TO CHOOSE CITIES: New Opportunities for Enterprise & Governance in Honduras and Beyond" [archive.is/O8ctA]: Honduras has enacted the boldest legislation of any nation in recent history, effectively opening a new jurisdictional frontier. Zones for Economic Development and Employment, (ZEDEs) will be developed with entirely new governmental systems, embracing the concept of competitive governance. The event will feature Octavio Sanchez, ZEDE legislative architech and Commissioner, Ebal Diaz, Chief of Staff to the President of Honduras, The Executive Director of The Seasteading Institute Randolph Hencken and moderator Mary Theroux of The Independent Institute. Learn about the opportunities in ZEDEs and expect a major announcement. Speakers biographies page [archive.is/s7IOW].
* Speakers biographies page included the following information about the ZEDEs, and the scheduled speakers [archive.is/qisRd] [archive.is/s7IOW]: The Republic of Honduras may now have enacted the boldest legislation of any nation in recent history, effectively opening a new jurisdictional frontier of what are called "charter cities," "model cities," "free-trade zones," "micro-cities," or "voluntary cities." Inspired by the economic marvels of Hong Kong and Singapore, these Honduran Zones for Economic Development and Employment (ZEDEs) are intended to be free of the strangulating regulation, taxation, cronyism, violence, and corruption so pervasive elsewhere, fostering a market of governance bodies competing to attract residents, investors, and trade throughout the Americas and globally. Co-sponsored by the Independent Institute, Lincoln Labs, and the Seasteading Institute, this very timely, upcoming event will discuss the prospects and opportunities in ZEDEs realizing the potential for fostering a revolution in individual liberty, entrepreneurship, innovation, economic well-being, self-government, and the rule of law.
- Guillermo Peña Panting: Founder and Executive Director of Fundación Eléutera in the Republic of Honduras, he has played a direct role in the development of the Honduran Zones for Economic Development and Employment, and he currently is proposing a ZEDE. He has worked with the Honduran National Business Council, Honduran Manufacturing Association, National Industrialists Association and the Chamber of Commerce of Cortes, and he is also the current Executive Director of the Honduran Free Zones association, which is looking to lead its members into a more competitive, regulation-free zone. More information at [archive.is/GHJTc]- Alejandro A. Chafuen: Member of the 21-person commission that approves and oversees the Honduran ZEDEs. He is President of the Atlas Network and President and Founder of the Hispanic American Center of Economic Research, both of which have pioneered networks of free-market think tanks, civic and business leaders, educators, journalists, and policymakers throughout Latin America. He received his Ph.D. in economics from International College, and he is member of the board of Grove City College, the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty, and the Fraser Institute. More information at [archive.is/HpUmr].- Ebal Díaz: Minister Executive Secretary of the Cabinet of the Republic of Honduras, a Member of the Committee on Best Practices, and President of the Board of Directors of the Property Institute. Between 2010 and 2014, he was the Head of Advisors of the National Congress and headed the technical committee that drafted the legislation for the creation of the Zones of Employment and Economic Development (ZEDEs). More information at [archive.is/d28Mi].
- Octavio Sánchez: Legislative Architect and Commissioner in the Republic of Honduras for the Zones for Economic Development and Employment (ZEDEs). Former Minister of Culture, Honduran presidential advisor and Member of the Committee for the Adoption of Best Practices, he is Visiting Professor at the University of Arizona and Senior Fellow at the National Law Center for Inter-American Free Trade. More information at [archive.is/RxNo1].
---
Garifuna nation within the Republic of Honduras
Tomorrow the trial in the case of the Gar?funa community Barra Vieja continues.
* [http://www.pasosdeanimalgrande.com/index.php/en/contexto/item/817-este-03-de-junio-continua-la-audiencia-para-un-despojo-anunciado-a-la-comunidad-garifuna-de-barra-vieja]
---
Tolupan nation within the Republic of Honduras
In its weekly newsletter, Radio Progreso offers an actualization of the situation in Locomapa, where the Tolupan leaders continue to be threatened.
* [http://radioprogresohn.net/index.php/comunicaciones/noticias/item/2098-contin%C3%BAan-amenazas-a-l%C3%ADderes-de-tribu-francisco-en-locomapa-yoro]
===*===*===
Republic of Haiti
===*===*===
Republic of France Overseas Department of Guadeloupe
===*===*===
Republic of Colombia
[colombiasupport.net]
* "FARC rebel strike blamed as another Colombian town loses power" (2015-06-03, AFP newswire) [archive.is/LxdDM]
---
Towards a Bolivarian Republic of Colombia* "A SENSIBLE READING OF THE SITUATION" (2015-05-29, BY TIMOLEON JIMENEZ) [archive.is/a8yRR]
* FARC-EP, 51 YEARS OF STRUGGLE FOR PEACE [archive.is/SDK99] [begin excerpt]: The FARC-EP celebrate this May 27 the anniversary of our birth in Marquetalia. For 51 consecutive years we have fought to military and Colombian police forces, their paramilitary groups, their American supporters, British, Israelis and others, with an impressive asymmetry of resources of all kinds, driven exclusively by our convictions, inspired by our martyrs and unchanged in one millimeter of our principles and objectives. And we are fighting them, the price of our blood and our lives with the same courage and willingness.
Our armed struggle for over half a century in Colombia has been the particular expression of an economic, ideological and political struggle universal, facing the powers of capital, estates and violence against the aspirations of the peoples, workers and peace . We took up arms more than five decades ago, because in our country the legal democratic channels were closed violently for the exercise of opposition political activity. For speaking out against the injustice of the capitalist system and the exclusion of the political regime, it was turned into crime because prison and tomb safe destination made for those who refuse to follow the voice of the traditional parties of the oligarchy kneeling before the Washington government.
The FARC-EP settle along these 51 years, a huge fellowship of Colombians from all regions and cultures of far greater dimensions and depth to our armed structures. We have the sincere affection and solidarity of many peoples of the continent and the world. We can say proudly that they are the very high degree of awareness, fighting spirit and heroism of this great fariana fellowship, which enabled us to face, never intimidating us, the more intense military ideological onslaught, political and undertaken by imperialism, the oligarchy and its allies against the people of our America in its history.
The FARC are a political party in arms, we are from the day of our birth. Marquetalia had in our ideas and proposals for isolated communities and agricultural colonies derived from the bitter night of liberal conservative violence. But with the huge onslaught that were victims in May 1964, by order of President Guillermo Leon Valencia and running of the Pentagon's plans, we elaborated amid the confrontation, a simple statement that we call the fighters Agricultural Program in which they were reflected the reasons for our historic struggle, the nature of our objectives and the need to form a broad national movement for urgent changes required by the country.
For over five decades, we have released numerous documents contentivos our approach to Colombia, always hated by those in power, distorted and manipulated by the media, pursued by all devices of death and terror. In the long journey towards the realization of peace, every time the FARC-EP have us sitting at a negotiating table with the federal government, we have released the country and the world our thoughts and aspirations for Colombia. So we did with the political platform that served as launch Patriotic Union political movement, as in the many public hearings in Caguan. Also we act today with the proposed minimum on each of the agenda items of Havana.
Our main concern along these 51 years of struggle has been the formation of a great political movement which becomes a true alternative to the country's democratic transformation. A gigantic mass stream that has the ability to corner the ruling oligarchy in Colombia and seize power. We have always believed that taking power is unthinkable without the active and decisive participation of the people organized, and that purpose have spent the most important part of our efforts. The greed of US imperialism and the ruling oligarchy in Colombia, has made them see in any leader or social organization or political opposition, a real threat to their interests, which must be removed from the middle of exemplary manner. That explains the continued bloodshed of our country.
We have never ceased to assimilate the idea of peace with democracy and social justice. Because poverty and deprivation, inequalities own social inequality and political privileges, are the main source of discontent and protest against a regime. People, the underprivileged, claiming their rights when they are denied or violated, are politically organized in opposition when the guarantees are granted to do so. But if they are prevented from organizing in opposition, if it pursues, imprisons and kills by putting present their disagreement, the violence, the absolute negation of democracy, the institutionalization of crime and terror become the main food of rebellion , the leading cause of armed rebellion and war.
The FARC-EP are raised political opposition in arms because violence and terror prevailing State in Colombia have been ordered to ban political expressions of dissatisfaction with the regime. What they claim the echoes of our guns is the right to life of all Colombians who believe in the benefits of the system is the right to express ideas freely and play politics with them, without getting thrown shot twice in the neck at the door of his house. No country in the continent, even those of the Southern Cone for years endured horrendous dictatorships, have under his belt with such an impressive number of victims of state violence that has Colombia, whose democratic stability boast with real cynicism classes dominant.
The complete extermination of political organizations, the very high number of political killings, overwhelmed and unpunished action of paramilitary groups and hired assassins, the terrifying list of massacres, disappearances, judicial assemblies, violent plunder of property, forced displacement, threats and exile The daily occurrence of repressive police brutality, false positives and terror military operations, all attributable to the State, its officials and military and police officers, supported by foreign governments, senior businesspeople, traditional political leaders, landowners, mass media communication and sectors of the Catholic Church, can not be concealed or justified. These are truths that prove indelibly the absence of real democracy in our country, and are thus the main cause to address and resolve in the pursuit of peace. [end excerpt]
Communiques from the Delegation of Peace - FARC EP
* "ESCALATION IS NOT THE WAY" (2015-05-25) [archive.is/gEJTc]
* "PEACE IS TO STOP GENERATING NEW VICTIMS" (2015-05-26) [archive.is/362hM]
* "THE FATE OF COLOMBIA MAY NOT BE THE WAR" (2015-05-27) [archive.is/u5KMb]
* "DECLARATION OF THE GUARANTOR COUNTRIES OF THE TALKS" (2015-05-27) [archive.is/GCpWu]
* "FARC RESPONSE TO THE STATEMENT OF THE GUARANTOR COUNTRIES OF THE PEACE PROCESS" (2015-05-28) [archive.is/b2J4V]
* JOINT STATEMENT: PROGRESS DECONTAMINATION PLAN OF THE TERRITORY OF EXPLOSIVES (2015-05-29) [archive.is/db7p9]
* "IN THE EL OREJÓN HOPES FOR PEACE ARE SOWN" (2015-05-30) [archive.is/zeusl]
* "THE EXISTENCE OF PARAMILITARISM IS INCOMPATIBLE WITH A PEACE AGREEMENT" (2015-05-31) [archive.is/cTUqj]
* "ARE THE VICTIMS AT THE CENTER OF THE SETTLEMENT?" (2015-06-02) [archive.is/kWtrv]
Communiques from the National Liberation Army (ELN)
* "THE TRUTH ABOUT THE MINING CONVENTION" (2015-05-17) [archive.is/Vs07S]* "CREATE CONDITIONS FOR ENDING THE ARMED UPRISING" (2015-05-17) [archive.is/Xyk9g]
* "THE INABILITY TO SUSTAIN A UNILATERAL CEASEFIRE" (2015-05-24) [archive.is/izODR]: The National Liberation Army stands in solidarity and sorrow with the sister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia organization, to all family and friends of nearly thirty guerrillas, killed by the armed forces of the State, on 22 May in Guapi, Cauca.
The painful event forced the FARC comrades to lift the unilateral truce decreed on December 20 last year.
Without doubt, the bold decision to declare a unilateral ceasefire indefinitely, is a bold gesture to create a climate conducive to peace, but the decision to finish ante action of such magnitude in their contracts, is the clear demonstration of the and inability to keep disadvantage; because the government of Santos far from understanding this gesture, took advantage to take military advantage, as it always does, that the insurgency has declared unilateral truces.
The painful event and the lifting of the unilateral truce by the FARC should be a new reason to demand the government the urgency of agreeing on a bilateral ceasefire and verifiable hostilities, as real effort of the parties, through which a climate of trust is generated and is guaranteed to continue the peace process in Colombia.
Colombia for workers!
Not one step back, release or death!
* MESSAGE NO. 14 TO THE ARMED FORCES: "THE TRUTH IS ENOUGH" (2015-05-25) [archive.is/aFJqi]
* "RESPONSE TO "NEWS OF PEACE" INTERNATIONAL FORUM OF VICTIMS" (2015-06-01) [archive.is/bnKZ1]
* "I GREET THE II FORUM FOR PEACE IN COLOMBIA" (2015-06-01) [archive.is/zmYfY]
===*===*===
Towards a People's Republic of the Andes (Peru, Ecuador)
[movadef.net]
* "Martial law against anti-mine resistance in Arequipa" (2015-05-25, signalfire.org) [archive.is/je9gC]: Resistance continues against the Tia Maria project of Southern Copper, the Peruvian subsidiary of the multinational monopoly Grupo Mexico owned by German Larrea already known for his contamination of the water supply in Sonora. Strike ongoing for more then 50 days with a force of 2000 police and 1000 Army personnel authorized to use fire arms by the Interior Ministry. At least four people have been killed and hundreds injured. Most recently the Peruvian state has announced a 60 day period of martial law in Arequipa during which constitutional rights will be suspended.
Photo "La Mina Contamina! Humula Asesina (The Mine Contaminates! Humula is an asassin!) [archive.is/T0Wlr], photo of battles between the People and the police [archive.is/KkgaQ] [archive.is/nOUNz] [archive.is/BGe0W], wounded person [archive.is/oRzOg], collection of police ammunition jackets [archive.is/yyfYR].
Videos
[youtube.com/watch?v=gv_SxQBHFsk]
[youtube.com/watch?v=8TaIsLVXfHo]
[youtube.com/watch?v=Dg3EtTRqqvo]
[youtube.com/watch?v=wVmbIi79yi0]
[youtube.com/watch?v=gaJTmtsVTDw]
* "LONG LIVE THE 35th ANNIVERSARY OF THE INVINCIBLE PEOPLE'S WAR!" (2015-05-27) machine translated [archive.is/Rlz6A] [begin excerpt]: On this date greeted with jubilation revolutionary leaders, cadres, members, fighters of the PLA and the masses of PCP from home and abroad to continue in the struggle to persist in the remaining task of the Reorganization Gral. Party to Overcome the Bend particularly the MPP which is promoting the political task of PCP in the MCI and forging the Communist International, wielding Maoism and People's War. In the current context of the international situation; We boost demand growing popular protest, fight the fascist, genocidal and country-selling that since the 90's with Fujimori, Toledo, P. Garcia and Humala govern us today. Promote the growing popular protest, unite the people against imperialist aggression worldwide, mainly Yankee, to lay a solid foundation in the Reorganization Gral. Party. Promote the growing popular protest to develop the People's War and crush their counterrevolutionary strategy of low intensity warfare (GBI), the increasing income of US troops (with heavy weaponry) scheduled for September 1, 2015 Yankees Go Home! Peru Yankees Out! Yankees widely spread and burn flags, supposedly come to "fight narcoterrorism" the background is electioneering repression and genocide to ensure their candidates in 2016, his reactionary elections (acute collusion and contention) Overall make them crucial today than yesterday , of course we say: Elections, NO! People's War, Yes! [end excerpt]
Communiques from the Alfarist Revolutionary Movement (ARM), "Alfaro is Coming, Bastards!"
* "THE FABLE IS OVER CORREÍSTA" (2015-05-24) [archive.is/NTqrL]
* "ALFARO IS REVOLUTIONARY ... CORREA REACTIONARY" (2015-06-05) [archive.is/oPDOv]
!POETRY INSURRECTA¡
Our dead
Which will come lightning or breeze.
They will race, surf, deep root
Centennial oak, autumn forest where permeates
With its amarrillos oils. Cries of birds
Blue plume and white chest.
They will be the star lit on every house, on every town.
They will return liquids like river, stoic,
Ants like the verb on the edge of glow,
they will be lightning and wind, will echo
Freedom ...
(by Carlos Oramas. The poet confesses that he has not come to sing praises, but it does)
===*===*===
Federation of Brazil
===*===*===
[NewAfricaPeace.blogspot.com], with the Green Charter Committee, for Pan-Afrikan Solidarity and Liberation!
* " 'Exploitation of a Higher Kind': How the G7 is Fueling Corporate Dominion of Africa; Experts and grassroots groups working to expose takeover of Big Ag under the guise of the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition" (2015-06-03, commondreams.org) [archive.is/C2mjn]
* "Scrambling for Africa Redux" (2014-12-03, shareable.net) [shareable.net/blog/scrambling-for-africa-redux]: Africa had at least 492 separate kingdoms before the Europeans showed up. Some of these kingdoms were mobile, moving between different areas based on the season. There was no such thing as a "nation state" or a permanent border. Such concepts were foreign and were imposed on Africans by European colonists in order to better administer (i.e. exploit) the "unruly" lands. The colonists sliced up the continent into "manageable" chunks that could be divided amongst the powers fairly. Naturally, no Africans had any say in the matter. In 1870, about 10% of Africa was under European control. By 1914, it was up to 90% of the continent. The intervening period was called the Scramble for Africa, and it involved most of Europe's major players in a race to carve out lucrative territories for themselves. After two world wars and the collapse of several regimes, many powers lost their hold on these colonies. Some colonies, on the other hand, revolted violently to regain their independence from the colonizers who were reluctant to let go of their overseas holdings.
There is another "Scramble for Africa" going on at this very moment, but it's not for land, it's for bandwidth: only one third of the planet is connected to the internet and there's a rush to connect the rest of the world's population. Yet the "digital divide" has become a chasm, and instead of building infrastructure, which would be very costly since there is very little infrastructure in Africa to begin with, there are some "quick fixes" being considered by Western multinational corporations.
You've probably been hearing a lot in the news about the attempts of Google and Facebook to get Africa online. Ever since industry experts like Mckinsey began publishing market data on the earnings potential Africa presents [archive.is/Y0Jwn], they've been falling all over themselves to get a foothold in the continent. These internet giants want to get into Africa with "an" internet before anyone else does but not necessarily with "the" Internet that we know, but a cheaper, slightly watered down version [archive.is/K0Vvn] that sounds really cool, but is it?
In Google's case there's the Loon Project [archive.is/1exlo], using balloons to give internet access to rural villages [youtube.com/watch?v=mcw6j-QWGMo]. They put balloons into the stratosphere and create an airborn mesh network out of these devices to cover a specific area. The only physical danger is that sometimes they come crashing down [archive.is/krEpR].
Facebook, on the other hand, has their CEO selling us on the idea that an increased terrestrial cell phone network with added data coverage and an app will be able to extend Facebook deep into places that even Kira Salak couldn't get to [archive.is/wERtP]. They are already into Kenya, their third African country so far [archive.is/uH1f4]. It's not a bad idea considering that internet access via smartphones outnumbers other devices 30:1. But have you ever tried to write anything substantial on a smartphone? Watch "Making the Internet Affordable" [youtube.com/watch?v=AdXwthh-xLQ].
Beyond that there's reports of Facebook's drone invasion to connect really far out areas that are beyond cell towers [archive.is/zTyQr]. Maybe the drones will shoot down the Google balloons to gain a competitive advantage over Google, as this news animation humorously demonstrates [youtube.com/watch?v=WPbY5U6Qe-s].
Some experts fear that the internet that these corporations are creating in Africa will have no net neutrality "built in," so as not to repeat the mistakes made in the US because net neutrality doesn't benefit multinationals [archive.is/NTmRr].
The version of the internet that these large companies are actually proposing is often a cached and restricted version; the equivalent of selling America's old reruns to the developing world. They are seeking to replicate the (highly profitable) one-to-many broadcast model of the television instead of an internet that lets people connect with one another to create communities of value.
It's true that every day that passes without access to internet is a day you're left further behind the "connected" world, but what does that mean? A recent study examined what it's like for people to use the internet for the first time and it claims they lack the "mental model" to even approach the internet as a concept. This sounds like a dream demographic for advertisers; they can make it up as they go along and no one will be the wiser. Or will they?
When the internet is used to empower people, it can be an emancipatory force, but if it's used to simply turn an entire continent into a prospective revenue stream of Netflix subscribers, then it doesn't appear much different than what was going on in the 19th century.
There are, thankfully, some much smaller and promising initiatives with long term goals which are trying to build community and educate users rather than simply exploit a potential gold mine of data.
The Kibera Mesh Network [goteo.org/project/kibera-mesh-network?lang=en] recently announced plans to construct a wireless community in Nairobi, Kenya. Their approach will enable inhabitants to learn about how the internet works as well as teach them valuable skills that they can pass onto others in their village [youtube.com/watch?v=Pw6-omOb20M].
Kibera is not the first of the "internet missionaries" speaking the gospel of Open Source in Africa. In 2012, a project to create a self-sufficient mesh network using Commotion's free and Open Source software was started in Somaliland [commotionwireless.net/about]. The network was created by residents of the village to be a self-sustaining network which the residents learned how to build and manage from project coordinators [archive.is/Qynyr].
Similarly, Freifunk has created a free and downloadable manual for people to create their own mesh networks from start to finish [wirelessafrica.meraka.org.za/wiki/index.php/DIY_Mesh_Guide]. People who learn how to network can teach others how to network too.
More projects like the Mesh Potato [archive.is/uue29] have found their way to Africa as well, bringing low cost VoIP to people who need it and also data connectivity [archive.is/WcTtT] [youtube.com/watch?v=Z3BgVknO9c8].
But the most well-known project is the Outernet [archive.is/Bt83E], which has changed shape several times over the last few months, originally appearing to be a network of cubesats circling the earth and finally emerging as the Lantern, an autonomous library able to receive (but not transmit) data from any spot on the globe [outernet.is/en]. Their goal is put a "library in every pocket" [youtube.com/watch?v=w2-vTFLDVOY].
With competition from Google and Facebook, these projects might have difficulty getting off the ground, especially since these multinationals are mostly targeting the same countries where these smaller projects are already operating. In a world where we want everything faster, easier and cheaper, how do you convince someone in Africa that a solar powered data receiver will, in the long run, be more liberating than a shiny flying drone? For that matter, how do you convince a westerner?
* " 'Exploitation of a Higher Kind': How the G7 is Fueling Corporate Dominion of Africa; Experts and grassroots groups working to expose takeover of Big Ag under the guise of the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition" (2015-06-03, commondreams.org) [archive.is/C2mjn]
* "Scrambling for Africa Redux" (2014-12-03, shareable.net) [shareable.net/blog/scrambling-for-africa-redux]: Africa had at least 492 separate kingdoms before the Europeans showed up. Some of these kingdoms were mobile, moving between different areas based on the season. There was no such thing as a "nation state" or a permanent border. Such concepts were foreign and were imposed on Africans by European colonists in order to better administer (i.e. exploit) the "unruly" lands. The colonists sliced up the continent into "manageable" chunks that could be divided amongst the powers fairly. Naturally, no Africans had any say in the matter. In 1870, about 10% of Africa was under European control. By 1914, it was up to 90% of the continent. The intervening period was called the Scramble for Africa, and it involved most of Europe's major players in a race to carve out lucrative territories for themselves. After two world wars and the collapse of several regimes, many powers lost their hold on these colonies. Some colonies, on the other hand, revolted violently to regain their independence from the colonizers who were reluctant to let go of their overseas holdings.
There is another "Scramble for Africa" going on at this very moment, but it's not for land, it's for bandwidth: only one third of the planet is connected to the internet and there's a rush to connect the rest of the world's population. Yet the "digital divide" has become a chasm, and instead of building infrastructure, which would be very costly since there is very little infrastructure in Africa to begin with, there are some "quick fixes" being considered by Western multinational corporations.
You've probably been hearing a lot in the news about the attempts of Google and Facebook to get Africa online. Ever since industry experts like Mckinsey began publishing market data on the earnings potential Africa presents [archive.is/Y0Jwn], they've been falling all over themselves to get a foothold in the continent. These internet giants want to get into Africa with "an" internet before anyone else does but not necessarily with "the" Internet that we know, but a cheaper, slightly watered down version [archive.is/K0Vvn] that sounds really cool, but is it?
In Google's case there's the Loon Project [archive.is/1exlo], using balloons to give internet access to rural villages [youtube.com/watch?v=mcw6j-QWGMo]. They put balloons into the stratosphere and create an airborn mesh network out of these devices to cover a specific area. The only physical danger is that sometimes they come crashing down [archive.is/krEpR].
Facebook, on the other hand, has their CEO selling us on the idea that an increased terrestrial cell phone network with added data coverage and an app will be able to extend Facebook deep into places that even Kira Salak couldn't get to [archive.is/wERtP]. They are already into Kenya, their third African country so far [archive.is/uH1f4]. It's not a bad idea considering that internet access via smartphones outnumbers other devices 30:1. But have you ever tried to write anything substantial on a smartphone? Watch "Making the Internet Affordable" [youtube.com/watch?v=AdXwthh-xLQ].
Beyond that there's reports of Facebook's drone invasion to connect really far out areas that are beyond cell towers [archive.is/zTyQr]. Maybe the drones will shoot down the Google balloons to gain a competitive advantage over Google, as this news animation humorously demonstrates [youtube.com/watch?v=WPbY5U6Qe-s].
Some experts fear that the internet that these corporations are creating in Africa will have no net neutrality "built in," so as not to repeat the mistakes made in the US because net neutrality doesn't benefit multinationals [archive.is/NTmRr].
The version of the internet that these large companies are actually proposing is often a cached and restricted version; the equivalent of selling America's old reruns to the developing world. They are seeking to replicate the (highly profitable) one-to-many broadcast model of the television instead of an internet that lets people connect with one another to create communities of value.
It's true that every day that passes without access to internet is a day you're left further behind the "connected" world, but what does that mean? A recent study examined what it's like for people to use the internet for the first time and it claims they lack the "mental model" to even approach the internet as a concept. This sounds like a dream demographic for advertisers; they can make it up as they go along and no one will be the wiser. Or will they?
When the internet is used to empower people, it can be an emancipatory force, but if it's used to simply turn an entire continent into a prospective revenue stream of Netflix subscribers, then it doesn't appear much different than what was going on in the 19th century.
There are, thankfully, some much smaller and promising initiatives with long term goals which are trying to build community and educate users rather than simply exploit a potential gold mine of data.
The Kibera Mesh Network [goteo.org/project/kibera-mesh-network?lang=en] recently announced plans to construct a wireless community in Nairobi, Kenya. Their approach will enable inhabitants to learn about how the internet works as well as teach them valuable skills that they can pass onto others in their village [youtube.com/watch?v=Pw6-omOb20M].
Kibera is not the first of the "internet missionaries" speaking the gospel of Open Source in Africa. In 2012, a project to create a self-sufficient mesh network using Commotion's free and Open Source software was started in Somaliland [commotionwireless.net/about]. The network was created by residents of the village to be a self-sustaining network which the residents learned how to build and manage from project coordinators [archive.is/Qynyr].
Similarly, Freifunk has created a free and downloadable manual for people to create their own mesh networks from start to finish [wirelessafrica.meraka.org.za/wiki/index.php/DIY_Mesh_Guide]. People who learn how to network can teach others how to network too.
More projects like the Mesh Potato [archive.is/uue29] have found their way to Africa as well, bringing low cost VoIP to people who need it and also data connectivity [archive.is/WcTtT] [youtube.com/watch?v=Z3BgVknO9c8].
But the most well-known project is the Outernet [archive.is/Bt83E], which has changed shape several times over the last few months, originally appearing to be a network of cubesats circling the earth and finally emerging as the Lantern, an autonomous library able to receive (but not transmit) data from any spot on the globe [outernet.is/en]. Their goal is put a "library in every pocket" [youtube.com/watch?v=w2-vTFLDVOY].
With competition from Google and Facebook, these projects might have difficulty getting off the ground, especially since these multinationals are mostly targeting the same countries where these smaller projects are already operating. In a world where we want everything faster, easier and cheaper, how do you convince someone in Africa that a solar powered data receiver will, in the long run, be more liberating than a shiny flying drone? For that matter, how do you convince a westerner?
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* "Arms companies are making money by taking over UK schools; Europe's largest arms manufacturer, BAE Systems, has applied to sponsor the failing Furness Academy. The reason is profit" (2015-06-02, opendemocracy.net) [archive.is/GPeO2]
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Republic of France
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Republic of Lithuania
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Republic of Romania
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European Union (EU) / NATO
Documenting economic and political trends across the EU jurisdictions, and international operations, map [archive.is/iqAFG]
* "Public message and appeal of the Committee for the Liberation of Kharkov (K-27) , Journalist Community of Ukraine and the Union of Political Prisoners and Political Refugees of Ukraine to the European Court of Human Rights" (2015-06-05, novorossia.today) [archive.is/LeJr7]
* "Turkish Stream project has chance to become basis for Europe’s gas supply; The Turkish Stream is designed to serve as an alternative to the South Stream gas pipeline project abandoned by Russia in December 2014" (2015-05-29, tass.ru) [archive.is/9KQkR]
* Turkish Stream gas pipeline news archive (2015-02-20 to 2015-05-29, tass.ru) [archive.is/pghHD]
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United Kingdom of Great Britain (UKGB) Documenting economic and political trends across the EU jurisdictions, and international operations, map [archive.is/iqAFG]
* "Public message and appeal of the Committee for the Liberation of Kharkov (K-27) , Journalist Community of Ukraine and the Union of Political Prisoners and Political Refugees of Ukraine to the European Court of Human Rights" (2015-06-05, novorossia.today) [archive.is/LeJr7]
* "Turkish Stream project has chance to become basis for Europe’s gas supply; The Turkish Stream is designed to serve as an alternative to the South Stream gas pipeline project abandoned by Russia in December 2014" (2015-05-29, tass.ru) [archive.is/9KQkR]
* Turkish Stream gas pipeline news archive (2015-02-20 to 2015-05-29, tass.ru) [archive.is/pghHD]
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* "Arms companies are making money by taking over UK schools; Europe's largest arms manufacturer, BAE Systems, has applied to sponsor the failing Furness Academy. The reason is profit" (2015-06-02, opendemocracy.net) [archive.is/GPeO2]
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Republic of France
Kingdom of Spain
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Federal Republic of Germany
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Republic of Lithuania
Republic of Romania
Republic of Croatia
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Republic of Greece
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Republic of Macedonia (EU associate state)
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Republic of Serbia
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Republic of Albania / Republic of Kosovo
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Republic of Ukraine (EU / NATO associate state)
* "Poroshenko nominated for the Nobel peace prize… like Hitler in 1939" (2015-06-04, southfront.org) [archive.is/D64tw]* "U.S. Pressures Nobel Committee to Declare Ukraine’s President a Peace Prize Nominee" (2015-05-29, thephaser.com) [archive.is/xQv5u]
* "Is Ukraine Pressuring US to Secure Nobel Peace Prize for Poroshenko?" (2015-05-30, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/G65vj]
* "U.S. Pressures Nobel Committee to Declare Ukraine’s President a Peace Prize Nominee, Leaked Letter" (2015-05-29, by Eric Zuesse) [archive.is/iiyYo]
* "The Kiev regime argues that it is fighting for the 'liberation of Donbass'. Though, Kiev is encouraged by idea of destroying Donbass" meme [archive.is/Wo6c1]
* "Donetsk republic reveals new evidence of Kiev crimes in Donbass" (2015-05-30, tass.ru) [archive.is/DQCFB]
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* "Poroshenko’s Speech to Rada: Eliminate Corruption by Legalizing Criminality" (2015-06-05, novorossia.today) [archive.is/AcFct]
* " ‘Ukraine was a totally oligarchic state': Interview with a member of the Parliament of Novorossiya" (2015-06-03, newcoldwar.org) [archive.is/9VU0y]
* "Ukraine: Gangster State" (2015-05-30, by Stephen Lendman) [archive.is/LiZdQ]
* "The Ukrainian Mafia" photo (c.1995): Just as it is with the USA's Mafia protected by the CIA and FBI, the richest crime lords in the Ukraine are the actual financial power in politics, and they are very fascist, infiltrating government security agencies and funding fascist militias like the Right Sector. I think this photo was actually taken in the US during the 90s. Rybalko and Muzychko are both dead now. I wonder if the Klitschko brothers will share a similar fate?
Only 10 percent of the 17 billion euro emergency aid for Ukraine has fallen into the public sector (salaries, pensions,...). The rest of the money is mainly flowed back to foreign EU & US banks with outstanding money in Ukraine, and to President Poroshenko's companies and his business friends in Kiev. President Poroshenko has 0.000000000% RESPECT for his people. President Poroshenko is only thinking about his own billions, and how to become more and more richer. Poroshenko = MAFIA. Poroshenko and his business friends are stealing the money. You must be very stupid (EU & US) to give your billions to this thief and criminal. If you want to support Ukraine, give the money directly to the people, and not to criminals like Poroshenko and his business friends. I'm looking back when Ukraine was an Independent country, a bridge of friendship between Russia and the European Union. President Yanukovych had the best business plan for Ukraine, for a United Ukraine together with Crimea. President Yanukovych business plan was about 100 billion euro from Russia, China and India. This emergency aid for Ukraine was unacceptable for the US and the EU, so sponsored a coup d'état in Kiev to remove President Yanukovych.
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* "Ukraine: 'Maidan 3.0' kicks off at Kiev's Independence Square" [youtube.com/watch?v=uGmRyGSMvKE]
* "Anti-government rally in Kiev" photo (2015-06-06): This is why Kiev changed the law so other nations' armies can fight in Ukraine. The Ukrainian people have no wish to fight their brothers in the East, so NATO's getting involved, including Weapons of Mass Destruction.
Unless people in the West get themselves informed and get active in protest against NATO's involvement, this is escalating into something worse than a civil war.
* "Large, conservative protest in Kyiv slams Poroshenko/Yatsenyuk government" (2015-06-07, newcoldwar.org) [archive.is/534Xt]
* "Thousands of Ukrainians protest Kiev regime’s draconian utility price hikes" (2015-05-25, wsws.org) [archive.is/V8PHt] [begin excerpt]: Protests are mounting against decisions by the NATO-backed regime in Kiev to drastically increase prices for energy, water, and other basic necessities. Protesters reportedly set up a mock gallows near government buildings in downtown Kiev this weekend. The protests follow a march on May 16 of an estimated 5,000 people in Kiev to protest the price hikes.
The right-wing government in Kiev is slashing spending on subsidies to basic goods to funnel the money to the Ukrainian regime’s Wall Street creditors and boosting military spending on the war against Russian-backed forces in east Ukraine. As a result, consumer prices for basic necessities are skyrocketing.
On May 1, hot and cold water prices rose by 71 percent. A month before, natural gas prices had increased by 285 percent, passing from just over 1,000 hryvnia (US$48.20) to over 4,000 hryvnia per thousand cubic meters of gas.
Ukrainians were already struggling to pay their utility bills, with one report in January showing that nearly 30 percent of Ukrainians were unable to pay their bills after utility rates rose 35 percent last year and prices for food, transport, and medicine increased between 50 and 200 percent. Now, broad layers of the Ukrainian people are threatened with destitution. [end excerpt]
* "Ukraine’s labour reforms threaten workers' rights" (2015-06-04, opendemocracy.net) [archive.is/Nx4gZ]
* "Kiev’s Repression of Anti-Fascism in Odessa" (2015-05-27, counterpunch.org) [archive.is/tUDjP]
* "Can the Ukrainian Government Target American Journalists in America?" (2015-03-12, by George Eliason), scroll down for the article while visiting the archived page at the link here [web.archive.org/web/20150607044013/http://www.opednews.com/articles/Can-the-Ukrainian-Governme-by-George-Eliason-American-Terror_Americans-Killed_Government-Bullying_Government-Crime-150319-980.html], first of five pages.
* "Ukraine- Nazi’s Target American Journalist in Donbass" (2015-05-30, washingtonsblog.com/) [archive.is/gdjSl]
* "Weaponizing Wikipedia- What Invasion Scale Info War Is" (2015-03-21, washingtonsblog.com) [archive.is/E2Ipu]
* "US Psychological Warfare in Ukraine: Targeting Online Independent Media Coverage" (2015-03-20, by George Eliason) [archive.is/5hAAM]
* "Arrest of Ukrainian journalist and blogger Ruslan Kotsaba, charged with treason because of his video-appeal against recruiting campaign was prolonged by 60 days at the court hearing yesterday" (2015-06-04) [archive.is/V2ko8]. Comment: OK, so the complainant/witness never even actually saw the video he is complaining of? sounds like they really understand the meaning of "evidence". Poor Kotsaba will still end up convicted I suppose. Update: Today another court hearing in the case took place! And the witnesses had been outright patsies! None of them had ever known Kotsaba or was familiar with his video, but they all claimed that it was due to his appeal that Ukrainian Army is losing to "Russian troops" in the East!
* "Detention of journalist Ruslan Kotsaba, charged with “treason”, extended for another 60 days" (2015-06-04, newcoldwar.org) [archive.is/5LlS7]
* "Poroshenko: Ukrainians Who Oppose NATO Threaten Ukraine's Security; Poroshenko will not tolerate anyone who supports Ukraine’s previous status as a non-aligned nation" (2015-05-29) [web.archive.org/web/20150606225243/http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/poroshenko-ukrainians-who-oppose-nato-threaten-ukraines-security/ri7550#]: Poroshenko is now competing with Yatsenyuk for the “most absurd thing to come out of a Ukrainian’s mouth-hole” award [archive.is/EsWwp].
Advocates of Ukraine’s non-aligned status must now take responsibility for the fact that the level of security in the country has dropped to a critical level. This was stated by the president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko [https://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?act=url&depth=1&hl=en&ie=UTF8&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.ca&sl=ru&tl=en&u=http://korrespondent.net/tag/159117/&usg=ALkJrhh-XM9D7h0sw_B3OWT2tVpAIKuoNw]. “We have to build our country’s defenses. We have canceled the infamous non-aligned status, and those who talked and argued about the non-aligned status, must now bear responsibility because they, together with those who destroyed the Armed Forces, allowed the critical lower level of security for which today the entire country is paying. We will build Ukraine together with the Ukrainian people,” said Poroshenko.
Ukraine: Sounding more like Europe every day…
* Photo (2015-06-06) showing Gay rights march in Kyiv, just before being attacked by fascist militias.
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* "Ukraine is officially ruled by foreigners and puppets of USA, and not only the CIA" (2015-05-30) [archive.is/ftnV0]: The news bomb of Saakaśhvili reminds us of the bloodbath in Odessa.
The foreign criminal Saakashvili is new governor of Ukrainian Odessa, where Ukrainian neo Nazis last year burnt innocent people alive in a massacre.
Ukraine is officially ruled by foreigners and puppets of USA, and not only the CIA. Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko has appointed - against good practice – the following foreigners and puppets of USA to key positions in Ukraine :
1. On Saturday the Georgian former president Mikhail Saakashvili to new governor of Odessa at Black Sea. Georgia has issued an international arrest warrant of its former president Saakashvili, who is accused of embezzling state funds in Georgia. Last year Georgia confiscated the property of the ex-president and his family members. Photo [archive.is/2xSWY].
2. In May last year the USA vice president Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden became director at Ukrainian gas and energy Company. He was in February 2014 released from the military reserve in USA for cocaine addiction. Photo with with Obama and papa Joe [archive.is/TTRM4].
3. In the winter three foreigners became key ministers in government. Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko (USA), the chief executive of a private-equity fund and USA diplomat, Economy Minister Aivaras Abromavicius (Lithuania) a former investment banker and Health Minister Alexander Kvitashvili (Georgia). Photos of all three shown at left.---
* "In order to feed Mikhail Saakashvili activists of Odessa brought neckties to the building of RSA" photo (2015-05-30) [archive.is/N4ttm], video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWbe7jwNIMQ]:
Inhabitants of Odessa, anti-fascists of this city brought to building of Odessa RSA many neckties for Saakashvili. Thus citizens of Odessa with active civic stance react to news that Mikhail Saakashvili be appointed as governor of Odessa region. Mikhail Saakashvili is former president of Grusia, puppet of USA and well known eater of neckties. In order don't be recognized and arrested by fascist police of Kiev junta, inhabitants of Odessa don't come close to building of RSA. [end article] Note: Former USA-backed Republic of Georgia President Mikhail Saakashvili ate his tie after his genocide campaign against the People of South Ossetia failed and he feared being arrested for war crimes. Watch him in action [youtube.com/watch?v=Kid379OjuC0]. Afterwards, he escaped to the USA where he lived in New York City until being appointed Governor of Odessa.
* "Poroshenko will decide on the appointment of the Governor of Odessa Saakashvili after a personal meeting" (2015-05-29, news-front.info) machine translation [archive.is/tAfPo]* "Saakashvili Charged With Abuse Of Office In Murder Case" (2014-11-27, rferl.mobi) [archive.is/zAGdx]
* " Georgia ex-President Saakashvili, good pal of Sen. John McCain is charged with murder" (2015-05-31) [archive.is/BF0eV], photo from John McCain, caption "Good seeing my old friend Misha Saakashvili, a great patriot" [archive.is/akUh9]
* "Loose Cannon Policy: Saakashvili and His School of Governance" (2015-06-06, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/eMHOO]
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* "Lavrov: peaceful civilians in Donbass die exclusively in Ukrainian army attacks; Kiev’s actions are causing indignation of the people of Lugansk, Donetsk and normal people all over the world, stressed Russian Foreign Minister" (2015-05-30, tass.ru) [archive.is/64Ur7]
* "Caught Red Handed: Leaked Email Reveals Kiev Violated Ceasefire Many Times" (2015-06-04, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/2C8yB]
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The U.S trying to set up shop in Ukraine show that they are that stupid to try this - Without Nukes the result would be the same as 2008 - U.S trains Georgia military for 5 years , Georgia attacks Russian peacekeepers - Russia Retaliates and decimates their army in less than one day - (Also captures all the U.S weapons and Equipment stockpiles) -
* "US officials consider nuclear strikes against Russia" (2015-06-05, wsws.org) [archive.is/OH18u]
* "Kremlin: Timing of Kiev-provoked Donbass tensions linked with looming EU summit" (2015-06-04, rt.com) [archive.is/Wuf6E]
* "On Eve of EU Vote to Extend Russian Sanctions; War Returns to Ukraine Resumption of fighting on eve of EU vote on extending sanctions against Russia is a predictable action given the nature of the Ukrainian regime and the multiple crises it faces" (2015-06-04, russia-insider.com) [web.archive.org/web/20150606062233/http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/war-returns-ukraine/ri7711]
* "Right Sector extremists in Ukraine are advised to be ready for mobilization; Right Sector spokesman Andrey Stempitsky said the nationalists intend to "go to fight" despite 'resistance from the advocates of armistice' " (2015-06-04, tass.ru) [archive.is/8lbqf]
* "Military Analysis: Ukraine Poised to Attack the Donbass" (2015-06-04, slavyangrad.org) [archive.is/eqc7Y]
* "US Special Forces are preparing sabotage in Ukraine" (2015-05-30) [archive.is/H9Kv0]: We, CyberBerkut, continue to control the computer networks of Ministry of Information Policy of Ukraine.
Today we obtained information that the Head of the Department of Special Operations Coordination Center of the United States European Command will arrive to Kiev from Stuttgart within the next few days with the group of the US military psychological warfare experts.
The group together with the Ukrainian specialists entrusted with the tasks of the organizing and carrying out acts of information sabotage against the self-proclaimed republics of Donbass and the Russian-speaking population of Ukraine.
Ms. Tatyana Popova, Deputy Minister of Information Policy will be responsible for coordinating the activities of American commandos and Ukrainian propagandists.
We, CyberBerkut, call on citizens to be vigilant! Your beliefs and Faith are under the gun!
We are CyberBerkut! We will not forget! We will not forgive! [cyber-berkut.org/en]
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* "Russian experts condemn as blackmail Ukraine’s threats to seize Russian property abroad" (2015-06-03, tass.ru) [archive.is/HXU4y]
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* "Further evidences of the pro-fascist education of youth at the state level" (2015-05-30) [archive.is/sskCO] [begin excerpt]: Watch the videos of Ivano-Frankivsk Physical Technical boarding school of Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Council/Physical-Technical Lyceum in Ivano-Frankivsk National Technical University of Oil and Gas [same institution] - Specialized secondary educational institution of regional subordination. "The purpose of lyceum is search, training and education of gifted children for science, forming a highly conscious national identity" saying in site.
First video show rehearsal of graduation ceremony of students of physical and technical lyceum of Ivano-Frankivsk.
Graduates of the Physical-Technical Lyceum of Ivano-Frankivsk sang the song "We are Banderovites." In this song, it alleged that the whole of Ukraine belongs Banderovites the entire population of Ukraine should be Banderovites. Also in this and another video of chorus sound fascist slogans in text of songs.
Also on the scarlet ribbons there are usually written "Alumnus", were written Banderovets (guy) or Banderivka (girl).
Graduates of the lyceum sang and applauded not readily, it is noticeable on the video. It is also seen as members of the administration and faculty of the Lyceum, especially one in a gray suit, encouraged the graduates.
At the end of the video shows that one of the graduates waving black and red flag of UPA [ UIA ], this flag became the flag of many Ukrainian fascist organizations.
Videos [youtube.com/watch?v=OW4cILb3P38] [youtube.com/watch?v=A6TXvkvhI0A].
In video gallery of that site was found video of a traditional annual event of Physical Technical Lyceum - cultural and sports festival "Cossack funs". One of team used flag and clothing of Ukrainian fascists from WW2. Second photo of post is screenshot of video.
Link to video gallery [ftl.if.ua/index.php/video-halereia] [archive.is/O10G9], watch first video [youtube.com/watch?v=LFiGrGxLi-Y].
So, pupils and students of Ukraine brought up as future Nazis in state educational institutions.
In fact Ivano-Frankivsk regions is nest of Ukrainian fascism, this is why they didn't hide their views and openly educate youth as Ukrainian fascists.
Please search "Volyn massacre" and "Lviv massacre" in order to understand who's disciples made Kiev junta from Ukrainian youth. [end excerpt]
* "Historian Timothy Snyder falsifies history at German-Ukrainian conference" (2015-06-05, novorossia.today) [archive.is/PpnuT] [begin excerpt]: The period between the two world wars was, according to Snyder, shaped by the “intellectual victory of decolonisation.” The idea of building a large number of new, small national states was then applied to the rest of Europe. On the other hand, the “two rival imperial powers in Europe, the Soviet Union and Germany,” saw this as an invitation to develop a neo-imperial policy for colonising these countries.
At the beginning phase of the Second World War, from 1938 to 1941, both powers destroyed the European system of national states. Beginning in 1941, there was a “collision” (!) between the two rivals. In this underhanded way, Snyder transformed the German invasion of the Soviet Union into a “struggle over Ukraine,” in which the two powers claimed the most important, central resource area in Europe “for themselves as a colony.”
Snyder simply ignored Hitler’s declared aim of erasing the Soviet Union from the world map, the “Generalplan Ost,” and the “Hunger Plan” of the Nazi leadership—which led to the deaths of 30 million people and was aimed at providing “living space in the east”—as well as many other historical facts. He claimed that some of these facts are “highly exaggerated” or mere “myths.” He made these claims less than 200 metres from the Jewish Museum in Berlin, one of many places that serve as reminders of the grisly crimes committed by the Nazis before they were finally stopped by the Soviet Army.
In the Historikerstriet (historian’s dispute) of 1986, Ernst Nolte downplayed the crimes of the Nazis, which he described as an understandable reaction to the “destructive acts of the Russian revolution.” Snyder goes even further. He erases the German invasion of the Soviet Union from history without further ado and transforms the war into a struggle between two aggressors over Ukraine (which was an integral part of the Soviet Union).
The political motives behind this revision of history are transparent. It serves to justify the regime in Kiev, which has criminalised the display of Soviet symbols, while venerating Nazi collaborators in World War II as freedom fighters. The government, installed by the coup last year, is collaborating closely with Berlin and Washington. It is not by accident that Snyder has assembled his crude conception of Ukrainian history from the propaganda arsenal of the Ukrainian right wing.
Snyder used the rest of his lecture to glorify the European Union (EU). Having presented the First World War as the high point of decolonisation and the Second World War as an attempt of two neo-imperial rivals to recolonise Europe, he now described the EU and its predecessor as the “post-colonial” and “post-imperial projects” of a “civil society” that Russian president Putin seeks to destroy.
According to Snyder, the EU provides the only way of guaranteeing the national sovereignty of small states. In principle, Germany views states such as Luxembourg and the Czech Republic as “partners on the same level,” claimed Snyder. This characterisation is a grotesque distortion of the reality of present day Europe, where Germany claims the right to act as the “leading power” in Europe and impose brutal austerity on weaker countries. [end excerpt]
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Union of People's Republics of NovorossiyaFor more info, with maps, and link, visit [NovorossiyaSolidarity.blogspot.com].
Help the People survive the fascist onslaught! [facebook.com/pages/XAH-HAN-Humanitarian-Aid-Novorossiya/481465992010107]
Children Under Fire [podobstrelom.ru/templates/po/eng.html] is a society of volunteers organized by the film director Alexey Smirnov (Moscow). We all are just common people who help to evacuate refugees from the bordering areas near Ukraine. We’ve evacuated over 900 people so far from the areas of bombing and fire, from bordering areas. They are all citizens of Ukraine, most of them are women and children. We arrive to the Russian border (border with Ukraine), we contact people who stay in the tents of temporary accommodation, some people have 5 children, some have babies. We offer them our help and support, if they agree to accept it – we put them into our buses, give them cell phones with SIM-cards, give them some food. We bring them to the point of temporary accommodation, for example to Beriozovka sanatorium (Moscow Region) –this is our headquarters. Arrived people pass health examination, psychological care, medical support, consultations with Federal Migration Services (FMS) officers, who constantly stay at headquarters.
During first days they stay at Sanatorium, next days they are being invited to stay at Russian families. In other words, we have a pool of very good people who are ready to give shelter and personal support to refugees, those people are all our trusted friends.
Almost every day we send buses from Rostov (border city) to Central regions of our country – to the temporary accommodation points. Each bus costs 75 000 rubles (av.2 230$ or 1630€). Each bus is 50 saved lives.As we order bus we also purchase cell phones with SIM- cards and nutrition supplies for travel period.
In the hour of trouble, when our neighbor brothers are being murdered we have to be ready to have the courage and take the responsibility to help them. Russian state does everything it can to help refugees, but we can’t sit idly by and wait till everything becomes fine.
We have no fund, we are simply not indifferent people who want to help urgently to children who got to difficult conditions in military crisis in Ukraine. We spend all raised money for food for children, purchase of beds, bed linen. Also we raise money for evacuation of other children, whose parents call us in eager rivalry and ask to rescue their children.
In our civilized time it was difficult to imagine, possibility of war that simple people, same as we will perish. In Ukraine in a distress there are tens children to which the help is necessary. And to help them with our forces, each evacuated child from Kramatorsk is the saved life!
6727 lives saved as of June 1st, 2015!
* "20 questions to pro-Russian waddings: new “firmware” for Ukrainian trolls" (2015-06-07) [archive.is/dTWwZ], being a list of 20 common questions about Novorossiya by anti-Russian trolls, and answers from residents of Novorossiya.
* "If there were 9 thousand Russian troops here, we would have captured Kharkov and Kiev – Zakharchenko" (2015-06-05, novorossia.today) [archive.is/NCMxR]
* comment from Zak Novak, member of the NAF (2015-05-30) [archive.is/PrELk]: Any invasion by Ukraine of Crimea would be exceedingly unlikely, because that would give Russia a virtual carte blanche to attack Ukraine, and neither the U.S. nor any other power will go to war against Russia in such an instance; Ukraine isn’t yet a NATO member, and NATO would be exceedingly reluctant to go so far as a third world war, this time against Russia, in order to defend the Ukrainian Government from the consequences of that Government’s own then-blatant ceasefire violation — especially in the wake of what virtually everyone now recognizes to have been a U.S. coup that had installed the present Ukrainian regime.
* "Comment of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Donetsk People’s Republic concerning the draft law on the full Commodity blockade of the occupied territories" (2015-06-03, Novorossia News) [archive.is/FnReZ]
"Fights In Donbass"
* (2015-05-30) [archive.is/sDc11]
* (2015-06-04) [archive.is/5p2eP]
* (2015-06-05) [archive.is/WCsTU]
* (2015-06-06) [archive.is/5ZaTH]
"Military Report of Novorossia"
* (2015-06-05) [southfront.org/5-06-2015-military-report-of-novorossia]
"The war in Novorossia Online Chronicle"
* (2015-06-06) [archive.is/F5S6Q]
* "Military situations in Donbass as of May 30 (translated from Colonel Cassad's blog)" (2015-05-30) [archive.is/1EuxC]
* " 'KIEV STOP' flashmob" video [youtube.com/watch?v=mh1CDLfiJw0]: The children of Donbass-children of war. Sometimes too Mature sound of their circulation. Wishes for a peaceful sky over your head" has long taken literally. And they all want peace, notifying the world at large and Kiev in particular. They do this by personal example, and group messages. Today, several hundred children who came to the Park Shcherbakova in Donetsk and staged a flash mob.
Kiev stop! Kids say colorful staging. Very close from them, heard explosions.
KIEV STOP! And from Shirokino, Marinka, Debaltseve, Gorlovka continues to receive the wounded.
KIEV STOP!!! CHILDREN OF NOVOROSSIYA WANT TO LIVE IN A PEACEFUL COUNTRY FOLK!
* "Anti-Fascist March In Slovenia!" photo (2015-05-24) [archive.is/wk97W]
* "Calling all the Republics! UNITE or DIE! Stand together against the fascist hordes! Do not separate from one another! Keep the unity and liberate our brothers! Novorossiya will stand!" (2015-05-30) [archive.is/sktXF]
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People's Republic of Donetsk (DPR, or DNR)* Webster Tarpley On Donetsk: A Middle Class Social Revolution Checkmating NATO For A Year. [https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=af0RjwVyEf0]
* "About 7 thousand citizens of Donetsk and its region gathered to honor memory of killed civilians by Ukrainian punitives" eight photos (2015-05-28, novorossia.today) [archive.is/dT0YK]
* "New license plates Donetsk People's Republic" photo (2015-05-30) [archive.is/1jEsj]
* "The truth about life in Donetsk" video (ANNA News) [facebook.com/NordikaNovorossiya/videos/713462985446511]
* four photos (2015-06-04) [archive.is/dH2EJ]: Despite the shelling of Donetsk, the DPR workers are restoring the Donetsk school No. 33, which was damaged by the Ukrainian forces last summer.
* "International Japan Karate Association (IJKA) has recognized the DPR Karate Federation" (2015-06-04) [archive.is/bYYDT], original (dan-news.info) machine translated [archive.is/KxhOp]
* "Nikishino - the Unconquered" article and twenty-five photos (2015-06-06) [archive.is/fnOpF], photo with UAF swastika graffiti [archive.is/cWXdg]: Before the #Ukraine's war in #Novorossia the population of small village Nikishino was less than 1000 people. Now the number of people there is about some dozens. Not more. There's no condition for comfortable human existance. During 8 month people was in the zone of active fighting actions. Without any benefits of civilization. Those, who didn't want to leave their homes had to hide in basements. But improvised bomb shelters didn't always save. People had to find some food so they went on the streets where they found a death from shells of guns of ukropatriots. There were different accidents.
There were no possibilities to burn dead. The corpses were decomposing right on the streets. Locals say how they had to rush under the gunfire to pick their neighbours' dead bodies up. The dead were burned in their own yards. People digged a little hole and buried them to the ground. People that didn't want to leave their houses would stay with them forever.
The majority of houses are fully destroyed and it's impossible to rep;air them. Battles have been stopped there, but the hell hasn't. All their life is destroyed, people don't have any facilities for normal life. They're just trying to survive there. It's hard to find another description of their lifestyle.
Regardless to unhumanitarian life conditions, people haven't lost braveness. I made an acquaintance with a woman that was telling the most interesting stiories. No screenwriter can create it. She sent her children to different parts: one family to Russia, another one - to Berdyansk. She gave them all her money and stayed in the village with her husband to looks after the houses of all their relatives. Volunteer (mercenary) battalions. Hell began with them. First time they weren't so brash but, as far as animals' inxtincts woke up in them, they became mad. Started to do marauding. But came just to empty houses. That's why the woman had to run to all the houses she was looking at so nobody came there. The militaries were so brash. They were threatening with execution. The woman isn't cowardly. So she used the sillyness of the people of "1st sort" from Western Ukraine, she sad that she was a hereditary witch and it wasn't a doog idea to deal with her. Yes, it sounds funny and ridiculous, but, nevertheless, she wasn't touched at all. She's safe and sound now. During the most terrible battles she and her husband were digging to the basement. Every day at the same time mobile connection was being turned on for 20 minutes. In this 20 min the woman managed to call all her relatives and, what is the main, to call the acquaintances from DPR military forces and inform them where ukrainian armored vehicles were. She was a gun-layer.
Every morning Ukrainians were demanding food and every evening the woman "payed" them. Like in the times of Great Patriotic War, people were making partizan war.
Due to such women, militiamen managed to beat out the occupants from DPR territory. Can the citizens of Great Ukraine do the same? I don't think so. People without honor cannot perform meritorious deeds. They can only rob, rape and kill. And after that they're blessed by their own government.
Animals. I cannot find another definition for Ukrainian army. But I hope that they'll pay for their actions. Lots of them have payed yet, other are waiting for it.
(Author: Denis Grigoryuk)
In Occupied Donetsk, the fascist UAF have blockaded the major port of Mauripol using mines in order to conduct death-squad operations and terrorist acts against the People's Republic of Donetsk without fear of an attack by the NAF.
* "Ukrainian Cutter Lost By Kiev’s Mine in Mariupol" (2015-06-08, en.hunternews.ru) [archive.is/puhw0]: In December, the Ukrainian sappers mined the part of the coast of the Azov sea in the South of Donetsk region. Thus, they tried to protect the shoreline from an amphibious assault. The Ukrainian militaries went to sea on a floating conveyors for mining of the part of the Azov sea. There were seven militaries onboard. Six people were found during the rescue operation, the cutter commander was missing. Two employees of the state border service were wounded. The coast guard boat exploded when it was leaving the bay of the moorage of the marine guard formation. It was reported by the press service of the Mariupol Regional Office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in Donetsk region. The cutter sank in the sea of Azov near Mariupol, bumping into mine. Video [youtube.com/watch?v=WohQlzr45go].
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People's Republic of Lunghask (LPR, or LNR; Luhansk, Lugansk)* "The tragic day in the history of Donbass", prepared by SouthFront.org's friends from Lugansk People's Republic
[facebook.com/SouthFrontEN/videos/720995974671577]
* "Ukrainian army Massaker killing innocent people Lugansk" (2014-06-02) [youtube.com/watch?v=6HQEwZfCbUQ]
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occupied People's Republic of Kharkov (KPR, or KNR)---
occupied People's Republic of Odessa (OPR, or ONR) / People's Republic of Bessarabia
* "Partisans blew up railway in Odessa region of Ukraine" (2015-06-04, southfront.org) [archive.is/GcouU]: Partisans blew up railway in Odessa region of Ukraine last night. On account of explosion, 3 goods train carriages were damaged. There are not causalities in the incident. Also, 2 meters of the railway were damaged. It is the newest of the series of explosions in the region. The main goals of the partisans activities are goods trains and offices of pro-Nazi organisations.
* "Signature collecting campaign launched in Odessa to create memorial, A total of 48 people were killed and more than 200 were injured" (2015-05-24, tass.ru) [archive.is/LN5sg] [begin excerpt]: Several hundred activists of anti-Maidan movement gathered on Sunday in the centre of the Ukrainian Black Sea port city of Odessa to launch a signature collecting campaign to set up a memorial to the victims of the Odessa massacre on May 2, 2014, local media reported. ""Activists had planned to gather in front of the House of Trade Unions to restore the memorial destroyed two weeks ago. But, like a week ago, they were not let do this: access to the square was prohibited due to police drills," the Timer publication said. As a result, the rally was held in the vicinity of the square. "It is our duty to perpetuate the memory of people killed in that tragedy. Odessa will never forget and will never forgive what was done to our activists on May 2," Moris Ibragim, a leader of the Kulikovo Pole anti-Maidan movement. [end excerpt]
* "Odessa May 20, 2015 - a car of Ukrainian National Guard with patch of the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich" photo (2015-05-24) [archive.is/8y1Zc].
[en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2nd_SS_Panzer_Division_Das_Reich]
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occupied People's Republic of Transcarpathia---
Moldovan Republic of Pridnestrovie (Transnistria, Trans-Dniestr, Transdniestria, or Transdnieper)
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Attacks against the People's Republics of Novorossiya (a daily calender)
* "Ukrainian troops deploy 1,000 artillery units in Donbass - DPR defence ministry" (2015-05-24, tass.ru) [archive.is/OV4ul]
* "Ukrainian military have formed 85 raiding parties on the occupied territory of Donbas" (2015-05-24, Novorossia News) [archive.is/edxUE]
* "A mortar shelling happened tonight in the Kiev district of the Donetsk city" photo (2015-05-25, Novorossia News) [archive.is/zvY0v]
* "Major battle operations anticipated across entire Donbass frontline in the next 7 days. Ukrainian Army to attack..." announcement (2015-05-30, twitter.com/Dissident_News) [archive.is/YG73W]
* "Ukraine Army Kills 14 DPR Militia Fighters, Wounds 86" (2015-06-03, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/MHc9n]
* "Basurin: Ukrainian shelling killed 21 person" (2015-06-04, novorossia.today) [archive.is/4W6BG]
* "Over the last day, 5 civilians were killed and 38 were wounded as a result of Ukrainian shellings; losses among DPR military are 16 killed and 86 wounded" (2015-06-04, Novorossia News) [archive.is/HLUkJ]
* "A Donetsk doctor confirms over 60 civilians wounded, 4 amputations as result of yesterday's shelling of Donetsk" [youtube.com/watch?v=JE1dbyGYx1M]
* photo (2015-06-04) [archive.is/bMXT4] showing bombing damage near Donetsk
* "All miners of the Skochinsky mine that had been trapped underground as a result of yesterday’s shelling are rescued" (2015-06-04, novorossia.today) [archive.is/j9OT6]
* "Another war crime of Kiev junta forces in occupied territories became known: Murder of husband in front of his wife" (2015-06-05, Truth about situation in Ukraine)
One of the war correspondent of NAF informs in Maryinka:
Ukrainian troopers carried out a clean-up operation in the part of the town under their control on June 4th and 5th. At the moment the Northern part of Maryinka, which the locals call "Novaya Maryinka" , is under control of the DPR Army; the rest of the town is under the Ukies. The front line runs right across the town.
In the morning of June 5th a 52-year-old man was at home in Artem Street in Maryinka, when a group of Ukrainian troopers entered the yard - about eight men. The man's wife went out to meet them. She had the passports of all the members of the family in her hands. The troopers started to inspect the documents, and then the master of the house emerged out of the cellar. The Ukies pointed at him their machine-guns at once and opened fire. The man fell down into the cellar. His wife nearly lost her mind: her husband was killed in her eyesight. He died from the injuries on the spot.
Also published as "Ukrainian troopers are killing civilians in Maryinka" (2015-06-07, novorossia.today) [archive.is/wW9SA]
* "Donetsk residents in tears after shelling attack" (2015-06-06) [youtube.com/watch?v=pWC_NNZvCsY]
* "Drone captures Donetsk market aflame after shelling attack" (2015-06-06) [youtube.com/watch?v=5ZuLDA1J7LI]
* (2015-06-07) BREAKING: Residential area of Kuybyshevsky, Donetsk, came under fire, the city hall reports. Direct hits on houses at Kolkhoznaya, Kremlyovskaya, Kurchatov streets. UPD Three civilians are wounded. One man has lost his leg. [youtube.com/watch?v=s1G6Mp-ddzU]
* "Burying a child, victim of Ukraine army shelling of Telmanovo" [youtube.com/watch?v=S4oRi0149Jk]
* "Donetsk. In the area of the circus that is burning" photo (2015-06-07) [archive.is/zMpQj]
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Novorossiya Armed Forces (NAF) Operations
* "Pro-Russian separatists vow to take three new Ukrainian towns" (2015-05-29, newsweek.com) [archive.is/kI7Os]
Many did not believe that the NAF successfully expelled the fascist UAF out of Marinka, as shown in this sccreenshot from SouthFront.org's page at facebook.com [archive.is/bGlQQ].
* "DNR Soldiers fighting in Marinka, near Donetsk / Novorossiya" (2015-06-04) [youtube.com/watch?v=mqvelWrx31I]
* "Novorossiya Armed Forces fighting for Marinka, near Donetsk, Novorossiya - June 3, 2015"
[youtube.com/watch?v=hwC_4wXGK44]
* "Tanks of DNR "Somali" battalion fighting in Marinka (near Donetsk) under enemy artillery fire"
[youtube.com/watch?v=Vp6GSNTMFMU]
* "Fight for Marinka (near Donetsk), Novorossiya Armed Forces fighting in the city - June 3, 2015"
[youtube.com/watch?v=DMpFb8wwwwE]
* "Clashes in Maryinka: DPR Battle Tanks Working" [southfront.org/clashes-in-maryinka-dpr-battle-tanks-working-video]
* "Commander "Motorola"!" photo (2015-05-26) [archive.is/XoPtM]
* "NAF / DNR unit from Abkhazia fighting for Marinka (near Donetsk), Novorossiya Freedom fighter from South-Caucasus fighting in the city" four photos (2015-06-03) [archive.is/fwQT1], video [youtube.com/watch?v=DMpFb8wwwwE].
* "Girls on the protection of the Donbass. Army Of Novorossiya" two photos (2015-05-30) [archive.is/gdDGn], "Girls in the armed forces of Novorossiya" video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ror5ot-CdRk]
Videos developed by the media department of the Republican Guard
* NAF patrol : "Walk to the sea. Shirokino" [youtu.be/2S33694HXTc]
* NAF: "Exploration of the buffer zone. Shirokino" video (2015-06-06) [vk.com/video-85052601_171191916]
More videos [vk.com/video?gid=85052601], and an individual's social media page [vk.com/gvardiyadnr].
* NAF volunteer from USA, named "Texas", with Tuv family, in Donetsk, DPR. [youtube.com/watch?v=aDmNMH3iKsE]
* photo (2015-06-04, by Zak Novak): To get from one City to another, or town, you need the best drivers !! HOLD ON TIGHT !!!! They know every crater, bombed out roads and Danger Zones ! High Speed,, Rally Style !! It's Awesome !! Welcome to Novorussia !!
* Comment from NAF Soldier Zak Novak of the USA, with two photos (2015-05-30) [archive.is/gACws]: Tactical training on the Front with the best Commanders !! I have to tell you all that Novorussia will always exist ! Not only on its present borders, but will also liberate other territories. The men and women, so brave, so courageous, having a strong belief in tradition, culture, Slavic Roots, it's this that drives them . And the bitterness and hatred they have of porochenko and Obama who is trying to take that away from them , but the Unity these young men and women have, discipline, focused , they will fight to the death !!! US troops, Gay Sektor , Azov scum, we have a big surprise for you !!
* "A knife-fight occurred near Donetsk last night" (2015-06-05, novorossia.today) [archive.is/Wphvo]: Ukrainian military and Novorossian troopers from a reconnaissance team clashed in a knife-fight last night nearby Donetsk. The DPR militiamen managed to exterminate four Ukrainian soldiers as a result of the clash, reports the DPR trooper with the call-sign Cheburashka.
Our sabotage and reconnaissance group liquidated four Ukies near Donetsk without a single shot — in a knife-fight – besides, the Ukies had at least four KIA in Maryinka in the course of the night. During the overnight artillery ping-pong we made two good hits over their positions. In Telmanovo a child was killed as a result of Ukrainian shelling and several people were wounded”, — the militiaman said.
He also said that the most serious fighting took place in localities Donetsk, Maryinka, Spartak, Shirokino, Luganskoye, Lozovoye, Rassadki and Opytnoye.
* "DPR troopers: we will not be as evil as they are" (2015-06-05, novorossia.today) [archive.is/VmCuH]: Independent journalists working in Donbass John Trust and Graham Phillips talked to Viktor Korobkov, who lost his index fingers in Ukrainian captivity. He was released two days ago. His physical condition is satisfactory and he is going to return to the Army ranks. He remarks that there were adequate people among the Ukrainian military, but most of them had been “typical Right Sector members” (they shot off his fingers and made footage of the act in order to intimidate militiamen – the translator’s note).His commander says that this accident will not have any impact upon the militiamen’s attitude to Ukrainian POW: “We will not stoop to their level; if we become worse than them, then what are we fighting for?” By the way, the DPR troopers claim that Dmitriy Kulesh, for whom Viktor was exchanged, was handed over in good health.
* "US State Department avoided to answer the question of where they get their information about violations in Donbass" (2015-06-04, dnr-news.com) machine tranlsated [archive.is/HJNjM]: Official spokesperson for US State Department Marie Harf could not name the sources from which American foreign affairs department gets information that in most cases peaceful agreements are breached by NAF.
During briefing the journalist named data from daily reports of OSCE for the last two months, confirming that forces from DPR and LPR were breaching Minsk agreements not more often than Ukrainian forces. In a third of cases it was impossible to establish who was the initiator. Also the journalist noted that in the matter of moving heavy weaponry from front line Ukrainian forces were breaching agreements more often than NAF.
To the question of where State Department gets information that NAF are responsible "for absolute majority of violations", Marie Harf told:"From majority of sources, including OSCE".
State Department spokesperson said that she is unfamiliar with information that the journalist was presenting and that she will study it separately. According to Harf the experts from State Department that are studying OSCE reports voice opinion that NAF are violating peace more often than Ukrainian forces.
"...All that we are getting from OSCE and other information sources points that absolute majority [of violations] comes from pro Russian rebels"- said State Department spokeswoman.
Memorial to Alexy Mozgovoy:
* (2015-04-25) [archive.is/nxy3c]: "The Prizrak brigade, and the communist detachment within it, will not stop their struggle against fascism. This is the will of our all-volunteer unit, and the will of the people that are helping us, believing in us, and counting on us to protect them. Yes, a soldier has been killed. The Commander. But his cause lives on with the rest of us. And we will continue what he started. I am sure that soon the banner of our brigade will stand over Lisichansk, and then Kharkov and Kiev. And let that be the best memorial for our Commander." - Prizrak (Ghost) brigade.
* "Mozgovoy’s manifesto: Self-defense commander in Luhansk argues for a social future for Ukraine" (2015-02-03) intro [archive.is/FauVX], video [youtube.com/watch?v=RTyLXc9llwI]
* "Alexey Mozgovoy: Why His Legacy Will Unify Novorossia" (2015-05-25, by George Eliason, washingtonsblog.com) [archive.is/srcbw]
* "Memorial Service in Saint Petersburg for Alexey MOZGOVOY, HERO of NOVOROSSIYA" flier (2015-05-30) [archive.is/lNVzV]
* "Strelkov's comments on the murder of Alexei "Brain" of Ghost battalion" (2015-05-31) [archive.is/vssZK]
* Speculation about his assassination includes that it was done by his allies, as shown in the following example, the source material for those who believe this. " 'Stalinists' vs. 'Trotskyists', or a Mozgovoy Post-Scriptum" (2015-05-26) [archive.is/DrQCB]
* "Residents of Italy come to Novorossya fight Nazi Kiev regime. Money transfers and other aid arrive to Donbass from people of Italy" five photos (2015-05-30) [archive.is/Tg7aW]: Today, May 30, 2015 - Rome, San Lorenzo: The march in honor of the commander Alexey Mozgovoi. A portrait of the great commander was lifted up on the black Roman vexillum, along with the portraits of other heroes who lost their lives fighting fascist army of Ukraine in Donbass. Italians marched through the city carrying the portraits of the heroes of Novorossiya.
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Federation of Russia
* "Russia has “hardened” her southern border, politically and militarily" (2015-05-19, thesaker.is) [archive.is/aaqVo]
* "The Russian response to a double declaration of war" (2014-09-27, thesaker.is) [archive.is/MtWJN]
* "A new Cold War has begun – let us embrace it with relief!" (2014-04-02, thesaker.is) [archive.is/IrMuE]
* "The power struggle inside the Kremlin is gradually emerging into the open" (2013-04-17, thesaker.is) [archive.is/Jurvl]
* "The real meaning of the South Ossetian war: Russia strikes back" (2008-05-12, thesaker.is) [archive.is/Kw6v2]
* "Russian leftists promise intl action over fresh anti-communist laws in Ukraine" (2015-05-22, rt.com) [archive.is/lgzPQ]
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Russian Repression Report: Actual incidents and false stories explained
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Republic of Turkey (NATO member state)
* "Construction Workers Union demo in solidarity with Kobane" (2015-05-25):
Four comrades including two anarchists from Revolutionary Anarchist Action/DAF were arrested and one was injured during an attack by police yesterday at the protest organised by the Construction Workers Union calling for a safe passage to Kobane in Kadıköy İstanbul.
Last night People were waiting outside Kadıköy Rıhtım Police Station, they had been informed that those arrested will be kept in the station tonight and will be transferred to the Public Prosecutor following their refusal to give statements to police.
DAF say "We will keep on fighting against state's repression against Kobane.
Long live to revolutionary anarchism
Long live to Rojava Revolution"
[https://www.facebook.com/WorkersSolidarityMovement/photos/a.247235278635626.82828.132000150159140/1137310699628075/?type=1]
* "Demand freedom for jailed Turkish Communists!" (2015-05-27, liberationnews.org) [archive.is/0pgXO], sign the petition here [hukumsuzdur.net/index-en.php].
* "Release Ali, Deniz & Bahtiyar!" (hukumsuzdur.net) [archive.is/DASH9]
* "The struggle in Turkey – Interview with the Communist Party, Turkey" (2015-05-29, liberationradio.org) [archive.is/ufCRX]: Ali Somel of the Communist Party, Turkey (KP) reviews the current political and economic situation in Turkey, including the brutal suppression of the recent May Day events and arrest of 240 people – a number of them members of the KP. The KP is also running candidates in the bourgeois elections in Turkey, and Ali speaks on that intervention and other struggles to provide a glimpse into the history of the KP and movement for socialism in Turkey. Listen now [web.archive.org/web/20150531190402/http://pslweb.us/pod/LibRadio-2015-05-29.mp3].
Also, a separate Communist Party (Maoist) is being repressed, and this repression is being used to target popular democracy campaigns!
* "Police terror and arrests against revolutionaries of DHF in Istanbul and Kocaeli!" five photos (2015-05-27, signalfire.org) [archive.is/cGr76]: Today, 27.05.2015, 18 activists of DHF (Federation of democratic rights) get arrested by an police and anti-terror raid in Istanbul and Kocaeli. The arrested people are accused to be member of the Maoist Communist Party (MKP) and to participate on 1. May and Berkin Elvan demonstrations. 800 Police and Anti-Terror members take part during this raid against revolutionaries. There were at least 18 arests in 10 districts of Istanbul and Kocaeli. These are: Çağlar Fakir, Sinan Candan, Erdem Taş, Erdal Sönmez,Özge Tanır, Cihan Soyaktaş, Veysel Yıldız, Çağla Göçebe, Halil İbrahim Şeker, Kadir Çelik, Sinem Yaşar, Özgür Han Memiş, İsa Yalçın, Fırat Önal, Eren Sayilgan, Akın Odabaş and Taylan Erdogan (Kocaeli). Except the arests of the DHF, DGH and DKH activists the police also confiscate the laptop of the DHF – HDP candidate for the elections Erdal Atas. According to information of the police there could more raids against the DHF especially against Senol Akdag, Helin Felekoglu and Soner Gündüz. The Police investigates also against Ali Yildiz and Ceylan Cagir. But the two of them could not be found by the police. Barricades were build during the raids against the activists to stop the police. After short clashes the police managed to destroy the barricades. Today there will be demonstrations in Istanbul and other cities against this police terror.
* "Repression will never stop the rebellion!" (2015-05-29, Maoist Road) [archive.is/xf3h9]:
The DHF comrades arrested are not alone!
Let us join and intensify the international solidarity!
The Turkish police, with huge forces (it is reported that around 800 took part in the operation) raided the houses of dozens of revolutionary activists members of DHF (Federation of democratic rights) in Istanbul and Kocaeli, in the early morning of May 27. According to the first information, 22 activists have been arrested, accused to be members of the Maoist Communist Party (MKP) and to have participated on May Day and Berkin Elvan demonstrations.
The police said they are still seeking a number of activists and other raids are expected. The number of police involved and the charges on the activists filed show clearly the terrorist and vengeful purpose of these arrests. The Turkish regime is trying to intimidate the revolutionaries and, especially, the growing people’s movement which took the streets again in the recent weeks. This is the reprisal of the Turkish State. But, as the DHF comrades wrote in their communiqué: “Detentions will not intimidate us”.
The many protests in solidarity with the arrested activists organized in Istanbul, Dersim, Ankara, Izmir, Antalya, Erzincan, Mersin, Adana and many other cities throughout Turkey show that this simply the truth. In London also and in different countries in Europe, even in the far Norway, protests in solidarity with DHF took place. The repressions will never stop the rebellion! DHF is not alone! maoistroad joins the international solidarity and call or the revolutionary anti-imperialist and democratic forces and individuals to extend the solidarity internationally, with protests at the Turkish embassies and consulates and other actions wherever is possible.
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Pan-Arabia
[levantreport.com] [middleeasteye.net]
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Republic of Iraq
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Arab Republic of Syria
[joshualandis.com/blog] [syriasolidaritymovement.org] [syrianfreepress.wordpress.com]
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Global Islamic Caliphate / Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL ; ISIS)
* "Islamic State: The Rise of a Fascist Movement" (2015-06-03, oaklandsocialist.com) [archive.is/lgOjJ]
* "Pentagon report predicted West’s support for Islamist rebels would create ISIS; Anti-ISIS coalition knowingly sponsored violent extremists to ‘isolate’ Assad, rollback ‘Shia expansion’ " (2015-05-24, medium.com) [archive.is/HX0z9]
* "How the west created the Islamic State … with a little help from our friends" (2014-09-11, medium.com) [archive.is/rwuBO]
* "Terror Trial Collapses: Suspect Fighting For MI6 SUPPORTED Fighting Group" (2015-06-04. by Stuart J. Hooper, 21stcenturywire.com) [archive.is/LYJfX]
* "A new cooperation on Syria" (2015-05-12, washingtonpost.com) [archive.is/207Cr] [begin excerpt]: On the eve of a meeting between Arab leaders and President Obama to discuss Middle East security, developments in Syria could bolster the opposition’s campaign to topple the regime there.
Driving the opposition push in Syria is a new working relationship between Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey, the key backers of the rebels in northern Syria. Those countries had been at loggerheads since the Syrian revolution began in 2011, and their internecine quarrels and proxy wars were debilitating for the opposition. Conversely, their new alliance has bolstered the opposition’s chances — and led to major gains on the battlefield. The partnership on Syria appears to have been brokered in part by Sheik Tamim Bin Hamad al-Thani, the emir of Qatar, the Persian Gulf leader who has the closest relations with Turkey. The rapprochement also seems to reflect a change in policy by King Salman, the new Saudi monarch who has moved his country toward closer cooperation with Qatar and Turkey after years of enmity during the reign of his predecessor, King Abdullah.
By pumping weapons to Syrian rebels across the Turkish border, the three countries have forged a new opposition coalition known as the Army of Conquest, which has made significant gains over the past two months in Idlib province and other areas in the northwest. [end excerpt]
* "Why is the media ignoring Israel's alliance with al-Qaeda?" (2015-05-26, middleeastmonitor.com) [archive.is/52ojZ]
* "Saudi Arabia is helping al-Qaeda invade Syria" (2015-04-30, middleeastmonitor.com) [archive.is/DhOOM]
* "Israel moves to cover-up its alliance with al-Qaeda in Syria" (2015-04-11, middleeastmonitor.com) [archive.is/WZHKk]
* "Israeli army admits aiding al-Qaeda in Syria" (2015-03-18, middleeastmonitor.com) [archive.is/ZI4oD]
* "Israel may be arming Al-Qaeda in Syria" (2015-01-30, middleeastmonitor.com) [archive.is/br4JU]
* "Will Israel enter the Syrian civil war?" (2015-01-29, middleeastmonitor.com) [archive.is/Dd0V2]
* "The US, UK and Saudi Arabia are to blame for al-Qaeda's resurgence" (2014-04-28, middleeastmonitor.com) [archive.is/cQo2u]
* "The US and UK are still to blame in Iraq" (2014-01-31, middleeastmonitor.com) [archive.is/lA8wV]
* "Turkish Intelligence Smuggled ISIS Gunmen to Fight in Syria, Delivered Weapons to Terrorists" (2015-06-06, almanar.com) [archive.is/VAiv2]
* "Iraq lost 2,300 Humvee armoured vehicles in Mosul" (2015-05-31, AFP Newswire) [archive.is/92D6N]
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Kurdistan in Turkey
* "Interview with armed wing of MKP" video (2015-06-03) [youtube.com/watch?v=KjTYRxGpogE]
* "Reactionary officer Fehmi Altınbilek wounded in MKP-PHG operation" (2015-06-08) [archive.is/TzCBT]
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Kurdistan in Iraq
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Rojava (Western Kurdistan)
[rojavareport.wordpress.com]
* "We should not let Kobane and the rest of Rojava to be defeated by the big corporations and the international financial institutions!" (2015-06-03, by Zaher Baher from Haringey Solidarity Group and Kurdistan Anarchists Forum) [archive.is/IyTJ0]
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State of Israel and international operations
[dukium.org] [icahd.org]
* "Israel’s clandestine alliance with gulf arab states is going public" (2015-06-05, firstlook.org) [archive.is/ZrRWB]. Whowhatwhy.org writes: It began with a diplomatic cable released by Wikileaks that said members of the Gulf Cooperation Council believed Israel could “work magic” on the United States [archive.is/djb9Y]. That perception—that Israel holds sway over the US—is a major clue as to why the Gulf Arab states have quietly and often secretly aligned themselves with Israel over the last six years. And now, they are ready to go public with this heretofore unthinkable alliance.
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World Jewish Diaspora and history
a section dedicated to the culture and stories of a global nation
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State of Palestine, and occupied territories
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Kingdom of Saudi Arabia & GCC Council member states
* "Saudis Believe They Are Winning The Oil Price War" (2015-06-04, zerohedge.com) [archive.is/e6OYR]. whowhatwhy.org writes: The Saudis are playing a long game on oil, leveraging their $750 billion in foreign currency reserves against a long-term drop in oil revenues as they force the price of oil down and many of their competitors out. Their key objective is to stoke demand by creating a lower price point that can compete with growth in natural gas and alternative energy sources. And it is working… OPEC is recapturing lost market share.
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* "Al Qaeda Tries a New Tactic to Keep Power: Sharing It" (2015-06-09, nytimes.com) [archive.is/p8PaB] [begin excerpt]: After they routed the army in southern Yemen, fighters from Al Qaeda stormed into the city of Al Mukalla, seizing government buildings, releasing jihadists from prison and stealing millions of dollars from the central bank. Then they surprised everyone. Instead of raising their flags and imposing Islamic law, they passed control to a civilian council and gave it a budget to pay salaries, import fuel and hire teams to clean up garbage. The fighters receded into the background, maintaining only a single police station to arbitrate disputes. Al Qaeda’s takeover of Yemen’s fifth-largest city in April was the most direct indication yet that the group’s most potent regional affiliates are evolving after years of American drone strikes killing their leaders and changing to meet the challenge posed by the Islamic State’s competing and land-grabbing model of jihad. In recent weeks, the Qaeda affiliate in Yemen has allied with armed tribes to fight Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, putting that alliance on the same side of the country’s civil war as the United States and Saudi Arabia. In Syria, Qaeda-allied fighters are important members of a rebel coalition against President Bashar al-Assad that includes groups supported by the West. Al Qaeda’s branches in Syria and Yemen have taken a different route, building ties with local groups and refraining from the strict application of Shariah, the legal code of Islam, when faced with local resistance, according to residents of areas where Al Qaeda holds sway. When Al Qaeda took over Al Mukalla in April, it seized government buildings and used trucks to cart off more than $120 million from the central bank, according to the bank’s director, Abdul-Qader Foulihan. That sum could not be independently verified. But it soon passed control to a civilian council, giving it a budget of more than $4 million to provide services, an arrangement that made sense to local officials seeking to serve their people during wartime. [end excerpt]
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Ansar Allah Revolutionary Government of Yemen ("Houthis")===*===*===
Republic of Sudan
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Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
Learn more about the Sahrawi People [SahrawiSolidarity.blogspot.com]===*===*===
Islamic Republic of Iran, and international operations
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Republic of Afghanistan / Islamic Republic Of Pashtunistan / Waziristan
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Baluchistan
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Republic of India
* Strike declaration, 2015-06-01, by Kobad Ghandy at Tihar Jail 8/9 High Risk Ward (Ward 5) [archive.is/YlINn]:
‘I have 68 years and I spent five and a half years in Tihar Jail in Delhi with the case almost buckled. Although routine transfers (every three to five months) of prisoners to the high-risk area of the prison to take place for four years, I did about that since August 2014. This is the third in nine months. Previously, transfers were carried out in prison that as a punishment. I have a heart condition, blood pressure, a sliding vertebral disc, ankylosing spondylitis, a kidney problem and many other health problems – and specifically all worsened after August 2014.
During our transfers, we must carry our bags ourselves (10-15 kilos), undergo various excavations of all our items, we are made to wait outside the gates of the prison for 4-5 hours waiting for a vehicle, packed like sardines with our luggage in one van and taken to the new prison door. Then two more thorough searches, and again carry all our stuff to the neighborhood, etc. We must pass the medical examination for any newcomer. Then a rush to the cells, the latecomers getting worst. Then, roughly 2 or 3 days pass clean the disgusting cell and storage of our business, without any help. In the new jail, all medical treatments are interrupted, medical plans and other permissions must be requested again, as was the bed and western toilet. This may take a few days to a few months. Furthermore, Vodafone equipment must also be started from scratch. No sooner are we installed and adapted to the new batch of criminals (some of which can be very bad) that occurs the next transfer, and the whole process starts again.
My transfer was made on 30 May in the middle of an examination for a heart problem at the GB Pant Hospital. Since the order of the High Court in 2012 asking the Tihar Jail to take better care of its senior citizens (aged 65 to read), I asked to be transferred in the area reserved for senior citizens, or that the I am given similar equipment in the high-risk area, but in vain. On the contrary, whereas at the beginning he never transferred me he employ it since August 2014, this clearly being a method of harassment and destruction of my health. Since all calls, both on legal grounds humanitarians were ignored, I, ultimately, had to put in an unlimited hunger strike since my last transfer on 30 May. ‘
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Towards a People's Republic of India
[signalfire.org/category/maoists-india] [icspwindia.wordpress.com] [liberationbase.wordpress.com]
Maoist history in India:
* 72-Hour Strike in Singareni Coal Mines-1993 [archive.is/Xaerc]
People’s War in India News Clippings
* (2015-05-25) [archive.is/f7aex]
* (2015-05-26) [archive.is/lkth0]
* (2015-05-27) [archive.is/XMsT2]
* (2015-05-28) [archive.is/2ZLXv]
* (2015-05-29) [archive.is/445YT]
* (2015-05-30) [archive.is/9gP2c]
* (2015-05-31) [archive.is/0LiFV]
* (2015-06-01) [archive.is/hg9q3]
* (2015-06-02) [archive.is/Vo1FA]
* (2015-06-03) [archive.is/atBIe]
* (2015-06-07) [archive.is/EYmsb]
* (2015-06-08) [archive.is/W0kIk]
* (2015-06-09) [archive.is/y9Bf0]
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Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal
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Towards a People's Republic of Nepal
[redstarnepal.com] [thenextfront.com]
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People's Republic of China
History & the Current Context [historyandcurrentcontext.blogspot.com/1979/10/peoples-republic-of-china.html]
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Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), and Russia-China relations
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National Democratic Alliance of Kokang region
* "China to conduct live-fire drills near Myanmar border" (2015-06-01, AFP Newswire) [archive.is/ORgTk]
===*===*===Dai Nippon (Empire of Japan)
Republic of Korea (RoK) in southern Korea
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Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in northern Korea
Info collected by Juche-Buddhism Friendship Society, for Peace through Knowledge! [Juchebuddhism.blogspot.com]
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Socialist Republic of Vietnam
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Republic of the Philippines
[karapatan.org/news]The current regime is forcefully starving over 15 million children, and millions more adults, as it imposes an economic system that benefits only a few economic dictators. The regime also murders hundreds every year using death squads against so-called "leftists", union organizers, and indigenous rights advocates.
* "Philippine President Aquino compares China to Nazi Germany" (2015-06-04, wsws.org) [archive.is/BAvQk] [begin excerpt]: The Philippines, under the Aquino administration, has been particularly provocative. Last year, Manila filed a legal case before the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), which was drawn up by lawyers in Washington, disputing China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea. When Washington last month staged a fly-by of Chinese occupied territory using a P8 Poseidon surveillance jet with a CNN camera crew on board, an action denounced by Beijing, Aquino announced that Manila would also have flights transit the same region.
On June 1, speaking before a gathering of Japanese businessmen in Tokyo, Aquino compared Beijing’s actions to those of Nazi Germany, repeating almost verbatim the inflammatory rhetoric he previously used in February 2014 in an exclusive interview with the New York Times. He stated that, like Hitler, there was a need to stop China, but with Hitler, “unfortunately, up to the annexation of the Sudetenland, Czechoslovakia, the annexation of the entire country of Czechoslovakia, nobody said stop.”
China is not an imperialist power, nor is it threatening to invade anyone. The analogy to Nazi Germany in 1938 could be far more aptly made with regard to the United States. Under the Obama administration, it has deliberately pursued an aggressive policy toward China in the pursuit of its own geopolitical interests, threatening a catastrophic war.
One feels a genuine revulsion witnessing Aquino, the grandson of the leading Filipino collaborator during the brutal World War II Japanese occupation of the Philippines, standing alongside Shinzo Abe, the most right-wing prime minister Japan has seen since the war, and denouncing China, which was the victim of Japanese militarism, as Nazi Germany.
Aquino addressed Japan’s parliament and received a standing ovation. He then went to the Imperial Palace and bowed to Emperor Akihito. Aquino will hold talks with Abe, expected to focus on defense and security ties.
Tokyo and Manila recently staged joint military exercises in the South China Sea, as part of Washington’s region-wide tightening of the noose around Beijing. [end excerpt]
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Towards a People's Republic of the Philippines
[ndfp.net] [philippinerevolution.net]
* "Trumped-up criminal charge lodged vs another NDFP consultant" (2015-06-03, karapatan.org) [archive.is/qYa9v]: Karapatan scored the BS Aquino government for the recent arrest of Adelberto Silva, a peace consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines in the negotiation with the Philippine government, as “another serious violation of the signed agreements between the two parties.”
Silva, 67, is a holder of JASIG documentation of identification with the assumed named “Percival Rojo” was arrested on June 1, 2015 in Molino, Bacoor, Cavite. A long-time trade union organizer, Silva currently serves as a consultant of the Kilusang Mayo Uno. His wife, Rosanna Cabusao, and another companion, Isidro De Lima, were also arrested by some 30 members of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group of the Philippine National Police (CIDG-PNP). Cabusao is a researcher/consultant of the Crispin B. Beltran Resource Center and a founding member of Gabriela.
Cristina Palabay, Karapatan Secretary General, said the arrest of Silva shows “how the GPH continues to undermine the peace process by disregarding the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) and the Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) because of the trumped up charges filed against peace consultants.”
Silva reportedly was charged with numerous fabricated criminal cases of murder and frustrated/attempted murder in the courts in Aparri, Cagayan and Laoang, Northern Samar, where NDFP consultants Benito Tiamzon, Wilma Austria Tiamzon and Elizabeth Principe were also charged with the same trumped up cases. Prior to Silva’s arrest, Karapatan has documented 16 NDFP consultants arrested and are still detained, among the 527 political prisoners in the country.
To justify the arrest of Silva and his companions, Karapatan said fabricated charges of illegal possession of firearm and explosives were also filed against them in the inquest proceedings yesterday in Bacoor, Cavite.
“The evidences against them were planted during the raid by the CIDG. This practice of arresting individuals based on planted evidence should stop,” Palabay said.
Karapatan recalled a similar pattern in the illegal arrest and detention this March of another NDFP consultant and 12 other individuals in the raid by the CIDG-PNP and Armed Forces of the Philippines in Caloocan and Quezon City.
“Karapatan reiterates our call to the GPH to respect the JASIG, CARHRIHL and all agreements with the NDFP and for the release of all political prisoners,” Palabay stated.
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Republic of China (RoC) aka Taiwan
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Commonwealth of Australia
* "A Bad Day for the Master Race" (2015-06-02, melbacg.wordpress.com) [archive.is/BshoY]:
The United Patriots Front, which is a Fascist split-off from the far Right Reclaim Australia, held a rally in Richmond on Sunday 31 May. They wanted to rally in front of the Richmond Town Hall, but were opposed by the Campaign Against Racism & Fascism*. The Fascists came off second best.
The UPF seems to have split off from Reclaim Australia in order to put harder, outright Fascist politics upfront, although they’re still apparently embarrassed by the appearance of swastikas at their rallies (it’s a pity some of them have their swastikas tattooed on, since it makes it a bit hard to leave them at home). The Richmond rally was apparently an attempt to launch their group and give them a public face before the nation-wide Reclaim Australia rallies on 18 & 19 July.
Why Richmond Town Hall? That’s an interesting question. Their advertising blamed “the Left” for the failure of their 4 April Reclaim Australia rally and they thought they knew who “the Left” is – the Socialist Party. They had been prominent in the organising for the counter-mobilisation, but they didn’t seem to know who to blame except the Socialist Party and the esteemed Anarchist blogger Slackbastard**. So they plastered the names and pictures of SP leaders over their Facebook site and promised vengeance against them. Since Richmond is known as the base of SP support, the UPF wanted to demonstrate against them. They also objected to the Aboriginal flag flying on the building and, apparently, the rainbow flag (though it doesn’t fly there and they may have confused it with the Torres Strait Islander flag).
The funny thing is, though, that the Socialist Party weren’t going to be there and the Fascists knew it. The SP had advertised that they were holding a public meeting on the same day at the Multicultural Hub, opposite Queen Victoria Market – a couple of kilometres away. The Campaign Against Racism and Fascism, from which the SP had withdrawn since after the Reclaim Australia rally on 4 April, therefore had to plan for two contingencies. One was that the Fascists were attempting to rally at a time and place where they thought their enemies couldn’t turn up. The other was that the Richmond rally was a decoy and that the real target was the Multicultural Hub.
Our crew started arriving around 11, although we’d advertised for it to start at 12. We set up at the western end of the Town Hall, knowing that the Fascists were going to be assembling in the park behind it. It wasn’t too long before the coppers arrived, about 100 or so of them. They set up at the middle and the east of the Town Hall and down to Gleadell St at the next corner. It appeared that they were going to provide a cordon to protect the Fascists so they could get to the Town Hall, spew their bile for a few minutes and head off. We had other plans.
The Fascists had advertised their rally for 1 p.m. At about ten past, they started coming down Gleadell St to the east of the Town Hall. There were about 60 or so, though we were later informed that there were also some who didn’t leave the park. The anti-Fascists, who numbered 150-200, had earlier chased a small handful round to the park, then came back and moved down to the intersection. By the time the Fascists marched down Gleadell St, though, most of our forces were near the Town Hall.
The crucial moment came when the Fascists were marching along Bridge Rd under police protection and got to the edge of the Town Hall. At that point, the anti-Fascists surged and broke through parts of the police line. About 8 or 10 Fascists managed to get onto the steps of the east doors of the Town Hall (there are secondary doors both to the east and west of the main ones), with about a dozen coppers stretched in a thin line separating our side from theirs. After about five minutes of pushing and shoving, the Fascists were expelled from the steps. It was particularly pleasing to see Shermon Burgess, the self-described “Great Aussie Patriot”, being forced to retreat with a look of consternation on his face. The coppers withdrew to set up a solid barrier at the edge of the Town Hall. We had prevented the Fascists from reaching their goal.
At this point, a number of Fascists decided that discretion was the better part of valour and left. The rest hung around for a half hour or so, hemmed in on three sides by coppers and the fourth by a Post Office. There were a couple of desultory attempts at making speeches, but they weren’t very audible because we were telling them what we thought of them. Eventually, the coppers opened a gate on a narrow lane between the Town Hall and the Post Office and whisked the Fascists away. There were some very dejected looks on their faces as they departed, not having smashed the Left like they had boasted they would. Once the Fascists were gone, we did a bit of celebratory chanting, listened to a brief speech and then left in groups.
Although the MACG hasn’t yet had a report from the medics, it appears that casualties were few and not severe.
Meanwhile, the SP’s meeting went ahead without trouble. About 150-200 people attended, including a contingent we had despatched to assist in case of need. A couple of eggs were thrown from passing cars at people standing outside – by the timing of the incident, it could have been the work of Fascists who had been escorted away from Richmond.
All up, not a good day for the Master Race.
* The Campaign Against Racism and Fascism is a (so far) informal grouping comprising four different Anarchist groups (including the MACG), the Freedom Socialist Party, Australia Asia Worker Links, the Socialist Alliance, Socialist Alternative and some unaffiliated radicals. SAlt came late to the party, having greatly underestimated the threat posed by Reclaim Australia and being surprised by the size of their mobilisation on 4 April. Since then, however, they have thrown themselves in wholeheartedly. SAlt supplied a majority of the activists on 31 May, though the combined Anarchists were probably not a great deal fewer.
** Check him out at: http://slackbastard.anarchobase.com . His Antifa Notes make entertaining reading, as well as serving a serious political purpose.
Addendum: We’ve been requested to mention that Radical Women and the Indigenous Social Justice Association – Melbourne are also part of CARF. For the record, the Anarchist groups participating are Anarchist Affinity, the Melbourne Anarchist Club, the Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group and Melbourne Anti-Fascist Initiative.
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Sovereign Union of First Nations Peoples[nationalunitygovernment.org]
* "In Support of the Australian Indigenous Peoples’ Struggle against Adani" (2015-06-01, Communist Party of India -Maoist, Dandakaranya special zonal committee) [archive.is/eTPaQ]: The indigenous people of Australia have been waging struggle against Adani group, one of the big industrial houses of India and the nearest and dearest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi which is looting their jal, jungle, jameen (water, forest and land) and resources. This is inseparable part of the worldwide struggle being fought for the right of the people over jal, jungle, jameen and resources. Adani group has signed a deal with Australian government to develop a coal mine in Queens Land with an investment of 19 thousand and 500 crores. People have already knocked the doors of the court in this regard. Our party is very much enthusiastic and inspired with the Australian indigenous peoples’ struggle and heartily supports it.
We call upon them to continue and intensify the struggle to stop Adani’s coal mine project. The international finance capital is trying to put the burden of it’s crisis on the shoulders of the people of the oppressed countries. Under this conspiracy, MoUs relating to big dams, big mining projects, big industries and special economic zones (SEZs) are signed at a large scale. In India to speed up the implementation of these projects the war on people under the name of Operation Green Hunt (OGH) is being intensified. In the forest areas of India where the tribal population comprises vast majority, the indigenous people are fighting militantly and in an organized way against domestic and foreign big corporate houses like Tata, Essar, Jindal, Mittal, Neco, Vedanta, Posco, Salem, TPG etc., to establish their right over jal, jungle, jameen and resources. In the majority of such areas people are fighting under the leadership our party with better coordination between peoples’ movements and people’s war. In Dandakaranya and Bihar – Jharkhand to establish self rule and for genuine development people are trying to establish and expand the organs of the people’s democratic state power-Janatana sarkars in their embryonic form by throwing out the exploitative state power.
The Indian comprador capitalist class is investing it’s capital in backward and other countries of the world to serve the interests of the international finance capital and as well as to get commission and share from it’s loot. Since Modi took oath as prime minister, trying hard to tooth and nail to make his nearest and dearest capitalist friends get lands, mines, contracts, leases and opportunities to invest in India and abroad. Coal mine project of Adani in Queens Land of Australia should be seen in this context only. The social life of the indigenous people will be badly affected by such projects. Not only this, the displacement problem will also arise. The environmental balance will also be affected so badly.
The economic life, life style, cultural life and social composition everything will be destroyed. Exploitative ruling classes have nothing to do with the life and miseries of the people. They are only meant for profits, and just for super profits. Our party once again appeals to the indigenous people of Australia who are fighting against Adani to stand firm in their struggle. Our party declares that it always stand firm by the oppressed people of the world in the struggle against the exploitation and suppression of the international finance capital. We call upon to widely use all kinds of struggle forms viz, mass movements, legal forms and armed resistance. Our party calls upon the workers, peasants, indigenous people, tribal social organizations and human rights organizations of India and the world to provide every possible support to the Indigenous people of Australia in their struggle against Adani.
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Realm of New Zealand / Aotearoa
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Occupied State of West Papua ===*===*===
Kingdom of Hawai‘i / Occupied State of the Hawaiian Islands
[hawaiiankingdom.org/blog] [facebook.com/KamehamehaVIII]
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research from the Committee for the Study of
HISTORY AND THE CURRENT CONTEXT
* "James Guillaume (1844-1916) & the birth of syndicalism, anarchist communism" (2015-05-29, by Lucien van der Walt) [archive.is/escdw]
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* "Miner's Insurrections / Convict Labor" [historyandcurrentcontext.blogspot.com/2015/06/miners-insurrections-convict-labor.html], a history of post-Juneteenth slave labor, and the insurrections by workers against slavery in Tenessee during the 1890s. From the article:
Among the most dramatic events in the history of the Southern Appalachian coal fields were the East Tennessee miners' insurrections of the 1890's, still known as "the wars" by many people around the coal camps of the area. In a series of massive armed confrontations, the coal miners of Tennessee rose up against the state convict leasing system to defend their jobs which the coal companies were trying to fill with convict laborers.
The convict lease system first began in Tennessee in 1866, as part of a wave of such legislation which swept through the South and Midwest after the Civil War.1 A Nashville furniture company built workshops on the grounds of the penitentiary, fed and clothed the men, and paid 43 cents a head per day to the state. One year later, the prisoners burned the workshops to the ground in protest over the treatment they were receiving. From that time to this, prisoners have waged battles to win decent working conditions and fairer wages. Meanwhile the labor movement has often agitated for an end to convict labor, but usually on the grounds of unfair competition rather than of justice for convicts. For example, the Mechanics and Manufacturers Association of Tennessee began agitating against convict leasing very early, saying it was unfair to labor. And in fact, the bulk of convicts were shortly switched to the coal and iron mines and to farms in order to avoid competition with the mechanical trades. When the Tennessee legislature abolished the convict lease system in 1896, they didn't stop working the prisoners, they simply bought a piece of land and set up a state-owned coal mine at Brushy Mountain where convicts continued to mine coal until the mid-1950's.
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The Sprately Islands -
On October 11, 1940, the U.S. consul in Hanoi reported that the Japanese troops were preparing to seize Camranh Bay and strategic airports in the south Indochina for later use “against Manila and Singapore.” He also confirmed reports that the Japanese were constructing a military base in the Sprately Islands in the center of the South China Sea.
Reference: "To Have and Have Not: Southeast Asian Raw Materials and the Origins of World War II" book pg.89 (1995, by Jonathan Marshall; University California Press, Berkeley)
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* Zinn Education Project [www.facebook.com/ZinnEducationProject]:
On June 9, 1952, Fred Ross Sr. knocked on the door of Cesar Chavez and convinced him to become an organizer. Although Ross was one of the most influential grassroots organizers of the twentieth century—mentoring individuals like Chavez and Dolores Huerta, running the Dustbowl migrant camp fictionalized by John Steinbeck in The Grapes of Wrath, securing the release of Japanese-American internees during World War II, and much more—he remained largely in the background, unknown to the general public. As Ross was fond of stating, “An organizer is a leader who does not lead but gets behind the people and pushes.” He spent his life pushing people to lead—in migrant camps, in living rooms, on picket lines—and was so effective that he pushed himself right out of most history books. Continue read this profile of Ross here: [zinnedproject.org/materials/ross-fred]Photo: Ross Sr. marches with Chavez during the Renewed Boycott Campaign of 1988. Reuther Library.
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* Brazil: "WIN POLITICAL FREEDOM, ACHIEVE POPULAR DEMOCRACY" (1976-05-01) [archive.is/dx1SQ] [begin excerpt]: As in Brazil, largest pool of labor is subject to the wage squeeze, millions of peasants are deprived of the use of land, many Brazilians have no job and like misery, while the big capitalists, particularly foreigners, and the owners of large estates get fabulous profits. This order, unjust in itself, is a form of violence that condemns the working classes to a life of outcasts of society. However, it is not the only way. Because of the exploited and people without resources tend to stand up and fight for their vital interests, explorers employ violence organized through the State as thoroughly demonstrated Engels, "it is an instrument of exploitation of wage labor by capital ". In the hands of the exploiters, the state apparatus systematically represses, and in different ways, the popular aspiraões, does not allow the enslaved workers do something other than himself that his condition. In Brazil, one reaches the point of submitting trade union organization the strict control of the police, prohibit assemblies and reivindicaões debates and even the simple right to complain. Workers and peasants find themselves unable to claim what they are entitled. So besides the exploitation, oppression. In such an environment, social agitaões and reivindicatórias struggles are inevitable. And more: they are a necessity. If the workers and the people not to resort to mass AoEs - strikes, street manifestations, resistance to land grabbing and excesses in the field, etc. - To oppose the organized violence of the powerful, they will eventually degrade and accepting slavery.
In Brazil, we experienced a decline stage of the system fundamentally based on land monopoly and foreign capital. More recently, also in monopolistic groups in major Brazilian bourgeoisie. This regime has become a hindrance to the independent development of the country and social progress. The landowners of the domain and the imperialist trusts, which comes by far, was accentuated in recent decades, greatly aggravating the evils of Brazilian society. While there has been some growth of capitalism, particularly with the expansion of alien companies, this deformed growth increased dependence on international financial oligarchies and kept the situation of backwardness and poverty of the masses, especially the field. The prevailing relations of production act as brake on the development of the productive forces effectively national, prevent enlargement of the internal market, keep the country on the list of underdeveloped. They became thus the deeper contradictions between the despoiled Naham and imperialism and its internal supporters; between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie; and among the masses, the millions of landless peasants on the one hand, and the owners of large landed property of another. The aggravation of these contradictions is that spring the national and democratic movement and the combative impulse of the people complaining about a popular government, the demand for settlement of foreign espoliaão, the monopoly groups linked to this espoliaão and land reform radical. There are artificial criaões result from objective process that has been going on since long. Continue steeling up, with ups and downs until the consecuão of its purposes, to remoão the archaic and doomed regime.
Who starts, however, violence is the retrograde sectors. Opposing by all means to the advancement of society, lay hold of brutal methods to contain it. It is what happens in our country, particularly in these last twelve years. In the period before the coup of April 1964, the internal reaão and Yankee imperialism saw, concerned about the awakening of the masses and the vigorous impetus that took their fights. Urdiram and triggered the military intervention. The people stood disarmed politically and materially to face the brutality of the armed forces, was hit without sketch, immediately added strength. Nevertheless, the generals unleashed the most unusual ever assisted violence in our country. They trampled the most fundamental rights of the people, arrested and tortured thousands of people, cassaram political rights ad perpetuate. From the end of 1968, with increasing opposition, they multiplied the arrests and widespread torture methods the wild, began the selective killing of patriots and revolutionaries. In April 1972, they invested cowardly against the inhabitants of southern Pará, committing all sorts of outrages. The fascist banditry spread and the generals continue to aprestando-to stifle the legitimate demands of the masses. They say openly that apply to counter-revolutionary violence to prevent the revolutionary violence. They were, therefore, that put the order of the day.
The Brazilian people have no other recourse is not to resort to revolutionary violence, doubly justified: the barbarism of dictatorship that denies sacred rights to citizens and uses fierce processes of repression and the historical necessity of replacing the obsolete system that causes so great evils to the country. As Marx pointed out, violence plays the midwife of every old society paper that takes into his bowels another new, serves as an instrument through which the social movement to victory and make jump in pieces the dead and fossilized political forms.
The truth is that in April 1964 there were changes in the political and social structure of the Brazilian State. With US support, the generals ousted the national bourgeoisie and patriotic sectors of the positions that it occupied. Adulterated the Constitution, liquidated the representative system and the political parties in legal activity, transformed the Congress into a front body, they suppressed the autonomy of numerous municipalities, abolished federal principles, changed the functions of the judiciary and expanded including ball -acting of Military Justice, changed the structure of universities. The current state became essentially an organ the small service group monopoly of the big bourgeoisie associated to the foreign capital, bourgeoisified landowners, especially those related to export, and the imperialist monopolies, notably the US. The top ranks of the military, particularly the Army, form its dome. While presenting themselves as originating from the middle class, the military is an integral part of people's oppression machine, their conceptions correspond to the reactionary and anti-national chains. As for how the state has evolved into fascism, which coincides with the dictatorship of the military. It was established heavy and expensive bureaucratic apparatus and refined mechanism of repression to the people. Every day brings new barracks and grow the military and police officers, is the extensive spy network, security seões calls, running everywhere in order to control and monitor the activity of citizens.
There are different forms of state organization of the ruling classes. There are those who fall into certain norms of bourgeois democracy and those who are governed by authoritarian and fascist models. Since April 1964, the latter shall prevail way, a de facto state which replaced the rule of then existing law, despite its shortcomings. Purposely, the generals have the current form of state organization as if it were unique. Any criticism of the military government and pro-democracy manifestations are seen as contestaão and attacks the State, subject to puniões founded in exceão measures. "The state - say - have to fend off assaults of his enemies, being all protect her safety." Or: "The institution is sacred, can not be the target of aggression." After that state speak the generals? Do governed by certain democratic standards or fascist?
===*===*===There are different forms of state organization of the ruling classes. There are those who fall into certain norms of bourgeois democracy and those who are governed by authoritarian and fascist models. Since April 1964, the latter shall prevail way, a de facto state which replaced the rule of then existing law, despite its shortcomings. Purposely, the generals have the current form of state organization as if it were unique. Any criticism of the military government and pro-democracy manifestations are seen as contestaão and attacks the State, subject to puniões founded in exceão measures. "The state - say - have to fend off assaults of his enemies, being all protect her safety." Or: "The institution is sacred, can not be the target of aggression." After that state speak the generals? Do governed by certain democratic standards or fascist?
The twelve years of liberticidal regime of "strong executive", supposedly in accordance with the situation of Brazil and the world, have led to serious problems. The country is struggling with serious difficulties and are more dependent than ever on foreign capital. The foreign debt is seven times higher than the period before the coup. National wealth passed into the hands of the imperialist trusts, including those that were already safeguarded by the state monopoly. He emphasized to desnacionalizaão the economy. According to a minister of the Geisel government, between 1966/70, "52% of new establishments registered in Brazil under the control of American companies, originated from the acquisition of domestic enterprises" and the three years 1971/73, "61% of the total the 'new' American companies represented nothing more than simple transfer of control. " The landowners reached absurd dimensions. There are properties that are similar to land grants from the colonial era, while millions of peasants lack of land to till. The conditions of life of the vast majority of the population have worsened considerably. Only small portion in large urban centers takes a reasonable existence. Social problems have become even more acute.
All this happened with the people shackled, deprived of their sacred rights, forbidden to fight for national interests. The regime of the generals proved in practice to be a system in flagrant contradiction with the needs of social development. This regime, the worst the country has ever had, must be swept to achieve progress and true independence. [end excerpt]
---
* "The 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre Is a Myth: British 'Black Information Operation' " (2015-06-04, by Gregory Clark, published as an opinion piece in the ibtimes.co.uk) [archive.is/woaYF]:
June 4, 2015 will for many mark the 26th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.
What it should actually mark is the anniversary of one of the more spectacular UK black information operations — almost on a par with the mythical Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.
Tiananmen-Liberty-statueThe original story of Chinese troops on the night of 3 and 4 June, 1989 machine-gunning hundreds of innocent student protesters in Beijing’s iconic Tiananmen Square has since been thoroughly discredited by the many witnesses there at the time — among them a Spanish TVE television crew, a Reuters correspondent and protesters themselves, who say that nothing happened other than a military unit entering and asking several hundred of those remaining to leave the Square late that night.
Yet none of this has stopped the massacre from being revived constantly, and believed. All that has happened is that the location has been changed – from the Square itself to the streets leading to the Square.
The original story began with a long article in English, published six days later in Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post, by an alleged protester whose whereabouts have never been ascertained. Anonymously planted stories are a favourite technique of UK black information authorities, but this did not stop it from being front-paged by the New York Times on June 12, together with photos of blazing troop-carrying buses and followed up by Tankman – the photo of a lone student allegedly trying to stop a row of army tanks from entering the Square. The myth of an unprovoked massacre has since taken root.
True, no one denies that large numbers of citizens and students were killed near the Square by soldiers seemingly out of control. But why?
Let’s go back to those photos of the burning buses. The popular view is that they were torched by angry protesters after the shooting began. In fact they were torched before. The evidence? Reports of charred corpses being strung up beneath overpasses (one photographed by Reuters remains unpublished), and photos of badly burned soldiers seeking shelter in nearby houses. Soldiers in that kind of situation tend to go out with guns blazing – just ask the good citizens of Fallujah, Iraq.
Fortunately we also have the hourly reports from the US Embassy in the Beijing, available on the Internet, to tell us what actually happened. They note that originally the Beijing authorities had wanted to send in unarmed troops to clear the Square of remaining students as the protests were beginning to wind down. Blocked by the crowds, armed troops were bused in and this time they were blocked by crowds with petrol bombs, with ugly results. Even so, some units tried to restrain the out-of-control solders. And an embassy report of students killing a soldier trying to enter the Square could explain some of the carnage on its periphery.
As for Tankman, we now know from the cameraman himself that his widely-publicised photo was taken from his hotel window the day AFTER the riots, and the tanks were going away from, not into, the Square.
A detailed report by the authoritative Columbia Journalist Review, ‘The Tiananmen Massacre Myth and the Price of a Passive Press’ has since noted the media preference for blood and gore stories. But none of this seems to have dented the credibility of the Tiananmen massacre story.
True, some of the blame also lies with Beijing. Its campaigns to hunt down student protest leaders and to blame everything on anti-regime plots have not created a good impression. But it may have its reasons. Out of frustration as their long protest began to dissipate, some of the student leaders had called for action by the angry crowds still around the Square. And how did some in those crowds have access to petrol bombs – a weapon not used by Chinese rioters and allegedly responsible for over 400 vehicles being destroyed?
The regime had tolerated the protesters by allowing them to occupy its central square for six weeks. Its party general secretary had tried in vain to negotiate with them. And it later regretted how its lack of crowd control equipment meant it had had to rely on untrained soldiers. But then again, none of this would have happened if the regime itself had not been at fault in the past.
The words of well-known Taiwan-born writer Hou Dejian, who had been on the hunger strike on the Square to show solidarity with the students, says it all: “Some people said that 200 died in the Square and others claimed that as many as 2,000 died. There were also stories of tanks running over students who were trying to leave. I have to say that I did not see any of that. I myself was in the Square until 6:30 in the morning.
“I kept thinking — are we going to use lies to attack an enemy who lies?”
---
* "The 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre Is a Myth: British 'Black Information Operation' " (2015-06-04, by Gregory Clark, published as an opinion piece in the ibtimes.co.uk) [archive.is/woaYF]:
June 4, 2015 will for many mark the 26th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.What it should actually mark is the anniversary of one of the more spectacular UK black information operations — almost on a par with the mythical Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.
Tiananmen-Liberty-statueThe original story of Chinese troops on the night of 3 and 4 June, 1989 machine-gunning hundreds of innocent student protesters in Beijing’s iconic Tiananmen Square has since been thoroughly discredited by the many witnesses there at the time — among them a Spanish TVE television crew, a Reuters correspondent and protesters themselves, who say that nothing happened other than a military unit entering and asking several hundred of those remaining to leave the Square late that night.
Yet none of this has stopped the massacre from being revived constantly, and believed. All that has happened is that the location has been changed – from the Square itself to the streets leading to the Square.
The original story began with a long article in English, published six days later in Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post, by an alleged protester whose whereabouts have never been ascertained. Anonymously planted stories are a favourite technique of UK black information authorities, but this did not stop it from being front-paged by the New York Times on June 12, together with photos of blazing troop-carrying buses and followed up by Tankman – the photo of a lone student allegedly trying to stop a row of army tanks from entering the Square. The myth of an unprovoked massacre has since taken root.
True, no one denies that large numbers of citizens and students were killed near the Square by soldiers seemingly out of control. But why?
Let’s go back to those photos of the burning buses. The popular view is that they were torched by angry protesters after the shooting began. In fact they were torched before. The evidence? Reports of charred corpses being strung up beneath overpasses (one photographed by Reuters remains unpublished), and photos of badly burned soldiers seeking shelter in nearby houses. Soldiers in that kind of situation tend to go out with guns blazing – just ask the good citizens of Fallujah, Iraq.
Fortunately we also have the hourly reports from the US Embassy in the Beijing, available on the Internet, to tell us what actually happened. They note that originally the Beijing authorities had wanted to send in unarmed troops to clear the Square of remaining students as the protests were beginning to wind down. Blocked by the crowds, armed troops were bused in and this time they were blocked by crowds with petrol bombs, with ugly results. Even so, some units tried to restrain the out-of-control solders. And an embassy report of students killing a soldier trying to enter the Square could explain some of the carnage on its periphery.
As for Tankman, we now know from the cameraman himself that his widely-publicised photo was taken from his hotel window the day AFTER the riots, and the tanks were going away from, not into, the Square.A detailed report by the authoritative Columbia Journalist Review, ‘The Tiananmen Massacre Myth and the Price of a Passive Press’ has since noted the media preference for blood and gore stories. But none of this seems to have dented the credibility of the Tiananmen massacre story.
True, some of the blame also lies with Beijing. Its campaigns to hunt down student protest leaders and to blame everything on anti-regime plots have not created a good impression. But it may have its reasons. Out of frustration as their long protest began to dissipate, some of the student leaders had called for action by the angry crowds still around the Square. And how did some in those crowds have access to petrol bombs – a weapon not used by Chinese rioters and allegedly responsible for over 400 vehicles being destroyed?
The regime had tolerated the protesters by allowing them to occupy its central square for six weeks. Its party general secretary had tried in vain to negotiate with them. And it later regretted how its lack of crowd control equipment meant it had had to rely on untrained soldiers. But then again, none of this would have happened if the regime itself had not been at fault in the past.
The words of well-known Taiwan-born writer Hou Dejian, who had been on the hunger strike on the Square to show solidarity with the students, says it all: “Some people said that 200 died in the Square and others claimed that as many as 2,000 died. There were also stories of tanks running over students who were trying to leave. I have to say that I did not see any of that. I myself was in the Square until 6:30 in the morning.
“I kept thinking — are we going to use lies to attack an enemy who lies?”
ACTION CALENDER
A list of gatherings, workshops, and educational events in the greater Bay Area region
Fukushima Response
Thursday June 11, 10:30 am - Noon
SHUT DIABLO CANYON! Fukushima Response is a regional network of concerned individuals working together to spur demands for action in response to the devastated Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan. Our active monitoring program seeks to "Make the Invisible Visible", and we are organizing to close Diablo Canyon, California's last nuke. Come early and enjoy a treat to support our host. fukushimaresponse.org 350.org, Sonoma Co.
Coffee Catz, 6761 Sebastopol Ave., Sebastopol
Dorothy Day Working Group of Occupy Santa Rosa
Monday, June 15, 1:00 to 3:00 p.m.
Ongoing work on the issues of homelessness and mental health in Sonoma County.
The Peace & Justice Center of Sonoma County, 467 Sebastopol Ave., Santa Rosa
Andy Lopez Picket Line & Street Zen Meditation
Tuesday, June 16, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Learn what the community is working on to create justice for Andy Lopez and improve law enforcement in Sonoma County. Starting at 11, there will be a Street Zen Silent Meditation.
Sonoma County Courthouse, 600 Administration Drive, Santa Rosa
Richmond Progressive Victory at the Ballot Box: How Did They Do It?
Saturday, June 20, 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Progressives in Richmond, CA have had a string of inspiring victories lately, including in the most recent election of the Richmond City Council. Making national news, voters in Richmond rejected Chevron corporation-backed candidates and instead elected a progressive city council, supported by the Richmond Progressive Alliance. Please RSVP at http://grassrootsprogress.nationbuilder.com/richmond_progressives_how_did_they_do_it
Guest Speakers:
GAYLE McLAUGHLIN, Richmond City Council member and former Mayor
MARGARET JORDAN, Richmond Progressive Alliance
NORMAN SOLOMON, Executive Director Institute for Policy Accuracy, co-founder RootsAction.org, Board Member ExposeFacts.org and Co-Chair Coalition for Grassroots Progress
1435 N McDowell Blvd., Petaluma
Andy Lopez Picket Line & Street Zen Meditation
Tuesday, June 23, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Learn what the community is working on to create justice for Andy Lopez and improve law enforcement in Sonoma County. Starting at 11, there will be a Street Zen Silent Meditation.
Sonoma County Courthouse, 600 Administration Drive, Santa Rosa
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